[MacWilder]

Here is the letter (with identification removed) I am sending to Sprint's CEO, Dan Hesse. I'll probably get a reply in due course, and I'll post it to the extent that it's not private in nature.

July 19, 2010

Mr. Dan Hesse
CEO, Sprint, Inc.
Sprint-Nextel Corporate Office
6200 Sprint Pkwy
Overland Park, KS 66251

Dear Mr. Hesse:

By way of introduction, I have been a Sprint customer for well over 10 years through good times and bad. Similarly, my wife, [ ], is a customer, as is my son [ ], my son [ ], and others of our friends who have accepted our recommendations as to cell phone providers. Of these, my son [ ] and I travel overseas rather frequently, and my son [ ] also travels some overseas. Accordingly we have smart phones that work overseas [ ] and I have the HTC Touch Pro 2, and [ ] has your newest international Blackberry.

We recently renewed our agreements at the time we acquired these phones. It was not an automatic decision, as we know that overseas travel is fraught with the possibility of being overcharged for phone and data services. What finally swayed us was your monthly international data plan of $45 to $70 that provided unlimited data.

Now you have abruptly canceled this plan on July 11. This is, for us, very bad news. Verizon continues to offer a comparable plan, and, had we known you intended to cancel your plan, we would not have renewed our Sprint contracts nor acquired these international smart phones through you.

Here is the problem we face. Without the unlimited plan, when we travel overseas, we have no idea what we are going to be charged for data and no way of knowing if we have been overcharged. Contrast that with your international phone service. If you charge $1.45 a minute, we know we will be charged $14.50 for a 10 minute conversation (plus taxes and fees, of course). That’s expensive, but fair in the sense we know the amount of the expense when we incur it. We can audit the expense, so that, if we are charged for a 20 minute conversation when we know we only talked 10 minutes, we can complain (and your folks usually make the appropriate adjustment). With data, we have no comparable knowledge and absolutely no recourse. When we check our email, we have no idea of what the cost will be. If you charge us for 2 megs when we only used 1 meg, we have no ability to discover this or to complain…and indeed it may be your fault, as your correspondent’s system may hang or may mismeasure the data used. We have no ability to determine this or to respond.

I understand that the now-canceled plan may not have been profitable for Sprint. You are in business to make money, and, personally, I would not object to you increasing the price for the unlimited plan.

But I can’t and won’t do business in an environment suddenly changed so that it is newly characterized by the substantial potential for unlimited, unverifiable charges. That would be reckless.

I hope therefore, you too will understand that this is inherently wrong and inconsistent with the best business practices I hope Sprint espouses. I hope therefore you will substitute a plan that has reasonable limits on the amount that can be charged for international data services.

Sincerely,

/signed/