Sprint a step ahead in free calls stakes
Sprint is offering customers on certain plans unlimited calls to any cellphone in the country. It comes in the same week AT&T joins T-Mobile and Verizon is offering packages including unlimited calls to five selected cellphone numbers.
The Sprint deal is a new feature on its existing Everything Data plans, which already include unlimited data, texting and video messaging, plus at least 450 minutes of calls to landlines each month. Users on the plans, which start from $70, will now also be able to make unlimited cellphone calls, regardless of what network the person they call is running on.
It appears Sprint is feeling the pressure to offer deals better than its rivals in an attempt to reverse a pattern by which it is losing customers quicker than signing up new subscribers. The deal comes as the firm is also trying price cuts to its most desirable handsets in an attempt to pick up new customers.
At $70, the deal is also just one step away from the attempts by ZER01 to offer a $70 package covering all voice and data calls. That scheme has struggled to get off the ground thanks to troubles with partners, and even if it does come into operation the fee paid by customers looks likely to be higher than the headline price.
Given that few customers will need to exceed 450 minutes, the Sprint deal is arguably as good value as ZER01, and likely better for anyone planning on buying or upgrading a handset when joining the network.
There are some significant conditions to Sprint’s “unlimited” deal though. Sprint has the right to end the deal for customers who use make more than 800 minutes of calls a month while roaming (that is, away from their local network). The same applies if the majority of either calls or data downloads in a month are made while roaming.
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September 26th, 2009
No thank you at $70/month when I already have Straight Talk unlimited talk, texts and 30mb of data for $45/month on Verizon’s network nationwide.