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

[FaustsHausUK]

Sprint's data is slower, but I am able to get a signal with my phone in far more places than I ever could with AT&T. I don't need a 3G Microcell to use my phone in my own home, for starters.

Plus that data is unlimited, and for an extra $30/month, I get 5GB of personal hotspot data on top. Their pricing is far better than AT&T. I routinely pay $30 less a month for more data, unlimited text messages and more consistent service.

Another win for Sprint? I called them to get my phone unlocked ahead of a trip to the UK. It was the most painless experience possible.

 

[iMikeT]

Sprint actually giving what they're advertising to their customers is the biggest reason why I'll be jumping ship from AT&T when the next iPhone is released.

I don't care if their network is slower than the AT&T, at least they treat their customers right.


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Full disclosure, I am currently holding a long position in Sprint.

 

[bad03xtreme]

I may consider Sprint since Verzion decided to dick over their current customers with an "upgrade fee". I used to have Nextel and then Sprint before switching and it was never that bad.

 

[Boisv]

I'm intrigued. I have AT&T and I have never had a problem with them. I get excellent voice and data virtually everywhere I go, and I never have a dropped call. So I guess my experience with AT&T hasn't been typical, but it's been great. Because of this, and the fact that AT&T offers voice and data at the same time, I'm not in any hurry to leave them.

I'm going to start asking Sprint customers in my area what they think of their service. If it's comporable, and especially if they can offer voice and data at the same time over their LTE connection, then I might switch.

 

[Illusion986]

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"

I understand this is the reality, and i agree with "no restrictions". But paying $25 for 2 or 3 gigs $20 or so for texting adds up but since there is no choice i do pay for it ....In comparison i was paying roughly $2 per gig for pretty fast 3g in Europe (Lithuania) it is a small country so to implement a network is a whole lot cheaper than in US but non the less it felt good paying so little ... It is what it is and unfortunately i will pay what ever has to be paid as i love my data.

 

[cyberddot]

Unlimited until they use the protection of small print and change policy to limited. Seems like that's happened before...

 

[Diseal3]

I think everyone who keeps bashing sprint is looking at them the wrong way. I was forced to be a sprint customer after the Nextel merger as most people were and leaving shortly thereafter. Bad business and management decisions got the company where they are now. It is at the very least respectable that they know they messed up and are re-farming spectrum from decommissioning iDEN towers (Network Vision) and deploying a LTE network at a respectable rate given how much behind they are. Sprint is not claiming to be the fastest or the best, they are claiming to have unlimited data no strings attached. If that works for you great. I just don't understand the persistent bashing because sprint doesn't work for you or them not living up to expectations they never lead you to believe in the first place.

 

[timimbo85]

Oh, how happy I am to find this thread...

I just went to war with sprint and just switched to verizon. It was the best move I have made. I upgraded my phone to an iPhone, bought out my contract, paid the fee bs.. the bill was about 295, not including my 32gig iPhone ($300).. Little did sprint tell me that they were doing massive upgrades to the towers. I was without a phone for over a month. I resulted in using a land line. I could not use 3g at all, actually it didn't even exist. It was like using dial up internet. I was furious, every call in my area would drop. Literally 90% of my phone calls made were dropped, even when i was talking to sprint to complain. I called and called and bitched. Finally i filed an FCC complaint and managed to talk to corporate and get the fee taken off my bill, zero dollar cancelation fee and refunded fully for my iPhone. I do not, nor will i ever trust that company again. They have zero integrity and are behind in game. Do yourself a favor, stick with your current provider.

Of course they offer unlimited data... It doesn't flipped work, so they lose nothing!!!

I am very happy with verizon. the speed is unreal, no dropped calls, no nothing. i pay a bit more, but hell, its worth it to me.

 

[Renzatic]

I may consider Sprint since Verzion decided to dick over their current customers with an "upgrade fee". I used to have Nextel and then Sprint before switching and it was never that bad.

Yeah. Verizon isn't exactly what I'd call the greatest company ever. But oh well, due to their inept left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing customer service and a long story, I ended up getting a free iPhone out of them. I can't complain too much.

 

[Norkusa]

I think everyone who keeps bashing sprint is looking at them the wrong way. I was forced to be a sprint customer after the Nextel merger as most people were and leaving shortly thereafter. Bad business and management decisions got the company where they are now. It is at the very least respectable that they know they messed up and are re-farming spectrum from decommissioning iDEN towers (Network Vision) and deploying a LTE network at a respectable rate given how much behind they are. Sprint is not claiming to be the fastest or the best, they are claiming to have unlimited data no strings attached. If that works for you great. I just don't understand the persistent bashing because sprint doesn't work for you or them not living up to expectations they never lead you to believe in the first place.

Well I'm a Sprint customer and I can speak from first-hand experience that their service is horrible. It has nothing to do with "Sprint bashing" or exaggeration. Waiting 1 minute for a web page to load and 5 minutes to send a text message with photo attached is poor service no matter which way you try to spin it. And it has been this way since I got my 4S from them in October with no end in sight.

The one thing that I'll actually give Sprint credit for is good voice service. I'm actually having good phone reception with them and never experienced any dropped calls.

 

[kingtj]

Yep, and that's not so bad really ....

The thing is, I'd rather have slower data, but without worries of being charged for data overages. These days, you can find usable wi-fi in most places you're spending a significant amount of time at (restaurants, waiting areas at the car dealership, hotel rooms, etc.). The cellular data is more of a "bridge", ensuring I don't lose all connectivity while traveling from point A to B, or when I wind up someplace with no wi-fi.

I think if Sprint is smart, they'll simply throttle data rates for anyone using really large quantities of data, ensuring they don't make the network unusable for everyone else. But beyond that, no metering of usage for billing purposes.

In a perfect world, sure -- cellular data would be plentiful AND fast. But looking at the rates Verizon and AT&T want to charge, and the limitations they're slapping on the usage? No thanks... I'll just do without them.

Unlimited Data on Sprint is like a buffet that only has Corn Flakes.

 

[omgitswes]

If Sprint close to the amount of coverage and service VZW offered in my area. I would switch in a heart beat. But I'm hardly ever out of service with Verizon, but Sprint is bad. Sprint and T mobile customers ask, people with VZW to use their phones in certain spots on campus

Wit that said I'm grandfathered in with VZW so I still have my unlimited

 

[Boisv]

I just went to war with sprint and just switched to verizon. It was the best move I have made... I do not, nor will i ever trust that company again. They have zero integrity and are behind in game...

I am very happy with verizon.

Talk to enough people and you'll hear horror stories about every wireless carrier. For me and my wife, Verizon was an absolute nightmare. They literally tried stealing from us, and I will NEVER trust them again. I've had great luck with AT&T.

However, I also hear stories about AT&T, as well as Sprint and T-Mobile. I think having a good experience with a wireless carrier is mostly luck, and so far I've had great luck with AT&T. Good luck with Verizon.

 

[sha4000]

Well I'm a Sprint customer and I can speak from first-hand experience that their service is horrible. It has nothing to do with "Sprint bashing" or exaggeration. Waiting 1 minute for a web page to load and 5 minutes to send a text message with photo attached is poor service no matter which way you try to spin it. And it has been this way since I got my 4S from them in October with no end in sight.

The one thing that I'll actually give Sprint credit for is good voice service. I'm actually having good phone reception with them and never experienced any dropped calls.

All this is true but I dont use enough data to even consider the other high priced options(ATT+ VERIZON) never used att but lots of folks I know always complain about the call quality where I live. So I guess you get great data speed and horrible voice here. I was with verizon before the explosion of smart phones(& years ago) they had the BEST coverage in my area bar none Ex. when the city had a blackout they were literally the only company you could make a call on. I remember EVERYONE using my phone to check in. I finally left over a really bad CS incident that rubbed me the wrong way but billing was not that bad back then either.

 

[Kludge420]

And by "unlimited" they mean they will cut your bandwidth to an infinitely infinitesimal amount if you actually use the account.

 

[Wicked1]

By no means am I a sprint fan, but at least they are not going with the pack.

They are desperate not to lose anymore customers, they are bleeding cash and have lost large amounts of customers to AT&T and VZ.

This is a last ditch effort and the only Ace they have to keep customers and lure others, once they decide to put the stop to unlimited or they find their networks can't handle it which I believe the later will happen first, they will have no other choice but to offer a menu of data services, for different prices.

I am on AT&T and have been since the 3G, and I would never leave, their service and speeds are great, I in fact gave up my Grandfathered unlimited plan up for the 5G WiFi Hotspot plan and I could not be happier.

 

[NoExpectations]

Sprint is so slow it's like you're always throttled.

And here's the biggest joke, they don't even have an LTE Network! Yes, I know, they are working on it. But what good is an unlimited LTE Plan when you don't have LTE. Heck, come over to my LTE Network....I promise you unlimited LTE access where available.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Well I'm a Sprint customer and I can speak from first-hand experience that their service is horrible.

It's horrible in your experience. In my experience the data speeds are slow but for the occasional 3G browsing I do I haven't found them to be objectionably slow, let alone horribly slow. Same thing w/texting pictures. I also have WiFi at home and at the office so maybe I would feel differently if I was a data-heavy user restricted to Sprint's 3G.


Lethal

 

[Kevtech1]

Can Sprint change their name to "Crawl" because that is how fast their network is.... Unlimited Slowness = Unlimited Torture!
At&t, the original and still the best iPhone carrier! Hands down... if you don't believe it, reply to this message while making a phone call

 

[Roessnakhan]

At&t, the original and still the best iPhone carrier! Hands down... if you don't believe it, reply to this message while making a phone call

That'll only be true if the next iPhone isn't LTE - it'll allow Verizon to do simultaneous voice and data, and they have larger LTE coverage.

 

[nws0291]

In South FL Sprint is so bad. Comparing an Att 4S many times at various locations to a Sprint 4S it's a joke. Sprint often fails to deliver even 1 Mbps down and the upstream is basically nothing. Phone is useless. Att it's around 4Mbps on "4G" and certain congested areas. When it's HSPA+ can hit 12mbps down 2-3 up.

 

[Leonard1818]

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.

yeah, me too.

I just hope they don't try to pull something on us and make us sign up for a tiered plan when the new LTE iPhone hits... that will make me mad.

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I may consider Sprint since Verzion decided to dick over their current customers with an "upgrade fee". I used to have Nextel and then Sprint before switching and it was never that bad.

what's this "upgrade fee" you speak of? Do you mean the early upgrade fee?

 

[OceanView]

Anything to bring competition to both AT&T and Verizon is good in my book.
Hopefully this will keep prices down and improve on their services.

 

[firemedicmark]

I don't have Sprint, however this is certainly good news as other carriers may follow............hopefully

 

[Codyak]

yeah, me too.

I just hope they don't try to pull something on us and make us sign up for a tiered plan when the new LTE iPhone hits... that will make me mad.

Well if they decide to pull that on us, I will certainly be looking for another carrier... Although so far I've used anywhere from 3 to 9 gigs in a month with zero slow down.