Sprint to kill its Premier Program

2. kyeongshik (Posts: 4; Member since: 16 Mar 2010)

I guess if they keep the unlimited data and get the iphone I'd be ok with that even though i'm so close to the gold program. oh well.

3. Droid_X_Doug (Posts: 5993; Member since: 22 Dec 2010)

Keeping unlimited data with no throttling at the current pricing is preferable to getting an upgrade every year if I had to make a choice. Although I liked the early termination fee at its lower level ($200).

4. TOdoubleD (Posts: 114; Member since: 28 Mar 2011)

It was the little perks like this that made Sprint tolerable for many customers. It will be interesting to see Sprints 3rd and 4th quarter numbers. They've already been losing customers because of slow data speeds and lousy coverage. Now they will probably lose more.

7. Antnee (unregistered)

I have never had a problem with Sprint. I had them since 99 and worked for them from 2002 to 2010. Every problem before and after working for them has always been resolved. I actually had a worse experience when i worked for them. The premier program is great because I am always upgrading my phone... I would trade that to keep my unlimited data though. I am constantly online and love using my 4G. I tether my phone to my laptop and have very fast speeds. I don't wanna have to worry about checking my data. What's funny is vzw to have such great coverage... When me and my friend travel to NYC from FL, I actually get better coverage and she has vzw. People always talk about the coverage when you get free roaming anyways. Regardless where one company is covered another may not be so you are using that companies tower to roam so really everyone's coverage is pretty equal.

10. humboldt1 (unregistered)

Here's why it matters(RECEPTION/COVERAGE) when there is free roaming.
One example

1. You can't call *3,*4,* anything when roaming. Do you know sprints 1-800#? Not on my statement anymore.

JUST TWO MONTHS AGO THE FIBER OPTICS INTO MY COUNTY WAS CUT AND THE WHOLE COUNTY WAS WITHOUT CELL AND NET SERVICE FOR ALMOST 24hrs. HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR AREA OF THE WORLD WOULD HANDLE THAT?

I live in rural northern Cali and I am roaming a lot,largest city is 40,000 for 200 miles any direction. Used to be 2 sprint stores now none,people here hate sprint due to service while vzw thrives,im on sprint and wish they would care more about cities not named LA,NYC,MIA.

12. SMB (Posts: 30; Member since: 02 Aug 2010)

What so good about unlimited data, when their coverage and data speeds are HORRIFIC!?

Sprint is horrible. Even a customer service associate told me that one time.

16. Lotus (Posts: 6; Member since: 15 Sep 2011)

In the past week Sprint has regressed a TON in their policies. Let's take a look, shall we?

-Raised Early Termination Fee from $200 to $350
-Cancelled upgrade push (before you could call within a month of your upgrade and they'd push it forward for you).
-Shortened their return policy by 16 days. You now only have 14 days to return your phone without facing ETF.
-Removed their free first month guarantee. Now you'll pay for your service, even if you return the phone within the allotted 14 days.
-And of course now they've killed the Premier program.

Pretty disappointing to say the least. We'll see how long their unlimited data lasts when the iPhone hits the towers...

17. InspectorGadget80 (unregistered)

Sprint still top dog when it comes to unlimited data. but I see when they got rid of their 30 day return policy now changing their Premier program kinda sucks. It's probably the Iphone 5

20. downphoenix (Posts: 3165; Member since: 19 Jun 2010)

All due to the Iphone. I may shop for a different carrier this time next year when my contract's about up.

23. Rich (unregistered)

The changes in ETF and return policy are industry standard. I'm amazed at the whining. If McDonald's realizes they have to cut costs to keep all drink sizes a dollar they will change their pricing immediately. Why do people expect wireless companies to behave any differently?

24. unknownmojo (unregistered)

Unlimited data or not. The facts remain the same. Look at the scoreboard. Verizon has always been more expensive that Sprint. ALWAYS. Verizon doesn't even have a better phone selection. So, more expensive and same equipment. Verizon has TWICE the customer base that Sprint has and the industry's lowest churn rate, highest customer satisfaction, highest network reliability, largest 3G, fastest 4G, ect. Sprint ranked in the top 5 worst customer service in the US for like 4 years and people want to say the Sprint has made the greatest leap in customer service, well going from worst in the country to 5th worst in the country is a pretty good leap I guess. So let's be real. Sprint is the poor man's Verizon. Eat your pride and admit it, you can't afford Verizon.

25. unknownmojo (unregistered)

Also, Sprint is now going to brand itself as the only carrier with unlimited data. How long can they support that claim? The most powerful and profitable carrier's ATT, Verizon have realized that they can't support unlimited in the long run and have had to make the tough decision to cut off unlimited. What is Sprint's long term goal here? They don't have the capacity now to support unlimited, it will be only a matter of years before Sprint will be drowning in data consumption and will have no choice but to cap data and then what? Sprint is not a lasting brand. They are only still in business because they are in a growing industry. When the growth slows down and this industry peaks, they'll be the first to close up shop. Remember what happened to Alltel when they tried to brand themselves as the "cheaper than Verizon" carrier?

27. Stephen Kennedy (unregistered)

I think Sprint isn't in the face of enough potential customers with their unlimited plan. If AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers knew they were cap'd or were throttled, they'd switch. This is simply why Sprint is the best (budget) brand. They've got the best selection of phones (yes, excluding the iPhone). The iPhone will become irrelevant far before Sprint does. Sprint's "get every cell phone user because we're cheap" is a sustainable model if done right. Look at Walmart. If iPhone users had an HTC 4G 3D phone instead of thier iPhone for 1 month, they'd switch. iPhone users simply don't know any better.

28. Stephen Kennedy (unregistered)

...and Sprint better quit up'ing their prices or we'll find a different "budget brand".

29. DISGUSTEDWITHsprint (unregistered)

Let me get this straight........ Sprint, who has sold me, and many other customers a 4G phone, increased our monthly service charge by $10/phone (that's $20/month) even though my wife's phone isn't even 4G, and who's salesman's assurance that "4G will be in the Phoenix-metro area in a few months" (that was in February 2011) turned out to be an outright lie as Sprint hasn't even started or even published a 4G roll out schedule........ Sprint, who is fighting a class-action suite in California for such misrepresentation of 4G networking and increasing customer rates with the insinuation that they should expect 4G network infrastructure in place....... Sprint, who claims that they have 4G infrastructure in 70 major markets, but Phoenix (6th largest metropolitan area in the US) has yet to even see mention of a schedule...... Sprint, who earlier in 2011 announced a Premiere treatment program for their loyal and beloved customers of 10 years (I have been with them for 17 years) would receive special benefits such as purchase discounts, 12 month upgrades, and annual presents, but now (6 months later) has terminated said program, increased customer charges, announced limits on their unlimited data plans, and all of this while they have the audacity to regularly drop calls, provide swiss-cheese-like coverage in every market that they have any presence in, and turn off data streaming whenever they feel like it (it happens all the time).....-- Sprint, who has the arrogance to have its customer-service representatives say "Go ahead, leave, I dare you to find as good a deal in cell phone service as Sprint provides". I'd like to point out to Sprint that Netflix has made the same stupid, arrogant statement not 60 days ago when they doubled their service rates. They just peed in their "tidy whitey's" when Starz didn't renew their contract for providing the majority of their entertainment content . Of course they apologized to their investors when they lost 1 million more customer subscriptions than they anticipated at the height of their arrogance, then they apologized to their customers and former customers for their arrogance. Oh yeah, their stock value plummeted costing them serious value in the $ billions, and their investors lost confidence in the management of the company. So, they have really pissed off their valued customers, their investors, their business content providers, etc. In a nutshell, they have their work cut out for them, just as Sprint management will soon. You can't just piss on customer loyalty. It is an asset. Don't piss on your assets. Arrogance is also not an appreciated position to take. Ask Netflix. You see, If I wanted to pay higher rates, I would have gone over to Verizon where at least I would get good voice and data coverage, no dropped calls, better choice of phones, 4G infrastructure, a much more efficient upgrade path to the LTE infrastructure technologies.

30. DISGUSTEDWITHsprint (unregistered)

Yeah, that's right. Sprint is the only provider that missed that call. The world is heading to LTE technology in a straight path, and Sprint is going around the BARN first.......Brilliant! SPRINT, YOU WANT TO CHARGE WHAT THE BIG BOYS ARE CHARGING, BUT YOU DON"T HAVE THE SAME VALUE PROPOSITION. GO SUCK WIND!