As many of you have already read Sprint yesterday announced that they were increasing their smartphone data plans by $10 a month. If you were browsing headlines you immediately assumed this was a bad thing, more equals less for your money right? Sprint has an added value for their customers in that they offer one of the only truly unlimited data plans on the market. Even T-Mobile, which is known for affordable data plans, limits your bandwidth once you exceed the fair use policy. By adding an extra $10 for the new premium data you still save money when compared to others which can charge up to $29.99 on top of your talk minutes. Not only are the “Everything Data” plans cheaper but they actually offer unlimited data, not capped at the 2GB or 5GB limit like other carriers. For the average consumer this means you can use your phone without worrying about going over your allocated data limit, accruing large fees in the process .Nobody likes it when prices increase however when you stack it up against the competition I think you will see that the increase isn’t a bad thing after all. Below are the facts, you be the judge.
- Customers aren’t just buying more smartphones, they’re using more smartphone features
- Smartphone customers have access to more capabilities and features, and on average consume an estimated 10 times more data, than customers who use feature phones.
- Worldwide, mobile data traffic is forecasted to more than double each year from 2009 to 2014.
- Rather than imposing limits and overage charges on data plans for wireless phones as competitors have done, Sprint is adding its monthly $10 Premium Data add-on charge to all smartphone activations beginning Jan. 30, 2011.
- This is not a 4G charge. The Premium Data add-on has always been and will continue to be a reflection of the increased cost of these data users and a mechanism for Sprint to provide the value of unlimited pricing on the Sprint network while still offering the rich data experience customers have come to expect. The $10 Premium Data add-on is required because these devices are more expensive to support on our network than feature phones.
- Even with the $10 per month Premium Data add-on, Sprint continues to provide the best value in wireless compared to our top national competitors.
- Existing Sprint smartphone customers are not affected unless they upgrade to or activate another smartphone.
- We understand an extra charge won’t be viewed as “good” or welcomed by our customers. We hope they will still appreciate the strong value and high-quality service that Sprint still provides.
Sprint still provides the best value in wireless
- Compared to our competitors’ unlimited plans (Verizon unlimited data and AT&T 2GB data plan), Sprint smartphones users still save $35 per month vs. AT&T and $39.99 per month vs. Verizon on unlimited text, Web and calling to any mobile in America with Sprint’s $69.99 Everything Data plan plus $10 Premium Data add-on.
- Customers can experience the data capabilities they need while on either the Sprint 3G or the Sprint 4G network worry free without any data caps or data overage charges like they could encounter with Verizon, ATT, or T-Mobile.
- Sprint defines smartphones as devices with robust operating systems bringing the full function of mobile applications and programs to life including Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and the Instinct family of devices.
- For customers who do not want to pay the monthly $10 Premium Data add-on charge or do not need a smartphone, Sprint offers a full range of feature phones (including populartouch screen devices, eco-friendly devices, etc.) that also have access to data and providea great wireless experience.