Newly leaked internal documentation first reported on by CNet has revealed Sprint’s plans to launch its own early upgrade program and the early information suggests that it will favor current customers over new with the following key points:
- Buy devices with 0$ down payment
- Pay for the devices in 24 equal monthly installments
- Trade in your smartphone every 12 months to upgrade or keep it and pay it off completely
- Savings of $15 off the monthly rate plan
- One year of service required before qualifying for access to plan and existing phone must be traded in before yearly upgrades are exercised
Unlike AT&T’s Next and Verizon’s Edge programs, Sprint’s One Up program will also not require additional fees for “device access” and the program also beats T-Mobile’s Jump program with unlimited data access without arbitrary limitations or throttling as well as eliminating fees for yearly upgrades.
While the dreaded activation fees will still be included, the monthly bill will be lower than average due to the $15 monthly discount, which should handle most, if not all of the taxes and ancillary fees. Sprint has officially refused to comment on the new offering, which is slated to launch on Friday, and the current “Upgrade Now” fee-based program is still being kept as an offering for those that may not initially qualify for the new One up program.
