Sprint will send a representative to your home to help you set up your new smartphone

Sprint has just announced its new “Direct 2 You” service that aims to help folks around the U.S. upgrade and set up their new smartphones more easily. The service, which is completely free, allows for a Sprint-trained expert to bring your new mobile device to your current location to set up and transfer contacts, pictures, videos and apps to your new device from your old one. The Sprint representative will also provide tutorials to help you learn how to use your new device.

Here’s how the service works:

• Qualified customers receive an offer via text or email to upgrade their phone.
• Customers call the Sprint phone number in the text or email to take advantage of the offer and schedule an appointment for this free service.
• A Direct 2 You Expert arrives when and where the customer requests, sets up and activates the new phone, transferring all contacts and data from the old phone, then personalizes the new device to the customer’s specifications.
• Customers can choose to turn in their old phones for recycling or reuse.

Direct 2 You is now available in Kansas City for eligible Sprint customers. The carrier will roll out the service to Chicago and Miami on April 20th, to ten more cities by the end of August, and to 30 more cities by the end of September. We’ll likely see a national rollout of the service by the end of 2015, as well.

We know there are a ton of older folks that need help setting up their new smartphones, and this is certainly an interesting way of helping out with that problem. It may not be enough of a reason to switch to the carrier, but perhaps this is a nice way of saving people the task of looking to retail store employees to help with the process.