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.