Sprint Opens iPhone 4 Pre-Orders, iPhone 4S Follows Tomorrow

[peglegjack]

Oh Sprint... I thought you were different. I was wrong

Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to limit throughput speeds, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. Prohibited network use rules apply. See sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses. 1,024 KB equal 1 MB. 1,024 MB equal 1 GB.

But that's roaming.

If you're in that kind of area, then you ought to look at other plans.

 

[vartanarsen]

Does spring have cheaper plans if you buy the phone for $$$ upfront?

I'm thinking about buying an unlocked iPhone 4S and use the cheapest month to month plan I can find.

To make this work well I plan to transfer my current established number to google voice then forward it to whatever number I get for my month to month plans.

My understanding is that ATT doesn't allow unlocked iPhones on their network unless you also sign up for the "iPhone plan". Is this true? is it the same for Sprint?

You have to spend $200 on a Nokia E71 in Walmart. Then take out the SIM card and put it into an unlocked GSM IP4S. Therafter, you'll get $45 Everything

 

[jclardy]

I thought I would get away cheaper on Sprint as I can get a 23% corp discount versus 15% on AT&T. Unfortunately I forgot to figure in the $10 data charge they put on all smartphones, so I'll stick with AT&T and my faster data speeds.

Sprint would give me "more" on paper:
- "Unlimited" data
- Unlimited texts
- Essentially unlimited minutes (With any carrier mobile to mobile)

But tethering on Sprint is way more expensive and also limited (to 5GB) and their data speeds top out at around 1 Mbps from what i've seen, and I have gotten up to 5 Mbps on my iPhone (Which is comparable to their WiMax network.)

 

[bad03xtreme]

Turns out that both AT&T and Verizon are financial backers of the Tea Party faction. That's a bit of a deal killer for me.

So it's ATT or Verizon for me..

 

[dacapo]

Is there a family plan option on Sprint? (For that matter, is there a discounted family plan option for the iPhone an any of the 3 carriers?)

We have only one iPhone on our current AT&T plan, so I don't know how this would work. We'd like to get both my wife and me on the new 4S on whatever carrier has the best rates.

 

[daxomni]

I'm sure glad that here in the U.S. we broke up that AT&T monopoly years ago. It sure did wonders for my wallet.

AT&T seems just as abusive and even larger now than it was back then, but the will of our government to do anything about it is long, long gone. If you think it's bad now wait until AT&T or Verizon is finally able to buy out everyone else. You might see a temporary price drop or data cap increase now and again, but over time it will just get worse and worse.

 

[paige.findley]

CDMA or GSM

So is ATT still the only carrier that allows you to surf the web, text, etc, while on a call or did I read something where Verizon and Sprit might be adding this in their software as well?

I'm wondering about this too? Is this a CDMA vs. GSM issue?

 

[Frankied22]

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 is ATT still the only carrier that allows you to surf the web, text, etc, while on a call or did I read something where Verizon and Sprit might be adding this in their software as well?

I'm wondering about this too? Is this a CDMA vs. GSM issue?

AT&Tis the only one who let's you use data and voice at the same time.

 

[dacapo]

I'm wondering about this too? Is this a CDMA vs. GSM issue?

I believe it is. But I've never personally used the browse while voice feature. Too distracting. (It's been beaten to death before, but I guess that'll happen again.)

What I'm really happy about this time is the fact that even if I go to Sprint or Verizon, if I ever go overseas, I'm GSM compatible.

 

[nwhandyman]

8GB memory only being offered on Sprint website???

When I click more information to order the iPhone 4s, it's showing only 8GB that can be ordered. I know we can't order til after midnight tonight but that's what is being shown at this time. Does that mean we will have to order it from Apple to get the bigger Storage???
John

 

[NoExpectations]

I'm wondering about this too? Is this a CDMA vs. GSM issue?

This is correct. Verizon/Sprint can not support data and voice at the same time. So, you must pick one (or buy 2 iPhones!) . This sort of takes away from the multitasking experience of a great smartphone. They also have restrictions on conference call features (less users and the inability to drop a single user).

Also, Verizon/Sprint can not take advantage of HSPDA's higher speeds. 14.4mbs versus 3mbs (theoretical).

 

[WannaGoMac]

I think you mean "rave" in that context? I've tried every carrier in my area and while Verizon was the best for voice calls Sprint has been the fastest for data here. Verizon limits me to a couple gigs but Sprint has no cap (as of yet) and doesn't throttle. I had a couple iPhones with unlimited data on T-mobile for quite a while but EDGE speeds became less and less workable as average data use went up over time. AT&T was the absolute worst experience I've ever had in virtually every way. Surprisingly slow data, lots of dropped and distorted calls, worthless do-nothing customer service and a "take it or leave it" attitude.


Me too. Turns out that both AT&T and Verizon are financial backers of the Tea Party faction. That's a bit of a deal killer for me.

haha, that's one fact I didnt include in my analysis!

Grrr, what to do. I know AT&T sucks everywhere I use it... but I love the speed if/when it works

 

[Ugg]

Does spring have cheaper plans if you buy the phone for $$$ upfront?

I'm thinking about buying an unlocked iPhone 4S and use the cheapest month to month plan I can find.

To make this work well I plan to transfer my current established number to google voice then forward it to whatever number I get for my month to month plans.

My understanding is that ATT doesn't allow unlocked iPhones on their network unless you also sign up for the "iPhone plan". Is this true? is it the same for Sprint?

Sprint itself doesn't offer prepaid but Sprint owns Virgin Mobile which serves as their prepaid plan. VM Canada will be selling iPhone 4S, however there is no indication that VM USA will do so. I've been checking their website constantly.

VM recently upped their minimum prepaid plan from $25 to $35 a month and some see this as an indication that they will offer the iPhone. My guess is that we'll find out more tomorrow.

Some more questions to ponder. If you get the unlocked iPhone4 could you use it on Virgin's plan?

Good question and I think we'll find out tomorrow.

WOW - That does seem expensive compared to us brits, I paid £65 for the iPhone 4 last Christmas and I pay £35 a month (~$55) for unlimited internet, 5000 same network minutes, 5000 texts and 2000 other network minutes.
We get ripped off for virtually everything else however...

There is no real competition here in the US and it's pathetic.

 

[NoExpectations]

Data/Voice Multitasking is an absolute must have

Data/Voice Multitasking is an absolute must have feature.

I use this feature all the time. You get used to it (sort of like power windows on a car....once you have it, you wonder how you lived without it).

For my personal use, my wife is always calling me with requests for directions or store information (location, hours)....which I can give while I talk to her.

For my business, I've nailed many deals while talking to my customers on my iPhone and looking up data on the internet.

 

[dvswede]

You have to spend $200 on a Nokia E71 in Walmart. Then take out the SIM card and put it into an unlocked GSM IP4S. Therafter, you'll get $45 Everything

Wow I wasn't aware of walmart's service. And they are basically going through ATT's network. Seem like a VERY good plan! And they even have phones for as low as $99 currently since you can buy any phone with a data plan right?

With this you might loose Visible Voice Mail but you will have 3G data/messaging/calling

very interesting!

 

[mrgreen4242]

I'm confused (which happens easily, so take it light on me, guys).

Didn't i see this just yesterday:

It's a $10/smartphone fee for "premium data".

Sprint is slimey in that they advertise those prices, then add $10 fee for smartphones.

How is this slimy? Verizon charges $30+ for a smartphone compatible dataplan, but offer some feature phone compatible ones for less. Sprint just builds the base fee into your plan, and charges a premium for the people who will use more data. I was pissed when they added it, but I am glad they gave people a choice rather than just raising rates.

I thought the $10 fee was for "4g smartphones"

I love how phone companies claim to have "4g" when its not.

It's NEVER been a 4G fee. They never advertised it as such. They put it on "premium devices" which all happened to be 4G, but they later (about 10 months ago) added it to all new smartphones. I was pissed about it, but even with that fee they're still a few bucks less than a 2gb capped ATT smartphone and even less compared to Verizon (at least in my usage scenarios).

History would seem to imply that it's far more likely the iPhone will force Sprint to give up on offering unlimited data.

I don't think it will happen in this case. Reasoning is that it's Sprint's ONLY compentitive advantage. They're not much cheaper for smartphone users anymore, so it's all they've got. They also have a 2 year plan to do some significant updates to their 3G (and 4G, of course) networks using the old Nextel iDEN spectrum (800mhz, which the iPhone will support CDMA over) so they're going to have more capacity coming online pretty shortly. Lastly, this isn't like when ATT go the iPhone and attracted a ton of new customers becuase they were the only game in town. It's not even like Verizon who converted a lot of people who hate ATT or were previous feature phone customers on their own network. I suspect Sprint will see modest influx of new customers/switchers and a lot of Sprint Android user converts, but the impct on the network won't bee quite as severe as when the last two carriers got the iPhone.

a few hours after Steve's death, people are getting ready to buy phones and discuss data plans... That's how people are: Death, catastrophes and the like make people feel sad for a certain time, but it does not deeply concern them that much so they really think deeply about life, death, the purpose of life.
Life goes on for them until they themselves face death... Then what?

Why should this impact anyone here's daily lives? It's not like we knew Jobs personally. We can note his passing, celebrate his accomplishments and carry on. It's not like we're his family. I hate all this fake grieving people have for celebs.

Oh Sprint... I thought you were different. I was wrong

Voice/Data Usage Limitation: Sprint reserves the right, without notice, to limit throughput speeds, and to deny, terminate, modify, disconnect or suspend service if off-network usage in a month exceeds: (1) voice: 800 min. or a majority of minutes; or (2) data: 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes. Prohibited network use rules apply. See sprint.com/termsandconditions for specific prohibited uses. 1,024 KB equal 1 MB. 1,024 MB equal 1 GB.

Off-network. Roaming. You can roam onto Verizon's network fro voice and 3G for FREE, you just can't do it all the time.

I'm wondering about this too? Is this a CDMA vs. GSM issue?

Yes. CMDA doesn't support voice and data at the same time. GSM does. But, there's a way to do it on CDMA with the approprate technology in the handset - called SCDMA. There's maybe one Verizon Android phone that does it, and it might not even be out yet.

You can use WiFi and voice at the same time, and it the iPhone was a WiMax device you could use WiMax data and CDMA voice (of course, it's not).

 

[adder7712]

I thought the $10 fee was for "4g smartphones"

I love how phone companies claim to have "4g" when its not.

There isn't an actual 4G standard.

LTE is still considered as 3.9G. Proper 4G is LTE Advanced.

Carriers branding HSPA+ and WiMAX as 4G are laughable at best.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Data/Voice Multitasking is an absolute must have feature.

I use this feature all the time. You get used to it (sort of like power windows on a car....once you have it, you wonder how you lived without it).

For my personal use, my wife is always calling me with requests for directions or store information (location, hours)....which I can give while I talk to her.

For my business, I've nailed many deals while talking to my customers on my iPhone and looking up data on the internet.

Tell her to stop calling you for this stuff and just ask Siri. Problem solved.

Wow I wasn't aware of walmart's service. And they are basically going through ATT's network. Seem like a VERY good plan! And they even have phones for as low as $99 currently since you can buy any phone with a data plan right?

With this you might loose Visible Voice Mail but you will have 3G data/messaging/calling

very interesting!

Problem with "scams" like this is that you never know when it's going to get shut down. The carrier owes you nothing in this case, so if they decide to stop supporting iPhones on this setup they can (and will). ATT did it before with people putting iPad SIMs into iPhones to get cheap, prepaid, data only service.

And if they do that you are now out the $200 you paid for the Nokia AND the $500+ you paid for the off-contact iPhone. Of course, if you have the iPhone you want to use already and you can sell off the other phone to recoup most of the price (assuming they can get a new SIM for it without deactivating the old one - see the scenario with the iPad/iPhone above) then it's not a bad deal for as long as it works.

Note: I say scams not to imply you are doing something illegal or even unethical, just not officially supported.

 

[caseyh]

This is a night thought.

Arn,

Can we keep the SJ at the top section of MR for this week, and bump all news below?

Seems fitting, and nothing else compares quite honestly.

FWIW.
/topic.

I would support this. It isn't necessary, but it'd be a nice touch.

 

[vartanarsen]

Wow I wasn't aware of walmart's service. And they are basically going through ATT's network. Seem like a VERY good plan! And they even have phones for as low as $99 currently since you can buy any phone with a data plan right?

With this you might loose Visible Voice Mail but you will have 3G data/messaging/calling

very interesting!

No, You HAVE TO buy the $200 Nokia E71....its the only one whose SIM is not locked to Straight Talk.

Also, there is a Soft Cap of 2G, not written anywhere, but if you exceed 2G, they can (and have) disconnected people. So juist get DataMan and make sure you dont go over 2 gigs.

Nokia E71 = $200
unlocked IP4S = $649
1 year ST Service = $540

= $1389/year.

You can compare that with the other 3 players.

 

[iMrNiceGuy0023]

the $10 charge was for 4G phones only at 1st, but they recently added to all smartphones

The $79.99 plan is real popular, I used to work for Sprint and everyone would jump on this plan in a heart beat

 

[vartanarsen]

No, You HAVE TO buy the $200 Nokia E71....its the only one whose SIM is not locked to Straight Talk.

Also, there is a Soft Cap of 2G, not written anywhere, but if you exceed 2G, they can (and have) disconnected people. So juist get DataMan and make sure you dont go over 2 gigs.

Nokia E71 = $200
unlocked IP4S = $649
1 year ST Service = $540

= $1389/year.

You can compare that with the other 3 players.

NOT to mention, that its $1389 first year..but 2nd year, you already recouped all costs, its just the $45/month

----------

Tell her to stop calling you for this stuff and just ask Siri. Problem solved.



Problem with "scams" like this is that you never know when it's going to get shut down. The carrier owes you nothing in this case, so if they decide to stop supporting iPhones on this setup they can (and will). ATT did it before with people putting iPad SIMs into iPhones to get cheap, prepaid, data only service.

And if they do that you are now out the $200 you paid for the Nokia AND the $500+ you paid for the off-contact iPhone. Of course, if you have the iPhone you want to use already and you can sell off the other phone to recoup most of the price (assuming they can get a new SIM for it without deactivating the old one - see the scenario with the iPad/iPhone above) then it's not a bad deal for as long as it works.

Note: I say scams not to imply you are doing something illegal or even unethical, just not officially supported.

Sorry sir, but Straight Talk is under TracFone...who has MIllions of Customers....they are not going anywhere....the most they will do is Disconnect Data Abusers (soft cap of 2 gigs), but this deal is not going anywhere.

 

[Steve's Barber]

Me too. Turns out that both AT&T and Verizon are financial backers of the Tea Party faction. That's a bit of a deal killer for me.

Really? Corporate America backing political factions that are soft on taxes and labor unions? What s surprise. I assume all the taxes Apple has dodged and all the jobs they've shipped to China will impact any future purchases you might be planning with them? (You guys crack me up. )

AT&T was the absolute worst experience I've ever had in virtually every way. Surprisingly slow data, lots of dropped and distorted calls, worthless do-nothing customer service and a "take it or leave it" attitude.

AT&T has vastly improved here in Central U.S. I haven't seen the Edge network kick in for at least 6 months now. 3G magically showed up one day even in the remotest areas. Haven't had a dropped call in that time span either. Go figure.

 

[WannaGoMac]

Is there any way to find out if the GSM will be unlocked on Verizon/Sprint?

 

[Frobozz]

I'm on ATT today, with an iPhone 4, and my 2 year agreement is up in Mid November.

For $80, on ATT, I only get 200 mb of download and 200 text messages. I never use even close to the 450 minutes of talk time I'd get on both.

So, for even money on Sprint, I'd go from 200 mb to unlimited data, and 200 text messages to unlimited text messages. Not bad! I was a Sprint customer for 8 years, and so was my wife, before we split to ATT for the iPhone. I have a feeling we'll be going back.

I don't have a ton of complaints about ATT. Occasionally, due to the sheer popularity of the iPhone in the NYC area, it can be tough to make a call or get decent data coverage. But that is not typical elsewhere.

I think it boils down to download speed and cost. Though I may just wait until the iPhone 5. I have zero complaints about my current iPhone4, except that I want 64GB of storage and it would be nice to have Siri support.