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2 year subsidy phone upgrades early warning info


dkyeager

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Except that's wrong. It's $100 for two lines unlimited. Plus 5GB of tethering included.

(1st $60, 2nd $40, each additional, $30).

 

https://www.sprint.com/landings/unlimited-cell-phone-plans/index.html?state=text&ECID=MA:SMS:20160823:BAS:UNLM:FRDM:PLN:MTRD:NONSAVR

 

 

That post was over a month ago, and the unlimited rates I posted at the time is what sprint.com showed me.  There are several problems with that plan you post:

 

1) Premium video viewing is $20 more.  So it sounds like to me due to net neutrality being a thing of the past they throttle your speeds on any video service to give you less than HD quality video.  I don't stream video much from LTE, but I do it occasionally especially during college football season.  So that right there sounds like a non-starter for me, because as far as I can tell I get HD quality video with my ED1500 right now.  

 

2)In the fine print there is a "Subsidy charge" of $25 per line if you get a phone through them and do a 24 month installment.  This is what everyone on the sprint forums have crucified them for.

 

So lets add your stats up.  My 18% corporate discount would only be off the 1st line so $10.80 discount.  So the base rate is $89.20.  Then add on the $25*2 subsidy fees for doing 24 month installments for two phones.  Now lets add the $35.42/Note 7 installment payment also.  Now we are $210.04 before fees and taxes.  $210.04 * 24 months = $5040.96

 

My ED1500 with the subsidized phones added in ($349.99 per phone) is $3824.54 for 24 months.

 

So $5040.96-$3824.54 =$1216.42 more for 24 months over my old plan by comparing apples to apples as best we can.  

 

You are correct that if I brought my own device or bought the device outright it would be cheaper for me on the new plans even though I lose my high quality video in the exchange, but if I had to get a phone every 2 years and wanted to do installments versus a 2 year contract subsidized phone.  It is cheaper to stay on the old plan because of the $25 subsidy charges they add to each line when you do installments or leasing.

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That post was over a month ago, and the unlimited rates I posted at the time is what sprint.com showed me.  There are several problems with that plan you post:

 

1) Premium video viewing is $20 more.  So it sounds like to me due to net neutrality being a thing of the past they throttle your speeds on any video service to give you less than HD quality video.  I don't stream video much from LTE, but I do it occasionally especially during college football season.  So that right there sounds like a non-starter for me, because as far as I can tell I get HD quality video with my ED1500 right now.  

 

2)In the fine print there is a "Subsidy charge" of $25 per line if you get a phone through them and do a 24 month installment.  This is what everyone on the sprint forums have crucified them for.

 

As I read it, that is the charge for the discounted 2 year contract phones, not the "easy pay" as it was called, or installment billing. So that argument does not hold up.

 

Available on discounted phones for add'l $25/mo/line

 

As far as the premium viewing goes, I will agree to some extent that that is not ideal. Hopefully that will be changed at some point. Some 480p widescreen streams do look nearly HD on the small screen though, if done right.

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As I read it, that is the charge for the discounted 2 year contract phones, not the "easy pay" as it was called, or installment billing. So that argument does not hold up.

 

 

It is my understanding that The Small plans (S,M,L,XL,XXL - not unlimited) have a $20/line charge for leasing and installments.  This is the fee I'm talking about.  Also I have seen countless unlimited customers doing installments or leasing get hit with anywhere from a $20-25/month charge on sprint forums when the customer service or telesales person never told them of it, and it is like pulling teeth getting it taken off. 

 

So it seems if the $25 charge is not for easy pay or leasing then there are a lot of customer service reps and telesales employees that don't know what the heck they are doing because there are way too many customers on the sprint forum complaining about these fees that shouldn't be there.  I'm not willing to change over to find out whether you are right or they are right, as it would be a big pain in the butt if I was right and had to get them to remove the charge or get me back to where I was previously.

 

But just to continue the conversation, lets say I get lucky and get a well trained rep that doesn't somehow mark some box charging me the $20-25 fee for my easy pay.  I would be paying $160.04 a month.  Over 24 months that is $3840.96 which is $16.42(most of that coming probably from getting more out of my 18% corporate discount versus the new plan) more than my old plan which is not enough for me to complain about, but until they remove the limited streaming of video, audio, and gaming that plan is a non-starter for me.  Once they remove that throttling then I might be willing to be onboard for a new plan.

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It is my understanding that The Small plans (S,M,L,XL,XXL - not unlimited) have a $20/line charge for leasing and installments.  This is the fee I'm talking about.  Also I have seen countless unlimited customers doing installments or leasing get hit with anywhere from a $20-25/month charge on sprint forums when the customer service or telesales person never told them of it, and it is like pulling teeth getting it taken off.

 

Sorry, but it is ludicrous to believe that you pay a $20-25/mo charge and a $35/mo charge -- both charges just for the handset.  No, you pay only one charge.

 

The $20-25/mo charge is for people who want a "$200 phone" -- because they believe that handsets cost $200 like they always have.  Those people pay $200 upfront, just like an upgrade under the contract subsidy system, then pay down the rest of the balance via the $20-25/mo charge.  It is a ridiculous system to appease ignorant people who refuse to believe that, yes, handsets do cost $700 at full price. 

 

AJ

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It is my understanding that The Small plans (S,M,L,XL,XXL - not unlimited) have a $20/line charge for leasing and installments.  This is the fee I'm talking about.  Also I have seen countless unlimited customers doing installments or leasing get hit with anywhere from a $20-25/month charge on sprint forums when the customer service or telesales person never told them of it, and it is like pulling teeth getting it taken off. 

 

I will need to see some evidence of this, because at this point I have not heard this complaint before. It makes absolutely no sense to charge monthly installments for the *whole* cost of the device, and then charge another $20 or $25 on top of that. No sense whatsoever. If that is happening, it needs to stop immediately. Most like what this charge you are hearing about is the "subsidy" fee being added on for those who wanted discounted, $200 or $250 devices rather than paying the whole cost.

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@troyd96 I'm in a similar situation as you and I'd love it too if Sprint would let us keep our ED1500 plan and the 2-yr subsidies. I have a 23% corporate discount and with a total of 4 lines, I pay ~$200 per month after all fees & taxes.

 

We don't use much data - less than 10 GB per month on average.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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Long live ED1500! I have a 25% discount and 5 lines and my total bill with all taxes and fees is $221. This is less than $45 per line and includes phone subsidy. I've done the math with every plan sprint offers and have yet to find a cheaper option.

 

 

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Long live ED1500! I have a 25% discount and 5 lines and my total bill with all taxes and fees is $221. This is less than $45 per line and includes phone subsidy. I've done the math with every plan sprint offers and have yet to find a cheaper option.

 

 

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I had 5 line plan, with no leasing on ED1500 but my plan came close to $300/month. I also had a 26% discount.
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@troyd96 I'm in a similar situation as you and I'd love it too if Sprint would let us keep our ED1500 plan and the 2-yr subsidies. I have a 23% corporate discount and with a total of 4 lines, I pay ~$200 per month after all fees & taxes.

 

We don't use much data - less than 10 GB per month on average.

Long live ED1500! I have a 25% discount and 5 lines and my total bill with all taxes and fees is $221. This is less than $45 per line and includes phone subsidy. I've done the math with every plan sprint offers and have yet to find a cheaper option.

 

Sprint may allow you to retain those legacy plans out of contract, month to month without any changes.  But subsidized upgrades need to go away yesterday.  And that appears to be the direction Sprint is headed.

 

AJ

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I had 5 line plan, with no leasing on ED1500 but my plan came close to $300/month. I also had a 26% discount.

Just checked and it's actually $236 a month. It's on autopay and it's been a while since I looked. Your taxes must've been higher than mine.2e72fc80ad7c811beb5d928c7c830b49.png

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1) Premium video viewing is $20 more.  So it sounds like to me due to net neutrality being a thing of the past they throttle your speeds on any video service to give you less than HD quality video.

 

I hear you on this one.  Sprint should not violate Net Neutrality, in rule or spirit.  But "unlimited" data and streaming video are a complex problem.

 

"Unlimited" data is a vestige of the past -- when people generally used under 1 GB/mo and streamed less on smaller, lower resolution screens.  Now, handsets are far too powerful, people far too ignorant and/or entitled for "unlimited" data to persist without restrictions.

 

T-Mobile is at fault.  Magenta started it by opening up this Pandora's box of free candy and Net Neutrality violations.  In the current competitive environment, Sprint has little choice but to be dragged along and follow suit.

 

So, take your pick.  You can have up to two of three -- maybe only one, definitely not all three.  "Unlimited" data.  Unfettered HD streaming video.  Current or lower prices.

 

AJ 

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It is my understanding that The Small plans (S,M,L,XL,XXL - not unlimited) have a $20/line charge for leasing and installments.  This is the fee I'm talking about.  Also I have seen countless unlimited customers doing installments or leasing get hit with anywhere from a $20-25/month charge on sprint forums when the customer service or telesales person never told them of it, and it is like pulling teeth getting it taken off. 

 

So it seems if the $25 charge is not for easy pay or leasing then there are a lot of customer service reps and telesales employees that don't know what the heck they are doing because there are way too many customers on the sprint forum complaining about these fees that shouldn't be there.  I'm not willing to change over to find out whether you are right or they are right, as it would be a big pain in the butt if I was right and had to get them to remove the charge or get me back to where I was previously.

 

But just to continue the conversation, lets say I get lucky and get a well trained rep that doesn't somehow mark some box charging me the $20-25 fee for my easy pay.  I would be paying $160.04 a month.  Over 24 months that is $3840.96 which is $16.42(most of that coming probably from getting more out of my 18% corporate discount versus the new plan) more than my old plan which is not enough for me to complain about, but until they remove the limited streaming of video, audio, and gaming that plan is a non-starter for me.  Once they remove that throttling then I might be willing to be onboard for a new plan.

 

The older family plans had a line access charge of $20 per line, which was eliminated with the Unlimited Freedom plans. Now it's simple.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone here have news on if they are getting rid of SERO plans? Sprint users has a thread where people are reporting plan changes bumping them up to a $70 plan. I'm on SERO and just tried to swap a phone yesterday and was told my plan isn't available anymore. If contracts are gone and my plan is gone, that bumps my plan from $50 to $95 per month between plan increases and installment payments. I understand some changes, but that nearly doubles my plan costs and makes many other Sprint alternatives including project fi and tmobile (and even my brother's Verizon family plan) cheaper for my family.

 

Side note: I really don't get why Sprint doesn't offer leasing and installments on cheaper phones like Moto X, Moto G, and Nexus phones. It would be less of an ouch than the flagship phones that are all that they offer that are not crappy phones.

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Does anyone here have news on if they are getting rid of SERO plans? Sprint users has a thread where people are reporting plan changes bumping them up to a $70 plan. I'm on SERO and just tried to swap a phone yesterday and was told my plan isn't available anymore. If contracts are gone and my plan is gone, that bumps my plan from $50 to $95 per month between plan increases and installment payments. I understand some changes, but that nearly doubles my plan costs and makes many other Sprint alternatives including project fi and tmobile (and even my brother's Verizon family plan) cheaper for my family.

 

Side note: I really don't get why Sprint doesn't offer leasing and installments on cheaper phones like Moto X, Moto G, and Nexus phones. It would be less of an ouch than the flagship phones that are all that they offer that are not crappy phones.

You might have to upgrade on line or via telesales.

 

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I hear you on this one.  Sprint should not violate Net Neutrality, in rule or spirit.  But "unlimited" data and streaming video are a complex problem.

 

"Unlimited" data is a vestige of the past -- when people generally used under 1 GB/mo and streamed less on smaller, lower resolution screens.  Now, handsets are far too powerful, people far too ignorant and/or entitled for "unlimited" data to persist without restrictions.

 

T-Mobile is at fault.  Magenta started it by opening up this Pandora's box of free candy and Net Neutrality violations.  In the current competitive environment, Sprint has little choice but to be dragged along and follow suit.

 

So, take your pick.  You can have up to two of three -- maybe only one, definitely not all three.  "Unlimited" data.  Unfettered HD streaming video.  Current or lower prices.

 

AJ 

 

 

 

As a consumer, why on earth would you argue against a truly unlimited plan?

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As a consumer, why on earth would you argue against a truly unlimited plan?

 

Use your brain -- not your heart or stomach or e-penis.  How is that "unlimited" data working out for everyone?  A lot of people complain about slow speeds and network congestion, while a few people use/abuse a hugely disproportionate percentage of network resources.

 

Tragedy of the Commons.  Consumer self interest leads to consumer harm to all.

 

AJ

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Sprint created plans like ED1500 b/c it made good business sense at the time when they did b/c their network was a lot more inferior back then. I switched over from T-Mobile to Sprint in 2012 only b/c of that plan.

 

If there are certain individuals on these legacy plans who "abuse" it, all Sprint needs to do is throttle them down after a certain cutoff point after proper disclosure. That way they can both keep their existing customers and ensure good service for the others.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G935U using Tapatalk

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https://youtu.be/YoW9kO7TZ-k

 

GAAAAGGGGG. 

 

This person is so badly informed it is hilarious. 

 

Truth is that there are no true unlimited plans any more. Deprioritization is more accurately called "all you can eat" since that is a more accurate descriptor. There's only all you can eat. Unlimited has turned into a pure marketing term. 

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As a consumer, why on earth would you argue against a truly unlimited plan?

 

Why should I, who does not use more than 10GB ever, have my connection drained by those who use far more? That's why prioritization kicks in on congested towers. That is how Sprint and T-Mobile keep enough bandwidth for the commons. 

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With the iPhone 7 preorders going on I've been reading in some other forums about Sprint customers trying to figure out their lease/easy pay obligations and there is a lot of confusion. The subsidized model seems so much simpler. Did a 2yr upgrade pre-order from apple.com with no issues.

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With the iPhone 7 preorders going on I've been reading in some other forums about Sprint customers trying to figure out their lease/easy pay obligations and there is a lot of confusion. The subsidized model seems so much simpler. Did a 2yr upgrade pre-order from apple.com with no issues.

I'm not sure what is confusing about it. When I log into my account online I click lease/agreement details and it lists the buyout price, remaining lease payments, and total payoff if I want to own the device right now.

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I'm not sure what is confusing about it. When I log into my account online I click lease/agreement details and it lists the buyout price, remaining lease payments, and total payoff if I want to own the device right now.

 

People complaining for the sake of complaining.

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People complaining for the sake of complaining.

 

People are the worst.  Sprint would be so much better if we just could get rid of all the people.

 

AJ

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Ok, I'm going to clear up some misconceptions I've seen here on this page, because they're bugging me and I can't keep biting my tongue:

 

1. On the compressed video - Sprint used to compress video on the ED plans, including ED1500. I know, I had this plan at one time. They limited streams to something like 500k or 600k. This was in the fine print. So the fact that video is compressed on the new unlimited plans really does not matter - it's just like the original ED, even if ED is no longer compressed. What Sprint is doing to help you out above and beyond the ED plans is giving you an option to stream higher rate video if you so choose. Of course it comes at a higher cost!!!

 

2. There is an assumption someone made that the ED plans were at least at one time profitable. Of course, there is absolutely no proof of this. Sprint has never reported their profitability by service plan. Sprint has not been profitable for several years, and this situation accelerated after the introduction of the ED plans - in fact, one could reasonably conclude that the ED plans contributed to ARPU and net income declines.

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