If there’s one thing I’ve learned from dealing with wireless carriers for years, it’s that everyone takes ideas from everyone else.
Sometimes it signals a real benefit for customers (AT&T now offers a “mobile to any mobile” feature that seems suspiciously like Sprint’s), and sometimes… well, sometimes it doesn’t. Case in point: AT&T’s appropriation of T-Mobile’s arguably spurious definition of “4G.”
Fortunately, today’s example falls into the former category. Taking a page from T-Mobile’s playbook, Sprint has announced their new Phone Connect service, which allows customers to plug landline phones into a nifty little adapter that connects to Sprint’s network.
Customers can port their existing home or office numbers to Sprint’s service, with a caveat: unlike wireless-to-wireless transfers, which generally port within 3 days max, home-to-wireless transfers often take up to 7 days to complete.
It may sound similar to the T-Mobile @ Home service of years past, but Sprint has a different target in mind for their attempt: small business owners.
As part of their Sprint Biz 360 initiative, Sprint is positioning Phone Connect as a complete replacement for existing (and often pricey) landline phone solutions. They remain mum on plan pricing, so it’s difficult to tell exactly how much customers can expect to save by switching. Launching on August 11, Phone Connect is a bold move by Sprint, considering their smaller network footprint. It works out to their advantage, considering the devices themselves won’t be moving around, but one thing seems clear at this early juncture. If all goes well, you’d better believe Sprint will milk their “Most Reliable Network” tag line even more going forward.