Sprint debuts 2 unlimited plans, one with Tidal music
In the battle to offer more competitive smartphone plans, Sprint has just unveiled two that it hopes will have it running ahead of the pack.
Following recently revised plans from AT&T and Verizon, Sprint is introducing a pair of new unlimited offerings that they hope will take on similar plans from both of those rivals, plus T-Mobile.
The new plans, which go into effect Friday, are Unlimited Plus, priced at
$70 per month for one line, $120 for two lines and $180 for four lines; and Unlimited Basic, which costs $60 per month for one line, $100 for two and
$140 for four lines.
The new offerings are cheaper than the latest options from AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, depending on the level of service.
Those plans run between $70 and
$75 per month for one line of the cheapest unlimited option and between $190 to $240 per month for four lines of the priciest data plans at each carrier.
Sprint, the nation’s fourth-largest carrier, said Thursday that the new plans will replace its current Unlimited Freedom offering.
Both new plans, however, will keep perks such as access to Hulu and free text and data in over 185 destinations around the world.
Those who pony up for Unlimited Plus will get a premium subscription to the Tidal music service for each of their Sprint lines, which normally costs $9.99 per month.
They will also receive more highspeed mobile hotspot data (15GB of 4G LTE data on Unlimited Plus instead of
500MB on Unlimited Basic), more highspeed data in Canada and Mexico (10GB of 4G LTE data instead of 5GB) and full HD video streaming over the carrier’s
4G LTE network.
For existing Sprint customers, however, the new plan doesn’t represent too much of an upgrade over the current Unlimited Freedom plan that is being replaced, though those who don’t care about HD streaming or mobile hotspot data will be able to save a little bit per month.
Sprint users happy with their current plans will not need to change them.
“The industry evolves,” says Dow Draper, Sprint’s chief commercial officer. “We did quite a bit of consumer research to figure out how we can make plans more meaningful to customers,” noting how not everyone wants the addons like Tidal or HD streaming or needs a large amount of mobile hotspot data.
Both new and existing customers can switch to these plans, with Sprint offering a limited-time promotion for “switchers” of an additional $20 off per line to new customers who sign up for Unlimited Plus and bring their own phone with them when they switch or purchase a new device from Sprint at full price.