Sprint and Average Customer Perception

[TheForce627]

As an AT&T customer, I know every square mile where this occurs on their network in my area. It's more prevalent than Sprint customers realize. And on VZW in B13 only areas.

have you ever used AT&Ts mark the spot app?

[S4GRU]

have you ever used AT&Ts mark the spot app?

All the time. I have reported the bad sector at my office every week since last December.

 

Using Tapatalk on BlackBerry Z30

[Conan Kudo]

All the time. I have reported the bad sector at my office every week since last December.

 

Using Tapatalk on BlackBerry Z30

The app crashes all the time for me, and also tends to eat all of my system memory, so now I don't use it anymore. I really wish they'd remake that app...

[WiWavelength]

have you ever used AT&Ts mark the spot app?

All the time. I have reported the bad sector at my office every week since last December.

 

You know that Ernestine receives those reports and just cackles, "Not so 'rapid' there, eh?  Yeah, well, we don't care.  We're not gonna fix it.  We don't have to.  We're the phone company.  And what are you gonna do about it?  Go to oversubscribed, overloaded VZW?  Ha ha ha."

 

AJ

[lennyj17]

So the initial results from the TMO comparison are in...Sprint M7 vs TMO M8

 

At my house, on my couch where I have to use an Airvana to get voice...

Sprint: couldn't even connect to get SpeedTest run

TMO: 41.76 down

 

Why does it matter here, you obviously have Wifi, that's what you should be using

 

At my daughter's high school...

Sprint: .19 down (yes that is a decimal before the 19)

TMO: 44 down

 

This is legitimate 

 

At a spot I know I have "solid" LTE on my M7...

Sprint: 6.17

TMO: 23.7

 

Perfectly usable speeds.... To a non-speed test eye, you couldn't even tell the difference be the two.

 

At my desk (next to 2 windows mind you)

Sprint: no LTE, eHRPD -86dBm, 1XRTT -96dBm

TMO: LTE -100dBM

 

OK- Legitimate

 

I think the writing for me is on the wall....my perception is that Sprint is getting its butt kicked in real world service in my area.

 

Like other have said your comparisons really were not fair, testing a over year old phone to a more recent one. 

 

Second - people need to stop equating High Speeds with QOS. I careless about super high speeds that in real-world use make no difference to the end user than a good 5 MB down with low pings would.... If not for Speed Test Apps, we really wouldn't be able to tell any difference. Give me a solid 5-10 down with Rock Hard Consistency, over Inconsistent Bursts of >30 Down. 

 

I really wish America was smarter than Speed Tests. We really need to mainstream another metric for which we judge networks other than overly generalized Speed Tests. 

[P_M_G]

Believe me, I wish I had the ability to compare exact same devices without jumping through hoops. BTW - I know speed tests do not equal QoS. I'm probably not going anywhere until the next round of devices gets released anyway.

[CaryTheLabelGuy]

 

Snoop Dogg posted this last night on Instagram. Lol.

 

Maybe Sprint doesn't have the image problem that we think it does? Most consumers don't read those tech blogs that Sprint Trolls love to frequent, that I'm convinced of.

 

All joking aside, I think Sprint has finally turned the corner.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Crapatalk

[belusnecropolis]

It's Snoop official. We also added a Snoop tribute in premiere.

[Linkyer]

I realize that I don't post a lot, but I feel... Strongly about sprint. At least for my area, it is probably the worst carrier overall..

 

I usually take a few things into consideration. 1) can I make phone calls? 2) can I receive phone calls? 3) if I need to look something up, can it be done in a reasonable amount of time? I'm not saying lightning speed, but 30 seconds to load the mobile version of CNN's homepage is excessive.

 

To the first point, for years, the first two were always reliable. Always. I knew that I would never worry about an emergency. Originally, Alltel, Sprint, and two local carriers were the only service providers (T-Mobile had a minor "presence"). Sprint was considered the premiere wireless provider. Data was useless, but back then few people had wireless data. In 2010, for a few months, 3G came and was respectable at 100-300 Kbps. Over this time, ATT and Verizon both came to our market and created 4G expansive coverage. Sprint is still on 3G....

 

This wouldn't be a proble, but call quality dropped. Calls started being missed and not received. Rarely, maybe a call failure. I've moved to a larger city and I have LTE now.. Sometimes if I'm at the right place. In my apartment on the third story near a window, I have 1-2 bars of regular service... That is not reliable. I have missed more calls here. It's also taken over a day for me to receive a notification that I have a voicemail. Most calls from here succeed, however.

 

My disenfranchisement comes from when I'm attempting to return home. The roads I take are small and not well traveled. For over 60 miles of sprint service, I could not make a single phone call or receive a phone call. Many were simply call failures where the phone did not attempt to dial. Sometimes I would get an instant busy signal (to a cell phone with voicemail service) after it took 20+ seconds attempting to connect. I work night shift, so I travel at nights. At 3-4 am on a deserted highway where your cell phone has service but won't call... Is unacceptable. I could have been dying and attempting to call 911. This would have been impossible for me, and there are few if any cars. Even a mile is unacceptable, but 60??? That's ridiculous.

 

On occasion that I would dip and fall out of sprint service and roam onto Verizon, I would receive a message that the number I'm attempting to dial is no longer in service or has been disconnected. I didn't try 911 for those portions as there was no need, but I still should have been able to make the phone call... I'm not sure if this was an error on Sprints side or Verizon's or possibly my phone (iPhone 6 Plus). The call failure is my single largest complaint because that can be life or death.

 

The calls not coming through or registering all of the time is frustrating as well.. I am rarely on call, but when/if I am, and I am called, I have a legal responsibility to answer and come in. I can be charged with a felony for failing to do so. Fortunately the usually call multiple times or attempting emai, and text messages.

 

With these issues that are relatively new, I cannot recommend sprint /in my area/. Even if the data did not work or calls did not always come in, I could at least have recommended in the past that your life won't be in danger in an area that you supposedly have coverage. That's the single most important part.

 

With ATT and Verizon now in our market, I have never heard a recommendation for sprint. They are last line. They are the cheapest, but it's still questionable to me. Usually, that's the only positive I can give.

 

Traveling wise, I usually don't have many issues. For example, in 2010 I attended a conference in Anaheim at the large convention center. While I could not access data, I could make phone calls and send/receive texts. Others, even with Verizon, were unable to do any of those things. I also had an Evo 4G and I could use WiMAX in a small "open" area of the building that was quasi outside. I may be getting my timeline mixed up and confused, however. I attended another conference in 2011 at the same convention center using a Samsung Galaxy S2.

 

I also remember being in Seattle and using my phone for navigation in 2010 or 2011. It was very helpful. Maybe larger cities are having less issues than my rural area.

[S4GRU]

I realize that I don't post a lot, but I feel... Strongly about sprint. At least for my area, it is probably the worst carrier overall..

 

Hobbs and SE New Mexico is definitely an area lacking from Sprint. I used to work for the State of New Mexico and traveled all over. Sprint will likely only ever provide an afterthought network there. It will eventually get upgraded to Network Vision and it will improve significantly, but not likely to an awesome level. And you will need a Triband device to enjoy it.

 

The difference between Hobbs and Clovis is night and day. The site density and NV improvements make the network in Clovis wonderful. Where as in Hobbs it's awful. The reason being that Sprint did not build out your area and inherited it from Alamosa PCS when they bought them out. In some places Alamosa built out a decent network and other places a skeleton network.

 

Sprint has not been in the financial position to expand coverage in these more remote and underbuilt places. I personally would recommend them expanding service in the booming Lea County Energy Corridor. It would be good and even pay for itself. But they are currently doing triage on their whole network and it may not rank high enough in their current scheme of things.

 

Also, as a Sprint customer, I have had wonderful experiences roaming on Verizon. I've not encountered the problems you've noted in the many places I've traveled. So I'm wondering if the problems you are experiencing are localized.

 

The bottom line though is if your area is so bad for you on Sprint, you should find a provider that better fits your needs. No sense in paying for a service that leaves you frustrated and doesn't meet your needs.

[Linkyer]

Also, as a Sprint customer, I have had wonderful experiences roaming on Verizon. I've not encountered the problems you've noted in the many places I've traveled. So I'm wondering if the problems you are experiencing are localized.

The bottom line though is if your area is so bad for you on Sprint, you should find a provider that better fits your needs. No sense in paying for a service that leaves you frustrated and doesn't meet your needs.

I had never previously experienced that roaming issue either. Typically it works fantastically... I am in the process of finding a new one. Change is challenging for me haha. Thank you for your time and response!