Sprint focuses on price

Editors' note: Sprint also advertises on CNET.

We've always followed Sprint's television ads with interest, primarily because they've been a roller coaster ride. We were never fans of the black-and-white spots with CEO Dan Hesse, but we liked the most recent campaign that tried to demonstrate what users could do on the carrier's network at that given moment.

Now Hesse is back, and frankly his claws are out. On Monday, Sprint announced a new commercial that will focus on its "Any Mobile, Anytime" calling plan. In the TV spot, Hesse informs viewers that unlike with Verizon Wireless' and AT&T's $69-per-month unlimited plans, Sprint's offer includes not only unlimited calling to any U.S. mobile phone, but also unlimited messaging, Web browsing, and GPS navigation for the same cost. In contrast, the other carriers' $69 plans include only unlimited calling. Granted, the AT&T and T-Mobile options let you make unlimited calls to any domestic phone number (both mobile and not), but Hesse makes a point. Both AT&T and Verizon require you to pay at least an additional $15 for unlimited data and even more if you want messaging and GPS.

Hesse doesn't mention T-Mobile, perhaps because that carrier offers an Even More Plus plan for unlimited talk and messaging for $59.99 per month. But if you want data with T-Mobile, you'll have to shell out $79.99 per month.

Sprint's aggressive price push and an expected announcement of 4G devices may be what the carrier needs to lift it from the doldrums. Though the fourth quarter of 2009 was better than the same period a year earlier, Sprint reported a loss of $980 million and an exodus of 148,000 customers.