Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

[cletus]

yeah, should definitely add the $40 per line fee as I would think a great many customers probably bought their phones under discounted pricing and wouldn't realize that this new plan offering is of no benefit to them.

 

and really, given that existing customers are only entitled to 4 lines of service with the promotional price ($160/month for 20GB shared data and 4 devices purchased with "Sprint Easy Pay") this is going to prove to be a severely costly option, both in terms of price and sacrificed monthly data.

So the difficulty there is the listed pricing makes this wonky. If you get a device on Easy Pay you get the line fee waived above 20 GB.. If you get a "Discounted Phone" you pay 40 flat. I generally buy my phones so how much easy pay phones cost is a little beyond my knowledge.

[ericdabbs]

See this cnet article: http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-tests-out-family-data-plan-other-discounted-offers-scoop/

 

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Quote

Lastly, Sprint is testing out a new individual plan in Chicago, Minneapolis and West Michigan. Customers who pay full price for their smartphone, bring their own device, or pay for their phone in monthly installments are eligible for a $50 unlimited plan or $40 plan for 3GB of data a month.

That would be interesting if Sprint does bring the $50 plan for individual lines.  The key thing is to keep the unlimited data option.  Without the unlimited data option for individual lines they mind as well wave the white flag given the ongoing network woes as they try to catch up with Network Vision.

[Morningside78]

So the difficulty there is the listed pricing makes this wonky. If you get a device on Easy Pay you get the line fee waived above 20 GB.. If you get a "Discounted Phone" you pay 40 flat. I put it on there but remember with easy pay you do get those lines waived. I generally buy my phones so how much easy pay phones cost is a little beyond my knowledge.

 

I don't know how they'll actually work this out if you've got some devices on your account that weren't purchased at a discount (i.e. you bought them on ebay or wherever) and some that were purchased at a discount, but I'm virtually positive that the $15 per line per month fee is (a.) only applicable when using Easy Pay and (b.) is only waived for new customers.  If you see something that suggests otherwise, please paste it.  To be honest, I think they've done a fairly terrible job in presenting all the recent plans, though that may likely be because they really are only being aimed at new customers.

 

for the sake of completeness, I should also add that with this "Easy Pay" option, for any of the higher profile new phones, your monthly payment is going to be (on average) somewhere around $30 per month for 24 months.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Morningside78

[cletus]

I don't know how they'll actually work this out if you've got some devices on your account that weren't purchased at a discount (i.e. you bought them on ebay or wherever) and some that were purchased at a discount, but I'm virtually positive that the $15 per line per month fee is (a) only applicable when using Easy Pay and ( is only waived for new customers.  If you see something that suggests otherwise, please paste it.  To be honest, I think they've done a fairly terrible job in presenting all the recent plans, though that may likely be because they really are only being aimed at new customers.

You are correct so I adjusted it again. Honestly the fact that I had to make a spreadsheet says it all really. 

[Morningside78]

You are correct so I adjusted it again. Honestly the fact that I had to make a spreadsheet says it all really. 

 

thanks for your work on this.  admittedly, I am a highly cynical Sprint customer but I think what they've been doing with their plans of late - both in terms of the nuts and bolts of the plans and terrible job they've done in presenting them to the public and Sprint employees - and how little regard they demonstrate for existing Sprint customers will likely have a lot of people looking elsewhere. 

Edited August 21, 2014 by Morningside78

[utiz4321]

is it correct that this new Family Share Pack is really only a good option for new customers and existing customers who purchased their phones outright? under my grandfathered-in plan, I'm currently paying $210/month before discounts and taxes for 4 smartphones on my account with 1,500 shared minutes and unlimited data. by my estimate, if I were to switch to the Family Share Pack with 20GB of shared data, my monthly total before discounts and taxes would jump to $260/month. am I missing something?

Yes four lines would be 160 plus equipment charges.

[MacinJosh]

Quote

That would be interesting if Sprint does bring the $50 plan for individual lines.  The key thing is to keep the unlimited data option.  Without the unlimited data option for individual lines they mind as well wave the white flag given the ongoing network woes as they try to catch up with Network Vision.

 

At least the network woes in Pahrump have smoothed out. Calls still get kind of choppy in my house, but no dropped calls the past few days. I'm grateful that Sprint is doing better. Just hoping to have LTE someday before the end of the year.

[joshuam]

I don't know if the $50 plan is reasonable or not...it's $10 more per line than the 20GB and 4 device fees....and you get unlimited data.

 

But on the flip side, I really like the thought of a $50 unlimited plan to undercut the pink guys by a substantial amount!

[Johnner1999]

I don't know if the $50 plan is reasonable or not...it's $10 more per line than the 20GB and 4 device fees....and you get unlimited data.

 

But on the flip side, I really like the thought of a $50 unlimited plan to undercut the pink guys by a substantial amount!

 

 

who knows (well we know who does but…) 

 

if its true — it is much easier for Sprint to “budget” a single user than 10 family users, who might be a bunch of datahog friends who group up to save.   I mean in fact its $5 more profitable than a maxed out Framily.    in a day we will know.  

[djw39]

 

 

I don't know how they'll actually work this out if you've got some devices on your account that weren't purchased at a discount (i.e. you bought them on ebay or wherever) and some that were purchased at a discount, but I'm virtually positive that the $15 per line per month fee is (a.) only applicable when using Easy Pay and (b.) is only waived for new customers. If you see something that suggests otherwise, please paste it.

Definition of "non-discounted" does include "people who bring their own phone", in addition to easy pay.

http://support.sprint.com/support/article/FAQs_about_Sprint_Family_Share_Pack/85ba5891-1b6a-4ebf-9f2c-e16eec3ce55f?INTNAV=SU:SprintFamilySharePack:Mobile:08182014:Learnmore

[mhammett]

Yeah but unfortunately the LCD doesn't understand that.

 

It also didn't help that existing customers couldn't migrate over to Framily.

I converted my ED1500 to Framily. A few people were supposed to come over, but haven't yet for one reason or another. I shook a stick at them to try again.

[JeffDTD]

for the sake of completeness, I should also add that with this "Easy Pay" option, for any of the higher profile new phones, your monthly payment is going to be (on average) somewhere around $30 per month for 24 months.

Lets also be fair. Anyone accustomed to buying "higher profile new phones" would be prepared to pay $99-249 for the device, upfront, in a typical 2 year contract. So, if you choose to finance, say, the full $699 price of the galaxy note 3, you are absorbing its total cost into your monthly bill. A fair assessment would be to pay the contract price as a down payment and then finance the remaining balance. Do that and we are talking $20 or less a month.

 

Balking at easy pay payments, when its essentially putting devices in hand for nothing, is lopsided.

 

 

 

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

[Johnner1999]

Lets also be fair. Anyone accustomed to buying "higher profile new phones" would be prepared to pay $99-249 for the device, upfront, in a typical 2 year contract. So, if you choose to finance, say, the full $699 price of the galaxy note 3, you are absorbing its total cost into your monthly bill. A fair assessment would be to pay the contract price as a down payment and then finance the remaining balance. Do that and we are talking $20 or less a month.

 

Balking at easy pay payments, when its essentially putting devices in hand for nothing, is lopsided.

 

 

 

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

In other words...

 

Contract:

S5 $200 upfront

Access fee $40 with $25 going towards phone...

Total $800

 

Easy pay

S5 $0 upfront

Access fee $15 x 24 (or free with new sub) and either way zero going towards phone

S5 easy pay $27.09

Total $649.99

[Johnner1999]

Very interesting....

 

Check out @androidcentral's Tweet: https://twitter.com/androidcentral/status/502450742876073984

[GoBigRed79]

Very interesting....

 

Check out @androidcentral's Tweet: https://twitter.com/androidcentral/status/502450742876073984

 

Race to the bottom

[Johnner1999]

Race to the bottom

It will be interesting to see if att or vzw, react this time.

[jamisonshaw125]

How can Tmobile continue to afford this? This is getting absolutely insane.

[EvanA]

Very interesting....

 

Check out @androidcentral's Tweet: https://twitter.com/androidcentral/status/502450742876073984

Recruit people and save? Sounds like framily...

[EvanA]

How can Tmobile continue to afford this? This is getting absolutely insane.

They can't long-term, they're loosing money.

[Fuber]

It's like a "Hail Mary".  If they go out there going out with a bang.

[marioc21]

So it look likes the competition has made a counter move.  Magenta is offering a year of free unlimited data to its customers who bring over someone from another carrier.  Both the current sub and the new sub get unlimited LTE for 12 months.  And their actually marketing against Sprint for getting rid of their unlimited offerings to families. The battle for the #3 spot continues.

 

Darn, go beaten to this.  Oh well.  Here's the androidcentral story.

 

http://www.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-offering-year-free-data-sprint-att-and-verizon-converts

[utiz4321]

How can Tmobile continue to afford this? This is getting absolutely insane.

T-Mobile doesn't care about being in the black, ever.

[GoBigRed79]

So it look likes the competition has made a counter move.  Magenta is offering a year of free unlimited data to its customers who bring over someone from another carrier.  Both the current sub and the new sub get unlimited LTE for 12 months.  And their actually marketing against Sprint for getting rid of their unlimited offerings to families. The battle for the #3 spot continues.

 

Darn, go beaten to this.  Oh well.  Here's the androidcentral story.

 

http://www.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-offering-year-free-data-sprint-att-and-verizon-converts

 

Quite a few comments on the article complaining about the T-Mobile network.  If you are going to talk network smack you better be able to back it up.

[newboyx]

You are only getting an upgrade to unlimited data from the 5GB plan. The stories make it sound like free service. It is just a free upgrade to unlimited.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Johnner1999]

You are only getting an upgrade to unlimited data from the 5GB plan. The stories make it sound like free service. It is just a free upgrade to unlimited.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Yeah I didn't catch that....