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After several cries and complaints, Sprint has finally explained its decision to cap its “unlimited” data usage plan to 5GB a month, plus 300MB a month of off-network roaming. According to Sprint, the new limit is plenty enough, since it only affects 0.5% of customers. Sprint also notes that the limit applies to both existing and current consumer and individual accounts, but not corporate, business, public sector, or government contracts. The company states that the Simply Unlimited plan is exempt from the new rule—as the limit only applies to data cards and phone-as-modem plans. Interestingly, Sprint is permitting customers to go over the limit only if they do not exceed the limit in two out of three consecutive months—otherwise, termination is possible. However, Sprint is being gracious enough to inform users of the new limits prior to termination, giving customers a chance to change their usage habits. To aid monitoring data usage, the company will allow customers to check their data usage via Sprint.com starting June 8.

If 99.5% of customers are not going over the 5GB limit, than why is Sprint enforcing it? Granted 5GB of bandwidth should be plenty for most users, is it really worth losing the 0.5% of its “hardcore” customer base? Wouldn’t keeping the 0.5% and removing the limit give Sprint the competitive edge its needs, by being the only wireless provider to offer a true “unlimited” data plan?

Via [MobileCrunch]

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Sprint is probably the only wireless carrier to offer a true unlimited data plan. However, according to a Sprint employee on the SprintUsers forum, this may no longer be the case. A reportedly leaked internal memo has revealed that Sprint is now enforcing a monthly 5GB data usage cap on its Phone as Modem (PAM) and data card plans, thus, joining the other carriers that are also limiting data usage to 5GB (AT&T and Verizon). Additionally, the memo says Sprint users that roam on another network will only be allowed 300MB of data per month.

“Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service if usage exceeds 5GB per month in total or 300MB/month while off-network roaming. Check your subscriber agreement rights on Sprint.com”

It should be noted that there has not been any official announcement by Sprint, so at this point it’s only a rumor at best. But, the leaked memo mentions that Sprint will be updating its Terms of Service to put the new limits into effect on July 13. Despite the new revelation, it is unknown whether or not the wireless company will actually be enforcing the new rule. What exactly does “reserve the right” mean? Does this only apply to heavy users, or to the entire member base? Regardless, the good news is that Sprint customers may be able to terminate their contracts earlier, due to the change.

Read [SprintUsers]

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