Sprint Nextel cuts phone-as-modem pricing from $50 to $15 per month
August 21 2008 - 1:01 pm ET | Allie Winter | RCR Wireless News
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Sprint Nextel Corp. is providing another possible incentive for customers to stick around, knocking $35 off one of its monthly plan offerings — but shoppers will need to check the fine print.
According to industry research firm Current Analysis, the carrier lowered its Phone as Modem add-on plan price from $50 to $15 per month. To take advantage of the new, lower price tag, customers must own a Power Vision (CDMA2000 1x EV-DO) phone with connection capabilities to their laptops.
However, the new pricing, which Current Analysis said would make customers sit up and notice, comes with strict requirements. Because the PAM option is an add-on feature, the $15 offer is only available alongside certain data plans, including the Sprint PRO Pack ($30 per month), Blackberry Personal Pack ($30 per month), Worldwide Blackberry Personal Pack ($70 per month), Primary Data Plan ($50 per month) and the Worldwide Data Plan ($70 per month).
“The attachable plan must be bought in conjunction with any one of three domestic or two global data plans for PDAs/smartphones, customers still have to shell out $45-85 a month (on top of a monthly voice plan) and it may still boost Sprint's overall revenues. Before this, PAM was $49.99 standalone with no base plan requirements,” the report said.
Sprint Nextel’s other laptop data option is its PCS Connection Card plan that runs $60 per month. Both the PAM and data card options have a 5-gigabyte monthly data usage limit and a 300 megabyte off-network roaming usage limit.
August 26, 2008 04:04 pm
Where is the news here? Sprint has had this plan in place forever.
August 25, 2008 11:24 am
I just checked today and Sprint claims that there is no such promotion or price. They also claim that unlimited tethering on a blackberry is $30, not $15. Something smells fishy here...
August 22, 2008 05:59 am
If you do ANY personal business with Sprint, tell them who you work for and ask whether this is a discount. I am getting 15% off of my monthly bill (they told me this would be for any plan I added as well). I have heard of others getting smaller amounts through Sprint. I have also heard of 20% discounts for employees of a large coffee house chain, through another carrier.
August 22, 2008 05:59 am
Sprint is doing the best that it can for its customer's and I am tired of all the bashing in the press. Yes, it service does come with a price but what doesn't??.I live in Atlanta GA and the EVDO cover is great.
August 22, 2008 12:00 am
Sprint's existing broad band coverage in the NE Ohio region is as broad as Miss Piggy's ass and twice as slow, pathetic they dare think of charging for such an abomination !
August 21, 2008 01:55 pm
Sounds like more desperation. A lot like the last person asked to dance at the party. Sprint has been the cheap date at the wireless table for many years and still can'get back on the floor. The realitry is that CDMA is a dead end technology outside of the US (3.2 billion GSM users, 530 million CDMA) and there is a serious investnment concern lurking to get to the world 4G standard fro VZW and Sprint. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it is a duck!
August 21, 2008 01:55 pm
Tethering your computer with T-Mobile is FREE. With a $20 data plan. And unlimited. Sure it's just EDGE, but FREE makes up for this.
August 21, 2008 01:55 pm
Let's see...$40 (base voice plan) + $30 (unlimited everything else) + $15 (tethering) = $85 per month. Of course, I just use SERO on my phone but really that $85 isn't so bad when you compare it to $60 for a data card with no minutes, messages, etc.Additionally, where I've been Sprint's network seems to be more solid than VZW's. They were the first ones to put EvDO in my hometown (Fredericksburg TX) and they quickly upgraded it to Rev. A. Also, their overage policy for data cards, unlike Verizon's and like AT&T'sm is a soft cap. No overage charges.Let me know when you find another cellular plan with 7 p.m. nights and weekends, unlimited messaging and data, unlimited tethering, unlimited navigation and unlimited mobile TV (and unlimited walkie talkie if your phone supports it) for $85, or unlimited voice minutes anytime with all these features (including tethering) for $115/month. Yeah, didn't think so.
August 21, 2008 01:55 pm
Or you could just have the $30 SERO plan with 500 minutes and unlimited data like I do, and use PDAnet with your windows mobile phone and get tethering for free...
August 21, 2008 01:55 pm
As Sprint continues to loose more subscribers, their data & voice network naturally gets less congested.But Sprint cannot keep up with the Billions that AT&T & Verizon are spending on spectrum, acquisitions, and new buildouts. This is why Sprint continues its fire sale to stay in business (land lines, towers, buildings...)So enjoy Sprint while it lasts, but eventually you are going to have to switch to one of two domestic carriers (AT&T/Verizon) or a foreign carrier (T-Mobile of Germany or Sprint's eventual foreign parent company).