Despite weeks of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 grabbing headlines — first for reports of exploding devices, then for the drawn-out process that eventually led to an official recall — at least one person thinks the whole controversy will be forgotten sooner rather than later. [More]
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Ad Self-Regulation Body Refers Sprint’s ‘50% Off’ Campaign To FCC
By 8.22.16
It’s really hard to get complex ideas across during a 30-second television commercial. However, the National Adverting Division, which investigates ad claims for the industry’s self-regulation body, says that Sprint still isn’t really getting across the subtleties of its promotions for new customers switching from other carriers, and has referred the ads to the Federal Communications Commission. [More]
Hey, Sprint Has Some New Unlimited Plans, Too
By 8.18.16
This morning, we shared the news that T-Mobile USA was doing away with the entire concept of mobile plans, and instead putting all postpaid users on plans with unlimited voice, messaging, and data. Competing small carrier and erstwhile merger partner Sprint doesn’t want to be left out, and announced its own unlimited plan today. [More]
T-Mobile Spent The Most On TV Ads Out Of All Major Carriers Last Month
By 8.10.16
If it seems like commercials for T-Mobile are everywhere, you aren’t wrong. Out of the four biggest mobile phone carriers, Big Magenta was the top spender on TV commercials in July, showing a spot for what the company called its “most epic deal ever” a total of 2,288 times on broadcast and cable TV. [More]
FCC To Phone Companies: Offer Free Robocall Blockers To Customers
By 7.22.16
Even though the Federal Communications Commission has repeatedly said that wireless and landline phone providers are allowed to offer robocall-blocking services to their customers, some carriers have continued to incorrectly insist — and provide misinformation to consumers — that they simply don’t have the authority to deploy this technology. In an effort to make things clear once and for all, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler has sent letters to these companies that there are no regulatory roadblocks stopping them from helping their customers stop annoying — often illegal — automated and prerecorded robocalls. [More]
Sprint’s Parent Company Spending $32 Billion To Buy A Piece Of Everyone’s Phones
By 7.18.16
A big tech deal was announced between two international companies today. Japan-based SoftBank bought UK-based ARM for $32 billion, a sentence that’s meaningless to most of us. But put another way, it starts to make a whole lot more sense: the company that owns Sprint just bought the company that makes the parts that make your iPhone actually work. [More]
Major Wireless Carriers Offering Free Calls, Texts To Turkey After Istanbul Airport Attack
By 6.29.16
In the wake of a suspected terrorist attack at Istanbul’s airport that killed 41 people and wounded 239 more, the four major wireless carriers in the U.S. are offering to connect customers with their loved ones in Turkey for free. [More]
Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now?” Guy Now Shilling For Sprint
By 6.6.16
For years, he was the face of Verizon Wireless, popping up in TV and print ads with his “Can you hear me now?” catchphrase. Then, like all commercial fads, this pitchman’s familiar face faded from public view… only to be dusted off and trotted out as a shill for Sprint.
[More]
Ad Watchdog: Sprint Should Clarify What ‘50% Off Your Bill’ Really Means
By 6.3.16
The National Ad Division is a program of the Council of Better Business Bureaus that investigates claims of misleading or otherwise problematic ads. Complaints typically come from an advertiser’s competition, and recently T-Mobile spoke up about Sprint’s marketing that promises to cut customers’ bills in half, or give them 50% off. The watchdog agreed that the claim made in ads is not, strictly speaking, true. [More]
Supreme Court: Sprint Must Face $300M Lawsuit Over Uncollected Sales Tax
By 5.31.16
Four years after New York sued Sprint for allegedly failing to collect more than $100 million in sales tax in the state, the U.S. Supreme Court has shot down the wireless carrier’s effort to avoid liability. [More]
Report: Sprint Changes Its Mind Again, Will Kill Off Two-Year Contracts After All
By 5.20.16
Sprint can’t seem to decide what it wants to do with two-year contracts: after announcing in January that it would join the other major carriers in ditching the two-year deals, Sprint backtracked a month later and said it would still offer them to existing customers. That resolve may not have stuck, as a new report claims the wireless company is again preparing to eliminate two-year contracts. [More]
Sprint Offering Free Year Of Amazon Prime For Customers On 40GB Data Plan
By 5.13.16
In the neverending game of trying to woo customers away from rivals, Sprint has trotted out a new perk: customers who sign up for its “Better Choice XXL” plan with 40GB of data will get 12 months of Amazon Prime access for free. [More]
Sprint Pulls Ad Featuring Customer Calling T-Mobile “Ghetto”
By 4.13.16
Sometimes we just want to throw our heads back and shout at the advertising powers that be, and ask them what the heck they were thinking when they do boneheaded things. Like an ad Sprint just rushed to pull after only a few hours online Tuesday, which features a white customer calling competitor T-Mobile “ghetto.” [More]
Sprint Offering Customers Access To Amazon Prime On A Monthly Basis
By 3.31.16
Sprint has a deal that might be attractive to some out there, but there’s a bit of math involved: customers can get access to Amazon Prime as a monthly add-on to their regular bill. Okay, cool — but then there’s the price. It’s $10.99 per month for free two-day-shipping, access to Amazon’s music and video services, and all the other stuff that comes with a Prime membership. [More]
Sprint Revives 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee Deal
By 3.28.16
If you’ve been thinking about switching to Sprint as your mobile carrier, but aren’t sure whether you want to sign your voice and data services over to them for the foreseeable future, good news! The carrier is bringing back its 30-day money-back guarantee deal, perhaps hoping that when combined with its aggressive discounts and promotions, it will draw new users who are skeptical about their supposed network improvements. [More]
Court Reminds Us All: You Have No Right To Sue Your Phone Company
By 3.14.16
If you don’t like your wireless company’s service, or your current rate plan, you’re free to change providers. But if you think your wireless provider is breaking the law, you can’t sue the company; and it doesn’t matter which of the four major carriers you have, because they all strip their customers’ of their legal rights. [More]
Illinois Sues Sprint Over $2.7M In Unclaimed Rebates That Belong To Customers
By 3.9.16
What happens to unclaimed rebates when customers don’t, well, claim them? In Illinois, the state treasurer’s office says Sprint owes customers $2.7 million in rebates from 2003 to 2005 that were never claimed, accusing another company of keeping those funds for itself. [More]
Sprint Finds Another Retail Buddy To Open 500 More Stores
By 2.29.16
A year ago, RadioShack filed for bankruptcy protection, and a little less than half of their retail stores were sold to a major creditor. That creditor in turn teamed up with Sprint to re-open the Shacks with mini-Sprint stores inside. Opening new stores with a buddy has apparently worked well for Sprint, and now they’re teaming up with the biggest mobile retailer in Europe to open 500 more stores in the U.S. [More]
