In what could be an effort to remain competitive to AT&T’s iPhone, pricing on Blackberry devices appear to be in a virtual free fall. Over the holiday I noted that you can make $75 on a Blackberry Curve on AT&T or T-Mobile. This morning I see that Sprint has recently reduced the price on their Blackberry Curve 8330 for a net (after $100 rebate and contract) of $99. At this time Amazon does not show the Sprint Blackberry Curve as in stock. If you’re looking at this deal, please do yourself a favor and read my post on Sprint Everything Plus which will save you at least $10/month so long as you know a Sprint employee email and partial employee ID (which my post provides based on publicly available information).

Sprint

On July 11th Sprint re-designed their old Sprint SERO site to become Sprint Everything Plus. Part of the re-design included changing the plans so that they were about $30/mo more expensive than what used to be available. People loved Sprint SERO for the low price and all the included perks (text, picturemail, mobile to mobile, EVDO data). This new plan took away a lot of the benefit of signing up under the old SERO. However you still can save about $10 per month by going in through this new Sprint Everything Plus site. The problem is that Sprint now requires both an employee email and the last three digits of their employee ID #. You have two options - either find a Sprint Employee willing to give up their information or browse the web until you find their blog where the information is freely posted (which is what I did).

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As previously reported, the old Sprint Exclusive Referral Offer site has now been converted to the Everything Plus Referral Program. To join the program you now must submit both an employee email address and the last three digits of a Sprint employee ID (CID). Sprint SERO had been a legendary low cost program with an entry level rate of $30 that included 500 voice minutes and unlimited SMS, MMS and EVDO Rev A data (even for smartphones). Part of the SERO gimmick was that you needed to be referred by a Sprint employee — except the old SERO site used to take almost any address ending in @Sprintemi.com. The new site tightens up eligibility by requiring both a valid referring Sprint employee email and the last 3 digits of the referring employee number. The new higher rates top out as follows:

Everything Plus 500 — 500 Minutes, EVDO, SMS, MMS, GPS Nav - $ 59.99
Everything Plus 1000 — 1,000 Minutes,EVDO, SMS, MMS, GPS Nav - $ 79.99
Simply Everything (Unlimited) — Unlimited voice ,EVDO, SMS, MMS, GPS Nav - $ 99.99

Sprint Everything Plus Referral Program

Starting on July 13 the super cheap Sprint SERO plans will rise significantly in price. Instead of being able to get a $30 entry level plan that includes pretty much everything (EVDO Rev A, SMS, MMS, M2M, 7pm NW) plus 500 voice minutes - you’ll have to pay at least $59. This is apparently confirmed by Sprint eCare messages. Also new is a requirement that SERO subscribers supply the last four digits of the referring Sprint employee number. So the widely used “savings@sprintemi.com” probably won’t work as a referral any longer. Looks like SERO just got a lot less popular. If you are thinking about one of these plans — you have until 7/12 to get on board.

“The current SERO plan will expire on July 12, 2008. So, if you wish to apply for a SERO plan, then please log in at www.sprint.com/sero and activate a new phone number with the SERO plan.

After the services has been activated under the SERO plan, you can contact us at 1-888-211-4727 from a landline phone at any point of time so that we can start porting your old number to replace the new Sprint phone number.”

New SERO plans via HOFO

Talk in various discussion forums is starting to pick up in response to a report this morning at BoyGeniusReport that data rates could be rising at Sprint. According to participants in various online forums who claim to be familiar with such matters, as of July 10, 2008 the existing Sprint SERO plans (Sprint Exclusive Referral Offer) will be no more. In their place will be the Everything Plus which is Simply Everything Plan with a $10 discount plus 10% increase in minutes. Existing SERO users can expect to remain “grandfathered” in their plans. If you’ve been thinking of buying a Sprint phone, act before July 10 and pick up a 500 minute plan with unlimited text and EVDO for $30 /month. After the 10th, the plans will reportedly become:

Everything Plus 500 - $ 59.99
Everything Plus 1000 - $ 79.99
Simply Everything - $ 99.99

Sero discussion

Hey all you sprint SERO lovers - take a look over at the SERO site. The Samsung Instinct has just made an appearance. There’s some bad news that I have to tell you. Once you get over to SERO you’re going to hate this fine print:

Available plans for the Samsung Instinctâ„¢
We’re glad you’re interested in our new Instinct. Here’s what you need to know about available plans:

Before you buy or upgrade
To take full advantage of the Instinct’s expansive features, you’ll need an innovative approach to service. That’s why we’re only offering the Instinct with Everything or Talk/Message/Data Share plans, which include domestic voice, e-mail, texting, GPS navigation and more.

If you’re a current customer upgrading to the Instinct
After you receive your new phone, you can activate it online. If you don’t already have an Everything or Talk/Message/Data Share plan, you’ll be required to change your current plan during the activation process. At that time, you can select the plan that’s right for you.
Requires eligible upgrade (or new line activation) on an Everything plan or Talk/Message/Data Share plan with two-year agreement.

If you try buying the Samsung Instinct on the SERO site - you’ll be greeted with exactly one plan option — the $99 unlimited Simply Everything plan (Which for some reason Sprint qualifies as a SERO plan).

Link: Samsung Instinct on Sprint SERO (use email savings@sprintemi.com)

Discussions in online forums by Sprint employees who have attended advanced training suggest a total revamping of Sprint plans is in the works. According to the messages most old plans (SERO and SimplyEverything STAY) will disappear, past perks will be grandfathered. If the chatter is valid, the new plans will mirror SimplyEverything and all PDA devices sold will require a data plan. Sprint’s eventual iDen/Walkie Talkie technology replacement (QChat) is rumored to finally launch nationwide on June 15th as well. This doesn’t mean that existing Sprint customers lose their plans, but that a wider variety may be coming. New plan changes no longer require contract extensions, so if you’re thinking Sprint there’s no reason to delay buying - but keep your eyes open around June 15th to see if better plans appear.

Link: Sprint’s video demo of QChat
Link: Sprint SERO - Maybe The Best Cellular Plan Ever - Includes Voice, EVDO, SMS, MMS