Sprint Announces New Data-Heavy Family Share Pack Plan With Incentives for New Subscribers

[AustinIllini]

So what? The state you live in probably has 5-10 times more people living in it and it's not like you'll get reception in Moab desert anyway.

You totally missed the boat.

Americans pay for a lot of coverage. Does a Swiss phone work in Finland? My Texan phone works in Hawaii.

 

[alexgowers]

I still think that carrier should have to show which is best value by making calculations simpler or removing additional costs such as the per device cost. This table of figures has all been worked out to get more money out of you than your current plan on almost every tier even if you want to believe it's a great deal it's been designed to rape your wallet.

It should be instead 2 year contract you pay $x for the entire term for yGB which is $z per month. Whoever takes the contract can add 10 family members.

Or if you take a 30 day rolling contract you pay $x per year for yGB which is $z per month. Whoever takes the contract can add 10 family members.

There should be at least some standard metrics by which you can just compare all deals instantly without the silly extra this for device etc.

 

[LordJohnWhorfin]

nothing public transport is free as a student

You may want to tell Americans here how much you pay for college too... Most people here pay $15,000 a year, and we're not talking Ivy League schools.

 

[AustinIllini]

You may want to tell Americans here how much you pay for college too... Most people here pay $15,000 a year, and we're not talking Ivy League schools.

Yes, and then tell us how long it takes to get a critical kidney transplant.

But I digress.

If you pay $15 a month for a coverage map the size of Europe, that's fantastic.

 

[LordJohnWhorfin]

No LTE in SF

Zero LTE coverage in San Francisco and the South Bay. How these people manage to sell plans here is a mystery to me. MetroPCS gives you way more for way less ($40 for unlimited everything, yes they do throttle after 500MB but gently, you still get 220kbps -- funny enough, you don't even get this much with Sprint when you're not on LTE)

----------

Yes, and then tell us how long it takes to get a critical kidney transplant.

Yes, he could tell you that too, as well as how much it costs (it's free)
You need to turn off Fox News once in a while.

 

[bchery21]

You can probably still keep it to about $62.50/month per phone, if you have a decent corporate discount. Mine is 19%, and it's applied to the base service cost, but not the device fees.

My wife and I have 10GB/month of data, unlimited everything else, for $125/month from AT&T (after taxes and everything). That's the no-contract, no-subsidy price. You lose the $450 phone subsidy, but pay $600 less for two years of service, per device.

I see. You sir have a pretty good deal. My corporate discount is 15%. The thing is I have since left that company and am now working somewhere else. I wonder if there's a way to check if my current company offers a discount and if so, is it more than 15%. No way AT&T will let me keep my discount if they find out, right?

 

[AustinIllini]

Zero LTE coverage in San Francisco and the South Bay. How these people manage to sell plans here is a mystery to me. MetroPCS gives you way more for way less ($40 for unlimited everything, yes they do throttle after 500MB but gently, you still get 220kbps -- funny enough, you don't even get this much with Sprint when you're not on LTE)

----------



Yes, he could tell you that too, as well as how much it costs (it's free)
You need to turn off Fox News once in a while.

I ask about the coverage a poster gets for $15 a month, you don't understand so you turn it into a tirade about European superiority. Have fun with your incompetence in PRSI, but I'm done discussing it with you.

 

[MacrumoursUser]

You totally missed the boat.

Americans pay for a lot of coverage. Does a Swiss phone work in Finland? My Texan phone works in Hawaii.

Why shouldn't it work. I live in Denmark and i use 3 as my provider. I was having my holiday in Sweden and was able to use my phone without any additional costs. Same would be in Finland.

Oh yes and just ignore the fact that most people never leave the state they live in in their entire lives.

 

[ptb42]

I see. You sir have a pretty good deal. My corporate discount is 15%. The thing is I have since left that company and am now working somewhere else. I wonder if there's a way to check if my current company offers a discount and if so, is it more than 15%. No way AT&T will let me keep my discount if they find out, right?

I've heard of companies with up to 22%. You have to work for one of the big ones, like IBM.

You can use this link to see if your current company has a discount:

https://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/premier/

Look on the right side, and enter your work email address. However, I don't know if it will tell you the discount. I just tried it, and haven't received an email. It might be because I've already enrolled.

Ask around among the people you work with. One of them should know the discount, or at least be able to login to their AT&T account and determine the discount -- it's on the upper left side of the webpage after logging in.

But, even with your 15% discount, I can tell you about what your bill will be:

$100/month for 10GB will be reduced to $85/month.
$15/month for 2 smartphones (no contract) will be $35/month.

So, your base cost would be $120/month. Add about $10/month for taxes and fees (about what I'm paying), and it's $130/month.

Once the discount was added to my account (using the above link), I haven't been asked to verify that I still worked for them, and I've been through several contract renewals.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I don't see anyone complaining about their cable bill when new sign ups get 6-12 months of promo priced months when they're paying full price.

I do. I refuse to pay that. That's why my fiancee covers cable and I cover the other things that have more rational pricing (IE, electricity, where you always get paid for exactly what you use, no BS about special rates for limited times or whatever nonsense the cable company hasn't figured out makes their customers hate them).

I'm surprised that Sprint, in last place, would try to make a move like this. The way they try touting it around even makes you realize that they think they can look like T-Mobile (who actually shakes things up and actually makes their current customers like them, and in doing so tries to make new people come on board. Except T-Mobile's coverage in the area sucks, so I'm sticking with AT&T for now).

 

[Black Magic]

AT&T Discounts:

Company Discount
7 Eleven 15%
AARP Employees 20%
Abbot Labs 10%
Accenture 5%
Acterna 5%
ADECCO 12%
ADP TotalSource 22%
ADT Security Services 17%
Aegon 10%
AEP 20%
Aerojet 5%
AFL 18%
Agilent Technologies 13%
Ahold 14%
Airborne Express 25%
AOL 4%
Airforce 19%
Airways 4%
Albertsons 10%
Allegis Group/Maxhim Healthcare 6%
Alliant Food 2%
Allstate 16%
American Cancer 10%
American Express 18%
American Express Publishing 20%
American Red Cross 10%
American West 16%
AOL 25%
Apple Computer 13%
Apira Healthcare 6%
ARINC 8%
Army & National Guard 19%
Associated Press 4%
AT&T 19%
Avendra 18%
Avon 14%
Bae Systems 15%
BaJa Fresh 10%
Bank One 18%
Bechtel 12%
Becton Dickinson 10%
Bed Bath and Beyond 18%
Bergen Community College 10%
Best Buy 20%
Black & Decker 4%-6%
Blue Cross 17%
Boeing Company 25%
Borders 6%
BP Amoco 12%
Brinks 15%
Burger King 17%
Cable 7%
Caci 4%
Cap Gemini Earnst & Young 18%
Caribou Coffee 7%
Carpenter 7%
Catholic Health 6%
Cendent Avis Car Rental 6%
Cendent Century 21 6%
Cendent Coldwell Banker 6%
Cendent Days Inn 6%
Cendent Howard Johnson 6%
Cendent Knights Inn 6%
Cendent Ramada Inn 6%
Cendent Super 8 6%
Cendent Travel Lodge 6%
Chrysler 13%
Cisco Systems 14%
City of New York Employees 20%
Coast Guard 19%
Coca-Cola 25%-28%
Comcast 15%
Commodity Futures 6%
Commonwealth of KY 15%
Compass Bank 6%
Continental 15%
Costco 4%
Crushman Wakefield 5%
CSC 22%
CSX 13%
DC-MD Government 15%
Dell Employee Program 15%
Deloitte & Touche 17%
Delta Airlines 21%
Dept. of Homeland Security 15%
Dept. of State 6%
Dept. of Transportation 9%
Discovery 7%-12%
DOI 4%
Dominion Resources 11%
EMC 15%
Emcore 6%
Environmental Protection 2%
Equant 6%
Erricson 25%
Ernst & Young 18%
Export-Import 2%
Fannie Mae 6%
Farmers Insurance 7%
Federal Express Corp 22%
Federal Trade 2%
FedEx 20%
Feld 12%
Fiserv 5%
Foot Locker 10%
Fox News Channel 15%
Freddie Mac 7%
Gannett 5%
General Dynamics 7%
General Electric 16%
General Services 5%
Giant Foods 18%
GMC Insurance 5%
Good Year 7%
Gov. Military and First Aid 15%-19%
Halliburton 13%
Harvard Medical School 25%
Health & Human 7%
HMS Host 18%
Home Depot 20%-22%
Homland 16%
Honeywell 18%
HP 20%-27%
IBM 23%
Ikon 2%
IL Institute of Technology 15%
Inova 3%
Itt Defense 8%
John Hancock Sponsorship 12%
Johnson & Johnson 25%
JP Morgan Chase 20%
Kaiser Permanente 8%
Key Bank 12%
Kodak 10%
KPMG 14%
Kraft/Altria 9%
L-3 EER 14%
L-3 MPRI 14%
L-3 Storm Control 14%
Lafarge 11%
Legg Mason 7%
Lockheed Martin 25%
Lowes 5%
Marines 19%
Marriott 18%
Marshall Fields 9%
Martin-Brower 9%
Maxim Healthcare 7%
May Department 9%
Mazda 12%
McJunkin Corp 7%
Media News Group 12%
Medimmune 3%
Medstar 24%
Merrill Lynch 16%
Mervyn’s 9%
Microsoft 12%-25%
NASA 12%-15%
National Rural Telecom 2%
Navy 19%
NBA Basketball 4%
NCR 15%-17%
Netcom USA 19%
News America 20%
Nissan North 5%
Noaa Sponsortship 7%
Norfolk Souther 7%
Northrop Grumman 15%-17%%
NVR 5%
Octagon 16%
Office Depot 15%
Oldcastle Glass 15%-20%
Omnicom 10%
Oracle 15%
Orlando Reg. Medical Center 24%
Outback 10%
Overhead Door Co. 3%
Owens & Minor 6%
Papa Johns 3%
Parsons Brinkwehoff 9%
Payless Shoe Source 3%
Peoplesoft 15%
Pep Boys 6%
PepsiCo 23%
Petsmart 3%
Pfizer 20%
PGA Tour 11%
Phillip Morris/Nabis 9%
Pier 1 13%
Playboy Enterprises 5%
PNC 2%
Pricewaterhouse Coppers 16%
Prudential 10%
Pulet Homes 5%
Purdue University 20%
QuickTrip Gas Stations 9%
Quiznos 12%
Qwest 13%
Radio Shack 10%
Re-Max 10%
Rite Aid 8%
Roadrunner 17%
Rolls Royce 8%
Rouse 4%
Ruby Tuesdays 7%
Safeway 10%
Sallie Mae 4%
San Jose State University 15%
Schlumberger 6%
Sheetz 2%
Shell Oil 13%
Sherwin Williams 7%
SIAIC 8%
Siemens 19%
Sitel 6%
Social Security & Admin 10%
Sodexho 10%
Southwest Airlines 23%
Starbucks 10%-20%
State Farm 11%
State of CA 15%
State of NC 15%
State of NJ Employees 15%
State of NY Employees 19%
State of Texas 15%
Stock Building 3%
Sun MicroSystems 23%
Target 9%
Texas Instruments 18%
TIAA-CREF 23%
TID Water and Power 15%
Time Warner 25%
Toyota 10%
Toys R Us 6%
Tuesday Morning 3%
Tyco 17%
U-Haul 3%
United Airlines 20%
United Nations 10%
United Parcel 17%
University of CA, Berkeley 15%
University of CA, Sand Diego 15%
University of MD 15%
University of Texas 15%
University of Virgina 15%
Unum Provident 5%
UPS 20%-22%
UPSS 25%
Urs Corporation 14%
US Food Service 2%
US PTO Sponsorship 8%
USA Today 10%
USC Students 10%
USEC 2%
USPS 25%
UT Southwestern Med. Center 15%
Vertis 9%
Vertix Inc. 9%
Visa International 12%
Wachovia 11%
Walmart 15%
Washington Post 8%
Waste Management 4%
Wayne State University 15%
WBAL TV- 11 9%
Weichert 14%
Wendys 10%
Weyerhaeuser 11%
Williams Sonoma 7%
XM Satellite 4%
Yahoo 7%

 

[Carlanga]

That's so expensive!

My plan (Switzerland): unlimited data (no throttling), unlimited text, unlimited calls.
Speed: 30/6mb, 100mins/100texts global included, 100mB in europe included. (all per month). And all this for sweet 39.-.

The US are getting milked. (I think they have to pay the NSA-equipment)

For 10 lines/phones? If you think about it you can get 10 lines with 2GB of data each for $10 w Sprint on this deal for the first year; if you have a family plan this is the best yet even if you compare to you guys

----------

"NEW" customers get it for $100/month until 2015, where they will pay $160/month.

"CURRENT" customers would get the exact same plan for $160/month now and always.

$240 difference over 4 months. Terrible? Not really. Little annoying? Maybe. I don't see anyone complaining about their cable bill when new sign ups get 6-12 months of promo priced months when they're paying full price.

yeap, it's basically a discounted rate to bring new customers…
I hate that companies never care for you after you sign up unless you tell them you are leaving.
I cut my cable 3 years ago and haven't looked back and I'm saving a TONNN of money.

 

[827538]

Still lagging behind Europe I see.

 

[cmwade77]

I wish the carriers would spend less time offering high-end "deals" to separate customers from thousands of dollars annually, and offer some packages designed for people who don't want unlimited talk time and hundreds of gigabytes of data per year on multiple phones.

On nearly all of the plans offered, if you don't use your phone for lots of voice time, you still have to pay for it. It's bundling, as bad as cable companies forcing customers to subscribe to the Golf Channel, the Hitlery Channel, and Empty-Vee if they want to watch HBO.

Fore this, there's always FreedomPop: http://www.freedompop.com/phone
500 Mb, 500 Text Messages & 200 Minutes per month completely free. Of course they offer paid plans (although they are cheap too)

They only work on Sprint's network though.

 

[AustinIllini]

Why shouldn't it work. I live in Denmark and i use 3 as my provider. I was having my holiday in Sweden and was able to use my phone without any additional costs. Same would be in Finland.

Does your phone work in Italy or Spain? That's the equivalent of American coverage?

I'm trying to ask you honest to God questions. If I'm sounding confrontational I apologize.

Oh yes and just ignore the fact that most people never leave the state they live in in their entire lives.

You're not serious, right? Maybe in the 1950s, but more and more people are relocating for work and a huge percentage of business trips are air travel.

----------

LIST

Where is this from? This is impressive, but not exhaustive. My company isn't on there.

 

[rpimac]

Price matters little due to their horrible network.
A Ferrari on a 4 wheel drive road is useless, just like Sprint's network.
Been with them since Sept 1999, so I know the deal.
Don't waste your time or $.
My dream is that a law firm puts together a class action law suit for poor service costing Sprint $500 Billion putting them inline for a hostile take over.
I've been more than patient & I am sick of it.
Buyers beware!
If it sounds too good to be true-----

 

[ctone]

For 10 lines/phones? If you think about it you can get 10 lines with 2GB of data each for $10 w Sprint on this deal for the first year; if you have a family plan this is the best yet even if you compare to you guys .

The $100 / mo. (or $160 / mo. for existing customers) is the base cost of the plan, to which you can add up to 10 lines. There are additional charges of $15 - $40 per month for each line on the plan.

 

[jrbdmb]

Thanks for the data increase Sprint!

Not that I would ever get your service, but perhaps this will push AT&T to drop the prices of their data tiers. I would love to see AT&T match with a 20GB / $100 plan.

 

[ctone]

Any phone made after Jan 2015 will be unlockable and can work on any carrier I believe according to new regulations. Probably makes sense to wait to buy the 6s then if thats the case.

The unlock law making it legal to unlock phones once they are out of their contract is in effect now (all of it must be fully implemented by Feb. 2015) but will need to be renewed in 2015 or it will go away, so I don't see Sprint changing policies or Apple changing Sprint's iPhones in response to this in early 2015. If Apple does change the phone for Sprint use to be "unlockable", then that will likely be done upon the iPhone 6's introduction in the Fall, or it might have to wait until Fall of 2015 (iPhone 6s).

Sprint's iPhone 5s's are not compatible with any other US carrier, and are CDMA, meaning that if they are unlocked by Sprint, the only other carriers that they can be used on are in Japan. For the iPhone 5, one model was compatible with both Verizon and Sprint (and KDDI Japan). Maybe the iPhone6 will go back to having one model being compatible with Verizon/Verizon/Japan?

I don't think Apple will come out with a new model mid-cycle (Feb 2015) just so some Sprint users can have them unlocked.

Even after reading the official info here, it is hard to understand exactly what to expect out this law http://fcc.github.io/device-unlocking/

Also, Sprint currently claims that all of their Apple devices are technically incapable of being unlocked.
http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

 

[Black Magic]

The unlock law making it legal to unlock phones once they are out of their contract is in effect now (all of it must be fully implemented by Feb. 2015) but will need to be renewed in 2015 or it will go away, so I don't see Sprint changing policies or Apple changing Sprint's iPhones in response to this in early 2015. If Apple does change the phone for Sprint use to be "unlockable", then that will likely be done upon the iPhone 6's introduction in the Fall, or it might have to wait until Fall of 2015 (iPhone 6s).

Sprint's iPhone 5s's are not compatible with any other US carrier, and are CDMA, meaning that if they are unlocked by Sprint, the only other carriers that they can be used on are in Japan. For the iPhone 5, one model was compatible with both Verizon and Sprint (and KDDI Japan). Maybe the iPhone6 will go back to having one model being compatible with Verizon/Verizon/Japan?

I don't think Apple will come out with a new model mid-cycle (Feb 2015) just so some Sprint users can have them unlocked.

Even after reading the official info here, it is hard to understand exactly what to expect out this law http://fcc.github.io/device-unlocking/

Also, Sprint currently claims that all of their Apple devices are technically incapable of being unlocked.
http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

Yea, thats why I said wait for the 6S. I guess me saying 6s confused it. Me personally, I'm going AT&T and dumping CDMA all together. I've had enough of that crap.

 

[ptb42]

AT&T Discounts:

Thanks! That's an interesting list. I'm surprised by how much it varies, and how low the discount is for some of the employers. I'll guess it is largely determined by the number of corporate phones (as opposed to personal phones, getting the corporate discount).

My company provides phones to sales and consulting employees that travel, and gives the employee the choice of either AT&T or Verizon. But, I prefer to stick with our personal plan.

 

[Breaking Good]

$100 to $160 A MONTH

and people in Germany look at me crazy when i tell them that i pay 35 Euro a month.

$100 is more than i pay for netflix, Nexus Plan, iPad Plan, unlimited 100mbit internet, spotify and cable HD tv combined lolol

I'm glad that our friends in Europe are not getting the screws put to them like we do in the United States. However, this does raise a question in my mind that maybe someone from Europe could answer for me.

It would seem that the cellular business in the United States is quite lucrative, yet from what I've read, Deutch Telecom seems to want to exit it very badly.

So far they have attempted to sell their stake in T-mobile first to AT&T and most recently to Sprint.

Why do they appear to be so eager to get out of such a lucrative market?

 

[Carlanga]

The $100 / mo. (or $160 / mo. for existing customers) is the base cost of the plan, to which you can add up to 10 lines. There are additional charges of $15 - $40 per month for each line on the plan.

Umm then is just a meh deal for the few that have sprint coverage. Thanks

 

[Black Magic]

----------



Where is this from? This is impressive, but not exhaustive. My company isn't on there.

Thanks! That's an interesting list. I'm surprised by how much it varies, and how low the discount is for some of the employers. I'll guess it is largely determined by the number of corporate phones (as opposed to personal phones, getting the corporate discount).

My company provides phones to sales and consulting employees that travel, and gives the employee the choice of either AT&T or Verizon. But, I prefer to stick with our personal plan.

I found it a while back (about a year ago) somewhere in the dark crevices of the internet. Each Carrier has a list like that so I figured I would keep them for use in the future if need be. I'm sure the list grows and adjust over time so please take that as a snapshot in time.

 

[Breaking Good]

I wish the carriers would spend less time offering high-end "deals" to separate customers from thousands of dollars annually, and offer some packages designed for people who don't want unlimited talk time and hundreds of gigabytes of data per year on multiple phones.

On nearly all of the plans offered, if you don't use your phone for lots of voice time, you still have to pay for it. It's bundling, as bad as cable companies forcing customers to subscribe to the Golf Channel, the Hitlery Channel, and Empty-Vee if they want to watch HBO.

In the United States, if you need or just want premium cellular service (which I define as nationwide coverage including 4G LTE data), then your two choices are Verizon and AT&T.

If you can live with something less, then your choices increase.

Page Plus Cellular is an MVNO that uses Verizon's network. You can get a pay-as-you-go plan and pay just 4 cents a minute or text. You can put as little as $10 every 120 days to keep your number activated.

H2O Wireless is an MVNO using AT&T's network. Their paygo plan is 5 cents a minute or text.

Spot Mobile is an MVNO using T-mobile's network. You can keep a line active on them for only $5 every 90 days.

Of course, with each of these, you have to buy your phone outright.

----------

The unlock law making it legal to unlock phones once they are out of their contract is in effect now (all of it must be fully implemented by Feb. 2015) but will need to be renewed in 2015 or it will go away, so I don't see Sprint changing policies or Apple changing Sprint's iPhones in response to this in early 2015. If Apple does change the phone for Sprint use to be "unlockable", then that will likely be done upon the iPhone 6's introduction in the Fall, or it might have to wait until Fall of 2015 (iPhone 6s).

Sprint's iPhone 5s's are not compatible with any other US carrier, and are CDMA, meaning that if they are unlocked by Sprint, the only other carriers that they can be used on are in Japan. For the iPhone 5, one model was compatible with both Verizon and Sprint (and KDDI Japan). Maybe the iPhone6 will go back to having one model being compatible with Verizon/Verizon/Japan?

I don't think Apple will come out with a new model mid-cycle (Feb 2015) just so some Sprint users can have them unlocked.

Even after reading the official info here, it is hard to understand exactly what to expect out this law http://fcc.github.io/device-unlocking/

Also, Sprint currently claims that all of their Apple devices are technically incapable of being unlocked.
http://www.sprint.com/legal/unlocking_policy.html

I have read of people having luck provisioning (flashing) certain Android phones from Sprint over to Page Plus Cellular.