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This web page contains important information about the terms, performance, and management of Boost’s wireless broadband Internet access services and is intended to help you to make informed choices about the purchase and use of Boost’s services. It applies to Boost branded prepaid and postpaid services. Broadband Internet access services provide Boost customers with the ability to transmit and receive data from all or substantially all points on the internet while using Boost’s data networks. In some cases we will refer you to other web pages that will provide additional information about Boost’s terms and practices. The information provided relates to your experience while using Boost’s data networks and may not describe the terms, performance, or management you may experience while using extended coverage networks or roaming on non-Boost affiliated networks.

For questions that are not answered on this page, Boost customers may chat with us at any time, or reach out via any of the methods listed on our Contact us page. For information on resolving disputes with Boost, please review the "Dispute Resolution and Arbitration" section of our General Terms & Conditions.

Boost's Terms and Conditions, including guidelines on such topics as service plans, activation procedures, data usage and dispute resolution, can be viewed at the bottom of all of our online shopping pages. They can also be viewed in our General Terms & Conditions.

Detailed information on all of Boost's broadband internet access service plans for phones, broadband cards, laptops, tablets, mobile hotspots, and more can be found on my.boostmobile.com

Boost is committed to protecting the privacy of our customers. Boost's Privacy Policy describes how Boost may collect, access, use, or disclose your personal information while using our products or services. Review our Boost's Privacy Policy to learn more.

Any device certified as being Boost network compatible may be used on the Boost network including compatible devices not purchased from Boost. Boost will not activate devices that have been reported as lost or stolen or associated with accounts that are found not to be in good standing.

Broadband internet access network performance is generally described by looking at two measurements — speed and latency. Speed refers to the amount of data that can be transmitted over a period of time and is typically expressed in megabits of data per second. Latency refers to the amount of time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. Boost measures latency as the time it takes a packet to be returned to its sender in milliseconds.

Network speed and latency determines how applications perform on a network. Many commonly used applications do not require high speeds. Applications like email, general web surfing, posting on social media, and other similar applications work well even when connected at lower speeds and are not generally affected by latency. Applications like streaming music and video may require higher speeds, but because they can be buffered, are also not affected by higher latency. Applications like real-time gaming, two way video conferencing, and other interactive audio/video applications usually work best when customers have high speed connections and low latency. Boost customers will enjoy the best experience with these interactive applications when connected to Boost’s newest network technology.

Boost regularly measures the coverage, speed, and latency of our data networks in an effort to ensure our coverage maps and performance data are accurate and up-to-date.

Our average speed and latency ranges are based on a combination of independent third-party testing and Boost-generated results including actual customer performance results. Coverage isn't available everywhere, and speeds and latency may vary considerably from these averages based on factors both within and beyond Boost’s control such as network problems, software, signal strength, your wireless device, structures, buildings, weather, geography, topography, etc. It is important that you consider the capabilities of your device, Boost’s network coverage, and Boost’s expected speed and latency estimates for Boost’s network technologies in determining whether Boost’s data services are right for you.

5G Network

Boost has provided you access to the first, largest and only nationwide 5G network, tapping into a 5G network in more than 5,000 cities and towns across the country.

4G LTE network

Typically, you can expect to experience download speeds of 4-35Mbps and upload speeds of 1-5Mbps with an average device to network edge round-trip latency of 30-56ms. The average speed and latency of our 4G LTE network is suitable for video and audio streaming, web browsing and other general Internet usage consistent with Boost's Terms and Conditions. Boost has provided you access to the first, largest and only nationwide 5G network, tapping into a 5G network in more than 5,000 cities and towns across the country.

Boost non-LTE network

Typically, you can expect to experience 600 Kbps-1.4Mbps download speeds and 350Kbps-500Kbps upload with an average device to network edge round-trip latency of less than 160ms. The average speed and latency of our non-LTE networks is suitable for video and audio streaming, web browsing and other general Internet usage consistent with Boost's Terms and Conditions.

Yes. To help ensure that our customers have access to the services that best suit their needs, Boost offers a wide variety of different plans. Depending on the plan, you may be allotted fixed amounts of high-speed data per billing period after which your data access speeds may be reduced or suspended. Boost plans may also limit the amount of data available for specialized applications such as use of your device as a Wi-Fi hotspot, to engage in peer to peer file sharing, VPN, and device tethering. Users on such plans will typically be directed to an informational web page with further options after exceeding any plan limits on these types of applications.

Some of our plans may provide different performance characteristics optimized to different user experiences. For example, some plans may come with standard DVD quality video streaming at one price, while providing an HD video experience for an additional charge. Similarly some plans may also limit gaming or audio streaming to standard or high definition. In some cases, users on plans with data allocations for specialized applications like WiFi hotspot, peer to peer file sharing, VPN, and device tethering will experience reduced speed for those applications for the remainder of the billing period after exceeding their allotments.

For more information on the performance characteristics of current plans, please visit our Plans FAQ page.

Boost is committed to providing the best mobile broadband Internet access service experience possible. To ensure that all Boost customers enjoy the best possible network experience, Boost uses reasonable network management practices that are consistent with mobile broadband industry standards and guidance provided by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Boost’s network management practices are primarily used for and tailored to achieving legitimate network management purposes taking into account Boost’s network architecture and technology.
The following is intended to help you understand what Boost means by network management and explain Boost's network management techniques and approaches.

Boost manages its network with the goal of delivering the best possible mobile broadband Internet access experience to our customers. Mobile network resources are not infinite. Managing the network is essential to promote the use and enjoyment of mobile data by our customers. We use reasonable network management practices that are consistent with industry standards for protecting Boost’s network and customers and for managing the delivery of mobile broadband services. Just as the Internet continues to change and evolve, so, too, will our network management practices to address the challenges and threats on the Internet.

Boost employs a holistic approach to managing congestion on its data network. Boost’s first goal is to avoid congestion altogether by directing traffic to the best available spectrum resources and cell sites. Boost also attempts to avoid congestion by managing tonnage on its network. Finally, when congestion does occur, meaning that the demand on a particular sector temporarily exceeds the ability of that sector to meet the demand, Boost relies on the radio scheduling software provided by Boost’s hardware vendors to allocate resources to users.

Techniques to Direct Traffic to the Best Available Spectrum Resources and Cell Sites: All mobile networks, including Boost’s, employ a Radio Access Network (“RAN”) that manages connectivity between mobile client devices and the core network. The RAN functions to identify mobile devices permitted to access the network and their locations and assigns the mobile device to an available frequency band and cell site serving the location. The RAN also controls device “hand off” between neighboring cell site resources to balance loads across network resources or as a mobile device moves from one location to another. As part of managing those connections, Boost’s RAN is designed to dynamically connect customers to the best available spectrum resources and cell sites — and reassign those connections as circumstances change.

Some of Boost’s traffic management efforts are aimed at avoiding congestion by managing the total volume of data transmitted, referred to colloquially as “tonnage.” Boost may work with high-volume content providers to help ensure that their content is delivered in a way that uses Boost’s network in an efficient manner. In addition, some applications may reduce or increase their traffic volume depending on network conditions. For example, some streaming video applications employ adaptive bitrate protocol to stream video. These applications automatically and continuously monitor the available bandwidth and adjust the streaming video bitrate to current user conditions. Depending on available bandwidth, users may notice differences in video streaming quality as the application adjusts the video streaming bitrate to account for changing channel conditions.

Despite our best efforts to prevent congestion through managing tonnage and directing customers to the best available network resources, the demand on a particular network sector sometimes temporarily exceeds the ability of that sector to meet the demand. During these times, Boost relies on the radio scheduling software provided by Boost’s hardware vendors to allocate resources to users. This radio scheduling software includes a set of generic fairness algorithms that allocate resources based on signal quality, number of users, and other metrics. These algorithms are active at all times, whether or not the cell is congested; however, during times of congestion, the algorithms operate with the goal of ensuring that no single user is deprived of access to the network.

To help protect against the possibility that unlimited data plan customers that use high volumes of data may occupy an unreasonable share of network resources, Boost employs network prioritization, network traffic management or QoS on the Boost network. For customers on unlimited data handset plans on or after July 17, 2020, or customers who choose to upgrade their handsets or activate new lines of service on or after July 1, 2020, and are on unlimited data plans, that use more than 35GB of data during a single billing cycle (the QoS Threshold), Boost reserves the right to de-prioritize or to reduce the speed available to a customer for the remainder of that billing cycle. Affected unlimited data customers will continue to be able to enjoy unlimited amounts of data without the worry of overage charges. Customers subject to de-prioritization may experience reduced throughput and increased latency compared to other customers on the constrained site and as compared to their normal experience on the Boost network. Unlimited customers may also notice changes in the performance of data intensive applications such as streaming video or online gaming when subject to de-prioritization or the reduction in speeds. In the situation where the traffic is de-prioritized, the performance will return to normal as soon as the resource constraints have been relieved or the customer has relocated to a non-constrained location. Unlimited data customers potentially subject to lower QoS will be notified when their individual data usage reaches approximately 85% of the QoS Threshold so that they may modify their usage to avoid network management practices that may result in slower data speeds. We will also notify customers when they have reached the QoS Threshold and are now subject to de-prioritization or their speeds are reduced. 

The goal of congestion management is to ensure that all users during times of congestion have access to a fair share of the network resources and that no user is starved of resources. When congestion occasionally occurs, customers may experience reduced throughput or speed compared to their normal experience on non-congested sites.

Because of the peaked nature of mobile data traffic, congestion management software is actively looking for network congestion at all times. When it detects congestion, the fairness algorithms described above operate with the goal of ensuring that all customers are allocated a fair share of network resources.

To help reduce congestion, Boost evaluates its overall network performance and enhances its network by adding capacity or making other network adjustments to help improve network performance.

Boost strives to deliver to its customers access to all the lawful, legitimate and non-infringing content that the Internet has to offer. However, we are committed to protecting our network and customers from spam, phishing, viruses, malware, security attacks and other unwanted harmful or malicious online activities. Boost uses industry standard tools and generally accepted best practices and policies including our own analysis and third party intelligence to help it meet this goal. In cases where these tools and policies identify certain traffic patterns, addresses, or destinations as being harmful or malicious, Boost may deploy technical controls to block or prevent access to harmful or malicious traffic. In other cases, these tools and policies may permit customers to identify certain content that is not clearly harmful or unwanted, such as bulk email or websites with questionable security ratings, and enable those customers to inspect the content further if they want to do so. Boost does not block sites based on content or subject, unless the Internet address hosts unlawful content or is blocked as part of an opted-in customer service.

Despite the actions that Boost takes to protect its network and customers, Boost cannot guarantee that you may not encounter unwanted or harmful or malicious internet traffic while using Boost’s broadband Internet access services. We encourage you to engage in your own security practices including using antivirus/antimalware products.

From time to time, Boost may push software updates to your device to improve device features, security, and performance. These updates may include components that optimize the way your device (and applications on the device) use network resources by, for example, managing connections between a user's WiFi networks and the Boost network or by managing the intervals at which certain background applications, not being used by the user, connect to the network. Updates that manage radio resources are intended to improve performance and device battery life while at the same maintaining a high quality user experience.