Sprint: Unlimited still means unlimited

Sprint is walking back comments from CEO Dan Hesse on Jan 5 about Sprint ‘throttling’ data speeds of its heaviest data users even though they subscribe to unlimited plans.

At a Citigroup conference, Hesse clearly stated that Sprint was reining in bandwidth for its greediest smartphone customers, who Hesse described as abusing the network. But Sprint executive Bill White told CNET that Hesse was referring only to roaming customers off of Sprint’s primary networks – a policy that has been in place for some time. For any smartphone on Sprint’s 3G or 4G networks, unlimited still means unlimited, White said. Like all operators, Sprint doesn’t run networks everywhere it offers service. It contracts out with dozens of smaller regional carriers to provide coverage in smaller towns and rural highways, allowing it to focus on cities and major traffic corridors. Those roaming agreements aren’t free, though. Sprint has to pay those operators for every MB its customers consume, leading it to cap data out-of-network at 300 MB per month. Sprint also places caps and use restrictions on its data modem plans, hotspot features in smartphones, and on its Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile prepaid services. Sprint, however, has kept its smartphone unlimited plans restriction free because of the competitive advantage they give it over its competitors, all of whom cap or throttle data.