@Ben – When I wrote this how-to, that was NOT what their terms and conditions stated. As they say, however, they reserve the right to change those terms and conditions at any time. I suspect their change is due to people figuring out ways to get around their very high prices for something that many people thought they were getting included in the base price of their plan. That being said, everyone needs to decide what it’s worth to them to use this workaround, and would be advised to look at these revised terms and conditions and think about what they want to do.

@hj – I am not a lawyer, but I don’t think that anyone should be going to jail for breaking terms of conditions that they didn’t read or specifically agree to.

Here’s the deal:

I’ve been a loyal customer for Sprint for over 7 years. My “Sprint Subscriber Agreement” expired on 12/10/2005. If they want me to switch to another carrier over me not wanting to pay them an ADDITIONAL $39 per month, I would be sad, but there are other options.

Here is what would happen: Bye bye Sprint (and, sadly, Treo), hello iPhone!

The policy of always reserving the right to change the rules of the game (terms and conditions) is basically a way to say, “We always reserve the right to change what you’ve agreed to.” In other words, we reserve the right to screw you at any point in the future if we figure out a way to do so that will make us more money. In my opinion it should be illegal to include this provision in a contract. I can understand the argument they might make about needing to update agreements if their capabilities change, but using that provision to LESSEN what your customers can do compared to what they thought they BOUGHT is wrong.

I guarantee that the T&C that I agreed to were NOT the ones listed now (last time I read them they weren’t Nextel/Sprint, they were just Sprint).

Here is the exact text of their current (as of Jan 29, 2008) terms and conditions as it relates to this issue:

Vision/Power Vision: Services are not available with all Sprint phones. Usage is calculated on a per kilobyte basis and is rounded up to the next whole kilobyte. Rounding occurs at the end of each session or each clock hour and, at which time we deduct accumulated usage from your plan, or assess overage or casual usage charges. You are responsible for all data activity from and to your phone, regardless of who initiates the activity. Estimates of data usage will vary from actual use. Your invoice will not separately identify the number of kilobytes attributable to your use of specific sites, sessions or services used. Premium content (games, ringers, etc.) priced separately. Services are not available for use in connection with server devices or host computer applications, other systems that drive continuous heavy traffic or data sessions, or as substitutes for private lines or frame relay connections. Except with phone-as-modem plans, you may not use a phone (including a Bluetooth phone) on a plan with unlimited Vision/Power Vision as a modem in connection with a computer, PDA, or similar device. We reserve the right to deny or terminate service without notice for any misuse. Availability of downloadable or streaming content is subject to change.

So, make up your mind about how you feel about this, and what you’re going to do about it. I don’t think Sprint would actually care at all if everyone who used this workaround became not their customers. Businesses have no soul. They don’t care about people, only ultimate bottom line profitability.

Now, if a lot of people called them out about publicly about their ridiculous change to their terms and conditions (basically changing their mind about what it it we’ve bought) maybe that would change something, but I don’t know.

It would be very easy right now for Sprint to shoot themselves in the foot with this issue. Screwing your valuable, loyal, long term customers who will tell all their friends about their experiences over isn’t a really good business strategy in my opinion.

Probably if you keep your data usage to a minimum you can stay below the radar. I suspect, though, that they probably do have the capability to detect any non-phone authorized usage, and could probably ding you if they wanted to.

All I can say is, given this recent change to the terms and conditions, if data access using your computer is important to you, it’s proably time to start shopping around for a new provider. Sprint has decided to make it not a safe choice anymore to use their service in the way that we wanted to use it. Hopefully they will see the light on this issue and change their policy.

Saying that we can use “unlimited” amounts of data on the phone but as soon as we want to use a single byte of data using our computer then we need to pay extortionate amounts doesn’t make any sense. Data is data. I say, either give us what you promised when we signed up or or lose us as customers.

Until then, as Red from the Red Green Show says, “Keep your stick on the ice.”

no spaces in the name, just dont need anymore spam from bots.

“Except with phone-as-modem plans, you may not use a phone (including a Bluetooth phone) on a plan with unlimited Vision/Power Vision as a modem in connection with a computer, PDA, or similar device. We reserve the right to deny or terminate service without notice for any misuse.”

http://nextelonline.nextel.com/en/legal/legal_terms_privacy_popup.shtml?id16=warranty

Has anyone had any problems from Sprint/Nextel or is anyone concerned?

Ben