Sprint has long been the refuge for data-hungry users that don't want to deal with caps or overages. While Sprint's regular 3G and 4G data usage on phones is still unlimited, back in October the Now Network started capping the mobile hotspot feature at 5GB per month. Starting last Friday, May 18th, that plan is gone. In its place are two pricier options.

The low-end option comes with 2GB of monthly bandwidth and costs $19.99 per month. The high-end offering is quite a jump; 6GB for $49.99. It's a clever way to push you to a much more expensive option that you might not need. As a reference, remember that the old 5GB plan only cost consumers $29.99 each month. If you are still on that plan, you will be permitted to keep it until you cancel and try to re-add a hotspot plan.

The old plan worked out to $6 per gigabyte, but the new ones are quite a bit more. The 2GB plan is $10 per gigabyte, and the 6GB plan works out to about $8.33 per gigabyte. It was a little sneaky of Sprint to slip the announcement out there last week on the Sprint Community site instead of issuing a press release. I'd bet some users would have jumped at that 5GB plan when they had the chance.

[Good and Evo, Sprint, Inside Sprint Now]