Psst - Have you Heard about Everything Plus?
By now, I’m sure everyone has heard about Sprint’s groundbreaking Simply Everything plans, but here’s an even better twist!
Everything Plus is Sprint’s new employee referal plan which takes the Simply Everything plans and makes them even better!
For example, the lowest priced Simply Everything plan is $69.99 for 450 Anytime minutes (and of course, unlimited text, web, TV, music, navigation, Direct Connect, etc.).
The equivalent Everything Plus plan is $59.99 for 500 Anytime minutes (and all that unlimited stuff).
There’s also a discounted 1000 minute plan at $79.99 and the unlimited plan at $99.99.
Interested? Check it out here. My e-mail address (you’ll need it) is russ.s.mcguire@sprint.com and the 3 digits you’ll need are 383.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Dude, the Everything plan sucks! I have the Sero and its way better than that. And Sprint would not give me the Instinct Phone to be placed on my Sero plan. My plan has all the same features as the Simple Everything plan. Why would I pay double just so i can use the Instinct phone? You are trying to compete with the iPhone brand with a Instinct?? Please. It does not even up to par with it. Stop spending so much money on advertisments for this phone and use the money to bring better phones to the market. Also by changing the price structuring, and not letting customers with SERO plans to go on the Instinct, you will see alot of departures from you loyal customer base. The reason why people came to sprint these past two year is becuase of you very reasonable plans.
But now that you have decided to take it away, I think people will think twice before renewing the contract. I know I am. My contract is almost up. And If Sprint forces me to switch plans to be able to get the Instinct, I rather pay a little more to get on the iPhone.
You guys really shot yourselves in the foot with this one. Great job! Look at your stock price!! woohooo!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:55 am
I think promoting an expensive Employee referral plan over the existing one will not bring in additional customers.
I had recommended friends and family to switch over since Sprint’s offering was reasonable and affordable now no-more…Can you imagine the bad-mouthing I would get if I start telling the same people that I recommended not to go-to Sprint anymore? where is my credibility?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
CW and Praveen,
Thanks for the feedback. I hear what you’re saying.
At the same time, response seems to be very strong to the new Everything Plus plans (at least if the number of hits this post is receiving is any indication).
I believe that mobility is becoming much more than just talking on a cell phone. That’s what this blog and my book are all about. However, the industry has historically been structured to create challenges (e.g. surprise bills) for folks who do more than just talk. At Sprint, we hope to revolutionize mobility by making it simple, instant, and compelling. We have a bunch of initiatives underway to make this happen, but our “Everything” pricing is a big part of it, so it only makes sense to switch our employee referral plan to focus on “everything” plans.
Obviously, these plans won’t be the best choice for everyone, but if you see mobility as more than just talking, I’m pleased to let you know about these options.
Thanks again for the feedback!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I hope Sprint is not going to shaft the people who already are on the SERO plan. I don’t want to try and renew and get told that I have to renew under the new, double the price plan. I find it outrageous that Sprint is limiting the phones that can be connected to the SERO plan; will this madness continue with upcoming phones such as the Touch Pro and Diamond? If so, it’s off to the GSM carriers with the cooler phones
July 24th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
[…] to the blog posting of Russ McGuire,Vice president of strategy for […]
July 24th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Hello,
I recently found out about the switch from SERO to Everything Plus. As a Sprint customer over the past several months that has been generally dissatisfied over the customer service I have received (although not recently…it’s been getting much better) I would never have seen myself converting my friends and family to Sprint users via SERO. But I did, and I brought in about six new customers that were all previously loyal T-Mobile and ATT folk.
While 6 (+1, myself) customer won’t make or break a company, I do know that I will no longer be referring any more people to Sprint with the current price plan. When my contract expires and if I’m not offered my current SERO plan, I’ll also be going back to T-Mobile. Doubling the cost of my plan to get exactly what I’m getting now is ridiculous on a great deal of levels. It just doesn’t make any financial, or logical sense.
On a more unrelated note, I’m digging the new Sprint commercials!
July 24th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
The old Sero plan had unlimited data/text/picture 7pm nights 500 minutes.
So we DO see it as more than just talking.
Double the price 30 vs 60, IS asking too much Mr. McGuire
July 25th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Well, SERO was a great plan that was offered. Unfortunately, I missed it. However, considering what’s available out there that’s comparable now to the Everything Plus Plan, Sprint has a chance to compete. The question is whether Sprint can improve their customer service which is horrendous. I recently signed up and purchased the Instinct less than 30 days ago and would love to switch to this Everything Plus Plan. (Any suggestion?) In comparison to my friends iphone, the instinct had much faster internet. So, if Sprint can improve on making sure their customer service reps know what they are doing when they help their customer instead of making them wait so long and playing phone tag, I think Sprint has a chance to grow. My 2 cents.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:07 am
Just a quick note to acknowledge a few things…
I have my blog set up to moderate comments to filter out spam. As you’ll notice, I’m approving many comments that are negative towards Sprint and/or this offer. That’s the beauty of blogging - many voices are heard and valid. There are a couple that were just slamming the company and/or me without contributing to the discussion. Those haven’t been approved. Feel free to express your opinions but please do so in a respectful manner. Also please note that sometimes I get busy and it’s a few days before I get around to moderating comments. I apologize for those delays.
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge that Sprint has had it’s challenges on a number of fronts. Customer service and churn are big. So is financial performance (e.g. see http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSWNAS281920080228 ). I believe that our new leadership has the company heading in the right direction.
Our new CEO, Dan Hesse, has the entire company focused on three priorities:
- Improve the customer experience
- Establish a strong brand position
- Improve profitability
There’s tension between these three, but I believe we’re making good progress on all fronts. Many of the comments here reflect the challenges that we’re addressing, so I hear you…
Thanks to everyone for the feedback!
July 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am
I have been with sprint for a whopping 12 years. My hair has been pulled more times than I care to remember due to Sprint’s CSRs. The only…and I reiterate…ONLY reason I have stayed with Sprint is (was) the great pricing. Taking that away gives people like myself much much better alternatives than Sprint. Good luck with the FUTURE Sprint…fool with my current plan and I wont be part of it.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I actually think the everything plans are great.
I am a graduate student at the university of florida right now and I find it incredibly convenient to be able to get on my motorola q9c and surf the internet as much as I want, text as much as I want, and get e-mail as much as I want.
I have been a sprint/nextel customer for almost 2 years now and I just have one question about this referral program…
I know this employee referral program only applies to New plans, but since my contract ends in 1 month, can I somehow scoot into the employee referral program by getting a new contract with sprint?
I could essentially save $10 a month and get 50 more minutes a month, this would be greatly helpful since I am a student.
Thanks Russ!
Regards,
Adam Wright
July 25th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Adam,
The referral plan is for new plans, no migrations. I’m guessing that means that you’d be challenged in porting your existing cellphone number to the new plan, but it’d be worth a try.
Russ
July 25th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Mr. Mcguire;
Great to hear that Sprint is trying to change things around, I have the old SERO plan and it’s great. The new SERO is also a great offer, especially if you own a blackberry.
My opinion to the negative comments is simple; you can’t satisfy everyone.
Even when doing a price comparison Sprint is the most for your money. The customer service is turning around (which is great), and the services offered by Sprint are great. The only downside is the limited devices, but I’m sure you all know that, and are working towards it (i.e Instinct, HTC devices).
For people who only talk and text every-so-often, then this plan might not be for them, but for those that use their phones for everything, this is a great offer. I’m happy that Sprint has come around. I’ve been with Sprint, AT&T/Cingular, VZW, and now back at Sprint. Every carrier has it’s issues, and I’ve had my fair share of disagreements with all. I’m happy to be a Sprint customer, and look forward to staying with Sprint (so long as the improvements keep coming).
July 25th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I, too, have been a loyal customer and, considering that many companies have their faults, have been pleased with Sprint. I must agree, however, the primary reason for staying with Sprint is the fact that their prices are better than any other carrier, when comparing apples to apples. Regarding this new plan, it essentially forces one to pay for the BIS (which used to be a $30 option). For those with a BB, there is essentially no difference from SERO. For others, the plan is more expensive than the old SERO plans.
Russ, one question remains. I currently receive a 23% discount as a SERO plan subscriber. Does this continue with the Everything Plus Plan?
July 25th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Raj,
I’m guessing you’re referencing a discount on accessories. I haven’t heard any mention of that, so I wouldn’t count on it. Sorry!
Russ
July 26th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Those complaining about this price are insane. Show me ANY US operator with a cheaper Blackberry/voice/messaging plan. Even the cheapest (till now) operator in the market, T-mobile would be more expensive. Plus, their network is still running that damn slow EDGE.
I agree that it isn’t as hot as SERO, but I think we all need to be grateful that Sprint let SERO stay open as long as it did. Sure, it generated a lot of goodwill for them, and helped bring a lot of customers back to them, but they were under no obligation to let us get in on that deal for as long as they did.
I signed up with SERO fully expecting to cancel withing the first 30, because everyone I knew said how horrible they “heard” Sprint was. Turns out every one of them was wrong. I’m getting great speeds, great coverage, great voice quality and the few times I had to call them, it’s been a pleasant experience.
The only thing I don’t like, is that they keep sending my bill in duplicate every month.
July 26th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Wow thanks for posting this information. I am also a loyal customer who just signed a new contract. But Sir, Sprint really needs to pick up their game. I want to see some massive innovation that will drive verizon and at&t customers to sprint! Sprint already has good coverage, prices, and an unbeatable data network. But is seems like more and more of my friends have verizon because of their ever “sweet” phones and of course At&t has the iPhone. Sprint is going to have to do some risky revolutionary things to gain on verizon and at&t.
It seems to be that an everlasting battle between verizon and at&t is inevitable. So for Sprint to compete there must be new innovative ideas….
Why not start a Campus Rep program on college campuses? Both Dell and Apple sponsor programs like this through Repnation, LLC (I am a Dell Campus Rep). A huge amount of college students get off their family plans and get on individual plans in college….plus alot of them use their phones more in college and are looking for better plans. Imagine walking into the Student Union and seeing a Sprint table with knowledgeable students from your school able to provide you with lots of information about why you want Sprint. Then have a special discount or a better Simple Everything Plus plan just for college students with .edu emails.
Why not open up a couple of Sprint’s phones to open source software. Let the customers do the innovation and I guarantee you will see a huge “geek” crowd move to Sprint.
Also why not start a Sprint version of Dell’s Idea Storm?
(http://www.dellideastorm.com/)
It is the small things like these that will help Sprint gain an edge on verizon and at&t.
- Josh from the University of Toledo
July 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Thanks for this Russ. However when I go to the site and I enter in your information, it’s not working. Any suggestions?
July 26th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
i had a question about the sero plans..how would we go about using your employee ID and email if we go in stores? how do we explain to them how we got your information? i know you are giving it out yourself, but i didn’t want to get stuck in a rut or anything if i used your info. im planning on switching from att to sprint in sept. thanks
July 26th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
[…] need to enter Russ’s employee information. Find the referral info at Mr. McGuire’s website or just keep […]
July 27th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I’ve been a Sprint customer for almost a decade, and traded up devices many times before my contract expired. The most frustrating thing I find with Sprint or CDMA carriers is having your phone tied to your service account. Why should a carrier care what device I use on the network? I can only think its a market ploy and of course money. As the poster CW stated on switching to a new device (the Instinct), Sprint is looking to double dip. Charge him for the phone and new service contract. Gee Wiz, sell him the phone un-subsidized, and let him keep his plan.
I think Sprint would introduce something the other carriers have not, and segragate the device from the service plan. Hey, you may charge a re-activation fee for changes more than 1 a year or such. And sure sell sub-sidized phones with contracts.
Lastly, customer service for all carriers is losey. Customer service today in general is lost and is extremely expensive. I’ve had my own troubles with my family plan, and servicing my works accounts (on other carrier). Each are lengthy calls that channel the customer into a scripted troubleshooting guide, and eventual frustration.
So, my next phones or service plans will be based on? First is the device, followed by the service plan. Nice blog.
July 27th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Josh - thanks for the good ideas.
Shawn (and others who have emailed) - try again later. I’ve gotten the same message a couple of times, but then later it works just fine.
Lynn - I think this offer might only be available online. You might try using it in a store, but don’t be surprised when they point you back to online to complete the transaction.
Jeff - as I understand it, we do lots of testing and tweaking of phones that arrive from manufacturers to make sure they work well with all the configurations of equipment from different vendors that we have in our network to make sure the devices work the best possible on our network. Verizon and Alltel generally do the same thing, so it must have something to do with CDMA. I’m not technical enough to fully understand it. But thanks for the input.
As far as subsidization… From your comments, I think you know that, depending on the phone, our cost for the phone from the manufacturers is as much as a couple hundred bucks more than what we charge the customer. We’re okay with that because we know, when a customer signs a two year contract, that we’ll get that money back over the life of the contract. Our market research indicates that the vast majority of people aren’t willing to pay the unsubsidized price for a device, but market research sometimes is wrong, so at times we debate internally on this topic. The other issue on contracts is that there are other up-front costs in setting up a new account or a new device on an existing account that we also need to have confidence we’re going to get back over the life of the contract. These costs tend to be smaller than the device subsidy, things like the cost of the retail channel (store, online, dealer) that, in other industries are simply added to the raw cost of the product before the price is set. If we don’t think folks will pay an unsubsidized price (our raw cost from the manufacturers), we’re pretty confident folks won’t pay our raw cost plus our other selling/setup costs. Our real focus is on trying to create differentiation so that our service is so great that folks want to stay even when they aren’t locked into a contract. We aren’t there yet (yes, you can label that as an understatement). But that’s what we aspire to.
Thanks for the comments everyone. Thanks to all of you who are Sprint customers, especially those that have hung with us a long time. And thanks to all the new customers who are giving Sprint a try with the Everything Plus plan.
Russ
July 27th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
[…] need to enter Russ’s employee information. Find the referral info at Mr. McGuire’s website or just keep […]
July 27th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
[…] need to enter Russ’s employee information. Find the referral info at Mr. McGuire’s website or just keep […]
July 28th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Russ,
I can see the general idea behind the new Everything Plus plan. But for people that were /are on the older $30 SERO, I can see how they would fail to see the value. Everyone how did have or is on the older $30 plan generally knew it was being abused by a lot of people. There are websites/blogs DEDICATED for the sole purpose of showing you how to “get one over” on Sprint and get signed up on SERO without even knowing anyone who actually worked there. It was really just a matter of time before it had to get restructured. For the most part, a lot of data services (TV,GPS,Music) werent even around when the pricing was thought up, And the fact that it was just $.05/minute for overage really was helping Sprint either. People abused i think the overage more the anything. Either way though, for anyone just now hearing about this program, it still is a GREAT Deal. Considering that with every other carrier you are gonna be being at least $20 more for something similar.
Being a former long time sprint customer, but now turned employee, i can definitely say that there has been a huge shift in the way Customer Service issues are handled, i used to hate the day my bill would arrive, because i knew something was more then likely wrong somehow, and i knew that the rest of my day was gonna being either on the phone trying to get someone to help me and not just transfer me around. The move to the CSAT compensation structure i feel was a major part in the turn around.
As far as our network though, i am really glad we are making a push become a more DATA focused company. Seeing some of the demos with Xohm, and having attended several tech seminars with HTC and Windows Mobile have me really excited about some of the things that are coming out later this year. And being a MAJOR geek myself, I still cant get over the fact that we inked a deal with INTEL AND GOOGLE! As far as an open standard goes in the, i think WiMAX and Android will have that covered.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
wow I am very suprised by all the repsonse from the people. Some time you have listen to the customer’s imputs instead of forcing upon customers what “Internally” is deemed good for the customers. Be different, be special, be revolutionary. I think we are on the tipping point of the wireless industry. It is time for something different.
To clarify my comparison between the iphone. The iphone is Brand. Its not just “cool” phone. It is a brand and image of the consumers that use it. To be hones, the phones’ feature are a bit more fancy than what they have on the instinct. Belive I played with both phones.
Sure, Instinct internet speed may be greater than that of the 3G ver. of the iphone. But application, the OS, the 3rd party application is better than that of the Instinct. It is not on par at all with the iPhone. Just my opinion.
Once again as said before above, Branding or Image is very important in this matter. The iPhone is an icon, a brand, a declaration of the uniqueness of each individual’s self. Shallow as it may sound, but is is our inherient psyche that we pay attention to these types of social nomrs.
I think for Sprint’s future, as mentioned above by another author, you need to really step up you game. I am not sure what the age demographics is at Sprint corporate. But you really need to get some young guns in to work for you to close that generation gap. The new generation is not good a being told what they should like and want. They are more inclined to do that themselves. And when you tell them what they want or should do they usually turn the other way.
I think you should take a look at the new data related to the new services that are being offered right now. Sinece the industry right are all offering similar plans. The reason people defect from carriers maybe new handsets that come out.
Maybe sprint should consider revamping handset upgrade plans. Just tweakign that may give people incentive to stay. If you were to give me options to change phone every 6 months at discount, I d enjoy that very much.
Just my 2 cents.
July 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I have been a sprint customer since 1993 and converted my entire family to the sero plan a year ago. I read some of your blog comments that suggest the sero plan will expire when your 2 year contract expires. Is this true?
In the past your sprint plan always stayed the same even after your contract ended unless the customer requested a new plan. Does sprint plan to cancel all sero plans at the end of the 2 year contract and if so what plan will they force on us?
I also tried to login to review the new Everything referral plan by using your email and 3 digit # and this is the what comes up:
Sorry! Our records indicate that the Sprint employee who extended this offer to you has reached their referral activation limit for the program.
For inquiries related to the referral limit, please have the referring Sprint employee send an email to SERO_Program@sprint.com from their sprint.com email address.
Thank You.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Hi Russ,
I tried using your email addr & employee ID but sprint says you have maxed out your referrals. I’d love to switch over to the ‘new’ SERO plan but I guess its getting frustrating trying to. I’ve been with Sprint for over 12 years now. It would be great to finally catch some sort of break. I heard about the original SERO plan about a month ago but getting a new phone and having 2 contracts with Sprint wasn’t in my budget. I talked to Sheila in customer service for the SERO plan and she was awesome. I only wish I had asked her for a referral! Oh well.
Best regards,
Barbara
July 30th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Barbara,
Thanks for being a longtime loyal customer.
I found out about the new message folks are receiving yesterday. I have a note into the e-mail address included in that message to find out what’s up. I’d originally heard there wasn’t any limit. I’ll let you know what they say when I hear back.
Russ
July 30th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
For those who have been waiting…
I received a note today from the Everything Plus folks saying that there is no limit on the number of referrals. Sure enough, when I then tried it again, the message about maxing out the referrals was gone.
Feel free to give it a shot.
Russ
July 30th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Sprint - Customer service keeps getting better
Ok - Now that you guys have received a tons of negative comments about customer service, I would like to say that so far, my experience has been great (I have been customer for last 1 year). The people are polite, clear the mess and ready to help. Keep it up.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I’ve been Sprint customer for 9 years with 5 lines of service on Family Plan. Sprint has taken away my NVP discount and my monthly charges are now $80 more than what I used to pay. Sprint is no longer competitive with their new pricing. I understand that Dan Hesse is trying to - “Improve profitability”. But when you’re doing it at the expense of your long time customers, it’s a losing proposition. It costs less to retain your customers than to gain new ones. We’ll see how long Hesse will last when customers are jumping ship. I know I’ll be going over to AT&T.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:02 am
Yeah Nomad, I will jump ship also if Sprint would not let me use me current plan on the HTC Touch Pro when it comes out in fall. I have no incentive to stay if they keep forcing people to change plans
July 31st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Well, I hope that when my old sero plan ends I’ll be allowed to stay on the same billing/contract price/plan. I use my phone for light browsing, I paid the 300 dollars for the mogul (even though there is no way you guys are paying 550 a handset, nobody buys that) and I am okay as long as I don’t need to call customer service, even today, I’m going to get somebody that has no clue what is going on. Take for example, I called a week back, I moved from FL to NC and was still being billed for FL taxes. Even though the NC tax is more, I wanted Sprint to update it to make sure that Sprint did not get in trouble. When I brought this up to the rep he assured me that everything was fine and that it was because I had used the phone in FL. When I told him that I hadn’t been in FL for 4 months, he changed his story to “it’s because you have a florida number” Then I asked for his supervisor… was put on hold for 15 min, and when he got back to me he said that his supervisor fixed it. So not only was I refused talking to the supervisor as I had asked (which I’m sure is a policy, as I work in a call center) but he also tried to give me two false reasons as to why it was wrong… Sprint Customer service is horrible, even in the recent changes, it’s still just as bad. Not only that, but to charge the current sero customers (those of us who actually got a legitimate post card from you) almost double what we already pay, for adding BB services, which I don’t have a BB. I for one will be going back to T-mo or maybe even ATT for the iphone. I paid 300 dollars for the best phone you have, and it still pales in comparison to the other providers. I would suggest that if you wish to keep the current sero customers.. you need better handsets. HTC makes a number of great devices, some of which Sprint won’t carry. Having spoken to HTC reps, and their supervisors, the price you pay for a handset might be about the same as what we pay, maybe a little more, but not the insane prices you claim on your site. Palm does not charge you 300 for the centro, and HTC does not charge 550 for the Titan (mogul), so please don’t try to pull the cover over our eyes and make pretend that you’re charging us WAY less then what they charge you for the handsets. Understand that the sero plan is the only reason I left t-mo, and for 60 bucks, I can get a better plan more suited to what I need. Once my contract for the 30 a month plan is over, if I am not offered the same plan, I will leave, and sell my handset to somebody on ebay. I use less then 200 min a month, and very very light data, I will probably have to move to a pre-paid plan if this is what I’m forced into paying.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Hi Russ, I just wanted to thank you for publishing your email address and employee info to allow for referrals. I think the new everything plus plans will be a bit better for profitability than the old SERO plans were.
I have a mogul on a SERO 500 plan (old school SERO), I’ve had it about a year now, and I’ve been tethering for light mobile internet needs. Lately I have found myself using it more and more frequently, so when I saw you post your referral info, I decided to pick up a Compass 597 datacard on the $49 data plan this evening. Thanks again for making this possible, you more than doubled the income sprint is going to receive from me every month!
Thanks again!
-Matt
August 1st, 2008 at 8:15 am
For those on the previous SERO plan, I’ve been told that existing SERO customers on the legacy SERO rate plans are grandfathered and can remain on these plans indefinitely.
However, the Instinct is not available on the previous SERO plan, so upgrading to the Instinct will require changing to this new Everything Plus plan. Otherwise, there shouldn’t be any need for concern.
August 1st, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Russ,
Thanks for the update, where you mentioned that SERO plans are grandfathered. That is very good news. Now I am trying to get my sister change from tmob to sprint, and want a similar plan, but the CSR is clueless as to how to go about it.
I will call 1-800.sprint-1 and let you know how it goes
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
Russ, this isn’t bad but you guys have had better plans, hell you have had better promotions. I have been a subscriber for about 5 years. Currently you guys are killing me with my current plan and about 70% of the time not sending me my bill. I added a line w/ insurance and limited text messaging (about 15-18 a month) to a 70 dollar plan yet my bill is 120-130 every month without going over and that is with my Dell employee discount
as far as your cost for the phone I refuse to believe you pay more than 20 dollars for 90% of the phones you offer.
Your customer care and retentions has done a poor job of handling any of my complaints or issues and as a result unless it changes I will be changing providers when this contract expires.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I wanted to add that I really like Josh’s ideas about pushing Sprint to college students.
I’m an undergrad student and I’m currently on SERO 500 and loving it.
There’s a lot of potential for growth if Sprint offers a cheap plan targeted and marketed towards students/younger people. I told all my friends about my plan and ended up getting 3 referrals in my first month with Sprint. The fact is there are millions of students who want things like unlimited SMS & data but don’t care for the extra things (BIS, Navigation, …) and if they can get that for less than 1/2 the price of a comparable AT&T/Verizon/T-Mobile plan they would do it in a heartbeat. I know I jumped on SERO as soon as I heard about it. I think the churn rate on such a service would be really low, too. Now that I have been using data services like Google Maps, mobile web, etc., I can’t imagine going to a plan with only voice/SMS.
The thing about the old SERO is nobody really knew about it and so it only spread via word of mouth and web forums, which is exactly what it was intended to do. I think a relaunch of a discount 500 minute plan with unlimited SMS & data that was marketed towards younger people and at an affordable price point ($35-40/month?) would be incredibly successful.
In addition to a new plan targeted towards younger people, there should be a new phone(s) that offer advanced features. Young people use technology more than most people, and a smart phone targeted towards us would be really successful. The Centro was a good start, but it has some flaws. A similar phone with improvements like a better web browser and EV-DO Rev. A would sell like hotcakes at a hotcake sale.
I know Hesse wants to improve profitability, and I don’t know how much Sprint would make off a $35-40 plan like that, but even if it were only $5 / month net per user if you had a few million subscribers that’s a decent chunk of change.
August 4th, 2008 at 4:39 am
In regards to the idea of plans targeted towards younger people, I would advise they keep in mind what happened to Amp’d Mobile, a verizon MVNO last year. They marketed to the young’uns, and since most people in their target demographic had little to no credit, they made it really easy to get into a contract, because the credit check was a joke. Then executives wrung their hands months down the road when 80% of their customers were not paying their bills on time.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Hi there, I’ve been trying to use your information to get the Everything plus deal but when I enter it in it states that I’m not allowed to enter that portion of the website. Any additional tips for me? Thanks
August 5th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Heather,
Over the past several weeks I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mails from Sprint saying something like “we were unable to help you on your recent visit to our website…” I’m guessing that these messages get generated to me when folks were unable to get in to the referral site. Yesterday I got more of these than normal, so I’m guessing there was something causing more challenges than normal (more folks signing up maybe?). In general, I’ve found that if I wait a while and then try again, I can get in. I just tried and it worked for me, so maybe if you try again it will work.
Thanks,
Russ
August 6th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Matt: Amp’d Mobile was targeted at the VH1/MTV/Motocross demographic. I would never have signed up for them because I didn’t take them seriously as a company, and frankly I would have been embarrassed to be seen with any phone with an “Amp’d” logo.
The demographic I was thinking of was the “University Student” demographic; 18-30 year olds who are smart, tech savvy, and cheap/broke as hell. Every college student has a cell phone, and every one of them wishes they had a cheaper plan that has more features. If someone can throw a great plan in the mix then there wouldn’t be a competition. The only friends I talked to who didn’t switch to SERO were either in contract or on their parent’s line paying $10 a month.
August 6th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Matt and Daniel,
Does UNLTD by Boost do anything for you? I know it’s not available everywhere, but where it’s available, does it meet the need? (http://plans.boostmobile.com/planhub.aspx)
Russ
August 7th, 2008 at 12:34 am
Russ,
Boost also suffers from the same marketing flaws (or, at least things I perceive as flaws) as Amp’d. I do not want a provider whose slogan is “Where you At?”. I do not want to be on your “UNLTD plan”.
Past the marketing, their plans do not do too much for me either. They start out with unlimited calling and add in unlimited data and SMS as the cost goes higher, which is nice if you use a ton of talk time but not too good if you don’t. My personal usage history on SERO has been (avg. since beginning contract) ~250 minutes/~50MB data/~1000-1500 txt. I use the data access to look up movie tickets, watch YouTube on the go, get local business info/directions with Google Maps, check my Facebook, and check my Gmail. Facebook for Palm is a ‘killer app’, and I am kind of disappointed I only got to use it for a few days (see “P.S.”). All of my peers are members of the SMS generation, and 90% of my peer communication is through text or web. If I want to have a lengthy talk with someone, I’ll send them a txt asking if they can meet me somewhere. A plan that offers unlimited text and data, and then adds on more minutes as the price goes up would be much more attractive to me.
I think an Everything plan with the option of removing BIS and/or Navigation for a cheaper plan would be great. Call it “Simply Connected” or something and charge $54.99 for Everything 450 - BIS or Navigation, $39.99 for Everything 450 - BIS & Navigation. To prevent this plan from cannibalizing plans like the $49.99 Talk/Message plan you could only allow one line per contract, making the Talk/Message plan the choice for family plans and the “Simply Connected” plan the choice for independent consumers.
Daniel
P.S. I will probably be using more data in the future, since I recently (8/4/2008) upgraded to a Treo 800w. At first I didn’t believe what people said about the Centro being a “gateway drug”, but now I’m living proof.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Thanks for the excellent input Daniel. I’m passing it along to the folks in our marketing group.
BTW - I must’ve missed something. Why were you only able to use Facebook for a few days?
Russ
August 7th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I didn’t hear about the Facebook for Palm app until last Saturday, and i switched to the Treo 800w on Tuesday. There is a Facebook app for Windows Mobile, but it isn’t nearly as polished/full featured as Facebook for Palm.
-posted from my new 800w
August 8th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Russ,
Like I mentioned before. You need to get in touch more with your Gen Y (millennials) demographics. We think differently, act differently, and understand our surroundings differently. You should hire Daniel to do marketing.
just my 2 cents.
August 8th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
So, I am looking heavily into getting this, and I fit into the demographic of university student who is poor as hell. Do you think this everything plus plan is a good value, or Russ, do you know if they might do something along the lines of what Daniel suggested? I currently have virgin mobile, I it, but I don’t want to be stuck into a two year contract only to have a better plan fit to my needs at a later date.
Also along those lines, can you switch mid plan or must you ride it out to the end… Because then I could get this now, and if a better/cheaper one came out, go with that.
August 9th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Russ,
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been with Sprint for over 2+ years now and I joined when the old-Sero was introduced. If I was not on the SERO now, I would get the new Simply Everything for $59.99. Like some one mentioned above, Sprint by far is the cheapest out there for voice,text, and data. The only problem I have is I can’t really use the phone inside my home as I live in an enclosed complex. Thanks for publishing your info so others can enjoy the new Sero plan.
August 18th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I just added a second line to my account which already had the original SERO 500. I know technically you weren’t supposed to recieve any additional company discounts but I still was getting it, for almost a full year.
Does anyone know if you can still get a company discount on the new everything plus or is it a system limitation that will just simply disregard the discount. In that case I might as well just have them change the plan from everything plus to the regular everything plan of 450 minutes.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:29 am
Russ, A previous post says that an existing customer can only take advantage of the offer if a new line of service is opened, but I see a bunch of posts from SERO customers asking about upgrading their current service. So which is it? I’m a long time Sprint customer, but not a SERO customer. If I could upgrade my current service to this, I’d certainly look into it.
If it’s not available to current non-SERO customers, it certainly would be discouraging — making an otherwise happy Sprint customers quite unhappy.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:24 am
Jimmy,
You make a good point. At Sprint, we are increasingly sensitive to the need to treat existing customers better than, or at least as well as, we treat new customers. But sometimes we miss the mark, and you’ve pointed out an example of that. In general, the upgrade from SERO to Everything Plus is there to accomodate SERO customers who want to upgrade to the Instinct (which requires an Everything plan). I’ve dropped a note to my counterpart who is focused on treating existing customers well and am hopeful that we’ll continue to correct cases like this where we’re missing the mark.
Russ
August 21st, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Thanks Russ. I’m glad that the issue has made it to the eyes of someone who can do something about it. I’ve been looking at the Instinct, and the price of the Everything plan is what’s holding me back. (I’d get it tomorrow if it worked with my current visions plan) In fact, it’s made me start looking at other phone alternatives with other carriers, although not upgrading my current Sprint service seems to be the best option right now. I’d love to be able to take advantage of the new program at some point, so feel free to pass along my email address to your counterpart.
August 22nd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Sero plan for 2 years now and went to upgrade to the instinct.. but was told i had to pay double!!!!!!!!
Bye Bye sprint .. I’m off to At&t
Also my whole family is out of contract in less then a month.. You pissed them down the toilet also
August 27th, 2008 at 12:03 am
ByeSprint: why would you want to go to ATT and pay double for something you can get with sprint..paying double for sprint to upgrade to the instinct would still be cheaper than ATT..i myself am switching from ATT to sprint because of their gawd-awful prices.
thanks russ again for your employee info..i’ll be switching to sprint within a week since my 2 year with ATT will be up :0)
August 27th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Thanks Lynn! And welcome to the family.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am
ByeSprint: If you’re really going to jump ship, please contact me. I’ll take over your SERO plan via Transfer of Liability.
Russ: If i take over the plan, would I be able to get a mogul setup on the plan?
Thanks in advance.
spiffi1@gmail.com
August 27th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Good afternoon Russ & all,
A general comment for me as a non SERO user but someone that helped quite a few friends/family members get on the former SERO plan.
I think the idea behind the “Everything” plan is fantastic, however the rate plan doesn’t float my boat. My phone is my lifeline for business and personal use (Treo 755p). I am on my phone all the time for both data, phone, text etc.
A little background I suppose is in order. I’ve been a Sprint customer for… roughly 6 years and am on an old 2500 min shared business/family plan with 5 total lines. My total monthly bill is approximately $157 and this includes insurance on my primary phone, unlimited text on primary and all the phones have data and at least 500 texts etc.
If there were a more reasonable way to share the plan then I would be all over it but the simple fact for both my business and personal use (along with my family and work lines) are that there are only one or two phones that would benefit from the EVERYTHING/unlimited plan and mostly just the unlimited minutes/data/text portion and of which the unlimited minutes aspect are really the only part that I dont already have access to on my existing plan. Why on earth, if I only need unlimited minutes on one or two lines out of five would I be excited about paying an additional $400 on top of my current plan price.
I regret with a passion that I missed the roughly week long opportunity to jump on the unlimited/everything plan at the original plan price with the ability to share with multiple lines at a much more reasonable rate.
On a customer relations note (while i have a soapbox). I’m a little irritated with my most recent customer service experience. The reps that I spoke with were very nice/polite but my issue was absolutely not resolved. One of the changes to my plan a year or so ago was to be promo’d into the nights/weekends starting at 7pm (instead of 9pm). This resulted in a monthly credit to my account to offset the cost. Well, 3 months ago my Treo ran into connection problems and would state that the data network was unavailable, even when it was. This required several reconnection attempts every time you wanted to do something via data. Not life ending but annoying when you use data regularly. The fix for this (i was told) was because my plan was so old that I needed to be moved into a new data code. Great I thought and after it was done my connection issues went away.
A few weeks after this fix however I got notified that my sprint picture mail was being turned off if I didn’t sign up. Well, i’d had picture mail since day 1 and it was always a part of my data plan. Apparently my new data fix had blown up my picture mail. The solution was that I had to pay for picture mail but the nice rep offered to credit me for the charge. That was great, I would hope that keeping my service at the same level wouldn’t result in a billing increase, especially since it was through no fault of my own.
So, picture mail gets added and a $5 credit shows up, but now I’m no longer getting my credit for the nights and weekends. Several phone calls and reps later (including retention who originally put the promo on nights and weekends on my act) the end result is that I am told that I can only have one discount applied at a time. Well… huh? While i can understand that the system may only allow one line item for discounts, shouldn’t my lone line item now reflect the total of both discounts? The addition of the nights and weekends credit from last year + the picture mail discount which has ALWAYS been free as an included addon for my grandfathered plan.
I received an automated survey call 10 days ago and left feedback that I was not satisfied with the resolution and was told (by the recording) that someone from the “Advanced” support team would be contacting me in the next 5 business days. Its been 8 now and no call.
While I do enjoy my plan, phone and service; on principal I don’t enjoy getting nickeled and dimed for services that I was getting free the day before and am now being charged for because there was a Sprint service issue that I was not responsible for messed up my account.
I hope that a happy middle ground can be found that allows Sprint to grow and develop services that will not alienate we users, especially existing users. While there is no and likely never will be a one size fits all package deal, i would like to see this continue to evolve.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
like others i have been a loyal customer with sprint for a long time ( i was originally with nextel because i loved the chirp) i was forecd to got to sprint and thats when i found the the sero plan and signed up for it to be kicked out because its not avail in the chicago land area. go figure . was about to cancel and to at&t to get the iphone but a retentions rep gave me an offer that i could not refuse.
Recently i just upgraded to a simply everything plan when i bought my palm centro at price of 30 dollars( matched a best buy offer at the second store i went too). the first store would not match even though notes were in the system from account managers that i spoke to saying to give me the phone at 30 dollar price. then i was informed that the simply everything plan would not support phone as a modem. lol i found my self being force to take other plans if i wanted to use that feature, that must be fixed and is unacceptable.
The biggest issue is that i had to call customer service for three straight days because my account was messed up from the first retention rep ( he promised me a one year contract but i was put in the system for a two year contract, lucky there were notes that he put in the system backing up my claim that i was supposed to be in a two year contract)
even with the notes i spent almost 10 hours total talk time with all hang ups, being disconnected, put on hold for long periods of time, (even being told that no one would talk to me until they called me back huh????) talking with an escalation manager who did not return any of my phone calls (as he had promised while i was in the sprint store) and given a number that was already in use on a t moble account (i would dial out fine but when some one called me they got the t mobile customer lol) in order to get this situation corrected that in my opinion is totally unacceptable.
the store manager of the first store would not even come out to talk to me even though she came out the she the new lotus phone that will be out offered be sprint in the future ( flip smart phone real nice looking) (said she was in a phone conference store is located on harlem and lake oak park ill.)the best part was that i was asked to take a survey of my experience lol all 1’s and i left a message……… Probably feel upon deaf ears
the only reason i stayed is because……….. i only have to call customer service about once every year or two other then that i love u guys
September 8th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
is there a reason why we can’t add a corporate discount onto a sero plan? thats kinda annoying..pluss..i dont seem to be able to get any invoice credits even tho they’re specifically for those who just activated a new line :0P
September 14th, 2008 at 10:02 am
g’day RM- any updates re your post below? i’m 10yr customer who’s very interested in switching to the 1000min Everything Plus plan.
Quote- Russ Says:
August 21st, 2008 at 7:24 am
Jimmy,
You make a good point. At Sprint, we are increasingly sensitive to the need to treat existing customers better than, or at least as well as, we treat new customers. But sometimes we miss the mark, and you’ve pointed out an example of that. In general, the upgrade from SERO to Everything Plus is there to accomodate SERO customers who want to upgrade to the Instinct (which requires an Everything plan). I’ve dropped a note to my counterpart who is focused on treating existing customers well and am hopeful that we’ll continue to correct cases like this where we’re missing the mark.
Russ
UNQUOTE
September 14th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hello Russ,
a) This website is an amazing idea! I was just thinking how much I wished we had a line directly into the ear of someone important at Sprint. Lo and Behold, we do!
b) I too am a poor professional (vet) student, and I have a major need for data and text messaging on a mobile device. I waited patiently and missed the old SERO plan hoping for the HTC touch pro to land on Sprint; I am still waiting, but growing more optomistic monthly. Because I work with large animals all the time, it is essential I insure my phone, so I am automatically spending 7 dollars over the cost of the plan a month. That been said, I have accessed, on my student loan riddled budget, that I can spend exactly 45.37 a month without having a major financial crisis.
I realize, I have been a student not-so-slightly longer than alot of other university students, so I have less loan money and more debt, however, the economy is hurting lots of students, and I am assuming none of them are far behind us.
I don’t need GPS service, I own a portable GPS that works great for its job. I don’t need TV on my wireless device, I need access to our E-mail client, and my date book, and probably windows live; since it seems incredibly useful. Is there any realistic chance, in the coming few months, of sprint offering a ’student plan’ that requires an employee referral, a valid university e-mail address, and offers us the ability to pick and choose the parts of a service that we want/need. My needs are totally different from a student who wants GPS, Blackberry Service and Sprint TV, but at the same time, we share the same potential… if Sprint forms a relationship with us now, we are much more likely to remain with the same company. I have stayed with my current provider (not sprint, sorry), for 9 years, because I am with them, their plans are useable, and their service is incredible. So, if Sprint could make a plan that worked in my budget, I would be happy to sign on, and I don’t think I am the only student with needs like these, because I spend every day with 500 people in a similar situation; and with another 60,000 students in the same situation all around me. While this may not be the most financially beneficial now, if it brings in customers to the sprint family, and your customer service keeps us there, that would be an excellent long term financial strategy.
I look forward to hearing fom you, and appreciate your taking the time to consider this message. Keep evolving Sprint; she has improved, but just like everything, there is always room for improvement.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:52 am
dp - thanks for the note. I’m hopeful that comments like yours will continue to remind us to treat existing customers well as we make future policy decisions. I wouldn’t hold my breath on a change to the current Everything Plus policy, but hopefully as future decisions are made, we will value existing customers as highly as new customers. Thanks for your loyalty to Sprint both in your long-time business and in taking time to provide input.
nj - thanks for the note. I’m forwarding it to the team within Sprint focused on marketing to college students. Thanks for your interest in Sprint.
Russ
September 16th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Hello Russ,
Although the everything plus plan is great amongst your competitors, how about a plan that is great amongst your customers? In these trying economic times consumers are looking to save a buck or two which means cutting out all excess spending. When you do what’s right for the customer, in turn what you’re doing what’s what for your business. I applaud you giving your employee information so that others may enjoy a distant relative for the SERO plan. However with the everything plus plan ,your basically telling your customers of SERO that they have to pay double for the same features in order to get a new phone. You should consider a compromise; instead forcing the customer to change their plan you should try charging more for the phone for existing customers. Example: SERO customer wants to purchase a HTC touch diamond ready and willing to sign a new 2yr agreement; price of the phone after all discounts $349.99 as opposed to the $299.99 (it’s just a thought). There has to be some balance, or even options for the customer that already has a SERO plan. I would appreciate any feedback Russ Thanks.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I’ve been on a Nextel family plan for the last several years, due to our family construction business.
All I’ve seen is the service steadily getting worse, from signal degradation and dropped calls, to the customer service reps. Its almost like Sprint is TRYING to push customers away. I don’t know if Sprint overall is trying to phase out PTT functionality and/or the Nextel brand, but from my experience it seems the case.
A friend of mine who has the $30 SERO plan convinced me to take a look at it. And what do I find? A plan that has doubled in price, with a limited selection of phones, the inability to port my iDEN number assignment to the network (which is rediculous), and the plan itself containing a bunch of frivolous extras to justify its stupid cost.
All 95% of customers out there want anymore is a certain amount of “anytime” minutes, say 500, and unlimited text. If I want GPS, I’ll get a TomTom, if I want web access, I’m not going to try to read e-mail on a postage stamp sized screen.
With the government bailing out every mismanaged corporate giant while leaving the poor and huddled masses to fend for themselves, its staggering in its audacity to see a company like Sprint/Nextel, with a long history of poor service and poor network performance, to take a plan who’s one saving grace was the cheap price, which made the aggravation easier to swallow, ramp up the price without increasing any of the service to “compete” with the pricing more reliable carriers offer.
WHY would I spend $60 on a plan for at most two bars and 1 in 3 calls dropped while in areas like Palm Beach and Miami, when I could go with another carrier which has substantially better service and features for $70? Ten bucks a month difference is not huge when the consumate benefits of not having to deal with Sprint are realized.
I hope I gave you something to think about, but I know my little post won’t change a thing unfortunately, corporations such as this no longer care about their customer base, since in essence, all consumers are slaves to the corporate giants.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
[…] was intentionally made public: E-Mail: russ.s.mcguire@sprint.com Last 3 of CID: 383 (Reference: McGuire?s Law Blog Archive Psst - Have you Heard about Everything Plus?.) This information was made public by Russ Mcguire on 7/16/08, and is posted on this forum so […]
September 29th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Thanks For Chatting With us. Its Nice To Have Someone Who Knows What Their Doing On The Inside. I have been a nextel customer for 2+ yrs now. I just have the 450min plan with the powersource data plan. I am looking at getting the touch pro when it is released but I didn’t know If I could switch to the everything plus plan, I am eligable for an upgrade I think I would have to hold off for a while If I couldn’t get this deal.
Thanks In Advance For Your Time
Matt
September 30th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Hi, Russ, from an old telco engineer who was designing digital interconnections for cellular providers as far back as 1984. :o)
Bundling of services so that customers are required to pay for services they don’t want or are not even available with their nice new Sprint handsets is an anathema to me.
In years past the wireline communications companies were soundly stomped for doing that, and by federal decree were no longer allowed to do it.
The same should happen to the wireless communication companies if they do not correct the problem themselves.
The new “everything” plans would gain me NOTHING, but cost twice as much.
Heck, my “mil-spec, ruggedized” Sanyo handset doesn’t even have a camera so why would Sprint charge me for picture mail and video mail?
I’m sorry, but I don’t WANT “everything,” and my handset of choice does not support “everything.”
Is there some way to have the features I do not need or want removed, and the cost of those features removed from my bills?
See:
http://forums.buzzaboutwireless.com/baw/board/message?board.id=Plans&thread.id=2031
BTW, the drastic change from SERO to the new plans has also, apparently, drastically changed what I am allowed to do under my SERO plan that I’m still under contract for…
See:
http://forums.buzzaboutwireless.com/baw/board/message?board.id=Plans&thread.id=1957&jump=true
Take care,
Tom
September 30th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Hey Tom,
I don’t get it. Sprint offers plans that don’t include “everything” (our “Basic” plan starts at $29.99 and our “Talk” plan starts at $39.99). You’re free to choose one of those. We aren’t forcing you to buy a bundle. We are generous enough to offer a great price on an everything plus plan as an employee referral offer. And for a period of time, we were insanely generous with a SERO offer that couldn’t be profitable.
Most folks are thankful that Sprint offers, and that I’ve shared my personal info so they can take advantage (if they choose) of a great offer on a bundle. Most folks, like you, who have benefited from the original unbeatable SERO offer are gracious about how generous it was/is. I don’t understand why a few folks need to beat me up over it.
Sprint hopes to be the wireless carrier of choice for those who want to do more than just talk. We also appreciate customers like you who only want to talk, but we’re focused on helping folks discover the full power of mobility.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I don’t mean to “beat you up” over the change of plans, Russ, and I’m not a “talk only” customer. With the two SERO lines I have (about $85/month) we use, total, about 200-300 talk minutes, about 30-50 text messages, and use the GPS (which requires data service…) several times a month.
That little volume of use is I’m certain covered by the $85 you get from me every month. The “insanely generous with a SERO offer that couldn’t be profitable” doesn’t wash for low usage folks. Sorry.
Let me ask you instead, Russ, what you would recommend that would be good for both myself and Sprint. :o)
You have two people on fixed incomes (one disabled, one definitely retired and 83 years old) who need reliable mobile voice, text and GPS, but not a whole lot of each.
For one of us, the Sprint PCS phone is the only phone service. Social Security does not double each year, so there is not much space for doubling the cost of our mobile service with the new plans.
I will grant you that were we customers who used each and every service in our plans to their limits, we would not be profitable, but ARPU is not the only way to look at the value of a customer, Russ.
Revenue minus costs equals profit, and that means that a customer paying you a hundred bucks while using thousands of hours of airtime and massive amounts of data is not more profitable than a customer paying you $85 for a minimal amount of use.
(Also, just because a person does not use as much or as many services does not mean that what they DO use is less important to either them or the provider.)
Please don’t think I’m attacking you or Sprint - I’m really not. Sprint has in my opinion technically the best service, it is just some of their business plans that I question.
Take care,
Tom
October 1st, 2008 at 4:58 am
Thanks Tom,
You’re right, profitability is revenue minus cost. The costs include the upfront cost of establishing the customer (including phone subsidy) and the ongoing monthly costs (including network costs based on usage and other costs of serving the customer, including the amount of time spent with customer service). Our upfront cost of establishing the customer is typically in the $300 - $500 range (depending on where the customer signed up and how much subsidy we had to pay to make the phone attractively/reasonably priced to the customer). If a customer paid us $30 a month and didn’t ever use their phone, it still would take us 10 months to get to break even. Since our SERO plan included unlimited data, it attracted a lot of heavy data users, so actual monthly costs were high. As a plan, the way it was structured, it couldn’t be profitable. It was generous of Sprint to keep that plan out there as long as we did.
For individual customers using that plan, the actual profitability will vary. Low usage customers could possibly be profitable.
To your point, how profitable a customer is and how valuable or important they are are not the same. With some exceptions (e.g. customers who abuse our services and never pay), all of our customers are important. Our #1 priority inside the company is to improve the customer experience, to reduce calls to care (e.g. because our systems and processes have made it hard for customers to do what they want and get the answers they need) and ultimately reduce churn. We still have a long way to go on that priority, but I believe we’re making progress - sometimes it’s two steps forward, one and a half steps back…
Thanks for being a customer.
Russ
October 1st, 2008 at 8:04 am
It amazes me some of the hostility of these posts about this subject. I just checked it out and I was able to get an Intinct on the plan. I went as far as I could without being charged and so far so good. I have the old SERO plan but do not have text included. (Yes, my plan is old). I think Russ put the post out there for people who do not have the plan as a way to help them over to Sprint. I have recently changed one of my phones on the account and they did not switch me over to the Everything Plus Plan. They let me keep my old SERO, I did try to get text but they said that would be $5 a month extra. This is a good plan for those who need all these features or just some of them. You have 30 days to try Sprint, I do suggest in those 30 days you go everywhere to make sure you have coverage. At times I get one bar and it works fantastic still, even internet is faster than dsl at times. Try to price this plan with the exact features on Verizon and ATT and see what you come up with for a total. Occassionally I have had bad customer service from them but overall I am happy. I took part in a JD Power survey about cell phones and I gave Spring high ratings. It is hit or miss with most companies for service. As for specific phones for certain plans, they can do that if they want. It is their company and their goals. LIke everything else it will probably switch. It is that first initial push for a new product that requirements can be goofy. THe Instinct is no Iphone killer, just a good phone. As for the Iphone being a status symbol I don’t quite get that. Anyone can get one, a lot of people have one. I could see it being a cool thing if say only the first 1 million new subscribers to ATT were able to get it and no one else. I see someone driving a Hummer, Porsche, etc as a status symbol because not everyone has one or can get one. So to get back to my main point if I even had one, don’t bash the plan if it doesn’t suit you. Shop around, find another carrier. Sprint needs to make money and making the old Sero into this plan was a smart choice for NEW customers and for Sprint. I haven’t seen anything where they said they would force SERO customers to switch.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Hi Russ,
I was a former IBM Contractor that worked for Sprint. My department was under ex-VP Cindy Rock in customer care. I’ve seen what the company was like three years ago and from the outside looking in I think Sprint is finally on the right track to success. The biggest problem I saw from several VPs was a lack of responsibility. I’m sure many are not happy working under Hesse where he demands results without excuses. I am hoping Sprint takes off and becomes a leader other mobile carriers look up to because the potential is there.
Now I do have a question for you. I would like to sign up for this offer but I am also eligible for a 25% corporate discount. Am I able to combine this offer with my corporate discount? I ask because $69.99-25% is cheaper than $59.99.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 am
Tomas - please e-mail me directly at russ.s.mcguire@sprint.com about your SERO Vision/PowerVison problem. I’ve sent you a couple of e-mails and haven’t heard back, so maybe you mistyped your e-mail in leaving the comment…
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Brandon - I don’t believe that additional discounts can be applied. Sounds like using your corporate discount against the normal plan is your better bet.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Hello-
Can I still get the SERO plan..?
IM TRYING TO SWITCH TO SPRINT WITH THE EMPLOYEE REFERRAL BUT I STILL THINK THEY’RE A LITTLE PRICY… ANY SUGGESTIONS…?
CAN I STILL GET THE SERO..?
PLEASE HELP!
October 9th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
S,
The old SERO plan is no longer available. Everything Plus is the new referral plan.