Ok so basically what I've come to understand is that even if I have Sprint I CAN join someone else's Framily plan but only if they made a new plan and didn't have Sprint before.
That being said - Does anyone here have 3 Spots available for a plan that is NEW?
My experience (being that I actually DID this last month) is that anyone can join anyone's Framily plan, as long as they are not currently in a Sprint contract. I joined a group of 5 with my own 2 lines, all of us have been on Sprint for 4+ years. No new lines here. Just no contracts.
Think about it- The purpose of this plan appears to be getting new subscribers. Good prices if you get more people in, plus no contracts make it even more attractive. But Sprint is ultimately afraid that someone might use this to just get out of their current contract early and run off with a free subsidized handset. So to avoid that, they are offering a $15-per-month-contract-buyout fee for the rest of the term of your original contract if you switch. The problem is, since most people are in a contract currently (average person is just waiting for the next phone upgrade), people won't really utilize the new plan as much as they would like. So, they are offering to waive that $15 fee for now in order to get you out there recruiting new users to Sprint!
But if they let you switch out of a contract plan, waive the $15 fee, and join someone else's group (instead of bringing in your own people), then this could very well prove to be a losing proposition for Sprint. That's why that aren't letting it go through- they are letting you out of your contract plan and waiving the fees in order to help get NEW people in, which are you not doing!
Now, it could very well be that if a new group starts and you join THEM, maybe they would let. The rationale being that this new group of users wouldn't have done it without the cheaper price you bring them in joining. So perhaps its almost as if you helped bring them in, and therefore worth letting you get away with the subsidized phone? I'm just guessing here, that information is news to me. I was told that if you are in a contract currently, you were supposed to start a new plan and bring in more people- would be nice if what you are saying is true.
Meanwhile, I'd like to reiterate:
If you are not in a contract, I'm proof that you can join someone else's plan, even if they aren't new users! We've all been on Sprint for many years.
By the way, another option might be to change your address to the same one as the person who's plan you are joining. I've heard that they let people at the same billing address be on the same group as well. I can't verify whether or not that is true.
I was in a sprint store yesterday to service a phone and asked about using an upgrade (Im eligible) , he said they cant do that anymore since they only offer Sprint Framily plans in the store and can only offer phones through the "Sprint Easy Pay" which works with the Framily plan.
I told him I just saw online the option was still there, he said stores cant offer it anymore and eventually only Framily plans will be available even online, so there wont be an option anymore to get a subsidized upgrade. He thinks this will totally switch over within the next few months.
Doed anyone have any more info about this, is it correct or just a misinformed rep?
Yes, the rumor on the streets is that Sprint if following T-mobile's footsteps in separating the cost of service with the cost of handsets. In fact, I've heard that this is likely the way all carriers will be going in the next couple of years. That's how they do it everywhere else in the world, we've just been spoiled here and it has had a rather interesting effect on the handset market (low end devices don't sell because you can get the flagship so cheap, which has resulted in a lack of options- see my rant in the s5 thread on this subject for more details). This is happening, and I welcome it! It will bring more competition between handsets, and ultimately bring down prices as well.
Any way to open a new account and join a framily online?
Everything I try doing it says make an appointment
They want you to come into the store to do it. I don't really understand why, something about trying to get more foot traffic into the stores, but that makes no sense to me. I walked in, said I wanted to join this particular framily number, the guy called a special number and waited on hold for 10 min, then said I'm all set and I walked out. I didn't buy a blessid thing, I just wasted some rep's time on the phone when I probably could have spoken to that guy myself if I were allowed to. But whatever, maybe they want people to start getting used to buying handsets in the local stores and this is how they would push that. Not sure.
Ok the Framily plan is making me discombobulated. I'm reading and hearing different things. Even the Sprint reps themselves gave different facts. Bottom line if I'm on an existing plan but got the phone upgrade before January I could make a framily plan and they'll waive the fifteen dollars fee. But I read somewhere that the courtesy waive will expire by April. Is that true? Also can two existing accounts join under the same terms like mine with the waive if they're in contract??
They are waiving the fee for now because they want people who are excited about it to be allowed to jump in without a penalty. If you see what I wrote earlier, Sprint needs to charge the $15 fee per remaining month of a contract because they pay a portion of your handset price to lock you into a contract. Imagine if someone signs a contract today and gets an iphone for free that is worth $500. Sprint paid for the phone and built that subsidy into the monthly contract price. If they let you leave tomorrow for a Framily plan (which is cheaper because there are no subsidies built in anymore), they lose their investment. They can't afford to let users take advantage of them like that, and that's why the fee exists. But if you joined a long time ago- like, before January when this plan was released, they will be nice and waive the fee because you clearly couldn't have seen this coming and therefore aren't doing it on purpose to take advantage of the system.
I haven't heard the the promotional waived fee for old accounts will stop in April, but I wouldn't be surprised either. They lose money by waiving it, and are only doing it as an investment to kickstart the new Framily plans.
