dslreports logo
 story category
Sprint Testing New Lower Cost Data Plans

Insiders tell CNET that Sprint will attempt to counter the company's flagging competitive fortunes by experimenting with a variety of lower-cost options for data. According to insiders, Sprint is currently testing a family data plan in San Diego, Portland, and Las Vegas, as well as discounted versions of their Framily and individual plans in Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Providence.

Click for full size
The family data plan appears to be very similar to AT&T and Verizon's shared data plans, though some of the packages will be cheaper, notes CNET:
quote:
In addition to the data, customers would have to pay an additional access charge to add a device. For plans with 1GB to 10GB, it costs $25 to add a smartphone, while it costs $15 to add a smartphone for a 20GB plan or above. The access fees are standard parts of the plans offered by AT&T and Verizon. Sprint is offering annual upgrades for customers who have at least a 20GB plan in San Diego and Portland. In Las Vegas, an annual upgrade requires a fee of $5 a month.

The plans are designed so customers save more as they opt for more data. The $20 plan for 1GB, for instance, is only $5 cheaper than the comparable AT&T plan. But the 30GB plan is $75 cheaper than AT&T's $225 version.
While much has been made of T-Mobile's market disruption, most of AT&T and Verizon's pricing reactions so far have been somewhat cosmetic in nature, focusing on discounts only for higher tiers as an effort to upsell users to costlier allotment packages. At the moment, Sprint's biggest problem remains LTE network coverage and speed, something Sprint (and new owner SoftBank) promise should be remedied within the next year or so.

Most recommended from 61 comments



spewak
R.I.P Dadkins
Premium Member
join:2001-08-07
Elk Grove, CA

2 recommendations

spewak

Premium Member

Dazzle them

If you can't dazzle them with substance, dazzle them with B.S.!

n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

2 recommendations

n2jtx

Member

Lower Cost Capped Plans on A Throttled Network?

What is the point of this whole thing? I have an unlimited plan that I cannot even use (thank god public WiFi is readily available here or I would be totally disconnected). Now they want to introduce limited plans. Gee, they could put me on a 250MB/month plan and I still probably would not hit the limit unless I really really tried. And they expect to fix the network problems in the next year!?!? Been hearing that since 2011 when my employer switched me to Sprint. I am sure in 2015 it will still be "next year". Not holding my breath...