Sprint will begin throttling heavy data users on its network
Sprint has announced plans beginning next month to throttle the top 5% of data users each month, in essence pulling back a bit on its unlimited data offerings for the heaviest 3G and 4G data users on its network.
Additionally, during periods of high congestion, Sprint says it may start throttling other users to ensure that everyone has fair access to network resources. Complete details are available in an FAQ format on Sprint’s website (check the source link below), but in essence, Sprint will start monitoring each person’s data a bit more closely month by month. If it determines that you are among the heaviest of data users, then Sprint will throttle your data the next month.
Sprint says that it also reserves the right to begin throttling customers on certain plans or who use certain devices, and that future software OTA updates could include the ability for Sprint to more effectively manage data usage on users’ devices.
Because throttling is an ugly word, Sprint is calling this “network prioritization,” and it will be using a “fairness algorithm” to determine who will get throttled.
While this may be necessary to prevent the network from grinding to a complete halt in some areas during peak times, it will nevertheless make some heavy data users very upset. After all, this isn’t what most people think of when they are promised “unlimited data for life.”
Check out all the details below, and then come back to let us know what you think.
[Sprint]
