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Sprint Nextel Launches Unlimited Wireless Plan in San Francisco

7:10 am on March 20, 2007 | Category: Cell Phones, Editorials, Telecom Services, Wireless

Sprint Nextel is rolling out a groundbreaking new mobile phone plan in the San Francisco Bay area this week, offering unlimited anytime voice minutes, cellular data, and text messaging, at a cost of $120 per month.

Despite the high initial price tag, some analysts believe that this could be the beginning of a new era in wireless pricing, where customers pay a fixed monthly access fee for unlimited network usage. Although such a set-up would require extensive further investment in expanding cellular network capacity, it would almost certainly be welcomed by the majority of cell phone users who are sick of continually counting minutes and watching the clock.

Unlimited local and even long distance plans have become the norm over the past decade in the world of landlines, allowing for a carefree, all-you-can-talk attitude among subscribers. The extension of reasonably priced unlimited calling to the wireless market would remove one of the final major barriers-to-entry for landline-only users on a budget, and greatly increase â€œcord-cuttingâ€ among existing wireless customers.

Sprint Nextel has been offering a $200/month unlimited plan for â€œhigh-volumeâ€ customers for a couple of months now, and similar packages are available from a number of regional and specialty carriers. Sprint’s new $120 package, however, is the first mainstream wireless offering of its kind to hit the U.S. market.

The #3 carrier, which has been struggling to keep up with leading rivals, AT&T and Verizon for several months now, hasn’t yet given any info on when and if the new unlimited package will be available outside the San Francisco Bay region.

If the plan proves successful in this very limited market, however, there’s a good chance that Sprint will see this as an opportunity to distinguish itself from the competition and improve its position in the U.S. wireless market as a whole.

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