Sprint had recently announced that it will be including at $10 monthly premium add-on to 4G phones. Not a great feature, but perhaps understandable for the carriers to recoup some of their increased network costs for 4G (I know, I know..like 49.3 million subscribers at $56 per subscriber per month totaling well over $2.7 BILLION PER MONTH isn’t enough to help cover costs?!).
However, effective January 30th, Sprint has squeaked in that it is going to add this premium data add-on to every smartphone that is newly activated or swapped – 4G or not. This “premium” add-on is now required for all smartphone devices (Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, Instinct family of devices, etc.). This, of course, was not announced with a press release, but announced quietly from their business support group:
Now I can see how adding a plan to recoup some costs is reasonable BUT, this is ridiculous. First, to add this fee in its very clandestine manner is not only unethical, but also inconsistent with existing business contracts. We have customers who are already seeing this on their JANUARY bills without any previous notice.
Second, this is not an incidental charge, it is $10 per line! This is over 25% of many of our business users’ total net cost per phone per month…certainly not chump change by any means. Unless you are managing your bills and continuing to optimize would you even see this charge much less would you even think it was a new and (in our opinion) erroneous, inaccurate, overzealous one. This premium add on data plan would increase Sprint revenues by $493 MILLION per MONTH, just by an “oh by the way, we are increasing your rates” plan.
But look what Sprint says you get in return for your hard earned $10 per month: “What does this feature do? Delivers a rich wireless experience by bringing the full function of mobile “applications” and “programs” to life:”. Wow…we don’t want to miss a (mandatory) rich wireless experience!
PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS! Here’s what to do:
- Consult your contract. If it isn’t listed as a contracted charge, take action.
- Contact your carrier representative and get a credit back (PER PHONE, don’t forget)
- Tell the carrier you KNOW there is a $0 Premium Data Add-on and have that added to the account instead of the feature for the $10 charge.
- If properly done, you should get a message like this:, “This is not applicable to XXXX customer at this time. Currently, their contractual rates apply as is.”
Good luck and protect your wireless rights: right plan, right price, right result!