Sprint's New $60 Unlimited Data Plan: What's the Catch?

Not content with its recent announcement to increase data and lower prices for its family plans, Sprint is unveiling a new plan that gives you unlimited everything for just $60 a month. The new plan includes unlimited, talk, text and data for $20 less than T-Mobile’s unlimited plan. That adds up to a savings of $480 over two years.

It seems like that Sprint hopes to combat the Un-carrier’s latest announcement to give a year’s free unlimited LTE data for person and a friend when they both switch to T-Mobile from Sprint, Verizon or AT&T.

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While the plan will be available for both new and existing customers, customers will need to either already have a compatible phone, buy a new phone for full retail price, or enroll in Sprint’s Easy Pay program. Easy Pay allows users to purchase a phone for a small initial down payment, and pay off the phone through installments over 24 months. The initial and monthly payments vary based on the chosen phone, with a 16GB Apple iPhone 5S  and Samsung Galaxy S5 currently available for $0 down and $27 per month.

Finally, after all the paperwork is signed, users will still have to deal with Sprint’s lethargic 4G network, which is the slowest of the four major carriers. While Spark data rates are speedy when you can get it, coverage is spotty and results from our network testing has Sprint often struggling to break 3 Mbps up and down on 4G. Also, unlimited data isn’t quite bottomless as the top 5 percent of users will see their speeds throttled, a method also used by other carriers.

The biggest takeaway is that competition is heating up between carriers. In the wake of the failed purchase of T-Mobile by Sprint, there is no love lost between the third and fourth largest U.S. carriers.

Sam is a former penguin trainer and archery instructor who dabbles in esports and has lived on three different continents. If you have some comments on new tech or the best noodles spots in NYC, drop a line @SamRutherford.

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