Sprint to bring PAYG service starting January 25th?
For many years now, Sprint has pushed customers looking to get affordable PAYG rates to one of its subsidiaries, Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile USA. While that strategy has worked out fine enough in the past, it looks like the Now Network will look to keep more PAYG fans under its own banner as new rumors suggest Sprint will look to launch the flexible, more affordable plans sometime this year.
Android Police gathered early training materials which suggest a PAYG service will launch under Sprint starting January 25th, and of the four phones that will be available to start we should expect at least two Android phones. One will be the $150 LG Optimus Elite, while Samsung’s Galaxy Victory will come in as the most expensive offering at $250.
Smartphone plans will begin at $70 per month, and will include unlimited voice, unlimited texting and unlimited data. Voice roaming and 1XTT data roaming are available as well, but 3G data roaming will not be offered for PAYG customers. All smartphones will be eligible for total equipment protection, and those who want extra services like mobile hotspot, international roaming and more will need to put those charges on separate credit cards as they cannot be tied in with the monthly bill.
Oh, and if you’re thinking about gaming the system with a “bring your own phone” mentality, guess again: Sprint will be creating brand new SKUs for its PAYG-eligible devices, so if you want in on this service then you’re going to have to buy one that’s branded “Sprint As You Go.” That’s not too surprising, but worth noting anyway.
Also, as you’d expect, the plans will not be eligible for any sort of corporate discounts or rebates. ‘Tis the cost of wanting to be freed from the tight chains of the wireless industry, though. The beauty is that you can leave whenever you want at no cost, so if you try it out and decide it’s not right for you the you can just pick up shop and give it a go with the many other options available to you. We’ll see if Sprint has anything to say about this come CES week.