Sprint has many MVNO options already, which include Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Republic Wireless. But Sprint is hoping that there is at least a few pre-paid customers left out there, and they will be starting their own Pay As You Go program on January 25th and offering their service in contract-free flavors.
It appears from the screenshot above from Android Police that there are only two smartphones that will be apart of the program. Those include the Samsung Victory, and the LG Optimus Elite. Both aren’t the best smartphones, but for contract free they aren’t bad at all. The Samsung Victory will cost you $250 while the Optimus Elite will cost you $150. And the only smartphone plan it looks like is a $70 unlimited everything, that includes unlimited data. But there is no roaming on other networks either. And with Sprint’s spotty and very slow network it’s probably a deal breaker for most people. Then you also have a $50 feature phone plan with what looks to be all the same features as the smartphone plan.
However Sprint’s other smartphones like the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, LG Optimus G, HTC EVO 4G LTE, etc., cannot be used with Sprint Pay as You Go. That’s why I wish Sprint was a GSM network. Then they wouldn’t have a choice. But with these prices, it’ll be difficult for Sprint to compete with Boost Mobile, currently they have the LG Optimus Elite for $80 and have a $55/month plan with unlimited everything, and unlimited 3G data. That to me seems like a better deal than what Sprint’s Pay As You Go is going to offer.
Maybe we’ll see some changes before this goes live on January 25th, but so far it doesn’t look like much of a deal, especially where you’re basically paying the contract price of the plan. Are you interested in Sprint Pay As You Go? Let us know in the comments below.