Unlike most rival carriers that made the transition from first-generation analog to digital cellular, Sprint PCS made its way into the U.S. market with an all-digital CDMA network. With more than 22 million subscribers, Sprint PCS is a little over half as big as Verizon Wireless, which offers service based on the same CDMA technology, but Sprint's $62 ARPU is substantially higher than Verizon's $50.80. Given its close ties to Sprint's Internet Services organization and strong portfolio of enterprise data solutions, Sprint is uniquely positioned to deliver bundled data services to enterprise customers.
Still, there's a perception that the company's market efforts have focused more on consumer than business sectors. Sprint has trailed Verizon in packet data technology, and it was the last cellular carrier to add support for RIM's BlackBerry, which is immensely popular with enterprise users. Although Sprint appears to be increasing its focus on enterprise customers--through service bundling options and SLAs (service-level agreements) for wireless service--its response to our RFI contained the least amount of information provided by any of the carriers.
Sprint's data offerings are limited to 1xRTT. After initially indicating that it would bypass EV-DO and wait for EV-DV, a move that would make the most efficient use of limited spectrum, the company recently changed direction. It now pledges to offer EV-DO service in major markets by mid-2005 and nationwide in early 2006. That will take some work on Sprint's part.
One of Sprint's competitive advantages is a low-priced 1xRTT data service plan for smartphones. The company offers PalmOS devices from PalmOne (Treo 600) and Samsung, as well as Pocket PC devices from Hitachi and Toshiba. As an add-on to an existing voice plan, the unlimited data option costs only $15 per month. Unfortunately, you won't get a bargain if notebook connectivity is your priority--for that, Sprint offers an unlimited data plan at $80 per month. 1xRTT network cards for notebooks and PDAs range from $150 to $300.
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