GoBigRed79

I don't think Framily is that confusing.  What frustrates people the most is Sprint marketing this mainly as a family plan yet if your family is already sprint customers with different accounts they are not allowing you to merge easily.  If they fixed that aspect of Framily along with making the pricing more in line with the competition on the low line (2-4) end I think it can work.  

But as has been said, the network needs to get up to snuff or the plan offerings will be a moot point.  

I actually like Framily.  The ability to have separate bills/accts is awesome.  Here is what they need to do to make it more competitive IMHO.

1.       I think they need to drop the base price of family to $45 and drop it $5 per line added until it is down to $20 a line for 6-10.

2.       Make 3GB per line the base data allowance.  Keep unlimited as an add on for $20 a line. 

3.       Allow early upgrade after 18Mo for all easypay customers, keep annual upgrade for those paying for unlimited plan.

4.       Allow customers who are not currently under contract to join together in a family plan with no hoops.

I think #4 is a key to making Framily work.  I understand that it can be done right now with a transfer of liability, but it should be a simple process.  If my wife and I want to merge with my parents and my siblings into one family and keep separate accts, we should be able to do it easily.  They may have to make a change in the process so people can't just post a code online to get a group full, but legit family/friend groups should be able to merge.  This is the biggest frustration I think a lot of customers have with framily right now.  

Negative slanted headline from phone arena

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sprint-reports-minor-profits-and-not-so-minor-loss-of-customers-for-Q2-2014-not-out-of-the-woods-just-yet_id58783

Still nothing from Verge, BGR, or Engadget.  Pretty telling if you ask me. 

Android Central article is up.  Also fairly positive for them. 

http://www.androidcentral.com/sprints-first-quarter-2014-results-show-they-finally-turned-profit#_=_

I do think these results caught some of these blogs off guard and they had to rewrite what they had in the hopper overnight.  But I expect BGR to have their normal tabloid headline. 

The comments...

 

I don't even pay attention to those anymore.  I just like to tell myself it is 12 year olds on summer vacation with nothing better to do. 

Sprint expected to report a loss of 900,000 subscribers for the second quarter

Some Highlights

For some time now, Sprint has blamed the upgrading of its network for the drop in its subscriber rolls. While the mobile operator is finishing the Network Vision update, poor quality service has led large numbers of subscribers to bolt. The trio of Jefferies analysts say that the loss of nearly 900,000 subscribers for the quarter will be among the worst in company history.

 

The good news is that Sprint could be finished with the modernization of its network by the middle of the year. And once it is done, churn will improve, says the carrier. Sprint has numbers to back that up. In markets where it is 70% complete with the network upgrades, churn has returned to pre-upgrade levels. And in markets where all of the work has ended, churn has dropped below the pre-upgrade level. Thus, Sprint is comfortable with predictions that customer growth will return in the last two quarters of the year.

 

over the past couple of years, the fundamental investment thesis for Sprint shares has hinged on future operational improvements. We believe investors are growing increasingly fatigued with the network improvement story, and will begin to assign a more discounted valuation to the shares. In addition, we stress that executing yet another turnaround is increasingly difficult, and will likely take longer as scale erodes and competition intensifies.

 

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sprint-expected-to-report-a-loss-of-900000-subscribers-for-the-second-quarter_id58646

Good to see that churn is dropping in markets that are mostly complete with upgrades.

Ahem,....

 

I agree, but Sprint up until then heavily marketed the fact they still offered unlimited data (and to some effect still does).  Verizon has been actively trying to ditch unlimited for at least a couple of years now. And it is no secret that recently their LTE network has gone to crap in many markets. 

But I don't have an issue with it.  Network operators do need to deal with abusers when their abuse has an impact on all users service.

Previously they were only throttling 3G customers.  I thought as a condition of getting the A block spectrum they could not do this ( I could be wrong), but I also know they have already broke other conditions of the A block like allowing all devices and the FCC has not done anything about it. 

http://www.droid-life.com/2014/07/24/verizon-network-optimization-throttling-unlimited-lte/

Laughing at the comments with people showing screenshots of their 100GB of monthly usage and saying they are off to T-Mobile now.  The data hogs are going to crush that network if they all go there. 

 

 also did you end up changing the billing address for your brother back afterwards?

I have thought about doing this with some coworkers also, but besides being able to change the address back, has anybody confirmed that by doing it this way everybody still has their own bill/liability?  I don't want to combine accounts under one address and then have all the lines be under the same liability. 

Another thing I hope happens is all phone become unlocked. Would be nice to be able to take my phone with me if I move carriers. Though I am not saving money switching to framily, I do like not having to be on a contract. Pluse I can lower my bill when I find people to add. Let the phone wars begin,

Yes, a phone you pay full retail for should be yours to take to any compatable carrier.  The only issue I see is carrier may still lock phones while under a payment plan.  But as soon as that phone is paid for there should be no excuse to not unlock it.

While standing in a sprint store today going to change over to Framily (free tablet lured me in) I noticed the device prices went down a bit. I don't think most people realize this, but the LG G2 is only $499 now, HTC One is now $549. Without subsidized plans, I would assume prices would go down even further.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

Once everybody has to buy phones unsubsidized by carriers device prices are going to go down.  The Device makers will no longer be able to hide their bloated device prices behind the subsidy.  A 16GB iPhone has no business being $649 retail.  With the volly ATT fired over the weekend, I think the move to unsubsidized devices is well underway and I think when it settles you will see the sweetspot of top end device prices settle in the $400-$500 range. 

And there will always still be the used market if you don't want to pay full retail.  I pointed my buddy to swappa where like new iPhone 5s's are selling in the $400 range.  Used prices will probably rise, but it will always still be a cheaper option then retail.

16 gig 5s was listed as 0 down and $27.xx per month. Basically $649.99/24. You can put money down up front to reduce the monthly payment if you want.

Thanks!

I'm not sure what size memory it was for but I actually looked at it 2 days ago when I was in store for my wife. I think it's the most expensive phone on easy pay. $28 a month which may have been for a 16gb. Wasn't worth upgrading her from the 5 for me. Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

If that is for a 16gb that an awful price.  My guess that is for the 32 since I think Sprint requires a down payment. 

This is the only thing I really don't like about Framily.  If they are going to require easy pay phones, then have the easy pay prices online so people can figure out what it is going to cost them.  My buddy does not want to go waste an hour going to the store to find out the price of the phone. The other carriers that have payment plans don't seem to have an issue with this.

Does anybody know what the EasyPay plan payments are for a 32gb iPhone 5s?  I have a friend that is interested in joining my Framily but wants to know the phone pricing first.  Can't find it anyplace online and chat says you have to go into a store.  Called the store and the guy who answered said you have to come in to get the pricing.  Grrr.  Why does sprint make this so hard? 

I'm at $50 per month now. Haven't had any luck with the Framily code sharing websites. I could definitely use a few more people.

Me too.  Would love to have some folks join up with me.  Just me and my wife right now. 

yep, there were a couple that the average was under a gig that had a month or two where they went just over a gig. so we will factor that in. also planning on increasing the average by about 50% to account for the increase in usage once 4G is more prevalent around here

 

also going to ask, once i make it to a store, if the data options can be added or removed from month to month since they are no contract plans.

I asked this when I switched and was told that you would be able change the data part of the plan at anytime. 

thanks! we will hopefully be switching next week after i talk to everyone this weekend. there has been so much info in this thread that its hard to keep it straight. just wasn't sure if the fee waive was tied to getting a new phone on easy pay or not

No problem.  It was really a no brainer for us.  Just switching my wife and I is saving $50 a month off our bill as we both don't use more then 1Gig of data a month.  Throw in the fact we just got an iPhone 5c for her and a Nexus 5 for me for a total of $50 out of pocket (plus activation) in November and I am pretty happy with this. 

so with the current deals for switching to framily, is the $15/mo fee, for still being under contract and switching, only being waived if you get a new phone on easy pay? if we switch there is at least one person on my account that would be resistant to getting a new phone, just want to know if that fee would be waived still if they didn't get a new one.

My wife and I just signed new contracts in November and got new phones.  Just switched to Framily and the $15 fee was waived on each line and we did not get new phones.  The way I understand it is for now if you were under contract prior to 1/10 they are letting you switch to Framily with no fee.  It appears to be a limited time offer and could go away at some point.

I went ahead and made the switch last night.  Just my wife and I but it knocks $50 a month off our bill.  We just signed with Sprint in November and we were both on the MyWay unlimited.  However both of us are on wi-fi most of the day and neither one of us has gone over 1 gig yet. So we were really paying for more then we needed.  And the fact that they are waving the $15 fee per line made it a no-brainer.  Now I just need to find some friends to flip!

What if this is really SoftBank pushing this? That has easily got lost in this discussion.

I think they are playing a big role in this.  They have stated in the past to compete with the big 2 they need a bigger footprint.  This certantly would help. 

As long as the Network Vision infrastructure is maintained, I don't think CDMA will go away for current Sprint customers anytime soon. This isn't as far fetched as it seems... Network Vision infrastructure will be able to support legacy T-Mobile tech as well, IIRC. I think the technical aspect isn't the hardest part of this. 

 

The competitive aspect per the FCC? You better believe that will be examined.

Yup, I remember reading that the network vision infrastructure would make a merger like this possible.  The network differences are really not the big problem here.  And I guess this is coming up now as the NV upgrades would be close to complete by the time something like this would close.  Sprint has wanted to do this for a while, but my guess is they had to get to a certain point in the NV upgrade to try and pull it off. 

Take this for what it is worth.  Both stocks blowing up in after hours. 

http://bgr.com/2013/12/13/sprint-t-mobile-merger/

Just an FYI for those that bought their Nexus 5 direct from Sprint.  I had submitted my rebate for a $50 Amex card right after I got it.  I had not herd anything and checked the status online.  It was showing declined.  I initiated a chat and the rep told me there was an error in the system and the Nexus had not been included in the rebate program for some reason.  She thought it had to do with it being a new phone.  I did recall that the Nexus 5 was not listed on the form they sent me with the phone but just assumed it was ok since it was a new phone.  She did a manual override and it now shows approved.  So if you are waiting on a rebate you might want to check on it. 

This is exactly why I hate Mail In Rebates.

https://www.sprintrebates.com/track/sprintpcs/track.html?INTNAV=ATG:FT:RebStatus

Not release a device that doesn't work.  That's what I would do.  Dealing with complaints, returns, bad press/word of mouth would be the least desirable option in my opinion.  I've been waiting for this device, and while I'm disappointed I can't get one, I would've been even more disappointed to get one and find out it doesn't work.

 

On a positive note, I am really thankful for this site and all of the knowledgeable people that participate.  If it weren't for this site, I would've purchased the Nexus 5, and I would've been pissed.

The device works fine, it can't get 4G in some markets until the network is properly upgraded.  That is why I don't have an issue with releasing it, it just should have been disclosed that it would have this limitation until the network is upgraded.  That is the issue. 

I admit I am biased.  LTE has not been launched in my market yet.  But I have the Nexus and it is working great for me.  So to say the device does not work is just not a true statement.