Sprint will put a stop to their data throttling practices to avoid FCC ban hammers

It was only a couple of days ago that AT&T got a slap on the wrist for miscommunication about their data throttling policy, and now Sprint seems to be feeling a bit of heat of their own. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint has stopped throttling its heavy data users even in periods where the network is congested.

The report suggests Sprint is doing so in order to avoid any action that’ll put them on the FCC’s bad side, though they maintain they felt their practices were well within the rules. Sprint says they don’t expect users to notice any significant differences in service.

It’s worth pointing out that Sprint’s hesitation in continuing data throttling is less about being slapped with fines for miscommunication, and more about dodging the touchy topic of net neutrality. The FCC made their vote against it quite clear earlier this year, and it’s looking more and more likely that the regulatory body won’t tolerate much shadiness in the realm of broadband internet.

For what it’s worth, Sprint probably won’t completely ditch throttling. The company says they’ll still opt to put a cap on identifiable video sources (which can quickly get out of hand when you start streaming in HD), though it shouldn’t be so much that it makes for an unacceptable video experience on mobile. Everything else will run through Sprint’s proverbial pipes as fast as the network will allow. It’s better than nothing, folks, so consider it a win.