sprintpcs used to have three cellphone plans: local, regional, and national.

pour moi, local included the piedmont chunk of north cackalacky. regional included all of NC and SC. and national meant what national still means.

a cheap local plan made the most sense to me, but i was never sure whether making a call in dc or new orleans would incur some kind of penalty–because i never really understood what “roaming” actually meant.

the confusion seems to be that there are two different kinds of roaming: off-network roaming, where you’re using somebody else’s cellphone tower and on-network roaming, where you’re using your service’s tower–but outside your calling area. i can set my phone so i only use sprint’s PCS network–preventing any off-network calls–as a sort of cellular prophylactic. but i remain woefully ignorant of my dirty on-network roaming behavior.

nowadays sprint is only offering two cellphone coverages: regional, which has “no roaming charges…while on the sprint nationwide PCS network [but has a] $0.50/minute charge for calls made while outside your extended calling area” and national, which has “no roaming charges…while on the sprint nationwide PCS network”, period.

but there’e only one regional choice as far as minutes/cost, which makes it seem like they’re phasing out the regional plans altogether (as they’ve done with the local plans).

but why? i suppose it’s cause the difference between off-network roaming and on-network roaming is so freaking confusing. if every cellphone plan is national, then roaming means one thing only: you’re using somebody else’s tower, and we’re gonna ream you for $0.50/minute plus applicable long distance charges. otherwise you’re on our national network we’re gonna munch happily on your anytime minutes.

• New cellphone, yay! Sprint, grrr!
• Two years of cell phone usage
• Plugging back into life on land
• How to avoid a new cellphone contract
• the digital-lifestyle tax

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