Sprint fires back at Verizon with cheaper unlimited HD plans
Right after Verizon entered the fray, the battle for the best unlimited data plan rages on.
Take that, Verizon! Sprint's unlimited data plan now has HD video too.
Starting Friday, you'll be able to sign up for Sprint's newest wireless plan. With it, you can use all the data your heart desires, and you'll be able to stream video in 1080p HD.
Earlier this week, Verizon rolled out the company's first unlimited data plan in years, complete with HD video for $80 a month for the first customer and $45 a month for any additional lines. In response to that move, both Sprint and T-Mobile this week added HD video to their unlimited plans
Sprint's new unlimited plan with HD video and 10GB of hotspot data will cost $50 a month. Previously, Sprint customers could add HD by upgrading from a $55 a month to a $75 per month plan.
Sprint's sweetening the deal further. If you switch to Sprint and trade in your old device, you'll get an iPhone 7 free for 18 months. Plus, the $50 a month is just for a single customer. Two lines will pay $90 a month total. You can add a third or fourth line to that cost for free, so a family of four will only pay $22.50 a line.
Sprint's deal does look pretty sweet. That said, there's a lot of fine print included with the announcement. You'll have to trade in a pretty new phone to get the iPhone 7 deal, so if you've been waiting through a two year lifecycle to upgrade, you're probably out of luck. After March 1, 2018, the price will go up to $60 a month for the first line, $40 a month for line 2, and $30 a month for lines 3 and 4. Those prices include a $5 a month discount assuming you sign up for AutoPay.
Plus, the fine print specifies that video data is subject to deprioritization during congestion. Sprint's announcement boasted about the carrier's capacity, but we'll need to try out the plan to see if data is throttled significantly during rush hour.
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