Sprint Won't Charge Customers for FaceTime Over Cellular

yeah cause it wont work with .2 mbps download speeds.

So AT&T's statement gets front page news, but sprint's is on p̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶2̶
the iOS blog?

Any kind of competition can only be a good thing. Sprint can do this, AT&T may lose customers and wan to win them back, if they do, sprint can try to speed up their network, and so on.

CrAkD said:

yeah cause it wont work with .2 mbps download speeds.

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I'd rather put up with slow speeds on a consumer friendly network than an abusive carrier who might have a faster network but would rather nickel and dime me because of what app I use and not because I went over my data limit. Sticking it out with AT&T (if they decide to charge extra for 3G/4G FaceTime) is telling them that we want more fees based on what apps we use. And if they could decipher between Netflix/Hulu data, they'd charge us for that too.

MarkMS said:

I'd rather put up with slow speeds on a consumer friendly network than an abusive carrier who might have a faster network but would rather nickel and dime me because of what app I use and not because I went over my data limit. Sticking it out with AT&T (if they decide to charge extra for 3G/4G FaceTime) is telling them that we want more fees based on what apps we use. And if they could decipher between Netflix/Hulu data, they'd charge us for that too.

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I whole heartedly agree that charging for facetime is foolish when they have pushed to tiered/shared plans. who the hell are they to tell us how to spend the data we pay for? you know their going to charge us more if we go over so what does it matter? I think when all is said and done they wont charge for facetime. I know either way I wont pay for it.

I'm on iOS 6 beta 3 and it works fine for me on Sprint's 3G. .

I love Sprint - I've had them since 4S came out and have never looked back.

They're an awesome company and I've never had problems with speed, contrary to what was posted above.

MarkMS said:

I'd rather put up with slow speeds on a consumer friendly network than an abusive carrier who might have a faster network but would rather nickel and dime me because of what app I use and not because I went over my data limit. Sticking it out with AT&T (if they decide to charge extra for 3G/4G FaceTime) is telling them that we want more fees based on what apps we use. And if they could decipher between Netflix/Hulu data, they'd charge us for that too.

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I like the theory... but in practice, I'd rather get ripped off by a carrier with decent speeds than pay less for a carrier whose data service is terrible.

CrAkD said:

yeah cause it wont work with .2 mbps download speeds.

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I was going to say the same thing. Sprint is rolling out it's LTE network though and if the iPhone 5 has LTE things will start getting interesting pretty quick. I've read early reports that Sprint's LTE speeds aren't quite as fast as Verizon's and ATT's but if Sprint's speeds are 'fast enough' and they keep data unlimited that could force Verizon and ATT to rethink their plans or risk losing customers.

A saving grace for all three though is the standard two year contract. That gives them time to adjust/react because not very many people are going to be unhappy enough to pay the ETF.

CrAkD said:

yeah cause it wont work with .2 mbps download speeds.

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Beat me to it.

Shame, if only Sprint had a better network, I'd jump.

I went to the Verizon store today and got a demo of 4G LTE. While it was fast, it was not some mind-numbingly amazing speed increase. I am looking forward to it on the iPhone 5, but I am not holding my breath for it as a feature. the main advantage I could see is that you could talk while surfing the web. Cool, but personally I had never needed to do this.

But I found out also that the unlimited plan will not carry over if I buy a subsidized phone on a new two-year contract when I upgrade. Granted, I will not be able to upgrade in October, when I assume the new iPhone will come out, but this is still a material change in contract terms involving price.

Which means... that I am going to Sprint in October. Screw Verizon. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I would be grandfathered in for as long as I wanted from multiple people, including a store manager. I will not be paying an ETF fee, and if Verizon does not like it, they can arbitrate it with me, as stated in the contract.

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bedifferent said:

Shame, if only Sprint had a better network, I'd jump.

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Is it bad in your area? And if so, where is that?

For those who aren't up to date, once sprints 4G LTE is in more areas, you will see a boost in 3G speeds, so don't count out sprint and their network yet. Stay on ATT and get raped while I'm over here saving money.

iansilv said:

Is it bad in your area? And if so, where is that?

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We live in a little town called Chicago and the speeds are brutally slow here on my wife's Sprint 4S. No issues with my Verizon 4S.

And if you think it's an isolated issue, check out this 176 page thread on the Sprint forum.

http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/390624

Sprint's 3G network speeds seemed frequently slow for me when the iPhone 4S was first released, but they are much better now. I really don't have any issues with the service and will probably renew my contract again when my current one expires next fall.

It's pathetically slow for us. I'm talking .1 to .2 on a good day.

dewthedru said:

It's pathetically slow for us. I'm talking .1 to .2 on a good day.

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Yeah, same :|

1) Hear about potential charges for X feature
2) See angry reaction
3) Say you won't do that
4) ??????
5) PROFIT

This is great, but there's no Sprint in my state (Sprint never built coverage here, but showed "native" coverage for eons, by counting Alltel as native and Alltel used the Sprint licenses in addition to their own. When AT&T bought Alltel in my area, Sprint also sold AT&T their licenses here. The Alltel CDMA network is STILL UP AND RUNNING, but Sprint no longer counts it as native coverage, and they also disabled EVDO roaming on it...

...and I'm not sure that even in areas with Sprint it's that useful for most people, AT&T is the only network with the iPhone that's fast enough for Facetime to be a good experience. Verizon and especially Sprint are so dog-slow I can't imagine it working too well...

Nitrocide said:

Any kind of competition can only be a good thing. Sprint can do this, AT&T may lose customers and wan to win them back, if they do, sprint can try to speed up their network, and so on.

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My wifes's and my contract will over when the next iPhone comes out. My plan is to switch to sprint or prepaid, if prepaid gets the next iPhone.

I have several friends who love Sprint. They seem like a quality company.

I've been hanging on to my legacy unlimited plan on AT&T but over the last year I'm fed up. They are doing everything they can to make us give up our unlimited, throttling our data speeds, it really sucks.

I'll be switching to Sprint!! With their new LTE coming next year plus improved 3G being installed, it looks like their network is going to speed up considerably.

It's high time AT&T starts losing customers. Tired of giving money to a company that only cares about our wallets!!

iansilv said:

Is it bad in your area? And if so, where is that?

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dewthedru said:

We live in a little town called Chicago

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LOL

For the record, I'm in NYC.

Sprint can barely provide data on their network. No surprise they would not charge for something that won't work for a majority of their customers.

Nice

Very positive and uplifting news, now if they could only make their network not suck.