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Sprint plans to shut off RingPlus, RingPlus sues Sprint


ahecht

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Looks like Sprint finally got fed up with RingPlus not paying their bills, and after cutting off their ability to activate new users a few days ago, they have now announced that they are discontinuing all service to RingPlus customers on February 11th. RingPlus is suing to stop the shutoff as a hail mary.

 

The text of the lawsuit was posted to reddit in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/RingPlus/comments/5rwphy/ringplus_files_suit_against_sprint_with/

 

Some of the more interesting tidbits:

  • RingPlus claims to own a patent on using custom music instead of a ringing noise when making outgoing calls. They licensed it to Sprint for Sprint's "Music Plus" feature.
  • RingPlus claims that their free ad-supported plans were a joint venture between them and Sprint.
  • RingPlus claims that Sprint intentionally built a crappy cell network and then offered consumer discounts and promotions just to drive RingPlus out of business.
  • RingPlus has been unable to pay their bills, but Sprint let them stall for 8 months before deciding to cut them off.

Reading between the lines, it seems more likely that Sprint just offered RingPlus a discount on MVNO fees in exchange for the patent license, not that it was a joint venture.

Edited by ahecht
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No surprise here - no way that business model was sustainable.

 

I got over a year of free service on a few lines, saved probably close to 1000 bux.

 

Crappy service, unrealistic data allotments, and a bunch of other issues made this inevitable.  It was a fun train while it lasted.

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