Related Articles
Take that, AT&T.
Lynn La/CNET
Sprint on Wednesday said it would one-up AT&T’s promotion, which doubled the amount of data on certain high-end family plans, by doubling the new amount for its own Family Share Pack plans. The promotion is available to new and existing customers who sign up by Oct. 31, which is the same day the AT&T offer ends.
The “double the data” pledge is just the latest step by Sprint, which has seen a jolt of energy under new CEO Marcelo Claure. Since taking over in August, the embattled wireless carrier has aggressively laid out a slate of new wireless plans and promotions, all in an effort to slow the erosion of its customer base. But the company faces a long road ahead as it works through its network upgrade issues and the perception that its service lags far behind its rivals.
As with other recent promotions, Sprint hasn’t necessarily cut prices on its plans, instead offering more data. The carrier is able to do that because its newly built LTE network has enough capacity to handle its customer base, which is shrinking relative to the competition. In areas where Sprint has built out its network, the company is desperate to get consumers to give it another shot.
The carrier needs to get aggressive. In the last quarter, it posted a net loss of 220,000 subscribers, continuing a string of customer losses over the last year.
Related stories
- Sprint CEO will cut costs to bring back customers
- Meet the man charged with kicking Sprint into overdrive
- AT&T doubles data on high-end plans, starting at 15GB tier
AT&T unveiled its promotion on Saturday, offering 30 gigabytes of data for a month charge of $130 (customers would still have to pay for their device and a separate access fee that ranges between $15 and $40), compared to the previous offer of 15GB. The charge is $150 for 40GB and $225 for 60GB.
Under the new Sprint offer, the same $130 data charge gets 60GB, while $150 gets 80GB and $225 gets 120GB. Sprint is also waiving its monthly access charge through 2015 for customers who switch from another carrier and sign up for its monthly installment plan for smartphones.
New and existing customers have to go to a Sprint store, visit Sprint.com, or call Sprint directly for the promotion. The company said additional retail outlets will be able to offer the deal soon.
AT&T wasn’t available to comment on Sprint’s promotion.
Sprint, meanwhile, also said it would double the data on its business plans starting Friday through Oct. 31. Under the business share plan, customers could get 80GB for $135, 120GB for $200, 160GB for $270, and 200GB for $330. As with the family plans, Sprint is waiving the access fees through 2015.
