Sprint to roll out pay-as-you go contract free service

By Lisa Eadicicco January 4, 2013

Image used with permission by copyright holder

As 2013 begins, Sprint has decided to join the likes of its subsidiary company Boost Mobile in offering contract free service to subscribers. Come Jan. 25, cell phone owners will be able to operate on Sprint’s network without committing to a two-year binding contract.

While this may sound appealing to mobile users afraid of a little commitment, shoppers will be fairly limited in their choices. Sprint will only offer pay-as-you-go service for four phones: Samsung’s M400 and Array phones, LG’s Optimus Elite and Samsung’s higher-end Victory. The cheapest of the bunch are the M400 and Array phones, with the former costing only $50 and the latter priced at $80. For value shoppers looking for a little more out of their mobile devices, LG’s variant will cost $150 while Samsung’s will be priced at $250.

Each of these phones will come with zero subsidy costs with two pay-as-you-go flavors: a $50 per month plan for feature phones like the M400 and Array and a $70 option for non-LTE smartphones the Optimus Elite and Victory. Android Police reports that each plan will come with unlimited voice, text, and Web.

It’s important to remember that Sprint has not yet officially announced its plans to roll out contract free service. The Android-themed news blog reported that the news comes from unreleased materials meant to be seen by Sprint employees only. This means that until we hear this news from Sprint, any of this information is subject to change.

According to these yet to be released advertisements, Sprint will alert customers 10 days before their bill is due and again three days before. Customers will not be penalized for canceling service or switching phones. Android Police also reports that although Sprint plans to introduce new phones to its contract free service, devices such as the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, LG Optimus G, and HTC EVO 4G LTE will not be eligible for pay-as-you-go.

While offering another option for budget smartphone shoppers is a positive notion, Sprint may have trouble competing with other non-commitment services following its launch. Both Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile offer less expensive plans with a wider variety of devices.

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Lisa Eadicicco is a technology and video game reporter based in New York City. She graduated from Purchase College in 2012…

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