Sprint's Power Vision site is go!

Looks like Sprint's Power Vision site is a go, and damn if they aren't extremely competitive with Verizon's own EV-DO service. So competitive, in fact, Sprint apparently managed to undercut Verizon by multiples of price with their EV-DO services. So here's whatcha got:

• Their Power Vision Access Pack, the lowest-end service, includes all you-can-eat unlimited EV-DO for $15 a month (and includes streaming news and music)

• The Power Vision Plus Pack goes for $20 a month, and includes unlimited imaging (i.e. MMS), and Sprint TV Plus (streaming content from ABC News, Fuel, Fuse, Fox News/Sports, etc.)

• The Power Vision Ultimate Pack is $25 a month, and includes all of the above plus yet more channels (including NBC, ESPN, Discover, TLC, etc.).

So basically with Sprint you pay a maximum of $25 per month on their Pocket PC phone (the PPC-6700) to Verizon's $45 on theirs (the i730). However, when you compare stripped-down EV-DO with multimedia-centric services on a non-smartphone (like Sprint's MM-9000 or A940 vs. Verizon's A970 or Moto E815), it looks like V CAST has the advantage over Power Vision by between $5 to $10 per month. Unfortunately details on their music download service (Sprint Music Store be the name) is still a little oblique, so we'll have to ring you back on that.

[Thanks, Nathan]

[Yanathin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Holy crap, this might actually get me to switch over to Sprint. If I'm reading this right, for $15/month you get unlimited EV-DO (which means unlimited web browsing), PLUS 20 Sirius channels and ABC on your phone.. That PPC-6700 is looking much nicer now..

[lindsey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

but i haven't been able to see a coverage map of the areas the EVDO is up and running.

[Marino @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Who cares about EV-DO on a phone? The way we use Verizon's EV-DO is with the wireless cards plugged into our laptops. If I could get that for $25/mo...

[Carlos @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Sprint's coverage is supposed to match or exceed Verizon's coverage within a week or two and Engadget forgot to mention the flex plan for use as a modem.It starts at $25 for 40MB and caps out at $70 for unlimited. This saves you from buying an aircard and you can use your handset which does come with the USB cable.

[andres @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

The real question is whether Sprint supports using your phone as a modem tethered to your computer... 15 dollars a month... unlimited EV-DO on your laptop... yum

[Thought @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

This is significant...Sprint is making a very aggressive move to compete in the 3G market.

The 3G market is where it's at...that is the new frontier and how well a company does 3G will go a long way in determining their success.

It will be interesting to when Cingular comes out with its own 3G rollout and how fast they do that. I know others have mentioned that it is coming, but as with anything in technology, we'll have to see it to believe it.

So Bravo to Sprint and Verizon for bringing out 3G. Come on, Cingular, catch up.

[Tony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Check out powervision.sprint.com/music - you can d/l the Flash startup for the Music store

[ET @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Nice. Now Verizon will finally be forced to quit raping their consumers on data pricing. I wish Verizon would get a clue and remove the chip from their shoulder.

Sprint's move will force their hand.

~Happy Sprint customer since 2001 and I ain't budgin!

[http://financenstuff.blogspot.com/ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

If sprint comes out with a wireless card then I am so freaking there dude.

[DactylX @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Too bad the PPC-6700 doesn't support 90% of those "power vision" features right now. No MMS/picture messages, no streaming video, no streaming music... nothing right now. We'll see if they update the device to include support for those features later. I sure hope they do!

[A B L @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

The PPC-6700 is now also available to consumers on Sprint's website (until now it was biz only). Nice.

[flashbanger @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Sprint is so amazing. Listen to this Sprint and Nextel merger now EVDO can you say push to talk and EVDO on the same phone + sprint-to-sprint. They have the best plan pricing and now are acquiring new phones from Motorola and Nokia maybe in the works. Very exciting times!!!

[CyCo23 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

"...looks like V CAST has the advantage over Power Vision by between $5 to $10 per month."

Heh, yeah, if VZW even had half as much content as Sprint does.

Does VCAST give you streaming radio?? How about unlimited picture and video mail??

With Sprint's Ultimate Pack, you can even watch Looney Tunes!!

Add another $4.99 to VCAST if you want to send up to 40 pics with VZW. That puts VCAST into closer competition with Power Vision, but Sprint still has unltd. pics and vids with unlimited storage. VZW charges $1.99 for extra space to store pics.

[Marino @ Dec 19th 2005 12:55AM]

Turns out that Sprint will be charging $60-80 for wireless card data access just like Verizon.
http://www.sprint.com/business/products/offers/offerHighSpeed_byProduct.jsp