Roaming

[mase31]

Roaming is limited to (1) voice 800 min.or a majority of mintues or (2) data 300 megabytes or a majority of kilobytes.Hopley in the future Sprint will change this and change the plans to unlimited roaming everywhere is the USA.

[jpkjeff]

While I would love to see unlimited roaming, I know that is not a realistic option due to the increased cost. For most people, I feel that allowing 800 minutes of voice roaming and 300MB is a good compromise (although the data limit for roaming IS rather low, especially for someone with a connection card-maybe double that and I think most people would be happy).

If you live/work in an area where you have to constantly roam, then unfortunately Sprint would not be a good fit as your primary cell phone provider, IMO.

[mase31]

While I would love to see unlimited roaming, I know that is not a realistic option due to the increased cost. For most people, I feel that allowing 800 minutes of voice roaming and 300MB is a good compromise (although the data limit for roaming IS rather low, especially for someone with a connection card-maybe double that and I think most people would be happy).

If you live/work in an area where you have to constantly roam, then unfortunately Sprint would not be a good fit as your primary cell phone provider, IMO.

I know thats not going to happen it would be great if it did we know that Sprint got to pay to use someone eles network so i know is not going to happen.

[WiWavelength]

For those who have used or followed Sprint long enough, recall that Sprint plans originally offered no included roaming. Subs could prepay for roaming airtime bundles at reduced rates. Otherwise, all roaming calls were billed per minute (and long distance fees were charged separately). Then, circa 2004, Sprint started offering Free & Clear America plans that included domestic roaming. However, those roaming included plans (which were limited to voice roaming) upped the ante by $10 per month.

 

So, if you want unlimited domestic voice and data roaming, the relevant question is how much more per month would you be willing to pay for it?

 

AJ

[jpkjeff]

Excellent point, WiWavelength.

I remember when I worked for Sprint I would get customers calling in all the time on old legacy plans which had just a flat bundle of minutes (often 1,000 for a flat fee of $35 or $40) but it included no extras AT ALL-no roaming, no mobile to mobile, no nothing-you had those minutes to use but if you roamed you did indeed pay extra: the roaming charge was usually 59 cents per minute then long distance which was usually another 20 cents, so 79 cents per minute total (unless it was a local call, and that was seldom the case).

 

While these plans seemed like a good fit, for most people they really weren't as people came to rely on their cell phones more and more (especially when travelling), so the Free & Clear, then Fair & Flexible (and finally the "Everything" plans) were a better fit for most customers (though not all). I do think there are still cell phone users who seldom travel and use their phone primarily to make calls who would benefit from these old plans, but with the plethora of prepaid offers out there (including Virgin Mobile) a postpaid Sprint plan (or any "Big Four" postpaid plan, for that matter) would be more expensive.

 

If I were to travel alot and my travels took me to areas without native Sprint coverage, I could see Sprint offering an option to "buy" roaming coverage...maybe in blocks of 500 minutes for an extra $10, and perhaps 1GB of data for $20 (although those are just numbers I'm throwing out there).

 

But for people who live and work in an area where they are going to be roaming much of the time, finding a carrier that has good native coverage is essential: you lose so many "extras" (especially on a smartphone) while roaming: I know many here can "hack" their PRL to be able to roam on Verizon or US Cellular's EVDO Rev A network but when I travel to visit relatives in Maine, I'm stuck on 1xRTT Fortunately, that is the only place where I ever have to roam regularly, and that is only 1-2 times per year for 5-6 days.

[S4GRU]

I would like to see Sprint offer a 1GB roaming plan for data, where you pay their cost (with reasonable markup) to use more than 300MB roaming data. Maybe $10 or so. Although if they did that, they would have to stop calling their roaming data unlimited. It kind of ticks me off that my Sprint bill every month says I have unlimited roaming data, when in reality it's limited to 300MB.

 

Of course, if they offered a 1GB roaming data plan, they would then also have to give us back 3G roaming data. Which I doubt they will do any time soon. Keeping us on 1x roaming data reduces cost because it deters us from using roaming data. Although I run the 11115 PRL and get 3G roaming data anyway. But I still have to keep it under 300MB.

[lynyrd65]

I use the 11115 PRL to get EVDO roaming but I always restrict myself to 300mb. Do I need more? As long as my native EVDO is greater than 400kbps, no.

 

If it gets bad again (it has gotten better) and my music streaming skips again then I think Sprint should allow users in this situation to roam more.

 

edit: I use Roam Control to force roam when my native EVDO is unusable.

Edited February 22, 2012 by lynyrd65

[legion125]

Trick question, this whole voice scenario will have to be blown up five years from now when most of the carriers are on VoLTE. It would be sensible if the carriers could hammer out a roaming deal for data now, but we all know that won't happen until the FCC gets involved. With 3 out of 4 carriers and several regionals having LTE by 2013, the majority of the nation will be covered by that footprint with no agreement. This is a train wreck in the making that the FCC will watch happen and say "We should have done something".

[tybo31316]

Do you all know if prl 1115 is compatible with the evo 3d being that its prls start with 21***?

[lynyrd65]

Do you all know if prl 1115 is compatible with the evo 3d being that its prls start with 21***?

 

Until 800mhz CDMA is deployed it shouldn't matter, but Digiblur and WiWavelength would be the better people to ask.

 

PM either of them on here or on Howard Forums and they should be able to hook you up

Edited February 22, 2012 by lynyrd65

[mase31]

For those who have used or followed Sprint long enough, recall that Sprint plans originally offered no included roaming. Subs could prepay for roaming airtime bundles at reduced rates. Otherwise, all roaming calls were billed per minute (and long distance fees were charged separately). Then, circa 2004, Sprint started offering Free & Clear America plans that included domestic roaming. However, those roaming included plans (which were limited to voice roaming) upped the ante by $10 per month.

 

So, if you want unlimited domestic voice and data roaming, the relevant question is how much more per month would you be willing to pay for it?

 

AJ

Well im willing to pay about $150.00 per month for unlimited doestic voice and data roaming per month on the family plans and for the individal plans about $89.99 per month for unlimited domestic voice and data per month on individual plans.