Sprint offers unlimited calling to any cell phone

Sprint Nextel launched a new service plan Thursday that let's subscribers make unlimited calls to any U.S. cell phone without using up voice minutes.

For just $69.99 a month, the new Any Mobile, Anytime plan allows subscribers to call any cell phone in the U.S., regardless of the carrier. The plan also comes with Sprint's Everything Data plan, which includes unlimited text messaging and data services. Subscribers also get 450 voice minutes for calls to landlines. Subscribers already signed up for the Everything data plan will automatically be upgraded to the new Anytime Mobile plan. And a family plan for four people will cost $170.

"We don't think our customers want to have to keep track of or only talk to friends, colleagues or family members who make the same choices they do," Dan Hesse, Sprint's CEO, said in a statement.

The flat rate voice plan comes at a time when prepaid unlimited phone services have put pressure on fledgling national providers, such as Sprint. Some prepaid phone services, such as MetroPCS and Cricket Wireless offer unlimited calling for $45 a month or less. Earlier this year, Sprint announced it was buying Virgin Mobile, another prepaid wireless provider that offers flat rate pricing, to get a bigger piece of the prepaid action.

But even before flat-rate prepaid plans became popular, the big four nationwide cell phone operators began offering bundles of unlimited voice service. Over a year ago, Verizon Wireless was the first to announce a $99.99 unlimited voice plan followed by AT&T and T-Mobile. Sprint was the last of the big four to announce its unlimited plan, but it now offers the most comprehensive plan. For $99.99, Sprint's Simply Everything plan gives customers unlimited voice minutes, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, and push-to-talk.

The new Any Mobile, Anytime plan essentially discounts this service for subscribers who only talk to other cell phone users by $30.

The move to make all mobile-to-mobile voice minutes part of a flat rate plan is yet another indicator that voice revenues are getting squeezed in the cell phone market. This is good news for consumers who might see competitors fighting back with lower pricing on their plans. But most likely big players such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless are likely to add more mobile-to-mobile features to their existing plans rather than lowering their prices, says analyst Craig Moffett of Sanford Bernstein.

Clearly, Sprint is using this new pricing plan as a way to stop the blood-letting of customers. Even though the company already offers some of the lowest priced and comprehensive plans on the market, customers have been fleeing Sprint to go to other carriers for several quarters. As its total subscriber base shrinks with each quarter, a mobile-to-mobile plan that allows subscribers to call other Sprint customers holds little value to customers.

In a way, the new service is like T-Mobile's MyFaves program, which allows users to make unlimited calling to frequently called numbers on any network. AT&T announced its own version of this type of plan earlier this week, which it calls A-List. And Verizon Wireless has a similar plan called Friends and Family.

While the new pricing structure may help Sprint keep some customers, it will likely come at a high price for the company. Moffett postulates in a research note written Thursday that some of Sprint's highest volume callers already subscribing to the $99 Simply Everything Plan could downgrade to Any Mobile, Anytime plan, which would slash the company's revenue.

What's more, Sprint's new service is essentially encouraging customers to make more calls to other carriers' cell phones, which means that Sprint will have to pay the cost of connecting those calls, Moffet said in his note.

"By stimulating demand for outbound wireless calls, the company is effectively opening the door to increased wireless settlement charges, which are statutorily higher than wireline termination charges," he said.

At least for now, Sprint believes that the trade off is a risk it's willing to take as the company tries to repair is sullied reputation. Despite the fact that various surveys indicate that Sprint has improved its service and customer service, the company has so far been unable to shake its bad reputation.

[brynn08]

gotta love sprint.......only on the 'Now' network

[Poshie232]

Why would I want to pay Sprint $70/month when I can pay $45/month to Straight Talk for unlimited talk, text and 30mb of data? And Straight Talk runs on Verizon's network which is nationwide and far superior. Sure you can get a slightly better phone on contract but it's just not worth paying so much extra per month.

[ollie88r]

This is for poshie232 below.

Sprint and Verizon actually roam off of each others networks so I don't know what you are talking about with this "far better" network

[strykernyc]

Poshie232 - I pay $49 unlimited mins and data on the Sprint network and so does my wife.

[cb3431]

Doesn't change the fact that Sprint's service does not work. I'm speaking from personal experience.

May the bleeding continue.

[deuceswyyld]

Where do you live? I have never had a problem with Sprint's service except in places where no mobile phones work, like the subway or a remote town that has no cellular towers. Their customer service has never caused me a problem either. Replaced my Centro when it went bad a few weeks ago, no questions asked.

[basraw]

right on deuceswyyld.

no problems here in metro DC

[Perry_Clease]

I had Sprint for a long time before getting my iPhone and almost never had a problem with their service, San Diego CA

[theonlybuster]

I'm a new Sprint user (from AT&T) and I've gotta say I've had nothing but problems from Sprint. Constantly dropping calls, the statements have said I owe more than I should about 75% of the time, I receive SOME text messages occasionally I receive other a few hours later.
Just problem after problem to the point where I called customer service and the representative and I went through it all, she called her manager who then gave me a free phone upgrade and a month half off. After 2 months the problems were right back.
Can't wait til my 2 years are up! I'm going right back to AT&T. I definitely don't mind paying a bit more for reliability.

[dreidogg]

You must live in the woods or desert. Sprint is the only network that I have subscribed to that when driving from DC Metro to Dayton, OH. never once did a call drop. Sprints voice and data networks are incredible but their customer service was lacking.

[thelemurking]

I was with Sprint for nearly 10 years. I got tired of dropped calls, delayed text messages and the ever increasing failure of the Samsung Instinct.

I dropped a lot of calls from Knoxville TN to Marion VA which is where I mainly spend most of my time and travel in. I have had much better service out of AT&T at home, but a much weaker signal at work. Of course, Sprint had a tower on top of my building at work and when they were still doing local phone service, they were on the next block down.

It does suck though that I am now paying twice as much for the same package. I guess that's the price I pay for going with the iPhone.

CB3431, that's such a broad comment. Im in Newport Beach, CA..my roommate had AT&T and couldn't get a signal in the bedroom. He switched to Verizon and he couldnt get a signal in the bedroom or bathroom..now he's on T-Mobile and he can't get a signal unless he's standing near the window. I have sprint and i get a signal EVERYWHERE, including the closet. So yea, IT ALL DEPENDS on where U live! Yes, i've had signal problems but here in OC they are very rare. I'm looking forward to having my current plan switched to this new one!

[TheHBK23]

Sprint's service is great and going into a store and getting help is a lot easier than going into a Verizon store ever was. I dont have to sign in to have someone help me, they just come up to me ready to help. No appointments.
This is really the best value out of the 4 carriers, and unless you want an iPhone, this is the network for you. At least for me, the call quality and data connection are always great. Verizon cripples phones, ATT has the iphone but lousy service, and T-mobile, well never had experience with T-mobile. Love the commercials but not their smartphone selection thus far.

[strykernyc]

You don't want to try t-mobile, trust me on this one. You call a t-mobile number and someone else at a totally different phone number would pick up lol seriously. The T-mobile network is garbage. You contact t-mobile because of a problem and they will give u free minutes and or $5 credit heh even a free phone but you are still screw with their crappy network.
The At&t network most be having tons of issues. I keep getting voicemail hours and daysss yeah daysss later and I know a few At&t users with the same issue, and forget about text msg.

[tekwiz4u]

I dont mind paying 69.99 for an UNLIMITED plan. I think its a great idea & price that hopefully the other carriers will compete with. It's the same amount I pay on a ATT network, but not unlimited.

[JABARNUM]

if you google sprint SERO cid, find an employee's email and ID #, and go to the Sprint SERO website, this plan can be had for $59.99 for 500 anytime minutes instead of 450 anytime ON TOP of the any mobile to mobile

[co_z]

I've had AT&T in the past, and Sprint more recently. in the Bay Area and NYC, my service with AT&T was lousy, and with Sprint data & voice coverage has been fantastic. Customer support & in-store service has also been better (although not perfect).

I consistently had to argue down strange fee changes in my AT&T bill. My Sprint bill has held steady since I started with them 2 years ago.

Every carrier clearly has its problems, and Sprint probably has service issues outside of large metro areas. From personal experience, the only negatives I've had with Sprint have been their website - which is abysmal - and their selection of phones.

[Renegade Knight]

Take this one step further and charge a flat fee for each unlimited service so you can create your own unlimited plan. The reverse being you can lock out services you don't want and avoid the high per use fee's. I left T-Mobile because of their refusal to block services. The last thing I needed was to sit on my phone and have my butt surf the net for an hour.

[jaguar717]

What internet-capable phone doesn't have a lock feature? Not Blackberry, Pre, iPhone, or Androids.

And what kind of stingy data plan were you on that accidentally hitting the internet in your pocket could run you over on data? At that point you should probably move to one of the I'm-not-creditworthy prepaid plans like Boost Mobile (Where you at dawg?! We got tha whole city behind you!)

[Renegade Knight]

@jaguar717

Locking the phone is easy. Locking out a service isn't. Press the wrong button when your phone isn't locked and you pull up a service you don't want. I've had to have charges removed when I hit the wrong version of "Save" on a picture because it saved it to the web (dont' wnat, don't need don't care) and not to the SD card.

My stingy data plan is "none".

[1234lali]

OH SPRINT HOW I LOVEEEEE YOU!!!!!!!!

i got a Pre when it came out and had the $89.99 900 min. When I heard this today I switched to the $69.99 plan online. Here is the great thing when you switch to unlimited, it does not extend the service another 2 years!!
and I get 25% my monthly bill (employer doesn't want to give us employee discount) so i end up paying a $55.00 with tax.
I get excellent coverage, I love my Pre, and now I love the bill

Yes Sprint is giving up some profit but they are going to make it up by more customers. With the cheap Pixie coming out and hopefully they have some other phones coming out, they will def attract more people.

Sprint I am your customer for life <3

[AppleSuxLeo]

Good deal all around. I have always had great voice and 3G for many years in the OC.

[brettotte1]

Verizon Wireless has the 700 minute family share plan for $60 for the first line and then $9.99 per additional phone line. Add 3 add'l lines for $30 and we're at $90. Select plans get you unlimited text/pix/flix for the whole family which would make it $120. If you want unlimited data for surfing the web etc then it's $10 per phone and you can pick and choose which want and which don't. That would be $160. Not all may need unlimited data and you may need more minutes too, but you still get free calls after 9pm to anyone and on weekends. Even if you had to double the minutes to 1400 it's only $20 more making it $179.97 total. Don't forget to apply for an employer discount too at vzw.com/discounts

[dreidogg]

You obviously didn't read the part about the new Sprint plan where it stated "And a family plan for four people will cost $170" and you can apply the employee discount.

[Turgeson]

Until their customer service improves, they will continue to bleed. I was a Sprint customer for 4 years until I get fed up with the nickle and diming to death billing coupled with a skakey network. I went in to their store to see if it was my phone (barely 5 months old at the time) the problem. They told me my phone was no longer supported and that I had to buy new $199 phone to get the best signals. While this was going on their phones (new ones) were ROAMING in the store in Atlanta. I asked the sales guy if they had any deals for upgrading subscribers and all he could do is point me toward the new phones. As soon as my contract was up, I told the guys at the store to cancel my service. Not even so much as a "what can I do to make this right". They just said "Okay" and moved on to the next sucker in the store. Since then I said I would never give Sprint a look and from others who have had them, they all have said the same thing. Their customer service absolutely blows.

[brettotte1]

I did. their plan is $10 less is all.

[huntm856]

VZW is only $10 more for a family plan IIF you don't have one or more smartphones on your family plan, then VZW gets way more expensive way fast.

Plus with Sprint you get nav & video, which certainly aren't useful for everyone, but which I think you only get with the top-tier VZW plans, which cost a good deal more.

[brettotte1]

You can get GPS for $9.99. Unlimited data is $10 on non-smart phones.

[strykernyc]

One more reason to switch to Sprint. Now bring WiMax to nyc and Wimax capable phones :D

[tbolto02]

Sprint customer service has surpassed AT&T so next they are shooting to be better than Verizon. I like them this tells me they are hungry for my business.

[armoderate]

Have you been living in a cave? Actually Sprint was the first to have a plan call Simply Everything which covered unlimited texting, internet, Web TV, and cell calls and it was $99.99. Here's a copy that was published 2/28/08:

We're not sure what took them so long, but Sprint finally has joined its fellow major carriers in offering an unlimited plan for a flat rate -- the now industry standard $99 -- only this time it's for all the marbles. Instead of just the unlimited voice offered by AT&T and Verizon, or the voice + SMS that T-Mobile has on offer, Sprint is undercutting the competition with a $99 plan that includes voice, data, text, Sprint TV, GPS and more. "Simply Everything" is available today to both CDMA and iDEN customers, and is open to existing and new subscribers. If you've got a family plan, it's $5 less for every line you add ($99 + $94 + $89 and so on). While those with the gift of gab but no desire to surf the mobile webs might be disappointed that the rumored $60 unlimited voice plan didn't materialize, this certainly undercuts the competition by healthy margin for the smartphone crowd, which is exactly what we were hoping for out of Sprint.

So the only change is that when you make calls to other carriers, it will also be free and not count on minutes (usually very large pool). It was and still is the best bargain of the top 4 carriers.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Sprint is Sprinting Ahead..They don`t want to FALL behind !

[martimano]

I'm a new Sprint customer and let me tell you guys that the service is very realiable, I live in Cape Coral, FL and the connection is almost perfect. I was a Metro PCS customer for the last 6 years until its service became a nightmare and decided to move to Sprint (wise decision). The Palm Pre is an incredible device so I would strongly recommend everyone to switch to Sprint and get the Palm Pre.

[SixString16]

Combine this Sprint plan with an iPhone when the exclusivity runs out and they could do some real damage. I've had AT&T and their service in and around NYC really sucks. I now have Verizon - the network is great but Verizon nickel and dimes you to death. I never had a flat amount on any bill and i'm tired of arguing with their customer service. The price changes every single month. I have made arguments in the past for a Verizon iPhone, but I now tremble when I think about how they like to castrate phones and will severely overcharge for an iPhone plan.

T-Mobile just doesn't have the reach on their network so they're not even a consideration.

[rpsulli85]

i will be honest, this is a game changer for me. I was considering leaving Sprint when my contract ran out and jumping to AT&T (yes, for the iPhone). now, I am being forced to reconsider and instead go with the Pre or whatever phone catches my eye instead. that's just my opinion though.

[TWONICE2CEE]

Everything Data Plan 450 69.99 = The New UNLIMITED PLAN Not to Mention any Discounts that you may qualify for. NO NEED FOR VERIZON,TMOBILE, ATT or EVEN BOOST and METRO PCS...IF YOU CANT SEE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS POWER MOVE PLEASE TOSS YOUR PHONES OUT THE WINDOW NOW.
--
UNLIMITED DATA(NAVIGATION(SPEECH,REAL TIME TRAFFIC UPDATES) MOBILE TV, MOBILE EMAIL, MUSIC, MOBILE WEB

UNLIMITED BLACKBERRY SERVICES(B2B)
UNLIMITED TEXT
UNILIMTED PICTURE MAIL
UNLIMITED VIDEO MESSAGING
UNLIMITED NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS 7pm START TIME
UNLIMITED NATIONWIDE LD and ROAMING
--
****ANY USA MOBILE NUMBER UNLIMITED ANYTIME****
4G EXPANDING RAPIDLY
**CUSTOMER SERVICE MAKING THE BEST STRIDES OUT OF ALL CARRIERS ***
BEST DATA CARRIER POINT BLANK
HTC HERO COMING SOON (ANDROID)
TOUCH PRO 2 HERE Now
***NEED I SAY MORE!!!! SPRINTER FOR LIFE
--
SEE THE LIGHT PEOPLE

[WirelessWarrior]

I have worked as a reseller for just about every cell phone company in the US. (Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Cingular, Alltel, SunCom, Nextel, Sprint, & etc.) I have been in the cell phone industry through all the name changes and buyouts. Not only have I been trained on the cell phone technology, the phones, and the service packages....I myself have been a subscriber to just about each company. I currently use SPRINT!!!! (Until the new guys launch their products anyways, this will be soon! Then I will defiantly have to try them out, I can't mention names. But from what I here they will blow everyone out of the water! ;o) I can not wait!) Anyways, I chose the HTC phones over the iphone any day! Sprint and every other carrier has their issues, some big some small. I like Sprint because they do stay on top of what is going on and they do launch the best products first! :) You heard it here first kids :)