Sprint has now canceled its early upgrade program
Ever since Sprint killed the Sprint Premier program, along with yearly upgrades, it’s been experimenting with various programs to still allow customers to upgrade early. Its latest effort, dubbed the “Upgrade Now” program, went into effect around June, and even though it was more expensive than previous options, it was still nice that Sprint even gave customers the option at all.
But now, that program is officially cancelled. According to a Sprint employee on this thread in the official Sprint community forums:
The Upgrade Now program has been suspended. We have no information currently as to why, or whether it will return in its current form or another form entirely. The program was designed as an experiment as to the viability of offering an alternative method for an early upgrade program. I do not know if it ended up possibly costing Sprint more than the program brought in, or what; but at the moment it is gone, with no guarantee that it will return.
So there you have it. As far as I know, there is now no way to upgrade early without paying the full retail price of the phone. No exceptions, apparently.
With the Sprint network in the current state it’s in, and monthly prices comparable to T-Mobile and closely approaching AT&T and Verizon, can anyone give me any compelling reason to stick with Sprint when it’s time to get a new phone?