Premium Data fee?

[trooper54]

Is this going to be have a premium data fee like the EVO? its basically the same phone (with minor tweaks) If it doesn't have one, i might just get this instead of paying essentially and early adapter fee.

 

[TheOnlyMorgan]

I'm going to say yes. The "premium data" label is just a cover for them charging more for 4G. They know a lot of hardcore techtypes are into Android and having a 4G radio built in pretty much guarantees a lot of those people are getting it for a lot of the internet multimedia capabilities. I see them charging the extra $10 a month here.

 

[sel1965]

You can count on it.

 

[grandebob]

almost certainly.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

My magic eight ball said, "yes"

But, the neat thing is the multi-media capabilities of this phone will be awesome... On wireless N or 4G

 

[JERAVICIOUS]

My magic eight ball said, "yes"

Oh that damn magic eight ball, it never lies!!! But to confirm it, Engadget confirms it in their post.

Sprint lines up Epic 4G against the competition, likes its chances -- Engadget

 

[ATGM]

Shucks.

 

[Lupevalenz#AC]

Yup, its 4G. You'll pay for the premium data fee even if you don't live in 4G area, but good thing is though, that you have true unlimited cap. No more of this soft cap 5GB. Granted not many goes that high, but at least don't have to worry about that anymore.

 

[blacksapphire08]

I wish they would come out with a more advanced phone that is similar to the HTC EVO and Samsung Epic but you could choose to use a 4G plan or a 3G plan. Not everyone has 4G service yet, I dont here and even then the 3G is plenty fast enough for me.

 

[TheOnlyMorgan]

I wish they would come out with a more advanced phone that is similar to the HTC EVO and Samsung Epic but you could choose to use a 4G plan or a 3G plan. Not everyone has 4G service yet, I dont here and even then the 3G is plenty fast enough for me.

Well if they did that they'd have to block apps in the 3G phones to separate them. The thing about Android is the community will always find a way, so it won't be just as simple as blocking apps or disabling the 4G radio. You get this phone or the EVO and are in a 3G area, you probably are going for it so you can use apps like Fring and YouTube HQ and the like 3G or 4G. There isn't really a way around it, you get one of these phones and you should be using it heavily otherwise it's a waste. So whether you pay specifically for one plan or another they wouldn't be able to justify separating the two into different service tiers since it'd be just about pointless.

 

[taylormah]

One question - if I buy the phone at full price from anywhere on net and then call Sprint to activate it, would they automatically know that I am using Epic and start charging me the premium fee?? Of course once the 4G becomes available in my area I would pay for it, but till then I am looking for ways to avoid it...

 

[drizek]

I want to know this as well. More to the point, I want to know if they will continue charging me for it if I decide to sell the phone for a profit and go back to using my Pre.

 

[ragnarokx]

One question - if I buy the phone at full price from anywhere on net and then call Sprint to activate it, would they automatically know that I am using Epic and start charging me the premium fee?? Of course once the 4G becomes available in my area I would pay for it, but till then I am looking for ways to avoid it...

Yes, they will automatically know. Just like you can't activate a smartphone without some kind of data plan, you cannot activate a 4G phone without the superphone tax. If you get an Evo prepare to have your phone bill increase by ten bucks.

I want to know this as well. More to the point, I want to know if they will continue charging me for it if I decide to sell the phone for a profit and go back to using my Pre.

Once you get rid of the Evo just call Sprint up and make sure the $10 fee is taken off your plan. No biggie.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Well, Yes, you will get charged the premium fee as soon as you try to activate the phone. I was thinking about buying the Evo outright cause I had the money, and not quite at my upgrade. As soon as I got to the part where it would need to be activated, it notified me I would require to add the $10/month. You can't buy it on-line without the fee, but you may be able to get a store to sell you one without activation if you didn't want to use it as a phone.