Sprint today confirmed that its unlimited data plans will extend to the iPhone 4S when the Apple smartphone is released next week.
Plans will start at $69.99 per month plus a $10 premium data add-on charge. Unlimited calling, data, and text is available for $99.99 per month, plus the $10 data charge.
A spokeswoman was quick to point out that Sprint "will be the only U.S. carrier offering unlimited data on an iPhone."
Verizon announced in January that it would ditch its 150MB $15 monthly plan and require new smartphone users to subscribe to its $30 unlimited plan. That move, announced several days before Verizon unveiled its version of the iPhone, was intended to attract new customers to Verizon and the iPhone, Fran Shammo, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Telecom and Business, said in March. Verizon ditched that unlimited data plan in July in favor of three new data tiers—2GB, 5GB, and 10GB—with monthly rates of $30, $50, and $80, respectively.
AT&T dropped unlimited data in June 2010. Existing AT&T and Verizon customers who were on unlimited data plans when the carriers made the switch were permitted to keep those plans. But starting October 1, AT&T started throttling the data usage of those who used an "extraordinary" amount of data, even those who were grandfathered in. Verizon implemented a similar throttling plan back in February.
Verizon and AT&T will also offer the iPhone 4S, which hits stores in the U.S. on October 14. For more, see PCMag's hands on with the iPhone 4S and the slideshow below. Also check out Why AT&T's iPhone 4S Is Faster Than Sprint's and Verizon's and Can Apple Survive Without a 4G iPhone?