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

[JeffDTD]

Your math is slightly off. All 3 of your lines would be 45. So 45+45+45+10+10+10 =165

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

I see. $5352 for 24 months 9gb/m or $5784 24 months unlimited. Sprints premium reduces to $536 across 2 years in the limited data scenario and reduces down to around 16gb at new carrier vs unlimited

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[demumc]

How would the upgrades work on the $20/month add on?

[WiWavelength]

How would the upgrades work on the $20/month add on?

 

Not to be pedantic, but that question has been addressed and answered earlier in this thread.  The eligible upgrade is basically a trade in program.  It replaces the One Up program.

 

AJ

[koiulpoi]

What I got from reading the material is that there will be some kind of promotional period in which you will be able to switch with out paying the 15 dollars. That is the way I read it anyway, but we will have to see.

Yes. Anyone who has upgraded before 1/10/2014 can switch to Framily without paying the $15 extra charge.

 

So does this mean that people can't sign up for one up anymore?

 

-Anthony

Correct. One Up is being retired in lieu of Easy Pay.

 

Just read through this whole thread, and something hasn't been addressed. Is this some kind of ploy or loophole to get people off of their recent "unlimited for life guarantee" plans? Does framily have that guarantee if choosing an unlimited data option? /edit: found it in their FAQ section. Unlimited guarantee for life will be honored if the unlimited data is selected.

Oh? All the material I could find specifically called out that the Unlimited Guarantee was NOT included with Framily. I don't think that's an issue, to be honest. I think, for some reason, they just don't see a reason to continue with the "Unlimited Guarantee" marketing; it likely didn't work as well as they'd hoped.

 

Does anyone else think "Framily" was just Son saying "family" and being misheard on the American end? Then quickly covered up with the concoction of "friends plus family =framily."

No, because Japanese doesn't work like that.

 

I'd like Sprint to clarify how it works for existing users.  I know you can switch to the Framily plan if you're off contract or pay the additional $15/month, but the terms also mention you can't merge groups.  If I currently have a single line, and I know 6 other people with Sprint, am I considered my own group and therefore cannot merge with the other group?  So that means I'll need people new to Sprint to join onto my plan for the Framily discount?  Can any Sprint employees shed light on this?

Current accounts cannot merge together. You can start a new Framily and add referrals, if you wish.

[mc_gusto]

Sorry if I missed it, but does anyone know when this "limited time" will end for existing users to sign up without the extra $15?

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Vince]

Sorry if I missed it, but does anyone know when this "limited time" will end for existing users to sign up without the extra $15?

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

Nobody knows. It starts 1/10 at corporate stores. On and after that date, either the website or the store personnel will know the answer (hopefully).

[xcharles718]

Do these Framily plans include taxes & fees, or is that on top of the per line cost?

[mc_gusto]

Wish we could bring virgin mobile phones onto a fram plan.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[koiulpoi]

Do these Framily plans include taxes & fees, or is that on top of the per line cost?

Rate plans never include taxes and fees, partially because taxes differ by city, state, and region.

[irev210]

This seemed a lot more exciting at first.  I wonder how many customers are going to get confused.

For Dan Hesse to say "we want to offer simple plans" and then offer this... makes me scratch my head a bit.  I get what they are trying to do (lure customers to join and entice them to stay with sprint) but I think they missed the mark.

[irwinshere]

And that puts the kibosh on the potential S4GRU Framily exchange thread for almost everyone -- except, ironically, Robert.

 

I do think, however, that Sprint will also start to offer unsubsidized individual plans at competitive rates this year.

 

AJ

There are a number of us on ting that might qualify.

 

Jim, Sent from my Photon 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

 

 

[The Dave]

My math seems wrong, I don't see this being a huge deal.  I have:

 

$110-10% discount=$99+$10 premium data+$11 TEP=$120+2 lines at $20 each+$10 premium data for both+$11 The for both=$202 for 3 lines.

 

If I do Framily and somehow get up to 7 lines it would be:

 

$25+$20=$45+10% discount on data=$43+$11 TEP=$54

Add my two other lines and it will be a total of $162+financing 3 devices since no subsidy. It seems most finance for ~$20-25 a piece. $162+$75=$237.

 

So I currently pay $202 plus taxes now and if I joined Framily and received the best discount, it would be around $30 more a month, give or take some depending on the EasyPay. Am I missing something?

[bmoses]

throwing my numbers out there to compare in case it helps anyone else

 

i have 9 lines on my account currently spread over the 1500 and 3000 minute family plans with an 18% discount. I'm also using the MSRP of the GS4 which is $600, or $25/mo, to keep things more even as most people on my account would get a new phone at least every 2 years and would do the payment plan.

 

Current total = 443.13

Current total per line = 49.24

per line with $200 GS4 upgrade price = 57.57

 

Framily/GS4

total = 450

per line (no 18% off) = 50

per line for 3gigs (18% off) = 58.20

per line for unlimited (18% off) = 66.40

 

so the only way its the same or cheaper for me is if i either give up unlimited or not finance a device. it would be nice to have the people on my account have their own account and bills so they don't have to pay me each month, and not everyone on my account needs unlimited data, so they could have cheaper bills. for right now though looks like we are sticking with our current plan. only way i see us moving to anything new is if they are about to get rid of unlimited data so i can get in on the unlimited for life guarantee.

 

edit: added in factoring the $200 you would pay for a GS4 when upgrading to it on the current plan as additional monthly payment.

[JeffDTD]

What will it take to make Sprint be more competitive with data allotments between 1GB and unlimited?    Does unlimited have to go away completely for sprint to feel the urge to competitively price data buckets?   For my 3 devices, with no discounts, 9GB at sprint is $165 vs. 8GB @ ATT for $165, both before device financing. 

 

The only difference is Sprint will charge me the $36 activation fee for all 3 lines, while ATT would charge only for the lines where the customer brings their device.  

 

I won't be switching to ATT.  Just seems like teaching heavy data users to use "just a little less" for a discount would be more healthy for sprint's network and long term growth than asking them to 1) use 1GB to be cheaper than the competitor (too little) 2) use a little less than accustomed but close to the same amount for the same price as competitor or 3) pay more than the competitor and get your moneys worth (stream, stream, stream) 

[WiWavelength]

throwing my numbers out there to compare in case it helps anyone else

 

i have 9 lines on my account currently spread over the 1500 and 3000 minute family plans with an 18% discount. I'm also using the MSRP of the GS4 which is $600, or $25/mo, to keep things more even as most people on my account would get a new phone at least every 2 years and would do the payment plan.

 

Current total = 443.13

Current total per line = 49.24

 

To be fair, are you factoring in the $200-300 per line for subsidized upgrade price at least once every two years?  If not, you need to increase your effective monthly cost per line by about $10.

 

AJ

[The Dave]

To be fair, are you factoring in the $200-300 per line for subsidized upgrade price at least once every two years?  If not, you need to increase your effective monthly cost per line by about $10.

 

AJ

 

 

To be fair, how many pay that much? I made money by upgrading to two G2s. Most holidays have huge discounts. You can usually get a device for close to $0 up to $100 for premium devices most often. Seems better than having to pay $25 every month or dropping $500-600 per phone.

[bmoses]

To be fair, are you factoring in the $200-300 per line for subsidized upgrade price at least once every two years?  If not, you need to increase your effective monthly cost per line by about $10.

 

AJ

 

thanks, obviously didn't think about that added it into my original post.

[WiWavelength]

To be fair, how many pay that much?

 

Plenty of S4GRU members do.  People who buy high end Samsung or HTC handsets or iPhones while they are still fresh and new easily pay an average subsidized upgrade price of $200.  Your example of the LG G2 is not representative.  It feels almost as if that handset was dumped on the market.

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

so the only way its the same or cheaper for me is if i either give up unlimited or not finance a device.

 

Sprint does not want to force people off of "unlimited" data, but it does want to entice people away from it because it just is not sustainable.  Giving people a potentially significant break on their monthly service costs by keeping their data usage under 1 GB is a great carrot to dangle in front of them.  However, those that want "unlimited" data can still get it -- they just have to pony up the extra dough to compensate for their added load on the network and opportunity cost to their fellow users.

 

AJ

[Terrell352]

Hesse said that they would prefer if customers pony up the dough and just made every line on the framily plan unlimited to increase churn. He made no statement about why they have 1gb and 3gb plans and seemed to really want to push unlimited more than anything else. Basically the opposite of what your saying.

Sprint does not want to force people off of "unlimited" data, but it does want to entice people away from it because it just is not sustainable. Giving people a potentially significant break on their monthly service costs by keeping their data usage under 1 GB is a great carrot to dangle in front of them. However, those that want "unlimited" data can still get it -- they just have to pony up the extra dough to compensate for their added load on the network and opportunity cost to their fellow users.

AJ

[WiWavelength]

Hesse said that they would prefer if customers pony up the dough and just made every line on the framily plan unlimited to increase churn. He made no statement about why they have 1gb and 3gb plans and seemed to really want to push unlimited more than anything else. Basically the opposite of what your saying.

 

Of course, Sprint wants more revenue from data add ons.  But allowing "unlimited" data leads to a more congested network for everyone else.  Sprint has to find that balance between ARPU and user experience.

 

AJ

[cavendano]

This seemed a lot more exciting at first.  I wonder how many customers are going to get confused.

For Dan Hesse to say "we want to offer simple plans" and then offer this... makes me scratch my head a bit.  I get what they are trying to do (lure customers to join and entice them to stay with sprint) but I think they missed the mark.

 

I think the confusion rests in that OP only gave out a small bit of info at first and left questions to which others drew their own conclusions. Once the rest of the info came through it made sense.

For new customers this is a no brainer.

- Help Sprint get more customers and my bill goes down.

- Buy a phone outright (no subsidies) /get on easy pay/go to craigs or fleabay

 

As an existing customer though the $15 add-on (I recently upgraded) may make me hesitate switching to the new plan. The waiver for a limited time does not convince me. I feel like there is a string attached on this one.

 

I have friends and family that have AT&T and Verizon and everytime they visit my home the first thing they ask me for is my wi-fi password. They don't want to use up their precious data. This would be a great time to position them with Sprint and Unlimited Data for $45. Someone with two lines can get service for $90 (getting my 7 wont be an issue) a month plus taxes. I would even be inclined to lend them one of my extra phones until they decide to purchase a new/used phone.

[S4GRU]

If you try to use Framily and then pay MSRP for a new device (especially a flagship device), then this plan is not a winner. So if you are looking to make bank off Framily and still have the hottest devices on Day One, the savings are not there.

 

This plan is designed for people who own their devices, or get a great deal on a used device. Sprint has needed to do something for people who want to stay with Sprint and own their devices. Either they have paid them off, paid cash for them, bought them used, etc. These people were being fleeced by Sprint in the past because they had to pay the subsidized rate even though they had no subsidy. A waste of $15-$20 per line.

 

Also, Sprint used to make anyone adding a new line who brought their own device sign a two year agreement. This was crazy. No other carrier does this. I have brought devices to all three other carriers and not required to sign a contract. So Sprint required BYOD customers to sign a two year commitment for their own phone, and pay a subsidy on top every month. Granted, they still retained their upgrade. But it was rediculous.

 

These new Framily plans address these problems for many existing customers and new customers who want to come to Sprint. But it will not be a good option for everyone. If you already own your device and don't have to figure that cost in the deal, you come off pretty darn good.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[irev210]

I think the confusion rests in that OP only gave out a small bit of info at first and left questions to which others drew their own conclusions. Once the rest of the info came through it made sense.

For new customers this is a no brainer.

- Help Sprint get more customers and my bill goes down.

- Buy a phone outright (no subsidies) /get on easy pay/go to craigs or fleabay

 

As an existing customer though the $15 add-on (I recently upgraded) may make me hesitate switching to the new plan. The waiver for a limited time does not convince me. I feel like there is a string attached on this one.

 

I have friends and family that have AT&T and Verizon and everytime they visit my home the first thing they ask me for is my wi-fi password. They don't want to use up their precious data. This would be a great time to position them with Sprint and Unlimited Data for $45. Someone with two lines can get service for $90 (getting my 7 wont be an issue) a month plus taxes. I would even be inclined to lend them one of my extra phones until they decide to purchase a new/used phone.

 

http://support.sprint.com/support/article/title/315d1dfb-7fe2-4e5a-b633-36db2003ecc8?INTNAV=LP:RMB:01092014:QA

 

Over 1,500 words in the FAQ before you hit how the hotspot functionality works.

 

I mean, I get the goal - increase subscriber count, reduce churn, lower customer acquisition costs - it just seems like they could have made it a little less cumbersome since that was outlined as a goal by Dan Hesse.

 

It's a lot of leg work for the average non-caring consumer.  It definitely accomplishes the goal of reducing churn - you leave the framily and you make everyone's bill go up is a strong incentive not to go.

[cavendano]

Hesse said that they would prefer if customers pony up the dough and just made every line on the framily plan unlimited to increase churn. He made no statement about why they have 1gb and 3gb plans and seemed to really want to push unlimited more than anything else. Basically the opposite of what your saying.

he prefers an increase in churn?

 

 

Of course, Sprint wants more revenue from data add ons.  But allowing "unlimited" data leads to a more congested network for everyone else.  Sprint has to find that balance between ARPU and user experience.

 

AJ

A good start would be to warn anyone that uses their device as a hotspot that they will either need to stop doing it or they will be placed on a plan.