Some of the problems are caused by market forces others are caused indirectly by Sprint:
1.
More smartphones using data. Even more impressive when you consider that smartphones started
outselling PCs in 2011. Sprint estimates that smartphones use
10 times the data a regular phone uses.
2. Smarter smartphones using MORE data. Users of the iPhone 4S use
twice as much data as iPhone 4 users and three times as much data as iPhone 3G users.
3. Extreme refugees. After someone gets booted from AT&T or Verizon for exceeding their caps where are they going to go? Keeping in mind that 1% of
extreme users consume 50% of the bandwidth You can be sure that Sprint has more than their fair share of hogs.
4. Sprint's u-turn on 4G. The other carriers have two pools of data they can give to their users. As folks upgrade into the shiny new 4G pool, it eases congestion in their murky 3G pool. Sprint's half-built, shared Wi-Max network doesn't give them that luxury and it isn't going to get better before 2013ish when Sprint's NEW LTE network rolls out. Many parts of the country don't have Wi-Max coverage and aren't going to get it - EVER (Phoenix, America's 5th largest city for example).