[Recursion]

Okay, on the phone with Sprint Retentions now. The initial response I got was that the $10 smartphone fee only applies to new customers, with old customers being grandfathered in. Doesn't sound right. I'm on hold now for an exact answer. Okay, the answer is ... activating a smartphone after 1/30, even if on pre-existing plans will trigger the additional $10/month fee. Apparently, Sprint is considering waiving this for those replacing a smartphone via insurance, but the jury's still out.

Crap...sounds like marketing idiots are trying to push 1st quarter numbers. But they're actually reducing the incentive for many of us to upgrade. I was looking at a $20 increase per month to get into an Evo or Epic. But now it would be $30+/month extra to get into a 4g phone?

I think Sprint's going to be losing a lot of customers in the next few months...

Edit: Yeah, I found out that it would only be $20 add'l for legacy Sero's to go 4g, not $30. But still nothing definitive on whether replacing a broken smartphone with the exact same one (post 1/30) would trigger the $10 surcharge.