Sprint Confirms Plans to Offer Unlimited Data for iPhone

[KrisKT]

Sprint versus Verizon family plan plus one individual

I went into our local Sprint and Verizon stores today and got quotes for family plans plus an individual plan all with the new iphone 4s (6 people in my family). I am fed up with dropped calls on AT&T. I'll send my kid a text and then 4 hours later when we are at home, his phone gets the text. There are times I am holding the phone in my hand while playing a game or surfing the internet, and people call me and tell me it goes straight to voicemail and the phone never rang (so the talking and using data at the same time isn't reliable on my iPhone 3Gs). I have had Cingular and AT&T the entire time that I have had cell phones.

My company gets a 23% discount with the base plan for Sprint and 19% with Verizon.

For the unlimited data (Sprint 1500 min-Everything Data plan) or 2GB data (Verizon-700 min Talk and Text plan) with unlimited texting and including tax---both waive the activation fees.

Sprint $309

Verizon $385

I am happy to see that the latest Consumer Reports review in Jan. 2011 rated Verizon and Sprint really close while AT&T was dead last.

So, Sprint here I come!!!

 

[Thunder82]

This is not correct. AT&T always advertise to have the fastest 3G Network but field tests from PC Mag confirmed that when it boils down to it, all 3Gs are more or less the same speed, give or take a 100+ kbps

You couldn't actually be more wrong with this information.

AT&T & T-Mobile run an HSPA UMTS 3G network which runs CIRCLES around Verizons and Sprints CDMA/EVDO network.

Sprint, by far, has the slowest 3G out of these 4 carriers. Verizon runs on EVDO RevB, whereas Sprint still runs Rev A.

 

[darkslide29]

Cant believe how expensive mobile phone contracts are in the States.

I pay £10 a month for uncapped unlimited data, unlimited texts, unlimited free calls to mobiles on the same network and 250 mins of calls to everybody else.
This is on pay as you go (no contract)

That sounds like a pretty sweet deal. I imagine you had to buy your Phone at full price though, and not subsidized? The iPhone 4S costs $199 here, or roughly £125. I guess they have to make up their money somehow.

 

[raviadso]

girlfriend and I are going Sprint.

I have ATT (and hate both the reception and customer service)
She has Sprint and LOVES the reception and has had no problem with customer service.

No 4G in our area but picking up:

unlimited data (no throttling)
unlimited texts
unlimited mobile-to-mobile
unlimited mobile-to-landline after 7pm and on weekends and
1500 shared minutes to landline (M-F 7a-7p)

$150/month split two ways. $75 is a pretty good deal for all that-- each of us with an iphone 4S, particularly because Sprint can roam on Verizon towers and the CDMA coverage in my area is unbelievably good compared to the GSM.

 

[MarkLal]

So sprint apparently hasn't even listed or mentioned anything about the iPhone on their website yet. Yesterday during the unveiling, Schiller's tone even seemed as if it was just an after-thought to get Sprint aboard the iPhone train.
Just makes me wonder...

 

[tigres]

girlfriend and I are going Sprint.

I have ATT (and hate both the reception and customer service)
She has Sprint and LOVES the reception and has had no problem with customer service.

No 4G in our area but picking up
unlimited data (no throttling)
unlimited texts
unlimited mobile-to-mobile
unlimited mobile-to-landline after 7pm and on weekends and
1500 shared minutes to landline

$150/month split two ways. $75 is a pretty good deal for all that.

I would go with less minutes. I have 3 phones on a 700 min plan, and am avg. 300 min a month to landlines.

Everyone is on a cell today. I wish I could drop it to 450, but then I loose some other perks.

 

[saturn88]

You all do realize you'll barely get 1mbps on Sprint's network. I barely got 1mbps down sometimes on my airave. Yeah unlimited data is nice but what's the point when your speeds are very slow???? Since the Original Evo came out their network decreased drastically in speeds. Anyone who wants to bash me go right ahead. I had Sprint this summer before going back to T-Mobile. GSM technology is the way to go due to HSDPA/HSPA+.

Best of luck future Sprint iPhone users.

I was getting 10-11Mbs best downtown Chicago. Outside of downtown it could be 2-3.5Mbs

 

[AgentElliot007]

I'm on Verizon again now but I had Sprint for quite awhile and I have to say that they improved tremendously in the Detroit area over the last 5 years. Not only that, their customer service went from being among the worst to actually quite good in that span of time. They've always had the best prices. I was honestly disappointed to leave Sprint in some ways as I felt that due to their underdog position, they were putting in a lot of effort to get things right and do right by their customers. That was my experience at least, but when the iPhone came to Verizon, I was gone at 7 AM on February 11.

I have no complaints about Verizon though either. It's more expensive, but the service is a bit more consistent than Sprint's was.

I would never touch AT&T again for phone service. My experience with them was terrible in every regard and from the countless people I know with iPhones on AT&T in the area, nothing has changed. I'm very happy with Verizon and will probably stick with them unless they royally screw something up in the next couple years, but it's no slight to Sprint. If Sprint launched the iPhone on February 11, I would've stuck with them and been more than happy.

 

[saturn88]

Cant believe how expensive mobile phone contracts are in the States.

I pay £10 a month for uncapped unlimited data, unlimited texts, unlimited free calls to mobiles on the same network and 250 mins of calls to everybody else.
This is on pay as you go (no contract)

Do you also get free or subsidized phone from your carrier? You pay full $600 price for the phone - that's why.

----------

[/COLOR]

Nope, their site says it's required for any smartphone. Even blackberry phones have it as a requirement, and not a single one is WiMAX compatible

I have Blackberry 3G on my daughter's line and I don't pay extra $10 for it. Perhaps I am grandfathered.

 

[raviadso]

I would go with less minutes. I have 3 phones on a 700 min plan, and am avg. 300 min a month to landlines.

Everyone is on a cell today. I wish I could drop it to 450, but then I loose some other perks.

1500 is the smallest plan that has data/text for family plans (and family plans save about $5 a line). They wont even let you select the 700 plan and add data. Still $130 for basically unlimited everything is pretty sweet. (how would anyone wrack up 25 hours of talk time a month on weekdays to landlines?)

 

[Tiger8]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)



So with that deal your plan would only be $5 more a month and you get a unlimited 4G mifi?? But when you don't access 4G (which is probably A LOT with Sprint$ does it kick down to 3G? And if so, will you then be capped because you're on 3G?

The deal works as follows:
iPhone 4s (or Smartphone): $69.99 + $10 = $79.99 (Phone alone)
MiFi: 3 GB of 3G / Unlimited of 4G: $45

Buy together get $10 of the bundle, effectively makes your Mifi: $35

To me much better deal than the $30 iPhone tether, which has a 5 GB 3G limit and NO 4G (since obviously the phone is not wimax)

To really take advantage of this though, you need to make sure that whever you live or usually hang out you get 4G coverage, which is the case for me. I also travel a lot for work so a Mifi indeed makes more sense than home cable internet. I live in NYC area and we have excellent 4G Coverage from Sprint.

 

[Rocketman]

I think Sprint being very concerned about customer service first contact is a very smart move. They will get considerable in-network switching, but their bread and butter will be new customers who are already accustomed to Apple's customer care and frankly, competitive carrier service problems.

If you happen to be in a Sprint/Nextel/Bost/Virgin service area and can get access directly or indirectly through Sprint, you will appreciate the customer care and call quality and reliability. Probably price vs. value too.

I switched AWAY due to coverage issues and have been "serviced" (according to my new carrier) since. I often disagree.

Off topic, T-Mobile bricked my iPhone 1 and the only path to redemption is an older AT&T SIM card, so if anybody has one, please give.

Welcome Sprint customers, we look forward to arguing with you and calling you names. This the internet!

Rocketman

 

[guch20]

You all do realize you'll barely get 1mbps on Sprint's network. I barely got 1mbps down sometimes on my airave. Yeah unlimited data is nice but what's the point when your speeds are very slow???? Since the Original Evo came out their network decreased drastically in speeds. Anyone who wants to bash me go right ahead. I had Sprint this summer before going back to T-Mobile. GSM technology is the way to go due to HSDPA/HSPA+.

Best of luck future Sprint iPhone users.

My wife's old Epic was lightning fast and so is her current Nexus S. It all depends on your area.

As an aside, she's SO jealous my contract is up and hers isn't so she can't get the 4S. She liked Android but after numerous crashes, viruses, and her Gmail being hacked thru an app, she's done with it.

 

[macguy360]

Here's how I see it for pros of each company.

ATT
Pros:
Possibly faster internet speed
4gb iphone plan includes tethering at no additional cost.
Tons of discounts. Student discounts, bank discounts, employee discounts etc.
Unlimited mobile to mobile calling included with unlimited texting plan.

Cons:
High cost if individual plan. Expect to pay $100+ per month for reasonable data.
4gb data cap. then $10 per gb over.
Discount only applies to extra services, not to main part of plan so the initial $39.99 is not discounted.

Verizon
Pros:
Highest rated call quality in most major cities. Good 3g coverage in remote areas.
5gb data plan for iPhone is only $5 more than Att 4gb data plan.

Cons:
Also high cost. Expect to pay $100+ per month for individual plan.
Not as many discounts as other networks.
Reported slower data speeds consistently by iPhone usars (heresay)
No unlimited mobile to mobile calling plan.

Sprint
Pros:
Most bang for your buck.
Unlimited mobile to mobile calling, texting and data with no data caps.
CDMA call quality generally good with good coverage.
Good 3g coverage with use of Verizon towers during roaming.
Discounts available such as Credit union discount, employee discount etc.

Cons:
There is a data roaming cap and minute usage cap. Can't remember offhand but its something like 200 minutes and 500mb data. Watch out!
With $20 billion invested in iPhones, its possible they won't be building up towers any time soon.
Average data speeds around 1mbps. Some occasions faster but usually not.
Tethering costs an additional $29.99 and will also put a cap on your data usage at 5gb regardless if phone is tethered or not. Not sure what happens after 5gb.

Let me know if I missed anything.

 

[InYou101]

Funny how Apple announced old iOS5 news but not a word about Sprint... I'm sure Steve would have done a better job.

 

[Joshwawilson]

Quick question. The free turn by turn navigation I use on my Evo, is that a Sprint feature or Android?
Will the 4s be able to use this feature if it is Sprint?
I think it was called TelNav or something.

I have an app on my android called Sprint Navigation, is that what your talking about? I'm assuming it's a sprint app hence the name.

 

[guch20]

I have an app on my android called Sprint Navigation, is that what your talking about? I'm assuming it's a sprint app hence the name.

The Apple App Store has a great GPS app for free (or maybe it costs like a buck) that's an awesome full feature GPS. I can't remember the name offhand though...just search GPS and sort by rating. It's among the top rated.

 

[atomwork]

People say there are only 450 minutes...but UNLIMITED mobile to mobile...so I doubt most people talk aver 450 minutes to a landline.

I'm on a family plan with Verizon. I have Unlimited Text, Data, and share 1400 minutes with all 5 people on my family plan.

We have 10 landlines added to our plan (we get those for free) and have free Verizon to Verizon calling.

All together it cost $213 a month...is that a good deal?

I'm on with my parents so they foot the bill. But I don't know if a better long term plan would be to go with Sprint for $69.99.

Let me know what you think.

I guess you all don't run iPhones. Over at AT&T 3 phones cost me easily 350+, which includes the international plan on each line. AT&T advised this as incoming international calls would be otherwise billed at the full rate (even if they are incoming). ATT asks roughly 70 $ per phone + the family plan rate...

I am tempted to switch to Sprint. There is no reason 3 iPhones should cost 4.000 Dollar per year.

 

[raviadso]

If you have a 3G-only device or you are like the majority of people and dont get 4G, is there any reason to go with anyone OTHER than Sprint?

Considering Sprint roams on all Verizon's towers (with some limitation), is cheaper, provides a better value, and has decent customer support I really wonder why anyone would want anyone else. Maybe for a 4S thered be a reason for ATT but the small/finite data plans make 4G data a scary proposition honestly.

 

[EvilShenaniganZ]

I have an app on my android called Sprint Navigation, is that what your talking about? I'm assuming it's a sprint app hence the name.

I'm overseas don't have my phone. I'll have to check. I'm doing my HW on 3 phones trying to see what to get when I get back. I never really use apps the phone "EVO' came with but the turn by turn Sprint had pre installed is perfect. Just wondering if it is a Sprint thing and would they put it on the Iphone.

 

[isoft7]

A good deal, true... but, Sprint 3G service is absolutely terrible, it's the worst of the bunch, slow, unreliable, spotty, and this is in LARGE cities, I'm not in the boonies.

Take it from me, a life long Sprint customer, if data speeds are important to you, DO NOT USE SPRINT.

 

[globality]

I have an app on my android called Sprint Navigation, is that what your talking about? I'm assuming it's a sprint app hence the name.

No it is developed by TeleNav and works on Android, Windows Mobile (not sure about Windows Phone 7) Balckberry and iOS too. I think ATT provide this with a $10/m fee. Sprint gives it for free. Note that this will use some (maybe a lot) data because no offline map.

 

[EvilShenaniganZ]

No it is developed by TeleNav and works on Android, Windows Mobile (not sure about Windows Phone 7) Balckberry and iOS too. I think ATT provide this with a $10/m fee. Sprint gives it for free. Note that this will use some (maybe a lot) data because no offline map.

Yea I remember the TeleNav screen, Nice.
It's one of the few Sprint things I actually use often so good news.

 

[Redbeard25]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

So can anyone confirm the $10 smartphone fee? The family plan I want at AT&T rings up about $129/mo. If Sprint is the same price, I'm willing to switch.

 

[baummer]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

So can anyone confirm the $10 smartphone fee? The family plan I want at AT&T rings up about $129/mo. If Sprint is the same price, I'm willing to switch.

Yes the $10 fee is there. It's all over the Sprint ordering page and makes it clear. The copy has not updated to include the iPhone, but I suspect once we see a Sprint iPhone page/site, that information will be updated accordingly.