@Jason

Let's say for the sake of arguing that the "unlimited" data plan for these new 4G phones does in fact have a 5G cap and that the $10 add-on was really to eliminate the cap. Well then, why not come up with the following model and let people choose which is best for them:

$30 - 5GB Data Plan
$40 - Unlimited Data Plan

But of course the reason why Sprint won't do this is because 1.) they know that almost no one will ever exceed 5GB, so no one will bother signing up for the unlimited plan and 2.) this would mean that they have now switched to a Tiered Plan model which would make them as evil and greedy as AT&T in the eyes of the public.

I have no love for AT&T myself but I can't understand how they're getting raked through coals for tiered pricing and yet Sprint (and that smug moron Dan Hesse) are still considered cool by many.

Honestly, I am a Radioshack employee as well, and I know the true reason they added the $10 fee, they explain that the $10 fee isn't for the 4G, but they didn't explain why it was, but it wasn't hard to figure out, Sprint invested in the company Clearwire, which owns more then half of the 4G towers. Yes, Sprint developed 4G, but Clearwire is taking advantage of it and they own alot of the towers sprint 4G jumps off of, some areas Sprint owns the towers, so essentially you are paying a roaming fee.

Honestly if you and your manager do not know that, you do not deserve to work at radioshack, guess the expectation for employees in your district isn't the highest. Learn to do research, wasn't that hard to figure out.

Honestly if you knew that why don't you go tell sprint so they could tell the rest of the world. . LOL

@Jonathon and @Airen E
Yeah I figured that she was feeding a line of bs. Sprints website does define a 5gb cap for mobile broadband data plans, but still says unlimited under the phone plans. I will bring that up the next time that I visit the store.

Jason, part of the problem with the fee is the amount of misinformation that is spread when people try to explain it. There is no 5GB cap on ANY unlimited data plan for ANY phone, with or without the premium data add-on. The 5GB cap only applies to mobile hotspots and data cards. According to Sprint's definition of the Premium Data add-on, it really has nothing to do do with unlimited data usage.

i spoke with the guy who answers the emails for dan@sprint.com (his voicemail, coincidentally, said that I was calling dan hesse's office, but when i pressed him on this, he flinched. it's just an "extension" of the office he said-lol) and he told me that the fee is, in fact, not for the 4g. so when i asked him if 3g was faster on the EVO than on other phones, he said it LOADED WEBSITES faster. so i told him, then, that i'm still paying for the same 3G service that I use on my Treo Pro. But he said I would use more data. I respectfully disagreed with him. i also recommended that he share my concerns with TPTB and avert this PR disaster.

Hanging out at the Sprint forums, I can see the extra data usage argument now. One guy said he had a touchpro 2 and used under 500mb every month. He checked his EVO usage after 2weeks and him AND his son were already at 1.7GB. Must be the stuff on it that's sucking the battery life :-)

@Jason
Once again the Sprint store rep. was wrong. All of Sprint unlimited cellphone plans have NO CAP. There isn't a cap persay on the wifi hotspot function, but Sprint charges an extra $30 a month for it AND reserves the right to throttle you down as they see fit.

Now that the EVO is going to be have the Super TFT LCD display (Sony) instead of the AMOLED display from Samsung, is the fee going to drop because of the display 'downgrade

Questions for Sprint!!! ;)

I went to the Sprint store today to question about starting a new plan with 3 Evos. I asked what the $10 fee was for and the employee explained that you are paying for true unlimited data. The advertised unlimited data family plan has a 5gb cap. 'The Fee' provides unlimited 3g and 4g data.

@Jay, I definitely agree that it's more of a "this phone is going to sell, let's make extra money off nothing" kind of fee. I suppose the increased data argument is more of if you assume that there's an extra service being received for the fee. Otherwise you are entirely correct that data usage depends on the user, not the device's capabilities. I know myself that I hardly ever go past 300MB of data usage a month and I don't know what the Evo is capable of that would make me use phone any differently. I especially don't like their idea that the processor is part of the premium data, especially when several other phones use the same processor. The worst part of it is that there's not much we can really do....nothing short of a class action lawsuit or FCC complaint would really have any effect IMO.

I'm not really sure why this hasn't yet been brought up as a legal issue. Is it legal to charge a user a fee for nothing? The hardware features of the phone are part of the purchase price, and unlimited data service is unlimited. Charging a $10 fee(whether justified or not) called a "Premium Data Fee" where the user doesn't get any value-added service for their money is plain misleading, and probably could be challenged civilly in court.

I mean I think everybody here wouldn't mind paying the fee if they knew they were getting something special for it, be that priority bandwidth, 4G access, free wallpaper, etc. I wouldn't even mind paying the fee if they required a specific data plan for the EVO(@ $10 more than standard data) because of the likelyhood of increased data use.

Sprint is on shaky ground though, just because they've decided to add this extraneous fee with no real service defined. You can't really charge a fee for a hardware feature that someone already paid for, there has to be a value added for having the fee vs. not

Very good analogy in my opinion, I've been a Touch Pro2 user since I came home from Iraq 10 months ago and I have considered getting the EVO. I won't be going the Windows Phone 7 route so I wanted to get an Android phone that was better than my TP2. The EVO is the logical upgrade for me however I will not pay extra for it. I'll pay more up front but I refuse to pay a lease. So with that, I'll probably leave Sprint when something comparable comes along and I've been with Sprint for more than 7 years.

@ Airen

I agree with most of your comments especially the part about the "sheep" who justify the fee by saying it's "still cheaper than carrier X". At least with the other carriers you're paying for an actual service that's being delivered to you. But anyhow, I don't honestly think that the true reason behind this fee is increased data usage.

A bigger screen and faster processor will not make you consume more data. And I don't buy that argument that having these feature will make you use phone more for internet-related stuff. Sure that may apply to some people but I doubt it applies to most. I personally know a couple of people who are on T-Mobile that went from having a G1 to the Nexus One and their data usage has stayed basically the same.

I could be wrong but if you're a data-hog, you'll be such on any phone regardless of how fast or slow it might be.

Personally I think Sprint decided to charge this fee since they knew the EVO demand would be so high that they would get away with it. Especially since comparable plans at other carriers are still more expensive. But still, this is just a shady way for them to raise their rates and bring them more in line with ATT and Verizon.

Thinking logically, I think the fee would be for increased data usage, whether on 3G or 4G. Sprint knows that most Evo users are more likely to consume more data because of how capable the Evo is (and the other upcoming "premium data" phones also). Perhaps so much so that the Evo would cost them more money to support on their network. The conflict probably had was that

1. They know they can't increase the cost of their data plans for ALL phones and/or data cards because most people would be outraged (ironically, much more people than are outraged at the separate $10 fee).

2. They know they can't directly increase the price of the Evo's data plan or make a specific data plan for it like AT&T does with the iPhone

3. They know they can't come out and say the fee is for increased data usage because then everyone will say "Well I pay for unlimited data already!", "Unlimited is unlimited, why should I have to pay more to have increased usage on top of already unlimited data usage!?"

Hence, the Premium Data add-on was created, and the logical thinking ended there. Thinking illogically and going with the hope that the sheep would far outnumber the wise men (and they have), they decided that the explanation to be used for this newborn Premium Data add-on was the reasons why the Evo *might* use more data, but no actual mention of increased data usage to avoid problem #3. Those pay but don't care won't ask questions. Those who pay but ask questions will be given the same half-@$$ed response. Those who don't pay and ask questions will be answered, but ultimately ignored and not cared about since they're not paying. At the end of the day, 99% of the problem with the Premium Data add-on is the way Sprint is explaining it. I think more people would even be better off with the fee if they were told it was for increased data usage, rather than for features of the phone that they already own.

I hope I didn't offend anyone with my sheep-wise men analogy. I don't mean to say that all Evo owners are sheep, but rather that those who don't care, understand, or question what the extra fee is for are sheep. If you understand it and are okay with it, that's fine. People who say things like "well it's still cheaper than carrier X" or "just don't get the phone" are sheep IMO.

Terrible Sprint - Simply Terrible.

The fee is for the phones hardware so isn't that like a lease? I'd demand a longer warranty, insurance, or some kind of hardware protection since you're paying for it.

The price of a product is determined by the what a customer thinks its worth. Sprint has offered poor flimsy excuses to justify that extra fee.

I don't know if this has been covered or not, but can Sprint even explain why there is no extra fee on their Data cards that are 4G capable yet a fee applies to their 1st phone that is 4G capable.

With the Droid X and whatever other devices coming to compete with the Evo, I’m sure no additional unexplainable fee will come from them. Sprint needs to be careful as this could be a turning point for a lot of their customers.

It is true that it’s the consumer’s option to get this phone and/or pay the fee. No one is forcing them to get this phone. But it is bad business practice on Sprint’s end as well as the explanation of the fee.

Their explanation of this fee truly insults my intelligence and that is quite offensive IMO!