Sprint will stop offering two-year phone contracts to customers who are activating a new account starting today, according to an internal document procured by AndroidCentral. While phones will not be available with subsidies on a two-year contract, tablets will.
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As outlined by the document, two-year contracts will still be offered to select customers on a "reactive basis". The move makes Sprint the final carrier of the four major American carriers to end two-year contracts. New Sprint customers will be able to purchase their phones through Sprint programs like Easy Pay and iPhone Forever.
In 2013, T-Mobile began the trend by announcing its Un-carrier payment plans. Verizon followed suit in August 2015 and last month AT&T announced that they would drop two-year contracts. While AT&T's implementation takes away the ability for existing customers to sign up for two-year contracts, Verizon's does not, allowing existing Verizon customers to renew their two-year contracts.
Sprint has been planning to move away from two-year contracts for a while, first announcing the move in August 2015. However, the carrier had not announced when its implementation would take effect at the time.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Good! Apple can still say 199 etc as long as someone can get an agreement, even if only reactive
Actually you'd be surprised how many people not only don't know, but actually believe that the iPhone in their hands only cost $199. I've had people argue that very issue with me. It's amazing but true.[doublepost=1452219230][/doublepost]
People know and love it anyway
It will no longer be masked at 199/299 type price points.
But they're still not putting a giant $649 price tag next to the phone either.I noticed Verizon has replaced the old $199/$299 price tags with their new payment plan equivalencies:
$27.08/mo
$31.24/mo
$35.41/mo
I've learned that there's a surprising number of people who don't understand that those 199/299 prices aren't the full price of the phone.
The old way was paying $199 down and the rest of your phone payment was hidden inside your monthly bill. You're right... nobody knew what the hell was going on.But the new way is showing you exactly how much of your bill is for the phone... and how much is for service. It's separate. When you talk to the salesman... they have a worksheet where they tally up the various parts of your plan (the base voice/sms plan, the phone, the data package, etc)
And if you do pay full price for a phone... or someone gives you an old phone... you're not paying for the phone every month. Only for the service.
It actually easier to understand now.