The carriers in the US are all guilty of taking liberties with the English language. Misrepresentations of plans, features, network speeds, coverage, and rates are common. Every time it almost seems like they push a little farther just to see how much they can get away with. This time Sprint is introducing a plan that they are audaciously calling “Starter Unlimited Data.” I’m not sure what is more sad; the plan itself or the fact that it currently is a better deal than what the other 3 big carriers are offering in that range.
What kind of “Unlimited” does $20 get you? Well, a whopping 1GB of LTE data followed but as much 2G speeds your heart desires. Yes 2G. Sprint’s 2G for that matter. That’s it. If you want Unlimited talk and text, you need to fork over another $20, bringing your total to $40/month. Is the data access technically unlimited? Yes, but suggesting that people use 2G speeds on a modern smartphone is ludicrous. Bumping users to 3G would be more reasonable and make the plan a lot more enticing. In its current form, allowing all-you-can-eat access to 2G speeds is just there so Sprint can add the “Unlimited” qualifier to this price-point while avoiding letters from lawyers. The goal here is of course to get customers to upgrade to a more expensive plan. The first time anyone tries using their new shiny iPhone on Edge speeds, it should take about 30 seconds for them to either upgrade or run to another carrier.
Now to be fair, there are plenty of people that would be perfectly happy with a low 4G data allowance. However, I would argue that they can still get a better deal with Republic Wireless (which happens to run mainly on Sprint’s towers), Google Fi, or a number of other MVNO options. Both Republic Wireless and Fi offer very affordable low data tiers while providing access to more data as needed in a pinch.
Spring could have gone with any number of names for this plan, and attracted a chunk of customers looking for low cost and low data limits, but calling it Unlimited is pretty shameless.
Any of you thinking of trying this plan out? Do you think Sprint is right in calling it Unlimited? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
[button link=”https://www.sprint.com/shop/plan-wall/?INTCID=HP:PROS:BR:103015:20Basic#!/?plan=individual” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: Sprint[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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