Driven by the success of Boost Mobile’s unlimited $50 prepaid plan, Sprint is now offering its CDMA prepaid customers the same deal in an effort to reconcile prepaid plans across its two networks. Boost CDMA customer are small in number compared to iDEN customers, and Sprint said it would continue to focus Boost services on the iDEN network, but Sprint may also be walking a dangerous line. Sprint is now offering two plans that both essentially offer unlimited voice, SMS and data, UNLTD by Boost at $50 a month Sprint’s Simply Everything plan, priced at $100 a month.
There are several key differences between the Sprint and Boost plans: The $100 plan gives access to host of data services from GPS navigation and BlackBerry Internet Services to entertainment apps like mobile TV, music streaming and premiums sports apps. None of those services apply to Boost. Simply Everything can be applied to several of Sprint’s most advanced smartphones, which can take huge advantage of their data plans, while UNLTD’s device portfolio is limited to a feature phones like Motorola’s KRZR, meaning the data experience will be limited to mobile Web browsing and Java apps that access the Internet. They both, however, share a fast EV-DO connection, something Boost’s typical iDEN phones can’t boast. The biggest difference between Boost and Sprint plans, however, has always been the roaming–Boost customers unlimited calls were actually limited to their home markets, while Sprint customers faced no such restrictions. Today, Boost lifted those restrictions turning both plans into nationwide calling services.
Sprint also only offers the UNLTD plan in 13 states where it can leverage its CDMA networks the most, far limiting the size of its customer base. It’s unlikely that a hardcore user signed up for the Simply Everything plan is going to switch to its Boost equivalent, but it might make some Simply Everything customers ask some questions. If you receive in both plans unlimited voice minutes, text and web browsing, along with no roaming and long distance, then the primary differentiators between the Sprint and Boost will be advanced data services and phone selection. Those two factors are obviously worth a premium, but are they worth $50 more a month?