Debate on whether you should offload smartphone data on WiFi, even though you pay for "unlimited"

[dedub]

some possibly interesting reading

 

 

The Analogies Of Highway And Computer Network Traffic (2002)

[Josh]

 

 

I was just wondering where you have been recently. I enjoy your posts. Glad things are back to OK with your family.

 

 

 

Here is the S4GRU Mission Statement: "To provide a forum for discussion and education about wireless spectrum, networks, and Sprint Network Vision, in particular, in an online community that is mature, intelligent, and free from uncritical negativity.

 

[co,lor=#000000]Do you feel that S4GRU Staff and Moderators failed in maintaining/protecting our core mission with this thread? Even to use your definition of our mission, do you think we failed in that regard too?[/color]

 

Robert

 

Not that the discussion was bad, just that it seemed people were arguing the same points over and over, without offering any new facts...

[Ascertion]

I have godly 3g speeds at my house and I typically use 3g since it's really fast but after reading this, I've switched to 100% wifi at home. It's much more cost efficient for Comcast to offer 10+ gigs of data for my phone than it is for Sprint.

[mirlyn]

You haven't lived until you hit "Update All" in the Play store while on wifi.

[djw39]

Don't you think if 4G speeds are better than WiFi in your area, this is evidence that Sprint has plenty of spare capacity in that same area? Robert being noble and forgoing cellular data in his home does nothing for me here in Charlotte. And if the network in his area does get maxed out, it won't give him better speeds than his WiFi so he'll switch back out of self-interest.

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

[S4GRU]

Don't you think if 4G speeds are better than WiFi in your area, this is evidence that Sprint has plenty of spare capacity in that same area?

 

No. I do not. Please see my comments above about the narrow threshold for pass/fail for LTE. Additionally, building bad habits will lead to more people using the network when not necessary. So a whole bunch of people using smartphones on LTE at home (where they have WiFi) streaming video is enough to push a carrier above the pass/fail threshold.

 

Robert

[djw39]

OK, that makes sense. Although I still think it's on the carriers to make switching more seamless if they expect people to use wifi when away from home.

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

[ChadBroChillz]

I feel like AJ plan of incentivizing people would work best. Maybe a 1gb or 2gb limit for 10-5 dollars off your bill. I think a lot of people would start to offload if they could save money.

[pyroscott]

OK' date=' that makes sense. Although I still think it's on the carriers to make switching more seamless if they expect people to use wifi when away from home.

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2[/quote']

 

I don't understand why WiFi to cellular handoff is such a big deal. It is not going to be smooth, but I have only had maybe 3 occurances in the last year where I was noticeably inconvenienced by the handoff and even then, it was 5 seconds tops.

[CuriousTim]

So let me use a buffet as an example, because I have seen this specific example many times.

 

These are some guys who go to a buffet and run up and take 50 crab legs the minute they are brought out from the kitchen. If anyone confronts them, they respond with something like "I paid $10 for all you can eat, and I want to eat crab, not bread." They have no consideration for anyone else and may enjoy other selections on the buffet, but eat the crab on principle, out of spite for the restaurant or because they like to be a jerk, or, I guess, because they like crab... A LOT. This is also the person who screams that there isn't enough crab on the buffet, and blames the restaurant for not "having enough for everyone." They also probably steal office supplies from work and print pirated books on the company printer rather than buying a paperback, and then they act like it is the company's fault that the office supply budget is exhausted 3 months before the next fiscal year. "Well, what kind of company can't properly budget for office supplies?"

 

Then on the other side, you have the community-minded people. These are the people that in the proverbial buffet, would know that if everyone took 5 crab legs, they could all get a taste of the premium selection, and have a good meal from the other selections and still only pay $10. They might even eat a salad (gasp).

 

The first crowd doesn't realize that by "getting their money's worth" out of the buffet, they are squeezing the profit margin of the restaurant owner and ruining the experience for everyone else, forcing the restaurant to adapt and either charge more for the buffet and offer more crab legs, or scrap the buffet model and go to a predetermined portion with ala carte available. The restaurant will not continue to offer something that doesn't work.

 

Terrible example. That's almost like saying you use 15Mbps connection when the maximum possible is 3Mbps. An all-you-can-eat buffet a person will go up and take 5 crab legs because he can (and plans to eat all of them). Then he will eat them and if he is hungry he will go back for more. This gives ample time for the restaurant to place more food out if necessary.

 

What myself as a Sprint customer is experiencing is I pay for the all-you-can-eat buffet and I notice an item is out or only 1 left when I can easily eat 3 and want to eat 3. I take the one and let them know they're out of this item so they can refill the buffet. I eat my 1 and maybe eat something else and wait and wait...restaurant still hasn't replaced the empty food items . Okay whatever so I eat something else, get full, and leave. I come back a week later and experience the exact same issue. I go back a month later and experience the same issue <---HUGE PROBLEM. I won't be going back to that place for food.

 

Sprint knows they need more spectrum/capacity/whatever eventually. They must plan ahead. Sprint "tried" to plan ahead (with wimax) and failed miserably. Instead of working gradually to upgrade their network they waited 4 years and now is trying to do it all at once. Instead of upgrading areas that started to experience sluggish connections they waited and said hell with them until everyone was experiencing it. Backhaul is the biggest issue and maybe I'm wrong but that seems like something they could have been gradually upgrading over the past 4 years. Shouldn't have mattered if Sprint stuck with 3g, went to Wimax, or implemented 4g LtE.

[pyroscott]

 

Terrible example. That's almost like saying you use 15Mbps connection when the maximum possible is 3Mbps. An all-you-can-eat buffet a person will go up and take 5 crab legs because he can (and plans to eat all of them). Then he will eat them and if he is hungry he will go back for more. This gives ample time for the restaurant to place more food out if necessary.

 

What myself as a Sprint customer is experiencing is I pay for the all-you-can-eat buffet and I notice an item is out or only 1 left when I can easily eat 3 and want to eat 3. I take the one and let them know they're out of this item so they can refill the buffet. I eat my 1 and maybe eat something else and wait and wait...restaurant still hasn't replaced the empty food items . Okay whatever so I eat something else' date=' get full, and leave. I come back a week later and experience the exact same issue. I go back a month later and experience the same issue <---HUGE PROBLEM. I won't be going back to that place for food.

 

Sprint knows they need more spectrum/capacity/whatever eventually. They must plan ahead. Sprint "tried" to plan ahead (with wimax) and failed miserably. Instead of working gradually to upgrade their network they waited 4 years and now is trying to do it all at once. Instead of upgrading areas that started to experience sluggish connections they waited and said hell with them until everyone was experiencing it. Backhaul is the biggest issue and maybe I'm wrong but that seems like something they could have been gradually upgrading over the past 4 years. Shouldn't have mattered if Sprint stuck with 3g, went to Wimax, or implemented 4g LtE.[/quote']

 

What are you talking about? You completely missed the point.

[jamesinclair]

When Sprint gives me terrible customer service on the phone, I turn on the TV app, connect to the sprint network, and " enjoy".

 

Petty? Yes.

 

But theres really not much recourse for abysmal customer service.

 

You know what they say about hitting them where it hurts.

[S4GRU]

This thread is only related to people who can offload at home onto WiFi but refuse to. So if Sprint has to buy spectrum and add carriers due to the burdens caused by these people, it is going to cause more costs and our prices are going to rise to pay for all this additional work you claim Sprint needs to accommodate these wasters/abusers.

 

I got a better idea. Instead of Sprint spending all kinds of money and resources upgrading carriers earlier and buying more spectrum, why don't you guys offload onto redundant WiFi in your homes? That way, when Sprint needs to upgrade for actual mobile usage, they may have the resources to do so without raising rates and/or scrapping unlimited. Now there's a novel idea.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[S4GRU]

When Sprint gives me terrible customer service on the phone' date=' I turn on the TV app, connect to the sprint network, and " enjoy".

 

Petty? Yes.

 

But theres really not much recourse for abysmal customer service.

 

You know what they say about hitting them where it hurts.[/quote']

 

That's just plain idiotic. If you get to the point where you are so mad that you're going to act like a child, you should switch carriers. Seriously.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[jamesinclair]

That's just plain idiotic. If you get to the point where you are so mad that you're going to act like a child, you should switch carriers. Seriously.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

 

Why is that? Is expecting decent customer service some kind of entitlement?

 

You know the sprint bill is supposed to cover more than spectrum use right? Youre paying for a good experience. Sprint hasnt exactly been on top of that in my personal experience. Being lied to multiple times isnt fun, and if Sprint has no mechanism in place to control that, what else am I supposed to do beside cost them a few extra dollars?

 

And you should probably know that one cant simply switch carriers due to that whole contract thing.

[S4GRU]

 

Why is that? Is expecting decent customer service some kind of entitlement?

 

You know the sprint bill is supposed to cover more than spectrum use right? Youre paying for a good experience. Sprint hasnt exactly been on top of that in my personal experience. Being lied to multiple times isnt fun' date=' and if Sprint has no mechanism in place to control that, what else am I supposed to do beside cost them a few extra dollars?

 

And you should probably know that one cant simply switch carriers due to that whole contract thing.[/quote']

 

Who said anything about entitlement or quality service? I'm saying it is stupid to run Sprint TV as some sort of revenge. I can't believe you would admit to that publicly. I'm flabbergasted.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[jamesinclair]

Who said anything about entitlement or quality service? I'm saying it is stupid to run Sprint TV as some sort of revenge. I can't believe you would admit to that publicly. I'm flabbergasted.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

 

I'm open to any suggestions for a better way to express to sprint my displeasure in a way that theyll notice. Again, most companies pay special attention to activities which disrupt their bottom line. Let me rephrase that. No one at sprint is going to say " oh man, user 8674632 is gobbling our 4Gs, something must be up, possibly directly related to this call he made" but I take it you know what Im getting at.

 

Look, Ive worked at a call center. I know that any calls concerning complaints of previous poor service go absolutely nowhere. There is no mechanism in place between corporate and call center feedback. So suggesting I " speak to sprint" about that problem will lead to less places than speaking to them about my initial problems in the first place.

 

My technique hits sprint directly. And again, its not like im blasting sprint tv 24/7. Just after a particularly poor experience.

[S4GRU]

 

I'm open to any suggestions for a better way to express to sprint my displeasure in a way that theyll notice. Again' date=' most companies pay special attention to activities which disrupt their bottom line.

 

Look, Ive worked at a call center. I know that any calls concerning complaints of previous poor service go absolutely nowhere. There is no mechanism in place between corporate and call center feedback. So suggesting I " speak to sprint" about that problem will lead to less places than speaking to them about my initial problems in the first place.

 

My technique hits sprint directly. And again, its not like im blasting sprint tv 24/7. Just after a particularly poor experience.[/quote']

 

You say that calling Sprint has zero effect. Fine. I would argue your method has zero effect as well.

 

In the point of this thread, we are talking about the aggregate effect of many users per sector refusing to offload. That's something that does have a net impact on the network. However, you are talking about an activity that only one person does...run Sprint TV as a disciplinary measure. So, keep doing your thing. I think it may cost Sprint a few dollars per year. And the net impact to Sprint would not even be noticed. Just like the phone call.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[jamesinclair]

I thought it was relevant because naturally, I have wifi at home. I am making the choice to use sprints network. As I said, its a small amount of money, but its money.

 

To be honest, calling sprint also costs them money (something like $3 a call Id wager) but that would involve me wasting my time and sanity.

 

Naturally, Id prefer that sprint actually deal with their poor customer service as that would be an optimal solution for everyone.

 

Mind you, as you mentioned "However, you are talking about an activity that only one person does...run Sprint TV as a disciplinary measure." Id bet it would be easy enough to organize some sort of " show sprint how much you dislike their poor customer service by running sprint tv for an hour - day" I would think that would have an appreciable effect if they actually saw a spike in their system usage, even more so if it negatively impacted network performance.

[S4GRU]

Mind you' date=' as you mentioned "However, you are talking about an activity that only one person does...run Sprint TV as a disciplinary measure." Id bet it would be easy enough to organize some sort of " show sprint how much you dislike their poor customer service by running sprint tv for an hour - day" I would think that would have an appreciable effect if they actually saw a spike in their system usage, even more so if it negatively impacted network performance.[/quote']

 

Although I do not advocate something like this, at least this would actually be punitive to Sprint.

 

I think Sprint has great customer service. As a former AT&T customer, I know what poor customer service is. Sprint gets high marks for their customer service.

 

What Sprint doesn't gets good marks is the quality of their network. And Sprint is doing everything it can with Network Vision about that.

 

What is your customer service issue with Sprint that has you all riled up?

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[jamesinclair]

Although I do not advocate something like this, at least this would actually be punitive to Sprint.

 

I think Sprint has great customer service. As a former AT&T customer, I know what poor customer service is. Sprint gets high marks for their customer service.

 

What Sprint doesn't gets good marks is the quality of their network. And Sprint is doing everything it can with Network Vision about that.

 

What is your customer service issue with Sprint that has you all riled up?

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

 

I actually was an AT&t customer (cingular) for 6 years before finally switching over. Honestly, I was an idiot for staying with them so long. My issue with them were the constant (CONSTANT) dropped called. Doesnt matter the phone, or the location, every call would drop. Im not even joking when I say every call. If the call went over 10 minutes, it would at some point drop.

 

When looking to switch, we picked sprint due to cost and unlimited data which verizon was no longer offering (most friends suggested verizon).

 

Ive had three distinct issues with sprint this year, and every time the reps seems to operate the same exact way: push it off to someone else. The idea of resolving the issue in one call/visit seems to be foreign to sprint. It was always " wait three days and if the problem continues call back" or " visit the store" or " call these people" and so on and so forth. Not one person would step up to resolve an issue. Naturally "Ill call you back" is mostly a lie (one exception was a rep from their global team).

 

The one other exception was the airwave/retention team which was extremely fast and efficient. From that, you can guess what one of the issues was (as of may, service became intermittent at the billing address, it was rock solid before). Not one sprint store or phone rep ever recommended that solution - it was something I found online (which I believe led me to this forum). I was lied to by maybe 5 different reps. The lies, Im sure, work wonders on most customers. Someone who understands NV thanks to this website (and understand the proper timelines)....not so much.

 

Most recent incident concerned the abysmal android update on my epic 4g touch. I wrote about that on the samsung page on this forum. For some of my issues, I didnt even bother contacting sprint, as the web was packed to the brim with people complaining of the same issue with no resolution. Naturally, no phone rep can fix a software issue like that, so why even bother trying,

 

Did have another issue where the update possibly may have damaged my battery. That, sprint could resolve, by replacing the battery. Phone reps, naturally, insisted I waste my time at a store, where I would be told it would cost $35 for a replacement battery. So much for warranty. It took about an hour and five reps to get that issue resolved, an each and every rep spent half the time doing their best to pass me off to someone else or to have me visit the store or call back at another date.

 

At this point, I beliee the sprint customer service script is as follows:

"I have an issue"

" have you tried turning it on or off?"

"yes"

"Ok, please wait three days and see if that helps, or visit your local store and they can troubleshoot further"

-local store will advise to come back in three days after performing a prl update,

 

 

In case youre curious, at Verizon, the call would have gone as follows:

" My battery is no longer charging"

"Im sorry to hear that, have you tired a different charger?"

"yes"

"Have you installed any apps recently/"

" no"

"Looks like youre under the 1 year warranty. Has your phone any physical or water damage?"

"no"

"Ok, please hold while I get tech to issue a replacement battery with fedex 2 day shipping, let me confirm your address. If the battery does not resolve the issue than its probably the phone, and we can replace that for free as youre well under your standard one year warranty. Have I resolved your concerns today?"

"yes"

 

 

 

Mind you, I am generally happy with the sprint network, it is worlds above AT&T*. One exception was at billing address which was perfect for 6 months before it crapped out. The airwave solved that.

 

*In voice/text, never had data with AT&T. This is the case in many markets, as I travel alot.

[pyroscott]

 

I actually was an AT&t customer (cingular) for 6 years before finally switching over. Honestly' date=' I was an idiot for staying with them so long. My issue with them were the constant (CONSTANT) dropped called. Doesnt matter the phone, or the location, every call would drop. Im not even joking when I say every call. If the call went over 10 minutes, it would at some point drop.

 

When looking to switch, we picked sprint due to cost and unlimited data which verizon was no longer offering (most friends suggested verizon).

 

Ive had three distinct issues with sprint this year, and every time the reps seems to operate the same exact way: push it off to someone else. The idea of resolving the issue in one call/visit seems to be foreign to sprint. It was always " wait three days and if the problem continues call back" or " visit the store" or " call these people" and so on and so forth. Not one person would step up to resolve an issue. Naturally "Ill call you back" is mostly a lie (one exception was a rep from their global team).

 

The one other exception was the airwave/retention team which was extremely fast and efficient. From that, you can guess what one of the issues was (as of may, service became intermittent at the billing address, it was rock solid before). Not one sprint store or phone rep ever recommended that solution - it was something I found online (which I believe led me to this forum). I was lied to by maybe 5 different reps. The lies, Im sure, work wonders on most customers. Someone who understands NV thanks to this website (and understand the proper timelines)....not so much.

 

Most recent incident concerned the abysmal android update on my epic 4g touch. I wrote about that on the samsung page on this forum. For some of my issues, I didnt even bother contacting sprint, as the web was packed to the brim with people complaining of the same issue with no resolution. Naturally, no phone rep can fix a software issue like that, so why even bother trying,

 

Did have another issue where the update possibly may have damaged my battery. That, sprint could resolve, by replacing the battery. Phone reps, naturally, insisted I waste my time at a store, where I would be told it would cost 35 for a replacement battery. So much for warranty. It took about an hour and five reps to get that issue resolved, an each and every rep spent half the time doing their best to pass me off to someone else or to have me visit the store or call back at another date.

 

At this point, I beliee the sprint customer service script is as follows:

"I have an issue"

" have you tried turning it on or off?"

"yes"

"Ok, please wait three days and see if that helps, or visit your local store and they can troubleshoot further"

-local store will advise to come back in three days after performing a prl update,

 

In case youre curious, at Verizon, the call would have gone as follows:

" My battery is no longer charging"

"Im sorry to hear that, have you tired a different charger?"

"yes"

"Have you installed any apps recently/"

" no"

"Looks like youre under the 1 year warranty. Has your phone any physical or water damage?"

"no"

"Ok, please hold while I get tech to issue a replacement battery with fedex 2 day shipping, let me confirm your address. If the battery does not resolve the issue than its probably the phone, and we can replace that for free as youre well under your standard one year warranty. Have I resolved your concerns today?"

"yes"

 

Mind you, I am generally happy with the sprint network, it is worlds above AT&T*. One exception was at billing address which was perfect for 6 months before it crapped out. The airwave solved that.

 

*In voice/text, never had data with AT&T. This is the case in many markets, as I travel alot.[/quote']

 

HA! You've obviously never had to call Verizon's customer service or go to one of their stores. Sprint whips Verizon customer service most of the time.

 

Verizon is arrogant and pretty much challenges you to leave if you have any kind of problem.

 

I'd take Sprint customer service over Verizon any day.

[JeffDTD]

Jamesinclair.... when did you purchase the Epic 4G and how many years/months have you had it? Samsung offers a 1 year manufacturers warranty. Good luck convincing them to send you a new battery. Are you paying sprint for monthly insurance? If not, its hit or miss with issues and the $35 fee will always apply, regardless of how minor you believe the issue to be.

 

I owned that phone and despite it having solid build quality, its 1GB of on board storage and 512mb of RAM always caused a clunky android experience for me. It was great 2+ years ago, but its been eclipsed. Now, unless the upgrade bricked your phone, caused it to get caught in a boot cycle, or run too hot for extended periods of time, its likely the battery has simply seen better days. After 12 months of usage, I couldn't get more than 6-8 hours out of the battery no matter how I used it.

 

Neverless, you've found S4GRU.com and I would strongly encourage you to use it and other solid online forums for answers, solutions or feedback about problems that you have. You're free to ask in store reps every question in the book, but they are largely minimum wage paid sales people who very rarely have the background with Sprint that many of us do. They also receive very little education. In a repair store, they may know a little more about troubleshooting. In a sales only store, keep stepping when it comes to anything involving troubleshooting. The front line reps, as you stated, are also the equivalent of a bean counter. They read to you what their knowledge base says and move you along. I know a tiny slither about anything network/spectrum/technology related in comparison to Robert and many of the awesome minds here, but if you treat them respectfully, reserve yourself from ranting, and ask nicely after searching whats already here, they're going to try to help you. Finally, if you ever have a grave Sprint issue that customer service cannot rectify, the online forum world would direct you to contact executive services for a final pitch for a solution. Your network issues may warrant a ticket or they may be upgrading in your area already, if you had good service at one point and no longer do.

 

Also, if your battery on the Epic has seen better days... and it sounds like it has.... plugging it in and streaming anything for any other reason than personal enjoyment is just cycling and further deteriorating that battery.

Here are two $5-$7 solutions, if you don't have an upgrade to use.

 

http://www.amazon.co...+sprint+battery

 

http://www.amazon.co...+sprint+battery

[irev210]

My two cents:

 

When I am at home, I use wifi for two reasons:

 

1) I get faster speeds (about 100mbit on my EVO over wifi)

2) I get better battery life

 

If there was ever a point where I got faster speeds and better battery life on LTE, I would probably use that instead.

 

I don't tether or use my phone for home internet (nor would I if LTE was faster).

[dmchssc]

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