Sprint to begin throttling 3g/4g data this summer?

[Yourdogsdead]

Damnit Sprint!!

Looks like they may be throttling our bandwidth. Damn, just damn.

 

[Flip]

What does that mean?

 

[ChaosShadow]

Looks like they may be throttling our bandwidth. Damn, just damn.

Well that blows

 

[Yourdogsdead]

What does that mean?

They will be lowering the speed of either the 3G or 4G network, or both. I know that 4G is capped at 1 Mbps upload, that's fine. I want this phone for speed, if anything put a data caps on there.

 

[dullgeek]

It appears to mean that they say that you have unlimited bandwidth, but they can turn it down so that you effectively don't. Your bandwidth use is unlimited as long as sprint keeps giving it to you. But they reserve the right to stop giving you bandwidth through throttling. Presumably on an as needed basis.

 

[Raf]

Whatever it is it doesn't sound good

 

[Lifedelinquent]

They will prolly only throttle when network use is high.

 

[vikingjunior]

What about my "$10 data rich premium" ???

 

[Raf]

This will be implemented in late summer....well after the 30 day Sprint guarantee expires.

Fing Sprint! I tell ya...

 

[Yourdogsdead]

We don't know the extent of the throttling. They may only do it if our usage goes too high, or they may decide to be asshats and bring us back to the dial up days. Either way, that 10 dollar fee is looking a little bit more like a rip off.

 

[wrxdrunkie]

Wow sprint, nice and shady of you

 

[Quizshow]

I knew Sprint was going to pull some sort of stunt to overshadow finally having a pretty phone in their line up.

 

[Khidr]

Seems early to freak over this. We have no idea what this will look like, or even what that whole sentence in the pic says. If they throttle everyone down to 4-5mbps when there is mass congestion, so nobody gets kicked, awesome.

OTOH, if they throttle everyone down to dial up speeds for no reason, then screw'em. It'll be considered a material change in the service, and everyone will run away without getting hit with an etf.

I'm all for responsible, neutral network management, so I'll just wait and see what actually happens before going crazy from a leaked pic of an incomplete sentence.

 

[vikingjunior]

I think there trying to avoid the AT&T disaster. In that sense there smart, they will probably open it up full throttle when they see the network can handle the EVO. They shouldn't of added the $10 thing if they knew this was there plans.

 

[SilverZero]

Clearwire does this sort of thing all the time. I had them for a couple of months, then my decent speeds went dead overnight. I dumped my contract on another person and never looked back. But keep in mind, ANY network provider could do this, even cable or DSL companies. If Sprint does, they'll have complaints for sure, maybe some lawsuits, but they'll still do it if they think it's best for their business.

 

[Yourdogsdead]

It still annoys the hell out of me. If he was going to raise the price 10 dollars for everyone, then it would be a little bit more acceptable. Instead, we are being charged 10 dollars and our Bandwidth can be throttled.

We still don't know the extent of it, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Brett636]

I thought Sprint was being bold by charging that ripoff $10 premium data charge, but for them to start reducing the speed of the data you can use when it was one of the selling points of this phone is unconscionable. Sprint better tread lightly on this or they are going to have some unhappy customers.

 

[Cr12]

too early to get bent over this yet.

 

[TheOnlyMorgan]

too early to get bent over this yet.

I agree. The excerpt Engadget shows doesn't even say to what extent they're going to throttle bandwidth. T-Mobile started doing it to users who go over 5GB's I think on their service, but they still give them unlimited data after throttling. TMobile was also one of the companies at CTIA I think? Talking about how individual use of data is increasing all the time on phones and such. That IMO shows me there's at least TMobile that as mobile broadband networks continue to advance, they'll be increasing the headroom for customers as well.

I can't see Sprint just effectively making their 4G phone launch moot. Never know though.

 

[Edge767]

Every cable company I've done business with for Internet access has throttled bandwidth. They need to do it to ensure everyone has decent throughput. It stinks for those of us who want more or use it more responsibly, but in the end, it's just the way things are.

I would be surprised if Sprint and Clearwire didn't throttle somehow to maintain quality of service for everyone on the network. I'm sure that s time goes by, the throttles will raise (higher throughput speeds) just as they have been on Cable for Internet service (we're at 40 mbs now vs the 3 mbs when I first got Cable Internet).

I'm not sweating it. I get good service, and that's something not many other cell carriers can give their clients with smartphones.