Sprint today revealed a new "All-In" plan that bundles monthly service and phone lease charges into one bill, starting at $80.
That $80 gets you a $20 per month phone lease for 24 months, plus $60 for unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data.
Sprint is positioning "All-In" as a less complicated alternative to the early upgrade and no-contract plans offered by its rivals, some of which require phone down payments and offer varying monthly phone payments depending on when you expect to upgrade.
"We understand how frustrating and confusing shopping for wireless can be. At Sprint, we are doing things differently," Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a statement. "We are telling customers, 'This is your All-In price.' So when they walk into our store or visit our website, they will see that $80 includes a smartphone and an unlimited plan to do the most important things they are going to do with the phone for an entire month: make calls, watch videos, listen to music, text a friend – you name it."
Sprint's website is currently offering the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 as part of All-In Wireless, though Sprint's All-in page also mentions the HTC One M9. The $20 phone lease is for a 16GB device; if you want a 64GB iPhone or S6, it will be $25 per month, while the 128GB version is $30 per month. There's no down payment required, but Sprint will charge a one-time $36 activation fee.
Streaming video speeds will be limited to 3G, and Sprint notes that while service is unlimited, "throughput may be limited, varied, or reduced on the network." You could also get cut off if you're roaming too much (800+ minutes or 100MB+).
If you need to get out of a contract, Sprint will pay off your remaining fees (via an American Express Reward Card) for switching carriers.
The fine print says the offer ends on Aug. 6.
The carrier hired soccer star David Beckham to serve as spokesman for this new plan. In the ad, Beckham visits a T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon store, where reps explain their various data plans to the befuddled athlete.
According to RCR Wireless, this new plan means the end of Sprint's iPhone for Life offer, a $50 unlimited talk, text, and data plan for iPhone 6 that arrived last fall.