In a complete 180 from the $100 million lawsuit the Federal Communication Commission just slapped on AT&T for its shady data "throttling" practices, Sprint has decided to drop throttling (i.e., reducing speeds and bandwidth for heavy data users) entirely.

Sprint's plan to abandon throttling also comes in the wake of the latest net neutrality ruling, namely that the FCC has authority over Internet service providers when it comes to punitive measures in reaction to service restriction. This particular net neutrality iteration is the first to specify rules covering mobile neutrality as well as plain old Web neutrality.

Under the old regime, so to speak, this made throttling perfectly legal for companies like Sprint and AT&T. Now, not so much, hence the major fine against AT&T yesterday and the many that will surely follow.

Sprint only started data throttling in 2014 (comparatively, AT&T began throttling practices in 2011, while Verizon, while having plans to enact throttling, backed down). 

Photo: Mike Mozart | Flickr