data usage on Sprint bill

[mrknowitall526]

I have the 12GB hotspot plan.  About halfway through the cycle, I (tried to) upgrade to a Mifi 500 LTE.  There were some issues, and the device had to be returned.  I then swapped back to my current Mifi 4082.

 

The day it changed, it shows my data usage in 2 groups: 7/10 to 7/23, and 7/23 to current.  To figure out the 12GB, is it going to add the 2 values together?  Or is it sort of like starting over, from the date it switched?

 

I'm hoping for the latter, because otherwise I'm going to go over 12GB for this month...

[delta772er]

I believe you get the full 12GB bucket over.

[mrknowitall526]

Really? That would be pretty awesome... My mifi is my home internet source...no cable or DSL here.

 

If that's really what will happen, that's an interesting loop hole.

[CAREND]

Should be a proration.

[mrknowitall526]

But what I'm wondering is...will they add up the different things that show there?  One part says 7.9GB, and the other is about 5.4GB.

[scubajwd]

Interesting question that I've wondered about also; I've called Sprint CS three times to have them

tell me how the tier usage/costs work and I've gotten three different answers; I have a Tri-Fi that

I start out at 3 GB in my cycle and as I blow thru 3GB I online upgrade to 6GB; it appears from the

Sprint billing online that indeed as someone above mentioned that I get the full 6GB bucket even tho I've

blown by the 3 GB earlier BUT I'M NOT SURE..and the overage charges are killers...don't go there!

One CS rep told me the max for a hotspot is 12 GB..so if I do the math I could do my initial 3 GB in say

14 days=$17 prorated and the full 6GB= $25 ($49/2) and I end up consuming 9 GBs for $42!  The 6GB

plan is $49 so I;m getting 9GBs for $42 if this is correct..a loophole someone said above..proration only

seems to be on the number of days on a tier and not tied to the data you have consumed..your mileage may vary!!

[mrknowitall526]

I have changed plans before, and they do prorate that...but this was the same plan the whole time.  I was just swapping devices.  See the pic below:

 

 

My cycle starts over on the 10th.

[scubajwd]

I understood your dilemma; and it relates to what I wrote; the only way to know how the tier/pricing

works is to risk an overage; if (in my case) the sum of my two tier cycle exceeds 6 GB's then I get hit with

an overage charge; if they don't add and I get away with 9 GB on a hybrid 6 GB plan then I truly do get a

new 6GB bucket; this applies in your case then when you swapped devices and got a "new" tier or data

bucket; but if you exceed 12 GB and it appears you will then you'll be hit with an overage if the two plans

in your case are cumulative;  as I've said before I truly do NOT know how Sprint handles this; theoretically

I could wait till the very last day of my cycle, switch to the 12 GB plan from my present 6GB plan and burn thru

12 GB in ONE day at 1/30 ($79) if proration just depends on the days at a tier not on the amount of data

consumed..

[mrknowitall526]

I looked back at past bills.  I don't think they will add them together. There was one month in particular where I started with the 6GB plan, went over before I had a chance to change to 12GB.  They charged overages on the 6GB plan, and then the 12 started over with a new amount of data.  It seems like it looks as each individual line as its own separate entity.

[scubajwd]

I believe you are right on this but I've had one Sprint CS rep tell me that they add and are cumulative and in no case 

can one consume more than 12 GB total w/o overage charges..I have not dared to test this as the overage charges

are extreme..

[mrknowitall526]

We'll see what happens...if they add, I definitely used more than 12 this month.  (I have no cable or DSL here, so this is my home internet connection.  My desktop went a little crazy with Windows Updates this month...grr.).

 

Here's a shot of a previous bill:

[scubajwd]

Good luck..keep us posted on what your charges turn out to be..

[S4GRU]

I upgraded my hotspot three times this month. Each time you upgrade your plan, the old one stops dead. And the new one starts over fresh with no data usage. And you pay a prorated amount for the rest of the billing period on the new plan. My VZW hotspot is not so generous. You don't get to start the data pool over with an upgrade to your plan. I was shocked to see Sprint do this.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[scubajwd]

So, Robert, if that is the case then if one cleverly games the tiering system,  ie 3-6-12 for my Trifi on the very

last day of my cycle I switch to 12 GB and commence to consume 12 GB of data and ONLY be charged with

1/30 ($79) for that single day on the tier...hard to believe Sprint would allow this..I've never been brave enough to

at least confirm this pricing stratagem for fear of a massive overage charge..doing the math one can download up

to 21 GB of data for just a bit over $35 if one had need for a lot of data at the end of his cycle..

 

As I stated above on two occasions with two different Sprint CS reps that the hotspot quota can NEVER exceed

12 GB and that it IS cumulative as one changes tiers..I also stated that I do NOT know for sure how this works

never risking an overage to find out..let us know what your charges end up being for your three changes and the

total GB's consumed, please..

[mrknowitall526]

I will!

[mrknowitall526]

I upgraded my hotspot three times this month. Each time you upgrade your plan, the old one stops dead. And the new one starts over fresh with no data usage. And you pay a prorated amount for the rest of the billing period on the new plan. My VZW hotspot is not so generous. You don't get to start the data pool over with an upgrade to your plan. I was shocked to see Sprint do this.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

It's kind of crazy. I can MAYBE understand that happening when changing your plan ... but I was swapping devices.  But, it seems to work the same way.

 

I'm trying to resist the temptation to use ~11 GB in the next 2 days...

[koiulpoi]

I looked back at past bills.  I don't think they will add them together. There was one month in particular where I started with the 6GB plan, went over before I had a chance to change to 12GB.  They charged overages on the 6GB plan, and then the 12 started over with a new amount of data.  It seems like it looks as each individual line as its own separate entity.

IIRC, that's what happens when you change your plan "immediately", it starts a new plan from that plan change. To avoid overages, plan changes need to be backdated by the care rep to the beginning of the current cycle. Yes, it's confusing.

[JohnHovah]

So, Robert, if that is the case then if one cleverly games the tiering system,  ie 3-6-12 for my Trifi on the very

last day of my cycle I switch to 12 GB and commence to consume 12 GB of data and ONLY be charged with

1/30 ($79) for that single day on the tier...hard to believe Sprint would allow this..I've never been brave enough to

at least confirm this pricing stratagem for fear of a massive overage charge..doing the math one can download up

to 21 GB of data for just a bit over $35 if one had need for a lot of data at the end of his cycle..

 

As I stated above on two occasions with two different Sprint CS reps that the hotspot quota can NEVER exceed

12 GB and that it IS cumulative as one changes tiers..I also stated that I do NOT know for sure how this works

never risking an overage to find out..let us know what your charges end up being for your three changes and the

total GB's consumed, please..

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR

 

I believe I posted on another thread but my grandparents hit their 12gb hotspot cap in less than 2 weeks of service and were charged about $600 in overage fees because my grandmother wanted to watch videos on youtube.  

 

For the average user, buyer beware, as there are presently no higher tiers for Sprint's hotspot plans to upgrade over 12GB.

 

It seems that other services provide you with the option to cut it off when you hit the threshold (my experience with Verizon) and decide whether or not to move to a higher tier or wait until the next billing cycle.

[iansltx]

I've used Sprint's daily proration of data (vs. by GBs) to my advantage a few times, mainly relating to for-pay tethering. I don't tend to need tethering, but when I do it's for a few days and a few GB of data. So I'll turn on the 6GB plan, do what I need to do, then turn it off a few days later.

 

Is Sprint leaving money on the table by billing this way? Yep. But I figure that the combination of me giving them plenty of direct and indirect business, plus the fact that my tethering usage is on a lightly loaded tower (albeit one that uses wireless backhaul) equals things out a bit.

[gnoj]

I believe I posted on another thread but my grandparents hit their 12gb hotspot cap in less than 2 weeks of service and were charged about $600 in overage fees because my grandmother wanted to watch videos on youtube.  

 

For the average user, buyer beware, as there are presently no higher tiers for Sprint's hotspot plans to upgrade over 12GB.

 

Wow, too many cat videos, huh? I hope Sprint was willing to work with your grandparents on a payment plan or lowering that bill.

 

If cable/DSL/fiber is available in their neighborhood they should be using that for their home ISP for the low latency and lack of caps, but if wireless is their only option then the least bad option is probably Millenicom. Their $70/mo "unlimited" plan has a 50GB soft cap with no overages. The Unlimited and BYOD plans use Sprint's 3G, WiMax, and LTE networks (not sure if they'd let you activate a tri-band LTE hotspot or not), and the 20GB "Hotspot Plan" uses VZW's network.

[JohnHovah]

Wow, too many cat videos, huh? I hope Sprint was willing to work with your grandparents on a payment plan or lowering that bill.

 

If cable/DSL/fiber is available in their neighborhood they should be using that for their home ISP for the low latency and lack of caps, but if wireless is their only option then the least bad option is probably Millenicom. Their $70/mo "unlimited" plan has a 50GB soft cap with no overages. The Unlimited and BYOD plans use Sprint's 3G, WiMax, and LTE networks (not sure if they'd let you activate a tri-band LTE hotspot or not), and the 20GB "Hotspot Plan" uses VZW's network.

 

LOL, maybe there were some cat videos in there since she breeds exotic cats, but mostly japanese comedy shows; Arashi (As she is japanese)

 

The hotspot was only a temporary fix.  Right now they have been hanging out in my folks' 40ft RV awaiting their new house to be built.  Moving her onto a Smartphone with all of the bells and whistles (wireless keyboard/mouse and hdmi cables) has allowed her to get her youtube fix in the interim, without any surprise expenses or worries of data overages.  Everything will work out for them, but I do want to make sure that everyone knows that the Sprint Hotspot data cap is nothing to joke with if you are tight on finances whatsoever.

[WiWavelength]

Wow, too many cat videos, huh?

 

No, knowing grandmothers, I imagine John's grandma was watching things more like these...

 

 

 

AJ

[Terrell352]

So I turned off LTE because my home is on the edge of it and it was destroying battery life so I turned it off on the 6th and my data starts over on the 8th. I check everyday to make sure its still off so I look at my usage on the 9th and it says I used almost 600kbps in one day when I never connected to 4g in the first place. I called a rep and he said it says the same on his end. So my question is how could my phone still be able to use LTE data when the LTE radio is turned off?

[scubajwd]

Your phone downloaded data via 3G most likely...600 K (if that's what you meant) is less than one (1)

MB of data so it could be an app update or two on your smartphone..

[dstar2002]

The most crazy part of this story is that you can't get cable or dsl, but, you have LTE. I have had cable Internet since 1998, and can't get LTE. Go figure right?

 

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