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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Earlier this month, Sprint revealed that it would continue to offer its unlimited data plans as it rolls out its first LTE devices. The news led to reasonable speculation that the policy would also apply to an LTE-enabled iPhone, which is expected to launch later this year.

CNET now reports that Sprint has confirmed plans to continue offering unlimited data for the next iPhone, regardless of whether or not the device supports LTE.
If the next iteration of the iPhone arrives with LTE, Sprint will continue to offer a no-strings unlimited plan, CEO Dan Hesse told CNET. The company is already sticking with unlimited for its first batch of LTE phones, but it was unclear whether the offer would apply to next iPhone.

"I'm not anticipating the unlimited plan would change by that point," he said. "That's our distinctive differentiator."
Hesse notes that the unlimited data plans for the iPhone have been successful for the company, attracting customers from other carriers. As announced in its earnings release earlier today, 44% of Sprint's iPhone sales during the first quarter of 2012 were to customers new to the carrier.

With LTE's faster data speeds, customers have the potential to significantly larger amounts of cellular data, and it had been unclear whether Sprint would be able to continue offering unlimited data to LTE customers for that reason. Sprint has been behind the other major U.S. carriers in its rollout of LTE support, as it initially supported WiMAX for its 4G technology, it is now moving rapidly to begin deployment of LTE to its network.

Article Link: Sprint to Offer Unlimited Data Plans for Next iPhone, Even if LTE Included
 

Diseal3

macrumors 65816
Jun 29, 2008
1,072
95
By no means am I a sprint fan, but at least they are not going with the pack.
 

L-U-R-C-H

macrumors regular
Mar 3, 2007
181
153
Des Moines, Iowa
Sprint sucks I'm sorry. They have the slowest network with the least amount of coverage. That's why I switched to AT&T and I've been much happier.
 

BJMRamage

macrumors 68030
Oct 2, 2007
2,710
1,233
They are small and need the draw to attract customers.

the bigger companies know they can drop unlimited and people won't ditch them. Sprint has less coverage and thus needs incentives.

Good for them though
 

AppleDroid

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2011
631
84
Illinois
Really hoping for LTE but as I've stated before I'm in a non-WiMAX area so I don't expect it anytime soon. Thank goodness I have my 100kbps 3G data to keep me going. Sigh. :(
 

Codyak

macrumors 6502
Apr 6, 2012
370
127
DC
Got my unlimited LTE from Verizon before they stopped offering it, if I hadn't, I would probably consider Sprint since they seem to be sticking with the unlimited.
 

DerfBWH

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2008
342
411
I've got an iPhone 4S on Sprint and while I don't love it, I can say that I've had a better experience on it than I did with AT&T when I had my iPhone 2G and my iPhone 3GS.
I've noticed that I get great call quality and fast internet when I'm in an area with high bars, but the issue comes from the fact that there seems to be little in the ways of the middle - you either get high quality calls that don't get dropped and fast internet, or you get low quality frequently dropped calls and slow internet. I greatly prefer this to AT&T's network where I had to hope and pray that a call doesn't get dropped when it could at any minute just because I was never in an area that had 4 or 5 bars. (I usually settled around 2-3 with AT&T)
 

Illusion986

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2009
354
3
Hopefully some day soon all carriers will offer unlimited data. As limiting data is going backwards, reminds me 56k days and fashion as old usually comes back in style sooner or later.
 

ghettochris

macrumors 6502a
Feb 19, 2008
773
0
What I want to see is free tethering or rollover data on att with all data plans. That way you get the gigs you pay for and can do what you want with them. Unlimited makes no business sense, there will be throttling, tethering restrictions, etc, or it will cost $200 a month if you can tether at max speed 24/7.
 

johncrab

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2011
341
0
Scottsdale, AZ
Sprint throttles users now, so it's hardly "unlimited data". We also have to discuss the concept of a network that routinely runs at dial-up speed as being all that relevant in any context.
 

2bikes

macrumors 6502
Mar 9, 2012
420
4
Of course, because the iPhone, if has LTE, will not be using LTE on Sprint network. Silly Hesse.:p
 

daxomni

macrumors 6502
Jun 24, 2009
457
6
My experience is that Sprint's 3G is slower than others but their Wi-Max setup was the fastest mobile speed I'd ever seen when it came out. To this day it's still more than fast enough for downloading large applications or streaming television and movies without any problems. I'm not sure what else you'd need to do with your phone that requires more speed than that. Never had a situation where WM was slow enough to be noticeable, let alone bothersome. Too bad Wi-Max became the next HD-DVD and never made it into the iPhone. If it had I think people in Wi-Max areas would be pretty happy with their speeds.
 

LethalWolfe

macrumors G3
Jan 11, 2002
9,370
124
Los Angeles
Sprint sucks I'm sorry. They have the slowest network with the least amount of coverage. That's why I switched to AT&T and I've been much happier.
Coverage obviously various by location but the only time I've had issue was years ago when I'd go snowboarding (but then again, no one else had cell reliable cell coverage on the mountains back then either). I've used Sprint's service from the midwest to the southwest to the west coast.

If you have one of Sprint's Simply Everything plans (which you have to have if you have an iPhone) you can roam on Verizon's network for free (the majority of your activity just can't be on Verizon's network).


Lethal
 

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,518
2,821
Manhattan
Sprint throttles users now, so it's hardly "unlimited data". We also have to discuss the concept of a network that routinely runs at dial-up speed as being all that relevant in any context.

I believe that the throttling policy only applies when tethering. There is still unlimited data without throttling on the phone itself.
 

afin

macrumors member
Feb 17, 2012
98
1
I hate to say it this way, but is one of their only competitive edges over the others.
 

ghettochris

macrumors 6502a
Feb 19, 2008
773
0
Hopefully some day soon all carriers will offer unlimited data. As limiting data is going backwards, reminds me 56k days and fashion as old usually comes back in style sooner or later.

With speeds increasing, there is no way that will happen. If you download at 5 Mb/s over LTE, you can do over 2 gigs per hour, 50 gigs per day, 1500 gigs per month, Most people don't use anywhere near that, and as one of those people I wouldn't want to be on an unlimited plan paying for those that do.

Data is getting cheaper per GB, lets all be happy, but unlimited plans when you can do 1.5 TB/month don't make sense. They will be heavily restricted to the point you can get nowhere near 1.5 TB and no tethering, or if there is a truly unlimited plan that you can do 1.5 TB/month it will cost hundreds if not thousands per month.

I'd rather have no restrictions on my data (hotspot/tethering/sharing between devices) than have "unlimited"
 

forcetactic

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2010
478
7
Does sprint bill everything to primary line or does it split the charges among the lines under a family plan?
 
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