Why is Sprint taking so long to come out with new phones

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Folks on the SERO (now called the Sprint Employee Referral Plan) are treated like regular retail customers inasmuch as they have access to new devices as soon as the main Sprint warehouse has them (they no longer allow SERO/SERP customers to upgrade via 3rd party channles like Best Buy or Radio Shack, which I feel is actually a good thing since I agree dealing with them especially for out of the ordinary situations is a nightmare).

However, Advantage Club customers are considered to be on actual Employee Plans and as a result must wait when a hot new device is introduced (such as the EVO or last fall when the iPhone 4S was introduced, or back in '09 when the first Palm Pre came out).

Usually the wait isn't terribly long (I'd say about a month, usually) but the wait to order a new iPhone for front line employees and Advantage Club members ended up being almost 2-1/2 months.

 

Ahh thanks for the clear up there. Yeah i picked up my evo4g the week it came out at the local Walmart since it was the only place that had it then. Absolutely lucky that once done the CS rep I spoke with was able to fix everything the employee at Walmart messed up and she was able to keep my old plan that didn't exist in the process...

 

Btw what's the difference perk wise that you have or is there none?

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

[jpkjeff]

Ahh thanks for the clear up there. Yeah i picked up my evo4g the week it came out at the local Walmart since it was the only place that had it then. Absolutely lucky that once done the CS rep I spoke with was able to fix everything the employee at Walmart messed up and she was able to keep my old plan that didn't exist in the process...

 

Btw what's the difference perk wise that you have or is there none?

 

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

 

The Advantage Club Plans are a perk offered to employees for their family and close friends (and it really is a great perk). In addition to your own, personal employee line (which costs the employee $0.00, you only have to pay the lowest price after rebates for the hardware and Insurance/TEP if you want it and of course any premium content), employees also have the option to add up to TWENTY Advantage Club subscriber lines. In the old days (pre-2008) the cost was just $15/month for a plan that included 500 anytime minutes, and unlimited everything else (text, data, picture mail, nights & weekends at 7pm, mobile to mobile). In 2008, they hiked the price to $20.00 but kept the same services, but with the explosion of smartphones they added a new plan that is $30 for any smartphone (basically any Android, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and now iPhone device) and the 4G devices plus the iPhone also have ANOTHER $10 add on for "premium data" (formerly 4G data). However, the $30 and $40 plans now include unlimited any mobile, any time minutes which is nice as I now never use more than about 40-50 landline anytime minutes. There is also a 1,000 minute plan for $15 more, but I can't imagine why anyone would want or need that many landline minutes.

Also, up until late last year Advantage Club members could upgrade yearly, just like employees but that ended and now we can only upgrade our devices (at the lowest post rebate price available on a special Advantage Club order site) every 18 months.

Still a great deal, as I pay only $40.00/month for a plan that retails for $79.99.

They also offer Advantage Club Plans for connection cards which are $29.99 for 6GB (formerly unlimited) or $49.99 for 12GB.

The employee though is ultimately responsible for each account so they have to make sure the person they are giving the phone and service to is not an irresponsible person as they could be on the hook for tons of charges!

[Duffman]

Oh-and I forgot to mention that since I'm on an Advantage Club plan (sponsored by an employee/friend who works at Sprint) I am not on a contract' date=' I can cancel at anytime even after I upgrade (although technically you're supposed to keep the line open for 60 days after upgrading, or at least that was the policy when I worked there).

I'll proably make a final decision over the weekend :azn: [/quote']

It is now 180 days.