ANALYSIS: Fair & Flexible Family Vs. Free & Clear

[Ted]

Several questions have surfaced since the introduction of the Family F&F. Namely, will I save money? Here's a breakdown of cost for the two options based on AT minute usage and # of lines.

AT Minutes 2 Lines 3 Lines 4 Lines 5 Lines
----------- F&C F&F F&C F&F F&C F&F F&C F&F

--------500 60 70 80 80 100 90 120 100
--------600 70 70 90 80 110 90 130 100
--------700 70 70 90 80 110 90 130 100
--------800 85 70 105 80 125 90 145 100
--------900 85 75 105 85 125 95 145 105
-------1000 85 80 105 90 125 100 145 110
-------1100 85 85 105 95 125 105 145 115
-------1200 100 90 120 100 140 110 160 120
-------1300 100 90 120 100 140 110 160 120
-------1400 100 95 120 105 140 115 160 125
-------1500 100 95 120 105 140 115 160 125
-------1600 100 100 120 110 140 120 160 130
-------1700 100 100 120 110 140 120 160 130
-------1800 100 105 120 115 140 125 160 135
-------1900 100 105 120 115 140 125 160 135
-------2000 100 110 120 120 140 130 160 140

[Ted]

Ugh. The formatting is hard to line up, I had it spaced correctly but it crunched it, hopefully everyone can decipher it.

Disclaimer: Vision, roaming, etc, would be in addition to these numbers, and if standard are the same cost for both plans. If you have grandfathered free vision or text or whatever, and would lose it by switching plans, that is a factor you need to calculate.

Summary:

With two lines, Fair & Flexible for families is best until you get up to 1800 minutes. Over 1800 minutes, Free & Clear is cheaper, because of the free AAP on $100+ plans.

For 3-5 lines, apparently Fair & Flexible for families is cheaper across the board. This is because the AAP's on Fair & Flexible are $10 and the AAP's on Free & Clear are $20 (with one free at $100 MRC price point).

I hope this helps everyone in their decision process of comparing what plan is right for them. And I really wanted to contribute something useful to this board.

[CoolJB]

Ugh. The formatting is hard to line up, I had it spaced correctly but it crunched it, hopefully everyone can decipher it.

Disclaimer: Vision, roaming, etc, would be in addition to these numbers, and if standard are the same cost for both plans. If you have grandfathered free vision or text or whatever, and would lose it by switching plans, that is a factor you need to calculate.

Summary:

With two lines, Fair & Flexible for families is best until you get up to 1800 minutes. Over 1800 minutes, Free & Clear is cheaper, because of the free AAP on $100+ plans.

For 3-5 lines, apparently Fair & Flexible for families is cheaper across the board. This is because the AAP's on Fair & Flexible are $10 and the AAP's on Free & Clear are $20 (with one free at $100 MRC price point).

I hope this helps everyone in their decision process of comparing what plan is right for them. And I really wanted to contribute something useful to this board.


I wonder if they're going to pull the same crap they used to with the original AAP plan way back. They were $10 for additional lines, but what they didn't tell you (and you wouldn't know until you get your 1st bill) is that they also charged $10 on the MAIN line as well. So the first AAP would actually cost you $20 more per month. I complained 'til I was blue in the face about it because the wording was almost the same as what they are advertising for these new plans. If you read it it sounds like you pay $10 per additional line. Period. But that's how they used to read, and you also paid $10 on the main line for being able to share your plan. I would be interested to hear from people who sign up for one of these new plans to see if they're still being as deceptive as before.

[gof]

Interesting comparison. If it holds up to cross checking (I'll assume it's right), it has an even larger benefit. Since the F&F can be lower in lower usage months, the effective savings could be far higher over the course of the year.

[Ted]

here - for those having trouble with the formatting, is the excel spreadsheet in a zip file

[Ted]

Also, if you have a retention plan (as I do) it might be a better deal. 750AT with 2 lines is $60, the Fair & Flexible Family starts at $70.

[rajhouston]

what the difference between F&C and F&F?
Under which category the free and unlimited nite and weekend start from 7pm fall?
what about unlimited visiion? sms?
one more question? can we able to do drop call credit on each phone-line in family plan? if yes, i will definetly go for F&F family plan :D
anyone please confirm that?
raj

[Jaggrey]

This is kinda ghetto but here it is.... for the lazy:

(I took the spreadsheet and took a screenshot after changing a lil of the formatting.)

[Ted]

This is kinda ghetto but here it is.... for the lazy:

(I took the spreadsheet and took a screenshot after changing a lil of the formatting.)

how do you do that?

[Deval]

you open the spreadsheet, and take a screenshot using PrintScreen or something

[Ted]

cool. thanks.

[scottco]

you open the spreadsheet, and take a screenshot using PrintScreen or something

yup... easy as pressing Alt + Printscrn (located right above the insert key, which is over the insert key, right next to backspace) then you paste the picture in MSpaint and edit! easy as 1,2,3

[Ted]

yup... easy as pressing Alt + Printscrn (located right above the insert key, which is over the insert key, right next to backspace) then you paste the picture in MSpaint and edit! easy as 1,2,3

sweet. so how does everyone like this new plan after seeing the numbers crunched?

[Corey78]

Not sure if its for me or not... I am a little oblivious when it comes to my plan so I dont really even know what I have right now!

[ndirish2001]

Your analysis (which is very good) confirms what my own number-crunching told me: having 3 lines in a non-retention plan, it is a no-brainer to jump over to F&F. At the very least I can do no worse, and almost certainly I will save a lot of money ($40) every month (depending on whether I go over the 800-minute allowance).

[gsmornot]

I dont see where I would save any money. Maybe I am missing it but if I have to pay for Vision and SMS it would cost more. We use about 1200 minutes a month and the savings according to the chart is only $10. Plus maybe my other stuff. I guess if we had a light month but thats rare. My minutes a mostly work and that never really changes. I used to be higher before I got more people over to Sprint. We use about 800 PCS also. I have 8k minutes on my life timer now and the phone was replaced about 5 months ago.

[Jaggrey]

yup... easy as pressing Alt + Printscrn (located right above the insert key, which is over the insert key, right next to backspace) then you paste the picture in MSpaint and edit! easy as 1,2,3
yup :D There goes my 5 mins of fame :p

[IdlePaw]

I think that your analysis is a good start, but I think that what you really need to do is to continue the analysis beyond 2000 minutes since that's where F&F really shines. At 2100 minutes for F&C, 2 lines, the cost skyrockets to $140, while F&F costs only $110. At 2200 minutes, F&C is $180 while F&F is only $115.

This tells you that F&F is actually the best current plan. If you have 3 or more lines, then it's cheaper all the way through. The only time when F&C is cheaper is you choose a 500 minute plan or a 2000 minute plan. But the problem is it's only cheaper by at most $10. However, if for one month, you go over your limit, you could potentially be hit with a huge overage charge that wipes out any savings you might had made. Say you're on the 500 minute plan and you go on a trip and use an extra 100 minutes. That costs an extra $80, which will take you over 8 months to make up. It just doesn't make sense to take that risk. You can think about it as insurance. It might cost you a little more, but it protects you from any big overage charges.

I think the only reason you should stay on the F&C plans is if you have one of those old 2000 minute plans that includes vision for free. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense not to switch.

[lennyj17]

This tells you that F&F is actually the best current plan. If you have 3 or more lines, then it's cheaper all the way through. The only time when F&C is cheaper is you choose a 500 minute plan or a 2000 minute plan. But the problem is it's only cheaper by at most $10. However, if for one month, you go over your limit, you could potentially be hit with a huge overage charge that wipes out any savings you might had made. Say you're on the 500 minute plan and you go on a trip and use an extra 100 minutes. That costs an extra $80, which will take you over 8 months to make up. It just doesn't make sense to take that risk. You can think about it as insurance. It might cost you a little more, but it protects you from any big overage charges.

I think the only reason you should stay on the F&C plans is if you have one of those old 2000 minute plans that includes vision for free. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense not to switch.

What i have been saying all along, you will look at the F&C differently when the overages hit, and now you have to pay $40 more than your bill itself. but alot of people just dont see this...... :huh:

[KennyD]

When I called to switch to the new F&F family plan the rep was really helpful and even gave me $10 vision since I didn't need the credit. I still have picmail and unl vision and 100 txt messages. I only use about 80 texts two way so everythings cool. I can see the savings now! :)

[janos]

fair and flexible looks good but how about the 2 year contract. how about no contract?

[Deval]

:funny: good one....

[sawpcs]

When I called to switch to the new F&F family plan the rep was really helpful and even gave me $10 vision since I didn't need the credit. I still have picmail and unl vision and 100 txt messages. I only use about 80 texts two way so everythings cool. I can see the savings now! :)
Does the 10 dollar vision give you unlimited vision and picmail on both phones? (And on 3rd or more phones too?)

[Brooose]

I just switched my 3 lines over to the F&F Family so I am going from a $105 base to $80. My useage of anytime minutes, thanks to PCS to PCS and 7 pm N/W has been less than 800 minutes in 5 of the last 6 months so it was a no brainer. I must now change my .sig

[dustman81]

Myself, the Fair and Flexable plan would actually cost me $5 more. I have 300 AT minutes and I never have run over them, so changing plans would make no sense.

[malvern]

nice plan, anyone know how to coerce CS into letting you have 4 lines when you are only approved for 3?

[SingSongBird]

F & F wouldn't save me anything, so I'll stick with F & C

[stet]

I just changed my $50/month 700 minute F&C plan (single phone) to the $50/month 700 minute F&F plan. I figure that I'm not losing anything, but will save a lot if I go over my minutes. The customer support person I talked to was very helpful in doing this. My hold time was only 5 minutes also.

[noshooz]

I just switched my 3 lines over to the F&F Family so I am going from a $105 base to $80. My useage of anytime minutes, thanks to PCS to PCS and 7 pm N/W has been less than 800 minutes in 5 of the last 6 months so it was a no brainer. I must now change my .sig

I just called today and did the same - got a nice, helpful rep. Moved from the option 2 F&F: 700 AT mins. for $50 w/three add-a-phones for $20/month, $5 7pm N/W to this new plan, lowering our monthly bill from $115 to $95 on top of getting an extra 100 AT mins. What's not to like?!

[pcsperson]

Begin that I am on an old family plan the new FF is not very good since I would have to put vision on all the new phones

[SL10]

Begin that I am on an old family plan the new FF is not very good since I would have to put vision on all the new phones
Agreed, the F&F plans are GREAT for new customers, like the old 2000 min plans were for us back in the day. My 2000 is the best in cost containment for me.

[ThePCSRep]

Check out this Analysis Its a little more detailed on how you begin to save and not save money on all the plans including 2000 2500 and 3500 min plans

[Ted]

Check out this Analysis Its a little more detailed on how you begin to save and not save money on all the plans including 2000 2500 and 3500 min plans

excellent addition to the analysis... thanks for contributing!

[payasa]

Check out this Analysis Its a little more detailed on how you begin to save and not save money on all the plans including 2000 2500 and 3500 min plans
Thank you so much. I didn't think that F & F was for me. Now I know it's not.

Btw, is that $135 including unlimited n/w for $10? My base price is $125 without unlimited n/w.

[gof]

I think the big problem with all the analysis done so far is a misconception on what you are really buying.

With the F&C plans, you are buying what you expect to be your MAXIMUM minutes ever used over the period of the contract. Overages are fairly heavily penalized ($0.40/min typically).

With the F&F Family plan, you are charged a base amount and then $0.05/min over that.

So, assuming you have a 2000 minute plan, how often does your monthly usage fall into the 1901-2000 minute range? If it's lower, you should recalculate based upon that lower average. If it's higher, then you again need to factor in that penalty of $0.35/min (40-5 difference).

A homework assignment for those thinking their old plan is better. Look at your last 6-12 statements (you can grab them online). Use the charts provided elsewhere in the thread to figure your monthly bills under the F&F plan (just use base plan cost, don't try to factor in extras like taxes). Don't forget to penalize the overages. What's the total difference. I'm going to guess that 95+% of those will notice the new plan is cheaper.

Now, if having a fixed minutes plan gives you strong motivation for not going over, and thus forces you to cap your usage, then that is a self-control issue :)

[Brooose]

I agree. I did exactly that. I had the $85 2000 minute plan with the free AAP and a third line for $20. I have only gone over 800 AT min once in the last six months so.... Fair and Flexible for families will save me, on average, $25 a month. I thought they would never beat that $85 plan and I figured that they'd be prying it from my cold dead hands but, thanks to PCS-PCS and 7pm N/W, I am able to change to this cheaper plan.

[payasa]

Did I miss the answer to the vision question? How much more will that be? I keep seeing comparisons of base plans. What about with vision, unlimited sms on all the phones? You know, the things that I don't pay for now?

[Deval]

remember...those are all added options

[payasa]

remember...those are all added options
I know. These are included in my plan now. If I switched to F & F, I would then be charged. I can't see any savings for me.

[ThePCSRep]

the older plans that included vision free sometimes there will be no savings unless you didnt use all the minutes each month

IE if you are on 3500 min plan and only use 1000 mins combined on 3 phones then your paying to much and you wouldnt need that plan but if you actually use all the mins you have then keep what you have

[payasa]

the older plans that included vision free sometimes there will be no savings unless you didnt use all the minutes each month

IE if you are on 3500 min plan and only use 1000 mins combined on 3 phones then your paying to much and you wouldnt need that plan but if you actually use all the mins you have then keep what you have
Thank you for understanding and answering my question. It's just as I thought. No real savings for me.

[sami]

I wish they had a fair and flexible that held up a little better on the higher minute usage. The numbers just dont work wel for me. I am on the 6000 min plan with 5 lines total. see my signature. I think it comes out to around 220 without any discount and it would come out about 100 more if I actually used all 60000 on the F&F plan.

[Deval]

I think about 1% or maybe even less need that many minutes, thats why they dont have the F and F that high

[sami]

You low balled it a little, but I agree only a few amount. However, more and more people are replacing their land land (or at least land line usage) with a cell phone.

[Deval]

yeah...but I was looking at the national average...for example in my store, I think they did like 600 new activations, and I think 5 were any plans above 2000 minutes

[PoBoy]

Just switched...I had 3 AAPs 1 was free with $80 for 1400 mins = $120/mo. Even with the 1 free AAP, it was still $5 cheaper to go with F&F. And I rarely go over 800 minutes...so this is gonna be EXCELLENT!

[Dale]

Check out this Analysis Its a little more detailed on how you begin to save and not save money on all the plans including 2000 2500 and 3500 min plans

Awesome analysis. Thank you! It's really too bad that Sprint can't give an additional monthly adjustment to my lines of service since they messed up with my account so badly. From what I heard, they are still working on my account. Maybe eventually, they will come to realize that removing grandfathered codes off of my account wasn't such a good idea without customer consent (isn't that illegal???).

Although this is SprintUsers, and I am very grateful for the people here, wouldn't it be great if Sprint itself trained their representatives to do this instead pushing F&F so hard at the retail level? Imagine all the irates after the customer switches to a F&F plan and loses all their grandfathered features??? No good ... they come back mad! That's no fun!