The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Reader Recommendations => Topic started by: Pizzabrewer on June 15, 2017, 08:53:37 AM
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https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15792628/sprint-free-year-unlimited-service-deal-promo
(https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15792628/sprint-free-year-unlimited-service-deal-promo)
This deal looks like it was designed for us. My wife and I have paid-off and unlocked iPhone 6s. Together with our son we are paying ATT $120 per month for service. Seems like a no-brainer.
Anyone else looking at this?
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Looks pretty awesome. Put me as a referral and we would both get gift cards worth $100 or $150 I think :) (or anyone you know who is on Sprint)
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https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15792628/sprint-free-year-unlimited-service-deal-promo
(https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/13/15792628/sprint-free-year-unlimited-service-deal-promo)
This deal looks like it was designed for us. My wife and I have paid-off and unlocked iPhone 6s. Together with our son we are paying ATT $120 per month for service. Seems like a no-brainer.
Anyone else looking at this?
There are cheaper deals than AT&T for $120, if you look into MVNOs.
This Sprint deal sounds interesting, but I'm sure it isn't totally free (I think there is an account fee plus taxes) and some people don't like Sprint coverage (or lack thereof). Depends on where you live I suppose. If you do sign up, please share the details.
I just wonder why Sprint is doing this. A years worth of "unlimited" service is a pretty expensive thing to give away for free...
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So I went to 2 different Sprint stores. The folks at both insisted there is no such deal even after I showed them the offer on Sprint's webpage.
Now I'm really curious...
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https://www.sprint.com/content/sprint/sprint_com/us/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html
It is an online only deal. They can't offer it to you in the store.
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I just jumped on this last night. Awaiting sim cards for my wife and I to make the switch official. All the research I did led me to believe it's legit. I'm in a huge urban area so not too concerned about sprint's reliability.
Only downsides were that we had to buy a new phone for my wife because her iphone 5 was too old and not compatible for whatever reason. So had to drop $400 on a new phone, but she needed a new one anyway. The other issue was that something didn't go through correctly when I tried to switch due to some issue when they ran my credit (not a credit score issue I don't imagine since mine is near 800). Had to call in the Sprint to get the credit check done manually and oh boy, based on my experience I'm hoping I never have to deal with their customer service department...
On the plus side there's no contract so if anything goes awry we can switch back to verizon or whoever.
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I tried really hard to like Sprint when I had it, but it was just awful. Got awful service a lot of the time even when in metro areas that their service map says should be solid.
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To quote IP Daley on the Communications (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/communications-tech-discussion-thread-1/550/) thread (whole Sprint thread starts about the 4th post down):
Anyone else heard of Sprint's "free unlimited for a year" offer?
[snip]
Anything I'm missing here?
Read the fine print at the bottom of the page. (https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html) Relevant below quoted under fair use:
Req. AutoPay, eBill, and port-in from postpaid carrier.
[snip]
Excl. ports made between Sprint or related entities.
Can't be 100% certain, but I suspect the second part excludes all Sprint MVNOs, postpaid or not. That said, I suspect Sprint might view Ting as a prepaid MVNO given even Ting views itself as somewhat nebulous on the subject (https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/articles/205433398-FAQ-Billing) depending on where you draw the lines, roaming or not. Businesses aren't in the business of losing money. You can try, but color me skeptical.
That's the benefits of being an optimistic pessimist. When you're proven wrong, it's usually good news. That said...
The first thing that jumps out at me is the complete lack of clarification on whether you're obligated under contract to a hard length of service time even if you bring your own device, and the current general terms and conditions (https://shop2.sprint.com/en/legal/os_general_terms_conditions_popup.shtml) don't help appease that concern.
Always read the contract before you sign. ALWAYS.
As for why the offer, it's likely happening due to the possibility of a T-Mobile merger (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-12/sprint-softbank-said-to-start-informal-deal-talks-with-t-mobile) and Softbank trying to pump up their Sprint subscription numbers at the last minute to improve their sale price to either T-Mobile or another potential buyer. Sprint's postpaid terms and stealth fees are treacherous in general these days. Why anyone would willingly go under those, even for the promise of a year's worth of "free" service is beyond me, but I'm one of those crazy nutjobs who checks the teeth on a gift horse before taking it. Finally, if the merger talks prove out, I'm not sure I'd personally want to be on the absorbed network end of a merger due to the inevitable technical issues of combining two massively disparate networks and billing systems.
My gut says this is a bad idea, and "free" anything should immediately send up red flags with any semi-rational person, but there are days it doesn't seem like many people care too much for my my more measured and cautious methodologies anymore. If you're brave enough to go back to a postpaid contract with Sprint even despite current circumstances, I wish you well.
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I got in under the wire. Both my wife's and my phones are compatible so all we need are the SIM cards. Our son will have to set up his own phone service as his phone wasn't eligible. He's off in the world on his own so it's probably time anyway.
Only odd thing is on the final confirmation page. It says my PIN number is displayed, which I will need for setting up online access or account service help. There is no PIN displayed. I'm on hold with their customer service to get it sorted out.
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Mine was in this box on the right not in the text of the confirmation. I missed it at first too. Mine was 6 digits long.
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ALL RIGHT! After weeks of wondering what the catch would be, I just got our SIM cards installed and we are now on the Sprint network. FREE service until 7/31/2018!
This is the most Mustachian thing we've done. Woo hoo!
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...and for those interested it looks like Sprint has extended the signup deadline to July 31. So you can still get you some free service.
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Free service doesn't mean the bill is $0.00. It looks like our first bill will be for $8.32. They do charge $1.99 per line for a maintenance fee, then there are a few taxes and regulatory charges.
I think I'll take $8.32 for 2 phones. 8)
BTW we've found the service to be pretty much equal to ATT. It's marginally worse at our house but both of us get slightly better reception at work.
The promo ends July 31, so grab it while you can.
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I tried really hard to like Sprint when I had it, but it was just awful. Got awful service a lot of the time even when in metro areas that their service map says should be solid.
Sadly that's my experience, too. I don't live in a remote area.
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So it seems Sprint keeps extending the signup deadline for this deal. You can still get it.
After several months I am quite satisfied. Our reception is only marginally spottier than ATT.
The unlimited data is nice. We only had 3 gigs of high-speed before.
What I like best are the monthly bills for $8.32.
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Crap. I already have Sprint it costs me $60 a month for terrible service.
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I keep hearing about Sprint's terrible service. It hasn't been so for us.
It's also been $8.32/month for 2 phones.
I call that awesome.
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I pay about 32 for their service, maybe 26. I get text messages days late if ever, text messages don't go out, sometimes I can't make calls, sometimes calls don't come in, messages left in voicemail arrive days late. Overall sprint is awful, I am just too lazy to change it up as I don't use my phone all that often. I would advise against them though.
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Are there any obligations saying you can't leave at the end of the free year?
It looks like they just keep extending this offer. I hope it's still available next month after we get new phones (our current phones are too old). We had Sprint for years and years, but fled for Ting in the last year or two because they were just too expensive.
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Are there any obligations saying you can't leave at the end of the free year?
Nope, no obligations, no contract.
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Sprint is so bad even at free it isn't worth it. You will never be able to talk to anyone in customer s rice.
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Sprint has made a lot of recent upgrades, but unless you have a newer phone that supports three carrier aggregation and some of the newer spectrum bands, you will continue to struggle.
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Switched from $110 a month 3GB on Verizon to $7.25 on sprint (2 iphones) . No noticeable issues or differences over the last 2 months except when in a store. I will gladly accept this massive discount. Just need to plan accordingly when the promo runs out.
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I'm a flight attendant, and travel the entirety of North America and Europe regularly with my Sprint service. The only place I've ever struggled in the last two years was in Billings, Montana. So glad I made the switch from AT&T. Looks like a great deal!
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Sprint has yet again extended this offer, thru the end of October.
https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree
(https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree)
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Thank You so much for posting the updated deadline of October 31, 2017 on this offer... about a year ago, I financed a brand new Iphone 6S PLUS and got the top data plan for just myself because I use my phone as an extension of my hand for my business, and then this year I have had my FI epiphany because of forums like this, 3 months ago, I called in and paid off my iphone, lowered my plan to minimum plan giving 1 gb data a month as well as went to prepaid and my bill dropped from $140 a month to $40 a month and it felt like Christmas but now moving from Verizon to Sprint, I am now free every month for a year! Love this forum! THANK YOU MUSTACHIANS!
-SAMMY AZ
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Sprint has yet again extended this offer, thru the end of October.
https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree
(https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree)
Yay! Now hopefully my facepunchy new phone will be here before the end of the month so I can salve the pain.
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I don't know how I missed this, but the offer is still going. I'm on RW and wife is on verizon with her family, but a year of free service for both of us would be nice.
So what's the catch? Is sprint hoping to retain enough customers at the end of the 1 year period that it will be a net win for them? I am planning to take the free year, then switch back to RW and probably switch my wife back to Verizon. She has a total boner for verizon, but I think we'd be stupid to pay $500 over the next year to have verizon instead of sprint.
Why did this thread not get more love?
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We switched 2 months ago from Verizon to take advantage of the free deal (thanks to this thread - another sweet MMM find) and it is a noticeable decline in call quality. Texting seems unaffected. Internet connection can be spotty sometimes. We live in a major metro so I didn't really expect to notice a difference, but I have. Now, does that mean the phones are not usable or are we irritated on a constant basis? Do we regret changing? Not at all. Some temporary and intermittent annoyance is worth the drop in price imo, and we had been with Verizon so long that this was the kick in the pants we needed to finally try another carrier. We too intend on dropping service after the year is up, so like previous posters I also wonder how many people they'll actually retain after the deal ends, but for now I wholeheartedly enjoy my $7.14/mo bill for two lines.
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We switched 2 months ago from Verizon to take advantage of the free deal (thanks to this thread - another sweet MMM find) and it is a noticeable decline in call quality. Texting seems unaffected. Internet connection can be spotty sometimes. We live in a major metro so I didn't really expect to notice a difference, but I have. Now, does that mean the phones are not usable or are we irritated on a constant basis? Do we regret changing? Not at all. Some temporary and intermittent annoyance is worth the drop in price imo, and we had been with Verizon so long that this was the kick in the pants we needed to finally try another carrier. We too intend on dropping service after the year is up, so like previous posters I also wonder how many people they'll actually retain after the deal ends, but for now I wholeheartedly enjoy my $7.14/mo bill for two lines.
That's what I'm talking about. I'll take a small drop in quality to save $700 for a year. Considering I'm on RW I'm not expecting my quality to go down at all, but my wife's (verizon) might.
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I haven't ported to Sprint for this offer because the fine print says you have to port from a postpaid account. Maybe I could port in from my prepaid account and get the offer, but I'm not going to bother trying for the small (for me) difference.
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I haven't ported to Sprint for this offer because the fine print says you have to port from a postpaid account. Maybe I could port in from my prepaid account and get the offer, but I'm not going to bother trying for the small (for me) difference.
How do they know whether your previous account was prepaid or post paid?
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I don't know how I missed this, but the offer is still going. I'm on RW and wife is on verizon with her family, but a year of free service for both of us would be nice.
So what's the catch? Is sprint hoping to retain enough customers at the end of the 1 year period that it will be a net win for them? I am planning to take the free year, then switch back to RW and probably switch my wife back to Verizon. She has a total boner for verizon, but I think we'd be stupid to pay $500 over the next year to have verizon instead of sprint.
Why did this thread not get more love?
Yeah. I dunno. Lots of people seem to have a genuine hatred for Sprint. Our experience (as stated several times already) is that the service is only marginally worse than we had with ATT. The cost savings and unlimited data make this offer an incredible deal. YMMV.
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I don't know how I missed this, but the offer is still going. I'm on RW and wife is on verizon with her family, but a year of free service for both of us would be nice.
So what's the catch? Is sprint hoping to retain enough customers at the end of the 1 year period that it will be a net win for them? I am planning to take the free year, then switch back to RW and probably switch my wife back to Verizon. She has a total boner for verizon, but I think we'd be stupid to pay $500 over the next year to have verizon instead of sprint.
Why did this thread not get more love?
Yeah. I dunno. Lots of people seem to have a genuine hatred for Sprint. Our experience (as stated several times already) is that the service is only marginally worse than we had with ATT. The cost savings and unlimited data make this offer an incredible deal. YMMV.
I dislike Sprint. I feel like taking advantage of them for a free year is a good way to stick it to them.
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I don't know how I missed this, but the offer is still going. I'm on RW and wife is on verizon with her family, but a year of free service for both of us would be nice.
So what's the catch? Is sprint hoping to retain enough customers at the end of the 1 year period that it will be a net win for them? I am planning to take the free year, then switch back to RW and probably switch my wife back to Verizon. She has a total boner for verizon, but I think we'd be stupid to pay $500 over the next year to have verizon instead of sprint.
Why did this thread not get more love?
Yeah. I dunno. Lots of people seem to have a genuine hatred for Sprint. Our experience (as stated several times already) is that the service is only marginally worse than we had with ATT. The cost savings and unlimited data make this offer an incredible deal. YMMV.
I dislike Sprint. I feel like taking advantage of them for a free year is a good way to stick it to them.
LOL. OK, whatever the motivation it's a great deal.
I've been somewhat baffled by the negative responses but, hey. I'm paying $8.32 per month for
more than adequate service.
You can lead a horse to water...
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Last day for this. I'm still not convinced. I live in a metro area and pay $50/mo for Verizon unlimited. Is $1.15 a day worth it for something I use 20+ times a day?
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Apparently our devices aren't eligible. Sad.
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If it's terrible am I able to get out of it after, say 8 weeks, without recourse?
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If it's terrible am I able to get out of it after, say 8 weeks, without recourse?
Yes. No contract.
Life got a little crazy for me shortly after I was in this thread, so I didn't end up pulling the trigger. Luckily the deal is still going so you can still sign up and get a year of free service. I have signed myself and my wife up. I haven't received the SIM cards yet, but should this week.
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Trying this out for my wife and I. So far very small drop off in service from Verizon. Paid $10.63 for the SIM cards and my first bill was $7.07.
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Is there any reason why you wouldn't be able to renew this free offer after a year by switching to Verizon temporarily and then signing up again. That's assuming Sprint continues to keep offering this promotion?
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Is there any reason why you wouldn't be able to renew this free offer after a year by switching to Verizon temporarily and then signing up again. That's assuming Sprint continues to keep offering this promotion?
I'd be very surprised if the offer were still available that far in the future. Of course I'm surprised it is still available now so who knows?
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Is there any reason why you wouldn't be able to renew this free offer after a year by switching to Verizon temporarily and then signing up again. That's assuming Sprint continues to keep offering this promotion?
I'd be very surprised if the offer were still available that far in the future. Of course I'm surprised it is still available now so who knows?
And if it was I would be very surprised if they let you do it for a second free year.
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In the middle of trying to use this promotion. When I ordered the SIM cards there was no PIN on the page. When they arrived today I went to the activatenow link. After entering the new SIM cards the site told me that my phones were not eligible. They are an iPhone 5c and 5s which the initial page said were eligible when I entered their IMEI numbers. The chat service rep was unable to help, and customer care was closed. Wish me luck when I call in tomorrow!
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And we are in! A quick note, the rep mentioned offhand that the bill would be $30/month for two lines. Turns out they automatically add device insurance. No thanks! We are going to try and maximize the mustachianity of this offer. The plan includes 10GB of free hotspot data per line, we are going to try to use this as our home internet connection as well.
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Hmm, they didn't try to cram insurance on us. I wouldn't have been happy.
I've used the hotspot data a few times with no problems. Certainly not 10 gigs worth monthly but I have been a heavy user of regular data with no slowdowns or other issues. The wifi at work is crappy so I usually turn it off on my phone and often forget to turn it back on when I get home.
We are getting more than our money's worth and I'll be sad to see it end in a few months.
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Wow, can't believe I didn't see this thread sooner! Both DW and my phones were eligible so I pulled the trigger. Should go from $48/mo for combined 2GB data to less than $10 for unlimited for a year. Sweet!
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And we are in! A quick note, the rep mentioned offhand that the bill would be $30/month for two lines. Turns out they automatically add device insurance. No thanks! We are going to try and maximize the mustachianity of this offer. The plan includes 10GB of free hotspot data per line, we are going to try to use this as our home internet connection as well.
I also have no PIN on the order page. Why can't anything ever go smoothly...?
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We are going to try this too. Currently in the process of unlocking our phones.....
If all goes well this service may be able to replace our home internet service as well as our cell phone plan. That would be great!
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We are going to try this too. Currently in the process of unlocking our phones.....
If all goes well this service may be able to replace our home internet service as well as our cell phone plan. That would be great!
I'm not sure this offer is still good, most of this thread was during mid 2017!
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I signed up this month!
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We are going to try this too. Currently in the process of unlocking our phones.....
If all goes well this service may be able to replace our home internet service as well as our cell phone plan. That would be great!
I'm not sure this offer is still good, most of this thread was during mid 2017!
It is still available
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It's still available. (https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree)
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When I checked the link the offer had been renewed and is good until end of April 2018! Yay!
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My bill went from $122.38 to $8. The call quality is noticeably worse, but not $114.38 worse.
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My bill went from $122.38 to $8. The call quality is noticeably worse, but not $114.38 worse.
Mine went from $70 to $8. And my data from 2 gb to 10 gb
Not complaining about minor call quality drop off
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I'm using so much free data now that it'll be an adjustment when we go back to a regular plan. My free year expires at the end of June.
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My bill went from $122.38 to $8. The call quality is noticeably worse, but not $114.38 worse.
Yup, that's my math also. Our bill went down by 93% and our call quality by about 10-15%.
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I'm using so much free data now that it'll be an adjustment when we go back to a regular plan. My free year expires at the end of June.
Me too. That's what Sprint is counting on, hedonic adaption.
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Slightly annoying first world problem: Verizon continues to bill. Before switching, Sprint told me that they would 'handle everything seamlessly'. Now, I'm continuing to get bills from Verizon, and am anticipating spending hours on hold with both companies.
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My experience with sprint so far has been that they definitely do not have their shit together.
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My experience with sprint so far has been that they definitely do not have their shit together.
I've been very fortunate in that I've had no reason to contact their customer service since signing up. I understand dealing with them can be difficult.
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I'm using so much free data now that it'll be an adjustment when we go back to a regular plan. My free year expires at the end of June.
Ours will be up around then too. I'm curious what folks intend to do when the promotion is over.
I have no plan on staying with Sprint unless for some reason we can hustle another free year out of them. I won't go back to Verizon - too expensive. Just the other day I got an add in the mail for Xfinity (Comcast) for cell service which made me lol... everyone wants a slice of this market.
Has anyone decided what they are going to do after the promotion ends?
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I signed up right around the start of the new year. In late december I plan to move back to republic wireless. My wife is too good for RW, so we will probably put her on a verizon plan. Last we checked verizon was $35/mo for 2GB data and unlimited talk/text.
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Verizon promos are kind of misleading. There will be a line access charge too, on top of the price of the data plan ($20/phone I think?), and I think they limit what data packages you can purchase if you're on a solo plan. They'll nail ya with an activation fee I think too. Ugh I'm a jaded ex-Verizon customer.
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I signed up right around the start of the new year. In late december I plan to move back to republic wireless. My wife is too good for RW, so we will probably put her on a verizon plan. Last we checked verizon was $35/mo for 2GB data and unlimited talk/text.
If it needs to be Verizon, you could do worse than RedPocket (https://www.redpocket.com/plan), assuming it sticks around. Customer service is often a bit clueless, but they do eventually get things straightened out. My $10/month plan ends up being $10.22 with tax, so they don't add a lot.
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According to the Sprint web page the offer expires tomorrow (4/30/2018). It will be interesting to see if it is extended again given the recent announcement of a merger with T-Mobile.
If anyone is still contemplating this I'd recommend signing up right away.
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...and the beat goes on. The offer has been yet again extended:
https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree (https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree)
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It's not gonna stop, it's never gonna stop!
https://youtu.be/2bjC-VMUhIs?t=87
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Has anyone successfully gotten this offer coming from Ting?
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In all seriousness I'm going to miss this. Our year expires at the end of July. We've been spoiled with unlimited data and $8 monthly bills.
Any advice as to what we should do after it ends?
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Has anyone successfully gotten this offer coming from Ting?
Me!
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I had to pay the last month's bill with Verizon. They actually sent it to collections.
But yup, still $8/mo.
I'm looking for suggestions to keep this party going a la @Pizzabrewer
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Just an update, the link is still working so I am fairly certain its still going on:
https://www.sprint.com/content/sprint/sprint_com/us/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html
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It appears that the offer is still good. My wife and I are both on $20/month plan (and happy), so to move to Sprint would not save us much. But I have a friend who is interested and I shared this thread with him - maybe he'll make the switch!
https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree (https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/offers/free-unlimited.html?ECID=vanity:1yearfree)
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For those of us about to rotate off the Sprint promotion, I just spent 35 minutes trying to get them to extend the deal and they wouldn't. I'm hoping I can save others some time, because in the very very slight chance they might extend it, I thought it would be worth the time... but no dice. Here's how it went:
Call Sprint
Go through automated nonsense
Get hung up on by automated service after ~5 minutes on hold for "high call volume"
...
Call Sprint
Go through automated nonsense
Get hung up on by automated service after ~5 minutes on hold for "high call volume"
...
Call Sprint
Go through automated nonsense
Magically find the precise numerical combination to get me through to a human
Try for 10 minutes to get a very nice woman at an Indian call center to be able to log into my account
Tell woman its ok that she can't get me logged in, I will just go to a store to cancel
Hear woman freak out at the word CANCEL and transfer me to...
LEVEL TWO EMERGENCY aka "Supervisor"
Spend 5 minutes trying to get another very nice woman at an Indian call center logged into my account
Spend another 5 minutes talking about how much money I will save by not cancelling Sprint
Tell woman it's ok I am still going to cancel if they can't extend the promotion
Woman transfers me to...
LEVEL THREE EMERGENCY aka "Account Services"
Apparently at LEVEL THREE EMERGENCY you get an American call center
Woman proceeds to tell me, "Whoa, you are on the best plan available, yeah no one here has the authority to extend that one for more than a year, sorry!"
THANK YOU that is all I wanted to know
Ask woman, so what is the process to cancel next month then, can I do it online or should I go to a store?
Oh just call us back!
Um, I just spent 35 minutes on the phone trying to cancel my account, I think I'll just go to a store, but thanks!
The double whammy here is that my call quality with Sprint is awful, so through this whole process there was a lot of... wait what? I'm sorry can you repeat that? I feel so badly for call center folks that have to try to defend poor quality products... I'm like, yes this is a great service when it's free, because I get what I pay for if you get what I'm saying... D:
I may give Total Wireless a try. Anyone have any experience with them?
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Wow Ruby, thanks for taking one for the team.
My free service runs out at the end of July. I'm gonna miss it.
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Just signed up for this. First bill was about 7 bucks. Also going to cancel satellite radio in the car (*facepunch*) because we're driving a lot less lately, and we can now stream without worrying about our data limit (previously on 2 GB shared between 2 people with VZ).
Yay for saving money.
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Have someone who wants to sign up for this deal but is losing their phone and number (business phone, and they're quitting their job). Any ideas re: workarounds?
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Our Sprint deal was about to end so we signed up for Total Wireless. Our 2 phones with 15GB shared is $63.34 including taxes/fees and there was no activation fee and no contract. We were able to bring our own phones and port our numbers over with minimal problems (just about 45 minutes talking to TW customer service to make sure the second line ported correctly). The service is noticeably better. Sprint call quality is SO BAD where we are. We get coverage in areas that were previously dead zones too. It's sad to be paying again, but we're paying for a better product at least (and it's still much cheaper than Verizon).
The reason I decided to pop back in here though is to notify anyone about to end their Sprint service that Sprint may send you promotions to reactivate your lines. We got one promotion email that would pay us $150 for one line's reactivation or $250 for two or more lines' reactivation. I am not going to bother with it, but I thought it might be worth mentioning. If anyone wants to game them a bit, you could always go back for the $150/$250 and that might pay for another couple of months for free, depending on your situation.
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Were those promo offers before or after you signed up with TW?
We're losing our free service at the end of the month. My wife, who had to be talked into Sprint at the beginning, now doesn't want to give it up. She gets better reception at work than previously with ATT.
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We're those promo offers before or after you signed up with TW?
The promo was after we ported out. To port out we needed new SIM cards which took about a week to arrive (though TW BYOP SIM cards were like $2 and free shipping, so very negligible cost there). We didn't have any other lines with Sprint so our account became deactivated, which is probably what triggered the promo. So if you were going to try to game it, I would suggest porting to a cheap service that doesn't have an activation/deactivation fee and no contract of course. Then you could hope Sprint sends you the promo and port back to get the credit.
It seemed like a hassle to me (and I didn't know it was coming) so I didn't jump on it, but $250 would get you another few months at least "for free" if it's worth it. Keep in mind though that whatever cheap service you switched to may still charge you for the full month, which would eat into that $250. And it may be difficult to port out of a cheap service as the customer service is generally what's lacking.
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Just FYI I read through the block-of-text fine print on the promo and it seems there is a $30/line activation fee to come back to Sprint, so that $250 might actually be $190 if you brought two lines back and couldn't get them to waive the fee. Also note that the promotion amount is a credit against future billings on your Sprint account, not cash. It also says credit approval required (odd for a returning customer...) so they might have to do at least a soft pull on your credit.
It seems like quite the hassle to me but if anyone is successful in claiming the promo, hats off to you! You have more patience than I do :)
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Has anyone replaced their device and maintained the pricing deal? I brought over my iPhone 5s and my wife's iPhone 5c from Verizon in March. On Saturday I lost my phone and now need a replacement. I was fishing with my four kids and I'm pretty sure it fell in the pond when we were all jumping around at the excitement of catching a trout.
I'm thinking I can just get another old iPhone off of ebay, buy a new SIM, and be in business. But I'm sure that Sprint will try to get me to buy a new phone with a new plan.
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So I've been pondering what to do. My free year is up in 3 weeks.
Then today I see this on doctorofcredit.com:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sprint-unlimited-how-to-get-a-second-year-of-free-cellular-service/ (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sprint-unlimited-how-to-get-a-second-year-of-free-cellular-service/)
I think I'll give this a try for a second free year...
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Has anyone replaced their device and maintained the pricing deal? I brought over my iPhone 5s and my wife's iPhone 5c from Verizon in March. On Saturday I lost my phone and now need a replacement. I was fishing with my four kids and I'm pretty sure it fell in the pond when we were all jumping around at the excitement of catching a trout.
I'm thinking I can just get another old iPhone off of ebay, buy a new SIM, and be in business. But I'm sure that Sprint will try to get me to buy a new phone with a new plan.
Success!
First I went into a Sprint store to find out what my options are for keeping the deal with a different device. Clueless employees stated I needed to get a Sprint iPhone 6 or newer. Started looking at Craigslist phones so I could meet the buyer at a Sprint store and verify functionality.
Light bulb went off. There is an iPhone 5c sitting on the electronics shelf in our closet! It has a broken screen, but still... Replacement screen on Amazon is $20-30. However, I was supposed to be flying out for work in Sunday, so started looking at local phone repair shops. $60, done in an hour.
Back to the Sprint store to confirm the 5c would work before replacing the screen. After 30 minutes of waiting and employee head-scratching while staring at the computer, he told me I had to do it online. If I do it online they will ship me a SIM card for $13. However, he could sell me a SIM card for $27 (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). Walked out with SIM card.
Later that night called Sprint, confirmed SIM card would work, installed, and now have a functional phone. Was going to head to the repair shop tonight, but just found out my trip is cancelled. Save $30 and do the screen myself? I have done one before.
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So I've been pondering what to do. My free year is up in 3 weeks.
Then today I see this on doctorofcredit.com:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sprint-unlimited-how-to-get-a-second-year-of-free-cellular-service/ (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sprint-unlimited-how-to-get-a-second-year-of-free-cellular-service/)
I think I'll give this a try for a second free year...
OK I just ordered the T-Mobile starter kits from Amazon, $21 including sales tax. They should be here in 2 days. There were some other cheaper, quicker but sketchier-sounding options mentioned in the Doctor of Credit article but I'd rather keep this straightforward. I'll post again as I go through the process to let y'all know how it goes. A second year of free Sprint would be terrific.
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I just brought my phones to ting today as my free year ends next week, checked my eligibility for both phones and got the green light on sprint. Think I am going to order my SIM cards today and go back to not caring about data for another year.
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So I've been pondering what to do. My free year is up in 3 weeks.
Then today I see this on doctorofcredit.com:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sprint-unlimited-how-to-get-a-second-year-of-free-cellular-service/ (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sprint-unlimited-how-to-get-a-second-year-of-free-cellular-service/)
I think I'll give this a try for a second free year...
OK I just ordered the T-Mobile starter kits from Amazon, $21 including sales tax. They should be here in 2 days. There were some other cheaper, quicker but sketchier-sounding options mentioned in the Doctor of Credit article but I'd rather keep this straightforward. I'll post again as I go through the process to let y'all know how it goes. A second year of free Sprint would be terrific.
So I sat down tonight with the intention of giving this a go. Got all my info together then got cold feet. I posted a few questions on the DofC thread and hopefully will get some answers. If anyone here has any insights I'd appreciate it:
"I have a few questions. After porting our numbers to TMobile, we won’t have the ability to call Sprint to port back to Sprint as our phones will be inactive. Can we instead go through the online signup process as we did last year signing up for the first time? If so, can we bypass the “order SIM card” step?
If we can’t do it online, I suppose I could call from work, but since it’ll be my wife’s name/SS on the account I assume they’d want to speak with her.
And if a phone call to Sprint is necessary, how do you specify upon porting the numbers back that you want the free unlimited plan?
Also, does anyone know the phone numbers for both TMobile and Sprint that would need to be called? Is it just the general CS number? I remember on signing up last year that the regular CSRs knew very little about the free plan and that there was a separate department to handle my request. I’m worried about porting over to TMobile then being stuck not getting back to Sprint by doing things in the wrong order or speaking with the wrong department.
I have the TMobile SIM cards in hand but am hesitant to get started without knowing exactly what I’m getting into.
Thanks in advance for any help."
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Not sure if it helps, I ported my numbers to Ting online ($6 for 2 SIM Cards) I Then ordered the sprint ones and it took a day or 2 to receive. I have checked and re-checked my numbers and will be activating online tonight. I did not have to call anyone so far. to activate sprint online after you receive your cards its www.sprint.com/activatenow , do not go to the activate section of the website on the header or you will be stuck in an endless loop of hell.
Does this make sense or did I miss your question?
Edit: update link
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Not sure if it helps, I ported my numbers to Ting online ($6 for 2 SIM Cards) I Then ordered the sprint ones and it took a day or 2 to receive. I have checked and re-checked my numbers and will be activating online tonight. I did not have to call anyone so far. to activate sprint online after you receive your cards its www.sprint.com/activatenow , do not go to the activate section of the website on the header or you will be stuck in an endless loop of hell.
Does this make sense or did I miss your question?
Edit: update link
Thanks. So are you without service for the day or 2 waiting for the SIM cards?
I guess my main question about the process described in the DofC post is exactly how it works getting the new free account up and running. It just says to call Sprint and port the numbers back and Voila! you've got another free year. It seems some steps/details are missing.
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Ok so I wasn't without service at all, I will give you the rundown:
Checked on Ting that my numbers were portable and phone compatible, ordered sim cards and ported my number from Sprint to Ting once I received the TING Cards (10-15 minutes without service).
Started service with TING (12-18$) for a few days, saw this thread and ordered Sprint Cards using my wifes name as account holder (matches the Ting account).
Waited until Sprint cards arrived. Got the porting information from TING and activated SIM cards and ported from Ting to Sprint (10-15 minutes without service*)
Service on sprint was previously in my name, no issues!
*since ting gives you a pin number per line my wifes line was out of commission for an hour, I just had to call Sprint to fix the pin number.
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Ok so I wasn't without service at all, I will give you the rundown:
Checked on Ting that my numbers were portable and phone compatible, ordered sim cards and ported my number from Sprint to Ting once I received the TING Cards (10-15 minutes without service).
Started service with TING (12-18$) for a few days, saw this thread and ordered Sprint Cards using my wifes name as account holder (matches the Ting account).
Waited until Sprint cards arrived. Got the porting information from TING and activated SIM cards and ported from Ting to Sprint (10-15 minutes without service*)
Service on sprint was previously in my name, no issues!
*since ting gives you a pin number per line my wifes line was out of commission for an hour, I just had to call Sprint to fix the pin number.
Awesome. Thanks. Just as I suspected, you need to pay for an intermediate service while waiting for the new Sprint SIM cards. I don't mind that at all, I just didn't understand the DofC instructions that glossed over the process of signing back up with Sprint.
At this point I'm planning to port our numbers to T-Mobile, pay the minimum for their "Pay as You Go" plan to keep the phones ringing for a few days, then sign up online again for the Sprint free year under my wife's name/SSN.
Thanks again for the info!!
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My (wife's) free year expires at the end of this month and I'm trying to figure out what to do from here. (My phone is reimbursed through work and its best to keep my wife on a separate plan or else they proportionately reduce my reimbursement... annoying).
I just talked to Sprint's customer service to find out what the new bill would be after the promo rate -- they told me it would be $25/month per line for the Unlimited Plan. (She somehow uses 9GB a month so unlimited would be good)
I'm considering following the doctor of credit article and switching to a new provider then coming back to Sprint to get another free year... but Sprint's website says it has to come over from Verizon or ATT. Has anyone had success bringing it from T-Mobile? Especially since the two have merged?
At $25 it may just be best to continue on with Sprint Unlimited as-is... What do you all think?
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I'm considering following the doctor of credit article and switching to a new provider then coming back to Sprint to get another free year... but Sprint's website says it has to come over from Verizon or ATT. Has anyone had success bringing it from T-Mobile? Especially since the two have merged?
You could switch to visible.com (a verizon company). It is $40/month for an unlimited plan. Much better service for unlimited.
Then, you could switch over if you want to.
I believe that you need a specific phone for this to work....