Sprint [S] has launched a new prepaid brand that is heading exclusively to Walmart stores. The new brand is called Common Cents Mobile and has basic plans that includes 7 cents per minute calls and 7 cent text messages as part of the deal.
One unique features of the new Sprint Common Cents Mobile system is that it actually rounds-down calls to the nearest minute meaning that if your call is 7 minutes 59 seconds long you get charged for 7 minutes rather than 8 minutes.
"In recent months, consumers seeking no-frills, pay-by-the-minute plans have been somewhat overlooked with the popularity of unlimited plans in the market," said Dan Schulman, president of Sprint's prepaid group. "These customers want to stay connected -- to a point -- but don't want to waste time or money on services they don't use. The addition of Common Cents combines easy-to-use handsets with a simple pay-by-the-minute service that can save them money."
Unlimited monthly plans without contracts helped re-energize the prepaid business last year but pay-by-the-minute customers still represent the majority [63 percent] of prepaid market share, and almost half [49 percent] of prepaid gross adds.
The Round Down service is exclusive to the Common Cents Mobile brand. Other providers round up the calls made to 2 minutes if a 1:01 call is made for example.
As well as launching the new prepay plans, Sprint are also launching a number of handsets at Walmart that allow users to take advantage of the service. This includes the LG101 that costs just $19.77, the Samsung M340 that costs $39.77 and the Kyocera S2300 that costs $69.77. All of these phones are by no means top of the range phones, but for those looking to use this plan they will sit well with customers.
Top ups are as follows...
* $20 Refill card = 30 days of service, up to 565 minutes of talk
* $30 Refill card = 60 days of service, up to 848 minutes of talk
If an extra $20/month is paid, users can increase their text allowance to unlimited. Data is priced at $1/megabyte per day.
Via: Engadget