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Communications United States

Sprint CEO Hints at Price Hikes Ahead of iPhone 7 (cnet.com) 34

An anonymous reader shares a CNET report: If you're considering jumping ship to Sprint to take advantage of its "half-off" promotion, don't dawdle. The promotion, which promises to cut your existing rate plan at a competing carrier in half, has been a hit with consumers. The nation's fourth-largest wireless carrier said it added 173,000 post-paid customers, or folks who pay at the end of each month, in its fiscal first quarter that ended June 30. That figure marks a reversal from a loss of 12,000 customers a year ago. But the half-off promotion isn't sticking around forever, according to Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, who hinted at price increases later this summer. "You can expect us to come up with a new set of rate plans before the next iPhone," Claure said Monday on a call with journalists. New iPhone typically arrive in mid-September.
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Sprint CEO Hints at Price Hikes Ahead of iPhone 7

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    I don't really want a new one.
    • Then don't get one.
      However they are some people with older models say the iPhone 5 or less. which are starting to feel its age. Where apps for it are no longer designed for that phone and your OS isn't going to be supported going further.
      Also they are some android users who may want a newer phone where the iPhone is better for them. (Also some iPhone users will go to Android for the better variety).
      However being that the Phone Prices don't drop over time unless there is a new version. Many people will ge

    • The new one will not have a headphone jack, FYI.
      • This seems backwards. I get that wireless is nicer, but batteries on small headphones just aren't up to daily use yet, and are rarely user-swappable. Wired is the fallback that always works and earbuds are tiny enough to always have on you. Even the huge '70s looking headphones I don't like wearing all day have maybe 6 hours of battery life in them under constant use. I'd be OK with this move if it made sense, but It seems like Apple wants to eliminate the wire on general principal without waiting for
        • I think they will have USB-C ones. Vs. the old standard ones if you want Head Phones that are cabled.
          Of course the more annoying part is the headphones that come with the iPhone will not work on other stuff.
          I am not an audio snob. But the default iPhone earbuds are better quality than many of the cheaper ones. So I will plug them into the Treadmill at the gym, or in my PC. if USB-C actually catches on it will take many years before it will be consistent in most devices. As my Gym isn't going to replace

  • Slashdot is iPhone news central. Seriously, what nerd carried a friggin' iPhone around???
    • by bluefoxlucid ( 723572 ) on Monday July 25, 2016 @12:30PM (#52576491) Homepage Journal

      Plenty. That, Windows, and Esperanto vs Klingon are all battlegrounds for nerd turf-wars.

      • I'm holding out for the iPhone 8. I heard it will be all AI.
        • by Anonymous Coward

          They are going to take it a step further.

          Not only will the phone software be entirely composed of a sentient AI, it will also not be a physical phone at all. You won't even get a box: an image of Steve Jobs will be flashed for a fraction of a second in your retinas, and you will rejoice as you finally transcend your fixation with the material world, and fully embrace the cloud.

          It is going to be the pinnacle of human* achievement.

          * marketing

      • Plenty. That, Windows, and Esperanto vs Klingon are all battlegrounds for nerd turf-wars.

        Real nerds speak Shyriiwook.

    • Why wouldn't a nerd carry an iPhone?
      The iPhone still for the most part has better apps. And you have a real Unix back end vs a Linux back end. Plenty of Nerd Turf war.

  • by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Monday July 25, 2016 @12:33PM (#52576523)
    Promotions come and go all the time.
  • by deadweight ( 681827 ) on Monday July 25, 2016 @12:57PM (#52576703)
    I would be all over Sprint's promotion if only I could use their service to make phone calls.....
  • by Anonymous Coward

    Janet Yellen told me that inflation was so low that interest rates might go negative, BUT
    - my ISP rates keep going up,
    - my grocery bill is putting me on a diet,
    - my health insurance is off the charts,
    - my rent to damn high,
    - and now they want to raise my phone rates again!
    Don't get me started about my student loan.

    The ONLY thing cheap is gasoline so,
    I'm gonna fill up the pickup and drive over to talk with Ms Yellen about arithmetic and how to balance my checkbook.
    It might be cheaper than a phone call.
    and, l

  • Depends (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Monday July 25, 2016 @01:09PM (#52576785) Journal

    You know those commercials that sometimes come on local stations late at night for "Consumers Cellular"? The ads sell it like a cell phone provider for old people, since they always have sixty-somethings being hip with their no-contract cell phones and buying slutty red dresses to see if they can interest their hubbies in one more roll in the clover.

    What you may not know, is that Consumer Cellular is actually a really good provider. You pay as you go, you can use practically any smartphone, including the iStatus from Apple. They mail you out a sim card and away you go. Data, calls, texts, it's cheap as shit. If you pay attention to what you're doing and know your way around, you can even avoid giving them real information, so it's the anonymity of a burner phone and the convenience of a major provider. And no contracts.

    My wife has some Cadillac plan from one of the big providers, but when my contract was up with AT&T but my phone was still good, I figured, "What the hell?" and tried Consumers Cellular. It works great, has coverage wherever the other companies have coverage and AT&T can just suck my dick.

    • Re:Depends (Score:4, Informative)

      by b0bby ( 201198 ) on Monday July 25, 2016 @01:18PM (#52576841)

      For dirt cheap SIM voice service I have liked H2O wireless, but there are a ton of others. If you want a reasonable amount of data too, the Cricket plans are hard to beat. For me Cricket's coverage (AT&T towers) is better than TMo or Sprint. Verizon would be better yet, but Cricket is fine for me.

    • by dj245 ( 732906 )

      You know those commercials that sometimes come on local stations late at night for "Consumers Cellular"? The ads sell it like a cell phone provider for old people, since they always have sixty-somethings being hip with their no-contract cell phones and buying slutty red dresses to see if they can interest their hubbies in one more roll in the clover.

      What you may not know, is that Consumer Cellular is actually a really good provider. You pay as you go, you can use practically any smartphone, including the iStatus from Apple. They mail you out a sim card and away you go. Data, calls, texts, it's cheap as shit. If you pay attention to what you're doing and know your way around, you can even avoid giving them real information, so it's the anonymity of a burner phone and the convenience of a major provider. And no contracts.

      My wife has some Cadillac plan from one of the big providers, but when my contract was up with AT&T but my phone was still good, I figured, "What the hell?" and tried Consumers Cellular. It works great, has coverage wherever the other companies have coverage and AT&T can just suck my dick.

      Many of the MVNOs are actually quite good. We have Straight Talk and the coverage is great, at least for the places we go. They were not great during account setup and device activation (customer support is overseas) but once set up, there is no reason to talk to them. They have "unlimited" plans with an allotment of 4G data then 3G after that. Pricing and real-world signal strength was more favorable than T-mobile last time I checked.

      I have also heard very good things about Page Plus wireless as well

      • by cdrudge ( 68377 )

        Pricing and real-world signal strength was more favorable than T-mobile last time I checked.

        Signal strength is going to be very subjective based on local coverage. I've been places where I had great signal and friends with AT&T had none, and vice versa.

        I'm with T-mobile with a 4-line family plan and Straight Talk isn't even close in price. TMo has been running ads for 4 lines with 6GB each for $120 (plus taxes). 4 lines with just 100MB of data each would run $120 with ST.

    • by msk ( 6205 )

      Ting [ting.com] (owned by TUCOWS) is another great contender. For CDMA, they use the Sprint network with better roaming agreements than Virgin Mobile. For GSM, they use T-Mobile's network.

      They're also pay-as-you-go but with finer-grained control than Consumer Cellular had when I compared the two and one doesn't have to choose pricing tiers - pricing really is pay-as-you-go, with a bare minimum of $6/mo for each device.

  • You've decided to move some consumers around by blowing the financial wind in the appropriate direction that their little desire-to-save-money sails will push them into your harbour?

"The vast majority of successful major crimes against property are perpetrated by individuals abusing positions of trust." -- Lawrence Dalzell

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