Because for $50 you get everything the $79.99 offers, plus an additional 50 anytime minutes... if you don't have a smartphone, it's $40--this is the "second generation" plan that is only offered to those who already have the 1st gen plan.
If you have an 1st gen SERO plan, it was only $30, but you didn't get Any Mobile, Navigation, or the ability to add Android or newer smartphones after the Touch Pro 2.
The direct descendant of SERO is "Everything Plus", which is essentially when Hesse killed the program--it's only $10 cheaper than current plans, and has 50 extra anytime minutes. This is the one that is still offered to new customers.
Basically the SERO plan was one of Sprint's attempts to stop the bleeding after the Nextel merger... There are no other post-paid plans that come close... about the only options that can touch it are the unlimited pre-paid plans, and even then you don't get the roaming ability or access to the newest phones like you can on SERO.
Like many others say, the day they take away my SERO plan is the day that the little gripes about little coverage gaps, the 3G speeds that have been getting slower over the past year, or slow 1x data when roaming might start to matter--in the meantime I can deal with those when the plan I am on is that good.
Details about what? Why some hypothetical people want something?
Hardly hypothetical people, I had just come from Hofo's listing of plans for sale/wanted and four out of the top 5 listings were wanting the Sero plan.... and answering "cause of the price" as a reason can apply to anybody buying anything. You also could have said "because they wanted a cell phone plan" .
When I first signed up for $30/mo I got 500 peak minutes, unlimited off-peak at 9pm, mobile to mobile, roaming included, unlimited text and data. When the plan was new, you could do this with any phone you wanted, either smart phone or not. EVDO "power-vision" was included if you bought a power-vision enabled cell phone. Not long after, they added 7pm nights for free but I had to call to get it. About two months into my plan, Sprint called me (and no I'm not making this up) and offered me $5/off per month per line if I agreed to re-up my contract. So I started paying $25/mo for two lines both with smart phones.
Two years and finished my contracts, the $5/mo discount disappeared. When I called customer service, they re-instated the $5/mo discount and credited me $140 to agree to a new 2 year agreement.
As good as I had it, some even had it better with pick 3 (pick any 3 numbers to call for free unlimited), or 6pm nights included for free. The stacking of discounts got pretty extreme for awhile. That ended. Sprint effectively reduced SERO's numbers by limiting all new phone purchases to specific ones for SERO plans (and notably, few or no new smart phones). They never permitted Android phones so we're talking older Windows Mobile phones, Blackberry and the like.
Interesting to note, at at least two times during SERO's history, the Sprint SERO web-page offered the plan (for Employees and their friends) to anyone. For several months, you could enter "savings@sprint.com" as the employee email address that referred you. During this time, I basically got my entire extended family on SERO. I have one brother who still has the $30/mo plan on 2 lines.
The successor to SERO was the everything plus employee plan that let you buy any phone you wanted- not restrictive, but it was only $10/mo cheaper than full retail. Gone was the huge discount.
The inability to buy current generation smart phone forced older SERO users to either switch to current generation plan or switch carriers. I ported one of my original SERO lines back to Verizon because the pricing at the time was about same. Left my Wife's phone on original SERO (light usage, and she doesn't upgrade her phone frequently). Later, about a year or so after I ported my line out, Sprint offered existing SERO users "SERO Premium" for $10 more per month allowing them to choose android smart phone or other modern phones-- albeit the $10 advance data fee appied to some newer 4G phones so the increase for me went from $30 to $50. I got my wife an Epic on SERO premium for $50/mo.
Her plan stayed about the same. The new SERO premium permitted selection of any phone, any mobile any time, and includes free Sprint navigation. Otherwise the features are same as original SERO.
It's still a great deal, but one cannot get SERO premium unless one already has SERO. In addition, even though I still have one SERO premium line, I cannot add another. I suspect they added SERO premium because its cheaper to keep some existing value customers than to lose them. I think they originally assumed folks would stay with Sprint when they upgraded to a newer plan. When that didn't happen (or as often as they would like) they offered SERO premium.
-Dan
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http://cell.uoregon.edu
Eugene, OR -- Pacific Northwest
Just a tad off topic here and sorry if this post doesn't belong here but question with the SERO plan is about 10 dollars cheaper compared to Verizon for unlimited text and data INCLUDING corporate discount. Because with unlimited text it would cost me 85 a month for the iPhone plan although the only difference between Verizon and SERO Sprint are that you get nights starting at 7pm. So is this SERO plan for 10 dollars cheaper worth it you think? To me maybe...not...
Just a tad off topic here and sorry if this post doesn't belong here but question with the SERO plan is about 10 dollars cheaper compared to Verizon for unlimited text and data INCLUDING corporate discount. Because with unlimited text it would cost me 85 a month for the iPhone plan although the only difference between Verizon and SERO Sprint are that you get nights starting at 7pm. So is this SERO plan for 10 dollars cheaper worth it you think? To me maybe...not...
I think you are confusing the EPRP plan with the "True" SERO plan. The "True" SERO plan has three tiers
$30/month: 500min, Unlimited text and data, no Android/WP7/iOS smart phones
$40/month: 500min, Unlimited text and data, Any-mobile and navigation, Android and WP7 smart phones w/o 4G.
$50/month: 500min, Unlimited text and data, Any-mobile and navigation, iPhone and smart phones w/ 4G.
So basically the "True" SERO plan is the cheapest single-line plan that you can get iPhone on ($50/month).
Original SERO plans are all grandfathered from years ago. The only way for you to get one now is to buy one from someone who no longer wants theirs and is willing to do a transfer-of-liability.
The only reason I said technically is because there are rumors that some people with existing SERO accounts have gotten customer service reps to clone their existing plans on their account....effectively creating new lines of service with a discontinued plan. This of course doesn't help you...unless you can find such a person to sell you a line of service from their SERO account. Expect to spend $150 and up on a SERO plan, if you can find one. Frankly speaking, the long term savings makes the $150 investment well worth it, IMO.
Really though... if you want a cheap iPhone plan... There is a good alternative to SERO.
If you can manage to buy an iPhone outright ($649-849... ouch).... or maybe a used one for less.
Then you can activate it on H20 Wireless (AT&T MVNO).
You will be on AT&T 3G (Faster then Sprint 3G). You will have unlimited everything...even anytime mins. Only $60/mo.
iTunes even recognizes H20 SIM cards as being AT&T SIM cards... so it can officially activate... even on SIM locked iPhones.
1 CON is no visual voicemail. Who cares when you have unlimited minutes though.
If you commonly type the name iPhone as "Iphone" or "I-Phone"... or if you commonly refer to an iPod Touch as an "iTouch" or "I-Touch"...... Then you deserve whole bottle of habanero hot sauce poured into your eyes!
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Originally Posted by Protagonist
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