Verizon Wireless has made a name for itself by being rock-solid and having a huge 3G network. Things have been a bit more rocky since its 4G LTE network started taking off. Today, Big Red is having its third nationwide data outage in the month of December. Customers across the U.S. are reporting no 4G, and often no 3G data either.
While not offering any specifics, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has again raised the issue of family data pricing. Consumers have been begging for a carrier to move in this direction for years, and McAdam seems at least open to the idea. According to the CEO, a family data plan for multiple devices could arrive in 2012.
Remember yesterday when we wondered aloud if Clearwire was about to default on its loan payments? Well, the day has come and big-daddy Sprint has saved the day with a big bag of money, adding to its already huge stake in the mobile broadband provider. Sprint has announced a plan to give Clearwire as much as $1.6 billion over the next four years.
The age of unlimited mobile data on Sprint has come to a close with the introduction of new tiered mobile broadband plans. Sprint announced plans to call off the all-you-can-eat data party late last month, but at least the plans now available are better deals that those offered by the competition. Users on tablet and Wi-Fi hotspot plans will have their pick of a few different options.
It looks like mobile broadband use is about to get a bit more pricey on what used to be the last bastion of unlimited data, Sprint. The carrier has confirmed rumors that it plans to move away from truly unlimited 4G data for its Wi-Fi hotspot and tethering plans. Most users will be subject to a 5GB cap starting in November. 
Verizon’s 4G LTE rollout has been accompanied by a market increase in the price of smartphones. Most of the carrier’s 4G models have been starting their lives at a $300 price point. The new Samsung Stratosphere is arriving on October 13th with LTE in tow, and it’s just $150 on contract. That’s half as much as the new Droid Bionic.
Prospective iPhone buyers have been aching to know if Sprint would be keeping its unlimited data plans in place when it begins offering the device, and the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Sprint PR has confirmed to All Things D that the existing unlimited data plans will apply to the iPhone when pre-orders begin in just a few days. Sprint is likely to use this as a selling point to lure users from AT&T and Verizon.
As the big four US carriers continue to raise prices and cap data, an increasingly competitive pre-paid market is being created. Pre-paid services like Boost and Virgin Mobile are starting to pull some more budget-minded consumers away, but T-Mobile is looking to staunch the bleeding with its new monthly 4G plan sold through Walmart.
Sprint was the first on the 4G data bandwagon with its WiMAX network, but lack of adoption and mediocre performance seems to have gotten to the nation’s third-largest carrier. A report from Cnet claims that Sprint is in the process of testing a Connect with MaximumPC
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