Overland Park (KS) - If you’re like me, then more than likely you don’t see a wireless bill that’s under $100 a month. However, Sprint could be changing that with their new $50 per month unlimited wireless calling plan - via Boost Mobile. With competition like this, it could soon force other wireless carriers to begin reducing their rates just to keep customers happy.


Boost Mobile is the Sprint brand that sells prepaid wireless service designed to appeal to a younger population who can’t afford expensive calling plans. They choose, instead, to live a life without contracts and deposits. At the end of last September, Boost Mobile had 3.9 million customers.

Last year, the major of wireless providers introduced unlimited calling plans in the $100 range. These calling plans were (for the most part all-inclusive, with text messaging and mobile data packages. For me this plan was a life saver.

Carriers have seen a decrease in revenue from voice calling because customers are purchasing family plans, where a bundle of wireless minutes are shared between multiple talkers.

Though prices have stayed static for those with contracts, the prices have been steadily dropping in the prepaid wireless market. Leap Wireless and Metro PCS Communications, for example, have offered prepaid unlimited services to their customers at rates in the $50 range; however the Network scope to which Sprint is capable of reaching is much broader. Leap and Metro PCS now have something to worry about, and the competition is getting stiff.

Boost has plans to market their new package heavily, even making attempts to appeal to those users who currently have contract agreements. The package they are offering at $50 includes voice, text messaging, and wireless web navigation as well as most of the taxes. This puts them a step ahead of most prepaid plans that usually do not include text and data services.

"We believe the offer we have in these challenging economic times will make people take a harder look at Boost ... and we believe that will open us up to a much broader piece of the population," Boost’s President, Matt Carter, told The Associated Press.

The company anticipates that they will be able to attract T-Mobile customers, and customers that currently have contracts with Sprint and Nextel - even if, by switching, they have to pay an early termination fee.

This price plan, however you look at it, might force larger carriers to come up with some crafty marketing or less expensive mobile plans just to keep up. For the first time, Sprint is bringing the concept of no-contract prepaid phones into stark reality.


Months until break-even point if switching plans:

	Current Monthly Service Plan Cost
Cancel Fee	$60	$70	$80	$90	$100	$110	$120	$130
$20	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
$40	4	3	2	1	1	1	1	1
$60	6	4	3	2	2	1	1	1
$80	8	5	3	2	2	2	2	1
$100	10	6	4	3	2	2	2	2
$120	12	7	4	3	3	2	2	2
$140	14	8	5	4	3	3	2	2
$160	16	9	6	4	4	3	3	2
$180	18	10	6	5	4	3	3	3
$200	20	11	7	5	4	4	3	3
$220	22	12	8	6	5	4	4	3
$240	24	13	8	6	5	4	4	3
$260	26	14	9	7	6	5	4	4
$280	28	15	10	7	6	5	4	4
$300	30	16	10	8	6	5	5	4

TG Daily has compiled a chart showing how many months it would take to break even if you left your existing contract. The left row shows the contract cancellation fee. The top row shows the current monthly bill. By finding the intersection point, the value in that cell shows the number of months it would take you to break even - meaning your out of pocket expense would be as much to stay with your current contract as it would be to switch. Every month after that you would be saving money.


Money saved by month if switching plans:

	Current Monthly Service Plan Cost
Month #	$60	$70	$80	$90	$100	$110	$120	$130
1	$10	$20	$30	$40	$50	$60	$70	$80
2	$20	$40	$60	$80	$100	$120	$140	$160
3	$30	$60	$90	$120	$150	$180	$210	$240
4	$40	$80	$120	$160	$200	$240	$280	$320
5	$50	$100	$150	$200	$250	$300	$350	$400
6	$60	$120	$180	$240	$300	$360	$420	$480
7	$70	$140	$210	$280	$350	$420	$490	$560
8	$80	$160	$240	$320	$400	$480	$560	$640
9	$90	$180	$270	$360	$450	$540	$630	$720
10	$100	$200	$300	$400	$500	$600	$700	$800
11	$110	$220	$330	$440	$550	$660	$770	$880
12	$120	$240	$360	$480	$600	$720	$840	$960
13	$130	$260	$390	$520	$650	$780	$910	$1040
14	$140	$280	$420	$560	$700	$840	$980	$1120
15	$150	$300	$450	$600	$750	$900	$1050	$1200

This chart shows how much savings someone on those plans would have per month. To determine the actual savings, deducate the contract early termination fee from this amount. This chart assumes a $0 termination fee. Bold line indicates annual savings by switching the plan. Consider also that by saving that much money a new phone could be essentially purchased for free.

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but this has been...

Jan 16, 2009 13:36     

Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but this has been done already. As a matter of fact, I've been using a $50 unlimited service for over 5 years now. That's right, and it's available to anybody. The company: Cellular South. They are THE provider in my area (there are others like AT&T, Centennial, etc...). Nobody else followed suit when the Unlimited package came out. Sprint is the first company I've heard of since Cellular South to offer such a package. Therefore, Sprint is 2nd in line to do this. I hope you are correct in that the other carriers may follow suit.

Chad Smith report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

About time

Jan 16, 2009 13:47     

I think that cell charges have been overly inflated for years now. Now what we need to have is all the carriers decide on a single standard. Get rid of GSM and CDMA and just chose on one standard, why do they feel the need to reinvent the wheel? Well I personally hope they go allot lower.
ThomFrost report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

metro pcs

Jan 16, 2009 14:28     

I currently have Verizon (had it for 8 years, family plan 3 phones voice only for $120) but was planning on changing to Metro PCS, they give me the same family plan with unlimitted minutes unlimitted text unlimitted web access all for $100 for 4 phones so bottom line, this new plans by sprint is a great deal ... i will definately check them out BYE BYE Verizon --- can you hear me now
09 F9 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

"The package they are offering at $50 includes voic...

Jan 16, 2009 14:34     

"The package they are offering at $50 includes voice, text messaging, and wireless web navigation as well as most of the taxes. This puts them a step ahead of most prepaid plans that usually do not include text and data services." maybe this is why you used the word most, but metro pcs does offer unlimited minutes, texting, and mobile web in its package.
waarth report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

revol wireless

Jan 16, 2009 15:53     

I dont know if you have a local carrrier in your location like this but here we do its called revol wireless they have unlimited plans starting at 39.99 with no contracts and you can get other unlimited things added at small nominal fees text/pic 5bucks intern 5 buck push to talk 7 bucks family plans starting at 74bucks for 2 line 99 for 3 come on boost is in the dark ages just like regular carries the only thing they got is bigger coverage areas an revol is growing like a toddler with a great idea!

DragonSlave report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

A model for the entire industry

Jan 16, 2009 17:17     

This is the type and cost of plan that the entire mobile industry should offer. Then, it is like a wireless ADSL line: you pay a flat fee and you use it however you want (voice/music/video/messaging/...). This approach simplifies life for the operators AND the users. It also allows the operators to focus their energy on developing other compelling services that the subscribers would be willing to pay for.

forever4now report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

This is new? HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!!!

Jan 16, 2009 17:59     

Seems to me that Cricket has been offering this for a long time.
whatajoke report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ok I'll switch from att to this

Jan 16, 2009 17:59     

My 2 year "plan" recently expired it is a good timing to switch thanks sprnt!
Frank report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0