Say hello to the Framily (inexpensive but potentially confusing new Sprint group plan pricing)

[talonh1]

I wonder if this eliminates the Premium Data charge as well.  I've looked a bit, but don't see any mention.

[transitwatch889]

Sprint LG G2 off eBay is a better deal than a Nexus 5 with those going for $325 brand new! I'm looking at one as a backup since I don't have tep....

[Vette]

One big question I have is, since this is off contract, you can simply pay off your Easy Pay plan and then grab another phone whenever you want, correct?

[transitwatch889]

One big question I have is, since this is off contract, you can simply pay off your Easy Pay plan and then grab another phone whenever you want, correct?

I want to know this as well that just not something that can be guesstimate with the info at hand....

[WiWavelength]

I wonder if this eliminates the Premium Data charge as well.  I've looked a bit, but don't see any mention.

 

The premium data charge was for smartphones with "unlimited" data, since smartphones tend to engender much greater data consumption than do feature phones.  It no longer applies separately to any new plans -- especially as many of the new plans introduced over the last six months include tiered data by default.

 

AJ

[dnicekid]

The article say you have 14 days to lock in your roster ?????  you cant add people later on???

 

Of course, those prices are dependent on all members sticking with the plan, and Sprint has framed the program in such away that customers become active recruiters for Sprint’s network. From the moment one customer signs up for a Framily plan he or she has 14 days to recruit members before the plan roster is locked in. A $5-$30 a month discount is a big enticement to bug your friends and family members to join, and the end result is Sprint could attract a lot more customer. It’s rather ingenious really.

[DCblackhole]

I am hoping Sprint has worked out deals with manufacturers to limit the SKUs they produce.  I think these plans will only help increase subscriber numbers in the future if devices have all of the radios baked in to jump between CDMA and GSM carriers like the Nexus 5.

[iansltx]

I wonder if this eliminates the Premium Data charge as well.  I've looked a bit, but don't see any mention.

 

Premium Data died with Unlimited My Way, unless you count non-smartphones and smartphones having different prices for unlimited. But no Premium Data on Framily.

[xcharles718]

One Up definitely got the ax much faster than I would've expected. This new plan structure does make me want to return to Sprint a lot, since the more people I refer onto my "Framily" bundle, the cheaper everyone's service cost.

 

Plus, on the resell market, Sprint phone generally go cheaper than those of the other Tier-1 carriers(saw a new LG G2 on eBay for $330), so it wouldn't be hard to have service without the subsidy. 

 

What does worry me is that this might be solely a ploy to pump up the subscriber count, which at the surface is fine(especially in building an ecosystem of BC 41 devices), but overtime, this will plunge ARPU, which will piss off investors(and taking some of S stock price with it).

[richy]

One Up definitely got the ax much faster than I would've expected. This new plan structure does make me want to return to Sprint a lot, since the more people I refer onto my "Framily" bundle, the cheaper everyone's service cost.

 

Plus, on the resell market, Sprint phone generally go cheaper than those of the other Tier-1 carriers(saw a new LG G2 on eBay for $330), so it wouldn't be hard to have service without the subsidy. 

 

What does worry me is that this might be solely a ploy to pump up the subscriber count, which at the surface is fine(especially in building an ecosystem of BC 41 devices), but overtime, this will plunge ARPU, which will piss off investors(and taking some of S stock price with it).

 

But it will drop ACPU which is something a consumer or mom and pop investor doesn't hear about but it integral to the financials. ARPU is something that people like to see increase, but if it drops but net income rises then people focus more on the income. It's a factor but people making large investments will understand that a drop may not be bad. The balance between ACPU and ARPU is where the coin is, if both drop by the same amount but your net adds goes through the roof then it is magnum of moet time and for a business like cellular coms a rise in net adds will result in a drop in acpu by default above and beyond the drop due to the exclusion of of the CPE cost. 

[DCblackhole]

The article say you have 14 days to lock in your roster ?????  you cant add people later on???

 

Of course, those prices are dependent on all members sticking with the plan, and Sprint has framed the program in such away that customers become active recruiters for Sprint’s network. From the moment one customer signs up for a Framily plan he or she has 14 days to recruit members before the plan roster is locked in. A $5-$30 a month discount is a big enticement to bug your friends and family members to join, and the end result is Sprint could attract a lot more customer. It’s rather ingenious really.

 

That part of the article doesn't make sense to me either.... If there is no contract then is seems like you should be able to add and subtract people at your leisure.  Maybe it must be done within the first 2 weeks of the billing cycle for the discount to take effect that month.

[kineticman]

I just can't believe AJ hasn't posted a Youtube pun on the word 'framily' yet.

 

http://youtu.be/46WcFObgYhI

[xcharles718]

But it will drop ACPU which is something a consumer or mom and pop investor doesn't hear about but it integral to the financials. ARPU is something that people like to see increase, but if it drops but net income rises then people focus more on the income. It's a factor but people making large investments will understand that a drop may not be bad. The balance between ACPU and ARPU is where the coin is, if both drop by the same amount but your net adds goes through the roof then it is magnum of moet time and for a business like cellular coms a rise in net adds will result in a drop in acpu by default above and beyond the drop due to the exclusion of of the CPE cost. 

 

With NV, this should be the case. I guess my only concern is if the growth Framily(an awful name, imo) might bring in be sustainable long-term.

 

That would put the duopoly on their toes.

[iansltx]

Just finished looking through the Framily FrAQ:

1. Roaming is the same 800 minutes / 100 MB that it was on UMW. Sprint isn't "pulling a T-Mobile" here.
2. Mobile Hotspot data appears to be billed separately, with the same $10/1GB plan that UMW had. Sprint's missing an opportunity to one-up T-Mobile here, particularly since when it comes down to it the plan structures are pretty similar (albeit with 500MB more data per line) to Simple Choice. Granted, Framily gives you more data than Simple Choice. But still...
3. Easy Pay doesn't have annual upgrades like One Up, but the implicit plan discount doesn't go away after the device is paid off like it does with One Up. You have to get the unlimited data plan in order to get back One Up's yearly upgrade feature, and it appears as though that feature is the same "give back your phone and you can start a new EasyPay agreement" style that AT&T Next and VZ Edge have. So you turn in your phone once a year and start a new "contract" on the next device you get...which means that the program is still a raw deal if your phone doesn't depreciate by a bit less than half (assuming street price is a little less than SRP on a new device) over the course of a year.

As an aside about all this EasyPay bit (didn't T-Mobile have a plan called that a few years ago?), the 16GB Nexus 5 costs about $15 per month, spread over 24 months, if you buy it from Google. And the Moto X is not all that much more expensive. I want to say that this is no mistake on Google's part.

[Vette]

Only being able to add people for the 1st 14 days  and not being able to merge existing friends is going to make some people mad.

[richy]

With NV, this should be the case. I guess my only concern is if the growth Framily(an awful name, imo) might bring in be sustainable long-term.

 

That would put the duopoly on their toes.

 

Plus carriers buy handsets at wholesale cost. There is profit in selling them at MSRP. If this removes the discounts and subsidies etc, the end result is still them making a profit on devices. They may just end up having their cake, eating it and selling shares of it. Too long the carriers have all had the same business model, pricing pretty much in step with each other. This is great to see. Sprint are offering more choice, more flexible approaches, without compromising their bottom line. They have sat back and watched what tmo have done, they are offering non unlimited data options which is good for long term network health. They have been very sensible about watching what the real world repercussions would be and they have made their move. As NV moves toward a network that can stand toe to toe with vzw on coverage and beat it on capacity but with offerings that aren't draconian and offensive to customers, life is looking good for Sprint and their subs. 

[newboyx]

The article say you have 14 days to lock in your roster ????? you cant add people later on???

From the moment one customer signs up for a Framily plan he or she has 14 days to recruit members before the plan roster is locked in.

Only being able to add people for the 1st 14 days and not being able to merge existing friends is going to make some people mad.

After reading through Sprint's Q&A about this it appears that new subscribers have 14 days to inform Sprint that they are joining a Framily Plan. Not that you have 14 days to "recruit" your roster.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

 

 

[xcharles718]

Plus carriers buy handsets at wholesale cost. There is profit in selling them at MSRP. If this removes the discounts and subsidies etc, the end result is still them making a profit on devices. They may just end up having their cake, eating it and selling shares of it. Too long the carriers have all had the same business model, pricing pretty much in step with each other. This is great to see. Sprint are offering more choice, more flexible approaches, without compromising their bottom line. They have sat back and watched what tmo have done, they are offering non unlimited data options which is good for long term network health. They have been very sensible about watching what the real world repercussions would be and they have made their move. As NV moves toward a network that can stand toe to toe with vzw on coverage and beat it on capacity but with offerings that aren't draconian and offensive to customers, life is looking good for Sprint and their subs. 

 It's the "pump pipe" scenario that most telecoms fear, and that Sprint and other companies are finally starting to embrace.

 

It's the way services like this should be offered.

[Paynefanbro]

Seems like Sprint did something right here! People in the comments of articles online are creating Reddit "things" (I don't know what they're called because I don't use Reddit) to make Framily groups. i could see Sprint Q1 2014 earnings being really positive. Although we've only started the year, Sprint chose a great time to announce this!

[richy]

Seems like Sprint did something right here! People in the comments of articles online are creating Reddit "things" (I don't know what they're called because I don't use Reddit) to make Framily groups. i could see Sprint Q1 2014 earnings being really positive. Although we've only started the year, Sprint chose a great time to announce this!

 

Great So they write up a press release and get how much free advertising! This is absolute gold for Sprint. It targets non subs, acquisition costs are low, the publicity and goodwill is free. 

 

I wonder how much of this is related to the tmo overtures. I mean this is a great idea by itself, but if they can take tmo subs and tmo mvno subs without having to buy tmo then you either make tmo cheaper to buy or remove the need to buy them anyway. An extra million subs won't really raise their costs but will add a huge amount to their income. I really dont see how they can lose from this. 

[themuffinman]

I think this is pretty awesome, looks like I may finally move away from my 1500 family plan.

[swintec]

I think this is pretty awesome, looks like I may finally move away from my 1500 family plan.

 

Good pricing that is for sure but I will continue to hold on to my SERO-P line.

[unnoho]

I read all of the posts but am still confused. The Framily Plans are no contract and for a limited time current lines under contract can switch to the Framily Plan with no additional $15 fee per a line? So to me it looks like my 2 line EPRP Everything Data Plan under contract until 8/14 can switch and then cancel before the contract is up with no fees and keep the phones?

 

In am correct in what I said above? It doesnt seem correct to me and doesent seem like something that Sprint would do?

[koiulpoi]

As I understand it, that is correct.

 

Now, here is a related question.  The $20 "unlimited" data add on qualifies for annual upgrades.  Does that mean the typical subsidized upgrades?  In other words, handset upgrade cost will be roughly $200 -- instead of full price?

 

AJ

Not sure if this got answered...

 

Framily has no contract, no subsidized upgrades. Phones MUST be either on Easy Pay (Installment Billing), paid at MSRP, or BYOD.

 

The "Annual Upgrades" that come with the Unlimited Data addon are like Sprint One Up, where you give back your phone, wipe out the second half of the Installment Billing agreement, and start one anew. If you don't go with that package, your Easy Pay agreement must go for all 24 payments.

 

You do have to stick on the $20/month Unlimited Data package for 12 months consecutively to qualify. No jumping on at the last second.

 

I think a big issue is going to be the airave line. How would that work? Just an extra fee?

Nope, extra non-Phone lines have their own pricing plans, and have nothing to do with Framily, and do not count against the 10 phone limit. As Framily can span across multiple accounts (for multiple liability), each account has its own line limit dependent on credit.

 

Plus carriers buy handsets at wholesale cost. There is profit in selling them at MSRP.

Such a profit is much less than you might imagine. Especially Apple devices.

[koiulpoi]

I read all of the posts but am still confused. The Framily Plans are no contract and for a limited time current lines under contract can switch to the Framily Plan with no additional $15 fee per a line? So to me it looks like my 2 line EPRP Everything Data Plan under contract until 8/14 can switch and then cancel before the contract is up with no fees and keep the phones?

 

In am correct in what I said above? It doesnt seem correct to me and doesent seem like something that Sprint would do?

While Framily has no contract, if you already have a contract, you will still need to run out that term commitment to not cancel without termination fees.