Sprint's bogus Palm Pre ad

I have been considering the Pre since it was introduced. While I own a iPod touch, and think the iPhone is cool, the Pre has some nice features. Not the least of which is the physical keyboard.

Well I see an ad on the Sprint site that claims if I sign up for a new account with a Pre (I have ATT currently) I'll save $1200 over the next two years! Woo hoo! I was ready to sign right up. But wait.... the phone is $200 after rebate... Their base plan is $89???

A rep even argued with me on chat that they were cheaper that ATT. Apparently she can't read, because you can get the bottom line voice plan for $40, and data for $30. Personally, I don't really use texting.

I was really disappointed. I would have had no problem signing up and leaving ATT. The phone itself looks good, but they fail on plan price. Personally, I think these data plans are absurdly overpriced anyways. The SMS pricing is downright criminal.

First of all, it's a comparison with the Pre and the iPhone. For what they are, there are no other phones in this class. This might be true for other model phones, but my issue is the claim Sprint is making that the Pre is $1200 cheaper for a two year term than the iPhone.

It's somewhat bizarre that I would find myself defending ATT. With all due respect, Sprint would cost me $20 more per month for comparable services. It's quite simple. The minimum voice plan with ATT is 450 anytime minutes for $40. You must add a data plan for an iPhone at $30 per month. I do not care about SMS or any other frills. Is my math wrong here? is 70 < 90?

To add to all this, ATT will let me keep my old weird plan from Cingular that includes 1000 rollover minutes per month, and just add the $30 data plan for the iphone. Please make no mistake here. I have been crossways with ATT many times over the years. I'll also add that the iphone is an amazing data gadget, but has well known issues as a phone.

Remember when we used to just buy phones?

Remember then they were JUST phones?

Lol! So very true. I once had one of these "phone" devices. On the issue of pricing however, I just made a surprising discovery. To me it was anyway. Boost Mobile offers unlimited voice text and data for $50 per month. I thought there must be catches like limited coverage. Turns out they use the Sprint network as an MVNO. They do however have a very limited selection of phones. The best of which is hardly a midline ATT or Sprint phone.

Still though, I really wonder how they can do this for half the price of the parent company?

it is cheaper
i only pay 5 extra for text and data and web

$89 is for 900 minutes on Sprint. Their plan with unlimited data and only 450 minutes is $69.99

Not better than ATT, but not worse.

If you select the Palm Pre from the website, the plan offered for this price is 400 minutes, and not 450. I did call and ask if Sprint would match or beat, and they would do neither. It may be different for other phones, but this is specifically about the Pre,