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So originally I was thinking of getting the new iPhone, because they had a competitive rate plan, but they later dropped that with the new 3Gness. Simple math tells you it’s not that great of a deal over two years.

Looking at the comments in the Gizmodo article, I learned about Sprint SERO and proceeded to find out as much as I could about it. SERO is the Sprint Exclusive Referral Offer which is a data-enabled plan with 500 minutes and unlimited texts for $30/mo. That’s less than what I pay with a family plan now (with no data or texts). There are slight variations if more minutes are needed. 500 was enough for me, so I was on board.

Sprint SERO

The SERO plan is simple to get, you just need to enter an email address of a Sprint employee to order phones and plans from the web site or by calling Sprint SERO by phone. It’s fairly easy to find these by doing some simple navigating on Sprint.com or ask around you’re bound to know someone who knows someone at Sprint.

Dealing with Sprint customer service can be a mixed bag. Unlike T-mobile not everybody seems helpful. Many people there seem to be reading off a script and not deviating a bit, so it’s hard to get a real conversation. But some people really know their stuff and can help you in a pinch and really want to help you.

When you activate your phone make sure you write down every detail they tell you. You’ll get an NSL code that lets you re-activate your device over and over if you have to flash it, without having to call them up.

Also, if you’re porting your phone number do it ASAP.

Porting nightmare

I had a bit of a porting nightmare with my phones. I had two SERO lines on one account and they ported both my numbers to the same phone line. After several email exchanges and several phone calls everything was restored. Basically of WLNP goes awry they can fix it. I was without my 612 number for a day or so.

Everything is restored now, but in the future I would have either ported both lines at once (I waited a day or two between porting) or created two separate accounts and then combined them at a later time.

Other discounts

You can dial #733 and enter in a current Sprint customer and get a $25 gift card (and the referrer also gets one). If you need a Sprint number, I can give you mine.

Generally Sprint will not give you much more beyond this since they view SERO as a huge discount (and it is in comparison to other providers).

Get it!

Seriously, as much as I hate not having a GSM phone, Sprint’s SERO makes a lot of sense money-wise. The data has been excellent and the customer service has been good, even if they do make mistakes.