cletus

So, I just rejoined Sprint from Ting. I have a Nexus 5 and my wife has an iphone 5. Does anyone know if Sprint has a way to monitor usage? (I have 24 GB of data on the Family Share Plan but I will probably be out of WiFi range for the next 10-15 days, long story)

I know there is the horrible Sprint Zone app but I think that only comes preloaded by Sprint and I bought my N5 from Google. Maybe I am just paranoid after having to carefully watch my usage every month on Ting.

I have also data roamed on Verizon when I was on Ting. For me it was out in west Texas where sprint didn't have coverage and roaming showed up. I received and replied to an email from our campsite and Ting did charge me for like .87Mb of data for that day. It is possible that the roaming indicator on my phone was wrong but I doubt that.

Also on my Nexus 5.

I've noticed speeds over 30Mbps most of the time lately too. Used to be below 20Mbps.

 

Sent from my Galaxy S5 on the Sprint Network

Still the occasional bad apple tower that has simply disgraceful speeds (1.5 down and 5 up, really?) but this is a big improvement from when I left Sprint 15 months ago.

I just pulled the trigger to go to family share and jump the framily plan... hopefully I'll save a few $$ plus adding tethering to all my devices and bigger data pool for my tablets.  I think month-to-month usage on all devices is 5 gb.. so shouldn't have any issues staying in the pool

 

On the other hand.  I just screwed my framily... 5 devices left them... YIKES!  I hope they pay attention and see this other wise... ish...

You could be nice and post it to http://www.reddit.com/r/sprintframily as the other posts above mention.

Also, I took some speedtests last night and on the way to work (coworker was driving not me). Pretty good speeds around me now. 

Hi Cletus, glad you got back onto Sprint painlessly. I was considering switching to Ting once enough of my lines were off contract, but I switched to framily instead.

 

You put a lot of work into your spreadsheet; it's very informative. I did something similar with my ongoing usage spreadsheet - mapping comparisons with various Sprint plans and Ting based upon actual usage.

 

One modification would help your family vs framily comparison a great deal - you should include a column for a full framily. I have 4 lines of my own, but a full framily (courtesy of framilylist.com - best $20 I ever spent!). The monthly line cost for 4 lines is $25 vs $40 - an annual difference of $720. Even at 3GB or unlimited, it compares much more favorably with family shared.

 

It doesn't help new users, but it might be useful for those contemplating a switch from framily to family shared.

 

 

have a great day,

john

Yeah so my route was Ting -> Tmobile prepaid -> Sprint. My phone #s ported out from Ting just fine but my phones had to be set to "Sprint" by Ting before they could be accepted in the Sprint system (despite showing up all green for eligibility).

Okay I updated it on the last tab of the spreadsheet. Let me know if that is different from what you were thinking. I showed the Sprint store guys the spreadsheet and they asked if they could make a copy of it for reference which was pretty neat.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L4FXkfyfM69LNJ6-vJ0baMZxdSWJ8N8aQNS_vVd5XOM

Well friends, I am officially back at Sprint! I got it all sorted out and I got my line fees waived and everything.

Well so much for that. Apparently my phones are still linked to Ting and I will have to call in when they are open tomorrow (they are open on labor day because the call center is Canadian)

Hopefully it goes easy. This process has really sucked so far.

Well guys, looks like I am going to head over to the Sprint store tomorrow and give it another shot. Family share plan here I come!

Oh and I updated the spreadsheet for yearly cost Framily vs Family share

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L4FXkfyfM69LNJ6-vJ0baMZxdSWJ8N8aQNS_vVd5XOM/

Maybe we need a "T-Mobile-Sprint Twitter #shotsfired" thread..

Contractors are for AT&T. There are also permits pulled for this road for Google Fiber apparently.

Mods/Admins feel free to move this to a better forum if this isn't the right spot.

Anyways, Sprint has opened up ebrochures on their website at http://www.sprint.com/ebrochures The $50 mail in rebate is here for anyone considering upgrading to a new phone. 

http://www.sprint.com/global/pdf/ebrochures/rebate_brochure.pdf

For the following phones:

Just on my way out today. The big crew is slightly down the road. They use the machine in the second pic to drill horizontally and put pipes into the ground into which the fiber conduit goes. It looks like they are laying it 2 pipes at a time and then when it comes out of the "tomb" further down they are laying bigger cables from there.

If I get time i'll ask them at lunch what company they are laying fiber for. The fiber spools I saw earlier this week were wooden and about twice the size. Maybe if I drive a bit I will find it.

havent checked since, but that first time it used 10-15mb.  Probably is an only one time thing 

I think this is the case. My father in law's Verizon hotspot used a similar amount of data when it first started up but after that it was good to go.

No idea why these hotspots use that much at setup though.

Yep. Fiber. You should see the huge spools going on here near where I work. AT&T and Google Fiber are going crazy with fiber installs.

If there is any interest I can take a picture of them rolling out these spools with big cranes.

Ok, John calls Sprint's new programs complicated or whatever... hmmm TMO's new plans are the ones I really can't understand!

The one thing T-Mobile does right is make it's plans immediately available and configurable via the website. The official Sprint announcement was nearly a week ago and you still can't really do ANYTHING for Family Share plans except "Make an appointment."

What about people wanting to, you know, actually switch TO Sprint? They need brand new phones so let them shop for them!

Just checked AT&T and I don't see where they "shield" you from overages.

My mistake, I don't use AT&T but my co worker mentioned he gets throttled after a few GB of data when we were talking about mobile data plans. Apparently he is on a grandfathered unlimited line.

Does anyone think that T-Mobile will do whatever it takes to have the best plans possible; even if it ends up hurting them? It sure seems like it to me with the path that they are on.

 

As for Sprint, while they could respond, I think if they lower prices anymore it may end up hurting them. But maybe giving more data for the price they already have?

I think Sprint is missing out on an opportunity in their plans. As T-Mobile and AT&T have moved to data limits with throttling afterwards it has shielded those customers from worrying about potential overages. Even Ting has this type of system in place to prevent people from racking up a huge data charge. With Sprint Family Share you are still subject to overages which can add up if someone blows through an HD netflix movie etc. It would be nice to specify how much data per line and then either turn off data or throttle data to that line after that amount mostly because many people don't realize how much data certain activities uses. Does anyone here have the family share plan yet? Are there software tools to limit data per line or is it a free for all like it used to be?

So is the Nexus 5 a Spark device or not?  If not currently is there still a pending update?  Doesn't affect me but DiL has  Nexus 5 in what the DFW maps ID as a Spark Turbo area. 

http://shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/phone_details.jsp?deviceSKUId=78200232

It is listed as a Spark device by Sprint so yes. The coverage map device tool is just outdated.

I know the information is buried somewhere in preceding posts, but when does the sign-up/conversion period end?  And, if you have phones/hotspots on 2-year contracts, the total charge per phone is only $15/$20 under a converted plan, as long as you add a line & device on easy pay, regardless of where you are on the 2-year contracts?  If true, I would save almost $100/month even after adding the new line.  It just sounds too good.

Discounted phones are for after 8/22 I believe. The total charge would be $15 per line at the 20 GB tier or above. Don't forget to take into account employer discounts coming off of the data portion and not the line portion.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L4FXkfyfM69LNJ6-vJ0baMZxdSWJ8N8aQNS_vVd5XOM/

This is a telling sentence from the T-Mobile press release.  It is basically euphemism for "We lag behind in subscribers, so we have more spectrum than we need.  Additionally, we cater to the urban yuppies and poor people but no one outside the city limits." 

 

AJ

I agree but for many people an urban carrier is sufficient and T-Mobile does provide excellent speeds and coverage in those areas. I frequently travel outside city limits or else I might consider T-Mobile. I tried them out about a year and a half ago and had actual dead zones of zero coverage. There are some places near me that only Sprint and Verizon reach.

Once the at line burns through the 2GB that month, the data comes out of the bucket.  The 3 lines that were not eligible for easy pay, still got the 15 access fee, instead of the 40. Strange, but no complaints.  Hotspot is included, comes out of your shared data. 

 

The $15 vs $40 per line is something I've seen other people reporting that Sprint is doing. It is a nice savings for people moving a bunch of lines like you did. Have you tried out the hotspot at all?

The Austin map is laughable. There are plenty of LTE holes even on highways in town/outdoors. Also interesting that my Nexus 5 isn't listed as a Spark device.

I guess I will post here too... not sure which thread this goes in:

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/company-news/4x-the-data.htm

$45 for 2 GB of Data. This undercuts Sprint family share pricing (2 GB for $25+$25 line fee) by $5.

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/10-line-family-plan.htm

10 lines for just $10 per line after the second subscriber.  

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/double-your-data-tablet.htm

Double data when you add a tablet..

I wonder how Sprint will respond, if at all?

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/company-news/4x-the-data.htm

$45 for 2 GB of Data. This undercuts Sprint family share pricing (2 GB for $25+$25 line fee) by $5.

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/10-line-family-plan.htm

10 lines for just $10 per line after the second subscriber.  

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/double-your-data-tablet.htm

Double data when you add a tablet..

 I wonder how Sprint will respond, if at all?

As an aside, I haven't seen much momentum in Sprint stores. Both of the stores I visited this last weekend were pretty empty but both stores were training new people in anticipation. I am not super surprised though. Sprint service still varies quite a bit here in Austin.

T-Mobile on the other hand had a waiting list just to be seen and the vast majority of people seemed to be coming from AT&T.

Maybe when I go in next weekend it will be busier.