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  1. #1
    Eric
    Guest
    I just saw one of the new Fair and Flexible pricing brochures today, and
    I have to say... MAN! Its a tad on the expensive side.

    700 minutes on the regular fixed pricing plan is $50, but on Fair and
    Flexible, its like $75! F&F does help out I guess for people who
    occasionally go over their minutes, but it doesn't help out the high-end
    user at all, IMO.

    Also, the brochure was very confusing to understand.

    Eric




    See More: Fair and Flexible pricing




  2. #2
    Steven J Sobol
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    Eric <[email protected]> wrote:
    > 700 minutes on the regular fixed pricing plan is $50, but on Fair and
    > Flexible, its like $75! F&F does help out I guess for people who
    > occasionally go over their minutes, but it doesn't help out the high-end
    > user at all, IMO.


    Of course not - that's not who it was designed for.

    --
    JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
    Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
    Domain Names, $9.95/yr, 24x7 service: http://DomainNames.JustThe.net/
    "someone once called me a sofa, but i didn't feel compelled to rush out and buy
    slip covers." -adam brower * Hiroshima '45, Chernobyl '86, Windows 98/2000/2003



  3. #3
    Bob Smith
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing


    "Eric" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    > I just saw one of the new Fair and Flexible pricing brochures today, and
    > I have to say... MAN! Its a tad on the expensive side.
    >
    > 700 minutes on the regular fixed pricing plan is $50, but on Fair and
    > Flexible, its like $75! F&F does help out I guess for people who
    > occasionally go over their minutes, but it doesn't help out the high-end
    > user at all, IMO.


    Why would it? It's for the low end user who finds a need for more minutes on
    occasion.

    Bob





  4. #4
    Robert M
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    In article <[email protected]>,
    [email protected] (Eric) wrote:

    > I just saw one of the new Fair and Flexible pricing brochures today, and
    > I have to say... MAN! Its a tad on the expensive side.
    >
    > 700 minutes on the regular fixed pricing plan is $50, but on Fair and
    > Flexible, its like $75! F&F does help out I guess for people who
    > occasionally go over their minutes, but it doesn't help out the high-end
    > user at all, IMO.
    >
    > Also, the brochure was very confusing to understand.


    SprintPCS apparently agrees its confusing as they doubled their
    advertising Budget (to $100 Million) to roll it out.

    http://www.americasnetwork.com/ameri...cleDetail.jsp?
    id=95079

    "A lot of people aren't going to be familiar with this, so you have to
    heavy-up on advertising"



  5. #5
    Eric
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    (Steven=A0J=A0Sobol) wrote:
    <<Of course not - that's not who it was designed for. >>

    I know it is designed for a low-end user... but the wording and how the
    brochure is laid out looks really poor. If a store has none of the
    regular brochures in stock, the F&F ones make Sprint look extremely
    expensive on all levels.

    Eric




  6. #6
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA1

    Eric <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I just saw one of the new Fair and Flexible pricing brochures today, and
    > I have to say... MAN! Its a tad on the expensive side.
    >
    > 700 minutes on the regular fixed pricing plan is $50, but on Fair and
    > Flexible, its like $75! F&F does help out I guess for people who
    > occasionally go over their minutes, but it doesn't help out the high-end
    > user at all, IMO.


    $5 for flexibility, if you need it, seems like a fair deal to me.

    >
    > Also, the brochure was very confusing to understand.


    Perhaps I am not a "normal" user, but I found the published material to
    be very simple and straight forward. But that is just me, everybody
    views these things differently.

    - --

    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

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  7. #7
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA1

    Phillip <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > SprintPCS apparently agrees its confusing as they doubled their
    > advertising Budget (to $100 Million) to roll it out.
    >
    > http://www.americasnetwork.com/ameri...cleDetail.jsp?
    > id=95079
    >
    > "A lot of people aren't going to be familiar with this, so you have to
    > heavy-up on advertising"


    You have a remarkable way of way of making defective inferences.
    Stepping up advertising because of unfamiliarity is far different than
    stepping up advertising because they think it is confusing. It is far
    more confusing to somebody not familiar to figure out which identity
    posting here is actually Phillip.

    BTW ... a better link:
    http://www.americasnetwork.com/ameri...l.jsp?id=95079

    or

    http://tinyurl.com/38z2u

    - --

    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

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  8. #8
    Eric
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    (Thomas=A0T.=A0Veldhouse) wrote:
    <<$5 for flexibility, if you need it, seems like a fair deal to me. >>

    Hi Tom,

    No, don't get me wrong... I think that $5 for "blocks" of minutes is
    better than .40/per minute in overage charges.

    But my point is being that the F&F brochures make no reference to the
    fact that Sprint still has regular "fixed" minute plans. Therefore, to
    the uninformed eye, it makes it seem like a higher-end minute user would
    be paying $75-85 for 700 minutes.. when it is available for $50 on a
    regular plan. The Radio Shack I was at today to pick up a F&F brochure
    didn't have any of the "regular" brochures in plain sight as they did
    with the F&F ones... perhaps that is because F&F is a newer program...
    but to a new customer who is browsing cellular services, it just makes
    Sprint seem way above and beyond expensive.

    Eric




  9. #9
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA1

    [email protected] (Eric) wrote in news:769-40AA9FD9-70@storefull-
    3233.bay.webtv.net:

    >
    > Hi Tom,
    >
    > No, don't get me wrong... I think that $5 for "blocks" of minutes is
    > better than .40/per minute in overage charges.
    >
    > But my point is being that the F&F brochures make no reference to the
    > fact that Sprint still has regular "fixed" minute plans. Therefore, to
    > the uninformed eye, it makes it seem like a higher-end minute user would
    > be paying $75-85 for 700 minutes.. when it is available for $50 on a
    > regular plan. The Radio Shack I was at today to pick up a F&F brochure
    > didn't have any of the "regular" brochures in plain sight as they did
    > with the F&F ones... perhaps that is because F&F is a newer program...
    > but to a new customer who is browsing cellular services, it just makes
    > Sprint seem way above and beyond expensive.
    >
    > Eric
    >
    >


    Of course not, the brochure is for the F&F plans. Most carriers don't list
    all of their plans in the same brochure. One reason of course is so that
    when they change a plan offering, they only have to release a new brochure
    for that plan and not for all plans. Look at Verizon Wireless for
    instance. They have separate brochures for local plans, America's Choice
    plans, Single Rate plans, Mobile to Mobile, Data, etc. None of these refer
    to other plans. It is unfair to characterize Sprint PCS in the manner to
    which you did, in my opinion.

    - --
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

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    --
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1




  10. #10
    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    Hash: SHA1

    Eric <[email protected]> wrote:
    > (Steven J Sobol) wrote:
    > <<Of course not - that's not who it was designed for. >>
    >
    > I know it is designed for a low-end user... but the wording and how the
    > brochure is laid out looks really poor. If a store has none of the
    > regular brochures in stock, the F&F ones make Sprint look extremely
    > expensive on all levels.
    >
    > Eric


    Ifs, hypotheticals ... the problem in that case isn't the F&F brochure,
    the problem is that the other brochures are strangely absent. That is
    another problem altogether, and unless you believe this to be a regular
    occurance, seems like quite a stretch, if not, then it is an insinuation
    that needs followup documentation for the rest of us to review.

    - --

    Thomas T. Veldhouse
    Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

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  11. #11
    O/Siris
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    In article <rmarkoff-0D3122.14530418052004
    @news06.east.earthlink.net>, [email protected] says...
    > SprintPCS apparently agrees its confusing as they doubled their=20
    > advertising Budget (to $100 Million) to roll it out.
    >=20


    The sequence of events is fine, but I think your conclusion is off=20
    just a bit. I don't know if F&F is going to work, but I would argue=20
    that it's a fairly radical departure from normal plans, and as such,=20
    is bound to require a large effort to make it understandable.

    I'd presume that, if we've had to radically alter the marketing=20
    budget on it, then we underestimated how much it would take to do so.

    --=20
    R=D8=DF
    O/Siris
    I work for Sprint PCS
    I *don't* speak for them



  12. #12
    Eric
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    (Thomas=A0T.=A0Veldhouse) wrote:
    <<Look at Verizon Wireless for instance. They have separate brochures
    for local plans, America's Choice plans, Single Rate plans, Mobile to
    Mobile, Data, etc. None of these refer to other plans. It is unfair to
    characterize Sprint PCS in the manner to which you did, in my opinion.>>

    But Verizon Wireless also makes sure that most (if not all) of their
    different pricing brochures are available and easy to find. In three
    places I was at last night (Radio Shack, Best Buy and Wal-Mart), the
    *only* Sprint PCS brochures that were in easy-to-view plain sight was
    the F&F ones. With the absence of the regular fixed pricing plans, it
    does indeed make Sprint look highly expensive... as evidenced by the
    Wal-Mart rep whom I overheard talking to a customer about Sprint's new
    plans, and how they are so expensive, thus directing the customer to
    sign up with T-Mobile instead.

    You could say that the rep was mistrained (as probably was the case),
    and that the customer was whitewashed without doing appropriate
    research. But the net result was a customer lost by Sprint PCS because
    the new F&F brochures are taking front and center stage, and taking
    space away from the regular plans that are more competitive to the
    average joe. If this does become widespread, Sprint will lose potential
    customers more often than not.

    Eric




  13. #13
    Eric
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    (Thomas=A0T.=A0Veldhouse) wrote:
    <<Ifs, hypotheticals ... the problem in that case isn't the F&F
    brochure, the problem is that the other brochures are strangely absent.
    That is another problem altogether, and unless you believe this to be a
    regular occurance, seems like quite a stretch, if not, then it is an
    insinuation that needs followup documentation for the rest of us to
    review. >>

    Here is what Rob had to say about the subject:

    Group: alt.cellular.sprintpcs Date: Wed, May 19, 2004, 4:55am (EST+5)
    From: (O/Siris)
    Unfortunately, that's exactly the strategy. Free&Clear will now be
    emphasized as a business/corporate plan, and Fair&Flexible will be the
    primary consumer/individual offering.
    And I don't like it.
    --
    R=D8=DF
    O/Siris
    I work for Sprint PCS
    I *don't* speak for them




  14. #14
    Mike
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    Eric wrote:
    > (Thomas T. Veldhouse) wrote:
    > <<Look at Verizon Wireless for instance. They have separate brochures
    > for local plans, America's Choice plans, Single Rate plans, Mobile to
    > Mobile, Data, etc. None of these refer to other plans. It is unfair to
    > characterize Sprint PCS in the manner to which you did, in my opinion.>>
    >
    > But Verizon Wireless also makes sure that most (if not all) of their
    > different pricing brochures are available and easy to find. In three
    > places I was at last night (Radio Shack, Best Buy and Wal-Mart), the
    > *only* Sprint PCS brochures that were in easy-to-view plain sight was
    > the F&F ones. With the absence of the regular fixed pricing plans, it
    > does indeed make Sprint look highly expensive... as evidenced by the
    > Wal-Mart rep whom I overheard talking to a customer about Sprint's new
    > plans, and how they are so expensive, thus directing the customer to
    > sign up with T-Mobile instead.
    >
    > You could say that the rep was mistrained (as probably was the case),
    > and that the customer was whitewashed without doing appropriate
    > research. But the net result was a customer lost by Sprint PCS because
    > the new F&F brochures are taking front and center stage, and taking
    > space away from the regular plans that are more competitive to the
    > average joe. If this does become widespread, Sprint will lose potential
    > customers more often than not.
    >
    > Eric
    >


    I agree, somewhat. These days, training is an expensive luxury for many
    businesses. It's hard for most laypersons to realize the breadth of
    information needed by a person that sells wireless. In a week, I might
    get asked a number of questions, and many times, I'll be asked questions
    that don't make sense.

    CUST: "I had Sprint before. The coverage was good, but it didn't work at
    the Home Depot in Dothan, AL. Anywhere in the store, or even standing in
    front of the store, the phone was just dead. Now, if you walk fifty feet
    into the parking lot, it would work fine. Did Sprint fix that?"
    ME: "Dothan, AL is probably five hundred miles from here. I've never been."
    CUST: "Is there anyone here that would know?"
    ME: "No."

    or:

    CUST: "Do you have a case for a Sprint phone?"
    ME: "What kind of Sprint phone?"
    CUST: "A SPRINT phone!"
    ME: "What model?"
    CUST: "Hell, I don't know! What's the difference?!"
    ME: "I think you should bring me your cell phone so we can make sure it
    fits."

    or:

    CUST: "Do you have a wire to hook my cell phone to my satellite dish?"
    ME: "What?"
    CUST: Do you have a wire to hook my cell phone to my Dish Network
    satellite dish?"
    ME: "Why would you do that?"
    CUST: "Look, I don't want to sound rude here, but I'm just trying to
    find out, do you have that wire or not?"
    ME: "No."
    CUST: "Alright."

    And in each of these situations, the customers left thinking I didn't
    know anything about my products. Still want to know what the guy with
    the tv dish wanted to achieve.

    Some bigger retailers have taken the stance that training can be done by
    building a training team guided in part by the marketing department and
    in part by the buyers. This results in a person that knows the wording
    in the advertising brochures and how to use the register. Because
    wireless is more complicated than most of the products sold in these
    stores, retailers have taken a "throw it on the shelf, put out shiny
    brochures, see what sells" approach to wireless. I doubt anyone out
    there has enough knowledge of their job to answer any question about it
    in the sort of time constraints needed when dealing with the public.

    I'm getting the feeling, between ReadyLink (Nextel) and Fair and
    Flexible (Cingular) that Sprint allowing themselves to be driven by
    their competition, rather than innovate like they did with Vision.

    The retailer I work for had a regular conference call two weeks ago
    where it was announced that we weren't going to promote Fair and
    Flexible to our customers. It results in lower average plans
    (companywide, our average plan cost hovers a little over $70) and
    doesn't match with our customer. Same goes for area-wide plans. I'll
    write one if it is a match, but it'd be crazy for me to do that to my
    customers.

    -mike



  15. #15
    Robert M
    Guest

    Re: Fair and Flexible pricing

    In article <[email protected]>,
    Mike <[email protected]> wrote:

    > CUST: "Do you have a wire to hook my cell phone to my satellite dish?"
    > ME: "What?"
    > CUST: Do you have a wire to hook my cell phone to my Dish Network
    > satellite dish?"
    > ME: "Why would you do that?"
    > CUST: "Look, I don't want to sound rude here, but I'm just trying to
    > find out, do you have that wire or not?"
    > ME: "No."
    > CUST: "Alright."
    >
    > And in each of these situations, the customers left thinking I didn't
    > know anything about my products. Still want to know what the guy with
    > the tv dish wanted to achieve.


    Maybe he thought it could get him better indoor reception.



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