USA Today: Sprint PCS new charges

[Kenny]

I just saw the following news brief in USA Today's Money section. I see it on the printed paper but I don't see it on their website or maybe it's hidden somewhere there. Anyways, here's what it reads:

'Minutes-left' cellphone data not free

Sprint PCS plans to start charging its customers who call an automated phone line to see how many minutes they have left in their monthly cellphone plans. Starting Aug. 28, the previously free call will count against customers' monthly airtime minutes. Most customer service calls remain free, Sprint says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Personally, I think that is retarded and unfair gouging! What's next? Are they gonna charge air-time for browsing through our phone's address phonebook?

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

personally i dont like that move. it is customer unfriendly. all customers are notified of this when they dial *4 it informs them that the call will incur normal airtime usage starting on aug. 28th.

now on the flipside, sprint has the most up to date minute checking abilities of all the carriers which sprint users take for granted; with verizon since it is an amalgamation of so many networks you cant really get an accurate usage estimate as it takes times for all the networks to report the usage of verizon users on their network etc... and until recently at&t had no way for you to check your minutes

......for sprint customers you can still check your minutes for free via the website interface; and if you cant afford that minute of airtime just check your minutes at 9pm or on the weekends as many times as you want out of your huge bucket of N&W minutes............so in the end the impact to the customers is minimal..........however it is perception that counts.....if you want to take it so far as that they are going to charge you for browsing through your phone book you are highly overreacting.

overall i dont like this move like i said; however it is a non issue if you check at night or on weekends or online it will have no real effect on your minutes.

[larry]

I've never used *4 to check my usage so it won't make any difference to me at all.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

a lot of people do...........i know i use it about once a week to keep track of my minutes. it is a great feature to have.... there are people that come in the stores that use a lot of minutes and have to use the phone at the end of their billing cycle sparingly in order not to go over. without minute checking it would be all over for them. personally i am spoiled by *4 it is a great feature that not too many other carriers have, and if they do it isnt as quickly up to date.

[ehcruzan]

I think it's reasonable considering voice capacity is being tied up for the duration of the call (approx 1 minute). I've personally seen people call *4 just to appear as if they are talking to someone. Charging airtime will make them think twice. I'm sure the feature has been abused. Like IdeOTeQnoLogY said, Sprint's reporting of airtime usage is uniquely accurate. I just check my minutes after 9pm or go online.

[b1spirit]

Do u think i could use this as an excuse to get out of my contract?

[BigD]

Yes, I think that any change that Sprint makes right now for its customers preasant or past shows a lack of irresponsable management. When severe changes to its network were made Sprint should have taken into consideration that any new service would have bugs and customers would have to seek some other way to attain information about the phones options such as user minuites and payment times. Calling sprint for this information is a waste of valueable time we as customers dont normally have... Thats why some of these options that sprint offered us to become sprint customers in the first place are now being compromised. Not all people have computers and Sprint is assuming that everyone does... Even if a majority of customers do that directly impacts on the customers that need this information right away without being penalized by using up precious minuites. Yes, I agree that a couple of minuites here and there may not make a difference for alot of people. But, for people like me who uses alot of prime minuites and dont carry a stap on computer with a lap link cable need this *4 service. When do we as customers draw the line on customer service... When we end up paying to turn the phone on.

[ComicalMoodyDan]

I'm really not happy about what Sprint has been doing lately either. Their coverage maps are getting worse all the time, there rate plans suck, and they are starting to charge extra for everything now. No wonder Sprint's subscriber growth is slowing down. Yes they have cool phone's and network plans but so what other carriers are starting to get nice phone's in and everybody has network plans now.

[Dukedog]

I agree with you Dan, Sprint"s price plans has to one of the worst plan out, but since Subscriber growth is getting really slow for all wireless carriers they all are trying to squeeze every little cent out of their existing customers.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

even the latest promos arent a better deal?

[ComicalMoodyDan]

They $44.99 I believe it is Sprint PCS Vision promo is nice. However Sprint needs to relize that not everybody wants or needs Vision. I haven't seen a good promo with their voice only plans lately. The problem with Sprint PCS is they are pushing data now and well lets face it 90% of american's still only use their cell phones for voice calls.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

true. i agree on the part about mostly using phones for voice.

all the promos are available without the data as well. 44.99 for 500 A 4000 N&W etc...

also the 79.99 for 2000 anytime minutes..........1st add a phone is free..........add 2000 N&W minutes for 10$/month......and they are stackable. id say that is a great family plan.

[ehcruzan]

The promos are great plans especially when you compare them to the likes of Cingular. I would however have to say that their local plans need help. The local plans should have considerably more anytime minutes than the nationwide plans.

[IdiOTeQnoLogY]

that they should. tndan posted a good sprintpcs area wide plan...........49.99 for 1000 anytime minutes and a bunch of N&W........i think all of them (area wide) should be that price....

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Here is a link to that post

New Sprint PCS area wide promo