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Why are people so impatient with Sprint?


MacinJosh

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That obviously requires a decent amount of research' date=' but to imply that fears over the future competitive balance of a multi-billion dollar industry ( that you as an individual consumer have absolutely no real control over) should be prioritized over more transparent, immediate factors like service quality, coverage, and price is ridiculous.

[/quote']

 

I prioritize my buying decisions first on market dynamics and competitiveness. I buy local when I can. I buy American when I can. I like to support small businesses over large ones. And companies who wage anti-competitive and market controlling consumer abuses I avoid like the plague.

 

I also give weight to my buying decisions for the other factors you cite. It is possible to have many criteria and prioritize them.

 

And there are millions of people like me. And I guess we may seem ridiculous to you. But if there weren't idealistic consumers like us out there, then there would be less consumer choice in almost all market segments.

 

I personally think that throwing your money out into a corporate void and hoping your buying decisions do not have long term negative consequences is ridiculous.

 

As an individual consumer' date=' almost all of that is beyond your control.[/quote']

 

Individual consumer decisions work in aggregate. Everyone of our choices lumps us into one group or another. And all of our decisions in aggregate impact business and competition

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

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I can tell u was hakf sleep with this comment haha first off a cell carrier has NO basis on a person status and personal life i had 3 of the big four conpanies att sucks in certain homes and capped data verizon is fast and dependable but shared and capped data NO THANKS Sprint is working for me and my wallet for the past 8 months

 

Sent from my White Epic 4g Touch using Tapatalk 2

 

 

With your statement, you prove yourself to be part of the rational portion of sprints customer base who appreciate sprints value proposition and temper its shortcomings with reasonable patience.

 

My statement is not an attempt to make a broad generalization of an entire customer base. However, Do you think its just a coincidence that many of the most vocal sprint haters flee for tmobile?

 

Further, ive noticed a phenomenon over the years that i believe is noteworthy: many users are less likely to complain about a more expensive/better perceived service, regardless of the flaws they experience, than a service for which they pay less and has a lower brand perception. I have countless experiences of talking to verizon users in my area that drop calls, have phone issues, and slow data or hiccups. Yet none of them want to leave verizon. Part of that is perception of it being "the best" , but i believe that part of that relates to a consumers desire to appear satisfied with a product that costs them a significantly higher amount vs.a less expensive product. Side example: who is more likely to complain about their vehicle experience: a jag owner or a hyundai owner? Which one is more more reliable?

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With your statement, you prove yourself to be part of the rational portion of sprints customer base who appreciate sprints value proposition and temper its shortcomings with reasonable patience.

 

My statement is not an attempt to make a broad generalization of an entire customer base. However, Do you think its just a coincidence that many of the most vocal sprint haters flee for tmobile?

 

Further, ive noticed a phenomenon over the years that i believe is noteworthy: many users are less likely to complain about a more expensive/better perceived service, regardless of the flaws they experience, than a service for which they pay less and has a lower brand perception. I have countless experiences of talking to verizon users in my area that drop calls, have phone issues, and slow data or hiccups. Yet none of them want to leave verizon. Part of that is perception of it being "the best" , but i believe that part of that relates to a consumers desire to appear satisfied with a product that costs them a significantly higher amount vs.a less expensive product. Side example: who is more likely to complain about their vehicle experience: a jag owner or a hyundai owner? Which one is more more reliable?

 

When I started having dropped calls on Verizon, I started getting annoyed with them, and a few months later, I jumped back onto at&t. And I stayed with at&t until I ported to Sprint in early 2011. Couldn't be happier. So far my only dropped calls on Sprint have been from areas where my 1x signal is -115dBm or worse. Otherwise it has been the best. I wouldn't join a carrier because they claim to be the best. Those Verizon users have been deceived by numbers.

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Keep in mind that consumers often don't care at all and would rather be misinformed much of the time. Sometimes even when giving them the correct information they don't wanna hear it. Also not a whole lot of people like doing their homework...

 

I think a lot of this is because people like to be led. They like some one telling them what do do, and they like being apart of the in crowd. They also like to follow people that sound smart or look good regardless of rather than they are smart or not.

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I prioritize my buying decisions first on market dynamics and competitiveness. I buy local when I can. I buy American when I can. I like to support small businesses over large ones. And companies who wage anti-competitive and market controlling consumer abuses I avoid like the plague.

 

I also give weight to my buying decisions for the other factors you cite. It is possible to have many criteria and prioritize them.

 

And there are millions of people like me. And I guess we may seem ridiculous to you. But if there weren't idealistic consumers like us out there, then there would be less consumer choice in almost all market segments.

 

I personally think that throwing your money out into a corporate void and hoping your buying decisions do not have long term negative consequences is ridiculous.

 

 

 

Individual consumer decisions work in aggregate. Everyone of our choices lumps us into one group or another. And all of our decisions in aggregate impact business and competition

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

 

 

 

I'll support family owned businesses over chains and avoid doing business with a corporation that engages in obvious anti-consumer practices, because obviously, you're at a relatively high risk of being victimized if you deal with them.

 

But all large public corporations are essentially amoral entities that are legally required to put the interests of the shareholders over everything else, including customers and employees. Sprint and T-mobile behave like companies relative to their market position, they need to attract and retain existing customers so they offer favorable pricing and have consumer friendly policies. AT&T and Verizon operate relative to their dominant market position and have management that is convinced that they've maxed out in terms of potential customers, so they're focused on raising average revenue per user and in order to increase revenue they engage in practices that many people view as unfriendly, abusive "nickel and diming" etc.

 

I have no doubt that if market positions were reversed T-Mobile and Sprint would act more like AT&T and Verizon. And if a revitalized Sprint and T-mobile start to place serious competitive pressure on the big two and they start to face an exodus of subscribers, most of the consumer unfriendly practices that AT&T and Verizon are becoming known for would be discontinued.

 

I view consumer decision-making as reactive to the quality and nature of the products and services offered, its also the burden of the business to engage the consumer by informing and marketing to them. Sprint shouldn't just be touting unlimited and hoping that drives people through the door, they should be making a huge deal about voice quality relative to the GSM providers and should stress that their coverage is just as good as Verizon to the segment that travels a lot due to the various roaming agreements they have in place.

 

And also, the decision of a huge international player like SoftBank to invest in the US industry is going to do far more to affect market dynamics than anything else.

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I'll support family owned businesses over chains and avoid doing business with a corporation that engages in obvious anti-consumer practices' date=' because obviously, you're at a relatively high risk of being victimized if you deal with them.

 

But all large public corporations are essentially amoral entities that are legally required to put the interests of the shareholders over everything else, including customers and employees. Sprint and T-mobile behave like companies relative to their market position, they need to attract and retain existing customers so they offer favorable pricing and have consumer friendly policies. AT&T and Verizon operate relative to their dominant market position and have management that is convinced that they've maxed out in terms of potential customers, so they're focused on raising average revenue per user and in order to increase revenue they engage in practices that many people view as unfriendly, abusive "nickel and diming" etc.

 

I have no doubt that if market positions were reversed T-Mobile and Sprint would act more like AT&T and Verizon. And if a revitalized Sprint and T-mobile start to place serious competitive pressure on the big two and they start to face an exodus of subscribers, most of the consumer unfriendly practices that AT&T and Verizon are becoming known for would be discontinued.

 

I view consumer decision-making as reactive to the quality and nature of the products and services offered, its also the burden of the business to engage the consumer by informing and marketing to them. Sprint shouldn't just be touting unlimited and hoping that drives people through the door, they should be making a huge deal about voice quality relative to the GSM providers and should stress that their coverage is just as good as Verizon to the segment that travels a lot due to the various roaming agreements they have in place.

 

And also, the decision of a huge international player like SoftBank to invest in the US industry is going to do far more to affect market dynamics than anything else.[/quote']

 

I don't understand your point. Small business owners would act like VZW and ATT also if they were that large. But they aren't that large. If and when Sprint is so large that it becomes anticompetitive and bullies everyone, i would likely reject them and find a new home for my wireless service.

 

Robert via Moto Photon Q using Forum Runner

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I don't understand your point. Small business owners would act like VZW and ATT also if they were that large. But they aren't that large. If and when Sprint is so large that it becomes anticompetitive and bullies everyone, i would likely reject them and find a new home for my wireless service.

 

Robert via Moto Photon Q using Forum Runner

 

My point is that privately owned and operated businesses, whether sole proprietorships operated by a single person or a large company with 10,000 employees have the freedom to operate according to the wishes and priorities of their owners. The way that they operate are a true reflection of the ethics, beliefs, and agendas of the people that run them. So its possible to have a real reciprocal loyalty, whether person to person in the case of an individual customer and a local small business or between an entire community and a larger company. Ownership has the ethical capacity and freedom to make the needs of their customers and the well-being of their employees a real priority, instead of just trying to maximize profits at all cost.

 

On the other-hand, public corporations are essentially sociopathic in nature, because the people that are hired to run them are legally bound to pursue a profits-first agenda ahead of anything and everything else and to not do so is actually considered a form of shareholder fraud. For example, if a CEO was hired to run any large public company and he decided to pursue a serious, egalitarian public service agenda and prioritize that along with the pursuit of profits OR if he showed more loyalty to his employees than his stockholders and decided to keep as many people employed in a bad economy as possible, instead of just cutting as many loose as he needed to in order to minimize losses, he could be fired and open to numerous civil and criminal penalties.

 

So there is this huge inherent difference between private businesses and public companies, and the type and scope of behavior that they can engage in and its not just due to their size. Basically, all public corporations are the same and have the same sort of constraints on their behavior and follow a similar agenda, so there's no point in being especially loyal to any of them and don't expect any real sense of loyalty or sincerity from them in return.

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There's a lot of sprint haters in xda even in the sprint forums. It kind of makes me angry that people still spew anti-sprint posts and have already moved onto Verizon. I guess whatever they can do to justify their monthly payments, eh?

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I started with Sprint circa 1998 (ish) with a single band Denso Touchpoint. There was no included roaming anyway back then and not a lot of towers. Talk about needing patience.

 

I can remember being in Vegas and having to pay .15 a minute for long distance but there was no roaming fees for simply being out of your home market.

 

Sent using Tapatalk

 

 

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I started with Sprint circa 1998 (ish) with a single band Denso Touchpoint. There was no included roaming anyway back then and not a lot of towers. Talk about needing patience.

 

I can remember being in Vegas and having to pay .15 a minute for long distance but there was no roaming fees for simply being out of your home market.

 

Sounds good. Smartphones have caused a lot of problems. I am ready to go back to those halcyon days of the late 1990s. Of course, it would not hurt that I would also be 21 years old again.

 

AJ

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Wow, I'm currently going through the same issues. Since October 1st , I can't make/receive calls or txts in certain areas of NYC. First they said there were outages by me and now it's these upgrades causing all these issues. Someone at OKC finally told me the truth and said these upgrades in my areas are not going to get done until Nov-Dec. I wen't to a Sprint store as instructed by them as a last resort, because they said it was my device! I knew it wasn't my device, but went ahead anyways and the tech clearly said there's nothing wrong with my phone. All we want is the truth, not the back and forth game they continue to play. Every one you speak with at OKC have been trained to respond to customers the same way and in the end don't have a solution. The word "Escalate" doesn't do crap to get your issue fixed. We have to sit and wait on them until they get it right! See you next year!

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What is OKC?

 

And here I thought it only was the airport code for Will Rogers World Airport?

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

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And here I thought it only was the airport code for Will Rogers World Airport?

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

 

It's always been Oklahoma City for me, but I have no clue in the previous posters context.

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OKC is likely in reference to OKC Queue Control probably. That is where the network teams that handle all Network CTMS tickets are based.

 

These are the guys who contact you back within 720 hours after filing a network ticket usually. They are the ones capable of fixing the bizarre issues that aren't directly device or account related. Issues that potentially affect entire Markets before a tower is reported down, etc. Bizarre things like when you can't text a specific person but both your phone and theirs work getting messages from everyone else. Those kinds of things. The bizarre or large problems that a regular tech support or store rep doesn't have the tools or training for.

 

They have the most access to the network infrastructure stuff while still being customer-facing in some regards.

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When you don't receive phone calls/texts and data speeds are literally 0.00 Mbps (on both 3G & "o"), it's ridiculous, I can understand why some are getting impatient. I'm a very patient person but I'm annoyed.

 

I'm just eager for Network Vision to hit the towers near me. I don't have LTE to look forward to, but I'm hoping the improvements can hold me over until next Fall when I get an LTE phone (most likely the next iPhone). I don't know if I can take another year of this service, it feels like my iPhone 4S is running on the same network my Samsung SPH-A660 (my 1st phone) was running on back in 2005....which sucks because it has 7543389 more features lol.

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  • 3 months later...

I joined this forum specifically because of this thread. Here is why I am impatient with Sprint:

 

I have been using Verizon for years but their data plans and customer service were extremely lacking. I ported to Sprint and thought Unlimited Data, good price. cool. I do get reception everywhere I need by activating all of the Roaming features BUT I get notifications, literally around 100 a day that I am losing Data Connectivity while I am connected to WiFi. You can do a search around the internet for HOURS trying to find a way to stop these notifications on my $650 Note 2 but you can't! I even rooted hoping it might make these notifications go away because I would LOVE to not go crawling to another company. I can't get reception here on Enterprise Way in Sunnyvale, Ca in my office. Surely this must be some hidden ghetto corner of the US but what could I literally throw a rock from my office building to around here? Microsoft, Rambus, Motorola, Comcast, NASA's Moffett Field even! I'm in the heart of the Silicon Valley and I can't get reception. Sprint's only answer for me has been: Turn off roaming and it won't bug you. So I'm not allowed to have reception? Good answer guys. Data Guard is disabled and it still bugs.

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I can't get reception here on Enterprise Way in Sunnyvale, Ca in my office.

 

The reason is relatively simple. No wireless carrier guarantees indoor coverage -- unless DAS has been set up to address indoor coverage/capacity within a specific building.

 

Otherwise, because of metallic construction, Low-E glass, high rises, basements, etc., it is nary impossible for a wireless carrier to project and ensure indoor coverage. Any indoor coverage -- short of the aforementioned DAS -- is largely a happy accident, not an intentional result. And it does not matter if you are smack dab in the heart of Silicon Valley or in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

 

Now, if you are inside your own office, you should have other connectivity options besides cellular. If you absolutely need cellular, then you should find a carrier that -- by happy accident -- just so happens to provide coverage in your office

 

AJ

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I was with sprint for so long I cant even remember when I started 15 years?. I Waited. I waited through no reception in my house (I Bought and installed a repeater in my house so I could keep the service). I waited lived with dropped calls on the my street. This Still happens after years. (No I did not make a pest of myself, but I did report them). I was OK with the service when others had service when I didn't. (This bothered me we I was a leader on Scout outings though). I really wanted to stay with Sprint. I was excited when they started 4G... and I waited and waited and waited for it to deploy in my area. I made myself a promise I would not get a new phone (and pay the Premium data fee) until 4G was in our area. Clearwire started to show up WiMax was comming!Then they changed directions to LTE. OK I said after reading about the reasons. Sprint is trying to go in a direction they thing will serve us better! Now other carriers had LTE already in the area. So I waited and my area was on the 2nd tier list. I read and realized that Sprint wouldn't have their network fleshed out in my area until 2014. Do I wait 2 more years? My some is going to college next year... Word I am getting is Big Red has better coverage on the campuses he is looking at. So Then I got a tablet. I wanted to evaluate Android OS. I Liked it, but it likes a network connection (Not all apps, but many of the cooler ones need a connection). I connected my tablet to 4G and found it was almost everywhere. So I could wait for fast data speeds (3g sprint speeds in my area were below 100kbps in my experience) or I could let Sprint catch up to the other carriers. I decided to do the latter. I am not anti-Sprint. I am not upset with them. I waited years for the cool stuff, I just did not want to wait more years. I don't think that Sprint 4G will be really good in my area until 800Mhz is rolled out and the kinks are worked out. I will likely be back. I wanted a new phone and needed it to be on a 4G network. Sprint didn't have that here yet. Once they do, I will look at returning.

I'm going to go out on a limb here. In my experience, the Chesapeake area has very good coverage. If you were having signal issues then you were probably on a fringe area. In that case this will be solved by NV(theoretically at

least). We will keep the porch light on for you :tu:

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I'm going to go out on a limb here. In my experience, the Chesapeake area has very good coverage. :

 

We are a funny bunch. We expect Sprint to match Verizon/AT&T with coverage, data speeds etc but of course not its tiered data allowances or its pricing.

 

 

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We are a funny bunch. We expect Sprint to match Verizon/AT&T with coverage, data speeds etc but of course not its tiered data allowances or its pricing.

 

 

Sent using Tapatalk

 

I think the truth is, we know upgrades are coming, and there are real world examples of how service have improved in the implementation of NV. Simple as that.

 

Once the upgrades are there, things will be better. Wait now, or leave and come back.

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I joined this forum specifically because of this thread. Here is why I am impatient with Sprint... I do get reception everywhere I need by activating all of the Roaming features BUT I get notifications, literally around 100 a day that I am losing Data Connectivity while I am connected to WiFi. You can do a search around the internet for HOURS trying to find a way to stop these notifications on my $650 Note 2 but you can't! I even rooted hoping it might make these notifications go away because I would LOVE to not go crawling to another company.

That's an issue with Samsung's implementation of Android, not Sprint.

 

Additionally, you said you're rooted... have you tried any custom ROMs? That sounds like something that's likely fixed by the community.

 

That being said, I also have the Note II, and had the same issue. I've switched to Paranoid Android and never looked back. But I love AOSP-based things, which are not for everyone.

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That's an issue with Samsung's implementation of Android, not Sprint.

 

I've switched to Paranoid Android and never looked back. But I love AOSP-based things, which are not for everyone.

 

I haven't found a single complaint for this issue on any other carrier while searxhing for a fix. (How I found this thread)

 

How do you have Paranoid Android when it sounds like it isn't released for the Note 2 yet according to everything find on their site...

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I haven't found a single complaint for this issue on any other carrier while searxhing for a fix. (How I found this thread)

Oh? Interesting. Haven't used a Note II on any other carrier. Either way, it's Samsung who makes the software, and they fit to Sprint's specifications, so the blame does lie in both... but mostly Sammy.

 

How do you have Paranoid Android when it sounds like it isn't released for the Note 2 yet according to everything find on their site...

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2049853

here you go~

A couple minor bugs, but it's been my daily driver for a while now.

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Still got bugged with notifications even with that ROM after I was sitting there for less than 10 minutes starting to get all of my apps on it. :..( Luckily made a backup. (Would have posted screenshot but the button and power button combo doesn't take screenshots with that ROM)

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