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The beginning of the end for unlimited data?

i don't think anyone thought Sprint would ALWAYS have unlimited.. it was a question of WHEN the other shoe would drop.

however, i DONT think anyone thought the beginning stages would start so soon.. :)

still, im loyal to Sprint. i ain't leaving...
 
Since this applies to the hotspot only I'm not too concerned right now. As long as I have unlimited data on my phone then it's all good. Once they start tiered data plans for their phones, though, I will do some price comparison to Verizon. Both are equally good in my area so I may still stay with Sprint if that happens and their prices are still reasonable. I think it would be a major mistake for Sprint if they do go to tiered phone data plans unless it is to offer cheaper options for those who don't need unlimited.
 
The one advantage that Sprint has over the bigger companies is unlimited data. They are the only ones that do it. They lose that...they lose their only leverage. It will lead to people leaving to other carriers with better coverage.
 
There is an extra charge for the mobile HOT spot of 29. or 39 bucks a month for unlimited......so may now be time to droop it root my evo and use not so proper and get data to laptop as I need it. Getting tiered of the screwing from sprint
but not ready to leave yet
 
i'm guessing this has something to do with them severing ties with clearwire and not wanting to pay them a bunch of money for 4G data usage. once they get LTE started rolling out and LTE devices for the mobile broadband plans they will probably come out with new plans that will be unlimited on the new LTE 4G.
 
They will still have the unlimited for smartphone users that have the unlimited plan already, all others will NOT have the option anymore
 
It's a coming, just wait and see. The end of unlimited is near on smartphones. They say over and over that they won't get rid of unlimited on smartphones, but that's just to get the lemmings to buy the icrap and then once they get the allotted amount they told Crapple they would sell and locked into a two year contract, the will pull the unlimited rug screwing over all of us loyal long time customers.
 
It's a coming, just wait and see. The end of unlimited is near on smartphones. They say over and over that they won't get rid of unlimited on smartphones, but that's just to get the lemmings to buy the icrap and then once they get the allotted amount they told Crapple they would sell and locked into a two year contract, the will pull the unlimited rug screwing over all of us loyal long time customers.

This is what happen when there isn't enough competition in the market :(

And before any "Free Market" "Capitalism" zealots jump in, this is NOT a free market. It's not like any upstart can jump in and start competing.. no, this is a a fixed market, and should be regulated as such. I've said many times before I think a pay-per-byte is fair.. without minimum usage (I.E. Verizon's 2gig) and also at a fair price. I always though $3-5 a gig would be fair.
 
All the moves sprint has made over the last 6 months to a year give me the opinion that unlimited will be gone within a year. I originally thought it would be longer, but they are making negative changes to their customers every other week or so. There's only one more ball to drop.
 
I may be like the Ostrich with his head in the sand but I am trying to be optimistic. To me it seems like they have done everything they could to avoid capped data and tiered plans. Right now that is their main selling point. I can see, though, that if they are on par with Verizon in the next couple of years after LTE is completely rolled out that they may change. They'd better be sure their prices are still reasonable and the service worth it though, because as much as I am pleased with them now,
I wouldn't hesitate to switch to Verizon if their prices are the same as Sprint but Verizon has more coverage.
 
I'm just so sick of lies and raised pricing. We all know unlimited is coming to an end. And we are gonna get the same BS story about how 90% of costumers won't be affected cuz they don't use that much data and blah blah blah. Who cares, at least give me the peace of mind that I can stream Slacker or watch a movie without worrying about data.
 
I'm with CarrieK, I'm keeping an optimistic view that Sprint will retain unlimited data for smartphones until the bitter end. When/if that end comes, you can be sure I'll be comparison shopping against the other carriers, my 12+ years with Sprint be damned. I think Sprint knows this is the prevailing attitude amongst their subscribers.
 
I'm with CarrieK, I'm keeping an optimistic view that Sprint will retain unlimited data for smartphones until the bitter end. When/if that end comes, you can be sure I'll be comparison shopping against the other carriers, my 12+ years with Sprint be damned. I think Sprint knows this is the prevailing attitude amongst their subscribers.


Yeah if sprint goes to data caps there isnt much incentive to stay with them. In fact, with Google Voice and verizons my favs i actually priced out a plan for two phones thats 30 bucks a month cheaper than what im paying now, albiet with a 2 gig cap per phone.so if sprint is going to cap data, might as well be on a better faster network while paying less.
 
I'll stick with the optimistic folks here and say that they won't. It's a huge selling point and it's tough to use craploads of data on a phone. They had to do it on the hotspot etc because you're using that data on a computer, which is quite easy to download a file that is a gig or higher and have plenty of use for it, whereas on the phone that's not quite as likely IMO.
 
I'll stick with the optimistic folks here and say that they won't. It's a huge selling point and it's tough to use craploads of data on a phone. They had to do it on the hotspot etc because you're using that data on a computer, which is quite easy to download a file that is a gig or higher and have plenty of use for it, whereas on the phone that's not quite as likely IMO.

X2.

Not to support capping the hotspot, but it only made sense since the data cards/dedicated hotspots have always been capped at 5gb, and essentially it's the same thing. I think Sprints unlimited data on the smartphones will be around a while longer. I'm not too concerned about that at all.

Edit: according to Dan, the iPhone will actually allow Sprint to offer unlimited data longer than expected. Not sure how, but at least we have the CEO saying that unlimited data is not on Sprint's list of things to cut; and that is very encouraging. :) http://phonedog.com/2011/10/27/spri...r-unlimited-data-for-a-longer-period-of-time/
 
I would much rather they improve the network and make the policy changes they have to support that endeavor than to cut out unlimited phone data. I really like the fact that I don't have to track data, text, and phone usage and knowing my bill will be the same every month. One less thing to worry about in my otherwise busy and hectic life! :)
 
X2.

Not to support capping the hotspot, but it only made sense since the data cards/dedicated hotspots have always been capped at 5gb, and essentially it's the same thing. I think Sprints unlimited data on the smartphones will be around a while longer. I'm not too concerned about that at all.

Edit: according to Dan, the iPhone will actually allow Sprint to offer unlimited data longer than expected. Not sure how, but at least we have the CEO saying that unlimited data is not on Sprint's list of things to cut; and that is very encouraging. :) http://phonedog.com/2011/10/27/spri...r-unlimited-data-for-a-longer-period-of-time/

Data capping on next generation networks doesnt make sense. Sure, cap 3g hotspot because it cant handle the load of tons of connected devices. 4g techs though handle this just fine.
 
Data capping on next generation networks doesnt make sense. Sure, cap 3g hotspot because it cant handle the load of tons of connected devices. 4g techs though handle this just fine.

i read the transcript from the conference call and they were basically eluding to capping 4G data on the mobile broadband plans is reducing the amount of money they have to pay clearwire which then frees it up for them to use for all the other stuff they need to spend it on. and since mobile broadband plans, for the most part, would be using more data then a non tethered phone it is saving them a ton of money.
 
i read the transcript from the conference call and they were basically eluding to capping 4G data on the mobile broadband plans is reducing the amount of money they have to pay clearwire which then frees it up for them to use for all the other stuff they need to spend it on. and since mobile broadband plans, for the most part, would be using more data then a non tethered phone it is saving them a ton of money.

That actually makes a lot of sense, thanks for pointing that out.
 
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