If you have not heard Sprint and T-Mobile are merging. More specifically T-Mobile is going to be buying out Sprint. If you have read through some of the other articles on the site you may not that Sprint has different policies when it comes to international data pricing. Compared to what is being offered by T-Mobile. The merger details seem to be a bit scarce at the original time of writing. This may be an article that we are going to be looking to update in the upcoming months. Since this is exciting news in the industry it is a topic that can certainly be worth covering. Also, this marks one of our first articles in this format. Where we want to give you a shorter view of a particular issue. With that, let’s get going!
Sprint Merger Equals, No More Sprint
According to certain reports, there is a good chance that T-Mobile will just go ahead and drop the Sprint name. If you are a Sprint user you would essentially then just pass on to be a T-Mobile user. It is not only the name that is going to be removed. As part of the merger SoftBank, the parent corporation that held the rights to Sprint was 25% of T-Mobile’s stock. Other reports indicate that SoftBank is ready to sell its T-Mobile equity. This means that there is essentially going to be no one in the room that would potentially be able to push back on whatever it may be that T-Mobile wants to do with Sprint.
What Does This Mean For Sprint Travel Plans?
If you are a Sprint user or if you follow the site you know that Sprint has essentially lower rates when it comes to using your phone abroad than T-Mobile and some of the main competitors. Most notably you would be able to get a week of international coverage on your regular plan with Sprint for $50. In the same plan, you would have to pay 70 dollars to get a week’s worth of coverage through T-Mobile. If Sprint is going to cease to exist there is no reason or actually way that T-Mobile could offer two different rates on what is essentially the same exact plan.
There are basically only two options in this case. Either T-Mobile is just going to pretty much force Sprint users to abide by their new rates or in an ideal world, T-Mobile’s price per day for their International Day Pass could drop. If that is the case that could spell some great news for travelers. As you could potentially consider just paying 50 dollars for a week’s coverage. This rate could change the perspective of a lot of people when it comes to getting coverage while traveling internationally.
Your Sprint Plan or Prepaid Plan
If you are a Sprint user chances are you already got a text an email or whatever it may be explaining what this merger means for you. There is a good chance that if you are in a plan on a long term deal you won’t have to worry about it that much. At least as far as the price goes. T-Mobile is probably not going to be looking to charge you extra money or anything like that. Especially since that could lead to potential lawsuits and problems that the company is going to want to avoid. At the time of writing, you can still potentially buy a line from Sprint starting at 60 dollars for the basic unlimited plan. Paying 35 dollars a line for 4 lines.
As far as prepaid plans go there is one main option that is the kick start plan at 35 dollars. No annual contract for that particular plan. The 35 dollars is on auto-pay if you don’t have it on auto-pay you can expect it to cost 40 dollars. It can be a great phone for travel as you could be getting unlimited text and data even abroad. At slow as snails speeds though, that is one of the downsides. The cost of these prepaid plans can vary. Even on the web page, there is an asterisk and small letters letting you know that the prices could vary on this plan without previous notice from month to month.
Going Heavy With Watches & Tablets
One of the things that can quickly be spotted, is the fact that the Sprint page is now very limited. There is essentially very little information that you can access. We had surfed the page before the merger was announced and it was a more complete experience overall. These days, it seems that T-Mobile could focus the Sprint brand to sell coverage for watches and tablets.
Amidst the reports that they would get rid of the Sprint brand altogether, it does not make sense that they continue to offer plans under that brand as of right now. Especially since the merger has already been finalized. Maybe, they are waiting for SoftBank to sell their T-Mobile stock!
Would We Recommend Sprint Right Now?
This may sound contradictory since we mentioned that the price prepaid plans could vary from month to month, while also saying long term deals are most likely going to stay the same. Yet, if you find that you like the prepaid deal, especially if you are taking a trip within the month it may be a good burner phone to pick up. If the price is raised after a month you can just choose to not renew your coverage.
While we do anticipate that the price for the long term deals will stay put you could run the risk of being treated as a lower-tier customer for T-Mobile. If you are going to buy a long term plan and you want access to this network, buy from T-Mobile directly. That way you won’t have to worry about the merger or anything that is even related to that. It is safe to say we have not seen the last news from this Sprint & T-Mobile merger!