DCblackhole

I agree with you on multiple points there. I look at the subsidy being worth the $350 ETF, since the subsidized price is pretty much the full srp minus $350 (some times you come out ahead by $50 or so). So if the new Nexus sells for the $349 on the Play store again, Sprint would basically have to make it a free phone. If Sprint were to stock it and sell it @ $199 then the cost of the phone would have to be $549 to break even (from a purely hardware standpoint).

I think it depends on how you look at it... I know T Mobile added an additional 20% to the price of the Nexus 4 if you purchased it from them instead of just ordering it from the Play store. It was kinda weird because a friend of mine broke his old iPhone 3GS, so I suggested he just buy a Nexus to replace since he was short on cash and didn't want to sign a new contract with AT&T. When we went to the TMo store I looked at the price in awe. I was also surprised that they locked their version to their network, and laughed at me when I asked if they would unlock it in store if it was purchased out right. I am guessing the premium was for the additional "features and apps" they added to the device with that lock. Also if Sprint lets you activate it without signing a new agreement, it would let people avoid the price hike of the new plans.

I can related to the daily commute with no wifi, I have 30 mins each way myself. I consider spending at least 40 hours a week at work plus whatever time I get to spend at home as having wifi most of my day. The majority of my phone usage occurs in those places since the majority of my time is spent in those places. I guess my perception of wifi availability is slightly skewed since the local telco in my market has hotspots scattered throughout the city. A lot of the restaurants in Cincinnati have bell or AT&T access. Usually when I'm out and about my data usage is doing quick web searches and mapping locations. The only time I end up doing heavy video streaming or stuff that is data intensive is when the gf drags me with her to go shopping or to do stuff with her friends/family. Everyone's situations are different. The truly heavy data users that I know are business travelers or business owners that have mobile offices.

I feel like one of the benefits Sprint has always had over the other carriers was being less expensive. It seems like that is gone now. I guess there is still value because you have the OPTION of unlimited data, but I think it is rare for someone to have 5 or more heavy data users on a family account. In my situation, I know at least 2 of my lines would be fine with the 1 GB per month but the lack of other tiers and the $10 price difference pretty much forces you to opt for unlimited on all the lines just to be "safe." With wifi becoming more readily available in so many places, I know a lot people that rarely use their cellular data. I know this is off subject, but is there a thread discussion on why Sprint never offered wifi calling like Tmobile? I still haven't got the hang of sorting through the forums' search results... Sorry

Yeah I saw the post about Cincinnati being in the phase 1 roll out. It just sucks because I have been holding out for the Note 3 since April, and now I am going to have to go another direction with my device. I guess the wait will continue...

I am in a similar situation. I have been with Sprint since July 2000, and I have been seriously considering jumping ship to a different provider. My biggest issue is that I have multiple lines and 3 of them are still under contract. If I could leave right now without have to pay over $700 in EFT I would leave Sprint. I wouldn't put any more faith in Sprint and their promises of network upgrades. I remember going through the same thing with the Wimax roll out. When my market was finally covered I was in the middle of a contract on a device that didn't support the new technology. Then by the time my contract was up, Sprint decided to abandon Wimax for LTE so I didn't want to buy a device that would be obsolete in a few months (that was the timeframe the Sprint reps gave). Honestly you have to decide what is more important to you... quality or quantity? Right now I feel like unlimited data is useless because it is too slow to take advantage of. I told a friend it is like Verizon is giving you a cooler of bottled water and saying "this is all you get, when it is gone it is gone" and Sprint says "you can drink all the water in this ocean, but you have to distill it before you can drink it" lol I have been reading and picking up so much info from these forums that I would have never imagined. But with all the different frequencies and varying types of spectrum Sprint currently has, there is no telling what may happen with them. It seems like the wisest thing to do is pick the best network in your area right now, and just come back to Sprint when they finally smooth everything out.

I don't know if I'm doing my math correctly, but it seems like to new plan would cost me an additional $70 per month. Right now I have 5 lines on the 1500 minute Everything family plan. The first line costs $110 + $10 (premium data fee), then lines 2 - 5 cost $19.99 + $10 (premium data fee), plus the insurance @ $11 per line brings the total to $295 per month. Under the new plans with unlimited data on all 5 lines the cost would be $365 per month. I don't know anyone that does much calling to land line phones, so the unlimited mobile to mobile covers that majority of the voice calls. I doubt that my situation is "unique" so I don't really see how the new plans are beneficial to customers on family plans. I am currently under a 26% business discount, so I save ~ $29 per month off the first line ($110). Under the new plan the discount would come off the data fees ($150) so it would be ~ $39 per month. So I would still be on the hook for an additional $60 monthly. In what situations are these new plans truly saving people money? It seems like you would have add some aunts, uncles and cousins to your plan in order to max with 10 lines before you start to see savings. Or spend a lot of time on the phone calling businesses or landlines?

I don't see this being beneficial unless you are the type of person who will buy a phone at srp just to get keep the newest device. All of these plans have to same feel as a $0 down car lease. My other question is how does this effect EFTs? If you view the MRC as including the subsidy cost of the phones, then aren't we really just paying extra for the phone? You know what, it think I just figured out why Sprint is giving the $15 credit until the phone is paid off.... that is close to the amount of the subsidized price. I'm thinking currently that a phone with a srp of $649 would cost us $199 up front. Leaving Sprint to cover the other $450 over the 2 year contract which would be $450/24 = $18.75 per month. I guess the extra $3.75 per month is a rounding error from the additional sales tax we pay on the full srp of the phone instead of subsidy price.

Hi everyone, I found this community while searching for information on the LTE upgrades in Ohio. I am currently in the Cincinnati market, I live on the west side of town (Westwood/Cheviot area) and work in the downtown/Covington area. I am originally from the Cleveland/NE Ohio market (Lorain) and spend time there in weekend and week long chunks. I've been doing some snooping on the site and see that some of towers in the city have gone through upgrades, but it doesn't look like anything has been done in my areas. I am trying to stay informed on network upgrades to make the best decision on my next device. I have 5 lines on my Sprint account, 2 have been eligible for upgrade since April, but the other 3 are locked in for another year. Just trying to weigh my options on whether upgrade and stay with Sprint or just pay the ETF and take them all to another network. Hope to be a contributor to the forums, everyone here seems to be great at spreading knowledge and information.