Sprint Prepaid Phones
What's Wrong With Sprint's Prepaid Strategy!?

Getting Sprint Prepaid Phones By Going With An MVNO
Sprint partners with literally dozens of MVNOs, which are basically third party companies/brands that buy wholesale minutes from Sprint. Check out the MVNO section for more details on this topic.  Virgin Mobile is a good example of a classic MVNO on the Sprint network.  At least this was the case prior to Sprint purchasing Virgin.  The point being that if you want to be on Sprint's network, in addition to considering Boost and Virgin, you can also seek out one of their prepaid MVNOs.  You will, however, want to keep in mind the following limitations:

• The plans won't look anything like Sprint postpaid plans, or even Virgin or Boost plans.

• Phone options can be quite different, however, you can also have the opportunity to purchase a "previously enjoyed" phone, and many support BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

• Customer service is completely different (that could be a good or bad thing depending on the MVNO).

• Data speeds, and overall data access priority can be different from what Sprint offers via its own brands.

If you're simply looking for a good, reliable voice, text service, and data service on the Sprint network, you have plenty of options from which to choose, and some MVNOs may even allow you to use your old postpaid Sprint phone if you're not on contract.

Sprint Buys Virgin Mobile - Skip to see the impacts now!

Is the Strategy for Sprint Prepaid Phones a Good One?
In my opinion, absolutely not!  Their strategic approach to prepaid is pretty weak in my opinion.  Ok, maybe that sounds a little harsh, so let me explain what I mean before you think I'm completely nuts!  And remember that this is only my opinion, and I welcome your comments on the topic.  Also, lets first state what their strategic approach actually is so that we're all on the same page.  I'll make a statement that I believe to be the case from I've seen in the marketplace, interviews, and articles written about the topic surrounding their positioning:  "Sprint's prepaid brands are Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile."  Simple enough, but it speaks volumes!

The evolution of how the Boost brand came to be incorporated into the Sprint Nextel organization made a lot of sense.  It was logical and rational, and flowed just fine.  But let's consider the following when evaluating whether this makes sense in today's environment:

• Did Boost sell well when it was a joint venture with Nextel because of the Boost brand, or due to a pent up demand for a prepaid Nextel product?  In my opinion people just wanted prepaid Nextel, and that they would have sold just as many phones in a white box labeled "Prepaid Nextel' if not more.  What do you think?

• After the evolution of the Boost brand over the years to expand its demographic from action sports and hip hop to more mainstream America, do people buy Boost today because of the brand?  In my opinion people buy it because of the value of the plans and could care less about the brand.  In fact, I would argue that the brand could be seen as a negative point of their service as they try to appear cool, when people are really just looking for a good, reliable, well priced prepaid cellular product.  What are your thoughts?

• Would people happily buy a Sprint prepaid offering?  - I say yes, absolutely.  In fact, if customers could migrate between any Sprint plan (prepaid or postpaid) as their needs evolved, that would be a great selling point.  Or use your Sprint phone on prepaid after your contract is over.  Sprint actually did launch a Sprint Prepaid brand, however, it flopped.  They didn't implement any interoperability, and phones and plans were completely uncompelling, even when compared to similarly priced plans it was offering on its Boost and Virgin brands. 

To learn more about Sprint prepaid phones and their prepaid strategy, click the following links.

Sprint Prepaid Cellular Phones - Start

Sprint Prepaid Cell Phone - Sprint Branded Offer

Sprint Prepaid Cell Phones - Conclusion

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