The REAL Deal behind the Sprint data Cap Policy for aircards
5 gigs is huge. For people that were using more than that they were taking bandwidth away from everyone else by leaving their aircard on constant downloads for huge files. The 300meg off network cap is because people were also taking advantage of using their aircards on roaming all the time, which cost Sprint tons of money to pay other carriers. I was alerted that this was coming weeks ago because Sprint expects high call volume to the call centers once the letters go out BUT and this is a big BUT:
Before everyone starts freaking out keep this in mind, LESS THAN 1% OF ALL CURRENT SPRINT AIRCARD USERS CURRENTLY GO OVER THIS LIMIT. This cap will effect less than 1% of aircard customers AND THIS CAP DOES NOT apply to corporate liable airc...
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Before everyone starts freaking out keep this in mind, LESS THAN 1% OF ALL CURRENT SPRINT AIRCARD USERS CURRENTLY GO OVER THIS LIMIT. This cap will effect less than 1% of aircard customers AND THIS CAP DOES NOT apply to corporate liable airc...
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Yeah I used 3.7 GB's on my 597e and that came from downloading tons of Music and surfing the web. Also at work, thats alot for 5 GB's. Thats actually not bad, on average, my usage is around 1.5 GB per month with normal surfing everyday
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i work in cs for big red and this 5gb is a nightmare. i have seen bills in the few thousands and the most yet is 25,000. no lie i am not bashing sprint, i actually have them as my carrier. but they are not forcing existing customers to migrate until they upgrade their devices. but vzw has issued full credits for these new plans because whoever is activating these customerr are not telling them about the cap. i really do wish cs and store reps the best of luck with this!
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All aircard customers will be getting a letter and if they choose they can terminate their contract since the Terms Of Useage is changing. So any customers can opt out if they choose. Even though you have seen some huge useage bills, I have seen the numbers and 5+gig users only make up for 1% of Sprint's aircard users, and quite frankly those are the people that need to be weeded out. Leaving a machine on for constant downloads, or as a server, kills the badwidth for everyone else and aircards just arent quite ready for that yet on any carrier. Sprint's 4g WiMax will address that.
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the letter my store got also said this policy would only apply to customers signing up after a date in july....which leads me to belive its only new customers that will be affected by this.....that would make sense as they would face a huge legal issue other wise....maybe im mistaken but i could swear thats what it said
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the change affects current customers as well. They've been sent a letter to say they have (i believe) 60 days to cancel their aircard service w/o being charged an ETF. If they maintain their service after that time, they are then agreeing to the new T&C.
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Definitions:
1 Megabyte MB (unit at which we measure stored data) = 8 Megabits Mb (unit at which we measure transmitted data)
1 Gigabyte GB (unit at which we measure stored data) = 8,192 Megabits Mb (unit at which we measure transmitted data)
1 Gigabyte GB = 1,024 Megabytes MB
Mbps = Megabits Per Second
1.5Mbps is twice the national average of speed on a 3G EVD0 Rev. A Transmission.
MP = Megapixel
Scenarios:
If you are a non-corporate-liable customer to exceed this 5Gig limit you would have to send 1024 5MB PDF files (which if you had a steady 1.5Mbps connection - which is also unlikely - would take you 7.5 hours). If you are a business person who needs to send 1024 5MB PDFs a month while on the road with your data ca...
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1 Megabyte MB (unit at which we measure stored data) = 8 Megabits Mb (unit at which we measure transmitted data)
1 Gigabyte GB (unit at which we measure stored data) = 8,192 Megabits Mb (unit at which we measure transmitted data)
1 Gigabyte GB = 1,024 Megabytes MB
Mbps = Megabits Per Second
1.5Mbps is twice the national average of speed on a 3G EVD0 Rev. A Transmission.
MP = Megapixel
Scenarios:
If you are a non-corporate-liable customer to exceed this 5Gig limit you would have to send 1024 5MB PDF files (which if you had a steady 1.5Mbps connection - which is also unlikely - would take you 7.5 hours). If you are a business person who needs to send 1024 5MB PDFs a month while on the road with your data ca...
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Wow! Good write up! You are correct, downloading from an aircard is like watching grass grow. It is slow compared to real cable broadband.
One other thing, you are comparing 1.5Mps and I understand why. On paper in a perfect world that is what the cards are capable of. Also like you said that is about twice the national average on EVDO rev A. So more realistically the downloads will be around 800kps, so with as painful as your downloading scenario already sounds, it would most likely be about twice as bad for 99% of the users.
Point is, if you're doanloading 5gigs a month you are in the minority by far.
One other thing, you are comparing 1.5Mps and I understand why. On paper in a perfect world that is what the cards are capable of. Also like you said that is about twice the national average on EVDO rev A. So more realistically the downloads will be around 800kps, so with as painful as your downloading scenario already sounds, it would most likely be about twice as bad for 99% of the users.
Point is, if you're doanloading 5gigs a month you are in the minority by far.
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Wireless.O.G. said:
His claim was that he has seen VZW customers who use 25,000 Gigs a month. Here are some possible scenarios:
i believe he was saying that he has seen bills of $25,000 in overages. not 25,000 GBs of usage
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i am a girl btw. but you are correct i meant a $25,000 bill. the overage rate is $0.49/mb after the 5gb. i dont mean anything against anyone, i am just saying what i saw. not every single customer is going to be able to understand this cap and people will still say its unlimited. all i am saying is that the 5gb allowance is a headache and will create very huge bills. i do understand the reasoning behind it to protect the network and allow all users equal bandwith. we cant change it so we just have to deal with it
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Cable modem connection-
~$45- 60/month. Reliable, 6- 10mbps, stationary.
Wireless aircard, revA-
~$60/month intermittent issues, lag between request and connection, .5- 1.5mbps, mobile.
See, I can justify the $60 wireless card price if it's unlimited and mobile... but, if it's not unlimited then the hassle and issues surrounding a wireless data card outweigh the benefit of being mobile. That means, to have a true value comparison, the aircard would have to be priced at $30- 40 since it is a fraction of the speed of a typical consumer DSL or cable modem connection.
Yes, the % of people using >5gB is very low, but that's all the more reason the monthly cost should be much lower than the $60 it is now. Cable companies can transfer...
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~$45- 60/month. Reliable, 6- 10mbps, stationary.
Wireless aircard, revA-
~$60/month intermittent issues, lag between request and connection, .5- 1.5mbps, mobile.
See, I can justify the $60 wireless card price if it's unlimited and mobile... but, if it's not unlimited then the hassle and issues surrounding a wireless data card outweigh the benefit of being mobile. That means, to have a true value comparison, the aircard would have to be priced at $30- 40 since it is a fraction of the speed of a typical consumer DSL or cable modem connection.
Yes, the % of people using >5gB is very low, but that's all the more reason the monthly cost should be much lower than the $60 it is now. Cable companies can transfer...
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If less than 1% of people are using more than 5G, why bother with a limit? Those
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ac4321 said:
Cable modem connection-
~$45- 60/month. Reliable, 6- 10mbps, stationary.
Wireless aircard, revA-
~$60/month intermittent issues, lag between request and connection, .5- 1.5mbps, mobile.
See, I can justify the $60 wireless card price if it's unlimited and mobile... but, if it's not unlimited then the hassle and issues surrounding a wireless data card outweigh the benefit of being mobile. That means, to have a true value comparison, the aircard would have to be priced at $30- 40 since it is a fraction of the speed of a typical consumer DSL or cable modem connection.
Cellular data cards are about mobility. They are not designed to handle large volumes of data service for long periods o...
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Slingbox? How much does that use in lets say 5 hours a day useage?
Don't want to be an ass but I know people that use Sprint and use Slingbox on Sprint.
Would 5gig be easy to go over in that scenerio?
Don't want to be an ass but I know people that use Sprint and use Slingbox on Sprint.
Would 5gig be easy to go over in that scenerio?
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Xfort said:...
5 gigs is huge. For people that were using more than that they were taking bandwidth away from everyone else by leaving their aircard on constant downloads for huge files. The 300meg off network cap is because people were also taking advantage of using their aircards on roaming all the time, which cost Sprint tons of money to pay other carriers. I was alerted that this was coming weeks ago because Sprint expects high call volume to the call centers once the letters go out BUT and this is a big BUT:
Before everyone starts freaking out keep this in mind, LESS THAN 1% OF ALL CURRENT SPRINT AIRCARD USERS CURRENTLY GO OVER THIS LIMIT. This cap will effect less than 1% of aircard customers AND THIS CAP DOES NO
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If this is really a big enough deal for someone, buy a second Aircard. On the 1st, put in one Aircard and surf away. On the 15th, swap out for the second Aircard and surf away. Rinse, repeat.
I understand that this is an extra $60, but it certainly beats having a $25,000 phone bill.
Once again, if you use enough to warrant a second Aircard, maybe you need to look into DSL or a Cable modem for the times you AREN'T out and about. Perhaps Clearwire would work better for you if you are in different hotel rooms on a regular basis.
On the other hand, I do think that Sprint is going to have to allow the 5 gig cap to grow over time. Think of it as "bandwidth inflation." Sites are getting ever more complicated and require ever more bandwidth...
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I understand that this is an extra $60, but it certainly beats having a $25,000 phone bill.
Once again, if you use enough to warrant a second Aircard, maybe you need to look into DSL or a Cable modem for the times you AREN'T out and about. Perhaps Clearwire would work better for you if you are in different hotel rooms on a regular basis.
On the other hand, I do think that Sprint is going to have to allow the 5 gig cap to grow over time. Think of it as "bandwidth inflation." Sites are getting ever more complicated and require ever more bandwidth...
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I think the only real issue is that Sprint can no longer say "We are the only ones to offer unlimited data," when I worked for Sprint that was one of the key selling points against Verizon.
It is obvious that hardly anyone will use 5Gb but Unlimited sounds better to the average customer who may not know exactly how much 5GB is.
Wont really hurt them though because their Aircards and Data network are the best currently.
It is obvious that hardly anyone will use 5Gb but Unlimited sounds better to the average customer who may not know exactly how much 5GB is.
Wont really hurt them though because their Aircards and Data network are the best currently.
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Sprint's new T&C don't say anything about charging money for additional data.
"Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if usage either exceeds 5GB/month in total, or 300MB/month while roaming. "
"Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if usage either exceeds 5GB/month in total, or 300MB/month while roaming. "
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that is a good point. they may just do as vzw did before the cap, send them notification and if still exceeded, limit after the allowance and disconnect
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ok then if its ONLY 1%, then why is it such a huge deal to change it to a 5 GB cap? sure it costs more but is it really worth pissing that 1% off to the extent of them canceling? or even giving that 99% a chance to cancel with out a termination fee? sprint is all about reducing churn, in my opinion now is a bad time to do that.
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Yes. One percent of those people need other high-speed services as well as the wireless one. It is very expensive to continue to allow for a high amount of data to go through especially if it is for one. Bad use or two. Roaming. I thought Sprint should have done this a while ago. Remember Cingular with their customers on their older technology? Well same thing. If it is costing more to provide a service then it will be slowed down, charged more, or eliminated.
The other 99% will not cancel if they are not even close to the cap.
The other 99% will not cancel if they are not even close to the cap.
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