Sprint & Walmart Don't Bother Counting Seconds

[JMcEntegart]

The EVO 4G isn't the only thing that Sprint announced this week; the company also announced a new, prepaid carrier in collaboration with Walmart called Common Cents.

Sprint & Walmart Don't Bother Counting Seconds : Read more

 

[PostmanPat]

"data is charged at a rate of $1 per megabyte per day"...
Does this mean that if I keep any emails I downloaded that I'll be charged for every day I have it? lol

 

[Teen Geek]

Sounds Awesome!

 

[hp79]

Even if the minutes are rounded down, people will still count minutes (will try to not go over x min 59 sec). Of course it is better for the customers. But what happens if you make a 0 minute 59 second call? That would be great if it is free.

 

[pozaks]

Huh, that's odd. This strangely coincides with VirginMobile, who uses Sprint's network, dropping all of their cheap phones for more premium units. VM's cheapest phone is now the most expensive one on Common Cents.

 

[IzzyCraft]

the minutes are rounded down.
Oh time to make a long series of 59 second phone calls.

Haha what i always wondered why are they rounded anyways just do it by the freaking seconds. Sure it wont be a pretty to look at the bill at the end of the month but come on.

 

[maigo]

Who even uses a phone any more? lol

 

[jryan388]

7c per text? Comeon, it's like a thousandth of the size of a one minute phone call!

 

[brother shrike]

Nice. I only talk on my cell for ~30 seconds per call anyway....

 

[Jinx13]

My guess is there is a minimum of 1 minute per call. Either way, from the sound of the article the minutes expire after a month or 2 depending on which card you purchase anyway so they still get their money from you and you.

 

[miicah]

This is so much better than the prepaid mobile deals we have here in Australia

 

[Guest]

So, Walmart also teams up with Verizon/StraightTalk to offer pre-paid/contract-free UNLIMITED talk/text/data for $45 a month, not to mention, Sprint owns pre-paid powerhouse Virgin Mobile now. What was the point of this product again?

*pissed off former long-time Sprint customer*

 

[builderbobftw]

So if I keep all my calls under 1 min I get free service?

 

[anamaniac]

With Virgin Mobile Canada, theirt $10/month plan has unlimited texting, though their more expensive plns don't have the unlimited texting...
It's $0.35/min without a plan, and $0.10 with eh $10/month plan. VM uses the Bell network.

Actually, just rechecked the VM site, now the same plan is $20...

One issue with VM though, there's no option to remove feature from your plan... I should call them tomorrow...


Why can't Canada get cheap phone plans and cheap phones? 🙁

 

[HolyCrusader]

Wal*Mart and Sprint working together is a formula for disaster. Back a few years ago, when the local WalMart dealt with Sprint, it was a nightmare. For the last couple months, every single Sprint plan that was sold was screwed-up in one way or another. The surprising part was it was Sprint that was screwing things up, not the Walmart workers. Things got so bad that the local WalMart stopped selling the phones (they didn't work that good in our area anyway), and it still took like a month or two for Sprint to get a Rep to come and collect their merchandise.

I'm not exactly a big fan of Wal*Mart, but I wouldn't be caught dead with a Sprint phone... but as I look at it, is there any cell phone company that doesn't try to screw the customer?

 

[eyemaster]

Counting minutes while you talk gets old real quick if you're doing it. Not long after you start, you give up and just talk for the amount of 'talk' you need to and don't care about the minutes more than just saying "I talked enough now, I don't want to rack up too many minutes..."

 

[zaznet]

[citation][nom]eyemaster[/nom]Counting minutes while you talk gets old real quick if you're doing it.[/citation]

I have a feeling this isn't marketed towards customers like you (and me) who don't want to bother counting minutes. I haven't bothered checking my minutes balance in some time, never close to it so never worried.

 

[gm0n3y]

1) Carriers should have per second billing. That was how all of the carriers used to do it years ago (I was pissed when they changed it).

2) Prepaid minutes should never expire. Perhaps they could deactivate your service if you didn't use your phone for say 1 month. But when you call (from another phone) to reactivate, your minutes should still be there.

3) I'm assuming that they have a minimum 1 minute call. Either way though, $30 for 2 months of phone usage is a pretty sweet deal. 848 minutes/texts for 2 months would be pretty good for me as well, I generally use less than 200 (rounded up) minutes a month and that leaves enough room for a lot of text messages too. Of course the data rate is kinda crappy, but for the phones they're selling data isn't a huge deal anyways. Now this just needs to come to Canada...

 

[michaelssw]

[citation] $1 per megabyte per day [/citation]

uh? whats the per day part do?

 

[danbfree]

Sprint, itself, is a solid carrier that deserves a place in the market with great data plans... I am not a fanboy any longer, I just like competition in general so hopefully this works out for them as profitable.