[quick99si]

I don't have the autopay fee nonsense applied to me, despite the fact that I make the payments manually every month. I've never heard of having to pay extra because you make your payments yourself lol. For what it's worth, my SERO500 comes out to $36.xx/mo (incl $4/mo ESRP). I would strongly advise you call in and have them waive and credit previous no auto-pay fees.

As far as Sprint's margins on SERO lines... none of us can definitively say how much they're making or losing on us, and I'm fairly confident this figure varies monthly with roaming, data usage, and even cell minute usage. I was always under the impression that they offered this plan at such a deep discount as an attempt to mitigate their horrible churn numbers. Sprint was losing paying customers by the boatload virtually every quarter (likely still are, I haven't cared enough to research) and the surge in SERO signups likely helped to offset that figure to a degree, probably resulting in a better overall picture of their books. This is pure speculation from a pretty clueless poster of course.

This baiting of SERO customers to switch to more expensive plans seems like a smart move by Sprint, albeit a tad slow IMHO. If a customer makes the switch to a phone like the Evo, then Sprint rakes in more revenue via significantly more expensive plans; if the customer decides to keep truckin' on SERO, well he or she is likely to stay with Sprint anyway since not many people are insane enough to give up a $30 all-inclusive plan. At $30-50/mo, I'm inclined to say that we're all just temporary statistical boosts to their numbers; as their situation improves, they'll be looking to convert us or boot us :/