This article is more than 1 year old

Sprint: Forget all we said about strangling your web video streams

And can someone replace our brakes? That U-turn we just pulled was hella

US telco Sprint has killed off its attempt to strangle internet video streaming on its so-called "unlimited" phone plan.

The carrier said its "All-In" $80 monthly plan will no longer impose a 600Kbps cap on streaming video speeds.

"At Sprint, we strive to provide customers a great experience when using our network. We heard you loud and clear, and we are removing the 600Kbps limitation on streaming video,” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a statement to El Reg.

“During certain times, like other wireless carriers, we might have to manage the network in order to reduce congestion and provide a better customer experience for the majority of our customers.”

The decision comes one day after Sprint unveiled the controversial policy as part of its unlimited data plan. The plan called for all data to be unlimited, but any streaming video would only download at a maximum of 600Kbps, which is pretty low end for Sprint's 3G service.

The throttled video would have been just over the Netflix minimum requirement of a 500Kbps connection and well below its recommendation of a 1.2Mbps connection to properly stream video.

While other carriers have admitted to slowing network speeds for heavy users on unlimited plans, Sprint's policy would have throttled all video content for any user on the unlimited data plan.

Sprint never said why it was strangling video streaming, but the outcry from customers caused the company to quickly abandon the policy. Users will now be able to get the unlimited plans with no limit. The All-In promotion runs through August 6. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like