Sprint confirmed to FierceWireless that it replaced its “Sprint Prepaid” brand with a new “Sprint Forward” prepaid brand that offers 4 GB of high-speed data for $40 per month or unlimited service for $60 per month.
“Last month Sprint created a new product called Sprint Forward, for customers that want a flexible pay-in-advance rate plan,” said Sprint spokesperson Oscar Meza. “Sprint Forward includes unlimited talk and text and unlimited data, with instant device discounts and no device financing, without the need to run credit, but get most of the Sprint network benefits—for individuals and families. More importantly, Sprint Forward gives customers the perfect option who need flexibility to help manage their monthly expenses and a path towards eligibility for our best available device financing promotions.”
Specifically, Sprint Forward offers prepaid customers the ability to obtain device financing without passing a credit check, if they are first able to make 12 consecutive, on-time payments.
As Prepaid Phone News noted, Sprint Forward offers a family plan alongside its $40 single-line offering, charging $70 per month for two lines and $100 for three lines.
Although the $60-per-month unlimited Sprint Forward prepaid plan does not appear to be available on Sprint’s website, Sprint’s Meza confirmed the offer’s existence: “Yes, the $60 plan offers unlimited talk, text and data with mobile-optimized streaming videos, games and music.”
“The Sprint Forward launch has been underwhelming. [Store] reps are poorly trained on the offering and it is not having any real impact,” commented Jeff Moore, principal of Wave7 Research, a research firm that closely tracks the service offerings of the nation’s major wireless carriers.
Sprint’s move from Sprint Prepaid to Sprint Forward comes amid a shakeup of another of Sprint’s prepaid efforts: The carrier this week announced that its Virgin Mobile brand will offer a year of so-called unlimited data for $1 to users who buy an iPhone and port their number to the new Inner Circle plan by July 31, or to current Virgin users who upgrade to an iPhone. The deal will be available exclusively through Virgin’s website and at Apple retail stores.
Sprint added 180,000 prepaid users in the first quarter of this year, marking its return to growth in that competitive market for the first time in two years.