It's absurd to argue that the concepts of rate and amount are unrelated.
If I run a bank and say that you are allowed to write an unlimited number of checks without any per-check fee and then you find out that "unlimited" means that you're only allowed to write one check per month, would you still feel like you were a enjoying unlimited check writing privileges?
If you buy a toll tag that charges a flat monthly fee for driving on the tollway in your city and then you're told that after 100 miles of driving you had to drive a 5 mph would you still think that your toll fees afforded you unlimited mileage?
There's a very real point where the rate at which they are willing to provide a service effectively limits the amount that they, in the same breath, promise is unlimited.
It's not where they draw the line that's infuriating, it's that they draw it at all.
And I fully expect that once they get us used to the concept of unlimited data being limited through throttling that the parameters of its implementation will only continue to change further in their favor.
Next thing, you're going to be complaining because February doesn't have as many days in it, so your bills should all go down 3-5% depending on the year.
Sprint also has unlimited texting, and a handful of people have, in an effort to "test" the limits, found out that there is a practical limit, because if your account shows several thousand texts per day, it raises a red flag somewhere in their system, and they manually intervene. You get a "hey, we know that we said unlimited, but you are clearly trying to abuse the system. Please stop or we're going to cut you off and refund your money" text from Sprint.
This is a situation where Sprint has opted to pay the other carriers for roaming data charges off-network on their unlimited plans. That means Sprint has to pay Verizon or ATT whatever they are charging for your roaming, but it doesn't get added to your bill by Sprint.
They could easily have chosen to just disable roaming data, and let everyone fend for themselves when off-network. Their consumer-friendly, and quite honestly generous choice to cover you off network should not be a reason to cause consumers to complain. You get 300 mb of off-network un-throttled data from sprint in addition to the unlimited unthrottled data on-network.
The truth is that those of you complaining the loudest are ATT and Verizon customers who are disappointed/angry that Sprint users have unlimited data and you don't, and that they are paying less for it, to boot.
I understand your frustration, but in looking for ways to make yourselves feel better about the situation, you've all jumped to some conclusions that are quite frankly erroneous, and that make you look like whiny children.
Sprint is not in a dominant position in the market, and as such, they have to offer more enticing options than their larger competitors. That's what they are doing.
You can either weigh the positive and negative with Sprint, and jump over to their service, or not.
I moved from ATT to Sprint about 6 months ago, and aside from having an extra 70 dollars a month in our bank account, and a couple of new phones, I haven't noticed a difference at all.
I feel stupid for having paid ATT so much money for so many years for no personal benefit to myself at all. In my house, ATT was actually slower than Sprint.
My parents live in Nowhere, TX, in a steel-frame house. ATT & Verizon don't work in their house at all. Can't even get a text. When we used to visit, I would turn off my phone, because the battery would die so quickly (constantly looking for a signal). We went to their house again over Christmas, and not only were our batteries fine, but our 3G signal was faster than their "broadband" satellite internet (the only non-dial-up internet available in Nowhere, TX).
I ran my laptop off of our android phone's 3G connection with the wifi tether, because Sprint doesn't charge you extra for that, or block applications that can do it.
Skip a "free upgrade" with ATT or Verizon, get out of your contract, and embrace the Light side of the Force. Out here, there are no contracts...
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This is a total joke. The 3G network on Sprint is so terrible it is almost impossible to use Netflix. Correction, it is impossible to use Netflix. Pandora regularly lags out. Sprint is selling snake oil with their "3G" network. To now say that they are throttling the 1% is pretty funny. My guess is that the 1% is so pissed at the slow speeds they are running apps that constantly download junk data just so they feel like they are getting something out of the "unlimited" network.
Been with Sprint for 12+ years. Patiently waited for the iPhone. Never again. Sorry, but after a decade I am done. Well, done after my contract expires.
you're on sprint with a contract, and you're mad with someone other than yourself?
my sprint 3G speeds on an android phone are faster in my house than my ATT DSL line was before we upgraded to "extreme" speed. Sorry that your location apparently has bad data speeds. If you call and complain, they might actually send you an in-home signal booster for free.
I regularly broke 400-500 mb/sec sustained transfer speeds on my phone on Sprint 3G network. I don't have unlimited data on my current plan, but I don't really need it that much since our home internet got upgraded.
