Funny how something as simple as rounding down cell phone minutes may have the ability to ingratiate a carrier with consumers. Sprint’s looking to find out whether or not that’s true by launching what it’s calling “Common Cents Mobile” through a partnership with retail giant Walmart.
The plan includes seven cents-per-minute voice calls and text messages for seven cents apiece. Calls will be rounded down, so the example used in Sprint’s press release is that a Common Cents Mobile call that’s 1:46 long will be counted as a one-minute call.
Handsets will run between $20 and $80 and will be sold at 700 Walmart stores around the country. Considering that Walmart has over 4,000 locations around the US, this is looking like a test rollout for now but if it proves to be popular, it stands to reason that we’ll see it in more stores soon.
The rollout begins this Saturday, May 15th.