Sprint introduces $50 unlimited plan for 6/6 Plus owners (iPhone for life program)

[GIZBUG]

Well, Sprint is in the news now for the best coverage at O'Hare. But your mileage may vary at other airports. My understanding is that nothing at all has been upgraded at Sky Harbor in Phoenix and right now we sit at around 59% completion of Network Vision for the PHX market.

Sprint has a policy of never activating phones it did not sell or that were never intended to be used on their network. I have heard a report of one person getting a Verizon iPhone activated on Sprint, but IDK. May want to check it out.

That said, Sprint's frequencies are 1900mhz, 2.5Ghz and 800mhz. I don't believe the Verizon iPhone 5 series operates on the same LTE bands. So, even if you manage to get it activated it may not work for LTE.

Lastly, Chicago was one of the first Sprint markets to get upgraded with Network Vision. Sprint used it as a test market to polish the rollout plans for all their other markets. All the pain of getting the old Samsung equipment and the new network equipment to work together has been alleviated and Chicago is now one of the more mature markets Sprint has. You shouldn't have any real problems there if you have a phone that can use Sprint's frequencies.

Oh yeah, the iPhone 6 and 6+ are the only iPhones that can take advantage of Spark. The 5c and 5s can handle 1900mhz and 800mhz, but not 2.5 Ghz and the iPhone 5 can only handle 1900mhz for LTE and 800mhz for voice.

The iPhone 6 and 6+ will not do VoLTE as Sprint has not launched anything for that yet.

Sprint would not active my Iphone 5. I would trade it into them, for $230, to be applied to my bill. This would be done, 14 days after I get a sprint iphone 6, to try out in Chicago (I am in Detroit right now for the weekend)....then if I was happy with sprint, keep the 6, and trade in the 5. As for VoLTE and wifi calling, I think it's just a matter of time they enable it for iphone 6 users (but given how time takes so long with sprint, it may not happen soon?)

 

[eyoungren]

Sprint would not active my Iphone 5. I would trade it into them, for $230, to be applied to my bill. This would be done, 14 days after I get a sprint iphone 6, to try out in Chicago (I am in Detroit right now for the weekend)....then if I was happy with sprint, keep the 6, and trade in the 5. As for VoLTE and wifi calling, I think it's just a matter of time they enable it for iphone 6 users (but given how time takes so long with sprint, it may not happen soon?)

Sprint has plans for VoLTE, but the time frame for getting started is something like 2016. So at a minimum it won't happen until then.

Just a word of caution on your trial period. Decide if you like Sprint's service (and the phone) fairly quickly. I've heard reports of people showing up to return their phones on day 13 and being denied. Sprint tends to count weekends and holidays in the trial period, not business days. So, if you decide to return the phone make sure there's enough time that Sprint can't legitimately refuse you.

Also, my understanding of the phone trade in is that Sprint will pay $200 for ANY phone. If you have any old phones you don't want lying around, bring them in and get credit. This is one area Sprint has been generous in. A few reps have dealt with customers bringing in stacks of phones. $200 a pop isn't something to sneeze at.

 

[raven69david]

For those of you in a market that has bad Sprint service, sucks for you all. For me, I live in a test market with fantastic Sprint service and consistently get 25+down and 6/7 up. I'm also in a Spark market and get good (not great) coverage indoors. Been with Sprint for 20 years and no problems with dropped calls or bad data loss to any place I've traveled (Florida, California and many states in between). Alot of people bash Sprint but those are the ones in a crappy area. If you know you're in one of these markets and choose to use the service, that's on you.

I can't imagine how it is to use a smart phone with a limited amount of data. I'd hate knowing I'd always have to be on a wifi connection or monitor my minutes. I'll feel bad for all of those who have to do that and could never imagine ever doing that in this lifetime.

Before I sign off, we're having a bad storm in my area but getting 22.58dn and 1.85up in my house. Life is good....

 

[GIZBUG]

You never mentioned your area

 

[oliv2915]

I did take the iPhone for Life option. For my needs, it works great. The 0 down is not true. They do run a credit check to see if you are eligible. Life of your account and on time payments help reduce the up front cost.

I went with the 6+ 64GB Gold. Once my eligibility check came back, I did have to pay $374. This also reduced my monthly cost. Montly cost was estimated to $30 per month. After the down payment, I walk away paying 16 a month.

Once the lease term is up, you are giving the option to pay for the phone and go with a new lease, given the program is still available at that time.