Sources in Sprint are reporting that current plan holders are in for a discount. Sprint has dropped the price of Phone As Modem add-ons on new plans, to $15, down from the previous $40 per month.
This appears to only take effect on current offerings; Sprint’s Simply Everything, Sprint Everything, and Everything Plus plans. The price drop appears to be part of an effort to lure customers over from older, grandfathered plans. Sprint’s plans of today typically cost more, but by discounting PAM, it can make up for the difference.
In addition, this will finally enable the Samsung Instinct to support Phone As Modem tethering officially. Sprint’s current plans have lacked a Phone As Modem add-on code until this week, and Instinct must be hacked to use Phone as Modem without a Phone as Modem plan.
Funny you should post this, I just called yesterday to get this added to my main phone line. The customer service rep told me this is for minimum data though. When I asked if I could get the unlimited data like my integrated dell Sprint card she said “no, it’s only 5mbytes.” She could be wrong… …but that sounds awfully low.
I’m guessing she meant 5gb, not mbytes. Otherwise, that would be a little low for per month use.
I think it is funny that they are basically asking for more PAM business just after they limited the higher paying data-card users. I went with a data card over PAM because it wasn’t that much more ($60 vs. $40), now I’m forced to consider dumping my data card since the PAM data limit is probably the same as the new data card limit.
yes but have you ever used PAM, i have a Touch with the Rev. A update, and the speeds were not even close to what i was expecting, not much faster then my PPC-6700 even.
What is the chance that they lower the price after the fcc came down on comcast for blocking the internet? Do you think it has anything to do with the phonenews.com article “Did the FCC Just Ban Phone As Modem Restrictions?”
Interesting development by Sprint.
They put a 5 gig cap on the data, as if they want to cut back on the data specific customers- then they lower the PAM price to $15. Doesn’t make much sense…
Question- does Sprint still offer shared family plans, and if so- does this $15 PAM work on a shared family plan?
SaltyDawg,
I have a shared family plan and the $15 is per line that APM is added (which is fine with me – I don’t mind paying for what I’m using).
Yeah, I just spoke with a sprint rep and you can add the $15 PAM add on to any plan. Including the Simply Everything plans. That means that you can now use the INstinct as a PAM phone.
[…] Today, though, we learn that they have at least helped out consumers in one way. According to PhoneNews.com, they’ll be dropping their phone as a modem tethering service from $40 per month to $15. […]
[…] Today, though, we learn that they have at least helped out consumers in one way. According to PhoneNews.com, they’ll be dropping their phone as a modem tethering service from $40 per month to $15. […]
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I have an old plan, 2000 anytime minutes for $60, everytime I want to upgrade to a new phone, they tell me that I have to sign up on a new plan. I stuck to my guns and upgraded at the time to a Centro. Sprint had to temporarily change my plan, and then give me back the old plan–but not without a hassle.
I’m afraid I’ll have to go through that again to upgrade anything in the near future.
-Angel
I called and was told the $15 PAM option was not compatible with the Talk/Message/Data share plans. I had to be on an individual plan with the $30 Vision pro pack to be able to add it on. Just like many other things I don’t think they are on the same page with this. I’m sure if I call again I will get a different answer.
Carlos, I got exactly the same answer yesterday that you did. I think they are on the same page.
rlowell
I spoke with a rep yesterday and today and they said that you can add the $15 PAM Add on to any plan. They also will not renew your contract for making any changes.
I spoke to a rep at the local sprint store last week and she said the $15/mo add-on in the recent plan brochure in the email section on the right hand page was a mis-print and that the SE plans are not elgible for pam add-ons at all. My concern is that there is no indication on Sprint’s website so far about any pam add-ons for SE plans or anytbing else as yet.
I hope the OP follows up with more details concerning this since no sources were cited.
as of right now dont except to get phone as modem added to ur account wont work on any of the new plans, unless you already have it ur price will go down other than that no department can add it, i talked to 3 different departments and they tried every plan and all had the same issues, so dont be surpised if sprint pulls phone as modem soon.
I hzve already added it to my sero plan for $15 to test it then i took it off. I asked them again and they said it can be added to any account that has a phone as modem capable phone. I guess its just sprint being sprint telling people different things.
[…] PhoneNews] if (!window.netshel_ord) { netshel_ord=Math.random()*10000000000000000; } if […]
Geez could it get any more confusing?? I have been using the EVDO data card for the last year and yes they are suppose to be limiting the thru put to 5gb a month cap… hmmm weird
Sprint customer service sucks!! bottom line.. get a new cell provider…..
The 5gb cap has nothing to do with bad customer service. Verizon and att both have had a 5gb cap for a while now. So if you want to change cell phone providers because of that then have fun finding a reliable company without the cap. This is really not that confusing. Just learn math a little and you can figure out the price changes. What used to be a $40 charge is now $15. Was that so difficult?
“The 5gb cap has nothing to do with bad customer service. Verizon and att both have had a 5gb cap for a while now. So if you want to change cell phone providers because of that then have fun finding a reliable company without the cap. This is really not that confusing. Just learn math a little and you can figure out the price changes. What used to be a $40 charge is now $15. Was that so difficult?”
I don’t think anyone said the 5GB cap had anything to do with customer service. I think we are all pretty much in agreement though, that it’s pretty foolish for Sprint to implement such a cap when they have such horrible customer service.
As for Verizon and AT&T- AT&T also gives you free unlimited WiFi at tens of thousands of locations (including all Starbucks) so you have other options and don’t have to burn up your 5 gigs. They also announced they are in the process of upgrading their data speeds to 20 megs (and their data is already much faster than Sprint’s). Plus, they have MMS on their PDA phones…
Verizon is still high, but they did recently lower their data prices. They are also in the process of buying Alltel- so we’ll see how their data services compare to Sprint’s when that is complete. They do have MMS on the PDA phones though…
And this $15 PAM is still not something you can just call up and get (unless you get really lucky) on every plan. I tried several times to get it on my family plan and was told I couldn’t (just like lots of others I read about on various message boards). But with Sprint’s terrible customer service, everyone already expected this.
As for leaving, I did just that yesterday. After months of comparing, and searching for the best deal, I found a site that will give you a free Tilt if you sign a 2 year contract. No rebate crap, nothing out of pocket- and free 2 day shipping. I pulled the trigger on 2 of them, and AT&T is now in the process of porting out my Sprint numbers. It will cost me $20 less than I have been paying Sprint per month, and I got 2 free Tilts.
It will be nice to be able to talk on the phone while I surf the net. And it will be really nice to have MMS, and have that GSM flexibility of just popping in a SIM card on any unlocked phone that I want, and have access to the awesome GSM devices. And one of the biggest benefits of all is I won’t have to deal with Sprint’s crappy customer service ever again.
Salty Dawg that is very true. It was foolish of sprint to put a cap on their data when they are losing so many customers on a daily basis. They should have kept it unlimited until they get their house cleaned up and customers are happy with the service. Let us hope that sprint has something up their sleeve to stop this mass exodus of customers. ATT and Verizon look more tempting every day. For now the sprint sero is whats keeping me on with sprint. The good news is that lately I have been getting decent customer service that have solved my issues on the first call. I guess we’ll see what the future holds for sprint.
They told me I had to upgrade to a Sprint Vision Pro Pack in order to get PAM. So yes, it was only $15 a month for the PAM access, but then they made me go to a Sprint Vision pack that costs $20/month more than I was paying before — so ultimately it’s costing me $35/month more. Whats worse is that I lost all of the good TV channels I had with my SprintTV pack; in exchange, they gave me Sprint Navigation which 1) is cool “when it works”, but 2) isn’t really reliable enough to cause me to leave my real gps unit at home when I travel.
I like the PAM service on my Razr2. It pairs via bluetooth with my Dell Axim, and for the most part works pretty seamlessly. But, I only need that occasionally, and I’m not sure it’s worth the extra $35/month to keep it long term.
I still don’t understand why they made me switch to a Sprint Vision Pro pack. Both the Pro and my previous SprintTV claimed to have “unlimited vision data.” It’s maddening.
I would not let them do that to you. You should not have to switch to a Sprint Vision Pro pack to get PAm for $15. You did have a power vision pack already right? If you did, there should be no reason why they should make you do that. I would call them back and make them change my plan to what it used to be and make them give me the PAM for $15. As long as you had some type of Power Vision pack. It doesn’t need to be pro. Let me know if you call them and how it goes.
I just tried to add PAM to my Sero plan and they said NO!!!Lil’ BAs…..
I would call them back and try it again. I was able to add it to mine. I would just several times a day for a couple of days until they are able to add it. You just got an idiot on the phone. There are a lot of those at sprint. Hopefully they will be getting better in the next couple of months.
1st I’ll tell you guys what I had:
LG Rumor on $40 plan plus unlimited text and data. $65
Aircard 595U unlimited data $60 or $70
total bill after tax: $157 (i’ve got wireless backup and Total equipment protection)
I went into the sprint store to add a line to my contract, and ended up getting my gf a BB Curve for $100, since they had a special this weekend where they did the mail in rebate instantly. I changed my plan up to the $129 1500 minutes plus the data card, and I was going to add PAM for $15.
Yeah, definitely wasn’t happening.
They rung me up for the blackberry, i sign the contract, and then the system tells the agent that activation was not successful. He gives CS a call, and lo annd behold, they cannot add PAM to a BB with an existing data plan. In other words, since I was getting the Shared plan with data, and I got a BB, they would not add PAM, which royally sucks, since my gf kind of needs PAM.
Apparently, the only way would be to make the BB it’s own individual plan, but say I got the $69 plan with 450 minutes, plus BB plus PAM, that’d be $115 before tax for just the BB! And she’d only get 450 minutes, instead of the 1500 minutes.
F’ing Sprint.
I guess I could return the curve, and get another phone, but it seems pointless.
any suggestions?
Sahdow, your best option right now is to call sprint and ask to be transferred to the cancelation department. When they ask you why, and they will, tell them that you want the PAm for $15 with your BB and if that doesn’t happen your canceling the line and tell them in a couple days you’ll be canceling your other line. See what they do. Maybe the retention department will give you a better deal. Sprint at this point in time is doing everything they can not to lose any customers. Good luck and let me know how it goes.
Well after 2 months I’m still getting the run around on this $15 PAM thing. Can’t add it to SE or Everything plans now, supposedly could before, need talk/share/data plan that i don’t want, or put a data pro plan on a talk plan, but can’t put a talk plan on the Treo 800w to get a compatible data plan attached to add the PAM onto, only Everything plans, so even though the phone is PAM compatible, there appears to be NO way I can put $15 PAM on the friggin;’ phone. They told me to use a data card in addition to the phone data plan. Too expensive and too much junk, no thanks. Sprint’s really got their heads up their butts BAD on this one. And we won’t be seeing WiMax around here for another year at least.
Hello everyone! this is my first time posting here, and I just want to give everyone a heads up about a great “glitch” that one of the service techs explained to me. I was very fortunate to experience a PAM exploitation glitch.
I have a blackberry 8830 with the SE plan. I have been a Sprint customer for atleast 8 years (I guess I just wont learn). I am opening a new office and I want to use my phone for a modem should our internet ever go down. I called the tech department the first time, and they walked me through the download. I hooked up my phone and it worked perfectly, no issues at all.
I decided to do a little more research about this program since my girlfriend saw this feature as a great opportunity for her as well. After reviewing my personal plan and its details online, I found out that my plan is not suppose to be able to have the PAM service. I spoke with a “Products, Services and Plans Representative” via sprints webpage chat pop-up, and she explained that “It may work as I am a Premier Customer” and then some more bull about “my case being different”. After I continually confronted her about the obvious discrepancy, she couldn’t close my chat window quick enough, and referred me to customer care atleast 4 times before she severed the chat connection against protocol. She even kicked me off the chat before I could have our conversation transcript emailed to myself.
Luckily before she closed it, I took a screenshot of our conversation with the day and time visible for my records! She didn’t close it quick enough I guess…
Anyway, I called the customer care line she gave me, and wouldn’t you know that it was after hours for the plan people! I decided to try my luck with the service technician option again, and this time I got a tech on the phone who explained in a round about way what exactly happens.
He said the Blackberry and Smartphones sometimes have a “glitch” where the PAM service will work for an extended period of time, even when the plan is incompatable. He said that Sprint assigns a username to the phone or laptop when you log on, which allows the user to connect. He also said that eventually, some phones are found out to be “incompatable” for the PAM service based on their plan, and the users will lose their ability to exploit the “glitch”. He did however mention that the Smartphones and Blackberrys quite often are the users who do not experience the glitch being correct soon, if ever. Hooray!
He did, however, “suggest” that if I am ever asked to update the software on the computer, just Select No. I think this tech was tired of dealing with Sprints crappy customer service infrastructure, and felt bad for people like us who continually get the freakin run around.
Anyway, hopefully some of you can take this information and exploit the “glitch” for yourselves… Stick it to the (Sprint) Man!!!