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Sprint Launching Pay-As-You-Go Service
Though Phone Selection is Going to Be Limited

Sprint is preparing to offer a new pay-as-you-go wireless service option, though devices appear to be limited. According to leaked data obtained by Android Police, Sprint is expanding prepaid options starting January 25. The new plans offer potential users all you can eat (talk, text and data) for smartphones (sans LTE for the moment) for $70 per month, or $50 per month for feature phones.

Just four phones will be available at launch: the Samsung M400, the Samsung Array, the LG Optimus Elite, and the Samsung Victory. More details should be forthcoming after Sprint officially announces the new plans sometime in the next week or two.
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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Why use prepaid & not Sprint postpaid $70/mo plan?

Sprint has a postpaid $70/mo plan,though they upped the plan to $80/mo recently for smartphones. Doesn't sound like much of a prepaid deal when other providers offer better prices for prepaid.
pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

1 recommendation

pandora

Premium Member

Re: Why use prepaid & not Sprint postpaid $70/mo plan?

Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint, I get 3G with 300 minutes of talk per month, unlimited data and text for $25 plus sales tax.

Why would anyone want to pay $70 per month?

AMDUSER
Premium Member
join:2003-05-28
Earth,
ARRIS CM8200
ARRIS SB6183

AMDUSER

Premium Member

Re: Why use prepaid & not Sprint postpaid $70/mo plan?

I would wouldn't want to pay $70 - 80 per month...
I could get 1,200 minutes/3,000 text/ some MMS messages/
250 MB of Data for $29.95/month from Pageplus [resold Verizon]..

Trust me.. locally Verizon has a much better network than Sprint.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson to pandora

Premium Member

to pandora
said by pandora:

Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint, I get 3G with 300 minutes of talk per month, unlimited data and text for $25 plus sales tax.

Why would anyone want to pay $70 per month?

Unlimited with roaming. Something that no MVNO can say they have. Verizon has prepaid for $80 with 1 gig of data so it could be worse I suppose.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: Why use prepaid & not Sprint postpaid $70/mo plan?

Sprint MVNOs have the option of the roaming now. It's a matter of paying extra for it. Something Sprint could do with VM and Boost's brand but choose NOT to. As far as Sprint getting into "prepaid" they've done this LONG ago under PCS's brand and ended up dropping it.

JK93
@verizon.net

JK93 to bobjohnson

Anon

to bobjohnson
$35 per month, actually.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

tshirt

Premium Member

How is this...

Pay as you go?
It seems like it's basically postpaid in advance.
Pay as you go is like my at&t phones that cost $0.10 per minute with no other charges for voice, text and data can be added monthly or at a high cost per text/Kb unit.
SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL

1 recommendation

SunnyD

Member

Re: How is this...

Exactly. PayGo is consumption/metered billing, not monthly billing. This is yet another prepaid-postpaid style brand under the already bloated Sprint umbrella (Sprint, Boost, Virgin Mobile, and a dozen MVNO's).

If you want true pay as you go on Sprint's towers, the closest you'll get is Ting.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: How is this...

Sprint is doing all they can to raise their brand. They offered this same service YEARS ago when it was Sprint PCS and their stores where Radio Shack, only not even a year later to cancel the service and move everyone to post paid services or cancel their services completely. This is why we have so many MVNOs and other companies trying to build out on their own in some markets.
29393955 (banned)
Always the green wire
join:2011-09-11
Mount Juliet, TN

29393955 (banned)

Member

How many brands Sprint?

Since Sprint already owns (the far more value-priced) Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless brands, why splinter their market even more with this COMPLETELY uncompetitive offering? I've been a Sprint customer since they picked up Nextel, but they took a darling of the business market (Nextel) and utterly destroyed it, hopped on the Wimax bandwagon and invested in the money-pit known as Clear, and now this?!? The sale to Softbank needs to be finalized quickly so someone with a clue can start running this company.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH
Apple AirPort Extreme (2013)

OSUGoose

Member

Re: How many brands Sprint?

Devils Advocate here, from a marketing standpoint it makes sense. You have Boost for the urban youth segment, Virgin Mobile for the trendy youth segment, Assurance for the over 65/low income segment. Now you will have the main brand offering prepaid like the other 3 do under their main brand. There are some that probaly would buy Sprint prepaid, that were turned off at the marketing of the other brands had. Do you really want to be a college grad walking around with a Boost phone that co-workers will think of hip hop or Virgin Mobile and think teen girl.
tired_runner
Premium Member
join:2000-08-25
CT
·Frontier FiberOp..

tired_runner

Premium Member

Re: How many brands Sprint?

Wow... People really do care about brand these days still.

I use a T-Mobile prepaid reseller; SIMPLE Mobile. You wouldn't know this because I use an LG Phone that is T-Mobile branded.

A phone is a phone, unless your phone of choice is a Sidekick. Then you deserve that connotation.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to 29393955

Member

to 29393955
Although do they really own the Virgin Mobile brand? VM is a HUGE brand and not even American. The CEO/Founder of Virgin owns a TON of properties and racks in MILLIONS over "Virgin". It is still fairly recent (last few years) that VM became a "Sprint brand" under Sprint Prepaid, before it was just a regular MVNO and still pretty much treated as one.
29393955 (banned)
Always the green wire
join:2011-09-11
Mount Juliet, TN

29393955 (banned)

Member

Yes, in the US market. Virgin Mobile America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint (since they purchased the remainder of the partnership in 2009), which pays a small royalty to VM Europe. Virgin Mobile in other countries is licensed / owned by Virgin Mobile Europe, a division of Virgin Group, run by Sir Richard Branson (who still participates in the branding / advertising for VM America).

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I'll stick with postpaid

I'll stick with postpaid, better selection of phones, carrier subsidies, and better coverage is all the benefits of postpaid. I would rather spend $299 on an iPhone as opposed to the full $749.

I was in the Maine Mall Verizon store last week and I overheard a sales rep saying you have access to more towers on postpaid (which is basically saying you can only use Verizon owned towers on prepaid and you'll be charged roaming on extended network towers).
SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL

SunnyD

Member

Re: I'll stick with postpaid

On the other hand, prepaid has its benefits too, such as:

- Pay for only what you use
- No contracts
- No ETFs/Lock ins
- Often times, no taxes/below the line fees
- Being able to shop around for discounted refill rates

Prepaid has drawbacks too, such as being diligent on your minutes if you're not on "unlimited" plans, having to purchase your own devices with no subsidies (but let's face it, even postpaid you're just amortizing the cost of the device anyway), having to shop for and load pins if you want discounted rates, potential service gaps depending on the carrier, roaming agreements or lack thereof.

Honestly, unless you're a diehard traveler, I haven't met many people that wouldn't do just fine on a prepaid plan. But then again, it comes down to people being lazy - and being willing to pay the cost for being lazy. And this is exactly what Verizon, AT&T and Sprint expect from the typical American consumer. And it's why Verizon, AT&T and (to a much lesser extent) Sprint are filthy stinkin' rich.
big_e
join:2011-03-05

big_e

Member

Re: I'll stick with postpaid

Add another annoyance with prepaid... The phones typically contains software that will constantly pester you about your balance. After every phone call, text message, and web access the phone will pop up with a message telling you your current balance that has too be dismissed before you can continue, even when you've got a thousand minutes and text messages left.
SunnyD
join:2009-03-20
Madison, AL

SunnyD

Member

Re: I'll stick with postpaid

That's not the phone, that's the carrier. And that's a holdover (and a good idea actually) from POSTPAID stickershock rules. Postpaid plans have the same issues, now that you're no longer on all-you-can-eat Data plans.

Another nice feature of prepaid - if I want a smartphone without a data plan, I can have a smartphone without a data plan and not be forced to pay an additional $25/month just for the "privilege" of using a smartphone.
pkorx8
join:2003-06-19
San Francisco, CA

pkorx8

Member

Roaming...

I was seriously evaluating to change my current post-paid Sprint account to either Virgin, Boost, or some other MVNO pre-paid account.
I found out Virgin and Boost do NOT have roaming, I don't know about other prepaids.
Looking at my current Sprint bill, I didn't realize I roam a lot more than I thought, especially for 3G data roaming. I think one reason is that enough in a normal sprint coverage area, the phone will roam when the signal is too low, like in my brick building at work.
sysghost
Premium Member
join:2001-02-11
united state

sysghost

Premium Member

Re: Roaming...

Take a look at Ting, a sprint MVNO that has voice roaming but not data.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to pkorx8

Member

to pkorx8
VM and Boost were designed not to have roaming. Sprint MVNOs are now given that option but costs them extra. I have a Straight Talk phone on the Sprint network and it will roam onto VZW when needed. If you also read the newer Sprint contracts roaming is not fully unlimited and is a "bucket" of usage.

Ting is great if you don't use your phone that much, you start talking and texting, you'll pay more with Ting than you would with a flat rate MVNO unlimited carrier.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

Re: Roaming...

said by TBBroadband:

VM and Boost were designed not to have roaming. Sprint MVNOs are now given that option but costs them extra. I have a Straight Talk phone on the Sprint network and it will roam onto VZW when needed. If you also read the newer Sprint contracts roaming is not fully unlimited and is a "bucket" of usage.

AND it tops out at 256 kbps. Some "unlimited" plan.
88615298

88615298 (banned) to pkorx8

Member

to pkorx8
said by pkorx8:

Looking at my current Sprint bill, I didn't realize I roam a lot more than I thought, especially for 3G data roaming. I think one reason is that enough in a normal sprint coverage area, the phone will roam when the signal is too low, like in my brick building at work.

You didn't realize Sprint's coverage sucks? "Unlimited" data isnt so hot when it's at 256 kbps now is it?

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna

Member

WHY?

WHY would SPRINT offer a pay-as-you-go branded SPRINT phone when they already own Virgin Mobile prepaid and BoostMobile?????????????????????????????????

Unless the actual SPRINT devices will have some type of QOS priority on the tower. I can tell you vm and bm devices are routed differently, and have a low priority on their towers.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

lame offering

you could get the same service on a Net10/Straight talk branded phone for $50 or under--all in.. why would you pay more with Sprint direct...

more cart before the horse ideas...
maybe some pressure from the Japanese infusion of cash can fix the ideas which trashed the good Nextel brand and ran that part of the company into the ground.