Just one day after T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced the wireless provider surpassed Sprint to become the number three carrier in the country, Sprint today announced a new aggressive shared data plan that it says offers better value compared to T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon.
The new $90/month Family Share plan offers 12GB of data for up to 10 lines with unlimited talk and text (the 10 lines offer lasts through March 31, 2016). The plan compares favorably to similar options from the other guys (as pictured in the chart from Sprint above), but there are a few caveats.
Some things to keep in mind when comparing Sprint’s new plan to the other carriers: T-Mobile’s plan offers unlimited international text and data, while AT&T and Verizon offer unlimited texting to international numbers along with some free cloud storage. You won’t get those features with Sprint.
Sprint also notes that it’s reducing the data access charge, that fee you spend monthly for adding a device to your shared data plan, on the $90 Family Share Pack plan $15 for handsets from the previous $25 fee. It will also drop the fee for new customers on the new 128GB plan:
For customers switching their number to Sprint from another carrier, Sprint is waiving the access charge for handsets, tablets and mobile broadband devices on 12GB or higher data allowances for up to 10 lines for one year. All devices must be purchased through Sprint Easy Pay or the Sprint iPhone for Life Plan. A family of four will save $720 in data access fees for the year.
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Wow, this sounds great. Too bad the actual service is so bad that it is 10gb is practically the same as unlimited. I live in the Los Angeles area, and while there are a few pockets of amazingly fast speed, I find that most of the time I have a middle range 3g and even 1x is some areas. I don’t even know what 1x is, edge maybe? This is a major city. I got lured in by Sprint’s cut your bill in half program and gave up my att unlimited data. Huge mistake. Bill cut in half, but so was my service. If you already a sprint customer this might be a good deal for data, but don’t switch over for it.
1x is comparable to GRPS I believe.
In all my decades as a customer and consumer, there are 2 companies I have had the displeasure of having to receive customer service from. Nextel, and Sprint. These 2, of all the phone companies, were the only ones to actively lie to me, and renege on their agreements, and screw me out of hundreds of dollars. No wonder they merged. I think the only way in which I would become a Sprint customer, is if they were to actually pay me to have their phones for me and my family. I haven’t yet considered how much they would have to pay me, but it would have to be significant. Any Sprint execs – give me a call, we’ll talk.
http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/blog/special-reports/year-in-review-2014-us Look at Sprint speeds. most of their market is in the 0-6mbps range while most of all other carriers are in the 10-20. You definitely get what you pay for with Sprint.
Sorry, Shared Data is a trap.
Individual data lines (with no overage but throttling after limit) allows me to add my brother-in-law on my plan at a great discount for him, but without me caring about his usage at all.
*Individual results may very.
I share my data plan with my elderly parents and I get to use a vast majority of it because they are rarely out of wifi range.
An individual plan would be a ‘trap’ for us.
I have never, ever heard anyone I know or know of express satisfaction with their Sprint service. I wish them well, but I think T-Mobile’s going to mop the floor with them eventually.
I had them for YEARS, and in 2011, I had an issue where randomly, my phone would drop to roaming even when my phone had 3-4 bars and didn’t move. And then handcent would randomly throw up network errors, I went to the Sprint store no less then 3 times to have them tell me it wasn’t an issue, and they could find nothing wrong with my phone, and even ended up buying a NEW phone and had the same exact issues, the final straw was the phone tech telling me I had to many texts and to delete them.
For T-Mobile’s you can get up to 10 lines for well qualified people but up to 6 for sure not 4.
Too bad Sprint has crappy service in general…Its 12GB because it doesn’t work good enough to even come close to over using it.
I was foolish enough to try Spring back in 2011, only to eat my words less than a year later. I posted YouTube clips and a detail on my blog of how I got full signal but no data at all. Sent an EECB to everyone I could at Sprint and got them to cancel the contract with no ETF if I hand back all the devices. I did so gladly.
As with all providers, Service quality is highly dependent on where you live and work and otherwise hang out.
That’s why I left Verizon. eith everything else being equal, Verizon was by far the most expensive solution and now I am happier with much less expensive service and quality that is commensurate with Verizon.
Now again Sprint come in foam……….. customers benefited the most……… http://www.telecomvibe.com
does it have highspeed data?