Well, it's 5GB, not 5MB, but I'm still cancelling. I signed up a month and a half ago for Unlimited.

ap·o·plex·y /ˈæpəˌplɛksi/
1. stroke (def. 6).
2. a sudden, usually marked loss of bodily function due to rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel.
3. a hemorrhage into an organ cavity or tissue.

Damn.

I almost died laughing when I read 5MB! The next couple of months should be interesting to see what companies say about "unlimited" access. At least sprint published the cap number, unlike other companies.

If it is "unlimited" but they are capping it. Wouldn't that be false and misleading advertising?

So can current subscribers cancel without any ETF since Sprint is changing the terms of the contract?

People are surprised that Sprint is doing shady things and pulling stuff like this? Really?
It's not like they haven't been the most despised cell phone company for a while.
There is a reason that people are posting "Dear Sprint: Die In A Fire" and "Sprint, a company in desperate need of workplace shootings" online. People hate them.
Reap, sow, etc....

I don't care that their reception is the best in the area -- I'll never go back to them. It literally was the worst customer service I have ever received.

As much as AT&T sucks reception-wise, I just renewed my 2-year contract. I've never had a problem with them over the phone.

When does this take effect? I'm have a sprint evdo card, and I'm using it everyday while I wait for my T-1 to get installed at home (I run my own freelancing gig), and I regularly hit about 300MB/day. This will suck a left nut if they implement caps, the service is shitty enough as it is.

It seems like my definition of "unlimited" is not the same one that corporate America uses.

@hypnotik_jello: IF you were smart You would shop around if you are getting a Sprint T1 installed. Believe me, the got me for over $50,000.00 in over charges....

what are you guys using these plans for that you are hitting over 5gb of data? are you replacing your normal internet w/ this or somethign?

@Starfury: my definition is the same one in the dictionary. Are you aware of another definition?

@Big Flicker: @Starfury:

They probably have an escape clause in the TOS. When I worked for an ISP several years ago, they sold "unlimited" dialup, but would kill user connections when they hit 200hrs in a month. The escape clause in the TOS listed 150hrs ..

Unfortunately this isn't any different from what the other cell phone companies do. AT&T Wireless has the same 5 GB cap. Verizon has it as well, though they don't charge overage (they just "reserve the right to limit download speeds to 200 kbps when you go over 5 GB"). So it seems that'd be the way to go, but nobody does truly unlimited anymore.

@Coder4Life: Some people are, yes. It's not an unreasonable thing to do if you're not doing heavy downloading or gaming - sure, you get a little less bandwidth and a bit more latency, but the portability benefits are hard to deny.

5GB, IMHO, is low. 10GB is more what I'd call reasonable.

@Big Flicker: uh, I didn't actually say I was getting a T-1 from Sprint. I'm getting a T-1 from a different provider for $299/mo.

I've had the unlimited service for a while via an AirCard 595 (and I have the Linksys PC Card router too)... I have to say... it's been one of my BETTER experiences w/ cell phone products in general--Sprint's bills are clear and consistent and the actual service itself has been tremendous here in the Boston area (I'm talking uninterrupted "DSL-like" internet: traveling 65MPH by car from Boston to Buffalo -- near uninterrupted service along the Amtrak Boston -> Jacksonville, FL route -- no trouble in multiple locations around the country--Buffalo, NY; Boston, MA; Portland, ME; Austin, TX; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; etc)

I used this as my primary internet connection for a period of 3-4 months at home (via the Linksys router) when I was boycotting Comcast for their lousy antics, w/ the exception of actual file downloads, I can honestly say I never really noticed /that/ much of a difference with web-browsing (even graphics heavy sites like Flickr) or other uses--I used to used to use Netflix's Watch-It-Now to stream movies while I browsed the 'net.

I am disappointed, but not surprised, to hear that they are planning to implement this 5GB cap, it's too easy to take advantage to absolutely kill their network with non-stop data... but what -is- disappointing is to hear that the cap will apply to all customers at the same time even customers currently in an unlimited contract.

However, because they are changing their ToS it does mean (I think, and many others on other boards) that customers in a contract should be able to cancel w/o an ETF because of this.

I've heard that the official notice to customers will go out in June/July, which means if you're a customer you'll have a window of time in which to cancel w/o ETF.

Personally I have no issues w/ the service; the cost, even w/ 5GB cap, is competitive w/ the other carriers; I have no reason to cancel.

Despite the outpouring of whining from people saying "unlimited means unlimited!! wah!" the reality is that this technology is NOT designed to have tens of users within a given cell site leeching high speed data all the time, so these devices are best as secondary connections, so I completely understand and agree with the 5GB cap that all the carriers are using.

@tcp100:
While I'm sure that makes you feel empowered to leave, where are you going to go? Sprint was the last one without caps.
@Big Flicker:
It won't be called unlimited after they change the policy.

So I called & chatted with a CSR. She told me that the reason is to stop people running servers from their cards!

I pointed out that for the business traveler on the road most days, a 5GB cap is less than 200MB a day & for those of us trading CAD drawings back & forth, a really low cap at that. And forget watching that iTunes episode in your room or using iChat video to say hi to the kids.

Sprint is trying so hard to go out of business, I think we should all work together to grant them their wish.

Do you really think Sprint is going to care about this? Losing the small percentage of people who blow past 5GB/month in cellular data usage is going to help them and help their networks. The 5GB+ people are a very very tiny fraction of aircard data users and don't come anywhere close to representing the average user or even the target demographic for these things.

bias alert: I'm a happy, constant user of Verizon evdo cards when traveling on business. Despite constant VPN, SSH, ARD and other traffic I never get anywhere near 5GB/month. This is because I understand that this is a mobility solution, not a "primary internet" or "gee I am going to use this link to move a ton of data" solution.

Use the contract change to cancel your service without an ETF and move on ...

FYI everyone, the 5GB cap hasn't yet taken into effect.

@philipbarrett2003:
I have a Sprint data card, so I'm upset about this too, but find me another mainstream cell provider who doesn't have a 5GB cap.

@philipbarrett2003: I wholeheartedly agree with you.

@emis: You're right, but reality is exactly what Sprint isn't in contact with. If you're telling people it's unlimited, it should be. If you're telling them unlimited but capping at 5gp, wait for it, IT'S NOT UNLIMITED.

Nobody held a gun to Sprint's head and made them advertise that way when they should obviously know it was ultimately unrealistic. Duh.

@packetsniffer: True, however I bet they will try to still call it unlimited, which if they do I will be one of the folks singing to the FTC about it.

I guess it was bound to happen, since they were (as others have mentioned) the last major without a cap. They want to push people to their upcoming service based on WiMAX and off the CDMA EVDO network. Re: people saying that Sprint won't miss the people who quit over this: I'm guessing lots of people will cut off their noses to spite their face... ppl who don't actually USE more than 5GB will cancel anyway because they're pissed off. They definitely need to stop calling it unlimited, though... they've probably got marketing worms working on the confusing wording even as we argue about it.

@ ceriphim: It /has/ been unlimited, and technically still is until they change the ToS.

*IF* they continue to advertise as "unlimited" after this cap goes into effect then I will agree with you :)

I think they ought to pull any ads they've got now though, because if they're planning to add this cap in a month or two then it would be disingenuous to continue.

For the record: Given the number of cancellations that ultimately occur when no-ETF cancellation is possible; it's my opinion that far more will be buyers-remorse related rather then usage-cap related. I went through a period of a couple of months were I really contemplated canceling service because I just wasn't using it enough, and I figured that 3-4 months of fees would equal the ETF anyway. I'm now at the point where even if I don't use it daily (or even weekly sometimes) it's still worth it to keep it going for the times when I do use it.

If/when this service ever hits a "pay as you go" type level it will be big... because for a modest HW investment cost you'll be able to pony up some cash only for the months/weeks you'll need the card.

I'd love to see tethering to capable phones become a feature that could be added for one-month-only for an extra fee as well... for example, if AT&T wants $60/mo now for tethering, they could offer up a one-month-only type of deal for $75.

While companies like to cut their 5% squeaky wheels I have to wonder how many of their remaining evangelizing loyalists are in that group. I am, but I'm damn careful about qualifying my recommendations. Suppose that's true with any modern sleaze-fee business (phone, bank, airline, etc.)

...What do you call one Harvard Business School grad at the bottom of the ocean?...

The 5GB cap won't hurt me measurably. I came from the lower 40MB Vision cap so 5GB is big. Still, it sucks they've sold the cards so aggressively, and presumably picked up lots of early adopters, only to give them the high hard one so soon. I know long-term thinking is out of style but this is scary stupid.

BTW, has anyone else notice the great difficulty getting phone-as-modem enabled on new accounts in the last few months? Again, they push hell out of the unlimited cards (and assoc $50 fee) only to switch the service to capped in so short a time. Somehow I squeaked in and have unlimited PAM on the cheap, but getting it was not easy.

Wow, I was going to get one of these for my frequent blog-related road trips, but now I think I'm going with the Starbucks card instead :) The amount of stuff I upload to Flickr in any given weekend would likely go over the cap, never mind the research and writing I have to do as well.

I think they are just TRYING to committ suicide. Really.

Just a random thought. Maybe they are trying to tank their stock price, so they will look good as a buyout target by a large telecom?

My plans were to buy a Nokia n810 tablet and get the unlimited data plan for my Sprint phone so that I could use it as a bluetooth internet connection for the n810.

My new plan is to wait for my Sprint contract to expire in December, and purchase a very nice smartphone (hoping Android will be out and about on some good phones by then) with the money.

Even though the other Telco's have similar caps, Sprint really needed to remain unlimited so that they could have at least 1 bullet point for the "pro's" list

A full day of working via a remote desktop is like 25 MB of transfer. 5GB is almost worthless if you're using it for work.

I remember going through this song and dance back during the dialup days, when my "unlimited" account was terminated for "over-usage." My provider explained that their advertising of "unlimited" meant that I had unlimited ABILITY to connect to the internet, but not unlimited usage, so if they can twist the meaning in their favor they will.

@Big Flicker: @loraksus: @ceriphim: At&t and Verizon did the same thing a while back. They used to have unlimited plans and then put a 5GB cap on.

@hypnotik_jello: July.

For those of you who are asking if it is false advertising to call it UNLIMITED and then limit it to 5GB. The short answer, no. Apparently the phrase "UNLIMITED" is considered to be "advertising lingo", just like the pizza place having a sign that says "best priced pizza in town." If you went in there and demanded they give you the best price, there is no obligation on your part to buy or on their part to sell.

It is the same here. Sprint advertises "UNLIMITED" on all of their advertising but they define it in your TERMS OF SERVIE as 5 gigs. So ultimately, when you choose to purchase the service you are agreeing to the terms and conditions, the price, and the contract length.

A little 411 for you from a guy that works at a phone company.

@xkaluv: Unless you read (ie have advance access prior to singing an agreement) or see the TOS before signing the contract the cap would be considered misleading (bait and switch). And is false advertising.

I've said it before and I will say it again: I use a Sprint Aircard as my *only* internet connection at home - and it feeds two computers and a game console via an EVDO router. When I saw this 5GB thing come up I decided to call and ask about my usage. 13 MEGABYTES a month. I made the girl repeat it three times as I didn't believe her, but she reiterated "13 Thousand Kilobytes".

So, I really don't see how I could get to 5GB. Played some online games in the past week, will doublecheck my total at the end of this billing cycle.

I agree that 5gb != unlimited, but I guess 5GB seems so far away the idea hasn't bugged me.

@hypnotik_jello: T-1 for $299, can I get in on that?

@Daniels: If, as you say, a full day of working with remote desktop is 25 meg, you could work for 200 days before you hit 5 gig. Since a month is only between 28 and 31 days, even if you work remotely every day you could squeeze in under that 5gb mark. Even if you had 5 co-workers at your house doing the same thing.

"Limited" is the new "Unlimited." The meanings of words mean nothing. Up is down. black is white. Robots are service.

Folks, this came around and went around with Verizon over the last couple of years. For the longest, they simply wouldn't admit WHAT the cap was - they would simply send "the letter" to those who exceeded it and give them the boot. "I got the letter" (from Verizon) was a common topic on evdoforums.com. Verizon admitted that it was a 5 GB cap earlier this year.

They were reluctant to do this, I think, maybe because those heavy duty users might not be a particular load on a *particular* locale on the network, but, in another location, real trouble to throughput. The carriers do oversell, but some nodes are underutilized. I suspect that Verizon would rather have reserved the right to "pull the plug" based on usage at a particular location rather impose a cap on usage in locations (like an oversold city area) than other locations (like along rural interstates) that are routinely underutilized.

@jammadave:

13MB? You must have been on vacation that month or the router was shut off and you didn't know it :-P

@jammadave:

As said previously, a 32MB CAD file going to & from a server a couple of times a day plus a webcast or 2 & some audio & video files & that 5GB will be gone fast enough.

I am not a fan of Sprint (in fact I hate them). However, only 1% of their customers use over 5GB, so most wouldn't even be effected by this if they never knew about the change (I'm surprised Sprint didn't try to sneak this change by customers because of this). So, basically 99% of their customers were getting slower speeds and crappier service because of the 1% that were sucking up all the bandwidth for themselves. It would actually make sense to limit people, if Sprint wasn't in the position that they are now (meaning they should't piss off what few customers they have left).

@emis: With Alltel I was only paying $5/mo extra to do tethering on my Motorola V3c. Other than the latency, you'd never know it was a mobile connection. I've done tons of streaming audio/video over it without any issues. Fast, reliable. Now I have a Blackberry 8830 (CDMA/GSM) and tethering's included with the plan.

I wonder how much longer before Sprint's $99 "unlimited" everything plan becomes limited in all aspects, including voice minutes.

@Juggernaut: Depends where you're located, but I got my deal thru MegaPath, and I'm located in Manhattan. You have to commit to a 3yr contract to get that rate though ($329/mo for a 1yr). No, I don't work for MegaPath.

@janicejab: Hmm... I think I'm one of these people. I only chose Sprint for my Broadband card because my parents have been with them for ages and Tmobile (my carrier) didn't have a card for my laptop. I was getting a good deal on all our lines until last month, when I was hit with a $600 bill. Turns out they have started billing for hitting the cap... and apparently, my mom and I share those 5Gs because we are all on the same bill. Guess I'll just have to buy a new Blackberry with wi-fi from Tmo and dump Sprint. But they won't miss me, right?

I am a graphic designer and use the data card when traveling for work. I get huge files from clients: photos, flash animation, Photoshop docs, audio files for projects. I watch multiple webcams while working towards my masters degree in New Media. I work a 10 hour day on the road. My usage for the last 3 months averages 50-80GB per month. This stuff adds up real quick.

This is not my primary connection to the web. If all I was doing was email and a bit of web surfing I would have bought an iPhone. Almost the same monthly fee and you get the phone/iPod all in one. But upon investigation, the iPhone sucked and you can't connect it to a Mac laptop to use as a modem. Duh Apple, you didn't make that part of the iPhone? Seems so obvious to me...

If all you do is check your email and do some casual surfing then 5GB would be plenty on these data cards. I wanted to connect my Mac laptop to the web using a cell phone or other device but I could not find anything that worked. I only bought into Sprint because it was unlimited. I never realized that dealing with Sprint would be like stepping in a pile of crap that you could never get off your shoe. 13 hours of dealing with clueless Sprint customer service. Call me apopletic. Bite me Sprint.

Sprint is more concerned with plugging holes rather than trying to right the ship itself. The 5GB cap is yet another move designed to stop the financial bleeding, because a customer paying $50 for unlimited access and using massive amounts of data costs Sprint money. Data plan users generally don't use a huge amount of data and thus Sprint makes money.

It's a money driven decision, not a logic one. Sprint seems to be masterful at those.

Take it from a former rep, this company sucks.