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Sprint to Roll Out 'One Up' Frequent Device Upgrade Program on September 20

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Following the introduction of early upgrade programs from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile earlier this year, a leaked document from Sprint (via CNET) shows that the mobile carrier is planning to roll out "Sprint One Up", a program that allows its customers to upgrade their handsets and tablets at regular intervals. The program is reportedly set to launch on September 20, which is also the first day of availability for Apple's new iPhone 5s and lower-cost iPhone 5c.
sprint_one_up.png
All of the carrier programs principally work the same, with a few nuanced differences. Sprint's One Up lets customers pick up a phone with no money down and pay for the device in 24 monthly installments. A phone that costs $649.99, for instance, will cost $27 a month (with the difference tacked on to the 24th payment). If a customer leaves the service early, that person is on the hook for the balance of the device cost, due the following month.
Click to expand...
The program also states that customers can upgrade to a new phone by trading in the device after a year of service, with Sprint's Unlimited, My Way or All-In plan eligible for the program. One Up also provides a $15 discount on the service plan, which allows for an unlimited talk, text, and data plan that costs $65 a month at minimum.

Current customers who have been on contract for at least a year are also eligible for the program, and also must trade in their existing phones unless they are already eligible for a discounted upgrade. The program does not apply to Sprint prepaid customers and does not discontinue Sprint's other upgrade program, "Upgrade Now", which allows customers to upgrade for a set fee.

Article Link: Sprint to Roll Out 'One Up' Frequent Device Upgrade Program on September 20
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/16/sprint-to-roll-out-one-up-frequent-device-upgrade-program-on-september-20/
M

macnisse

macrumors 6502
Jun 26, 2010
395
1
Creating incentives for upgrading can be good, especially if it drives competition between carriers = win for customers
 
Jodeo

Jodeo

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2003
247
130
Middle Tennessee
The Ma n Pr lem ith th s

The main problem with this is it's Sprint. Just about everyone I know that's had Sprint has been very dissatisfied with their service. Every company has their detractors but I'm very leery of Sprint. And so far, we're happy with T-Mobile.
 
C

CausticPuppy

macrumors 68000
May 1, 2012
1,536
68
Sprint's #1 priority needs to be fixing their crappy data network. I'm seriously sick of the worse-than-dialup speeds which is why I'm jumping to Verizon when my contract ends in a few weeks.
 
S

Steviejobz

macrumors 68020
Jun 19, 2010
2,122
363
SoCal
No thanks. With two lines on my account I can stagger 2-year plans. I don't see why anyone would want to pay more. Also, does this mean you do not own the phone and thus cant sell it at cost when the new device is rolled out?
 
B

bossxii

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2008
1,754
0
Kansas City
When you network coverage is terrible and even where you show service you have more dropped calls within 2 miles of your world headquarters... ya you should be cheap!
 
C

CEmajr

macrumors 601
Dec 18, 2012
4,451
1,231
Charlotte, NC
Looks like everyone seems to be following Tmobile with the early upgrade plans. Now when will they finally break down and start lowering customers monthly rate plan after their phones are paid off?
 
roland.g

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,414
3,152
All these programs are a sham.

Pay full price every year for a new phone but spread it out over 20 payments or so. If you upgrade at 12 months you owe the balance early but get a credit for your trade in. Nonetheless you are paying $649 for a new phone every year rather than $199 every other year.

I called AT&T. Since I upgraded to a 5 last Sept I am not eligible for a 5S at subsidized price. I get that, that's how it has been. Under their Next program I would get a new 5S for $649 spread out over 20 months of payments. However, I don't qualify for their Next program until next Sept. At which point I would be able to buy a subsidized phone as usual for $199. Why would I agree to pay $649 spread out at that point.

What a joke.
 
D

Detrius

macrumors 68000
Sep 10, 2008
1,623
19
Apex, NC
They have to do something like this. Otherwise, they risk being left out of the 5S launch day frenzy for people on two year contracts from a 4S purchase, since the 4S came out less than two years ago.

Also, for those of you complaining about their coverage, I switched to Sprint two years ago from AT&T, and I've had significantly fewer dropped calls. Sure, the 3G isn't as fast, but at least I can make phone calls. It's also your only option if you want unlimited data and want to leave AT&T.
 
H

HenryDJP

Suspended
Nov 25, 2012
5,084
843
United States
Jodeo said:
The main problem with this is it's Sprint. Just about everyone I know that's had Sprint has been very dissatisfied with their service. Every company has their detractors but I'm very leery of Sprint. And so far, we're happy with T-Mobile.
Click to expand...

T-Mobile does in fact seem to be the "best overall" of the major carriers in terms of service and value but until the offer unlimited data I'm going to have to stay with Sprint. Even though Sprint's data is slow I need to use my Garmin app for business and I never have to worry about exceeding MB's. Sprint has worked perfectly for my GPS. I want an iPhone 5S but I don't like these installment deals. I used to work for Sprint. They had this program years ago. It wasn't an upgrade program, it was for new buyers. They could choose whichever phone they wanted and pay nothing for it upfront. They would pay for the phone through installment billing. I don't like the idea of the bill being higher every month. Best to pay for it upfront. All these deals suck.
 
zorinlynx

zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,168
17,686
Florida, USA
Sprint is just about the worst carrier you can go to for the iPhone.

1) Their data coverage is weak. It is near useless in many places, and even where you have LTE the signal is often inconsistent. They've totally botched their LTE deployment.

2) Your phone is forever, irrevocably locked to Sprint. Sprint will not unlock an iPhone for any reason, ever; they are much like AT&T used to be until they finally saw the light. Verizon iPhones come unlocked. AT&T will unlock iPhones when your contract is over, and you can purchase unlocks from several vendors on the web. T-Mobile will unlock phones once they're paid for. Sprint? Never.

Avoid Sprint. Any money you might save is not worth the hassle. And to think I used to be a fan of them back in 2004-2010, but they've definitely changed for the worse.
 
Chumkiu

Chumkiu

macrumors member
May 23, 2008
44
21
Hollywood
roland.g said:
All these programs are a sham.

Pay full price every year for a new phone but spread it out over 20 payments or so. If you upgrade at 12 months you owe the balance early but get a credit for your trade in. Nonetheless you are paying $649 for a new phone every year rather than $199 every other year.

I called AT&T. Since I upgraded to a 5 last Sept I am not eligible for a 5S at subsidized price. I get that, that's how it has been. Under their Next program I would get a new 5S for $649 spread out over 20 months of payments. However, I don't qualify for their Next program until next Sept. At which point I would be able to buy a subsidized phone as usual for $199. Why would I agree to pay $649 spread out at that point.

What a joke.
Click to expand...

Exactly This.. I am in the exact same situation and phoned ATT to find out what I could do.. Spreading $649 over 20 months is still paying $649 for a phone that new customers are getting for $199.. Why on earth would I want to do that next Sept when I will just get the new iPhone for upgrade price then..

They are all trying to fleece us and don't care about old customers, they only want to entice the new ones to sign up. Wankers.
 
C

carl0sian

macrumors regular
Oct 30, 2011
211
0
I'll just stick with my unlimited data plan with Verizon and pay for the phone upfront.

They can give me a new phone but at the end of the day, unlimited data works for me.
 
riffcat

riffcat

macrumors member
Sep 11, 2013
55
66
Not all phones are best for all people nor are all carriers best for all people, as well as not all phones are best for all carriers. With that being said, for the most part all carriers and networks either suck or perform optimally for everyone when averaged out. Find the phone and carrier that best meets your price point and deal with it.

Networks are so overlapped and dependent upon each other that no matter what carrier you use for service that if you averaged out how much time each one of your phones calls was completed using a specific network it doesn't matter who you send your service payment to.

Similar to your internet provider, your data doesn't stay solely on the network you choose to pay to for the service to connect you to the internet. Granted, the network you choose to may assist you with your initial connection to the network but it certainly isn't responsible for the entire experience.
 
F

FelixAng

macrumors regular
Jul 11, 2013
226
17
Hong Kong
I don't understand the point of owning a CDMA-only device on a CDMA-is-crap network.

At least on Verizon iPhone has a SIM-card slot (and I've read that apparently Sprint does too, is that right?)

From afar, I still have high hope for T-mo----it's just like the plans in Hong Kong
 
Last edited:
NightFox

NightFox

macrumors 68040
May 10, 2005
3,239
4,486
Shropshire, UK
roland.g said:
All these programs are a sham.

Pay full price every year for a new phone but spread it out over 20 payments or so. If you upgrade at 12 months you owe the balance early but get a credit for your trade in. Nonetheless you are paying $649 for a new phone every year rather than $199 every other year...
Click to expand...

Agree, every time I've upgraded my iPhone I've priced up all the options with different contracts and outright purchase (I'm in the UK), taking into account everything like resale value, early contract termination, mid-contract upgrades etc and whichever way you do it you end up paying the same price give-or-take £10. Stands to reason really, does anyone really think the Telcos are going to miss out on overall income so you can upgrade early?
 
B

B.Boston

macrumors newbie
Apr 26, 2011
21
0
If you really want the new phone each year...

All of these early upgrade plans are a ripoff!

First year: On Contract (199-399) depending on capacity
Second year: Purhcase new phone (649-849) depending on capacity. Sell old phone on ebay (250-350) depending on capacity and condition.
Third year: On Contract (199-399), sell old phone (250-350) on ebay.

THIS is the least expensive way to do it, since you're paying for two years worth of subsidy on your contract anyway.

-199 buy new
+300 sell old
-649 buy new
+300 sell old
-199 buy new

So at year three you've only spent $447 on top of your monthly. With no early term fees or anything additional from your carrier. Obviously this is dependent on you keeping your phone in good condition, but even iPhones with broken screens sell well on ebay. :) :apple:
 
R

rmendol1

macrumors member
Mar 8, 2012
41
18
I dont think ill ever buy a subsidized phone through Verizon again. Being grandfathered in to the unlimited plan, I dont want to downgrade my plan primary for spite. I without a doubt average less then 2GB a month but the principal of me paying the same amount for less data is enough to make me pay the price of a used iPhone or Samsung S series at the time if my nexus breaks.
 
J

JoeyCloverfield

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2012
243
0
roland.g said:
All these programs are a sham.

Pay full price every year for a new phone but spread it out over 20 payments or so. If you upgrade at 12 months you owe the balance early but get a credit for your trade in. Nonetheless you are paying $649 for a new phone every year rather than $199 every other year.

I called AT&T. Since I upgraded to a 5 last Sept I am not eligible for a 5S at subsidized price. I get that, that's how it has been. Under their Next program I would get a new 5S for $649 spread out over 20 months of payments. However, I don't qualify for their Next program until next Sept. At which point I would be able to buy a subsidized phone as usual for $199. Why would I agree to pay $649 spread out at that point.

What a joke.
Click to expand...

Chumkiu said:
Exactly This.. I am in the exact same situation and phoned ATT to find out what I could do.. Spreading $649 over 20 months is still paying $649 for a phone that new customers are getting for $199.. Why on earth would I want to do that next Sept when I will just get the new iPhone for upgrade price then..

They are all trying to fleece us and don't care about old customers, they only want to entice the new ones to sign up. Wankers.
Click to expand...


You guys understand that that $199 price doesn't mean you ONLY pay $199 for the device right? Your monthly bill includes the $20 (or so) to pay off your device. The worst part is that even after you pay off your device, your bill doesn't shrink. That's why T-Mobile's plans are better. They stop charging you for the device once you've paid it off.


It's one of the reasons I don't understand buying an unlocked phone. Most carries include the stupid device cost in their plans so it's like you're paying twice.
 
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C

CoMoMacUser

macrumors 65816
Jun 28, 2012
1,023
333
HenryDJP said:
T-Mobile does in fact seem to be the "best overall" of the major carriers in terms of service and value but until the offer unlimited data I'm going to have to stay with Sprint.
Click to expand...

Check your usage over the past year to see how many GB you use versus how many you think you use. In February I churned from Sprint to TMO's $30 100 minute/unlimited text/5 GB 4G, and I rarely exceed 2 GB. Part of the reason why I left Sprint is because unlimited isn't compelling when I couldn't get above 130 kbps on 3G and had no -- still don't have -- LTE in my market.
 
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