DEAD - Hot Sprint Cellphone plan - Employee Friends and Family deal (SERO)

[phenderson]

Kremerica,

When you get it, please find out if it supports free tethering, like the PPC-6700? Can you please provide support for your findings, here?

 

[Kremerica]

Originally posted by: phenderson
Kremerica,

When you get it, please find out if it supports free tethering, like the PPC-6700? Can you please provide support for your findings, here?

Hellfire might be a good source, since he has already ordered them. But yes, I will update you when I get mine.

 

[hellfire88]

whoops, sorry if I wasn't clear in my post above. I ordered 2 new SERO lines last night, but both with Motorola Q's. I WISH I could swing the $400 right now, but have lots of bills piling up . Let us know about the PPC6800/Mogul when you get it Kremerica! We have 30days to exchange our phones, so if the Mogul is really THAT nice, I might have to trade one of these Q's in for a Mogul for myself, lol. Thanks.

 

[hytek369]

$400 is difficult for me to splurge. i guess i can wait or deal with treo.

 

[Cattlegod]

I got in on the SERO in november of 2006. I've been shot down 3x now for trying to get the free txt messaging.

Should I try again or just order a new line and cancel my current on? It will still be cheaper in the long run.

 

[vfrjim]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
I got in on the SERO in november of 2006. I've been shot down 3x now for trying to get the free txt messaging.

Should I try again or just order a new line and cancel my current on? It will still be cheaper in the long run.

Do it again, I signed up in Dec 06 and got it after several attempts

 

[AnimEva]

This is a great plan, been using it for just over a month. I wish i could get the 6800 but it is out of my price range and the Moto Q has been very good, battery life has been ok after the tweaks that people have been suggesting.

 

[LucJoe]

Question to the people that understand these cell phone plans. I've never had a cell phone before but I think it's time to take the plunge.

If I get a Katana (free) now, then am I locked into that phone for the next 2 years? Or can I buy a better phone during the contract period? I assume I would be required to extend my contract to 2 years again whenever I decide to buy a better phone.

I only ask because I don't really want to spend money on a nice phone now, but in the next 6 months or so I could see myself really wanting a PDA phone.

 

[JasonE4]

You're not locked into the phone for the next two years, but you'll have to pay full price for a new phone before one year or get one used from ebay/craigslist. You get a $75 credit if you want a new phone after a year and a $150 credit toward a new phone after two years.

 

[jkresh]

LucJoe you can always buy a new phone at full price, but if you want it at the discounted price that depends. Usually if you are willing to extend the contract they will give you a discount (cingular did that for my brother when his razer broke after about 3 months, but Verizon would not do that (even though we were 1 month from being out of contract they said that we had to pay full price or wait a month). From what I have read it seems that spring will generally give the discount but occasionally give a run around first (ie buy the phone at full price, then mail in your old phone and get the credit).

 

[No1ustad]

slightly off topic, but does the 6800 have embedded sms messages like the 750p? anyone know?

 

[HumblePie]

Looking to try this deal here. I currently have a sprint plan and my phone battery finally is giving fits. Figured it's cheaper to get a new "free" phone than to get a new battery.

So, what's the current update and deal with this? Also, I might be able to deal with my phone problems longer for the MOGUL phone if this plans offer lasts until then. If not, what codes, rebates, or such do I need to do to maximize my savings?

 

[skillyho]

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
Try this number for the discounts
866-250-2221-I had success applying the PWC50x code with this one. When I called I just told them that I forgot to apply the code when I placed my order. I never had to say whether I signed up online or over the phone. The rep just asked me what the code was for and I told her it was for $25 off the 1st and 2nd months. She applied the code and it actually covered my bill for this month and a portion for next month.

credit goes to truehart at FW. I tried it and it worked great.

No dice for me with that one.

 

[HumblePie]

Soo... here's my story.

I want the SERO plan and I want the mogul as cheap as I can get it. Here's what happened.

Called several times today. First off, I just did the *2 call for customer care through my sprint phone. Took me 4 different reps before I found the fifth one to tell me, you have to call the 888 SERO number. Wasted 2 hours of my time at work... well, since I had nothing else to do at the time, it really wasn't wasting time.

So, I call the SERO number. Talk to Joe. No kidding, Joe.Told him everything. I want SERO, I want a Mogul 6800, people are getting it for $288 and there are promo codes I want to apply.

He says, and this guy sounded like a 16 year old, "I'll see what I can do sir!" I think his voice squeaked on the sir part.

After him asking some questions, and putting me on hold he says he has to do a "credit sheet" to give me that price but it won't be a problem. I go through with the order.

He charges my card for $424 after tax for the phone, gives me the spiel for everything about returning and new service agreement.

then he says, "Okay, I have the credit sheet filled. Your phone should end up costing you $219. Look for the credit to be applied tomorrow."

Umm... okay.

I then ask. "So is this credit back to my card?"

"no it's to the account."





Now this... ummm I am not sure how I feel about it. Having $205 in sprint "credit" on my account or having that money back in my bank. I think I would rather have the money back to my bank account through my debit mastercard. I haven't even tried to use the promo codes yet because I might just cancel the whole thing. Unless of course this is how it is suppose to work and the guy was wrong.

SIDE NOTE:

Some of the words my SERO service rep used while I was setting up the plan.

"Awsome."

"dude!"

"hot damn"

"fer sure"



I think I heard a pimple pop over the phone once too. I can't be positive though on that, but the words he used above as well as a few others I'm positive on.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

so what with the credit. you just did a 2 year service agreement. think of the amount credited to your account prepaying for the service for 5-6 months.

 

[HumblePie]

yah, well the mogul is suppose to be $549. 2 year service takes off $150 to make it $399. Tax brought it up to $424. He filled out a credit sheet for an addition $205 or so he said. Now, if I decide to keep everything, I guess I'll go for all those promo codes. There's 4 of them for $50 each. And then there's the referal bonus of $25. That would give me a total credit of $430. If that's the case that's the first year pretty much pre paid I guess.

 

[AMD K9]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
Soo... here's my story.

I want the SERO plan and I want the mogul as cheap as I can get it. Here's what happened.

Called several times today. First off, I just did the *2 call for customer care through my sprint phone. Took me 4 different reps before I found the fifth one to tell me, you have to call the 888 SERO number. Wasted 2 hours of my time at work... well, since I had nothing else to do at the time, it really wasn't wasting time.

So, I call the SERO number. Talk to Joe. No kidding, Joe.Told him everything. I want SERO, I want a Mogul 6800, people are getting it for $288 and there are promo codes I want to apply.

He says, and this guy sounded like a 16 year old, "I'll see what I can do sir!" I think his voice squeaked on the sir part.

After him asking some questions, and putting me on hold he says he has to do a "credit sheet" to give me that price but it won't be a problem. I go through with the order.

He charges my card for $424 after tax for the phone, gives me the spiel for everything about returning and new service agreement.

then he says, "Okay, I have the credit sheet filled. Your phone should end up costing you $219. Look for the credit to be applied tomorrow."

Umm... okay.

I then ask. "So is this credit back to my card?"

"no it's to the account."





Now this... ummm I am not sure how I feel about it. Having $205 in sprint "credit" on my account or having that money back in my bank. I think I would rather have the money back to my bank account through my debit mastercard. I haven't even tried to use the promo codes yet because I might just cancel the whole thing. Unless of course this is how it is suppose to work and the guy was wrong.

SIDE NOTE:

Some of the words my SERO service rep used while I was setting up the plan.

"Awsome."

"dude!"

"hot damn"

"fer sure"



I think I heard a pimple pop over the phone once too. I can't be positive though on that, but the words he used above as well as a few others I'm positive on.

Ok this seems like the typical Sprint scenario I deal with everytime I hit *2 or the other array of numbers I call to contact Sprint. Why does it seem like I have only heard this one person mention this PITA situation everytime calling Sprint besides when I call? Are all you other people getting lucky or do I just have horrible luck, or are you all OK with dealing with the incompetance I could see in Humbles ordeal.

Humble to this day I have no idea if they are applying the supposed $100 credit to my account, as it doesn't show when I call for my account balance.

Here's the BS I was told when I ordered:

Q phone $449

2 year instant credit -$150

MIR -$100

she rattled off some kind of $75 discount and another $25 discount.

Bringing the grand total down to $99 after discounts/rebates or so I was lead to believe.

I paid $199 on my credit card so I thought my balance would be zero, NOPE!!! The new account balance was $203 something. They tried to rationalize it with double talk about why I was ONLY charged $199 for a phone that costs $449 and that I should be happy as I got a better deal than most people, until I tell them people are getting these Q's for zero or money back even!!!

 

[secretanchitman]

damn.......only one phone per line of service? i was hoping to add my moms line too...

still, this is pretty damn good for me since i have a treo 700p WITHOUT any internet usage. hopefully i can get it!

 

[HumblePie]

AMD K9:

Yah, the first rep I called on *2 thought she could sign me up. When she found out that she couldn't, she tried passing me off somewhere else and the call got "dropped" somehow. Every other time I called, I was passed around a few times, put on hold forever, and always ended up being dumped to the main menu. At which point I would hang up to do some work and try back later. It took the fifth call before I called someone who was finally knowledgeable enough from the get go to tell me no one on *2 could sign me up and I had to call the SERO 888 number and how to do everything.

Aslo, AMD K9, people are ONLY getting $150 off their phones. Everyone pays the price of the phone I found out. Everything else is "credit" to your sprint account. Meaning you won't have a monthly bill for some time, depending on how much credit you can manage to grab. The only possible money you'll get back is anything from a mail in rebate and the referal debit card. Those both come later.

I really wish someone from the get go had said that in no uncertain terms from the beginning or somewhere in this or the FW thread. They do mention it somewhat in the thread... but it still seemed like they were talking about having that credit on top of the phone... meaning you paid less for the phone initially.

So, if you want to get a Mogul, it's normal price of $549. For a 2 year contract you take off $150. So it's $399 + tax. You pay that regardless.

for the Q, it's $349. For a 2 year contract take $150 off for $199 + tax.

The difference is that you get a $100 rebate AND a $75 rebate. The mogul only has the $75 rebate. So, assuming you get those rebate back, which you should if you do everything correctly, your phone out of pocket is going to be $24 + tax.

Now, all the perks and credits go to your monthly re-occuring bill. You can do these realistically with ANY new plan. Just getting sprint to honor codes however is like pulling teeth. It's not pretty or fun.

Getting them ADD perks.. well that's smooth talking. The SERO plan is laid out very well for what it gives you. People are trying to get MORE added on to the plan by threatening cancellation or what not. Again, this is something people can do with their current plan from any cell phone company. Call up, state you are thinking of cancelling for X reason, and ask if they are willing to do something to keep you as a customer.


Technically speaking, the SERO plan from sprint is a great plan. Many features for free that actually cost a good monthly chunk of change from any other current plan from any other cell phone company. That is the "deal" here. The phones... well they aren't really a deal right now. If you want a cheap phone and a cheap initial cost, then you are going to have to go to BB or Compusa because they are only allowed to do instant rebates and not mail in rebates. You can get a Q for only $99 at BB, but then again, you can't sign up for the SERO plan at BB either. Nor can you get BB to apply ANY codes.

That's the choice. Cheap initial cost... with a high monthly re-occurring bill or higher initial cost, but cheap monthly bill. The sweet spot comes in with the second option, if you can cough up a few hundred bucks for a phone, in getting credit applied to you monthly bill to the point you don't have a monthly bill for several months to almost a year.

Personally though, I do hate how everyone thus far has related the various service credits in relation to the cost of the phone. It's very misleading.

 

[phenderson]

Originally posted by: HumblePie
AMD K9:

Yah, the first rep I called on *2 thought she could sign me up. When she found out that she couldn't, she tried passing me off somewhere else and the call got "dropped" somehow. Every other time I called, I was passed around a few times, put on hold forever, and always ended up being dumped to the main menu. At which point I would hang up to do some work and try back later. It took the fifth call before I called someone who was finally knowledgeable enough from the get go to tell me no one on *2 could sign me up and I had to call the SERO 888 number and how to do everything.

Aslo, AMD K9, people are ONLY getting $150 off their phones. Everyone pays the price of the phone I found out. Everything else is "credit" to your sprint account. Meaning you won't have a monthly bill for some time, depending on how much credit you can manage to grab. The only possible money you'll get back is anything from a mail in rebate and the referal debit card. Those both come later.

I really wish someone from the get go had said that in no uncertain terms from the beginning or somewhere in this or the FW thread. They do mention it somewhat in the thread... but it still seemed like they were talking about having that credit on top of the phone... meaning you paid less for the phone initially.

So, if you want to get a Mogul, it's normal price of $549. For a 2 year contract you take off $150. So it's $399 + tax. You pay that regardless.

for the Q, it's $349. For a 2 year contract take $150 off for $199 + tax.

The difference is that you get a $100 rebate AND a $75 rebate. The mogul only has the $75 rebate. So, assuming you get those rebate back, which you should if you do everything correctly, your phone out of pocket is going to be $24 + tax.

Now, all the perks and credits go to your monthly re-occuring bill. You can do these realistically with ANY new plan. Just getting sprint to honor codes however is like pulling teeth. It's not pretty or fun.

Getting them ADD perks.. well that's smooth talking. The SERO plan is laid out very well for what it gives you. People are trying to get MORE added on to the plan by threatening cancellation or what not. Again, this is something people can do with their current plan from any cell phone company. Call up, state you are thinking of cancelling for X reason, and ask if they are willing to do something to keep you as a customer.


Technically speaking, the SERO plan from sprint is a great plan. Many features for free that actually cost a good monthly chunk of change from any other current plan from any other cell phone company. That is the "deal" here. The phones... well they aren't really a deal right now. If you want a cheap phone and a cheap initial cost, then you are going to have to go to BB or Compusa because they are only allowed to do instant rebates and not mail in rebates. You can get a Q for only $99 at BB, but then again, you can't sign up for the SERO plan at BB either. Nor can you get BB to apply ANY codes.

That's the choice. Cheap initial cost... with a high monthly re-occurring bill or higher initial cost, but cheap monthly bill. The sweet spot comes in with the second option, if you can cough up a few hundred bucks for a phone, in getting credit applied to you monthly bill to the point you don't have a monthly bill for several months to almost a year.

Personally though, I do hate how everyone thus far has related the various service credits in relation to the cost of the phone. It's very misleading.

HumblePie,

I agree with you. I was with T-mobile for 3 years...

PROS:
-I am a gadget geek, so I love to switch phones... and get some of the hottest PDA and converged devices around....
-1000 minutes a month for $39.99 with My Faves was awesome too...

CONS: Internet service was an extra $20.00 a month... and no free-mobile to mobile,
free calling after hours was 9-6 (Calling from 9pm to 6am, I do believe) which
was crappy and the Speed on EDGE, was just plain horrid...I survived, but
once I plugged into Sprint's EVDO network, its like a whole new world... When you are surfing a 1.0 megs on your laptop, via BT or USB connection to your phone, you
realize, at that moment, that you don't even need your built-in 802.11G wi-fi. T-mobile's Texting was expensive too...


After I started getting a few $100.00 and $200.00 bills for calls going over, due to free calls only starting at 9:00, I was ready to cry Uncle. You see, I had take a job, where I travelled between Lex.Ky and Cincy.Ohio every day. So I would have to do interviews and stuff on the road... that was a killer. I hated it... I even cancelled my wife's plan, and got her a Pay-as-you-go phone from T-mobile...figuring I would save money, by getting her 1000 minutes... but that sucked too...

Sero plan, is all good. I pay $97.00 a month for two phones, 1750 minutes between them (1250 for my phone, 500 for my wife's) unlimited internet access, (free, ie Phone-AS-MODEM\tethering with the PPC-6700, free Sprint to Sprint and Nextel phones, free calling on weekends and afterhours starting at 7:00pm and ending at 7:00am (remember T-mobile, you would have to pay an extra $6.99 for EITHER Free weekends or free nights to be added to the My FAVES plan), 500 texts a month, Sprint TV on my handsets.

SprintPC's customer service is horrible, and their bill procedures are rather millitant... but I love my service, because pay about $25.00 less for twice as many features...

No if I can just get my hands on a Mogul... I will be 100% ok...

The only thing I miss about t-mobile, is the WIDE VARIETY of PHONES... (I just know who ever makes the program to unlock the I-phones is going to make a lot of money, and will also be in court on a regular basis). Other than that, I am all good...

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: phenderson
...500 texts a month...

Why not unlimited?

 

[phenderson]

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: phenderson
...500 texts a month...</end quote></div>Why not unlimited?

Well, I had a friend, who likes to text me... and so I noticed text messages were like .15 a piece. And then I started texting him and my brother (its easy to do, with a PPC-6700 or any of the Treo's). Then I got my $127.00 bill, and was a little upset. So then I called the SprinPC Customer Care... and they gave me 500 txt messages a month on my phone and my wife's phone.

I love it...

Folks, I work in Lou. Ky, and live in Lexington. I take a back road (Leestown, Route 62) into Lexington, I drop my signal maybe once, down that Road. Other than that, I never lose signal or drop calls. And the PPC-6700 is notorious for having a weak antennae...

Because of the unlimited EVDO, I never use the Wi-Fi built-into my phone, never... which is weird, in itself...

About the only CON I have about my phone is that I can't send the Address book to my car's BT system... but everything else is awesome...

Folks, if you ever get a Treo or PPC, get Google Maps... its like having Mapquest right there on your phone...

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

I'm surprised that you get good quality connection with Sprint in Louisville. I'm across the river in southern Indiana. In Clarksville/New Albany/Floyds Knobs, Sprint's quality is very subpar. That is the only thing keeping me from jumping on this deal away from Verizon.

 

[phenderson]

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX
I'm surprised that you get good quality connection with Sprint in Louisville. I'm across the river in southern Indiana. In Clarksville/New Albany/Floyds Knobs, Sprint's quality is very subpar. That is the only thing keeping me from jumping on this deal away from Verizon.

Actually, my brother lives in the New Albany, Jeffersontown area and works there too, and his reception both for Nextel and Sprint is horrible. I had to go through Shelbyville yesterday because City of Louisville had traffic backed up for miles doing some eletrical work.... So I had to double back into Louisville and head down Shelbyville Road.... But I still got reception...


It mostly depends on your phone...
Some of the best Antennaes in phones, are the Motorola ones, Nokia, and Siemens BEnq.
In fact Siemens Benq ones were the best, when I used their GSM\GPRS phones on my T-mobile accounts, but alas, I don't think Benq\Siemens ever made phones for Sprint or Verizon for that matter.

 

[Cattlegod]

OK, get this story. So I got on this deal in November '06. Called 4-5 times to try and get free unlimited texts. no go.

Then last week I lose my phone (a900, samsung razor competitor) and I think crap, what am I going to do. So I think, I'll pay 200 to cancel my SERO account, and sign up with a new one and get the Q for 100 bucks and get free txt msging with it. Total cost 300 for losing my phone and unlimited texts with a new number.

SO, I call them today and tell them that I would like to cancel my current SERO and get a new one (without telling them why, just that I get free txt with the new one). She puts me on hold and comes back in 3-4 mins and says "OK, if I give you unlimited texts, will that be OK?." I just paused because it totally caught me off guard. I was like "Sure, I guess" and that was it.

So, now I'm back with the sero plan, now upgraded with free txts but no phone. Any suggestions? I'm thinking about getting a cheapy 50 dollar phone to tie me until Nov/Dec when I will hit 13 months in my contract and I think I will be able to get a cheap upgrade to a nice phone. That or I can spend 300 now on something, but it still won't be as good of a deal as cancelling and getting a new contract. The only downside to doing that is I lose my number that I've had for the past 5 years.

so what would YOU do? hah.