Sprint removable SIM likelihood

[chamb]

How often is that an issue with the SIM simply being dirty and not bad? We see it fairly often in my S&R location with iPhone's coming in with "No SIM" errors. We take the card out, clean the contacts with some denatured alcohol, pop it back in, and voila! it works. I'm 99% certain that many retail reps don't bother to take the time to triage issues, and those in S&R locations are at an advantage in that regard with the techs. Even then though I know from experience in the IT side of businesses (Not just Sprint), many that work in IT have no place being there, the vast majority have the credentials and such, but many do not have any simple common sense. Others don't even have the credentials or the will to learn and are a lost cause.

 

Well Said halcyoncmdr. You nailed it good. It is sad that we have very few good technicians anymore and very few who have the common sense to even think about an issue rather than just give a canned answer.

[kg4icg]

How often is that an issue with the SIM simply being dirty and not bad? We see it fairly often in my S&R location with iPhone's coming in with "No SIM" errors. We take the card out, clean the contacts with some denatured alcohol, pop it back in, and voila! it works. I'm 99% certain that many retail reps don't bother to take the time to triage issues, and those in S&R locations are at an advantage in that regard with the techs. Even then though I know from experience in the IT side of businesses (Not just Sprint), many that work in IT have no place being there, the vast majority have the credentials and such, but many do not have any simple common sense. Others don't even have the credentials or the will to learn and are a lost cause.

You do know the difference between a SIM error which is what you are describing and a SIM failure don't ya?

[halcyoncmdr]

You do know the difference between a SIM error which is what you are describing and a SIM failure don't ya?

 

Yes, but both manifest nearly identical symptoms. Both are easy to check for. One involves cleaning the other involves replacement. The simple fact is that the number of SIM failures at this point are going to be very small in comparison to the number of simply bad or dirty SIM connections. I don't know how many iPhones that have given SIM errors I've fixed by simply popping the card out and back in. A simple SIM re-seat does wonders in many instances, something that the average custoemr doesn't even consider for some reason. Same thing goes for SD card issues as well.

[twospirits]

Its interesting reading the subplot of this thread, I first got wind of Sero with HowardForums and even created their wiki on the steps to aquiring it. It was well known that Russ McGuire officially gave the go ahead for anyone to use the plan. I would have stayed with it but just had to get the EVO 4G and I couldn't stay with Sero with that phone at the time.

 

anyway, as for the topic at hand, I gave up my EVO 4G for the Photon 4G specifically for the SIM and world capability of the device. I thought at the time that Sprint is finally using SIMs for world access and thought all future devices would be like this. But when the update for the Photon came out with an embedded SIM I was disappointed. With the Note II I also was excited but alas it was short lived since the Sprint version is also embedded.

 

Hopefully in the future Sprint allow manufacturers to make a SIM removable and be a true world phone (at least in the higher end models) that I can use both domestically as well as internationally without having to pay the huge charges. Hopefully it will be in the Note series). Removing the sim and putting in another country's sim card (and using an app like tweakker to set up the global APNs) would be awesome when I'm traveling overseas without having to get a temp phone.

 

TS out

[WiWavelength]

Whatever happened to everyone's BFF Russ McGuire? Does he still work for Sprint? Or is he resting in a cubic yard of cement at the bottom of Chesapeake Bay? Or is he like Keyser Söze?

 

 

AJ

[xcharles718]

Whatever happened to everyone's BFF Russ McGuire? Does he still work for Sprint? Or is he resting in a cubic yard of cement at the bottom of Chesapeake Bay? Or is he like Keyser Söze?

 

AJ

From looking at his blog, yes.

He's also alive.

http://mcguireslaw.com/

[gangrene]

What's the advantage of removable SIM cards? Besides a "bring your own phone to Sprint", which only really works for devices made for Sprint anyways... I can't say I get it.

 

You don't see the advantage of being able to take your device overseas, pop in a local pre-paid sim while on vacation or business?

 

Instead of having to buy a phone specifically for your trip OR getting bet over on international roaming/data charges? thats ridiculous.

Edited January 2, 2013 by gangrene

[gangrene]

I will stand up and applaud the day that Sprint terminates SERO plans or requires them to be converted to current subscriber plans. That Sprint seemingly looks the other way while some cheat the system through a loophole is one of the most distasteful things about Sprint. I hope that Sprint's improving position will soon give it the strength to tell the SERO crowd to get fully on board or go elsewhere.

 

AJ

 

So you want Sprint to turn its back on thousands of loyal customers that helped sustain it through a very dark period in its history?

 

Preferential rates and grandfathering are generally a reward for long term customer loyalty in all sorts of different industries, nobody is being cheated and nobody is cheating. Sprint decided to offer plans at those rates and customers decided to sign up, its as simple as that. Sprint decided to open it up and allow access to SERO plans to everyone with a referral code in an effort to attract more customers, while retaining their savviest ones and they had every right to do so,

 

Are bulk customers, (large corporate customers with hundreds of lines) who pay nowhere near what an individual pays for a normal plan w/ unlimited data cheating? lmao.

Edited January 2, 2013 by gangrene

[kg4icg]

_{SERO was abused big time and still is today. It was really for Sprint Employees and there family members and it went way out of control. Oh by the way, My discount because I work with FedEx brings me no where what a SERO customer pays per month. My discount is 23%.}

[S4GRU]

I don't think SERO will be kept much longer after NV is complete. I think SoftBank will be going through and changing the plan structure. It will likely become even more competitive, but they will likely get rid of these old programs like SERO. That's my guess.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

 

[digiblur]

I don't think SERO will be kept much longer after NV is complete. I think SoftBank will be going through and changing the plan structure. It will likely become even more competitive, but they will likely get rid of these old programs like SERO. That's my guess.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

That will put them right in line with the other guys which will kill off the last remaining holdouts in some markets such as myself. Really makes no sense to hang around in this area if I could pay a few dollars more a month to get more coverage. The network cost to customer revenue ratio will get worse causing the cellular network "rut" to get deeper. They've been struggling to pull themselves out of it here for a while.

[newboyx]

 

That will put them right in line with the other guys which will kill off the last remaining holdouts in some markets such as myself. Really makes no sense to hang around in this area if I could pay a few dollars more a month to get more coverage. The network cost to customer revenue ratio will get worse causing the cellular network "rut" to get deeper. They've been struggling to pull themselves out of it here for a while.

I think that is why they are waiting until after NV to make any changes to plans.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[S4GRU]

 

That will put them right in line with the other guys which will kill off the last remaining holdouts in some markets such as myself. Really makes no sense to hang around in this area if I could pay a few dollars more a month to get more coverage. The network cost to customer revenue ratio will get worse causing the cellular network "rut" to get deeper. They've been struggling to pull themselves out of it here for a while.

 

So if they make the mainstream plans more competitive and less expensive than they are now, you will leave because the new plans are not called SERO??? The mutli-line everything plans are not much more expensive than SERO-P now. Any reduction in mainstream plan costs would bring it inline. You SERO customers really confound me if you don't want an equally good plan.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

[Feech]

Sero. Wow. I actually gave it up to get a EVO4G, but I read somewhere that they could add it back to your account if you had it previously. I called and they added it back. Last year around Christmas I was upgrading my son's phone as a gift. It turned into a nightmare because I was on SERO. As a result I lost out on the discount for the phone and ended up paying the contract price instead of the sale price. Guess what the rep offered me as a sorry? A new SERO line. This was just a year ago. I took it of course. We could start a whole SERO thread about pros and cons but I will say that I would never have stayed with Sprint as long as I have if not for that. I can say too that if Sprint were to start competing with Verizon and AT&T as far as pricing it would open me up to looking at other carriers. Sprint is coming along well with LTE but how long are they away from in building penetration which is really what I need more than anything. More that 20Mbs dl I need it to work where I am.

 

Oh and I +1 sim cards

[Feech]

One more SERO thought. We can all assume that SERO is not profitable or being abused. The problem with that is we have no idea how many customers have it so we have no idea how much it's moving the needle one way or another. It would be safe to say I think though that it's less than 1% of current customers enrolled and likely customers with multiple lines too. SERO is not that less expensive than current offerings from Sprint. Not sure how much a difference maker it is.

[S4GRU]

I expect Softbank to mix up Sprint's current pricing structure. None of our current plans may be safe. But it may not be a bad thing at all. I think Softbank will be willing to take a hit in revenues to make Sprint an even harder to resist choice than the duopoly. In doing so, they probably will get rid of all Legacy plans. And Softbank can afford to take a hit on margins in the short-term. Japanese investors invest much longer term than us Americans. Americans want a return on their investment every 2-3 years, or we count it as a failure.

 

But if the new plans are roughly equitable to SERO costs now, I don't understand the hysteria. Even if it is a small cost increase, say $5 per month per line on SERO plans, it is probably worth that to be treated like all other customers for upgrades, etc.

 

All of us should expect plan changes in the next couple years. But Softbank is going to do things that will make them more palatable to consumers, not less.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

[digiblur]

So if they make the mainstream plans more competitive and less expensive than they are now, you will leave because the new plans are not called SERO??? The mutli-line everything plans are not much more expensive than SERO-P now. Any reduction in mainstream plan costs would bring it inline. You SERO customers really confound me if you don't want an equally good plan.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

I guess we aren't on the same page. I can care less if they call it the pink rainbow plan. I'm not cell racist at all, functioning phone to price ratio for me is key. Right now I'm saving probably around $30 over the regular plans. Last time I priced things I was saving about $50 a month or so over the competition. If that was removed making the gap about $20 or even less since they upped those admin fees and I wouldn't have Airave tax charges either, plus I could tack on a State discount, there would be no incentive for me to stay any further with such a poorly designed and maintained network in this market. It would be a different story if I was in a different market of course. It is quite obvious why they literally have zero customers in this area. Internet forums aside, I know absolutely no one with Sprint nor do I ever see Sprint phones in my daily travels. Like the retention rep told me, SERO is the discount for dealing with the inconvenience. If the inconvenience isn't removed before the discount then it's roll on to the next one.

[Rawvega]

You don't see the advantage of being able to take your device overseas, pop in a local pre-paid sim while on vacation or business?

 

Instead of having to buy a phone specifically for your trip OR getting bet over on international roaming/data charges? thats ridiculous.

 

Yep, international travel is the only reason why I'd want Sprint to move to removable SIMs.

 

Domestically, it would be nice and convenient in some ways, but I've survived this long by doing ESN/MEID swaps online or on the phone so I don't really care about swapping SIM cards in the US.

[irev210]

Japanese investors invest much longer term than us Americans. Americans want a return on their investment every 2-3 years, or we count it as a failure.

 

That's not necessarily true. Investors in Japan are like investors everywhere. They base performance by comparing performance relative to benchmarks (in a nutshell).

 

In the US, you have the well known S&P 500 index or the DJIA. In Japan, you have the Nikkei 225. The total return on the Nikkei 225 index was 25.4556% for 2012. That's a lot better than the S&P's 16.0028%.

 

I will agree (and what I am guessing what you are closer to meaning) is that Softbank isn't trying to pull a private equity play here and quickly profit. Softbank appears to be in it for the long haul by heavily capitalizing sprint to become a competitive player in the US wireless market.

[gangrene]

_{SERO was abused big time and still is today. It was really for Sprint Employees and there family members and it went way out of control. Oh by the way, My discount because I work with FedEx brings me no where what a SERO customer pays per month. My discount is 23%.}

 

It isn't abuse when a Sprint executive goes out of his way to post all of the information required to sign up for the program, including his referral code.Thats explicit approval, if not outright encouragement from management. At that point program changed from something that was meant for friends of employees, to something that was made available to everyone.

 

What I'm really sensing is sour grapes from the people who weren't on board and missed out on the original sero pricing.

 

Two other thoughts on SERO:

 

Why would SERO customers be unprofitable when pre-paid customers on super low price points from Virgin Mobile/Boost Mobile obviously are? People *HAVE* seen Voyager Mobile price points right? Regarding what happens to the cost of service when device subsidies are removed from the equation? Ting? Even Republic wireless, who only collects $19 a month from their users is obviously profitable to Sprint or they would be forced to raise rates/shut down.

 

The other issue with eliminating SERO and forcing those customers onto modern plans, is that doing so is likely to create a great deal of offense. A majority of those people will probably leave for other carriers regardless of how revolutionary Network Vision is for their area. It is also an action that will appear very AT&T/Verizon-like and generate negative publicity, very anti-consumer, which isn't the image you want to project when trying to attract new customers.

Edited January 2, 2013 by gangrene

[xcharles718]

If one has the SERO plan, why would they give it up? If offered, why not accept it? SERO was never publicly advertised, thus the amount of people on those plans are limited. I see SERO has a loyalty perk at this point, since there isn't such a program at Sprint(or much of the industry) anymore.

 

SoftBank can shake-up the marketed plan pricing as they please(like their Double White plan in Japan), but if the new offering isn't much of a benefit to subscribers on older plans, why change?

[digiblur]

If I could get a 25% discount I wouldn't have SERO.

 

-- "Sensorly or it didn't happen!"

 

 

[twospirits]

From looking at his blog, yes.

He's also alive.

http://mcguireslaw.com/

_{SERO was abused big time and still is today. It was really for Sprint Employees and there family members and it went way out of control. Oh by the way, My discount because I work with FedEx brings me no where what a SERO customer pays per month. My discount is 23%.}

Its funny but Russ is still having a link to the SERO (somewhat newer version) plans on that website. And no, I do not believe it was abused as much as folks think it is. If it was it wouldn't have been kept up for so long and working (and still is for some folks).

 

On that same note, I do agree with Robert that Softbank will be evaluating all the plans this year and will probably introduce new or revised plans that will cut the competition. he wants to shake up the industry and has a boatload of grand ideas/plans up his sleeve.

Only time will tell if they will be successful. His track records shows that he will.

 

Hopefully non-embedded, unlockable SIM cards would be part of that grand idea/plan. (at least it keeps the topic on topic)

 

TS

[halcyoncmdr]

Hopefully in the future Sprint allow manufacturers to make a SIM removable and be a true world phone (at least in the higher end models) that I can use both domestically as well as internationally without having to pay the huge charges. Hopefully it will be in the Note series). Removing the sim and putting in another country's sim card (and using an app like tweakker to set up the global APNs) would be awesome when I'm traveling overseas without having to get a temp phone.

 

Sprint's international GSM devices historically have had removable SIMs. It is only recently with the LTE devices that the SIMs are embedded. In addition, Sprint was I believe the only national carrier to have an unlocked GSM SIM slot on their devices. AT&T and T-Mobile locked theirs out of the box for obvious reasons, and Verizon did so too because they like having complete control over everything (ISIS vs Google Wallet anyone?).

 

As I said before, what I've read was that the plan has always been to have replaceable SIM cards in the LTE devices. It's just the initial phones that won't (the exact reason was not disclosed to me). Given Sprint's historical willingness to have unlocked global GSM devices, I can't imagine the company simply changing that policy permanently with the transition to LTE.

[halcyoncmdr]

Yep, international travel is the only reason why I'd want Sprint to move to removable SIMs.

 

Domestically, it would be nice and convenient in some ways, but I've survived this long by doing ESN/MEID swaps online or on the phone so I don't really care about swapping SIM cards in the US.

 

You can also activate a new Android device directly from within Sprint Zone as well. As long as you have a working Internet connection through WiFi you can do the entire swap there without having to type in any ESNs, it will let you do it all from within the app after logging into your account.