Sprint‘s MVNO subsidiary, Boost Mobile, is hoping to gain more customers through its latest promotion targeting families with students. In its Back-to-School promo, the MVNO has reduced the cost of its plans by decreasing monthly fees charged to new lines added to current subscriptions. By offering cheaper products, Boost Mobile hopes that it will result in an increase of subscribers as many families look into cutting their payments as they deal with one of the most expensive periods of the year. Moreover, the company is offering these plans on a contract-free basis.
Consumers interested in Boost Mobile’s offerings have two options to choose from. For those who do not access the internet a lot, the carrier offers a service that includes 3GB of LTE data, unlimited calls and text messages for $35 a month. Adding more lines to the plan only costs $25 for the second and fourth phone and $15 for the third and fifth individual, which results in a recurring charge of $135 for the five devices. Users may also add 1GB of LTE data to their monthly allocation for only $5 or pay $10 for a 2GB increase on the data budget. Once the monthly pack is consumed, the connection will be throttled to 2G speeds. An unlimited option is also offered by Boost Mobile. The plan starts at $50 per month for one line and including extra handsets into the subscription only costs $25 each. The Unlimited Gigs service includes unlimited calls, text messages, and data for streaming music, videos, browsing the web, and playing games, and 8GB of high-speed allotment for mobile hotspots.
Like many other unlimited plans, Boost Mobile restricts the network speeds it provides to its customers. The videos delivered over the network are limited to 480p while music streams are capped at 500Kbps. On the other hand, cloud game streaming is restricted to 2Mbps. In addition, the company implements a 23GB soft cap, which mostly counts the data spent on downloads and web browsing. Once the soft cap is reached, the MVNO has the right to deprioritize the user. Deprioritization means that once the network is congested, the affected customer may see reduced data speeds temporarily.