Sprint prepaid brands receives up to four times more unthrottled data
Sprint prepaid brand Virgin Mobile USA significantly increased the amount of unthrottled data for its “unlimited” plans in a move highlighting the continued competitiveness of the prepaid space.
Virgin Mobile’s $35 per month plan had its data allotment boosted from 250 megabytes to 1 gigabyte; the $45 per month plan from 1 GB to 3 GB; and the $55 per month plan from 3 GB to 8 GB. All plans include unlimited domestic calling and text messaging from Sprint’s native network.
The carrier’s data plans provide unthrottled 3G and LTE speeds where available, before reducing speeds to 2G levels once the data limit is reached. The updated data plans can also take advantage of the recently launched extra-cost data buckets, which allow customers to add either 1 GB or 2 GB of unthrottled data access for $5 per GB.
Sprint earlier this year updated pricing on Virgin Mobile USA services offered exclusively through Wal-Mart locations. Those updates included cutting $5 per month and adding 500 MB of unthrottled data to single lines of service, resulting in a rate plan offering 300 calling minutes, unlimited domestic text messaging and 3 GB of unthrottled data for $30 per month. A higher-tiered plan added unlimited domestic voice calling priced at $40 per month.
Virgin Mobile USA recently came out on top in terms of customer care among prepaid providers in the latest J.D. Power survey, scoring significantly higher than T-Mobile US’ MetroPCS brand, AT&T Mobility’s Cricket service and its own Boost Mobile sister brand.
Sprint’s prepaid brands, which include Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Sprint Prepaid and Assurance Wireless, lost a collective 366,000 net customers during the carrier’s most recent quarter. The results were an improvement over the previous year when those prepaid brands lost 542,000 customers.
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