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skaterboy

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 17, 2011
33
0
I figured by now most new Sprint customers would be getting the first bills since ordering the iPhone? I went over to Sprint figuring I would save $20 a month on my two lines. I have to admit the voice service was great and the data here in Manhattan quite speedy. But within my 14 day window for return my bill arrived. To my surprise Sprint has these surcharges above and beyond my taxes. I compared it side by side with my ATT lines and sprint actually comes out more expensive, I was totally blown away. Each line had surcharges almost $10.00. And Sprint clearly says these are charges passed down from Sprint to the consumer. I was just curious if anyone had the same scenario. I did a lot of research before trying sprint and I never knew of this. Either way the iPhone and the Blackberry went back and now I'm back on ATT. Knowing I will have some Sprint issues it did not make sense to pay more than ATT.
 
Sprint in Ohio

Three categories of "surcharges" in Ohio:
1) those Sprint is required to collect on behalf of the government (state sales tax of 5.50%, county sales tax of 1.25% and 911 tax of $0.28) -- nothing Sprint can do about these.
2) costs imposed on Sprint by other governmental bodies that Sprint chooses to pass through rather than include in the base rate (Federal Universal Service Assessment = $1.15 and Ohio State-Tax Recovery Surcharge $0.10) -- yeah, Sprint could bury these in the rate but why should they?
3) actual Sprint surcharges ($1.50 administrative charge and $0.40 regulatory charge) -- these I would agree are a normal part of doing business and should be included in the monthly rate.

So, total "Sprint-choice" surcharge in Ohio is $1.90 / month / line if you ignore gov't passthroughs or $3.15 if you include them. If your surcharges were close to $10/line, my guess is that NY has many more passthrough costs than Ohio, and I'm glad Sprint chooses to pass those along to just NY customers rather than spreading them around to the rest of us in the base rate.

BTW, these charges are all itemized on the bill so it's very transparent as to what Sprint is doing AFTER you're a customer. Before you sign up it's covered in the disclaimer "Monthly charges and equipment costs exclude Sprint surcharges, taxes and fees" but there is no way I can find on their web site to get further details.
 
We get taxed too much as it is. Fricken government. You should check with the company you work for if they can get you a corp discount on your phone bill
 
My Company gets me 25% off my bill so it really helps out with it in the end.
 
We have not seen nothing yet. As Congress will not give obuma more money, he has ordered the agencies to fee us to death. $.15 for a Christmas Tree!
 
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