With three of America’s four largest carriers already offering early upgrade programs of their own, you had to expect Sprint wouldn’t be far behind. The Kansas City-based company is gearing up to announce One-Up, an early upgrade program that will allow customers to upgrade sooner. Beyond that, the program seems to have some added value, with the early details from CNet suggesting Sprint will give folks a $15 discount on their rate plans for going this route.
If you don’t remember, we chastised the likes of Verizon and AT&T for not offering a plan discount for choosing to buy off-contract devices at full MSRP. That’s their right, obviously, but they aren’t exactly looking out for consumers’ interests. We’re glad to know Sprint will reward those who decide to upgrade their devices through the One-Up program.
So what is Sprint One Up, anyway?
Here are the quick specifics:
- Buy devices with 0$ down payment
- Pay for the devices in 24 equal monthly installments
- Trade in your smartphone every 12 months to upgrade (or keep it and pay it off if you want)
- Enjoy savings of $15 off your monthly rate plan
- Wash, rinse, and repeat
Sprint says the value proposition is quite attractive compared to everyone else. For instance, Their rate plans become even cheaper than T-Mobile’s, their point-of-sale cost is cheaper than T-Mobile’s and Verizon’s, and they don’t have a monthly fee like T-Mobile.
You can take a look at the savings breakdown in the chart above, one which we imagine Sprint will be using to train their employees when it’s time to start presenting these plans to customers.
The Caveats
An early upgrade plan wouldn’t be an early upgrade plan without a couple of minor caveats, of course. For starters, you must be a Sprint customer for at least a year before you’re eligible. If you don’t have an upgrade available, you must trade your current smartphone in before you get your first phone under One Up.
If you do have an upgrade, you can get your first smartphone without trading in your old one. The phone you’re trading in has to be in good working condition, natch, which likely means no broken display, no water damage, and can accept electrical currents from a charging cable. Finally, this plan is only available for those under Sprint contract plans — prepaid customers need not apply.
Who’s buying?
And that brings us to the big question — are you in? This is honestly one of the most attractive early upgrade options on the market at the moment. With Sprint offering a plan discount and allowing you to keep your unlimited data, it actually seems like a pretty good deal (unless you don’t like the idea of having to fork your old smartphone over each time you want to upgrade early).
If you’re a Sprint customer, be sure to drop a vote below and let us know if One Up is something you’ll be taking advantage of. We also wouldn’t mind hearing from you in the comments section. We’re not sure when this plan will eventually be available, but it never hurts to start talking about it ahead of time.
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