Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Sprint Will Start Throttling Customers That Use More Than 23 GB a Month

This was the reason I left verizon because they throttled me at 2GB on their unlimited plan and eventually dropped unlimited.

I live in a remote location. No cable, no phone lines, no gas or water just electricity. I depend on unlimited to watch nfl mobile, netflixs and streaming TV and radio.

Just checked my usage so far this month and I'm at 17 GB until the 26th reset but I think they slow me already because lately I've been seeing a lot of 1x at the top of my screen in LTE areas.

Too bad the electric company didn't sell internet like my friends in Europe. The had 100 MBs speed years ago.

 
tallazzPilipino said:
do some of you guys live in the boonies or something?

Sprint gives me the best service at home (out of my VZW, Straight Talk, T-Mo & Metro services). I even got rid of my home internet because it. I averaged about 120GB+ a month (mostly during my tenure). my speeds are about this (indoors)...

View attachment 593269

I guess when they do throttle, it'll still be Unlimited Data. just it'll be throttled down. now, if they advertised Unlimited High Speed Data...
Click to expand...

That ping though 87ms is terrible. Speeds aren't really important if it takes so long to request the data packet in the first place.
 
farewelwilliams said:
8V3e2jJ.png
Click to expand...

hahaha. the irony.
 
The plan I use has measly 300 MB volume per month (not Sprint, as I live in Germany). Still, I hardly ever use up even that ridiculously small amount of data. The reason is, that I know that the coverage, speed and reliability of my carrier is so bad, that it wouldn't make any sense to even start. I actually would easily crack the 23 GB every month, if I had the chance. I would stream all my music, I would watch youtube videos or netflix on the train all the time, I would have everything in the cloud except apps. But the reality is that mobile coverage around here is still so unreliable that even if I had real unlimited data, I wouldn't use it, just because it would probably give me a heart attack sooner or later.

Btw
The carrier notes that 23 GB of data would allow a user to send 6,000 emails with attachments, view 1,500 web pages, post 600 photos to social media, stream 60 hours of music and stream 50 hours of video.
Click to expand...
I'm really wondering in what century Sprint lives. Let's start:
  1. 6000 emails with attachments: What does that even mean? I've send attachments as large as a few hundred megabytes. But let's just say a typical attachment is a few, say 2 MB large. A PDF or presentation with some nice pictures in it. That seems fair. 12 GB
  2. 1500 web pages: How big is an average web page? Apparently it is well over 1 MB these days, let's say it's exactly 1 MB. 1.5 GB
  3. 600 photos: I'd say a photo made with an iPhone without additional compression is 1-3 MB. So that gives us 1.2 GB
  4. 60 hours of music: Apple music uses 256 kbit/s files. They also provide lower quality, but file sizes on other streaming services go up to 320 kbit/s. So 6.6 GB seems fair.
  5. 50 hours of video: An HD netflix stream which seems appropriate for today's smartphone's displays is like 3-4 GB/hr. That adds up to a whopping 150 GB.
Sum: 171.3 GB with numbers from the year 2015. I really hate how carriers these days try to justify their pathetic decisions with fantasy numbers like that.
 
furi0usbee said:
It's funny how carriers get mad when people use, well, unlimited amounts of their unlimited data plans... never will understand that one.
Click to expand...

Data speeds have been getting faster and faster, back when these unlimited plans were made it would have been pretty hard to use 23GB.
 
elmateo487 said:
Data speeds have been getting faster and faster, back when these unlimited plans were made it would have been pretty hard to use 23GB.
Click to expand...

So the solution, DO NOT EVER use the word unlimited unless you really mean it. Unlimited is me using 1TB of data just because I can. Capped means I can use 5GB of data before I get the hook. Simply impose HARD caps, call them capped, and be done with this lunacy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: John Mcgregor
furi0usbee said:
So the solution, DO NOT EVER use the word unlimited unless you really mean it. Unlimited is me using 1TB of data just because I can. Capped means I can use 5GB of data before I get the hook. Simply impose HARD caps, call them capped, and be done with this lunacy.
Click to expand...

You can use 1 TB of data. This policy has nothing to do with a data limit.
 
JThompson said:
hahaha. the irony.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I forgot, they started putting adjectives in front of UNLIMITED, like TRULY. LOLOLOL So regular old unlimited is about 5GB and TRULY unlimited is 23GB. Got ya! I need to make a notebook so I can remember these so I'm not suckered into a "bad" unlimited plan.

If we all sent a dictionary to the CEOs of these data carriers and highlighted the word UNLIMITED, maybe things will change.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alenore
elmateo487 said:
Data speeds have been getting faster and faster, back when these unlimited plans were made it would have been pretty hard to use 23GB.
Click to expand...

And yet they still use the term unlimited today, when speeds are faster. And it isn't as if they needed a magical crystal ball to know speeds might get faster... it's called technological progress, and tends to happen roughly in the same direction as the passage of time...

Unlimited can't mean '...until speeds improve so it becomes more expensive for us', because that is a limitation.

Of course technically one could argue the term 'unlimited' should not be used at all because neither data used or the speed at which it is transferred are actually unlimited, but providing as much data as desired at the fastest speeds technically possible would be a reasonable compromise if they simply must use the term. One could excuse them for being limited only by the laws of physics and the technological progress of mankind thus far.

But if they are going to choose to impose artificial limits on speed or data use then by definition they themselves are limiting what they chose to call 'unlimited', so they should stop calling it that.
 
Oh FFS people. Get off of your entitled soapbox.
I'm guessing 75% of the replies are from non-sprint customers. There's a reason the other big carriers dropped any sort of "unlimited" plan; it doesn't make financial sense. The resources used to provide wireless data is extremely complex and expensive to provide. They are also shared resources among all; so people that use the service massively above the normal use case ruin the experience for others.
People are complaining of being throttled at 23GB, but if you compare the prices, it's still a good deal at $95/month. Verizon and AT&T plans capped at 25GB cost $175/month and $215/month respectively.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RadioGaGa1984
Why not sell wireless and home data usage like every other metered consumable. Examples, electricity, water, sewer, natural gas, fuel, and let the consumers control useage. Some months my electric bill, for example, higher and lower with a yearly average.
 
I'm ok with Sprint throttling data IF AND ONLY IF they refund all their unlimited users the difference between 23GB and their respective usage monthly.

Fair is fair.;)
 
TheWelshBoyo said:
If they're paying for something called "unlimited" then they should get it unlimited.
If it's "23GB, then throttling", it's not unlimited, unless we're changing the definition of the word to mean it's complete opposite.
I don't have a problem if they advertise it properly, but to call it unlimited when there are clearly limits is unreasonable and anti-consumer.
Click to expand...

It's still unlimited, just at slower speed once you go over 23gb.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GoldenDust
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back