It’s been an interesting couple of days for Sprint, they recently launched their new All-in, unlimited plans, managed to score David Beckham in new ads and limit video streaming in the process. You see, when the new unlimited plan launched for $80 – $20 for your phone, $60 for your service – it did so with unlimited data, unlimited minutes and unlimited SMS messages. However, that unlimited data had a hard cap of speeds up to 600kbps for streaming video. So, while you could theoretically stream all the Netflix and Hulu you like, with speeds of just 600kbps, it’s not going to look all that great on your device.
Yesterday, we covered the limit, along with a little piece of advice that you should always read the fine print when signing up for any sort of service plan. Today, Sprint has thankfully gone back on this limit, with the network’s CEO, Marcelo Claure, saying in a Press Release today that “At Sprint, we strive to provide customers a great experience when using our network. We heard you loud and clear, and we are removing the 600 kbps limitation on streaming video.” So, it’s a good sign that Sprint have decided to go back on such a strange limit. It was probably there in the first place so that Sprint could keep their network running smoothly for everyone else, but the likelihood of everyone on Sprint streaming Full HD content at the same time, or even in numbers great enough to affect the network, is pretty unlikely.
Claure did go on to say that “During certain times, like other wireless carriers, we might have to manage the network in order to reduce congestion and provide a better customer experience for the majority of our customers.” This is par for the course with carriers, and at least Sprint are adding a little more transparency and honesty to a new plan that was designed to be all about those two things in the first place.