Sprint recently announced a new unlimited plan in which customers could get unlimited talk, text, and data for $60 a month without a contract. However, Sprint went on to detail in the fine print that they planned to cap streaming video speeds to 600Kbps. That would mean customers could forget using the service to enjoy HD content from popular streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO NOW. The 600Kbps speed cap is just too low to comfortably enjoy streaming video.
Here is the fine print from the Sprint announcement:
To improve data experience for the majority of users, throughput may be limited, varied or reduced on the network. Streaming video speeds will be limited to 600Kbps at all times, which may impact quality.
The Internet was rightfully in an uproar yesterday as story after story outed the less than clear (to put it nicely) path Sprint was heading down with their new video streaming cap. The decision to cap speeds is even more surprising given net neutrality. I would certainly think their actions would have drawn the attention of the FCC. Perhaps Sprint thought the same as they have decided to pull the streaming video speed cap from the unlimited plan. Marcelo Claure, CEO of Sprint, had this to say on Twitter last night in regards to the speed cap decision:
Mr. Claure went on to respond that he was sorry for letting users down. He mentioned that he was sleeping in Tokyo when he found out and took immediate action to remedy the issue. He went on to say that there will be no more limits on streaming video. How about the rest of the fine print?
To improve data experience for the majority of users, throughput may be limited, varied or reduced on the network.
It’s definitely unclear but we hope that My Claure means that Sprint will be removing both speed caps on streaming video and throttling of users on the network in general. Given the outcry on the Internet yesterday perhaps Sprint will change it’s business practices and offer truly unlimited data.
Hopefully this will be a message to the broader industry that mobile users are seeking unlimited data in large numbers. They are also reading the fine print and will speak out loudly as a group if the terms don’t match their expectations. If Sprint pulls the speed cap on video streaming and does not attempt to throttle users in general I think they could be quite successful in pulling customers away from competing brands.
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