Sprint is the weakest of the big four carriers in the US in terms of coverage. Sprint can be a good secondary option, and works well in urban areas and along major highways, but lack of coverage in many areas of the country relegates it to, at best, a supporting role for most travelers.
Current postpaid plan options:
- Unlimited - for smartphones & tablets
- Single Line - small data buckets for smartphones
- Data Only Plans - Hotspots, Tablets, 2-in-1 Devices & Connected Cars
We cover pricing details of these Sprint plans in our:
Guide to Cellular Data Plan Pricing
Table of Contents
- Unlimited Plans
- Retired Plan Info
- Single Line Plans
- Data Only Plans
- Hotspot devices
- Connected Cars
- Tablets & 2-n-1 Devices
- Potential Alternatives
- General Policies (Member Only)
- Device Lock/Unlock
- Account Suspension
- Administration Fees
- Discounts (Member Only)
- Analysis (Member Only)
- Purchasing Options
Unlimited Plans
Sprint offers a suite of unlimited smartphone plans which have differing attributes - collectively called 'Unlimited Freedom' plans. Current Sprint Unlimited Freedom plans offered:
- Unlimited Basic: $60/Single Line
- Unlimited Plus: $70/Single Line
- Unlimited Premium: $90/Single Line
Sprint's three unlimited plans can be mixed-and-matched while retaining multi-line discounts. For example, you could get 2 lines of Unlimited Premium for $160 and two lines of Unlimited Plus (the mid-tier option) for only another $40/month.
- Carrier Networks Used: Sprint
- Carrier Relation: Direct
- Plan Types Available: Smartphone
- Device Types Permitted: Smartphones, Tablets
- Tablets can be added to a plan, and have a limit of 10GB hotspot data.
- Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
- Mobile Hotspot / Tethering:
- Unlimited Basic: 500MB highspeed mobile hotspot data per line. After highspeed hotspot data is used, speeds are reduced to 3G for the rest of the month.
- Additional high-speed data can be added for $15 per GB.
- Unlimited Plus: 50GB highspeed mobile hotspot data per line. After highspeed hotspot data is used, speeds are reduced to 3G for the rest of the month.
- Additional high-speed data can be added for $15 per GB.
- Unlimited Premium: 100GB highspeed mobile hotspot data a month per line After highspeed hotspot data is used, speeds are reduced to 3G for the rest of the month.
- Additional high-speed data can be added for $15 per GB.
- Unlimited Basic: 500MB highspeed mobile hotspot data per line. After highspeed hotspot data is used, speeds are reduced to 3G for the rest of the month.
- Throttling: Full speed on device. Mobile hotspot throttle as noted above.
- Network Management: Unlimited plans are subject to network management after 50GB of usage in a month per line.
- International Roaming: Sprint's international plans can be a bit confusing:
- Unlimited Basic: Free voice/text roaming in Canada and Mexico with 5GB LTE data use per month.
- Unlimited Plus: Free voice/text roaming in Canada and Mexico with 10GB LTE data use per month.
- Unlimited Premium: (Premium International Experience): Free voice/text roaming in Canada and Mexico with unlimited 4G LTE data.
- For other countries, Sprint offers free texts, $0.25 voice calls and free "basic" (2g) data.
- Data day passes are available - for most locations, a 1-day data pass is $5 and a 7-day pass is $25 and provides 4G speeds.
- Domestic Roaming: There is a 100-300MB roaming cap per month on unlimited data plans - data roaming will be suspended for the rest of the month if the cap is exceeded.
- Plan Period: 30 days
- Data Roll Over: None
- Overage Charges: None
- Streaming:
- Video Resolution/Streaming Speeds:
- Basic plan is limited to SD video streaming.
- Plus plan allows for HD video streaming, but music & gaming may be restricted in speed.
- Premium plan does not have any video, music or gaming speed restrictions.
- Included Services:
- Basic plan includes: Hulu
- Plus plan includes: Hulu & Tidal
- Premium plan includes: Hulu, Tidal, Amazon Prime, LookOut, UBER Credits
- Video Resolution/Streaming Speeds:
- Unlimited: Yes
- Lines permitted per account: 10
- Extras:
- Premium plan includes Amazon Prime, LookOut, UBER Credits
On 11/6/18, Sprint upped the hotspot data allotments for many of their retired unlimited plans - including plans that did not previously have hotspot data. Be sure to log-in to your account, or call Sprint to see if adding hotspot data to your account is an option - for free.
"Everything Data" Plan
This older plan did not provide any hotspot data, but on 11/6/18, Sprint added 50GB of sharable hotspot data to the plan for those still on it. There is no cost to get the new hotspot data, but those on this older unlimited plan will need to log into their accounts on Sprint's website to add the feature.
Sprint Kickstarter Plan
Sprint offered a limited time unlimited text, call, and data plan for only $15 per line for up to 4 lines between June 2018 - August 2018, called the Kickstarter plan. The plan was ridiculously cheap - but is null and void of any mobile hotspot / tethering capability.
While Sprint added 50GB of hotspot data to many legacy plans on 11/6/18, they did not include the Kickstarter plan in that 50GB hotspot data addition.
Free Year of Unlimited Plan
Offered in 2018, Sprint's Free Unlimited Plan offered unlimited voice calling, text messages, and on-device data usage. Video streaming is throttled to 1080P resolution, music streams are capped at 1.5Mbps, and online gaming streams max out at 8Mbps.
Peer-2-peer file transfers (Torrents, etc), and VPN usage is capped at 10GB/mo - after which those services will be throttled to an unusably slow 32kbps Originally this plan included 10GB of mobile hotspot data, but that was quietly removed in July 2018.
While Sprint added 50GB of hotspot data to many legacy plans on 11/6/18, they did not include the Free Year Unlimited plan in that 50GB hotspot data addition.
Single Line Plans
All of Sprint's data plans are 'technically' unlimited. Even on their tiered data plans (those in which you purchase a bucket of data for each month), after the cap is reached, speeds are throttled for the rest of the billing period to 2G speeds.
Sprint offers single line phone plans with small buckets of data (2GB)
- Talk/Text: Unlimited
- Mobile Hotspot: All data on single line plans is available to be used via mobile hotspot
- Domestic Roaming: Has a 100-300MB roaming cap per month on the data plan - data roaming will be suspended for the rest of the month if the cap is exceeded.
- Sprint Global Roaming: Those who are not on 'Unlimited Freedom', 'Unlimited Basic.' 'Unlimited Plus' or 'Unlimited Premium' plans are eligible for this option. You get free unlimited data, text messaging, and voice calls for 20-cents a minute – but data speeds are limited to 2G (64kbps) speed on the Global Roaming plan, even in Canada and Mexico. You must sign up for this 'add-on' at least 3 days in advance of your international usage.
- Data Passes: If you are not eligible for the "Premium International Experience" (aka, on an Unlimited Freedom plan), but you still need faster access at faster than 2G speeds, you can purchase data passes. These passes provide you with full speed data for $2 a day or $10 a week - limited to the constraints (data limits) of your plan.
Data Only Plans
All of Sprint's data plans are 'technically' unlimited. Even on their tiered data plans (those in which you purchase a bucket of data for each month), after the cap is reached, speeds are throttled for the rest of the billing period to 2G speeds, but additional high-speed data can be purchased in 2GB buckets for $10.
Hotspot Devices
- Hotspot Devices: Sprint offers a 10GB, 50GB or 100GB hotspot plan.
- Network Management: All data on Sprint hotspot plans is subject to network management and may be slowed on congested towers.
- Domestic Roaming: Has a 100-300MB roaming cap per month on the data plan - data roaming will be suspended for the rest of the month if the cap is exceeded.
- Data Rollover: Can carry-over the up to the full data amount from one month to the next. So the 10GB plan carry over up to 10GB of unused data for use the next month.
- Sprint Global Roaming: Those who are not on 'Unlimited Freedom', 'Unlimited Basic.' 'Unlimited Plus' or 'Unlimited Premium' plans are eligible for this option. You get free unlimited data, text messaging, and voice calls for 20-cents a minute – but data speeds are limited to 2G (64kbps) speed on the Global Roaming plan, even in Canada and Mexico. You must sign up for this 'add-on' at least 3 days in advance of your international usage.
- Data Passes: If you are not eligible for the "Premium International Experience" (aka, on an Unlimited Freedom plan), but you still need faster access at faster than 2G speeds, you can purchase data passes. These passes provide you with full speed data for $2 a day or $10 a week - limited to the constraints (data limits) of your plan.
Connected Car
Sprint offers connected car plans on its 'Drive' device.
Sprint offers two plans that include data and telematics:
- 2GB of data for $15/month ($10/month with autopay)
- Unlimited data for $30/month ($25/month with autopay)
Policies & Perks
- Carrier Networks Used: Sprint
- Carrier Relation: Direct
- Plan Types Available: Connected Car
- Device Types Permitted: Sprint Drive
- Device Purchase Required: No, but can purchase a device
- Mobile Hotspot Use: Yes - all
- Throttling: 2GB plan throttled to 2G speeds after 2GB of use.
- Network Management: Always
- International Roaming: None
- Domestic Roaming: None - Native Sprint coverage only
- Plan Period: Monthly
- Data Roll Over: None
- Overage Charges: None
- Streaming: SD video capped at 480p, music up to 500kbps, gaming up to 2Mbps
- Unlimited: Yes, on unlimited plan
- Extras: Telematics features are included with either plan.
Tablets & 2-n-1 Plans
For $15/month, Sprint offers an unlimited on-device plan for tablets and select 2-n-1 PC devices and includes 10GB of high-speed hotspot data.
Potential Alternatives to Consider:
For other featured cellular data plans ideal for RVers and Crusiers - here's some other options to consider:
Learn More About Selecting Cellular Data Plans
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Purchasing Options
Selecting the right cellular data plan for your mobile internet needs is only one part of the equation. Here's some further guides on understanding the selection process as well as the additional gear you might need.
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