jamesinclair

They probably did think too many options was complicated. Samsung has gone mainstream, trying to make sure their phones can be used by the least common denominator.

IMO the sollution is simply to bury those options. The least common denominator doesnt have to go into advanced settings. But let the rest of us do it.

I found another one. The phone gives you two options with text messages

-Never delete them

-Only save 1000 and delete older

The first kills your phone (eventually). The 2nd is very restrictive. On the S4, you could set it to any number. WTF not on the 6?

Light purple for everywhere!!

 

Sent from my LG-H790

So its possible that by adding 41, Sprints representation in Sensorly may have actually gotten worse?

I have an S6 now, and so access to all the bands! Yay!

I have 41 in my apartment and was blown away by speeds. Three times faster than my home cable internet.

I have a question about Sensorly mapping.

Say I have 41 and the connection is weak. Not weak enough that I get kicked off, but weak. Say at the exact same spot 25 and 26 are available and are much stronger.

If I map, what will Sensorly show? A weak signal? Or will it know 25 and 26 are waiting in the wings?

So I bit the bullet and got this phone.

Im surprised by how many features have been removed, coming from the S4. I knew about all the stuff removed from the S5 (waterproof, SD etc) but I didnt realize the software has been so gimped as well.

Even extremely simple thing removed and I cant understand what the thought process was.

IE: Cant have my apps in a list, only a grid. I already have a grid, its my home screen, why cant I have a list?

Cant set snooze quantity and duration anymore in the alarm. Why the hell not?

Can no longer answer in speakerphone by waving my hand over the phone.

These arent deal-breakers by any means, but they sure are annoying.There are a few other similar little perks I liked to use that simply no longer exist. And Im not talking about hardware changes (like the thermometer) but basic software options.

I just cant imagine a bunch of engineers sitting around and decided that the alarm clock was too complicated and they had to remove 7 options from it. I'm sure theres an app I could get. I'm just baffled as to WHY.

Around 7.5 down on my local site (was 14 in early days, well before B41 LTE).  So far I have observed no WiMAX site shutdowns (unlike iDEN), rather I think Sprint has given WiMAX a lower priority over the last few months based on very limited observations.  A number of the Clear B41 LTE sites in Columbus are now overloaded.  No sign of improved backhaul or conversions yet.

Thats too bad. I was thinking of booting up the old Photon 4G and downloading the entire library of congress.

Off topic and random:

Im watching the new smash hit* Crazy Ex Girlfriend, as the pilot aired last night:

"Is there a problem with cell phone service in West Covina?"

"I wouldnt know, I have Sprint and it's the bomb"

Wonder if Sprint payed?

*Maybe next week.

Also my local Sprint third party store offered me the LG G4 for lease with 0 down an 0 taxes + $100 mail in rebate I believe for $18 a month and with the loyalty Credit ( legacy customers ) I get an additional $15 monthly making it $3 a month.

Its such an attractive phone I just wish they had a smaller option available.

Why does LG not want my money?

Shut down?

FOREVER???

How are speeds on it these days?

I assume at 1 person per tower, one can get quite the bandwidth

Hm. I dont really want the S6 because of all the stuff they took out, but at this point its clear there's nothing I DO want thats coming to Sprint this year, and the last thing I want to do is sit on an upgrade until next April.

If only the LG G4 was available in "not massive" size

I think Im going to jump on this deal. Essentially $50 for an S6 edge isnt bad - and its exactly why I value contract pricing so much. Leasing, easy pay etc doesnt touch this kind of value.

For those of you who have had the phone from the start, how is the battery holding up?

Still giving a full day use?

Go to Best Buy's website, and you'll see special offers for select phones. Last week they offered $100 gift card on all Samsung phones leasing, easy pay, 2 yr contract, and buying full price. I went and got a Note 5. Looks like leasing only is being offered for Sprint right now for the gift card, and LGs are phone for the week.

I think this is it?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/promo/samsung-phones-145798?acampID=0&ref=8575135&loc=0

Looks Like I could get the Galaxy S6 Edge for $150 AND get a $100 gift card?

That wouldnt be bad at all.

Did you do this in store or online? Im trying to figure out where the gift card shows up in the checkout process.

Best Buy is also giving a $100 gift card for 2 yr contracts, lease, and easy pay. 2 yr contracts weren't valid until yesterday.

Where are you seeing this?

I'm not having any luck finding any new phones on Amazon for Sprint 2 year contracts.  (S6, G4, iPhone 6S all missing..).  Where are you going to see the deals?  

Hm, they seem to have moved things around since I last checked.

But theyre still there, sort of

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-S6-Edge-Sprint/dp/B0134TVNSQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1444244597&sr=1-3&keywords=galaxy+s6&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A2420629011

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-White-Sprint/dp/B00IZ1X21K/ref=sr_1_1?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1444244635&sr=1-1&keywords=galaxy+s6&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A2420629011

I remember back in analog phone days when US roaming rates were that high!

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

You dont even have to go back that far. Just last year, Sprint offered a worst in the industry rate of $2.29 a minute for roaming in Mexico.

Its great to see them go from $2.29 to 20 cents to zero!

The old CEO had no interest in global travel, which as the Japanese overlords might say, is very midwestern thinking.

Speaking of map accuracy, I was looking at Movistar coverage, and I thought this was interesting.

Disclaimer at the bottom:

Dentro de la Cobertura Garantizada pueden presentarse condiciones que afecten el servicio, debido a las características técnicas y al estado de conservación del equipo móvil del usuario o a su uso en el interior de algunos edificios, sitios subterráneos, elevadores, helicópteros, o en lugares que presenten una concentración inusual de usuarios. Nivel de cobertura -104 dBm.

(The first part just says that service may be affected by being in a helicopter, underground, in an elevator etc)

My fiance still has not been able to get it to work international. Keeps saying it cannot save the address.

 

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

I had the same issue in Mexico.

Instead of using the real address I just put in my USA address and it accepted it.

Im about ready to upgrade, and for the 5th time it looks like Amazon is still offering the best contract prices. Generally $50-$100 less than straight from Sprint.

Oy. Why can't Sprint just make things simple and consolidate Open World and International Value Roaming into one plan? Surely they'd not be leaving that much revenue on the table.

I agree, its getting very confusing.

There are three tiers now:

1. Free calling text and 1GB of data in SOME Open World countries

2. Paid calling, free text and paid data in the rest of Open World countries

3. Paid calling, free text, free unlimited 2G data in IVR countries

I LOVE that Sprint is going full speed into this roaming stuff, but the customer facing implementation needs some work.

Here are the new tier 2 countries

• The new Sprint Open World destinations include France, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Fiji, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, St. Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Suriname, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vanuatu. For a full list of destinations visit, www.sprint.com/openworld.

The confusion extends to the press release, but the good news is that theyre not phasing out the free 2G

Customers whose international travel does not frequently include Mexico, Canada or Latin America may opt instead for the Sprint Global Roaming free add-on service. With Sprint Global Roaming, customers get free unlimited 2G data, unlimited text messaging, and calls for $0.20 per minute. For a complete list of Sprint Global Roaming destinations, visit www.sprint.com/globalroaming.

So after about an hour and a half on the phone with Sprint, the problem was resolved. The wonderful technical support agent went ahead and patched apple in and they instructed me to do a factory wipe and iCloud restore after which the phone started connecting to Vivo once again. Normally I may not have cared except this was the second country/time this had happened at and I wanted to be sure the problem was not going to happen again.

PS. I have had a couple of test calls that came in just fine, so that problem seems to have been fixed as well!

 

All in all quite impressed with the Sprint customer service levels

Glad it was resolved, even though I would have laughed at them for hours had they suggested that

You guys are so software update happy.  The update is not going to cure cancer or change your life.  I often refuse updates for years, especially if they are OS updates.  And software developers, you obviously are hung up on change for the sake of change.

 

Anyway, somebody needs to preserve a handset sample with the Spark icon intact for the Robert M. Herron Museum of Modern Cellphones.

 

AJ

Im the same. I refuse all updates, especially after my Galaxy S2 experience where update = broken phone.

Today WhatsApp started giving me a notice that my app was old and required an update.

I deleted it.

Im about two Android versions behind on my S4 and thats how it will stay.

Go to Movistar Mexico webpage for a map. As far as I can tell, Sprint hasn't added international coverage maps to their website like T-Mobile has.

They absolutely used to have them.

Im on the Movistar website and they have a giant ad running on free roaming in the US A product of the Tmobile and Sprint deals?

Chiapas? Wow. I have a coworker from Chiapas. Can be a rough place. But probably better than it used to be. I hear it's beautiful though.

 

Using Tapatalk on Nexus 6

Ive never been but from what Ive read looks like its perfectly safe to visit.

I might be traveling to Chiapas in Mexico this fall. The Sprint website used to have maps of roaming coverage in Mexico, but I cant find those maps anymore.

Anyone know where they are?

I am happy that Marcelo understands customer service.

Thank you Marcelo for taking care of the customers that stuck with Sprint through the .03MB data speed days

Look, as an educated geographer, I am no advocate of urban sprawl.  But are you telling me that Millenials like living side by side or on top of one another and using public transportation?  They do not like having affordable houses with yards and being able to drive on non congested freeways to anywhere in a huge metro -- including those supposedly desirable dense urban districts -- within 30 minutes?

 

I did not know these things.  But if they are so, just more reasons why Millenials are the most annoying generation ever.

 

AJ

AJ, you might be interested in this revent article about Walmart - king of the suburbs - and modifications they have been making to attract talent to their HQ.

Fair use quote:

 

 

 

That’s a shift for tiny Bentonville, population 40,000, which has essentially been a company town since Wal-Mart became an international retailing juggernaut in the 1980s. Historically, the company has done alright selling its quiet, family-friendly image to those considering jobs at the supercenter-sized Home Office. The retailer that brought discounts to suburbia had little need for a real downtown core; the square where Sam Walton bought his first five-and-dime stayed sleepy and neglected.

 

But that strategy isn’t working anymore. Wal-Mart needs to attract the Jerome Lynches of the world, who might not have a car and are not thinking yet about kids, from large cities that have lots more to offer. There are typically more than 1,000 jobs open at the Home Office, and most successful applicants would have to move.

 

“In order for us to compete for the type of talent it’s going to take to allow these companies to remain competitive in the global economy, we have to be a place where people want to live, where they can spend their free time doing things they enjoy,” said Troy Galloway, Community and Economic Development Director for the City of Bentonville. "There’s a major effort regionally and locally to step up our game.”

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/21/why-wal-mart-an-icon-of-suburbia-had-to-urbanize-its-hometown/

Now obviously Kansas City is much bigger than Bentonville, but the challenges Sprint faces to recruit are similar.

Transit is poor. Walkable neighborhoods are rare, access to future career oppertunities is limited. In NYC, if you are tired of company A, companies B, C, D......Omega etc are down the street. In Kansas? Who is going to poach you?

Houston, incidentally has the similar design problem. However, thanks to the energy market, it DOES provide recruits a mass of options on employment. In their case, the companies are there due to geograhic proximity to their product. Not so much for Sprint.

You might like to live in a cul-de-sac, and theres nothing wrong with that. The fact is, in aggregate, young educated talent does not. That is why company after company is relocating from the suburbs to a dense, central city. People want to walk from the bar to their apartment. They want a famers market on the corner. They want gourmet restaurants by trendy chefs.

Kansas City, unfortunately, is a giant suburb, meaning relocating from Overland Park to downtown wouldnt make a diffference in recruiting. Now this isnt an attack on Kansas City. Fresno is the same. So is Phoenix. And dozens of other western and southern cities.

You may be an educated geographer, but I have a Masters in City and Regional Planning. I still cant identify a Sprint antenna on a pole, but when it comes to demographics, economic trends, transportation, and what people are looking for in making their decissions on where to live and work, I am fully up to date on the statistics and literature.

When it comes to recruiting, Kansas City is a liability, not an asset.

The question is, is it enough of a liability to justify a very expensive move?

There's easy pay financing which is not considered leasing.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

What is the difference? Easy Pay you keep, lease you must return?