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From: drilex!carols@husc6.harvard.edu (Carol Springs)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Sprint Plus
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Date: 5 Mar 90 15:40:04 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 147, Message 7 of 10


I asked how well-publicized Sprint Plus had been to existing
subscribers.  I've received no responses, but I have my own
speculations.

Sprint Plus is clearly a response to AT&T's Reach Out America
option--or is it vice versa?  I think Reach Out America was first,
although the television ad saturation is just now hitting.  (I've seen
no corresponding Sprint Plus TV ads.)  Both companies are offering
night/ weekend rates after 5:00 p.m. to subscribers in exchange for
customers' paying a minimum every month.  Judging from the fine print
on the bottom of the TV screen, AT&T offers these rates from 5:00 p.m.
to 10:00 p.m.; Sprint offers them during the 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
period also (I think).  Sprint Plus's minimum monthly charge is $8 and
I don't know what AT&T's is.  MCI probably offers a similar service.

To the extent that Sprint Plus has been advertised, I suspect the
campaign has been geared to those who aren't yet subscribers.  There
is no advantage to Sprint if a customer like me, who already makes
lots of evening calls, switches to Sprint Plus--unless, of course, I
start making many more evening calls than I did in the past.  They're
not likely to gain new revenue from my switching.  I can see Sprint
also targeting customers whose billing history reflects lots of, say,
weekend calls and few evening calls, on the assumption that these
people will start calling more friends during the evenings if it's
cheaper.

So I'll ask the people who heard about Sprint Plus from Sprint itself:
Were you already a Sprint customer?  If so, was the option described
in a brochure with your regular monthly mailing, or what?  Anyone know
if AT&T is sending out Reach Out America brochures directly to its
customers?  (Not that it needs to, given the massive ad campaign...)