Sprint Adds New Top-Tier Unlimited Premium Plan

On August 31, 2018, Sprint rolled out a new tier of cellular service called "Unlimited Premium." This plan is a new addition to the existing Unlimited Basic and Unlimited Plus plans which came out in mid-July 2018.

The Unlimited Premium plan is advertised as a "VIP experience" and it does include a ton of features for an extra $20/month per line over the Unlimited Plus. That $20 gets you the following additional features:

• An Amazon Prime subscription
• Lookout Premium Plus which provides identity theft protection and mobile internet security
• 50GB of high speed mobile hotspot
• Unlimited talk, text, and Unlimited 4G LTE data in Canada and Mexico
• No streaming limits for video, gaming or music.

The plan costs $90/month with Autopay for one line. According to Sprint, all these services would cost at least $130 if purchased individually. So, by their calculation, customers on this plan would get $40/month in savings, or nearly $500/year.

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Details, Pricing, and Limitations

Sprint's new top-tier plan gives Sprint a total of five unlimited plans - Unlimited Basic, Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Premium, plus the two discounted options, Unlimited 55+, and Unlimited Military. Unlimited Premium is the most expensive option but also has the most features and benefits.

Unlimited Premium Plan Pricing and Features:

• First line: $90/month
• 2nd Line: $70/month
• Each additional line (up to 10): $50/month
• Mobile Hotspot: 50GB at high speed, then 3G speeds
• Streaming: Full HD - no caps or throttling for video, gaming or music
• Network Management: 50 GB
• International Use: Unlimited Talk, Text and LTE data in Canada & Mexico. Roaming available in 185 other countries for additional fees.
• Included Subscriptions:
  • Amazon Prime (Normally $12.99/month or $120/year)
  • Hulu with Limited Commercials plan (Normally $7.99/month)
  • Tidal Premium Music (Normally $9.99/month)
  • Lookout Premium Plus internet security (Normally $9.99/month or $100/year)

This is a smartphone-only plan, so those who want other connected devices, such as a mobile hotspot or tablet, will need a separate plan for those.

Sprint Mix-and-Match: It appears Sprint has quietly added the option to mix-and-match its three unlimited plan options in one plan, similar to Verizon. For example, you could get 2 lines of Unlimited Premium for $160 and two lines of Unlimited Plus (the mid-tier option) for only another $40/month.

Analysis

Sprint's new "VIP" level Unlimited Premium plan does pack in a ton of useful and compelling features for a price that is very competitive.

The addition of Amazon Prime is a great feature - one that not only gives a large video streaming library, but also free 2-day shipping and the other benefits of Prime service.

The chart below compares the "top tier" plans for each of the four major carriers:

Depending on your individual needs and tastes, Sprints new offer could be a much better value than the competition with a healthy 50GB of high speed mobile hotspot data, no video throttling (opening up 4k on compatible devices) and Amazon Prime as a fantastic and useful bundled extra.

The single-line price is very competitive, but this plan doesn't scale as well for multiple lines - For example, for four lines the total cost is $70 more per month than AT&T's top-tier plan.

As is the case with any Sprint-based plan, prospective RVers, Cruisers, and nomads should consider if Sprint's coverage map - the smallest of the four carriers - will work for planned travels.

For more on the four carriers and how they stack up:

The Four Carriers for Nomads

It's interesting that Sprint came out with this plan on the heels of T-Mobile retiring their top-tier One + International option. Since Sprint and T-Mobile announced they planned to merge, Sprint has slowly changed its offerings to more closely match those from T-Mobile's - until now.

While we don't have any inside information, it would not surprise us if T-Mobile came out with a new top-tier option.

Regardless, this new Sprint plan will definitely give the competition something to think about.