Verizon Edge, AT&T Next, Tmobile Jump. What is Sprint going to do to compete?

[ericdabbs]

whoops looks like there is a topic about this already.

[S4GRU]

 

Do you guys think Sprint will come out with a program to compete with this?

 

 

How can they not?  If the demand is there, they have to capitulate to the masses.

 

Robert

[ericdabbs]

Maybe Sprint should sit this one out and see how the Verizon and ATT plans work out first since they are similar to Sprint in that they are still under the 2 year contract model.

[S4GRU]

Maybe Sprint should sit this one out and see how the Verizon and ATT plans work out first since they are similar to Sprint in that they are still under the 2 year contract model.

I think it'd be easy to formulate the costs without seeing how it works out. They can set this up as a money maker or money neutral no problem. Don't let the other guys try to steal your customers.

 

Besides, we know this has to be a bad idea that costs the consumer money in the end, because VZW and ATT adopted it so quickly.

 

And if you think about it...you are just paying the depreciated value every month in the fee since you have to give back your old device when you upgrade. And you have to upgrade your device the maximum allowable times to make it worthwhile.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Rocket87]

Sprint has something like this in corporate stores, if you have had your phone 10 months or a year,i can't remember, and are in good standing you can upgrade now. The tiers are 275,225,175,100 depending on how long you have had your phone. You also have to trade in your old device.

 

So for an example if you want to upgrade early from the IPhone 4s to the 5 you pay:

 

IPhone 5. 200

 

+upgrade now 175

 

-IPhone 4s trade in -160

 

= 215 to upgrade to iPhone 5 from 4s at the 175 tier which is I believe 6 months early.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[iansltx]

Hopefully Sprint ends up with a competitor to Jump/Edge/Next that looks more like Jump than Next. I don't mind paying money up front for a new phone, but it would really be nice to roll that into insurance (and yes, that would mean that I'd get the early upgrade program for no more than I'm currently paying).

 

Upgrade Now is the same sort of thing, but you get a bit of a raw deal on trading in phones under the current buyback model. My S III would net me $100 or so...before the early upgrade charge. Though I suppose the net cost at this point would be $125 plus the cost of the new phone, so the same $10/mo over a year that T-Mobile is charging for Jump. Except I have to pay on top of that for insurance.

[ericdabbs]

Hopefully Sprint ends up with a competitor to Jump/Edge/Next that looks more like Jump than Next. I don't mind paying money up front for a new phone, but it would really be nice to roll that into insurance (and yes, that would mean that I'd get the early upgrade program for no more than I'm currently paying).

 

Upgrade Now is the same sort of thing, but you get a bit of a raw deal on trading in phones under the current buyback model. My S III would net me $100 or so...before the early upgrade charge. Though I suppose the net cost at this point would be $125 plus the cost of the new phone, so the same $10/mo over a year that T-Mobile is charging for Jump. Except I have to pay on top of that for insurance.

 

I agree I do hope that Sprint makes a competing program that looks more like Jump than Edge or Next.

[JeffDTD]

All of these "new" options are the equivalent of rent to own furniture and the same thing that keeps America hooked on subsidies.  Promise me the goods I want, don't worry about driving up my credit line, I can pay it off later.    Its the same concept that caused customers to love the ability to charge devices to their sprint account and exactly why people screamed when sprint did away with the ability to charge devices to your account.  

 

To participate, all require the device you have to be traded in.  There will be a gray area around condition, I suspect.  Some stores will refuse trades based on cosmetic damage, corrosion seen or evidenced somewhere on the device, etc. 

 

I'm just not sold on it. But sure, why not come up with something that matches the others?  

[Moropo]

These plans from AT&T and Verizon make no sense! They have their monthly prices with the phone subsidy already baked in. Offering these programs without lowering their plans just makes no sense.

 

T-Mobile is the only sensible one since they have separated the phone component from the rate plan...

 

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[khammondnm]

These plans from AT&T and Verizon make no sense! They have their monthly prices with the phone subsidy already baked in. Offering these programs without lowering their plans just makes no sense.

 

T-Mobile is the only sensible one since they have separated the phone component from the rate plan...

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

just another way to gouge the customer. This time most customers will think they are getting a "deal".

 

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[jamesinclair]

These "deals" are pretty damn terrible.

 

Essentially, with AT&T, youre paying a monthly etf, even if you dont terminate....and you dont even keep the phone!

 

Theyre robbing the blind.

[ericdabbs]

Sprint should bring back the Premier program but that is wishful thinking.  I think if Sprint would simply just copy the Tmobile JUMP program and make this new program an additional benefit of the TEP insurance of $11/month.

[Conan Kudo]

All of these "new" options are the equivalent of rent to own furniture and the same thing that keeps America hooked on subsidies.  Promise me the goods I want, don't worry about driving up my credit line, I can pay it off later.    Its the same concept that caused customers to love the ability to charge devices to their sprint account and exactly why people screamed when sprint did away with the ability to charge devices to your account.  

 

To participate, all require the device you have to be traded in.  There will be a gray area around condition, I suspect.  Some stores will refuse trades based on cosmetic damage, corrosion seen or evidenced somewhere on the device, etc. 

 

I'm just not sold on it. But sure, why not come up with something that matches the others?  

I don't look at JUMP! the same way I look at AT&T Next or VZ Edge. For one, T-Mobile's JUMP! includes phone insurance. I look at it like the ultimate insurance plan, protecting you against pretty much everything (including when you don't want your phone anymore). I also pay for phone insurance because my little brother (who is starting college, so he's not a child or anything) is pretty accident-prone. It doesn't cost me much more to do this, and this way, my bacon is saved because I don't have to shell out $600 for when he breaks it. And if he dislikes it, well, there's an option for that too.

 

Look, most people are deeply fickle, and some consider phones disposable. Because T-Mobile now administers its own phone insurance system, it can actually be flexible enough to offer a way to cater to these people. 

 

AT&T Next and VZ Edge only copy one aspect of JUMP!. Not only is it not worth it because you're paying for the phone twice over, you're also not getting more value out of your service for doing so.

[Fraydog]

I wish Sprint would move in the direction of having a new Premier plan that could offer people the choice of either being on contract like AT&T's and Verizon's contract options and T-Mobile's non-contract options.

 

For all we know this could be SoftBank's plan. They haven't even been in the US market for more than a week, I'm eager to see what their game plan with Sprint is.

[Rocket87]

Sprint has a real big opportunity here to attach like 12 or 15 month upgrades to the all in 110 plan. I think something like that could be huge and help increase customers MRC which would help Sprint make more money.

 

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[iansltx]

Sprint has a real big opportunity here to attach like 12 or 15 month upgrades to the all in 110 plan. I think something like that could be huge and help increase customers MRC which would help Sprint make more money.

 

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Was thinking the same thing. If they gave a new-customer-price upgrade every year or less (say, an upgrade credit every 8-10 months) to users of the $110 plan, I could see myself shelling out the dough for it.

[centermedic]

Sprint has a real big opportunity here to attach like 12 or 15 month upgrades to the all in 110 plan. I think something like that could be huge and help increase customers MRC which would help Sprint make more money.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I have a sneaky suspicion that currently Sprint does not want any new customers or wants to tightly manage its growth.

[kg4icg]

Here is a example of what I'm doing on the Friday the 26th. Picking up the HTC-8XT, trading in the phone I have which have a heat problem. Paying 400 - 125 for trade in which will bring my cost down to 275 without having to readjust contact or any thing else. If I wanted to I could go the other route and do a whole contact readjustment and pay lower but I rather buy straight out. Didn't have to wait for 6 months pass by to start jump. Don't have to worry about next or edge over priced markups. And I still control what I do with my phones.

 

[maximus1987/lou99]

I have a sneaky suspicion that currently Sprint does not want any new customers or wants to tightly manage its growth.

I agree.

In areas without NV even started, Sprint can't even handle current customers.

Probably wants to wait till TDD is ready late 2014.

[WiWavelength]

These names are all wrong.  Fittingly, T-Mobile should call its program EDGE, AT&T Jump (in the lake), and VZW NEXT!

 

AJ

[d_rail34]

Was that the "pay a fee and upgrade early" program?  My sister did that with her old LG Optimus S.  She wasn't due for an upgrade for like a year or something and she paid I think $100 to upgrade early and got an S2. (this was last year)

In May 2012 I was offered what was referred to as a "buy up" after learning that Sprint no longer had annual upgrades available. I wound up having to pay $165 to receive the early upgrade so that I could get my wife the Iphone that she'd been wanting.

 

The things we do for those we love. 

[GUESS2528]

SPRINT HAD A EARLY UPGRADE PROGRAM BEFORE BUT DO YOU THINK THEY WILL BRING IT BACK TO COMPETE?     

[koiulpoi]

In May 2012 I was offered what was referred to as a "buy up" after learning that Sprint no longer had annual upgrades available. I wound up having to pay $165 to receive the early upgrade so that I could get my wife the Iphone that she'd been wanting.

 

The things we do for those we love. 

 

 

SPRINT HAD A EARLY UPGRADE PROGRAM BEFORE BUT DO YOU THINK THEY WILL BRING IT BACK TO COMPETE?     

This program still exists, but only in Corporate-Owned Retail stores.

[d_rail34]

 

 

This program still exists, but only in Corporate-Owned Retail stores.

I actually had to go through account services to get the buy up offer. Initially the csr had told me that the option wasn't available in my area, so I had to go through account services to get it approved. All in all it worked out and my wife was happy...and that's always a good thing. Lol

Its good to know that sprint will work with their customers in situations like this, and they've always been willing to work with me when it comes to upgrading & contract renewals.

[koiulpoi]

 

I actually had to go through account services to get the buy up offer. Initially the csr had told me that the option wasn't available in my area, so I had to go through account services to get it approved. All in all it worked out and my wife was happy...and that's always a good thing. Lol

 

Its good to know that sprint will work with their customers in situations like this, and they've always been willing to work with me when it comes to upgrading & contract renewals.

It definitely is good that Sprint will work with people, but the program is through, as you said, Account Services and Corporate Owned Retail only. Regular Care, as well as Preferred Retailers and other 3rd-party stores are completely incapable of offering this program. And considering the majority of Sprint stores are Preferred Retailers, that's a vast majority of stores that can't do it, so it's really not a very well-known program.