Is Sprint to Sprint now free?

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John - 30 Aug 2004 16:02 GMT

#1 son says Sprint to Sprint is now free anytime minutes. No charge. NADA.
Zip.
Is it?
John

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Bob Smith - 30 Aug 2004 16:09 GMT

> #1 son says Sprint to Sprint is now free anytime minutes. No charge. NADA.
> Zip.
> Is it?
> John

Well, yes and no. There is a cost and it's a $5 option per month. It's
charged to the account, not on a per phone basis, so all phones on the
account qualify.

Bob

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Bob Smith - 30 Aug 2004 16:21 GMT

> > #1 son says Sprint to Sprint is now free anytime minutes. No charge.
> NADA.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> Bob

I should add one more thing here, that I left out above. Once the option has
been added, one can call or receive phone calls to or from any SPCS phone,
while the users phone is on SPCS's system, and get unlimited free minutes.

http://www.sprintpcs.com/common/popups/popPCStoPCS.html

Bob

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Steve Sobol - 30 Aug 2004 17:28 GMT

> Well, yes and no. There is a cost and it's a $5 option per month. It's
> charged to the account, not on a per phone basis, so all phones on the
> account qualify.

This means you only get charged once if your phones are on a share plan.

However, I intentionally activated my new line SEPARATE from my wife's so as to
not screw up her 300/$30 plan -- with all of her PCS-to-PCS usage, she totalled
over 1300 minutes this past month and still didn't go over the $30! -- so each
of our lines are charged $5/month. That's ok with me, we're still saving an
assload of money. (thirteen hundred minutes for $30 plus the $5 pcs-to-pcs
option... heh, talk about getting a lot for your money...)

IOW: For each line on your account that isn't shared that has unlimited PCS to
PCS, you will be charged another $5, but all of the shared lines share one $5
monthly fee.

FYI.

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O/Siris - 30 Aug 2004 18:49 GMT

> > Well, yes and no. There is a cost and it's a $5 option per month. It's
> > charged to the account, not on a per phone basis, so all phones on the
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> FYI.

That's odd. As of the time I left SprintPCS, PCS2PCS calling option was
free on all multi-line accounts with a 2-year Advantage Agreement. EVEN
if the minutes were not shared. Steve, if you're each getting a bill
separately, then yeah, it should be $5. If you're on the same bill, it
should have been free for you both, as long as you were both willing to
opt in for another 2 years.

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RØß
O/Siris
-+-
"A thing moderately good is not so good
as it ought to be. Moderation in temper
is always a virtue, but moderation in
principle is always a vice."

Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792

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Steve Sobol - 30 Aug 2004 20:55 GMT

> That's odd. As of the time I left SprintPCS, PCS2PCS calling option was

> free on all multi-line accounts with a 2-year Advantage Agreement. EVEN
> if the minutes were not shared. Steve, if you're each getting a bill
> separately, then yeah, it should be $5. If you're on the same bill, it
> should have been free for you both, as long as you were both willing to
> opt in for another 2 years.

I may have read my bill wrong...? (Everything's billed on one bill.)

I'll let you know as soon as the next bill comes, which should be soon because
my billing cycle ended on the 28th.

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RAF - 30 Aug 2004 21:59 GMT

> That's odd. As of the time I left SprintPCS, PCS2PCS calling option
> was free on all multi-line accounts with a 2-year Advantage Agreement.
> EVEN if the minutes were not shared. Steve, if you're each getting a
> bill separately, then yeah, it should be $5. If you're on the same
> bill, it should have been free for you both, as long as you were both
> willing to opt in for another 2 years.

Interesting. I just called *2 to ask about this, and I was told
emphatically, "No, the two lines must be on a shared minutes plan to
qualify for free unlimited PCS2PCS on both." So I read your statement
verbatim to the CSR ("Crystal"), and she insisted that is absolutely NOT
the case.

My situation is identical to Steve's: Two separate lines on the same
bill, but without shared minutes. First line receives free PCS2PCS as a
result of a promotional offer taken last year in return for a 2-year AA.
Second line was started 3 months ago, also with a 2-year AA, but pays $5
for the PCS2PCS option.

So who should I believe? Crystal claimed that the billing system would
not have charged me the extra $5 if I was in any way eligible for a
credit on the option. She suggested that perhaps you left SPCS a *very*
long time ago, Rob. :-( I told her I did not believe that to be so, and
I'm hoping you can provide some substance to back up your statement.

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CaptainKrunch - 30 Aug 2004 22:47 GMT

I signed a two year in October of last year........my other two cellphones
were stolen so I needed new ones and my contracts had expired several months
prior... anyway I have two phones on the $40 a month plan, each. No shared
minutes and I have the free pcs to pcs option because I signed the 2 year
contract. As a matter of fact I was sent an email or two when my old
contract expired about this free option and I declined to use it until I
had to buy two new phones.

CaptainKrunch

> > That's odd. As of the time I left SprintPCS, PCS2PCS calling option
> > was free on all multi-line accounts with a 2-year Advantage Agreement.
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> long time ago, Rob. :-( I told her I did not believe that to be so, and
> I'm hoping you can provide some substance to back up your statement.

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RAF - 31 Aug 2004 00:03 GMT

Here I go, answering my own question regarding free unlimited PCS-to-PCS
on a multi-line account:

> So who should I believe? Crystal claimed that the billing system
> would not have charged me the extra $5 if I was in any way eligible
> for a credit on the option. She suggested that perhaps you left SPCS
> a *very* long time ago, Rob. :-( I told her I did not believe that to
> be so, and I'm hoping you can provide some substance to back up your
> statement.

My apologies, Rob. It turns out that you are correct and Crystal was
wrong! I went to the SPCS web site and, after careful study, I
discovered the following at
http://www.sprintpcs.com/common/popups/popPCStoPCS.html:

"Unlimited Sprint PCS to PCS Calling [...] Free with additional lines
added to your Sprint PCS Account and a two-year Sprint PCS Advantage
Agreement."

So, armed with this information, I redialed *2. This time I reached a
CSR who readily agreed I should *not* have been charged for this option
on my second line. She immediately removed the charge from all future
bills, issued a $10 credit for the last two billing cycles (maximum
she's allowed to correct), and even issued a $5 "courtesy" credit to
cover the month before that. (Technically, I should still be owed $2.58
for my first partial month, but I could tell that would be a hassle for
her to put through. I'm just thrilled to discover a $5 credit I didn't
know I had, so why be greedy?)

Moral of the story (repeated in this newsgroup many times): You can't
always trust what the *first* Sprint PCS CSR tells you. Thanks to Rob
(O/Siris) for the correct information.

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CaptainKrunch - 31 Aug 2004 01:11 GMT

You will find that is the way with lots of business...just keep calling
until you get the answer you want.

> Here I go, answering my own question regarding free unlimited PCS-to-PCS
> on a multi-line account:
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
> always trust what the *first* Sprint PCS CSR tells you. Thanks to Rob
> (O/Siris) for the correct information.

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O/Siris - 31 Aug 2004 04:28 GMT

> Moral of the story (repeated in this newsgroup many times): You can't
> always trust what the *first* Sprint PCS CSR tells you. Thanks to Rob
> (O/Siris) for the correct information.

A post of mine pointing out that same page is already en
route. I'm glad you found it, too, though.

Steve, your turn :)

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RØß
O/Siris
-+-
**A thing moderately good is not so good as it
ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a
virtue, but moderation in principle is always a
vice.**
-Thomas Paine. The Rights of Man. 1792-

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Steve Sobol - 31 Aug 2004 20:59 GMT

> Steve, your turn :)

Will call *2 later :)

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O/Siris - 31 Aug 2004 04:26 GMT

> Interesting. I just called *2 to ask about this, and I was told
> emphatically, "No, the two lines must be on a shared minutes plan to
> qualify for free unlimited PCS2PCS on both." So I read your statement
> verbatim to the CSR ("Crystal"), and she insisted that is absolutely NOT
> the case.

Then have her read the description of PCS2PCS charges on
the Sprint PCS web site:

http://www.sprintpcs.com/common/popups/popPCStoPCS.html

"Free with additional lines added to your Sprint PCS
Account and a two-year Sprint PCS Advantage Agreement."

Notice *no* requirement that they share minutes via Add-A-
Phone. Only that it be an additional line.

Now, a new quarter is about to start, and I realize that
some pricing plans could have expired by now, which is why
I only report that this is how it was when I left.
However, the link above is, to me, quite clear.

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RAF - 31 Aug 2004 02:28 GMT

> However, I intentionally activated my new line SEPARATE from my wife's
> so as to not screw up her 300/$30 plan -- with all of her PCS-to-PCS
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> minutes for $30 plus the $5 pcs-to-pcs option... heh, talk about
> getting a lot for your money...)

And you can still save $10/month more! As reported elsewhere in this
thread, your new line should have free PCS-to-PCS, if you signed a
2-year AA (which I assume you did to receive maximum credit for a new
phone). Your wife's line can get free PCS-to-PCS also, if you put her
back on a new 2-year AA. I believe you can do that without altering her
300/$30 plan, even though that plan is no longer available to new
customers. (At least, it worked for me a year ago. O/Siris?)

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O/Siris - 31 Aug 2004 04:33 GMT

> And you can still save $10/month more! As reported elsewhere in this
> thread, your new line should have free PCS-to-PCS, if you signed a
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> 300/$30 plan, even though that plan is no longer available to new
> customers. (At least, it worked for me a year ago. O/Siris?)

PCS2PCS is an add-on, not a "combined" feature in a plan,
so yeah, she should be able to "re-up" without affecting
the plan she is on now.

Steve, this is one example where the very fault that
screwed your wife over moving to California now works in
her favor. Since the contract is attached to the phone
number, it becomes a kind of bargaining chip for you/her to
get stuff like free PCS2PCS.

BTW, just FYI, I left SPCS in Mid-July of this year (2004)
due to the impending cloture of the Bolingbrook, IL call
center. I figure that such specificity doesn't hurt me,
since it was a call center closing that got me out, and
that center's closing was public news for a few days. The
detective work wouldn't be all that difficult.

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Steve Sobol - 31 Aug 2004 21:54 GMT

> Steve, this is one example where the very fault that
> screwed your wife over moving to California now works in
> her favor. Since the contract is attached to the phone
> number, it becomes a kind of bargaining chip for you/her to
> get stuff like free PCS2PCS.

'cept it isn't in her favor, her one-year AA expired already.

but perhaps I will call and see if I can get the fee waived anyhow. Might try
Retention.

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John S. - 30 Aug 2004 17:03 GMT

>#1 son says Sprint to Sprint is now free anytime minutes. No charge. NADA.
>Zip.
>Is it?

I suspect that it depends on your plan. My family plan is free to ANY Sprint
PCS phone.

--
John S.
e-mail responses to - john at kiana dot net

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