Sprint appears to have modified their Handset Upgrade Program in four key ways:
1) Program has been renamed New For You Upgrade Program
2) You used to be able to receive half the elegible discount after 12 months of having the phone active on your account, this has been removed, and really was never publicized.
3) While the older program defined the requirement for continuous activation of a phone for the whole 18 months, with ESN swaps resetting the timeframe, the new program appears to not have such a requirement. The program makes a clear distinction between customers that establish service after April 25th, and customers that activated service prior to that date. It says only that customers that establish service prior to April 25th must have the same phone on the account for the entire 18 months.
We are inclined to believe that after April 25th, ESN swaps will not reset the 18 month timeframe after this date for all customers.
4) You must remain on a $34.99 or higher service plan for the entire 18 months. Vision service is the only addon that counts towards this total other than your monthly charge, and you must have Vision on your account the entire time if your account is below the $34.99 rate.
