Boost Mobile has updated its data only plans. The Sprint-owned prepaid brand updated its $50 hotspot plan to include 50GB of hard-capped data. The previous offering was for 10GB. The change was observed by Wave7 Research in early June and detailed in a recent report the firm sent out to its subscribers.
Boost Mobile has also opted to retire its $25 hotspot plan that included 1.5GB of data. Current customers on the plan will be allowed to keep it, but it is no longer available for new activations. That leaves Boost Mobile with only one hotspot plan offering.
Customers on a new or legacy hotspot plan will still be able to add a data add-on pack to their plan. Data add-ons are priced as follows:
- $5 for 1GB
- $10 for 2GB
Boost Mobile's hotspot plans are only available for use with Boost Mobile approved hotspot devices. Approved devices are those that are currently sold or have been sold in the past by the prepaid brand. At the moment, only one hotspot device is available for purchase, the ZTE Warp Connect. The ZTE Warp Connect is currently available for $49.99 although a recent sale had the device selling for $29.99. The hotspot device comes with a 2300 mAh battery good for up to 10 hours of use and is capable of connecting up to 10 WiFi devices at a time.
Editor's Take
The addition of more data to Boost Mobile's $50 plan puts it at a competitive advantage at that price point compared to hotspot plans offered by other carrier prepaid brands. For instance, AT&T's Cricket Wireless only offers 30GB of data on its top-tiered plan, and at $65/month it costs quite a bit more than Boost Mobile's plan. T-Mobile owned Metro-By-T-Mobile doesn't even offer stand-alone hotspot plans. You have to subscribe to a phone plan if you want to add a hotspot plan to your account. Metro only offers 30GB of data for its top-tiered hotspot plan, and that costs a whopping $75/month.
On the low end of things, Boost Mobile is now lacking. Metro's hotspot plans start at $35/month for 10GB of data and Cricket's start at $25/month for 3GB of data.