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Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) sent a letter to its Everything Data customers recently informing them that they could now call any mobile phone number in the U.S. -- at any time -- for free.
Sprint's new Any Mobile, Anytime calling plan gives those customers with at least a $70/month bill this new capability.
Is this really a one-up on the competition, or a way to upsell customers to more expensive calling plans just so they can get the Any Mobile feature? It's probably a bit of both, and though Sprint Nextel shares were recently downgraded in part due to this new calling plan, it shows that the carrier is desperately trying to keep contract customers with just about any trick up its sleeve. It also tries to make having a landline phone irrelevant, which is already happening every year in larger numbers.
Sprint does make a good point here -- where else can a family of four receive unlimited everything (including calling at any time) for $42.50 per person? Not with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and four iPhones, right? Although it's sure to cut into the carrier's profits, this may be one marketing program that could start to attract customers back into the Sprint fold. Yes, the Palm Pre has helped, but it's going to take more than that in the future, as the iPhone is showing no slack in sales.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-24-2009 @ 4:14PM
Wayne said...
The Sprint deal certainly is a good one but ONLY if you can include family members on it. As a single phone it is still too expensive. Other offers are more economical. As a matter of fact a number of prepaid plans are probably as low as you can go price-wise. Several unlimited plans exist that will cost you about $50.
As I don't use much data on my phone, I prefer the better network option which I get through Straight Talk, hosted on the Verizon network. At $45 it is hard to beat.