Sprint today expanded its landline replacement offerings, giving customers the option of getting two cordless phones for $49.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade. Customers also have to sign a two-year service agreement – a condition that suggests the carrier is bringing the subsidized mobile device model to the landline replacement market. A Sprint spokesman said Huawei is the supplier of the new offering, which carries the Sprint brand.
In a press release issued today, Sprint referred to the new dual cordless device offering as Sprint Phone Connect System 1 or just Sprint Phone Connect System. The offering targets small business as well as residential users. Sprint notes, for example, that the system can support one or two additional handsets, sold separately, making it “scalable for a family or small business.”
The offering works with Sprint’s previously announced Sprint Phone Connect service, which offers unlimited domestic calling on the company’s wireless network for $19.99 a month. The marketplace seems to have settled on $19.99 a month as the appropriate price for this type of offering, as that’s the rate charged by at least four other carriers, including Verizon, AT&T, U.S. Cellular and C Spire.
Sprint Phone Connect service offers features that customers are accustomed to from a traditional landline phone such as voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, call forwarding, three-way calling and call restriction. It also eliminates installation charges, the company said.
As an alternative to the dual cordless phone offering, Sprint noted that it also offers Sprint Phone Connect 2 – a “plug-and-play device that lets users plug their current office or home landline phone into the Sprint Phone Connect terminal.” A Sprint spokesman confirmed that Sprint Phone Connect 2 is supplied by Personal Communications Devices. That’s the same company that supplied Sprint when it announced Sprint Phone Connect service back in 2011.
There is no charge for the device that supports Sprint Phone Connect 2 for new lines or eligible upgrades if the customer signs a two year contract, the Sprint spokesman said.
