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Sprint: Smartphone Users Need to Pay $10 More

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The industry is getting much worse, Sprint is getting just a little worse

mbrenner

Jan 18, 2011, 11:00 AM
If you watch the industry as a whole it is getting more expensive everyday. Customers are using more Data but the industry is fueling it, with a barrage of adds touting high bandwidth applications like streaming media and really fast networks.

If you look at various 4G speeds how long can you sustain streams at those speeds until you run out of data allocation? AT&T for example, who cares if you could pump data at 10MB/s if you can only do it for a 25 minutes in an entire month and your data has run out. Now no one is pushing 10MB/s on their network but the point is what good is having fast data when the quantity limits are small. In England for example you get 15GB for your Ipad for 25GBP per month (inclusive of ALL taxes a...
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Azeron

Jan 18, 2011, 11:12 AM
Wow!
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Menno

Jan 18, 2011, 11:24 AM
Can you imagine if Verizon tried changing their policies, there would be an uproar (and more than a few sprint trolls)

Oh wait.. they did. They removed a $50 credit, and the ability to upgrade every year (which you can still do if you pay $70 more for the phone). (both changes only affected primary lines)

This is only costing you an extra $240 over the term of your contract, per device. I can see why it's not a big deal...


Note to sprint users, I'm NOT trying to bash sprint here, or start a "who's better" argument. What I'm trying to point out is that you guys should be more ticked than you are, even if you understand the change.
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Commonsense4u

Jan 18, 2011, 11:30 AM
I agree and hate the raise in price. Changing companies or calling sprint to complain will not change anything. Another post here said it best, trickle down economics at its best
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acdc1a

Jan 18, 2011, 11:34 AM
NO! It's supply and demand. People keep demanding features the vast majority will never or rarely use and carriers continue to supply it at higher and higher prices. If the consumer refused to pay for it, the companies would have no choice but to lower prices.

As long as society continues to be materialistic where everyone has to keep up with the Jones', the consumer is bound to get screwed.
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IXCKNYXI

Jan 18, 2011, 11:35 AM
240 per device over the life of a contract. for an individual, it's not such a big deal. but for a family line with 5 lines, 5 X 240, that's where the money starts to make customers irate.
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Commonsense4u

Jan 18, 2011, 12:08 PM
I would 100% agree with that. It just gets more and more expensive no matter where you go.
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Menno

Jan 18, 2011, 11:36 AM
Calling into complain WILL do nothing, leaving to another carrier WILL.

There are other options out there. The worst thing you can do is just roll over and accept the changes.
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Commonsense4u

Jan 18, 2011, 12:11 PM
There are other options and always will be. Prepaid? However, since I have owned cell service, this is a copycat industry. Someone makes the first move makes all the waves and then the others follow suit.
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ScribeD

Jan 18, 2011, 12:35 PM
Menno,

I am not defending Sprint by any means. This change was necessary, and we all know it. That's the only "defense" really. Necessity. They have to raise rates or fall into the slippery slope of going into Chapter 11. Don't forget, all those debt papers issued when they took over Nextel are coming due in two years.

Even with this change, they are still a budget minded provider. They are still cheaper that Verizon and AT&T. For some, this still leaves them the best option for affordability. It doesn't change the fact that they are still in trouble as far as capital versus necessary development costs go.
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mkl4466

Jan 19, 2011, 9:24 PM

Even with this change, they are still a budget minded provider. They are still cheaper that Verizon and AT&T. For some, this still leaves them the best option for affordability.


How so? 450 minutes plus unlimited web for smartphone plus unlimited text to any verizon phone 79.99. With this change Sprint and Verizon are the same price. Only if you go for completely unlimited text is Verizon $10 more.
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Amarantamin

Jan 20, 2011, 12:45 AM
mkl4466 said:
With this change Sprint and Verizon are the same price. Only if you go for completely unlimited text is Verizon $10 more.



Wait, so are you saying that Verizon is only more expensive if you are matching the features, but if we're willing to give up some things they're the same price as Sprint?

Logic fail.
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mkl4466

Jan 20, 2011, 9:59 AM
2 ways I can respond to that.
1. Look at the coverage. Try using data on Sprint while roaming. You tell me what you are willing to give up to have a fairly comparable plan for the same price on a better network, or in the case of unlimited text, only a 10 dollar savings.
2. All the Sprint fans are justifying paying 10 dollars more each month in order to have a service that works for them. All I'm saying is if you can tolerate paying 10 dollars more each month then the price difference to have Verizon with unlimited text is no different.
Now this may not apply to everyone reading this post but from my personal experience most people old enough to pay their own cellphone bill do not typically use more than 500 out of network text message...
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brobert11

Jan 18, 2011, 1:31 PM
"Calling into complain WILL do nothing, leaving to another carrier WILL."

Your right... It will raise your cost or provide you w/ less service... Either of these things could be achieved w/ your current carrier by changing plans and/or phones... Your attitude is EXACTLY the reason the cellular industry is so complicated and expensive in America.
If your logic is that if enough people will leave, Sprint will change it's mind, you are living in a fantasy land. You think the discussion to do this didn't include a projected churn loss due to the change?
If you don't need a smartphone, don't get one.
Sprint is a business and needs to make money, simple as that.
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Menno

Jan 18, 2011, 1:40 PM
actually if you knew anything about my "attitude" you'd be singing a different toon.

The reason our industry is in the crap it's in right now is PHONE SUBSIDIES and the fact that they're linked to contracts. That's why the phone industry is complicated and expensive, and one of the main reasons a customer CAN'T just leave.

And customers leaving/refusing to upgrade CAN elicit change. Just check out what happened when Verizon charged the $10 Premium data fee on 3g multi media phones.

I UNDERSTAND why sprint is making this choice. Heck, on some levels, I even agree with it. (they need to make money sometime) but if a company does something that you don't like, there are ALWAYS other companies out there, and not all of them will prov...
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Azeron

Jan 18, 2011, 4:33 PM
As long as their is a carrier which offers a smartphone plan with a better deal then a person should vote with their feet...and their wallet.
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