Sprint customers new and old get hotspot data cap of 5GB

Say goodbye to real and true unlimited data, Sprint customers: the company will start capping data used via phone hotspot to 5GB per month. Even existing customers won't be exempt from the new cap, and will be migrated to a new plan enforcing the limit after a friendly reminder from their carrier. Under the new rule, Sprint’s formerly unlimited mobile hotspot feature will remain the same price at $29.99 per month, but will allot only 5GB of data. Once that amount is used, customers will be charged $0.05 per megabyte. Sprint notes that tablets acting as hotspots are exempt from the data limit. The plan goes into effect October 2 for new customers. In an internal document, Sprint notes that existing customers will be notified via bill messages or postcards “being sent in October and November” that they will be forcibly migrated to the new plan, effective on the first day of the next bill cycle after they receive their notice.

Free Press Research Director S. Derek Turner said, "Sprint’s actions are another troubling symptom of a mobile broadband market that lacks meaningful competition, and this move is the latest in a race to the bottom among mobile providers to see who can squeeze the most out of its customers. This anti-consumer overcharging scheme bears no rational relation to the actual costs of delivering data, which are estimated to be mere pennies per gigabyte. This move is a poor solution to an unproven problem, and it will have a chilling effect on economic growth and innovation online. When ISPs force their customers to watch the meter by overcharging so much, experimentation and innovation suffer. This is a giant leap backward for one of the few growing sectors of the national economy."