Sprint unlimited data plan will have 23 GB cap before deprioritization occurs
Sprint said in some situations it will begin to deprioritize customers signed up for unlimited data plans that exceed 23 gigabytes of data usage per month.
The move, announced by CTO John Saw, is part of a “quality of service” practice instituted by Sprint that it says will help protect service levels for 97% of its customer base. The practice is said to only impact those unlimited data customers that have exceeded the 23 GB limit per month at cell sites that are seeing high congestion levels. Those customers will see their network speeds reduced, though will still continue to have access to unlimited data.
“This QoS practice is intended to protect against a small minority of unlimited customers who use high volumes of data and unreasonably take-up network resources during times when the network is constrained,” Saw explained. “Prioritization is applied or removed every 20 milliseconds. And performance for the affected customer returns to normal as soon as traffic on the cell site also returns to normal, or the customer moves to a non-constrained site.”
Customers inline for the move include those selecting unlimited data plans after Oct. 16, or customers that upgrade their device after Oct. 16 and remain on an unlimited data plan.
Saw said the 23 GB limit is “typical in the industry and other carriers have already implemented a similar practice.” T-Mobile US, for instance, says in its terms and conditions it will deprioritize unlimited customers that exceed the 23 GB limit.
Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility stopped offering unlimited data plans to customers several years ago, and have since instituted numerous conditions on that usage, including data throttling and price increases. AT&T has come under intense scrutiny for its move, while Verizon Wireless moved away from speed throttling on its LTE network through a “network optimization” plan after having received a concerned letter from Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.
“Today approximately 3% of our postpaid subscribers are using overwhelmingly disproportionate network resources,” Saw said. “Our goal with QoS is to prevent some portion of that 3% going forward from negatively impacting the other 97% of customers.”
Saw goes on to lay out what consumers can do with 23 GB of data, including sending 6,000 emails with attachments, view 1,500 Web pages, post 600 photos, stream 60 hours of music and stream 50 hours of video.
Sprint in June reportedly told the FCC it stopped limiting network speeds of its customers on unlimited data plans inline with the adoption of the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The report noted Sprint made the move despite claims it did not think the practice violated tenants of net neutrality rules.
“Sprint doesn’t expect users to notice any significant difference in their services now that we no longer engage in the process,” a Sprint spokesman told The Wall Street Journal.
Sprint at the time did state that it reserved the right to regulate network traffic depending on a customer’s rate plan. For the current move, a Sprint spokeswoman said the carrier was more specifically targeting new customers.
Sprint last month announced that beginning Oct. 16 it would be increasing the price of its unlimited data plan by $10 per month. Sprint said the price increase will see the carrier’s unlimited plan, which includes unlimited voice calling, text messaging and data, move to $70 per month for new customers. Current customers on the $60 per month plan will be able to keep that price “as long as they still meet the plan requirements and are purchasing a phone option and financing option that is compatible with the plan.”
T-Mobile US in early 2014 increased the price of its unlimited data rate plan by $10 citing a doubling of data usage on its network.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure hinted the price increase was tied to costs associated with supporting unlimited data services.
“At Sprint, we give customers what they want – and they want the option of unlimited data,” said Claure in a statement. ”At $70 a month, Sprint still beats the competition. Rather than increase the price without warning, we want to give customers one last chance to take advantage of the $60 rate.”
Claure earlier this year told a Kansas City television station that Sprint was looking to raise the price on unlimited data access, noting it would be looking at the changes later in the year. Claure has repeatedly alluded to major network infrastructure upgrades coming to Sprint in the near future. Most of those efforts revolve around the carrier’s deep 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings, which should be able to handle significant data traffic in areas where it’s deployed.
Sprint in 2013 rolled out a set of rate plans that included guarantees of unlimited services for customers beginning at $80 per month. The carrier followed up the promotion with comments from management that it had sufficient capacity on its network to continue supporting unlimited data services for smartphone customers.
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