Sprint to no longer offer unlimited data - NOW HAS A CAP of 5GB/month!

[Dennis Sherrod]

I have done a pretty good bit of streaming in the last two months and my computer is running at least 12 - 14 hours per day while I am out on the road, which was 18 days this past month. The bill I just paid today was 2.596 out of 5.0 allowed. I think it will take a lot of usage to get to 5.0 unless you use it as your main source of internet conection at home as well as on the road.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

How many are actually using 5GB per month? I chased a few times, and used my data plan extensively last month including streaming a lot of video and only managed to use 837 megabytes. Almost half of that appears to be streaming video (Judging by my archives)

Are you all using your cellular plans as your primary internet too or just downloading large files on it? I guess I just use mine for mobile use, and tend to not download large files unless its absolutely necessary.

I use mine for primary internet. Heck, my podcast/vidcast RSS feed alone probably pops over 5GB a month. Alltel doesn't seem to mind, at least not yet.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

For what it's worth, I saw an ad for Verizon today during the Red Wings game.. They have a 50mb/month plan for $39.99 and they're advertising their $59.99 a month plan as 5GB now instead of Unlimited. That changed recently.

 

[Jason Foster]

.... I'm [on] AT&T, which also has a 5GB limit. Prior to entering into the contract, I spoke with several sales and customer service reps who assured me that the limit is loosely enforced and is in place to protect the provider against a very small minority of customers who consistently use enormous amounts of bandwidth (such as running a server). I was promised that if I go over 5GB from time to time, there would be no problem nor would there be extra charges.......

- bill

I would be suspicious of vocal claims over written contracts. I've been promised so many things before. Never trust a salesman. Half the time they don't know, or make stuff up. Sometimes they work on commission, so they have a vested interest to lie to you to make you feel better about signing a contract.

 

[rdale]

I've heard a boatload of claims from my Verizon sales rep - and I don't get to see the contract (corporate) so I'm taking their word

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

I would be suspicious of vocal claims over written contracts. I've been promised so many things before. Never trust a salesman. Half the time they don't know, or make stuff up. Sometimes they work on commission, so they have a vested interest to lie to you to make you feel better about signing a contract.

Jason, that is a fairly broad statement to make about salespersons Considering every single item in the world was, is, or has been for sale in some form or another, that is a lot of people not to trust and a lot of people that don't know what they are talking about.
And... I was told the same thing about my ATTservice plan as Bill was. The worst that can happen is I will pay more should I run over or I will get another service, but that doesn't justify "never trusting a salesman."

I also looked at your website and you are Selling your stuff too. Does that mean you should never be trusted, half the time you don't know what you are talking about, and you say stuff on your website just so someone will buy it?

 

[Scott Weberpal]

Jason, that is a fairly broad statement to make about salespersons Considering every single item in the world was, is, or has been for sale in some form or another, that is a lot of people not to trust and a lot of people that don't know what they are talking about.
And... I was told the same thing about my ATTservice plan as Bill was. The worst that can happen is I will pay more should I run over or I will get another service, but that doesn't justify "never trusting a salesman."

I also looked at your website and you are Selling your stuff too. Does that mean you should never be trusted, half the time you don't know what you are talking about, and you say stuff on your website just so someone will buy it?

I have the same general sentiment that Jason does. I don't think he's talking about your general store customer service folk, he's talking about the auto salesmen, the phone salesmen, etc. A large percentage of them WILL make erroneous claims to get you to sign a contract. I worked for a car dealership for a year which is locally known as being an honest, reputable dealer because they aren't pushy. Little to people know what goes on behind the scenes and how easily customers are manipulated by a few words. Needless to say, I left after finding out what really goes on behind the scenes. Major cellular companies work in the same general way. One may attract you because of better customer service, but NEVER believe anything until it's written on paper in front of you.

 

[David Poch]

It looks like it is now official.

http://www.evdoinfo.com/content/view/2343/64/

I guess customers will get a letter and be able to opt out and cancel without a fee.

I just signed up for a sero account this week. Since I have DSL at home I don't think the cap is going to be a big deal for me.

 

[Jason Foster]

One way around the limit

Dennis: Yes, was mine a general made statement and doesn't apply to everyone. I just didn't think I needed to be so specific to make a list of those to trust and not to trust. I think most people would get that. But sorry if it wasn't written well enough, I make that mistake from time to time.

On the front of the Sprint bit. The only way around it that I seem to have found is if you have a special contact within Sprint (ie an employee) and they are authorized to give the special SERO (employee discount). So needless to say, I may find myself trying to become friends with a Sprint salesman in the end .

 

[Mark Blue]

I agree with what Bill Schintler said earlier, I think they are doing this to safeguard their network from the minority few who are download freaks and not sensible mobile geeks. I would be surprised if they busted every single user who exceeded these limits, especially if it was on an infrequent basis. I choose to believe they are targeting the users who abuse the service on a regular basis. Watch them cancel my service now that I've jinxed myself!!

 

[David Poch]

On the front of the Sprint bit. The only way around it that I seem to have found is if you have a special contact within Sprint (ie an employee) and they are authorized to give the special SERO (employee discount). So needless to say, I may find myself trying to become friends with a Sprint salesman in the end .

I ordered mine off of http://www.sprint.com/sero and used the email address [email protected]. Not sure how long that is going to last though.

 

[J Kinkaid]

From what I am hearing this cap will not apply to buisness customers

 

[J Kinkaid]

sprint is selling broadband with a 5 gig limit now on there site

 

[John Wetter]

Since this was announced, I've been watching my bandwidth usage during chases. I seem to use about .25GB to .75GB per chase day, depending on how much streaming I do. I think the biggest impact of these restrictions will be on streaming. We'll likely have to move toward only streaming when something interesting is happening, not all the driving around beforehand... Which is fine with me. The big question will be with the roaming data. Sprint's software doesn't track the differences right now, as it's just a running total. While chasing in Kansas, I'd go on and off of roaming and the number just continues, so I might have hit the roaming cap, but I wouldn't know. So, I'd average being able to have data for about 10 chase days per month next year... with minimizing streaming and no Level2 data.

-John

 

[Jay Cazel]

I went to pay my Sprint bill yesterday and noticed that they changed the look of the billing page on the web site showing now data use. I went back and looked at how much I have used so far this month and it was 836756kb used. My bill started om May 17th and does not end untill June 16th. I don't do any video streaming, all I use it for is Grlevel3, some Grlevel2, F5 data, spotter net and some web pages from time to time when I am in EVDO areas. That also includeds data use from the phone its self. I use a treo 700p. I wish I could go back and look at last months data use but all is shows is the old bill format.