Sprint Customers Face 5GB Hotspot Data Cap, As of Oct. 2

zacharye writes "Sprint on Thursday confirmed that it will soon introduce a data cap tied to its mobile hotspot add-on for smartphone users. Currently, Sprint subscribers with compatible smartphones can pay an extra $29.99 per month for unlimited Wi-Fi tethering, which allows other devices to connect via Wi-Fi in order to utilize a Sprint phone's 3G or 4G data connection. Beginning October 2nd, the mobile hotspot add-on will be capped at 5GB of data per month."

Comments

usb tethering?

[bhcompy]

How does this affect USB tethering, if at all?

Re:usb tethering?

[negRo_slim]

As long as you not using an sort of "official" application then I don't believe this will effect you.

Re:usb tethering?

[Nadaka]

I was actually planning on paying for tethering and dropping my land line internet once sprint brought 4g to my city. No more. I'll just keep using an unofficial tether program on the occasions I find it useful.

Re:usb tethering?

[John Courtland]

WIMAX sucks ass anyhow, get Verizon's LTE 4G, it's really nice.

Re:usb tethering?

[gearloos]

You are an absolute idiot.. and a fanboi to top it off. Verizon Employees shouldn't be able to post without a disclaimer.. but I guess it's actually obvious so oh well. To the OP: The only real way to stop this crap would be for everyone to simply show with their wallet that they aren't going for it. Just simply cancel service. The problem is that nobody will. Even if they did, they have nowhere to go. The axis of evil that is Verizon and ATT is waiting, hands clenched with a maniacal laugh heard coming from the cold faces. There is always T-Mo, but they are now doing the cap thing as well and then there is the coverage issue.

Re:usb tethering?

[schnell]

I was actually planning on paying for tethering and dropping my land line internet once sprint brought 4g to my city.

I feel your pain but I don't understand why the smart, otherwise technically savvy people on Slashdot seem to not understand this:

Wireless is not and will not be a replacement for wireline broadband. They are fundamentally different economically and technically.

With wireline (cable/DSL/FiOS/leased line/whatever) broadband, an ISP can cram as much data down each of those pipes as their upstream/downstream terminal gear (VDSL, DOCSIS 3.0, GPON, etc.) can handle and their upstream bandwidth can take. Bandwidth allowances to individual customers have comparatively small impact on other users, so you can get very high speeds and large data caps

With wireless, ISPs are functionally limited by their available licensed spectrum within each market area. Currently there is more thirst for cellular data than there is available spectrum, so in most cellsites in any moderately populated area, you are going to be fighting for bandwidth with everyone who is streaming HD NetFlix. You can solve that with more spectrum, but at least in the US, spectrum coasts a s**tload of money, and there is a shortage of it available to the wireless providers already. You could help the issue with more cell towers, but those cost a lot of money to put up and even if you want to spend the cash, in many areas all the tinfoil hat brigades complain about their cell service but then make carriers go through three years of environmental impact studies to put more towers up if ever.

So for practical purposes, wireless bandwidth is a much more constrained resource than wireline bandwidth is, and what each user "eats" may be taking off the plate of the next user, so that's why you get caps/throttling/whatever. There is no secret conspiracy to make wireless users' lives miserable, all the carriers have these same frustrating data policies because... they all have to deal with the same spectrum limitations, regulatory limitations, and the need to make money.

Re:usb tethering?

[PopeRatzo]

Wireless is not and will not be a replacement for wireline broadband. They are fundamentally different economically and technically.

The main economic difference is that Sprint is charging $30 for 5 gigabytes.

Gee, the poor things, I wonder how they can possibly make a profit.

Re:usb tethering?

[Shadow of Eternity]

Which is why I think for wireless data the only viable solution with current technology is to go for lots of short range high bandwidth wifi routers and just have phones use their cell towers as little as possible for data.

Re:usb tethering?

[Anonymous Coward]

Mostly spot-on, but there is no shortage of spectrum. They cellular carriers are sitting on buckets of spectrum they gained from several large auctions in the last couple of years. It's cheaper and more profitable to add data caps than it is to build out network capacity. Despite utopian pipe dreams to the contrary, profit motive in an unregulated market doesn't always work in the consumer's favor.

Re:usb tethering?

[lexsird]

This game they play with the data has grated on my last nerve. I will be dropping my data package this month all together, and use my phone as just that, a phone. It was great in theory, but the limitations, and greed of the companies have overshadowed it, hence I am out. Frankly, I have found I don't need it. Being unplugged is liberating. I was recalling back when nobody had cell phones, we still functioned just fine. I just need to find use for my smart phone, but I can ditch it as well if it's too big of a problem to unlock and slip a new carrier's chip in. A penny phone will do just fine. I will just dig out my old Ipod and all the toys I had for it. Not to mention I will save myself some much needed money.

Nice brain there wireless data carriers. Now you don't get ANY of my money. Ha ha! Fools. If I am heading that direction, I know there are LOTS more, I run into people all the time who try data and ditch it in disgust. When a fanboy of it like me ditches it, the canary in the coal mine is toast. Good luck getting us back after this.

Here's me saying F. U. with my wallet.

My wallet: Fuck off, data carriers.
Me: Hey, watch your mouth!
My wallet: Sod off, I don't have a mouth.
Me: How are you talking?
My wallet: Out your ass, just like you.
Me: That was uncalled for.
My wallet: Yer mom is uncalled for, but she comes around anyway.
Me: That's enough.
My wallet: That's what she said.
Me: Look, wallet, you need to shut up or...
My wallet: Or what? You will put even less money in me? Why don't you give me to that homeless guy, I would have more cash in me. Lose some weight by the way, your fat ass has been crushing me for years now.
Me: Shut up, I can always replace you.
My wallet: Haha! With what money? With what wallet, that fag one your exwife got you for Christmas? Do you think she was trying to tell you something with that? Maybe hoping to inspire you to MAKE MORE MONEY, you fucking loser.
Me: That was below the belt!
Me and my wallet: Ha ha ha!
My wallet: That was a good one, now shut the fuck up. We are cutting off these data carrier pricks. These cocksuckers charge us way too much. You can't even send pictures right with that phone because you, the phone, and the retards that work the company's help desk can't figure it out. So all of you need to fuck off and save ME money. You and your smart phone = one big retard.
My smart phone: Huh, what?
My wallet: Shut up and go back to sucking on that battery.
Me: How about you both shut up.
My smart phone: Feed me, my battery is low.
My wallet: Sweet Jesus, you should have just had a baby, you would have to pamper it less.
Me: Babies don't have Angry Birds.
My wallet:...

Re:usb tethering?

[Anonymous Coward]

ISPs are functionally limited by their available licensed spectrum within each market area.

That's a limitation of current radio technology, not of the fundamental physics. With continuous advances in the field of spatial multiplexing, the limits may be practically unbounded.

Re:usb tethering?

[Anonymous Coward]

DON'T BUY INTO THE LIES THAT 3G TECHNOLOGY WOULDN'T WORK RIGHT WHEN USED RIGHT. just up the cell density - and yes it is that simple. it needs more work though, but a lot less work than wiring up houses.

5gb data caps are bullshit. the conspiracy is rather simple, by making up these rules they can in the first place sell you that hotspot additional functionality - and if they can sell you that, they can also sell you wifi hotspot access too - but only if they somehow limit what you have with the base plan, by building artificial barriers on data types, it's not like the bits are any different from your android netflix app or your desktop shoutcast streamer. if they just let you have unlimited for twenty bucks a month per sim, they couldn't charge you twenty bucks for tethering and another twenty bucks for wireless tethering.

meanwhile in finland you can do all your warez - all your internet except counter strike - for ten euros a month at 1mbps, no caps. of course the speed depends on the weather sometimes, sometimes the network might be more congested than sometimes, or you might only be in 900mhz 3g coverage zone(if you're just ~40km from population centres). so what they do is sell them at per-rates. one of the carriers does throttling after a certain cap but I really doubt how effective their throttling is - certainly the way they've described it to work wouldn't actually save them airspace congestion.

you can even buy a prepaid and do 1mbps per week for ten bucks. but you couldn't even hook up your computers with auto updates to a 5gb/month connection.

Re:usb tethering?

[evilviper]

With wireless, ISPs are functionally limited by their available licensed spectrum within each market area. Currently there is more thirst for cellular data than there is available spectrum, so in most cellsites in any moderately populated area, you are going to be fighting for bandwidth with everyone who is streaming HD NetFlix.

The exact same thing was true when broadband was new. DSL / Cable was slow and expensive, and high-traffic users were cosing ISPs serious money. What's changed is that bandwidth costs to your ISP went through the floor, and they didn't pass much of that savings on to you, so they've got bigger margins, and we're far enough along they don't need to worry about recouping their investment right away.

There's no reason wireless can't go the same way...

Sure, right now there aren't nearly enough towers, and putting up new ones is damn expensive... The build-out continues, and prices are still high. But once things settle down, and maybe picocells are hanging off of every street light and telephone pole, your cell phone can get all the bandwidth it wants in ultra-low power mode, because there's only 10 people in range, with all that available spectrum shared between just the 10 of you... Works pretty much the same as regular wifi that way.

Of course, you're a fool if you expect unlimited cell-phone bandwidth to be the case right now. And more than that, the latency isn't anywhere close to wired, so I'd rather pay the $30/month for much faster Cable/DSL available at home.

Re:usb tethering?

[John Courtland]

Wow, I'm just a regular guy who rides the train and I've used both, and VZW's 4G LTE is objectively better. Also, you should probably get your asperger's under control, it's not normal to lash out with near-zero information like that.

Re:usb tethering?

[Svartalf]

Unfortunately, they don't offer wireline data to the Horse Farm I operate... The only choices right now are Verizon and AT&T 3G (Both work reasonably well...) or Huges or WildBlue Satellite Fraudband. Seriously. While the "economics" might not be there for one versus the other, unless the wireline players get their damn act together and wire up more than they have- the mobile players are going to have to concede a bit there. And, it should be noted, while it's true, they've got limits (wireline vendors have them too...) they're not hitting them, not even close- they're being cheap on their backhaul more than anything else.

Re:usb tethering?

[SighKoPath]

Sure, VZW's 4G LTE may be "better," but you'll hit your monthly data cap after watching three movies. Enjoy your overage charges!

Re:usb tethering?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't understand why the smart, otherwise technically savvy people on Slashdot seem to not understand this:

Welcome to the entitled generation. They feel entitled to take anything they want without any regard for practical limitations or who it damages financially.

Re:usb tethering?

[bryan1945]

Missing something there with adding micro- & picocells. You need to run a landline to them. That's gonna cost a pretty penny, and I don't see the cell providers dumping that much money to make life easier/cheaper for the users. At least not in the near future.

Re:usb tethering?

[bryan1945]

Nice!
I never did get a smartphone. Never saw this use.

Re:usb tethering?

[evilviper]

Missing something there with adding micro- & picocells. You need to run a landline to them. That's gonna cost a pretty penny

A business DSL line is only slightly more expensive than home DSL... And if we've established that only 10 people will be using that particular pico-cell site at a time, then DSL bandwidth should be sufficient, even with encryption on-top of it. If regulations aren't a problem, it could be dirt-cheap (relatively) to put up thousands of pico-cells in no time.

Re:usb tethering?

[HermMunster]

This guy is an utter fucktard.

They are all bits. If the networks won't scale up we shouldnt be expected to view them in some special way. They are lazy sobs that won't invest and chose to squeeze us instead.

Can't control it, so cap it

[Anonymous Coward]

Invest in your damn network infrastructure, you big goddamn babies. Your shareholders can go without their precious dividends for a while.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[hedwards]

Call me paranoid, but I have this sneaking suspicion that this might have something to do with AT&T trying to buy T-Mobile.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[Anonymous Coward]

Absolutely. If ATT buys T-Mobile then ATT will increase the prices, which is why Sprint is trying to block it. So, it makes sense that Sprint would just raise their prices and/or change their policies because they can. If you believe this then I have some beach front property on the moon to sell you.

Sprint limited their data cap because 1) they can, 2) they know their customers like them better than the rival so they damage will be minimal, and 3) because right now they can blame ATT as their simple scapegoat of the day.

If ATT did nothing at all today it would still have no impact on Sprint.

Stop being gullible and realize their just screwing their users.

What's funny, in light of all this, the new company motto is "F!@# the customer, we will change the policy and accept X% of customers jumping ship". You should be blaming Netflix, not ATT for this whole mess. After all, that's the new business model of accepting % client base losses over what you care about.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[TheEyes]

Invest in your damn network infrastructure, you big goddamn babies. Your shareholders can go without their precious dividends for a while.

Sprint hasn't turned a profit in four years. I'm pretty sure they're not paying dividends.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact, they do not pay a dividend.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[Chris Mattern]

I suspect it has more to do with Sprint getting the iPhone 5.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[hedwards]

It's a lot more plausible than your suggestion that Sprint is trying to block the AT&T/T-Mobile merger for any reason other than self preservation.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[robbyb20]

exactly what i was thinking. Along with the cancellation of the gold member plan(upgrades every year), this points directly to the Iphone and limiting any problem they might incur with a swam of people getting on their network.

Re:Can't control it, so cap it

[enrgeeman]

removing accidental mod...

Dammit

[TheSpoom]

I was considering finally getting a smartphone and Sprint was at the top of my list due to their unlimited plans. So much for that.

Re:Dammit

[Lunix Nutcase]

Did you even bother to read the summary? This a cap on using your phone as a wifi hot spot. They still have unlimited data plans and this doesn't change that.

Re:Dammit

[imric]

So fucking what? This is another company controlling what you do with ones and zeroes, while claiming to be 'unlimited'. You work for Sprint, or what?

Re:Dammit

[Adriax]

The carriers are just begging for someone (google...) to come in, toss up a bunch of towers across the US, and offer a data only wireless access plan with no caps. And the nation will rejoice.
A phone number tethered to a cell phone is unneeded anymore. Skype/gtalk/ect... clients on the phone can easily take over the voice calling aspects, text messages too.
The ability to separate out the features a cell phone offers and shop around has been possible for awhile now. The carriers know this and are doing all they can to make sure you stay bundled together with them for voice/text/web/the handset.

Re:Dammit

[Hartree]

If he's like me, he read the summary. But he wanted to use the unlimited data as a hotspot for his home network when he's there. It'd be a good backup for Comcast even if I didn't ditch their pretty scratchy cablemodem service.

5 gig gets eaten up pretty quickly for that. So, Sprint just removed the reason I was considering getting one of their smartphones. A pity.

In the rural area I live in, it's unlikely that their links would get saturated even with a fair number of users doing that.

I'll just stick with my trackfone. With as little as I do voice calls, a more featured phone/plan is little use to me. A high bandwidth limit/unlimited data connection plus a smartphone would have been useful.

Re:Dammit

[maxume]

I used a Virgin Mobile usb stick (Virgin is just a Sprint brand at this point), back in January it got saturated lots of evenings, in a somewhat rural area (but close enough to a medium size city).

Re:Dammit

[vijayiyer]

It's the "toss up a bunch of towers" that's extremely expensive and impossible in some locales, like San Francisco, where residents will fight tooth and nail over "radiation".

Re:Dammit

[Dyinobal]

If google or any one else did this they would get sued by everyone. Hell the big carriers sue anyone who tries to setup their own stuff in small rural areas. Granted how effective it wouldn't nearly as effective against someone as large as google as opposed small moneyless farmers or organizations.

Re:Dammit

[bws111]

Why wait for Google or someone else to do that? If you think that is such a great idea, put together a business plan that involves spending a ton of money to build towers, remaining price competitive with the existing carriers (so you can attract more than just the very few top bandwidth users), and overbuilding your network so that no user ever runs into a cap or throttling situation. Pitch that plan to investors, and have a go at it.

Re:Dammit

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why you start where people aren't crazy. Then you let your product speak for itself, and soon the small group of outspoken opponents will have to deal with a very annoyed majority.

Re:Dammit

[jmorris42]

And google would learn the same lesson. Wireless Internet is fraud. Everybody hypes it, everybody advertises people watching video and doing all sorts of high bitrate stuff. But once a net goes out of beta test there isn't enough actual bandwidth available on the chunks of spectrum devoted to 3/4G to feed the screaming hordes who sign up. And until they go seriously into microcell and put nodes on every light pole there never will be... and probably not even then because our voracious desire for ever faster will have outstripped even that. So everyone slaps bandwidth caps on to stop the YouTube viewers, the video calls and all that foolishness and the network limps and groans along under the impossible load that still remains.

It is math people. There just ain't enough airspace to stuff that many bit into. Wires and fibers aren't dead yet.

Re:Dammit

[Baloroth]

Or the mobile companies realize they have a near-monopoly on the market, the average consumer will never notice how much they are being gouged, and there is too large a price-of-entry for any real competition to exist, so they gouge their "customers" out the ass. Yes, there is a limit to wireless bandwith, but that isn't why it is so expensive. It is expensive for the same reason many wired ISPs have 5GB caps: because they can. And because the profit is so good they have no interest in actually expanding their network to properly service their customers.

Re:Dammit

[Endo13]

Why is it then that we don't hear about crap like this from places like Japan, where internet speeds and population density are both much higher?

Re:Dammit

[jmorris42]

> Yes, there is a limit to wireless bandwith, but that isn't why it is so expensive.

Yup, that is reason #1, #2 and #3. Because without caps people would use their wireless like they use their wired Internet. Hell, most people would just ditch their wired Internet in favor of tethering. After all, in most tech savvy households every member old enough to use they Internet is already packing a smartphone. It would just make sense. Except there isn't nearly enough bandwidth for that. Pricing is nature's way of forcing people to share a finite resource. Of course if people really were willing to fork over enough money, more spectrum, towers, whatever would become available to service that demand.

> It is expensive for the same reason many wired ISPs have 5GB caps: because they can

No, again it is sorta supply and demand. So long as it was just a few netheads slurping up extreme amounts of bandwidth the ISPs were willing to ignore it because they all felt the word "UNLIMITED" in the ad copy was more important. Heck, few customers would even be able to know how much Internet they were using so fear of hitting a cap and getting billed zillions of dollars in overages would have impeded uptake of the Internet. Nobody would have watched many YouTube videos. Nobody would have let anyone else touch their PC (remember Compuserve? Who would have let the neighbor's kid plop down in front of their CI$ account? Almost nobody.), the kids would have been strictly monitored, etc. And no explosive growth. People wouldn't have become addicted. But then Netflix and Hulu threatened to saturate the net with video. In direct competition to the bundles the ISPs (now down to the cable and phone companies in most markets) were offering. The combined threat to both their network infrastructure and cash flow became greater than their fear of customer reaction to caps.

And please remember, yes the cable company sells you 10+mbps service but on the understanding your use will be bursty, not constant. They oversubscribe their outbound link 10:1 or more. And don't bitch about that being unfair. They also sell real service intended for heavy use with an SLA promising you will get every last bit per second you are paying for, try pricing it sometime.

Re:Dammit

[Totenglocke]

So you just leave those people out and let the other 95% of the country enjoy the future while they get left behind.

Re:Dammit

[ColdWetDog]

Why is it then that we don't hear about crap like this from places like Japan, where internet speeds and population density are both much higher?

'Cause we can't read Japanese?

Re:Dammit

[Anonymous Coward]

Hm, it's strange that you have such problems with mobile internet. Here in Canada the technology works quite nicely. I just tested the internet speed tethered to my 3G phone: 1.62 Mb/sec. This is in one of the densest downtown areas in the country. Video is no problem here any time of the day, and tethering is free. It's not necessarily the technology that's the problem...

Re:Dammit

[jtownatpunk.net]

Yeah, this move takes a lot of nerve. Especially after Sprint's campaign where they bragged about the fact that Sprint has absolutely no caps or throttling on their 4G service. I'm not surprised. Just disappointed.

Re:Dammit

[spottedkangaroo]

The regular phone usage is still unlimited ... this is only the tethering that they're talking about.

Re:Dammit

[damnbunni]

I want to know why Sprint won't sell me unlimited 3G. I had Sprint. It was unlimited for a couple years. Then a 5GB cap came in.

So I switched to Virgin Mobile, which is a Sprint brand. Used Sprint's network. Was unlimited. But the modem sucked (it overheated) and eventually they ditched the unlimited plan.

So I switched to Millenicom. It's unlimited. I'm using my original Sprint modem. Millenicom is a Sprint reseller. It's ten dollars more than Sprint was. Been on this for a while, no problems.

If a Sprint reseller can sell me an unlimited data plan, why can't Sprint?

Sprint's still getting money off my service, but presumably they're getting less than when I was paying them directly.

I usually use about ten gigs a month, sometimes up to 30 or so if there's a good sale on downloadable games somewhere.

Re:Dammit

[Adriax]

You're right, mobile will never have as much bandwidth as fiber/copper, that's why I didn't try to claim it would.
My hope is someone big with a stake in getting everyone networked and using it (yup, google) jumps into the market and shakes things up to the point the big carriers shift towards mobile data as a utility. You have mobile to your handset, high speed to your home, voice and text via a VOIP provider, and you get a handset like any other piece of consumer electronics instead of bundled with an insanely overpriced plan.

Re:Dammit

[TheSpoom]

I am completely aware of what it covers and what it doesn't. What pisses me off is that this is an artificial restriction; bandwidth is bandwidth, and it shouldn't matter how you use it.

Re:Dammit

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't even tethering, it's using your phone as a WiFi hotspot. Tethering still doesn't have a cap, at least not at the moment.

Re:Dammit

[black soap]

Does this apply to the Overdrive? Previously, there was a monthly 3G cap, but no 4G cap.

Re:Dammit

[Hartree]

Could well be. But those I've talked to in the area haven't noticed a saturation problem as yet.

We 're 20 miles or so from a major university town, so there could be similar trouble depending on whether the data goes over the same connections.

Re:Dammit

[maxume]

Yeah, there was a large university in my nearby town. The congestion was frequently horrible (and it at least seemed to be on the network, not between the stick and the tower).

Re:Dammit

[spottedkangaroo]

I have the family everything data plan. There is no 3g cap, except for tethering and for their usb dongles, which is ridiculously low. Your plan may differ, but I have never had a cap on 3g or 2g or any other g. I have called to confirm this every year or so, and even did so barely a month ago. There is no cap. And the new caps only apply to the hotspot feature, which is so overpriced no reasonable person would get it anyway. It's meant to milk cash off wealthy travelers, near as I can tell.

Re:Dammit

[bryan1945]

"...SLA promising you will get every last bit per second you are paying for, try pricing it sometime."
Don't tell them that, the poor fellows' heads will explode.

In terms of generosity, perhaps...

[gweilo8888]

Call me paranoid, but I have this sneaking suspicion that this might have something to do with AT&T trying to buy T-Mobile."

Indeed. If they'd already successfully bought T-Mobile, the cap wouldn't be anywhere near so "generous".

Also

[TheSpoom]

The spokesperson did not clarify what happens once the 5GB cap is reached, however an earlier report indicated that customers will be billed $0.05 per megabyte over 5GB if their usage goes over the cap in a single billing period.

$50 per GB overage. I bet they don't even try to tell you until you get your bill either.

Re:Also

[NatasRevol]

This is probably a cheaper option then.

http://store.truconnect.com/devices/truconnect-mifi.html

Re:Also

[SomePgmr]

$5/mo + .039/mb * 5120 mb = ~$205.00

Not sure that's the least expensive option.

Re:Also

[KiloByte]

The pricing will be quoted in a dark corner of a far subpage on their web page, done in Flash to make sure you can't use a search engine or hyperlinks.

Can you guess how much T-Mobile (Heyah) charges for 7 MB of data roaming? Above $200 -- fortunately, I had "only" that much on a prepaid plan. They do advertise prominently their roaming prices for EU and US, but hide the rates for the rest of Europe as much as they can. Would you expect these could possibly be several orders of magnitude higher? Neither did I.

Obviously, you don't use mobile networks from abroad if you don't have to. I happened to use an ATM machine, and minutes later got a message from the bank about a massive withdrawal. It later turned out to be faulty -- a bug in formatting that I don't blame the bank that much for (errors happen). Obviously royally scared, I immediately visit the bank's page (with a regular browser, they have special apps for iPhone and Android only). It turns out to not work with Firefox Mobile, Maemo MiniB, ancient Chromium nor ELinks -- I succeeded on the 5th try, with Opera. Had only two other installed browsers left :p. Sadly, Opera had no adblock and the bank's page has several big Flash animations, getting me to 7MB used just to check the balance. Great.

Naturally, T-Mobile's customer service says these rates are not an error.

Thus, what you say is not an exception, it's the standard operating procedure.

Re:Also

[Cyberax]

These rates are pretty much normal.

International data roaming == robbery.

Re:Also

[Svartalf]

$50/GB?? Wow... Verizon's charging $10/GB over the cap (Basically, they're billing at $10/GB and making you pay for 5 or 10 up-front - if you buy the 10GB slot, they give you a $20 discount...)

Still, can't get Sprint out where I am...only Verizon and AT&T serve the area I _need_ wireless Internet in. T-Mo's not an option either. I'm in one of their data and voice gaps.

No ATT you cannot buy T-Mobile

[Moheeheeko]

It'll make out network and services look bad by comparison!

Re:No ATT you cannot buy T-Mobile

[Doc Ruby]

No, Sprint's network and services already look bad. But Sprint is cheap - compared to AT&T. T-Mobile is cheaper. AT&T is buying T-Mobile to eliminate the cheap competition. Which might be good for Sprint, driving cheapo subscribers into Sprint's cheap(er) contracts. But that's supply/demand competition without a cartel. In a cartel, they compete not based on price or quality, but on lockins and infrastructure screwovers. With a cheapo T-Mobile as an ally downmarket, Sprint will be easier for AT&T and Verizon to screw with, inside the boundaries of their cartel. Which is why Verizon is supporting AT&T's killing T-Mobile: anything to reduce the competition, even if it helps your remaining competitors screw you worse.

In monopolistic markets, competition is nonlinear - and practically non-Euclidean.

They are acting like the cable co used to act with

[Joe_Dragon]

They are acting like the cable co used to act with routers where they said no or wanted you to pay more to use more then one system.

Stop this BS

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hi, would you like to subscribe to our unlimited bandwidth plan"
"Sure!"
"Hello again, I see you've been using some of our bandwidth, I'm afraid when we said 'unlimited' what we actually mean was 'severely and punitively limited' so your going to have to either stop or pay us a fuck ton more money"

Why the hell are corporations worldwide allowed to keep pulling this shit? If it's not a straight bait-and-switch then it's using a rather unconventional definition of unlimited, and every single time they are allowed to get away with it.

Re:Stop this BS

[Lunix Nutcase]

This is only when using the hotspot addon. The data plan is still unlimited otherwise.

Re:Stop this BS

[pdfsmail]

Holy shit Im gonna have a heart attack.. I thought I was the only person on earth who thought this same thing.... Someone needs to put their foot down on these companies, they are all using similar tactics to make a system that is owned by a few companies, but act like a single monopoly by sharing the same bad ideas. No one will step up though.. it would be nice but everyone thinks someone else will do it or its not worth it..... I just need power to do it..

Re:Stop this BS

[imric]

Unlimited as long as you only use those ones and zeroes the way Sprint says you can.

Re:Stop this BS

[tmosley]

Not worldwide. This is only in America, baby!

Re:Stop this BS

[Nadaka]

It is unlimited... for limited values of unlimited.

Re:Stop this BS

[PopeScott]

They are Jobs Makers you socialist savage.

Re:Stop this BS

[jmorris42]

Seriously. I was in the local mall last month and, I shit you not, saw a big sign saying "Unlimited Voice, Text and Data*" with very small print saying "* 2GB limit on data". This word you keep using, I do not think it means what you think it means. Wish I could remember which outfit was doing it now but I remember pointing it out to the wife and laughing loudly enough it annoyed the weasel manning the kiosk.

Where is the police? Don't they patrol the mall? None of them bother to notice obvious, blatant fraud?

Re:Stop this BS

[jader3rd]

It sounds like it's still unlimited, as long as it's all coming from your phone. Now I agree with you that they should call unlimited unlimited and shouldn't be able to call anything besides unlimited unlimited; this is just unlimited except for within certain limitations.

Re:Stop this BS

[fahrbot-bot]

...using a rather unconventional definition of unlimited...

Like Netflix (and others) - unlimited DVDs per month, one at a time.
Hmm... Thirty days / (minimum) two day turn around per disc = 15 discs / month max. Hardly "unlimited".

People are suckers for advertising.

Re:Stop this BS

[Anonymous Coward]

The true beauty of this one is that they have an advertising campaign specifically calling out their competitors on this and claiming they are different. I'm sure that the technicalities are all in place so what they say is true but misleading. I love when companies basically just embrace evil and deception...good stuff.

Re:Stop this BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Bait and switch would mean that they offered you unlimited bandwidth and you never got it. They did provide that product. They have decided to alter the deal for the hotspot addon. Previously set contracts will be honored, and when your contract ends you may leave. The fact that there is nowhere better to go is sad.

Re:Stop this BS

[Anonymous Coward]

"Why the hell are corporations worldwide allowed to keep pulling this shit?"

Because they use institutions we are trained to perceive as legitimate to remain in power:

http://mises.org/daily/5618
http://mises.org/daily/5629

Corporations like Sprint will thrive so long as we support the policies that protect them. This consequence cannot be avoided while such state privilege still exists.

Re:Stop this BS

[maztuhblastah]

Not worldwide. This is only in America, baby!

And in the UK -- at least for O2 customers.

Re:Stop this BS

[darkshadow88]

You read that sign wrong. What it said was "2GB of high-speed data". They (T-Mobile, clearly) don't limit how much you can use, but once you cross 2GB, you will be dropped to 2G speeds.

Re:Stop this BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Not worldwide. This is only in America, baby!

Which is why I plan to get out of here as soon as I pay off my student loans.^^^

Re:Stop this BS

[darkshadow88]

You're making the all-too-common error of conflating "unlimited" and "infinite". "Unlimited" means the provider is not imposing a limit on how much you can use, but you are still constrained by the infrastructure involved--in your Netflix (Qwikster) example, that constraint would be the postal system. In the case of streaming, the constraint is the (e.g.) 720 hours in a 30-day month (you obviously can't watch 5,000,000 hours of content in 720 hours). In the case of Internet service, that constraint is the speed of your connection (there's only so much data you can download given your provisioned bitrate, congestion on the network, and your network interface).

If, no matter how much you use, the provider will not cut you off or tell you that you used too much, then you're getting unlimited. If you want infinite, you'll need to make the speed of light infinite. In this universe, c is the limit, no matter what you do.

I leave you with a Fawlty Towers quotation:

Basil: "The sky's the limit!"
Sybyl: "22 rooms is the limit."

Re:Stop this BS

[Prof.Phreak]

they only do this 'cause bandwidth is defying common sense and becoming more expensive with time. only that can explain why the price of service hasn't gone down in so many years...and we're getting less and less every year.

Re:Stop this BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, aren't you're doing it wrong?

Leave NOW, how are they going to collect on your US student loans when you've set up residence overseas? Don't worry, the Federal government guaranteed them - Ben and company will create some new money to pay them off.

Re:Stop this BS

[penguinbrat]

It's a play on words is all it is, "unlimited bandwidth" doesn't clarify *what* is unlimited regarding the bandwidth. I worked for a company once where the CEO purposely used this same play on words, only in the fine print of the TOS it defined 'unlimited bandwidth' as using up as much as the 100mb pipe you could at any given time, the 'total' amount of bandwidth used over a monthly period was a different story all together and *not* unlimited.

Re:Stop this BS

[cbope]

Land of the Free, where Free actually means corporations are free to ass-rape you for anything they want.

Also known as the Invisible Hand of the Free Market which has the indecency of reaching into your pockets to relieve you of your money but without the hand-job.

Re:Stop this BS

[prometx42]

You speak with alarming accuracy and vision Anonymous Coward, you should consider marking that with your "X"...

Also, would it be the Federal Communications Commission to whom we would express our concerns on this? Because, I for one, am ready to raise a stink...

Re:Stop this BS

[bryan1945]

See, your problem is that you are using too many 1s. The 0s are free, but the 1s add up real quick like. I can sell you my Zeroizer 20KT that will wipe out 65% of your 1s (works 70% of the time 100%!) and converts them to the free 0s! Only $19.95 + S&H, but act now and get a free BitScrubber Elite- guaranteed that all your bits are in tip-top freshness! Only pay a minor* S&H fee!

(*Fee is $42.75)

Re:Stop this BS

[bryan1945]

Would be interesting if someone lived close to a distribution center and handed in their disc in person. Wonder if they could get someone to dig up their next disc right there and then.

jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Joe_Dragon]

jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law and use a 3rd party hotspot app.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not an iphone. root it...

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Anonymous Coward]

However breaking Sprint's TOS while using Sprint isn't ok with the law.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Anonymous Coward]

My phone comes with a built-in hotspot app, but I'm on T-Mo, so no cap (Unless the AT&T-Mo merger happens, then all bets are likely off.)

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Anonymous Coward]

Rooting is legal, a 3rd party hotspot app is theft of service.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[rhook]

How is it possible to steal a service you already have? All you are doing is enabling a feature on your phone, perfectly legal. Hotspot add-on plans are nothing more than a means to double charge you for the same data service you already have.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[ohmygodatoyrobot]

That's why I paid the extra for the tethering service.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Anonymous Coward]

It is, actually, just that it's OK for Sprint to terminate your service as a result. You don't sign the TOS, you sign the contract.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[spammeister]

It's just not OK with Sprint (ToS have been shown in the past to not actually be lagally binding) I'm sure the law has better shit to do... But then again it is the US, so my common sense Canadian knowledgebase may be lacking in Reaganomics.

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a private contract matter, not a criminal violation!

Re:jailbreak the phone that is ok under the law

[schnell]

Hotspot add-on plans are nothing more than a means to double charge you for the same data service you already have.

I think your perspective makes sense. However, I can tell you how the cellphone companies look at it:

"I bought a ticket to an all-you-can-eat buffet for $X. But I brought along a big Tupperware bucket to more food into also. How DARE those bastards make me pay $X + $Y?"

Not saying it's right or wrong, but telling you what the rationalization is for tethering plans...

How much does it cost now?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do customers still have to pay the $29,99 per month for now limited data?

Re:How much does it cost now?

[tompaulco]

Well, let me see if I have the math right. I think you would divide $29.99 by (infinity/5), which would make it effectively 0. So the new price is $0 for 5 GB of hotspot usage. I think that is reasonable.

5 gig cap

[Anonymous Coward]

29.95 worth of useless.

DIY

[mfwitten]

Do we really need these telcos anyway? Wouldn't it be possible to establish a network of cheap transceivers throughout neighborhoods and cities for at least the purpose of carrying voice and video communications? Then population centers could be connected by a few larger transceivers jointly managed by both communities. Heck, I'd bet we could implement higher fidelity audio data too.

Caps are arbitrary limitations for the purpose of stealing as much profit as possible from consumers; these communications companies who put on caps are basically saying: "Actually, we aren't any good at communications."

[Disclaimer: I don't really know what I'm talking about, which I'm sure someone will point out.]

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

"Caps are arbitrary limitations for the purpose of stealing as much profit as possible from consumers;"

That's ridiculous. Capacity will always be finite and so there will always be some kind of cap. In the past connections were so slow that you could get away without an actual transfer cap. Now, not so much. All they're doing is putting an actual number on the cap instead of selectively enforcing some ill defined limit.

If you think you can set up your own cellular network in competition, go for it. "A network of cheap transceivers" isn't cheap when you need to cover a whole city, and neither is a city to city link. And what are you going to do when someone comes along and maxes out your network 24-7? I guess you could impose some sort of limits....

Re:DIY

[hawkeyeMI]

I keep hoping for this but I understand it's rather complex to make such a network function well.

Re:DIY

[sohmc]

I don't deny that bandwidth/capacity/etc is a finite resource...but you have to admit when a company says "unlimited", you think, "wow! I can use as much as I want!"

Back in the bad old days of broadband, they advertised "UNLIMITED!" without restrictions and with no mouse print.

Some companies still do this, but then they hide the language in their 12 page TOS.

If it's not unlimited, don't say it is.

Re:DIY

[icebraining]

How is the amount of data limited? Is it a resource that has to be mined or collected?

Bandwidth (as in, data transferred per unit of time) is limited by the capacity of the network. Amount of data isn't.

What they're trying to do is limit bandwidth (which is grossly oversold) by limiting your ability to use it. Nothing to do with it being finite.

Re:DIY

[icebraining]

That's basically what they're doing in Afghanistan: http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/06/26/0322238/afghans-build-open-source-internet-from-trash

But I bet latency alone kills a bunch of applications (VoIP, gaming, etc).

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

Exactly. The problem is not with caps, the problem is implying there are no caps. Everybody (in the US) seems to get mad when a company announces they're imposing a cap, but all they're doing is being honest about something that was always true.

My internet plan is advertised with a speed and an amount of data, both per month. I think it's overpriced, but it is honest.

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

Take the bandwidth of a network (measured in bits per second) and multiply by some customary amount of time (say a month). See that number? That's the maximum number of bits you can squeeze through the network in that time period. It's finite. Limited. It really is bandwidth, just measured over a different time period, but we like to call it an amount because the time period is so long we don't think of it as a rate.

However you want to think of it, it is limited.

Re:DIY

[icebraining]

That's not a real limit. It's a useless number.

Let's say it's 10 Petabytes (completely random number). If the users only use 5 Petabytes during 29 days of the month, can they use the other 5 on the last day? No, because the real limit is the bandwidth at each moment. And if there's a month in which they only use 8, can they save the last 2 for the next month? No. Because there's nothing to be 'saved'. Either it's used or it isn't.

Re:DIY

[Shadowmist]

Do we really need these telcos anyway? Wouldn't it be possible to establish a network of cheap transceivers throughout neighborhoods and cities for at least the purpose of carrying voice and video communications? Then population centers could be connected by a few larger transceivers jointly managed by both communities. Heck, I'd bet we could implement higher fidelity audio data too.

Caps are arbitrary limitations for the purpose of stealing as much profit as possible from consumers; these communications companies who put on caps are basically saying: "Actually, we aren't any good at communications."

[Disclaimer: I don't really know what I'm talking about, which I'm sure someone will point out.]

To be succinct and precise, No it wouldn't. Telecommunications more than just stringing up a bunch of routers, it's a massive infrastructure undertaking, plain and simple.

Re:DIY

[nd]

See the MondoNet project for an implementation of this idea.

Re:DIY

[Doc Ruby]

If there were a VOIP phone app for Android that worked over Sprint 3G but handed off seamlessly (in-call, no disconnect) to WiFi when in range, then we would have an alternative to Sprint's network lockin monopoly. And these price gouging limits would become pretty scarce. Competition that isn't just a cartel will do that.

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

Sure, so you could randomly limit people's bandwidth. Oh, the network is busy right now and you're historically a heavy user so we're going to throttle you. Because THAT goes over so well, and is definitely fair and cannot be abused.

A monthly transfer cap is a fair way of doing it. It's not arbitrary and you know in advance how much you're going to get (and can complain if you don't get it). If a company wanted to be really fair maybe they could give you some bandwidth after you'd hit your limit, as it was available, but once you were past the cap you're the first in line to get throttled.

Depending on where the traffic is going and what the transit agreement is, capacity might not be as free as you think either. The ISP may need to pay transit fees.

Re:DIY

[Dhalka226]

And this apparently universal fact was discovered by Sprint... yesterday? A customer will literally go to bed on October 1st paying $29.99/mo for unlimited data and wake up October 2nd paying $29.99/mo for 5GB of data. That's a huge fucking difference, well beyond the realm of any kind of feasible oversight or miscalculation and identifies it squarely as exactly what it is: Bait-and-switch.

But you know, that aside the truly annoying thing is less the existence of limits as the limits themselves. If tethering has any particular value to a consumer, 5GB is not likely to. And god forbid you go over that arbitrary limit you woke up to find, because then you'll be forced to pay 10 times more per MB-- you know, for your convenience. Honestly, the only thing that could top this off is if their solution to let you track your usage forced you to go online through the tether to eat more of your plan.

So let's see, we have a bait and switch that leads directly (do not pass Go) to price gouging. Yup, I must be in America.

Re:DIY

[icebraining]

Sure, so you could randomly limit people's bandwidth. Oh, the network is busy right now and you're historically a heavy user so we're going to throttle you. Because THAT goes over so well, and is definitely fair and cannot be abused.

Uh, there already was a cap on bandwidth. You might have heard of it, it's measured in k/mbps. I have a cap of 10mbps, for example. It's also called "speed" by some.

And why the fuck would it be random? That makes no sense.

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

Sure, it's a dirty trick. But not because they're imposing a cap, but because they didn't tell you about the cap in the first place. It's like your electric company charging you a flat rate and then cutting off the power if you use too much, where "too much" is defined arbitrarily.

No, Sprint probably didn't discover it overnight. They're probably getting the iPhone soon and they realized that their network is going to melt unless they impose some limits. 5 GB for tethering isn't even close to useless. Many (most?) people could get away with using that as their home connection (I have a friend using a 1 GB cell plan). Many of the rest would be just fine using it for any mobile (i.e. away from home and wifi) needs.

Re:DIY

[Anonymous Coward]

what are you going to do when someone comes along and maxes out your network 24-7?

Size your backhauls such that 1 tower cannot use more than 5% of core capacity (for 20+ towers) and configure the tower to not let one user use more than 5% of the tower's network capacity. Granted, you'd actually have to build a decent network, but that would take care of "problem" users without having to give them a cap. It's also compatible with network neutrality since all traffic is treated equally.

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

Random as in there's a cap but it's arbitrarily enforced. That's what companies that sell "unlimited" connections do. Try using your connection at 10 mb/s 24-7 for a while and see what happens.

Requiring the monthly average and the burst speed to be the same is ridiculous. You'd either end up with hugely expensive connections if you allocated enough bandwidth for everyone to use it to capacity, or unnecessarily throttled connections. The vast majority of people, even heavy users, don't use their connection to capacity at all times.

Re:DIY

[Svartalf]

And, if you knew how it all was strung together, you'd realise that they aren't always doing that infrastructure in the most efficient manner- or that they're putting the right amounts of effort into the same. In many cases, the wireless data's expensive, because they don't have their infrastructure done up right in the first place. Everyone keeps talking about limited bandwidth over the air- in many cases, they've got more than enough, it's the backhaul that's the problem with "the bandwidth". I know a bit about the nature of this having worked with a company that has traffic monitor hardware in many of the major telecoms. They've not done up their infrastructure to handle that which they're currently offering- they've slapped 3G data on top of a network that was fully optimized for voice traffic done up as SS7 type data (Most of the "improvements" in network infrastructure all equate to SONET and SS7 layered in on top of TCP/IP or expansions of that same thinking...) which isn't designed with TCP/IP type networking in mind.

Caps are something in-between what the GP poster implies and what you imply. Seriously.

Re:DIY

[Anonymous Coward]

Everybody (in the US) seems to get mad when a company announces they're imposing a cap, but all they're doing is being honest about something that was always true.

I guess I'm not part of "Everybody". When Time Warner Cable announce caps, the level announced was something I'd exceeded multiple times. They were raising the price of my service. I cancelled the next day.

Re:DIY

[bryan1945]

FCC: "Hi Mr. Witten, could we see your broadcast license please?"
There probably is some unlicensed spectrum, like the ISM bands, but I don't know their capabilities.

Re:DIY

[bryan1945]

Same here, with Comcast (ugh). Pricey as all get out, but fast and a nice large cap (250GB). They even post your usage on your account page. Surprising how hard it is to use 250GB in a month (I tried once). A bit over 8GB a day, every day for a month

Re:DIY

[bryan1945]

You are also forgetting the other end of the connection; the ISP has to pay the long-haul guys, and they are definitely not cheap.

Re:DIY

[ceoyoyo]

Yup. I've got a little iPhone app that can scrape the usage information from my providers' site and give me how much I've used, when the rollover date is, how much data per day I've got left and whether I'm on pace to come in under the cap or over.

it's 15659bps, nothing more

[KiloByte]

Ok, so please remind me why are they allowed to market these speeds as anything above 15.6kbit they are?

We need a law that says burst speeds must be quoted no more prominently than the long-term one.

Re:it's 15659bps, nothing more

[ohmygodatoyrobot]

Telcos have deep pocketed lobbyists, consumers don't.

Re:it's 15659bps, nothing more

[geekoid]

Actually, consumers have several.

Re:it's 15659bps, nothing more

[ohmygodatoyrobot]

With deep pockets? No.

Re:it's 15659bps, nothing more

[swillden]

With deep pockets? No.

Collectively, consumers have vastly deeper pockets than any corporation could ever dream of, and they hold the ultimate power over regulation -- the vote. The problem is ultimately just that not enough of them care.

Re:it's 15659bps, nothing more

[Anonymous Coward]

I get 30+ mbits on my 4g verizon phone constantly in Nashville

Important question: get out of my Sprint contract?

[ohmygodatoyrobot]

I have an Android with all the bells and whistles and use tethering all the time. Can I break my Sprint contract because of this?

Zero bps.

[Xeleema]

I have a Samsung Epic 4G and haven't been able to get the HotSpot to work (tethered or not). Ever. Google, forums, and IRC have all pointed to signs of a "disabled" (read: Will always generate an error) feature. If all the cellphone companies are pimps, at least Sprint beats on me less and only takes HALF my money.

Re:Zero bps.

[Solandri]

No major carrier offers you the hotspot feature for free (even though Android natively supports it if the carriers hadn't blocked it). You have to either root the phone, or pay the carrier's hotspot fee. In Sprint's case it was $29.99/mo with unlimited bandwidth. Now apparently it's $29.99/mo with a 5 GB data cap.

The hotspot feature works fine if you root your phone. Don't use Sprint's hotspot app - it looks specifically for a hotspot plan. Download WiFi Tether instead. There are some issues turning it on with 4G enabled - turn it on with only 3G enabled, then turn on 4G and it works fine. And AFAIK Sprint's regular unlimited phone data plans are still unlimited.

Re:Zero bps.

[427_ci_505]

Android 2.2 onwards has hot spot and usb tethering built in, no?

Seems to work on my device.

Re:They are acting like the cable co used to act w

[Dynedain]

DSL providers used to do this too.

The only problem is that at least Cable ISPs were in competition with DSL providers, and for a while there were a relatively many to choose from.

In the US cellphone market, you have essentially 4 providers (possibly soon to be 3) with the same data-cap policies.

Getting ready for iPhone 5 maybe..?

[Amiga500_Rulez]

I wonder if that's the real reason.

I am one of those faggots

[Anonymous Coward]

that currently wastes 29.99 a month for the convenience of a wifi hotspot whereever I go. Thanks to this announcement, I will properly jailbreak my phone, and get the internets whereever I goes for frees. Thanks Sprint. Your faggyness, has caused me to choose to be a little less faggy, and more geeky.

Re:I am one of those faggots

[Shadowmist]

Save that the technology to find you out is getting better by the day. Part of the blame goes to the data hogs who insisted on abusing this feature when it wasn't blocked. You know who you are.

so that worked in the first place?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have always gotten such a crappy signal where ever I am anyway with any recent cell phone its like saying I can only hunt 10 sharks a month in the forest.

Dear Spring Customers: Take Your Phone AND Sprint

[Anonymous Coward]

and blend them!!!

Yours In Osh,
Kilgore Trout

P.S. : Alfred E. Neuman For President

Re:Hehe

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Qrpbqr guvf frperg zrffntr naq jva n frafr bs fzht, frys-fngvfsnpgvba!

Re:They are acting like the cable co used to act w

[tmosley]

It sure would be nice if they would allow some more competition. Too bad the little guys can't afford e911, cost of compliance with FCC regulations, etc. If they didn't have to pay that, we might have a situation more like the rest of the developed world.

Looks like they can't use that commercial anymore

[sohmc]

For reference
I wish companies would stop using the word "unlimited" when they really mean "limited". Same thing goes toward coupons that say "No limitations!" but when you read the fine print it says, "Not for gift cards, furniture, clothes, anything we sell, really."

Re:Brilliant Analysis

[Anonymous Coward]

So, the change of this service doesn't change a different and distinct service. Brilliant Analysis!

Did _you_ even bother to read it? The service is a $29.99 addon which _was_ unlimited. Now it isn't. Facts are stubborn things I know...

Re:They are acting like the cable co used to act w

[Anonymous Coward]

Right now I'm using MetroPCS, I have unlimited LTE (although it's only around 3Mbit speeds in my area), talk and text for $50/month. They don't offer a tethering plan but that is easily fixed by rooting your phone.

Sprint is just as evil as Verizon and AT&T

[rrohbeck]

In other news, a wireless hotspot is a standard feature of Android if your vendor hasn't disabled it and several networks (e.g. T-Mobile) offer unlimited data plans at a reasonable price.

Re:Sprint is just as evil as Verizon and AT&T

[jmorris42]

And refuses to sign up customers in my zip code. T-Mobile: no bars. Verizon: Evil Incarnate. Sprint: Meh. AT&T: Big, Stupid, thinks they are still The Phone Company. Everyone else: Buys tower access from one of the other four.

I rarely use a cell so I'm currently on a dinky little prepaid outfit called h2o wireless. Cheap if you don't actually use a phone a lot. Throw $10 or $20 at em and the phone is live for 90 days or until you burn off the credit at $0.14/minute for voice or $0.05/text. And they sell you a SIM card you can put into whatever you want which sealed the deal for me. I have currently have mine in very small android phone. Decent PDA, better in some ways than the old Handspring Visor it replaced, not better in others. A month without worrying about the battery was the best feature of the Visor, no android device can offer that though. Heck, no device with an always on radio is going to offer that.

Re:Sprint is just as evil as Verizon and AT&T

[Doc Ruby]

My HTC 4G Android isn't going anywhere except Sprint, since that's the only network it will connect to. Sprint has of course locked it, which is how they're implementing this data cap and get to charge $30 extra a month to enable it.

The real question is what Android config/SW can do it anyway, despite Sprint's terms - which they're changing unilaterally now.

Re:Sprint is just as evil as Verizon and AT&T

[Anonymous Coward]

No, they offer 'unlimited' data at full speed up to 5gb per month (10 if you pay $60) then throttle your speed after that.

Re:Sprint is just as evil as Verizon and AT&T

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile isn't unlimited. They throttle at 2GB.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[Anonymous Coward]

I have an Android with all the bells and whistles and use tethering all the time.

Can I break my Sprint contract because of this?

You should be able too if you are paying for the tethering capabilities. This a modification tot he terms of service therefore you should be able to leave the contract with no penalties.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[froggymana]

I have an Android with all the bells and whistles and use tethering all the time.

Can I break my Sprint contract because of this?

You probably could. But who are you going to move to then? Verizon? They cap normal data as well, where sprint still has unlimited. Att? They have lower caps than Verizon.

You could root your phone and wireless tether for free.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[rhook]

I'm pretty sure that anytime there is a contract change made you have the option of ending it without penalty.

Due to the IPhone on Sprint

[Anonymous Coward]

This is because of the fact that Sprint will soon get the iPhone, to be released in a few weeks.

This is just stupid

[certain death]

Back in the day (yep, I am old!) before there were cell phones in every empty hand happily clicking away at the mobile web, facebook, youtube, etc., there were no cell phones. I believe it was AT&T, or someone who worked for them who designed the first cell phone. Why on earth don't they invest the same time and money they did coming up with the goddamn things in the first place to develop a better technology to make the damn things scale better? It is just plain stupid to keep plugging in more antennas hoping you can keep adding millions of users to an infrastructure that was developed 30-40 years ago. It don't work for high speed internet access, and it won't work for them. AT&T! HEY! You are _going_ to have to spend some fucking money, get over it bitches!

Re:This is just stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

Stupid is NOT adding more antennas.
Draw large circles now draw small circles.
Do you see the solution?

Re:This is just stupid

[StormReaver]

Why on earth don't they invest the same time and money they did coming up with the goddamn things in the first place to develop a better technology to make the damn things scale better?

Because you keep giving them your money with the technology they already have. What incentive are you giving them to improve?

Re:This is just stupid

[certain death]

No, I don't. I haven't paid for a cell phone in over 10 years... Now, my employer does, they give them LOTS of money! :o)

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[Glendale2x]

Normally yes, once they change the terms you have 30 days to read them over and think about it. If you don't cancel before then it's assumed you agreed. In the past I've received a notice in the mail about any changes in the terms.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[ohmygodatoyrobot]

Thank you. I was a Sprint "Premier" customer until they got rid of that and I'm paying out the nose for this thing, the bill is around $118/month without insurance on the phone. I want to shop around a bit. It's just ridiculous how they railroad consumers.

Just in time!

[__aailrp9629]

You can blame this on Sprint's roll-out of the iPhone 5, coming next month.

How does this affect the current Sprint commercial

[Khyber]

You know, the one that claims that Sprint gives unlimited data on their network vs every other company, which is currently playing right now on my TV?

Re:Looks like they can't use that commercial anymo

[icebraining]

To be fair, I didn't see anything in that ad about unlimited tethering, and the rest is still unlimited.

no locking out 3th party stuff is antitrust

[Joe_Dragon]

no locking out 3th party stuff and makeing you pay for the 1th party app is antitrust

Re:They are acting like the cable co used to act w

[geminidomino]

Do they still use DPI to get between your phone and music/image files so that you can't DL them without going through their shitty store?

Re:They are acting like the cable co used to act w

[webdog314]

Except that the cable company CAN add more hardware to increase their throughput, the cell companies have a fixed amount of bandwidth to slice up at any given time. In higher density areas or at peak usage times, more towers wouldn't help.

Re:How does this affect the current Sprint commerc

[majormer]

You know, the one that claims that Sprint gives unlimited data on their network vs every other company, which is currently playing right now on my TV?

I guess this directly conflicts with the commercial, that stresses that when they say Unlimited, they mean it! They do highlight that the other companys cap bandwidth, but Sprint goes on and on without slowing down or anything. At least the other companies aren't saying one thing and doing the opposite.

Re:Hehe

[Ironhandx]

Jul gunax lbh. Gur fzht frys-fngvfsnpgvba vf uvtuyl nccrnyvat.

How is this reasonable?

[supersat]

Clear offers unlimited mobile 4G Internet for not much more per month, AND they use the same 4G network as Sprint! (Sprint is a major investor in Clearwire.)

If Clear starts capping usage at 5GB, that'll be the end of their business model (since they advertise themselves as an alternative to cable or DSL).

Re:How is this reasonable?

[Doc Ruby]

How much does unlimited 4G on Clear cost? Is it available in NYC?

Re:How is this reasonable?

[Anonymous Coward]

NIMS. that's what.

Retroactive? What about Buffered Browsing?

[Nom du Keyboard]

Is this retroactive to all existing customers? That wasn't clear. If so, that sux like illegal bait and switch scams sux.

Also, if there is no limit in downloading data to the phone itself, and the phone can link to other devices by WiFi, Bluetooth, and/or USB cable, what if you have one app that downloads data to your phone memory card, and a second app running asynchronously reads that memory card and moves data out to other local devices. And the process can be reversed to send data from other devices through this NVRAM buffer out to the Internet. Functionally equivalent to tethering, but not tethering as defined by the phone company who says that you can download unlimited data to your phone itself? Yes it shows how ridiculous these artificial restrictions are, but I'll bet (IANAL) that it would hold up in court because it only downloads data to the phone. What you do with that data afterwards is completely up to you.

Re:Retroactive? What about Buffered Browsing?

[Richard_at_work]

Judges hate smart arse "work arounds" to problems such as these, your "solution" would certainly get thrown out as in breach of the TOS because your approach is nothing more than acting as a convoluted gateway for network communications for other devices - just the same as using tethering without paying for the tethering plan.

Re:Retroactive? What about Buffered Browsing?

[Compaqt]

>Judges hate smart arse "work arounds"

I have no doubt what you're saying is true.

The only thing is it annoys me that they only hate workarounds in the case of a small guy. If it's a huge corp "working around" small problems like not even having the paperwork for a house they're foreclosing, there's no problem. Etc.

New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[Nom du Keyboard]

I'm not in favor of new regulations, but I'd support this one. Quite simple: BIG TEXT overrules small text. If you say UNLIMITED DATA with or without an asterisk, even if the small text says 2GB or 5GB or any GB cap, it doesn't apply. Simple as that.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[Anonymous Coward]

How about this rule: if you're too stupid to read both the big AND small text you are not qualified to purchase ANYTHING.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[PRMan]

You can't say "Creamy" if it doesn't have milk in it, but you can say "Unlimited" when it's limited. This country's nuts.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[Tancred]

How about people who don't think things through shouldn't post, even anonymously?

The small text is already at overwhelming levels, and I seriously doubt there is a person in this thread that read every word of a mobile contract before signing. And even if we did waste hours reading (or days understanding) the contract, carriers could just keep adding to it until it's impenetrable again.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[darkshadow88]

I don't see anybody falsely advertising unlimited data. In the case of T-Mobile, your speed goes down once you reach a threshold, but it's still not limited (that said, the speed once you cross that threshold is pretty terrible). If we're going to make new regulations, we should be regulating a minimum acceptable bitrate for unlimited data. An unlimited service at 1kbps would be unlimited, but I think we can all agree that it wouldn't be usable. T-Mobile's throttling falls into the "just barely usable" category.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[penguinbrat]

The problem with that is the wording, even now they offer the UNLIMITED DATA plans and they are for real - they just don't mention or clarify, that even though you have unlimited data, you will have to pay for anything over X amount - regardless that you have to pay for it, it's still unlimited although so is the cost. The UNLIMITED DATA plans can also mean that in any 1 hour period you can download as much data as you want, the next hour however you may be severely throttled but you do still have the UNLIMITED DATA.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[Anonymous Coward]

PARENT IS WIN

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[Anonymous Coward]

Verizon used to call 5gb Unlimited for years until they lost a class action suit.

They only did real unlimited until they got the IPhone to compete w/ ATT/SBC's unlimited IPhone plan.

Shortly after getting the IPhone, they killed unlimited.

Re:New Pro-Consumer Regulation

[Svartalf]

Which is why, when combined with the inability to expand the cap (at least with Verizon, you have several tiers...) I simply passed on them, even though they had the highest speeds in the area I was in when I was contracting in Colorado.

Unlimited nights and weekends?

[Ichijo]

The caps are really only needed to prevent the network from getting overloaded during peak periods. The caps don't need to apply during times of low demand.

An indiscriminate cap is a pretty clumsy way to prevent network saturation. So give us free unlimited nights and weekends.

in the mean time in Europe

[citizenr]

I get FREE cellular UMTS 256/256 internet in Poland. No caps, only downside is forced reconnect every 60 minutes.

Crappy headline ...

[damn_registrars]

The headline could be read to say that Sprint is monitoring how much data their customers download to their phones when using other hot spots, while the reality is that they are controlling how much data you can send through one of their mobile hotspots.

While the latter makes more sense, you can't rule out the possibility of the former when talking about a company like Sprint.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[Shadowmist]

Can you break your contract? Sure.... you'll pay the penalty for doing so of course. You're still going to need phone/data service from someone, and by now, THEY ALL CAP.

Re:How does this affect the current Sprint commerc

[Anonymous Coward]

This is only tether data. They still don't give a crap how much I use my handset. Stupid arbitrary distinction to make from a technological standpoint, but that sums up american telcos.

Frankly I am surprised sprints held out this long. A corporation like this looks at competitors raping customers and call it "loss" if they aren't rogering their customers assholes as thoroughly as legally allowable.

Wow - expensive

[Cimexus]

I knew American cellular plans were costly, but holy crap that is expensive. A $30 add-on just to tether!?

That's ~more~ than I pay per month for my ENTIRE PHONE PLAN (calls, texts, data). I can use the included data in any way I want, tethered or otherwise, no add-on required. And I live in Australia which is not exactly renowned for being cheap when it comes to telecommunications...

I'm actually moving to live in the US next year and will likely be there for a couple of years at least. Seems like I'll be spending a lot more on a mobile phone than I'm used to. (Though that's OK because the cost of most other things in the US - food, clothing, rent etc. - is ridiculously cheap compared to here)

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[toadlife]

Flash a verizon PRL file to your phone so it only connects to Verizon towers. They will terminate your contract for roaming too much.

Re:How does this affect the current Sprint commerc

[tepples]

I guess Sprint still gives unlimited data transfer as long as the application is 1. running on your phone and 2. not acting as a proxy, tunnel, etc.

HELLOOOOO!!! THE iPHONE IS COMING!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sprint is taking precautions to deal with a potential Achilles heel once they start selling the iPhone. ATT is a suck ass company; Verizon is a lying company; Sprint offers low prices and good service, compared to the other two. ATT and Verizon didn't take protective action when the iPhone came along; they just started giving worse-than-usual service. I'm pulling for Sprint because their prices are cheaper, and their service better than the other two. Sprint is no angel, but let's not pile on the wrong company, people.

More Towers == less radiation hazard

[mbkennel]

since the radiation hazard (if any) from phones is from the transmitter next to the ear, you want the base station as close as possible because the phone will adjust the transmit power accordingly.

Early Cancellation

[Tancred]

If they're changing the terms in the middle of my 2 year contract, I think I could cancel service without penalty. I bought the phone and signed up for 2 years when I was offered an unlimited hotspot plan. Yes, I've been paying $30/month for the hotspot, since the day I switched to Sprint.

Re:Early Cancellation

[dean.collins]

the problem for this is they aren't forced to buy back the phone you purchased from them as the radio frequency wont work on other carriers. i think carriers should be forced to buy out your hardware when they change the rules mid contract.

I Dropped the 4G Hotspot

[Doc Ruby]

I pay over $100:mo for a 4G HTC on Sprint with the hotspot, unlimited data. I was paying $30:mo for the hotspot. It's a work phone; our field service division uses them in conjunction with 4G fixed nodes at remote sites they service. We didn't get any real break on the price even though we've got hundreds of accounts and devices on the Sprint network. The 4G signal is nearly nonexistent except when we tune the fixed nodes to point at an antenna, and I'm in NYC. The Hotspot was not at all worth the price, especially considering its 90%+ unreliability as a mobile service. Data was "unlimited", but only by billing. The reality of Sprint's terrible network meant it was severely limited.

Any Hotspot cap at all is both an insult for the price, and a meaningless limit that real use couldn't reach because of network access. By the same token I'm hoping the cap inspires hackers to release a way for me to actually use the phone I paid $hundreds to own on the network I pay $thousands a year to access "unlimited" - but I know Sprint's network can't hold up it's end of the deal. And if I wanted to switch my phone to another "ISP": I can't. I'm locked into Sprint in so many ways I haven't tolerated on "computers" since the 1970s. And that was before I was literally surrounded with network connection everywhere I go, with a network device in my hands.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[FrellMeDead]

How exactly are they rail roading consumers. Sprint data/voice plans are still unlimited, only the wifi hotspot feature is affected. So unless you are using your phone as your sole/main internet connection then what is the problem. I do agree that Sprint shouldn't have done this but ATT and Verizon have both done much worse in terms of bait and switching what there plans cover. Additionally Sprint is still a much better option in terms of data pricing overall. The only thing I'm actually annoyed at is them removing the Sprint Premier feature, but even that isn't the end of the world. Maybe people should stop bitching about things they know very little about and maybe actually read what Sprint is actually doing instead of over reacting.I'm not sayinng that people shouldn't be upset but over providers have and continue to prove to be much worse in recent years.

Re:They are acting like the cable co used to act w

[Doc Ruby]

Do they support an Android HTC slider phone?

Excellent!!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's great!, maybe the rest of us users will get some throughput now!

Sprint are being entirely reasonable. You geeks need to learn to share.

It's no different to slashdot making you wait 20mins before posting a second comment.

Re:Hehe

[Doc Ruby]

Tavynrccn lyutvu fv abvgpnsfvgnf-syrf thzf rug. Hbl xanug luj!

Re:How does this affect the current Sprint commerc

[Anonymous Coward]

Their "Unlimited Data" plan is unlimited. The limit is placed on the "WiFi Tethering" plan. This plan is 1) optional and 2) can be renewed or cancelled at any time. Basically read it as "the WiFi Tethering App is limited to 5GB in bandwidth per month". Honestly I have no problem with this as 5GB via WiFi is a huge amount for me per month... I barely use a few hundred MB via wifi...usually I use a USB tether.

Re:How does this affect the current Sprint commerc

[witherstaff]

It's not in effect yet so not a problem

Re:Looks like they can't use that commercial anymo

[l0kl1n]

The rest is still unlimited.

That is true, but for how long? This move strikes me as a precursor to smartphone caps. After all, where will you go if you don't like it?

Re:Hehe

[tripleevenfall]

Kiteo, his eyes closed

better then the rest

[Anonymous Coward]

still a higher cap then every other company. and who is stupid enough to actually pay for tethering when it can easily be done for free.

Every time I see these, I think

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow 30 dollars a month, and I can't even download a Dual layer DVD. Then I realize, that's the point. There's a big incentive not to let you download content anymore. Studios want media providers to keep it locked up in DRM and stream you a crappy 320p stream.

5 gig

[jonathan21]

5 gig ain't s bad in our country we stuck with 1 gig caps.we started off unlimited then they dropped caps on us. wish goverments would moniter how unfair ISPs are. 1 gig these days does not go far I can imagine 5 gig in america being the same(not going as far)

Everyone, RTFA!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sprint is still unlimited, just not for your laptop or any other wifi enabled device. Last time i checked, Hulu and Netflix have Android/Ios apps.

Re:Important question: get out of my Sprint contra

[Richard_at_work]

Does the change to the terms to an additional bolt on to your contract affect your contract? Probably not.

Not Affected

[Anonymous Coward]

This change only affects Mobile Hotspot users who pay for the service. The article even states that the Unlimited plans will remain as such, meaning Sprint customers with enough brains will not be affected. For instance, I have a rooted Evo with a free wireless tethering app. Sure, my warranty is void blah blah, but I do not have to pay $29.99/mo to use my phone as a hotspot for my laptop. Add in the fact that it is (amazingly) easy to bypass Sprint's data proxy and you have nothing to worry about. All it takes is a (very) little research...

Re:Hehe

[Anonymous Coward]

Shaka, when the walls fell.

Hopefully won't affect me

[SCHecklerX]

Freetether on WebOS. Charging X per month for something I might use once a year is ridiculous. That may change when my touchpad arrives, though. Regardless, iptables and dhcpd continue to exist on my phone, and there is not going to be any update to nuke that ability, so all is right in the world for the time being.

ahh...

[Anonymous Coward]

And the only reason I had to use sprint gets flushed right down the shitter. Lousy service, lousy plans, mediocre reception, they were all secondary to the fact that they gave me actual unlimited data. But now that they are cutting that off ill just wander on over to verizon or something. Better reception, better prices, same plan...