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Sprint wireless? (1 Viewer)

Keith_R

Screenwriter
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Hey all, as some of you may have read in my posts the last couple days my cellphone carrier has been bought out by AT&T and is voiding my contract as of the 28th. I would like to possibly switch to another carrier and get one of the newer phones with perhaps maybe a little bit better reception than what I get right now.

My first choice is Sprint because they were offering me a really good looking plan and a nice phone the last time I was in Radioshack. Does any of the membership here have experience with Sprint? are they a good carrier? I understand that they use CDMA, I'm currently on TDMA, what is the difference between the two? thanks.
 

Brian Perry

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May 6, 1999
Messages
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Despite the "pin drop" commercials that would have you believe otherwise, Sprint has a horrendous reputation for signal quality and dropped calls. I would avoid them.
 

Dome Vongvises

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I'm doing fine with Sprint, but their signals can get very strange. And I've already have four dropped phone calls. I get roaming in an area where my plan is supposed to work. But great otherwise.
 

Brian Harnish

Screenwriter
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Dec 15, 2000
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Be careful with Sprint -- they charge $5.00 just to use their information service. And they also add $8.00 worth of "taxes" and "surcharges" onto your plan bill every month...that they DON'T tell you about when you sign up.

Also, not to mention the 5-10 spam messages I get per day on my phone (which forces me to keep it off). They end up causing this really annoyingly loud beepish-like sound on my phone and of course, at work, it's pretty much impossible to work due to that annoyance.

Despite their excellent reception and sound quality (which is the only good thing I can say about Sprint; however, lately I've been getting bad signals and dropped calls), I'm never going with Sprint again once my contract expires. :angry:
 

Philip_G

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I don't get spam to my sprint phone. If I did I'd be calling them to complain the instant I got it.
I do get dropped calls, you can call sprint and tell their automated system you had a droped call and they credit you 1 minute of airtime at the highest billable rate, usually works out to about a quarter.
 

chris_everett

Second Unit
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Jul 20, 2003
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Check out http://www.phonescoop.com They have tons of info on phones, but also quite a bit on the service from different carriers.

Find out what phone the phone salesman use. They put tons of minutes on the phones and know what works and what doesn't.

Find out what local cops, firefighters, or utility workers use. They are demanding on good coverage.

If you need data services, look _very_ carefully at costs. There are a ton of hidden costs on these services.

Service varies dramaticly by location, Verizon is great up here in Idaho, it may not be in Florida.

Like I said before, it's worth paying a bit more to go somewhere that caters to corporate users, and talking to someone that is thinking about what is in your best interest. I would avoid the Radio Shacks, kiosks, etc...
 

Robert_Gaither

Screenwriter
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Mar 12, 2002
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My advice go to forum and see what the consensus of both the dealers and the customer care representatives state. Heck if you want put the zip of your home, work, and hangoutand most likely someone will use a map to tell your coverage.
 

Keith_R

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thanks for the links, they're a big help.There's so much wireless choices it can make your head spin:) .
 
Joined
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I have had Sprint for 4 years but I am about to leave them. Their sound quality is excellent WHEN you actually have service. Lately my phone has been dropping calls left and right. I have given up on trying to get credit for every single one. My phone doesn't work at all in the county my girlfriend lives in. She has Verizon and she has had no problems with it at all. I will be switching this week. If it works as well as my girlfriends does at my house, I may have my home phone turned off. Save some money.
 

Bob Graz

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 26, 2002
Messages
798
I've had Sprint cell service for 5 years now. I have been extremely pleased with them. My local signal is very strong and I've pretty much had a decent signal anywhere I've travelled in US.
 

Andrew Grall

Supporting Actor
Joined
May 17, 1999
Messages
645
I'm looking to leave Sprint soon as well. They have been the only wireless company I have worked with. But, lately, they don't give you enough for the money... They force you to sign annual contracts, even with minor account changes. And they generally do not do much to keep their existing customers happy.

I'm thinking of going T-Mobile... The only downside I can see with them is lack of coverage in some rural areas...
 

Dome Vongvises

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The problem with Verizon is their billing practices. My brother had a plan with them, but their minute tabulation was suspect and caused my brother to have overage(sp?) charges. Instead of properly adding up the minutes per usage billing cycle, they lumped them all into one month just so they could charge them extra.

There was a civil lawsuit about this (or so the letter sent to us said), and rather than give us the money back, it was given in the form of coupons or some discount on a service. It's legal, but that kind of treatment to your customers gets a big :thumbsdown: from me.
 

Scott Barnhart

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My wife has had Sprint PCS for 5 years now, and we have been very happy with it also. I currently have AT&T for myself (TDMA phone), and I don't find much difference in quality between them (maybe a bit better for Sprint).

We got Sprint because of the Nationwide coverage w/o roaming charges, since at the time we were traveling a lot.

Also, the think I like about CDMA/TDMA phones is that it is easy to buy one that is Dual Mode and will roam on the older analog networks, whereas with GSM I haven't seen a phone yet that will roam on analog. If you stay mainly in urban/suburban areas, this is not a concern. However, if you ever go farther away from cities, and you want peace of mind that you will be able to make a call in the greatest number of situations, then it is nice to be able to roam on analog.

The only 2 big downsides I see to Sprint are:

1) They don't use SIM cards like GSM phones so that you can change phones easily and still have your settings and "personality" come with you via the sim card.

2) They don't get all the cool "marquee" phones with all the latest features. Samsung and Sanyo have a few cool ones on Sprint, but Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and others don't make Sprint phones at all, and other cool phones aren't available for Sprint. This is probably more due to the fact that almost all "cool" phones anymore are GSM.

But if all you want is a phone to talk on, then I don't see any downside to Sprint.
 

Keith_R

Screenwriter
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Kyle

This is one of the big reasons why I'm thinking of switching my provider coming the end of this month (besides sometimes lousy reception) is that I would really like to get one of the newer "next gen" phones possibly with the camera option. Sprint seems to have a pretty good selection of these type of phones and was trying to offer me one for free with purchase of one of their plans. I'm also considering Verizon and T-Mobile.
 

Philip_G

Senior HTF Member
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Nov 13, 2000
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As I mentioned above, I was with sprint. Tonight I got an ericson camera phone from t-mobile. My plan is the same, only with tmobile I only pay for web, I don't have to pay for vision and then picture mail, but I still have 600 anytime and unlim eve/weekend for 40 bucks or so.
I got the phone for 125 with 150 bucks in rebates. Amazon has an even better deal.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...eless&n=507846

I went to cartoys because $50 of it was instant and 100 of it mailin, amazon it was all mail in and I didn't want to sit on the 150 bucks that long.
 

Keith_R

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Kyle
I'm looking at T-Mobile since many of my friends have it and really seem to like it. The thing which concerns me about T-Mobile is that their coverage area looks really spotty in FL, where I live.
 

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