Sprint Gets Flak For New “Unlimited” $20 A Month Plan

Sprint introduced a new $20 a month plan yesterday, highlighting it as an unlimited plan, but in reality, mobile users who avail of the plan will see their speeds slowed down to 2G speeds for the remainder of their billing cycle after they go over 1 gigabyte of high speed data usage. As many may have expected, some backlash ensued over the wireless carrier’s misleading marketing. Various publications, websites, and blogs have called out Sprint for the move, not only criticizing its new plan as an example of false advertising, but even going as far as warning mobile users not to fall for the wireless carrier’s newest seemingly sweet offer.

It does not help that for Sprint’s press release, the wireless carrier boldly proclaimed in its headline that it “beats all national carriers with unlimited data for $20 a month.” It is true that other wireless carriers are guilty of tricking customers with plans that appear too good to be true (but there is always a catch somewhere), but Sprint’s detractors are saying that the wireless carrier may be the first one to make use of shamelessly misleading marketing tactics. 

Of course, Sprint is not the first major wireless carrier in America to offer low cost and low service plans. Others may be reminded of T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plans, which basically offer the same inclusions as Sprint’s new plan. But unlike Sprint, T-Mobile is a bit more careful with its wording -- while it proclaims that its Simple Choice plans provide “unlimited talk, text and data while on our network with no overages or annual service contracts,” it promotes its 1 gigabyte/$50 plan as:

“Up to 1 GB of 4G LTE data per month. 4G LTE data is available while in the US, Mexico, and Canada. After all your 4G LTE data is used, data speeds are reduced to 2G speeds through the end of your bill cycle. Add more 4G LTE data whenever you want.”

For Sprint’s part, the company counters that it is actually giving its subscribers options and is even waiving overage fees, further adding that if its subscribers want to get more high speed data, they can just buy more. According to Sprint, subscribers can go for a 1 gigabyte high speed data option that costs $20 a month, and then on top of that, also enjoy unlimited voice call and text messaging for an extra $20 a month (not including taxes and any surcharges) while on the wireless carrier’s network. And it should be noted that Sprint Global Roaming is also featured in the plan. Those who avail of the new plan will not have to worry about any overage fees, and have the option of buying extra high speed data for $15 for each additional gigabyte of data.

Sprint also stated that subscribers under its new Sprint Family Share Pack plans will not be hit with data overage charges when they go beyond their high speed data limit, but instead will get unlimited 2G data. Those who want more data can buy extra high speed data for $15 a gigabyte. The wireless carrier also took the opportunity to announce a $70 Unlimited High Speed Data Plan that offers 3 gigabytes of mobile hotspot usage, plus Sprint Global Roaming. Extra lines of service with unlimited high speed data, voice calls, and text messaging will only cost $60 a line (up to a maximum number of 10 lines of service). To browse more deals, start exploring plans and phones from Sprint at Wirefly now.