What is Sprint doing!?

Pwning a phone that's more a year old isn't a huge coup, whether it has a fruit on the back or otherwise, and they better market the heck out of the thing because the next iPhone will be announced in a week and that's gonna monopolize news (and stunt sales of anything else) for a while... Samsung really screwed up their timeline imo, the AT&T and T-Mo variants are gonna suffer even more. I say all this as a huge Android fan btw, you can't ignore reality tho. OTOH, it's almost confirmed Sprint will carry the next iPhone, which combined with unlimited data plans could indeed prove profitable to Sprint, in the long run at least... Short term they're looking at a lot of subsides and I think Apple gets a better slice of phone sales than any other manufacturer (to the detriment of carriers, who just have to deal with it in order not to lose potential customers).
 
arcturus said:
If iPhone 5 doesn't support LTE all bets are off.
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Call them off then, because it's almost guaranteed to not have it, esp. on Sprints network since they won't even have LTE until well into next year.
 
T4rd said:
Call them off then, because it's almost guaranteed to not have it, esp. on Sprints network since they won't even have LTE until well into next year.
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Making the allure of the Galaxy II S even more appealing.
 
If you live in a Wimax market anyway, which hasn't grown since last year... There's not gonna be an LTE SGS2 in the US for now either. If you want a dual core phone on the fastest (and currently only) major LTE network, the Bionic is it for now.
 
so long sprint, after 8 years I'm finally out. I tried out the epic 4g touch for the full two weeks. GREAT phone, horrible data speeds. I can't stand it any more. Why have unlimited data if speeds are often under 200kb/s in a 4g city? Unacceptable to me but not to customer service who recognized that there have been big issues with their network in my city but said "tough luck, deal with it or leave". I'm paraphrasing but no apologies were made and no hope given to a resolution. No wonder they continue to lose money.
 
thelead said:
so long sprint, after 8 years I'm finally out. I tried out the epic 4g touch for the full two weeks. GREAT phone, horrible data speeds. I can't stand it any more. Why have unlimited data if speeds are often under 200kb/s in a 4g city? Unacceptable to me but not to customer service who recognized that there have been big issues with their network in my city but said "tough luck, deal with it or leave". I'm paraphrasing but no apologies were made and no hope given to a resolution. No wonder they continue to lose money.
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Sounds like they're oversaturated with subscribers in your area. They either need to make major changes to their network infrastructure or have people leave to free up bandwidth. Sounds like they picked option B.
 
I'm so bummed, I loved the e4gt. Oh well, I'm sure there are great phones coming out this month. One thing I don't think I can live without is a super amoled+ screen. That was amazing.
 
Impulse said:
If you live in a Wimax market anyway, which hasn't grown since last year... There's not gonna be an LTE SGS2 in the US for now either. If you want a dual core phone on the fastest (and currently only) major LTE network, the Bionic is it for now.
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Where do you get your info? Sprint's WiMAX market has been growing, at least here in GA. just within the last ~9 months they've expanded from Buford to Gainesville, saying Helen (another ~20mi away) will have it within a year (unofficially the rep told me it should be here in ~7 months)

Right now I'm happy with sprint, minus the fact they're charging a premium for android phones ($20/month extra) but considering it's still below average prices for me ($55/month before tax) I cant really complain, since I've blasted out over 10gb in a month without any slowing (though I've noticed lately my speeds have dropped from 1.1-1.2mbps down to 700kbps sometime in the last few months --- though I'm on an old, flakey flip-phone to save that $20/month)

Personally, I dont think the "only new phone every-other-year" is a big issue. As somone said above, if you want one that bad, pay full price on alternate years. Outside of my EVO (which is upgraded to when WM started dieing) I gennerally have atleast 30 months between upgrades. Unless something major comes out I dont plan to cash in my EVO 4G for quite a while (I have a full-sized laptop as well as a tablet, so plenty mobile computing power)

I think that it's not so much that the iPhone is killing sprint as the market is showing that people WILL pay more so sprint is trying to recoup losses. Yes, the iPhone is a good place to extort $$$ from apple fanboys (dont get me wrong, apple makes great devices; I loved my iPad2 and and iPod Touch 4 - I've seriously considered going iPhone5 but after a year of fighting iTunes and apple DRM I've changed my mind) but I think that even if they weren't getting it, they'd still raise prices.

With Sprint being practically the only game in town (minus a few "local" providers) with unlimited data service, there's no reason to keep it unlimited. Yes, it sucks from a buyer POV, but look at it from their side: if people are going to use 10gb/month no matter the cost, then why not make them pay? Bandwidth isnt free (though the cost is lower than what ATT/VZW charges, obviously) so they have a very good reason to make these changes.

Also, to those looking at alternatives, be sure to check the fine print. SIMple mobile is "unlimited 4G" but customers were complaining that after ~1gb of transfer they were kicked out for "tethering" (which, while I'm sure is an issue, 1gb/month is EASY on an android handset over 4G) likewise on Virgin Mobile - 10GB limit, then the hammer comes down (though most people wont have that issue)

As of right now I've not heard stories of anyone getting kicked off Sprint for "Tethering" on an unlimited plan the last few years (hell, the sprint CSAs will tell you that while it's not technically allowed but if you dont go apeshit crazy nobody minds!)

In short: If you have an unlimited plan, keep it. If you want an unlimited plan, grab it while you still can. We're heading back to the old days of pay-per-byte...
 
I'm happy with Sprint too, and maybe stating that their 4G network hadn't grown at all this year was a bit of an overstatement... But not a huge one. It hasn't been growing anywhere near as fast as VZW's LTE network, they haven't announced very many new markets... Your immediate vicinity isn't necessarily representative of the entire country, and I wouldn't take any rep's word at face value right now considering upcoming announcements. Hopefully it'll be good news tho.

I'm being honest, I switched from AT&T last year and I've got no major complaints despite the recent changes... Heck, we've seen unofficial pockets of Wimax here already which I literally thought wouldn't happen for another 5 years. I'm not kidding either, HDTV programming is still scarce here even tho both cable and satellite services carry all the same channels as in the US plus locals (cable co doesn't have the bandwidth, DirectTV feeds us off different satellites); stuff like that tends to lag behind here.

Anyway, where do you get that $20 premium for Android phones from? Is that because you're factoring it for two lines? The premium data charge is only $10 and it's for all smartphones, Android or otherwise. It'll probably apply to the iPhone all the same. I'm confused tho, you said you were using a flip phone to avoid the charge but you're also talking about an EVO?

I do agree Sprint is being very lenient with unlimited usage, I've seen some people with ridiculous data usage on their bills (15GB+), some carriers would auto throttle you if you did that over network concerns before your bill even arrives, and then they'd slam you with overages these days. Store reps also seem to be very blasse about rooted tethering. I've heard they're even trained to try and sell you on how the paid tethering alternative is better or more secure because they know selling it just on the merit of being able to do it is pointless (which is silly either way but some people will eat any sales pitch).

I've been giving them the benefit of the doubt thru the thread since my first post, got nothing against Sprint right now. I'm probably the guy you read saying a costlier upgrade every other year is a drop in the bucket. The 4G network growth has stunted overall tho, there's no denying that. There's probably good reason for it if they are indeed switching to LTE tho.
 
Impulse said:
Anyway, where do you get that $20 premium for Android phones from? Is that because you're factoring it for two lines? The premium data charge is only $10 and it's for all smartphones, Android or otherwise. It'll probably apply to the iPhone all the same. I'm confused tho, you said you were using a flip phone to avoid the charge but you're also talking about an EVO?

I do agree Sprint is being very lenient with unlimited usage, I've seen some people with ridiculous data usage on their bills (15GB+), some carriers would auto throttle you if you did that over network concerns before your bill even arrives, and then they'd slam you with overages these days. Store reps also seem to be very blasse about rooted tethering. I've heard they're even trained to try and sell you on how the paid tethering alternative is better or more secure because they know selling it just on the merit of being able to do it is pointless (which is silly either way but some people will eat any sales pitch).
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I own an EVO and used it for around 6 months before my finances got tight, so I'm very familiar with it. As soon as things loosen up a little $$$ I'm going back to my EVO.

I'm on the old SERO (Sprint Employee Referal Offer) which is $35/month. For those plans they are adding $20/month instead of $10 to "upgrade to SERO Premium" and "add Smartphone useage" despite the fact that all I get from SERO Premium is "any mobile any time" (call any other cell provider (VZW, ATT, etc) for free) I've tried to wrangle them into only adding the $10/month SP charge, but they claim their computers wont let them...

Lol, the reps asked me if I'd rooted, how hard it was and what custom ROMs were good. (Sprint store rep) so it's apparent that they're not exactly screaming bloody murder every time somone roots a phone...
 
Ahh, gotcha. I'm paying about $10 more than you were with the EVO, before taxes/insurance, including the premium charge. Standard $70 plan + $10 - $16 (23% student discount thru Student Rate) = $64 I'm surprised they've even let you keep SERO with the EVO, I thought they were just cracking down on that and moving people to the employee referral plan with that newer acronym (ERPS or something?).

I checked it out when I got the EVO but it was about the same price for just a couple more minutes per month and it didn't qualify you for Premier... So much for that part, heh... Though they recently gave all costumers on the cheapest plan a 300 minute promo bump. I believe it's now standard for new customers. Funny how no one ever mentions that when complaining.

I mean, I barely use 200 min. a month and that's even counting nights, weekend, and mobile to mobile but surely some of you out there benefitted from it... Or has any mobile to mobile made minutes almost irrelevant for most everyone?

AT&T actually has the same thing now and their single-line plan prices are coming dangerously close to Sprint's... The 23% student discount (and unlimited data of course) still makes Sprint a far better deal for me but for those with equal discounts on either carrier (or no discount) it could be tough call depending on coverage. Family/Share plans still shift in favor of Sprint I think tho.
 
vw-tx said:
I don't like your post T4rd. Sorry but Apple makes a great product. Reliable, never crashes or slows down, makes calls when you want it, doesn't lock up, has stable apps, and great battery life. And works when you want it. My company has been using a mix of Android, Windows, IOS devices from different providers, and the Apples are the most reliable phones we have in use with some 3G phones still being used today while we have had to replace the Android models at least every 1-2 years.

So we are now requesting all the users get iphone from the provider that has them, and with Sprint getting them and possibly T-Mobile, this makes it even better.

People are fanboys of different things, but when a device just works well, then it will have a strong group supporting it like the iphone. So don't call them names because: 1) either you don't like the iphone or never owned one. 2) Or you really don't know what you are talking about.

Thanks.
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talk about being a fanboy......apple are the most reliable? got any hard data to back that up? I have 2 N81 8GB phones from 2007 that are still working to this day so I guess Nokia must be the most reliable.......oh wait I got a LG PM325 from 2005 that still works and a Samsung N400 from 2003......a motorola Razor from 2005 and another Samsung SCH900 from 2005 that works too

and you're right I don't like the iphone becuase it is technically inferior hardware wise to just about every other smart phone out there not to mention the locked in user experience.......and the up coming iphone 5 will be no different.....

if you want freedom and excellent hardware get a HTC device and call it a day.....
 
Impulse said:
Ahh, gotcha. I'm paying about $10 more than you were with the EVO, before taxes/insurance, including the premium charge. Standard $70 plan + $10 - $16 (23% student discount thru Student Rate) = $64 I'm surprised they've even let you keep SERO with the EVO, I thought they were just cracking down on that and moving people to the employee referral plan with that newer acronym (ERPS or something?).
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They are trying to slowly screw down the features and also to raise the price. SERO is no longer avalible and unless you trick an representative into "Add code ABC to my account" then you cant even add new lines.

Sprints Simply Everything plan is, iirc $70/month. SERO was $35 and is now $55, thats only $15 less than their normal plan. I'm sure they will have a new trick to puch people over --- right now my phone is consistantly getting 700kbps instead of the 1.2mbps it was getting --- while my EVO was getting 1.2-1.5mbps (good reason for some people to poney up the $20 - but I'm so cheep that I was avoiding it ---still considering just using my 700kbps connection untill it dies! lol)
 
"We're heading back to the old days of pay-per-byte...

Sadly this is so true. I hear that over in Europe and Asia its not like this but I've never lived there so can't say. I wish the American telecoms would stop getting so damn greedy and start providing unlimited access. Its not like they are not making money. They turn a profit every year.
 
Skott said:
"We're heading back to the old days of pay-per-byte...

Sadly this is so true. I hear that over in Europe and Asia its not like this but I've never lived there so can't say. I wish the American telecoms would stop getting so damn greedy and start providing unlimited access. Its not like they are not making money. They turn a profit every year.
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maybe you don't understand the concept of making greater profits...
 
CHANG3D said:
maybe you don't understand the concept of making greater profits...
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While making a greater profit is every companies goal, with the economy the way it is, there's only so much people are willing to spend on phones. I know my threshold is ~150 for two phones. Much after that, I'll start looking at prepaid options...
 
(not at the guy directly above me) Maybe neither of you work in the network industry and simply don't understand why "oh, plug in more data lines" doesn't work that way (shortest form: SONET/SDH[US = SONET] = expensive, but mostly the only realistic, reliable system currently used for backhaul [I really do not want to go into details why, but if you are interested, look for a history of long distance communications around the 60s and onwards for more technical reasons why]... but it's piss expensive and mostly designed for old phone lines. Ethernet? Unclocked and no real management tools/system. So not viable for long distance). I'd rather not disclose my employer, but suffice to say, the picture is nowhere nearly as rosey for the actual wired network underneath all the wireless. Sure, profits are important, but not nearly as determinate of pricing as some people are implying here.

Next time I have to type this on my phone.... I'll freak.
 
Just an addendum from my above post:
I spoke to a CSA today (yes it's sunday, I'm shocked too) and it was explained that the $20 charge WAS 2 different charges for different things. First, a $10 for a smartphone. ANY smartphone. Secondly a $10 charge for a 4G device. She said if I chose a different, 3G phone, (she suggested the HTC Hero) that I would not have the second $10 charge (though I would still have the first one to use a smartphone on the account)

The amusing irony here is that, IIRC, you cant get a 4G device that's NOT a smartphone, so 4G requires $20/month more. (I may be shopping around for a 3G android device though if it'll save me $10/month, since I dont have 4G service anyway)
 
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