Sprint Launches LTE Plus Network, Offers 50% Off Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T Rate Plans to Celebrate

[MacRumors]

Sprint today launched its LTE Plus network, which is available today in 77 major markets in the U.S. To celebrate, the carrier is announcing what its calling "the biggest wireless offer in U.S. history", offering 50 percent off of T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T rate plans. The offer runs from November 20 to January 7, 2016 and the pricing remains in place until January 8, 2018.

"We've made tremendous strides with our network because we know consumers want wireless service that provides consistent speed and reliability," said Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO. "We are so confident that customers will have an amazing experience that we are encouraging them to give us a try with the biggest wireless offer in the history of our industry. Customers switching to Sprint will never need to look elsewhere. They will learn what our 58 million customers already know - Sprint offers the best value and an award-winning network."

T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T customers who want to switch to the network will get Sprint plans that mirror their old plans, only for half the price. For example, a T-Mobile customer with four lines and 10 GB of data per line pays $180 per month at T-Mobile, but will only pay $90 at Sprint. An AT&T family who pays $100 for 15 GB data will get the same thing at Sprint for $50. Verizon customers paying $80 for 12 GB will get the same for $40. Verizon and AT&T customers will also get 50 percent off access fees.

The discounts are only available to consumer plans for Verizon's 1 GB, 3 GB, 6 GB, 12 GB, 18 GB, 20 GB and 25 GB shared data plans, T-Mobile's Simple Choice 2 GB, 6 GB and 10 GB plans and AT&T's 300 MB, 2 GB, 5 GB, 15 GB, 20 GB and 25 GB shared data plans. Specific carrier features like unlimited music and video, data rollover and cloud options do not carryover to Sprint.

Customers switching over to Sprint can also take advantage of iPhone Forever, Sprint's plan that allows customers to upgrade to a new iPhone every year. It's also a "worry-free" offer, with customers having 28 days to try out Sprint's service. If they're not happy, they can return it without incurring a restocking fee. Sprint will also pay any switching fees up to $650 per line with an American Express Reward Card after online registration and phone turn-in.

Sprint says its new LTE Plus network is faster than Verizon's and AT&T's networks, citing Nielsen Mobile Performance data. NMP uses crowdsourced data from Android users in 44 of the largest markets in the U.S., and it found that in 20 of the 44 markets, users downloading files over 5 MB did it fastest on Sprint. The carrier says the new network can reach up to 100 Mbps, includes stronger service with an extended 2.5 GHz signal and more reliable service with three bands of spectrum: 1.9 GHz for broad coverage, 800 MHz for indoor coverage and 2.5 GHz for faster speeds.

Current Sprint customers will get a free tablet with one year of free service while supplies last. Sprint says this offer is a $360 value.

Article Link: Sprint Launches LTE Plus Network, Offers 50% Off Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T Rate Plans to Celebrate

 

[Prof.]

Eh... I'm still hesitant after my 3 years with sprint, and what my friends who currently have sprint say.

 

[BeSweeet]

They're so desperate. Kudos to those who happen to be in one of their rare good spots.

 

[Blackstick]

I worked the Genius Bar for 6 years. Sprint customers had the most iPhone service issues by far. If I saw 20 iPhone customers a day, a majority were Sprint users reporting dropped calls or slow data. I'm sure they're better in some markets than others, but it made quite an impression on our support staff.

 

[JohnApples]

What? LTE Plus? What happened to Spark? Not like it mattered— I never once connected to to the "Spark band" despite being in the middle of a coverage area. I'm EXTREMELY skeptical about this right now.

 

[troy14]

Man, as a current VZW customer (with no complaints of service).. it is so tempting to switch to TMobile or Sprint with all these offers. I just don't want an unreliable phone and have to flip flop between carriers.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

Hahaha !!! Sprint is so bad. T-Mobile is way better! I've had em all. including AT&T for 7years. Verizon for 3 and Verizon was great. T-Mobile is awesome and I'm diggin it. Sprint is just bad. but then again I had it I wanna say 15 yrs ago. Maybe it's changed.

 

[Dusty1216]

They've got me in 2 leases for one more year.

so far i could list about 4 main things they've done to me (like everyone else i know) but I on the other hand have always seen an upside to sprint where i live (Baltimore)...and their announcement of LTE plus coincides with me noticing for the first time i dont think i ever went on 3G.

They've got about 11 months to convince me to stay. Today was an okay start, 3G should have been eliminated a long time ago. Yet LTE everywhere i go around Baltimore and surrounding suburbs close to Baltimore is highly welcomed.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Man, as a current VZW customer (with no complaints of service).. it is so tempting to switch to TMobile or Sprint with all these offers. I just don't want an unreliable phone and have to flip flop between carriers.

I think the reason they can offer such low prices is because their networks aren't as good.

I hear people all the time say they want to switch away from Verizon or AT&T and switch to T-Mobile or Sprint because of price.

Well... you'll pay less on those other carriers... but apparently you get less.

It's not worth it to me personally. I, too, am a happy Verizon customer.

 

[iOSFangirl6001]

Not that I would likely trust Sprint but typical that as usual most carriers want to overlook or screw higher end users!

Nothing for over 25 GB? In case it wasn't clear when I left y'all before I find myself once again saying screw you Sprint

They're so desperate. Kudos to those who happen to be in one of their rare good spots.

Yea beyond desperate yet not desperate enough to include higest end data users

What? LTE Plus? What happened to Spark? Not like it mattered— I never once connected to to the "Spark band" despite being in the middle of a coverage area. I'm EXTREMELY skeptical about this right now.

Also skeptical and kind of po-oed they blatantly left out highest end data users

Man, as a current VZW customer (with no complaints of service).. it is so tempting to switch to TMobile or Sprint with all these offers. I just don't want an unreliable phone and have to flip flop between carriers.

Agreed wouldn't trust Sprint

Hahaha !!! Sprint is so bad. T-Mobile is way better! I've had em all. including AT&T for 7years. Verizon for 3 and Verizon was great. T-Mobile is awesome and I'm diggin it. Sprint is just bad. but then again I had it I wanna say 15 yrs ago. Maybe it's changed.

Trust me Sprint hasn't Changed much except drumming up more customers to sucker in with their tactics and desperate ploys.


Every person I know personally using Sprint ( or their subsidiaries ) reports mediocre to outright crap service, signal, coverage etc

 

[Dusty1216]

I think the reason they can offer such low prices is because their networks aren't as good.

I hear people all the time they want to switch away from Verizon or AT&T and switch to T-Mobile or Sprint because of price.

Well... you'll pay less on those other carriers... but apparently you get less.

It's not worth it to me personally. I, too, am a happy Verizon customer.

really what you get is **** customer service bc of the fact they are always trying to get others to switch. They easily forget about you who signed up for a similar worded plan with 20x less benefits; they don't help you; and like me your forced to do something you didn't want to do like add a line to stay up to snuff with dev and needing to get a 6s. It was horrible im referencing their iphone for life vs. iphone forever plan

iphone for life---2 year lease for iphone 6 (or 6s) but started with the iphone 6...can't upgrade until end of 2 year lease
iphone forever---2 year lease "PROGRAM" starting with iphone 6s.....can upgrade yearly (whenever new iphone comes out)

plans were separated by less than 6 months.

 

[iMi]

Magenta is the only way to go...

 

[pk7]

The offer runs from November 20 to January 7, 2015

Don't you mean January 7, 2016?

 

[iOSFangirl6001]

Magenta is the only way to go...

Ahaha ha haha don't make me laugh
Long list of reasons T-Mobile sucks

Let me direct you to one of the smartest people in this comments section
( NOT Insuiating anyone thus far isn't intelligent )

I think the reason they can offer such low prices is because their networks aren't as good.

I hear people all the time they want to switch away from Verizon or AT&T and switch to T-Mobile or Sprint because of price.

Well... you'll pay less on those other carriers... but apparently you get less.

It's not worth it to me personally..

 

[Codyak]

Zero issues with T-Mobile here and at $30 a month for 5GB of high speed I've been quite happy. Admittedly I don't live in the boonies but ever since Band 12 was implemented where I live it's been smooth sailing while my parents' AT&T has been slowly getting worse and worse for about double the cost.

 

[The Doctor11]

Everyone at my school who has Sprint might as well not even have cellular data at all. It just flat out doesn't work at least not in my area. Its ok though, I help out those Sprint students by hooking them up with a personal hotspot on my phone. I've gotten 75mb down over LTE with AT&T at my school before, the same school where the Sprint customers beg for mercy as they can't load a simple web page or open up clash to save their lives.

 

[Andres Cantu]

Meanwhile, their stock is down 10%...

 

[Plutonius]

Kudos to those who happen to be in one of their rare good spots.

T-Mobile has great plans but I find that T-Mobile has worse coverage then even Sprint .

 

[MrCornfed]

I'd be happy if I could get any data inside buildings. The cut your rate in half deal was really good, but holy crap does the network suck.

I'm in one of the 77 markets that gets this "plus". I bet I don't see any difference.

Edit: 5.76Mbps down. It's Plus-tastic!

 

[jozeppy26]

I am so confused and it seems it's almost impossible to get any information about this from Sprint directly. Is this LTE Plus network available to all current customers as well immediately (assuming their phones already support the advanced LTE features required)?

EDIT: Ok, so I found that the iPhone 6/6+ are LTE advanced compatible but with a max download speed of 150 Mbit/s vs a max of 300 Mbit/s with the iPhone 6S/6S+. I still have no idea if LTE Plus is available for current Sprint customers immediately (including unlimited data customers) or not. I'm only getting 5 or 6 Mbit/s download speed right now in the St. Louis area.

List of LTE Advanced Phones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_with_LTE_Advanced

 

[tmiw]

Sounds nice and all but I drop to 3G about 50% of the time where I live because they don't use 800MHz here (aka "band 26"). Not using that band would be okay in itself but they simply don't have the cell spacing here for the bands they expect people to use the vast majority of the time. When my phone catches LTE though it works great--in the Bay Area recently I was on LTE 99% of the time and had more than acceptable performance.

I don't want to say "too little, too late" regarding Sprint, but I'm kinda close to thinking that at this point.

 

[nostaws]

My wife had Sprint when we first met. We didn't have too many complaints about the cell service/reception. We live in, and spend most of our time in a major city, so really don't have issues with any providers.

The reason we bailed on Sprint was the terrible customer service and constant billing issues (random phantom fees would creep into the bills).

IMO if someone wants the best cell service/coverage (in the US), they should get Verizon. If someone wants the best price to service ratio - t-Mobile is the way to go.

 

[Photography]

Sprint has absolutely horrible coverage and customer service! Never again! I absolutely love Verizon the best, have now had them for several years, and won't go with anyone else (and I've had all four major carriers). You get what you pay for.

 

[BillyMatt87]

Verizon and AT&T are the top two carriers for a reason, you definitely get what you pay for. I wouldn't recommend any other service.

Sprint is by far the slowest network although their coverage is superior to T-Mobile which isn't saying much considering their extremely spotty coverage. However, T-Mobile's speeds are comparable to AT&T and Verizon but their coverage is pretty much limited to urban areas which doesn't help customers living in rural or even suburban areas.

While T-Mobile seems genuinely committed to expanding their coverage (only then will they be a worthy competitor), Sprint is obsessed with luring in customers with their bargain rates when they fail to understand why so many people have either left, plan on leaving or are hesitant to switch over to them: their subpar network. They need to stop focusing on trying to be cheaper than their competition and channel their focus into enhancing their inferior network.

Like many other former Sprint customers, I got tired of their empty promises when it came to the so-called 'Network Vision' upgrades and when they started amping up their desperate marketing attempt to woo customers, I found it be absolutely pathetic. The network improvements should be the primarily focus at all times, anything else is a diversion to avoid fixing the actual problem. I actually think people wouldn't mind paying even a bit more for Sprint's service if it meant a network closer to the level of Verizon and AT&T.

 

[smirking]

They're so desperate. Kudos to those who happen to be in one of their rare good spots.

I live in a very odd coverage spot. Coverage in my area for most carriers is generally reliable... it's just until you get to my house. Sprint is actually quite reliable where I live. I'd switch to them in a heartbeat, but then I also have to leave my house. Verizon is the only other carrier for me that can keep a call connected for more than a few minutes. At least they're not as expensive as they used to be.