bkco14

The easy answer to that question is that one of the big three -- T-Mobile -- is living on borrowed time, and the other two -- VZW and AT&T -- are living off the fat of their wireline monopoly turned wireless duopoly.

 

As you suggest, average consumers are not aware of these sorts of things, but in a free market, it is their responsibility to know.  Otherwise, they potentially harm the free market and their own purchasing choices going forward.

 

AJ

It boils down to how are they supposed to get that information? Who can the general public ask and receive an honest answer from? They are asking the only people they know of (The people I mentioned in my original post) and getting flat out lied to. And then being stuck in a contract while getting lied to is frustrating.

Sprint is not communicating to the general public, they have all the information, they should tell the public in very simple terms.

They aren't doing this very clearly on their website.

100% Agree

The problem is that people on this message board know more about what is going on than the general public does. They are willing to stick it out because they know what to expect, what towers are being worked on, and what the "timetable" is.

If you would ever talk with someone at Sprint (whom the general public does) and that is the only form of information you are getting, then I bet you will be a little frustrated too. People want answers on why they aren't receiving the service they are paying for.

I was told by a supervisor that they don't guarantee anything and if I just use 1kb of data, then Sprint fulfilled their obligation.

I have also been told that nothing is wrong with the towers so I need to take my phone in to get serviced.

I have also been told that all the towers are over capacity and they have been waiting on parts that will be delivered in the next month or two. That song and dance has been going on for 2 years.

I was also told that NV would be complete in my area 8 months ago. But, I was told on here that it would be sometime late this year.

I have also heard on this forum that you shouldn't trust a rep because they don't know anything.

So, my question is who should the general public talk to?

Customer Service? - No

Dan@Sprint.com? - No

Supervisors? - No

Sprint employees at retail stores? - No

People on these type of message boards are the minority in that wireless is ther passion/hobby. The majority wants to know why their friend on a rival carrier can surf the web, but their phone times out loading google.com. When they ask the question to the above reps, the answers that have been provided from personal experience are:

1 - Everything is working fine, must be your phone.

2 - We see a problem and it will be fixed in a month or two (2 years later still not fixed)

3 - NV is being done in your area and will be complete soon (8 months later and this message board says nothing has even occurred yet in my are)

So, yes, the general public (I) is livid with Sprint due to the lies that they are being told by representatives of Sprint. I wish Sprint would educate their client facing personnel with correct information. A general timetable would be nice.

I'm familiar with a couple of Sprint towers in the Quad Cities area that are planned for full Network Vision builds (not GMO), and thus far not much of anything has occurred from what I can tell.  No new antennas or equipment cabinets have been installed.  Physically, the sites look pretty much the same as they did when Sprint purchased IPCS back in 2009.  For some history, IPCS was the local Sprint affiliate in the Quad Cities until Sprint bought the company.

That is what I was afraid of. Thanks for the information.

I have been in communication with someone from Dan@sprint.com. I don't know how reliable they are, but they were saying a lot of the tower work will be done by August. I have been hearing that song and dance for a year now. Based off what I am hearing on this site, I am not getting my hopes up and thinking we may not see anything until the end of the year.

I got my hopes up around Christmas that the 3G portion would be fixed since I was seeing around 800k - 1M downloads on a frequent basis, but 2 weeks later it was back down to 30k. Now my signal has degraded to the point where I usually have 4 bars, but now I mostly see 1.

I am hoping the 3G will be fixed soon as my parents are now starting to get angry as the network times out on them and they can't really do anything. I keep telling it will get better based off what I have read in the Chicago market thread, but their patience is starting to wear out.

Has anyone heard anything about the Quad City area?

It was 119.99 and $10 add on for each line due to premium data. So, $140. And if you received a discount, it was taken off $100. So a 20% discount would get you $20 off as well.

New plan, employee discount is applied to each data fee of $30. So, at 20% discount, you will take $6 off per phone

This is a massive increase for family plans.

1 - Now if you have a discount it is taken off the $50 price instead of $100 (so you now lost half your discount)

2 - It was $20 to add a line + $10 data charge. Now it is $30 for data on each line and you still have to pay between $30 and $40 to add the line. This makes an increase of $50 for 4 lines

Original plan for 2 lines was $119.99 + $20 for data (so $140)

Now it will be $50 + $40 + $30 + $30 (so $150)

3 lines were $170 now $210

4 lines were $200 now $260

If you had a 20% discount:

2 lines were $120 now $140

3 lines were $150 now $200

4 lines were $180 now $250

This is a massive increase any way you look at it. Families are getting hosed (anywhere from 20% - 40% more which is awful)

Now before people say this is for new customers only, remember what Sprint did with their last plan changes? If you wanted a new phone, you needed to change plans. I wouldn't put it past them to do that again.

Anyone noticing any improvements in the Quad Cities? It seems for the past 2-3 weeks my data and voice have gotten worse.

Network Vision is underway in the East Iowa market now. Over 60 GMO sites accepted already. Full build sites will start in the next 3 -4 weeks.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

Awesome news!! So am I safe to assume that in about 4 months we should have usable Sprint service? If so, I can't wait. I have been with Sprint for 13 years and I am rooting for them as they are the underdog, but 2013 is my make or break year with them. Hopefully they bring their A game to this region as we have been suffering for 2-3 years

I want to see if Sprint is embellishing the truth.

I have had a ticket open for a year fighting with Sprint because their data crawls between 10-50kbps instead of the 400-600 they advertise. I kept getting told every month that the completion date keeps getting pushed out in the future. I have been in contact with someone who answers the dan@sprint.com email address.

She told me that NV is starting in our area which I don't believe since I think you told me one time that the Quad City area won't start until around fall '13. Has things moved up in this area?

Thanks for your time

I think we are finding that data speed upgrade sometimes means the site has new backhaul, but it is not being connected to the legacy side. Just waiting for NV equipment to hook it up to.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

Thanks. I hope that is the case and the NV equipment won't be too far off.

I know that they have been working on some towers in the QC as I have seen fast 3G speeds. However, even though network.sprint.com shows 37 updates, it still feels like most of the QC is still really slow and really spotty since I still hit 1x data an awful lot. I just figured they were doing band-aid fixes for now. I hope NV and LTE get here soon as this area has felt neglected for 2 years.

I don't know if Lincolnshire is done, but I was there visiting for 2 days near Half Day Road and Milwaukee Ave. I was reaching speeds in the 1.25MBs - 2Mbs range consistently. It was a really nice change of pace considering in my city 3 hours away I am lucky if I can hit 80kbs consistently.

Road Trip

So, we post paid subscribers pay $10 for premium data on top of the plan costs and have to deal with our data connections timing out because they are so slow, but Sprint thought it was a good idea to bring in another MVNO while their network is junk and it appears that they can have an unlimited data plan for $19/month.

I know people will say that Sprint bringing in extra money is a good thing, but I fail to see the silver lining when the network doesn't work and they don't have a lot of spectrum.

Can their network really handle more subscribers at this time?

So, Sprint's network is already being held together by duct tape around the country (that is an extreme analogy, but their data network is slower than dial up) and they think it is a good idea to have yet another company start up and use their network. How about we finally get a service that we can rely on first.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/14/voyager-mobile-starts-may-15

When I text on Sprint (iPhone) it takes about 5 seconds to send. When the phone is on Extended network, it sends almost instantaneously. What's up with that?

Mine works the same way. Since Sprint's 3g speed in my area tops out at 30kbps, roaming is almost 5-7 times faster. That may explain your situation. Have you done a speed test of Sprint's speed in your area? (this is for iMessage as iMessage uses the data network)

I did a write up about this in another thread recently: http://s4gru.com/ind...4438#entry14438

 

Robert

Yeah, I saw your write up, but I was hoping for some people who had this work done to see what exactly is happening in the real world.

I saw a very noticeable increase in speeds in the Phoenix area a few weeks ago but they seem to be fluctuating a since then. Right now I'm getting almost 200kbps, one hour from now the average speed might go down to 20kbps or it might jump another 100 to about 300kbps. I figured it might be work that they are doing on the towers but it's been going on for a while now so who knows.

On network.sprint.com for your area, did you just have a lot of data speed upgrades? I am asking because I want to see if the band-aid fixes they are doing before NV actually work, or if the network goes down to a crawl once the subscribers realize they have data that is usable again.

My area is supposed to be getting the band-aid fixes in about 4 months, but NV isn't scheduled to start until sometime next year, so I hope I don't have to wait over a year for usable data.

Let me add to that. Did the 3g speeds improve and stay improved, or did they go back down again once customers saw they had usable data again.

I hope we can stay on our grandfathered plans, but knowing how sprint likes to change plans, I don't have much hope. I just want them to reward the customers who stuck it out with sub 100 kbps data while the other 2 carriers have at least 10 times that speed.

 

 

This is only one comparison given over many that I have provided why Sprint's LTE plan is completely viable for the future. I never stated that I knew what Sprint's adoption rate will be. I only used it as a starting benchmark. The fact is that Sprint's LTE plans are equal or better than Verizon in almost every comparable aspect when it comes to plans for additional capacity.

 

I don't want to stop anyone from going somewhere else. If any of you would prefer to bet on someone else's network, be my guest. We all are betting on the next 24 months whenever we sign a contract with any carrier. However, I'm just making the point that Sprint only needs to bridge LTE to next summer. And there is more than an ample plan to get there.

 

Once Sprint starts using 800MHz and Clearwire LTE for additional capacity (and the devices are out that run on it), the sky is the limit for Sprint LTE. Sprint will be in a better position at that time than ANY other carrier in America when it comes to being able to add LTE capacity.

 

And Sprint's plans are more than adequate and sound to get there. Irregardless of the naysayers.

 

Robert

I am banking on that too. I am hoping I made the right choice. I just want want to have my fears put to rest that I am making the right choice with my money and that I will be rewarded with my patience (or lack ther of at times) of sticking with Sprint. ;-)

 

 

Even if everyone who bought an iPhone 4 or 4S on Sprint all bought LTE iPhones in October, it wouldn't crash the new LTE network. iPhone growth is already in the projections. And, Sprint can emergency add additional 5x5 and 3x3 carriers if growth does exceed their very liberal projections. And adding carriers to the Network Vision platform is cheaper, easier and faster.

 

You said earlier that you didn't trust Sprint to handle the LTE network because of current EVDO performance. However, current EVDO performance is mostly related to backhaul. There is a lot of talk about you feel this is going to be the doomsday LTE scenario. Give me some realistic projected growth numbers and I will tell you whether Sprint can handle it.

 

Robert via NOVO7PALADIN Tablet using Forum Runner

I want to know if sprint will be able to handle the same amount of customers as verizon, with the same percentage of smartphone users they have now. Because if they keep unlimited data, keep their pricing below their competitors, and can get near the same speeds as their rivals, then I think their customer growth will grow rapidly. The reason people are leaving is because the service doesn't work and they will pay more for consistent and working service. If you have reliability and functioning data, then people will not leave, but new subscribers will come.

 

I remember reading that Sprint had 10% of their customers adopt WiMax in its first year, and that they sold more WiMax devices last year than Verizon sold LTE.

The adoption rate is going to skyrocket once the new iPhone ships. The iPhones account for 50%-70% of all smartphones sold for all carriers. The reason why LTE adoption is low is due to the majority of smartphones sold are 3G only iPhones. Once the LTE iPhone comes out this fall, the amount of LTE devices is going to double, if not triple. 35 million iPhones were sold last year, if 35 million LTE iPhones are sold in 1 year, that is a lot of new LTE subscribers.