Sprint expected to launch prepaid service on January 25 - ortizziese1943

Dash's radio network is old by paid carriers like Sprint Further Mobile and Virgin Mobile, but now the company is preparing to come in the prepaid arena along its have, accordant to company documents leaked to Android Police.

The service, slated for launching on Jan 25, will cost $70 a calendar month for unlimited voice, text and Web, and includes two smartphone models that will be offered at unsubsidized prices, according to the leaked documents.

Smartphones in the plan will be the LG Optimus Elect ($150) and Samsung Victory ($250). Other Sprint smartphones, suchlike the Galaxy S III and Evo 4G LTE, aren't entitled for the plan.

EVDO roaming is not included in the design and Android Police far-famed that the leaked materials suggest that exploitation data on a non-EVDO network may atomic number 4 charged against a contributor's monthly credit.

Another drawback to Sprint's pay-as-you-go service is it doesn't support LTE, although the Samsung Victory supports that technology.

Postpaid providers using Sprint's electronic network don't have whatever LTE offerings either, simply there birth been rumblings that they'll sustain access to LTE this quarter, so it's possible Sprint may roll proscribed LTE support for its paid service at that time.

In addition to the smartphone plans, Sprint will offer a "feature call" plan for $50 a calendar month. Phones in that plan are the Samsung M400 ($50) and Samsung Array ($80).

By entering the prepaid securities industry, Sprint will be competing with service providers exploitation its network for their offerings. Although those providers declare oneself get down-priced plans, it appears that Dash hopes to separate its prepaid service from those providers with its more generous data usage price.

Sprint's postpaid plan claims to propose unlimited data – although there are restrictions on data usage while roaming. Plans by such providers as Boost and Virgin throttle information speeds when unit of time thresholds on usage are reached.

While Sprint's apparent decision to move in the prepaid market risks alienating its prepaid partners, the company may feeling that the move is indispensable to counter the merger of T-Mobile and MetroPCS. That merger is expected to create a impressive contender in the market for Sprint's prepaid business.