I don't like that Sprint's raised prices this way, but I don't consider it tricky. When entering a new contract, it's on new contract terms. The alternative is to change nothing, including phones, and stay on old contract plans. Older plans were designed for the time in which they were developed, not for now when people text and access data far more than they talk in most cases. Sprint's new contracts reflect that change in consumption.
I don't advocate lies or misquotes and believe that carriers should live up to whatever is agreed to in writing or spoken by their agents, but that's not reality.
That said, I agree with all others who have noted that Sprint's still a value compared to VZW and ATT. I don't expect Sprint to get the latest and greatest phones all the time because that requires more inve$tment than Sprint can afford.
I've come to look at Sprint's $10 not as a premium fee as a different way for Sprint to introduce flat-rate, tiered charges. The advantage there is that I still don't have to worry about how much data I use per billing cycle. I'm sure customers at VZW and ATT would love to have the option to pay $10 for unlimited data instead of their per KB/GB plans.