Sprint making it harder to use cheap phones

[jimindenver]

The reason services like Freedompop and ringplus popular is because you can pick up a $20 phone at Best buy and with little outlay end up with a free phone account. Lately Ringplus has had promos ranging up to 4500 TnT and 4500 Mb of data for nothing a month.

After the 17th Sprint will no longer allow you top buy a Sprint prepaid phone or any of the MVNO services branded phones and use them on another service unless it has been on the original service for a year. You will still be able to buy phones to use but they will be on the service that sells it or a full price phone.

Phones that are activated before the 17th are grandfathered in unless you deactivate it. At that point it goes back to the 1 year restriction.


Why? I would think that each service that discounts the phone expects to make it back when you sign up. Services like R+ isn't paying for the discount but getting the customers.

 

[BradKW]

I would guess that "use on another service" is the same as what used to be called "roaming", where you are outside your provider's coverage but still able to use the phone due to agreements with other providers. Since the other providers charge a fee to use their network, that was the rationalization for some of the high roaming charges in years past.

Text-n-Talk uses relatively little bandwidth, but data speed and bandwidth is still at a rising premium both in wireless and wired. I could see how the promotional-type deal you listed above could easily end up being a financial loser for Sprint, especially if it attracted people who actually need and use the data...

 

[jimindenver]

Not roaming, they all use Sprint as a carrier. The thing is a Sprint prepaid phone normally would cost more with out Sprint discounting it to attract you to their service. They lose money on the phone but gain a customer. Right now you can buy the discounted phone and not sign up for the service that paid for the discount and take it to any of the services that uses Sprint as a carrier.

So you can buy a Sprint prepaid phone and use it on Boost mobile. A virgin mobile phone can be used on Ting and any can be taken to the likes of Freedompop or Ringplus. After the 17th if it is labeled Boost, it is a Boost phone for at least a year before it can be used on another service.

I understand the policy. Companies like Ringplus are getting thousands of subscribers with each promo and Sprint and it's subsidiaries are footing the bill.