Now that Sprint is scheduled to get the iPhone in a couple of months, I can’t help but take a step back and wonder what this will mean for the third largest national carrier.
No one can deny just how popular the iPhone is. It brought the wonder and power of Smartphones to the masses.
But not everyone considers that a good thing.
If you were an avid Smartphone fan five years ago, life was very different. Data-centric phones were not as common yet and average consumers swore on the reliability of their standard feature flip phones. These were simpler times for gadget fans and the tech-elite, with unlimited data plans easily available on major carriers and bandwidth to spare. Back then, you also didn’t hear as many people complaining about AT&T’s service as you do today.
Indeed, many disgruntled early iPhone adopters blamed their dropped calls and connectivity problems on AT&T’s weak network. Few seemed to remember that it wasn’t always this way. Unlike the Windows Mobile and Palm Treo handsets that preceded it, the iPhone made smartphones accessible to people who may never have considered one before. Suddenly, everyone and their grandma had an iPhone and were all “gee-wiz” about this mobile internet thing. No, I don’t blame AT&T but rather the sheer enormity of users hogging up all the available network time. Indeed, I think any network that launched with the first iPhone would have been hit hard enough to cause problems. AT&T was not simply not prepared.
Verizon had some time to see this coming and in an effort to maintain their reputation, spent a considerable amount of money to beef up their network before launching their version of the iPhone. Over time, even Verizon had to eventually do away with unlimited data plans in favor of tiered-data, as did AT&T before them. While one could argue that the demise of unlimited plans aren’t necessarily related to iPhone users, the connection seems pretty obvious to me. In fact, AT&T even began allowing certain users back on unlimited plans if they threaten to leave for Verizon’s iPhone.
That leaves Sprint and T-mobile as the only national carriers offering unlimited data plans. Technically, T-mobile throttles your data down after using more than a certain amount per month, so that really leaves only Sprint as the clear unlimited data champion.
And speaking of Sprint, back before the mobile tech boom brought us iPhones and Androids, Sprint had enough extra network infrastructure to spare that they could afford their legendary SERO plans. In case you missed those, they offered unlimited 3G data on any of their devices for a mere $30 a month. Sprint’s more popular and modern smartphones means those days are long gone, but they have managed to offer affordable plans with unlimited data to this day.
But what will the iPhone do to Sprint? Will their network be able to handle it like Verizon or will it show signs of stress as did AT&T? Will they be forced to follow suit with tiered data plans and raised prices to afford it?
I think getting the iPhone is a good move for Sprint financially, and I hope they do well with it. On the other hand as a current Sprint subscriber, I fear this news may not be good for us.
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