Sprint plans to increase the cost of its unlimited data plan, saying that consumers who wish to avail of the less expensive one should do so before Oct. 16. Priced at $60 per month currently, the data plan will be upped to $70 on the change date.
At this year's Code conference, Marcelo Claure, CEO of Sprint, announced the increase but ensured that customers can still avail of the $60 data plan before it goes official and remains at the higher $70 rate. He also suggested that customers can still activate a new phone as long as the requirements are met.
"At Sprint, we give customers what they want - and they want the option of unlimited data. At $70 a month, Sprint still beats the competition. Rather than increase the price without warning, we want to give customers one last chance to take advantage of the $60 rate," Claure said.
However, Claure also hinted that Sprint's unlimited data plan won't last forever, saying that it's difficult to sustain, not to mention that he also suggested that the plan would go away entirely without the increase. Sprint hopes to improve network quality, and Claure believes that Sprint will soon be taking the top or second spot as the biggest network carrier in the United States.
Considering that other major carriers in the United States, such as AT&T and Verizon, have stopped offering unlimited data plans, Sprint competes only with T-Mobile, but the Uncarrier's plan costs $10 more. AT&T and Verizon also invested a lot of effort to put unlimited data plans of their existing users to a stop.
Sprint is one of the few remaining carriers to offer unlimited data plans, allowing users to upload images, download apps or stream videos without worrying about a data cap, but the company will continue to limit speeds and focus more on capped data plans.
