Will Sprint Require the Simply Everything Plan for the Palm Pre? 30
Sprint has really been pushing their "unlimited data, unlimited minutes, ...unlimited everything" plan they call "Simply Everything." It's $99 per month and honestly, we are pretty big fans. It's not SERO (their not-so-secret discount plan), but it's not bad. Sprint told us that they're going to "Instinct the Pre", which basically means they plan to throw a ton of marketing muscle behind it. It may also mean something else and that something else has been a (perhaps mistaken) assumption of ours: as with the Instinct, it's possible that Sprint will require the Simply Everything plan for all Pre owners. We all know that there is a lot of downward pressure on price for smartphones ever since the iPhone 3G came in at $199 after contract, and Sprint's best method for assuring a low cost for most customers is requiring the SE plan.
Not so fast, says TreoCentral forum member intro, a quick look at Palm's product page and at Sprint's Pre press release reveals some different languages. Palm says that "A data plan is required" while Sprint counters with "Data: A $0.03/KB charge applies without a data plan." If Sprint is printing warning about how much data would cost without a Data plan, it stands to reason that they may let you buy it without one. Maybe.
It's engendered quite a discussion over in our Pre forums but the bottom line is this: it's highly likely that Sprint and Palm haven't even made the final decision on price and require plans yet. Our hunch is still that Simply Everything will be required, but we'd be relatively happy to be wrong.
30 Comments
I think the Sprint Simply Everything plan is the best plan for power users currently available on any carrier. I went to Sprint to get this plan when the Instinct came out and it ended up being a big mistake because the Instinct sucked... But, I will definitely be checking out Sprint yet again for this great plan to use in conjunction with the Palm Pre. Even if the Palm Pre isn't on iPhone level, I will still probably get one and use it with the Simply Everything plan. I use A LOT of minutes, text, data, and gps, so this would be the perfect plan for a person like myself.
Your correct, we are in a recession, but Sprint is actually stepping up to the plate and providing their services at a lower cost to the customer. So we as consumers are benefiting from their aggressive pricing. Think about it, $99 for everything that the Palm Pre or any other Sprint smartphone can do. That is an amazing deal... I would love for you or anyone else to find me a better deal in the wireless industry today other than the new Boost Mobile $50 everything plan. And btw, Sprint is behind Nextel and Boost so really, naming that plan as a dispute to my claim isn't even logical.
Face it, Sprint is finally getting their act together and consumers will benefit in the long run due to the risks they are taking today.
And no, I am not currently with Sprint. I am with at&t, that was because of the iPhone/iPhone 3G, but now that I don't have my iPhone 3G anymore (Rockin' a BlackBerry Bold now) I am willing to give another, more open and more "in the cloud" smartphone a chance and the Pre might just be a winner due to it's pure ease of use, multi-tasking abilities, and great plan pricing.
I just came from the Sprint store about 1 hour ago and I am very confused. Why is it that I have to change the plan I am on just to own the Pre? I don't understand, because the sells people were not very helpful. PLEASE HELP...
I would just like to add I too have had dealings with Ms. Fain-Ateman and as the message above suggests, avoid her. She has basically called me & my wife liers. Told us she received some emails, and not others. Told us we had 30 days to send the replacement phone back as we were given the wrong one, that we were to have an exact copy of the one that failed. Lots of phone calls that lead to nothing. Avoid her and go above her if you can. Godd luck to all!