Though the move may be a little late compared to its rivals, Sprint has nevertheless joined the early upgrade bandwagon. The company is prepping up to launch its program dubbed as "Sprint One Up" which will allow its users to pay for their tablets or smartphones in monthly installments and upgrade their device every year by trading them over. The program is scheduled to launch on Sept. 20.
Apparently, Sprint is the last among the national carriers that have offered such program. It had been spearheaded by T-Mobile with its Jump program back in July. Afterwards, Verizon and AT&T followed suit with their Edge and NEXT respectively. The moves of these carrier companies underscore the growing competitive nature of the device upgrading business with each competitor seeming to copy its opponents.
Basically, all of the carrier programs work in a similar manner with very few differences. The One Up program of Sprint allows customers to choose a phone with no initial cash out and pay for the chosen device in installments lasting a period of 24 months. A phone that retails at $649.99, for instance, will have a monthly installment cost of $27 with any difference to be settled on the 24th payment. If the user decides to leave the service earlier than what has been agreed upon, he would have to settle the remaining balance of the device’ total cost which shall be due on the following month.
After just one year, the user can already be qualified for a device upgrade by trading in his old phone or tablet. He can choose to sign up for any of the plans offered in the One Up program such as All-In, My Way, and Unlimited. The program also offers a $15 discount which entitles the user with unlimited talk, text, and data plan that altogether charge $65 every month.
Previously, Sprint has offered the little-known upgrade program dubbed as "Upgrade Now" which requires an upgrade fee. Currently, the program still exists and caters to those customers that are not qualified for the One Up.
