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Sprint’s existing $60 a month Unlimited Plan that includes no restrictions on data use, talk minutes or texts will go up in price to $70 a month on Oct. 16, but customers can still sign up for the lower rate through Oct. 15.
“At Sprint, we give customers what they want—and they want the option of unlimited data,” Marcelo Claure, CEO of Sprint, said in a statement. “At $70 a month, Sprint still beats the competition. Rather than increase the price without warning, we want to give customers one last chance to take advantage of the $60 rate.”
AT&T formerly offered unlimited plans but dropped them while T-Mobile’s unlimited plan is $80 a month.
The $60 unlimited rate is available to new or existing customers who purchase a new device through Sprint’s iPhone Forever plan, a Sprint Lease, the Sprint Easy Pay plan or who pay full retail price. Customers also can get the lower rate when they bring in their own compatible device, according to the company.
For customers who are with another carrier, Sprint will pay off their current contract or phone balance to cover costs to switch to Sprint, via an American Express Reward Card.
Existing Sprint customers who are already on the Sprint $60 Unlimited Plan can remain on the plan and are unaffected by the coming price change.
In August, Sprint CEO Claure told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that, by the end of 2015, the company plans to stop offering two-year mobile contracts and smartphone subsidies as a means to retain customers.
Sprint, like other mobile carriers, is always changing and adding calling plan options for its customers.
Also in August, Sprint expanded its Open World international calling program to make all mobile calls and texts to and from Canada and Mexico free and included in monthly customer cellular plans, without additional roaming charges.
As part of the expanded service, Sprint customers also now receive up to 1GB of 3G data for free while traveling in Canada and Mexico. That allotment is in addition to the data in a customer’s domestic data plan. Additional data can be purchased at $30 per GB and will only be charged based on actual usage.
The Sprint Open World program already offers roaming in 34 countries around the world and domestic calls to Latin America, the Dominican Republic and more than 180 other countries at 5 cents per minute when added to a domestic service plan, according to the company. Also included in Sprint Open World is 1GB of free data when customers travel in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay. The countries of Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela will be added to the program in the future, according to Sprint.
For Sprint customers roaming outside Mexico, Canada, the Dominican Republic and other select Latin American countries, Open World participants pay 20 cents a minute for voice calls, while texts are free under the program. Use of 3G data outside these countries is billed at $30 per GB, billed per actual use. Included in these nations are Australia, Canary Islands (Spain), Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Palestinian Territories, Russia, San Marino (Italy), Scotland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Vatican City and Wales.
Sprint wasn’t the first of the big four mobile carriers to add free Canada and Mexico calling and texting to their mobile plans, however. In July, competitor T-Mobile added free calling, texting and 4G LTE data to and from Canada and Mexico for all customers who have Simple Choice mobile calling plans with the carrier.
In June, Sprint added a “Sprint Cuba 20 Plus” calling plan to allow customers to make direct calls to Cuba. The Sprint Cuba 20 Plus plans offer 20 minutes of international calling to Cuba per month for $10 (50 cents per minute), while additional minutes can be purchased for 70 cents per minute.