Sprint
on Friday confirmed its own early-upgrade program, "One Up," that will
allow customers to pay in monthly installments and change their phones
once a year.The program comes with an introductory offer of a $15
discount on its Unlimited, My Way, and All-In plans, one of which must
be selected for One Up. The company noted that for a contemporary lighting
limited time, there would be no money down on the device. CNET
previously reported that Sprint was preparing to offering the
program.Sprint is the last of the four major carriers to offer the
program, which eschews contracts and makes consumers pay for their own
devices in monthly installments. Customers can trade in their phone once
a year for a new device,carbon sheet
and continue to make monthly payments on the upgrade phone. One Up also works with tablets.
Under the plan, a subscriber could get an unlimited talk, text,PET protective film
and
data plan for as low as $65 a month -- a better deal than what T-Mobile
offers (its comparable plan starts at $70 a month). New customers, or
existing customers who have owned their phone for at least 12 months,
are eligible. Customers who are eligible for an upgrade can sign up, but
don't have to trade their phone back in.Like T-Mobile, Sprint is
cutting a break on the service plan in exchange for the monthly payments
for the device. Verizon Wireless and AT&T both offer early-upgrade
and no-contract monthly installment plans, but still require customers
to pay the full price for service.vacuum bottle
That's led to critics to note that the big two's plans aren't a particularly good deal.
Alongside
the new plans, Sprint has had to battle the perception that its network
lagged behind those of its rivals -- even smaller T-Mobile. For a brief
period, T-Mobile had pulled ahead in its 4G LTE rollout, and while
Sprint has made some progress, the company continues to be slow with its
deployment in the bigger markets.prepreg
Sprint
is launching the plan on the debut day for Apple's new iPhone 5S and
iPhone 5C. The phones went up for preorder earlier on Friday, and the
inventory already seems fairly limited.The carriers are expected to have
limited supplies of the gold and silver iPhone 5S, while there is
expected to be a higher supply if the more affordable, plastic iPhone
5C.