Sprint joining the 5GB monthly 3G cap ranks?

No official word yet, but it sounds like Sprint will be limiting EV-DO customers to the same 5 GB of monthly bandwidth that other carriers do here in the U.S. DSLReports has this tidbit from a leaked Sprint memo:

"Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service if usage exceeds 5GB per month in total or 300MB/month while off-network roaming. Check your subscriber agreement rights on Sprint.com."

I've been watching how much I've been using my Verizon EV-DO plan and I haven't hit half of my 5 GB limit in any given month yet. Still, the peace of mind that an unlimited plan brings would be nice. Who will offer it?

Comments

[bluemonq]

So it looks like T-Mobile is the last bastion of uncapped data, albeit at EDGE speeds. Hopefully they'll keep 3G uncapped as a differentiator between them and all the other service providers.

:: fingers crossed ::

[Oliver]

Does Sprint offer a way to monitor the usage? The dialer shows the usage for the current connection, but it doesn't seem to offer any totals or retain it in the log.

I don't think I am anywhere near the 5G limit, but if they were to cancel my mobile broadband account, they'd also lose my mobile phone (+ data) account to AT&T.

[Jon M]

Well this make me unhappy. I would think that they would honor my original contract, so that only new members get hit with this cap. But then again, this would be a significant change in my contract so that means that I could get out of the contract with no fees (I would hope). Looks like I will be hanging out at Starbucks more often using the AT&T WiFi. I have AT&T DSL, and the WiFi service is part of my plan. I tested it at 2 local Starbucks and had no problems logging on and getting on the internet. BOO! HISS! Sprint ... I've been using their WLAN service since the 14.4 kbps Sierra Wireless (in an HP Jornada 720) card days.

[Mike Cane]

Just wait until your wired broadband provider initiates caps. This is the camel's nose in the tent. Revolt now!

[Ricky B.]

I'm with Jon M. I never go over the 5 GB limit, but as soon as they add it I am out; this qualifies as a significant change in contract.

[AllenHarkleroad]

Sprint overcharged our small company over $50,000.00. We caught them and asked for the over-payments to be refunded. they have refused. Read the full story on http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com

[gary]

You guys should live in Australia. I pay $90 per month for a 1gb cap (including uploads)!

[bruce miller]

I've been a Sprint data card customer for 5 years. Sprint has now just sold me on Verizon. It is very simple:

-- same limit as Verizon
-- better coverage with Verizon
-- a penalty-free cancellation to leave Sprint

Further, according to Sprint sources, the charge for going over the 5GB limit is $.03/kilobyte. An inadvertant OS update of 500 megs over the limit puts you into debt to Sprint for $15,000.

When I contacted Bob White, Senior VP of Corporate Communications at Sprint about this drastic change, he said he checked my records and found that I would probably not be affected by the change. Well, this is even more reason to go to Verizion, because Sprint has now just confirmed that I can live within Verizon's limit and get more coverage for the same cost.

The ONLY reason I was staying with Sprint was the peace of mind that with unlimited I did not have to worry about inadvertently going into serious debt and that I would have the data throughput when I needed it.

If Sprint would do something innovative like roll over the unused bandwidth for future use, then it they might something going with this limit.

[DallasDeb]

I called in today to cancel my Sprint datacard. I originally got the card to use with my laptop because Time/Warner Cable took over my internet cable service from Comcast, and it became unstable and unreliable. The first year was okay, then in March of this year I began getting daily fluxuating speeds that were 50KB/s downloads up to the promised 700KB/s. After many attempts and service orders and finally verifying that the card was fine but the service wasn't...I thought I should try and terminate the contract that had six months left on it. I looked up "cancel Sprint datacard" on Google and for the first time saw the 5MB limit vs. unlimited change. Hurrah! Since they are changing the service agreement, I can legally cancel my service without penalty easier than canceling for poor service.

Calling Sprint was an experience in itself. I was literally shaking with anger as I tried to control my voice and what I said. Of course, the rep didn't want me to cancel. She wanted to deny that the contract was changed, or that I could cancel without penalty, but I had already verified I could with a service agent a week prior. The announcement of the change was in this month's billing statement. I finally said she needed to pass me on to someone who was able to cancel, since I wasn't willing to answer any more questions regarding "solving the problem of slow data downloads/uploads". She placed me on hold and came back and said I would be cancelled.
Now I plan to call back and verify the cancellation is indeed in place and that I won't be charged a cancellation fee. From all the post I've ready on various sites, the most important keys to getting things done is documentation and checking back. An informed consumer is a powerful consumer.

p.s. DSL is now available in my area and is my next source of frustration, no doubt.