Although Sprint has been the wireless world’s whipping boy for years, the carrier has been showing some signs of competitiveness in recent months and this week it’s announcing its boldest move yet. Per Re/code, Sprint this week will start offering a new pricing scheme “that it claims will halve the bills of customers who defect from AT&T and Verizon in the latest salvo of an increasingly bitter price war.”
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Starting this Friday, Verizon and AT&T customers can bring in a copy of their monthly bills to Sprint stores and representatives will come up with a plan that will see them paying half of what they’re now paying for voice, SMS and data. This is particularly cool because if you’re the type of person who regularly gets hit with overage charges on AT&T or Verizon, it won’t count against you when Sprint tallies up how much your new plan should cost.
As with all such deals, there are some catches here. First, Re/code writes that anyone who wants to take advantage of this deal will “have to buy an unsubsidized device either upfront or through installments or use one of Sprint’s new leasing plans.” The other big catch is that you’ll have to use Sprint’s mobile data network, which has consistently been ranked the slowest among all major carriers.
That said, Sprint really is doing its best to make this offer tempting, as it will also pay off $350 worth of your early termination fees if you switch. Check out more details on this plan by reading Re/code’s full report.
UPDATE: It seems there are a couple of other catches here as well. First, in addition to buying a new phone from Sprint, you’ll have to trade in an old phone and Sprint could actually penalize you $200 if it’s not in working condition. Second, customers taking advantage of this deal will not take priority during high traffic hours. In other words, if you’re using your phone during peak hours and there’s lots of network congestion, other Sprint customers will be given priority to faster data services over you.
