Sprint: Why are you charging a $10 “Premium Data” fee?

Many people are starting to question Sprint as to why they are charging a $10 “Premium Data” fee for user of the newly released HTC Evo 4G.  They have even created a web site dedicated to the question called “explainthefee” to try and get some answers from Sprint.  Apparently nobody can get a straight answer from Sprint and people are starting to get upset as there appears to be no real logical explanation.  Claims are being made that Sprint are double charging for the phone with these extra fees.

To date, Sprint employees have been told to state that the fee is for “Premium Data” but explicitly they deny that it is for 4G coverage, which the vast majority of the nation does not, and will not have access to in the near future.  Instead, Sprint employees have stated that this fee is related to the phone’s “enhanced features” and not their “data network.”  My readers and I have sent numerous queries to Sprint and have been told repeatedly how the phone’s hardware functions provide the “Premium Data Experience.”  Sprint employees have repeatedly stated that the fee for the “Premium Data” applies whether you are in a 3G or 4G network; it is a required fee for the hardware itself.

Emails have been sent to all the  major players and phone calls placed to Sprint customer service representatives and still the answer make no sense.

The Sprint “HTC EVO 4G Playbook ” was leaked on the Internet and poses “sample” questions that customer’s might ask their sales people.  One question in the playbook was \”Why would someone in a 3G market buy an EVO 4G and pay for the $10 Premium Data?” This was answered with the following:

“The EVO offers an unparalleled experience on 3G as well as 4G.  The combination of a 4.3 inch screen, built-in-kickstand, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Android 2.1 and the hallmark HTC Sense experience makes HTC EVO 4G a best-in-class 3G phone.  As 4G launches in additional markets, HTC EVO 4G will take a great 3G experience (and great apps created for 3G, especially those using video) and makes it even better on 4G.

So we are asking Sprint to explain the fee’s to their users.  What is the fee and why is it being charged?

Do you know anything?  Leave us your comments below.