I realize that many people are becoming particularly ticked off with Sprint, but I think I’ve been fixating on the problem as opposed to the solution. While in my dream world Sprint gets on the ball and offers customers who have stuck around this long serious discounts and makes LTE happen, I don’t think that’s what is really going to occur.
A lot of Sprint’s customers are fleeing any which way they can now, and a lot of people are getting burned with an even worse carrier. Alternately, folks being burned elsewhere are flocking to Sprint with the promise of LTE rollouts.
I’m not well versed in the ways of all the US carriers, and each carrier works better in some places and under some circumstances than others, so I’m wondering what your carrier is, what your phone is, what your monthly bill, your best and worst stories, and whether you’d keep them given the chance. Also please throw in your general location and if you’re satisfied, dissatisfied, etc.
This will hopefully help anyone considering either switching or staying, as well as let you get your experience in front of someone else. Or perhaps we’ll discover that every cell phone provider is overstating their speeds, capacities, coverage, and so on. Who knows!
I’ll start it off – Sprint, Nashville TN area, have some weird discounts through work so my bill doesn’t reflect normally but would be in the $80 range without, I get 1/10th the 3G speeds and my city which was supposed to be finished this coming month is only 6% LTE.
Without an Airave active I do not receive calls at home as my tower is next to useless.
I’ll admit, I can’t remember my best Sprint experience. They’ve never been anyone to me except an annoyance that keeps calling me trying to sell me more product.
My worst Sprint experience was when my account was compromised, multiple replacement phones ordered shipped to a location in Florida, and then I was treated like I was attempting to scam the company by a CSR who did not understand that Florida was not right next door to Nashville and I didn’t accidentally have them shipped next door to Florida.
Then had to go in present ID, and spent the next 7 months fighting Asurion equipment replacement and could get no help from Sprint, not even to deny Asurion access to send me a phone. Whoever compromised my account managed to get a total of 3 phones ordered during all of this.
If there’s something better out there and I can move my EVO 4G LTE to it, I’d be there in a heartbeat. As I sort of write about the EVO 4G LTE at the moment, I probably will suffer.
Other than having to pay an activation fee for a phone that I paid full MSRP for and activated myself online, I like Sprint. I have LTE where I live and in most areas during my commute to work. Coverage in downtown Chicago is spotty (I get 1X at my desk, 3G in most other parts of my building, but LTE in a corner conference room; I get LTE in a major food court, but not most other places), but I don’t use much data here when I’m at work, anyway. My girlfriend also has WiMax just about everywhere she needs it (she’s on my old EVO 4G). Given that I have unlimited data, pay less than most of my friends, and have good coverage in all the places I spend time, I see no reason to leave (and I’m out of contract, so I can leave whenever I want).
With all that said, I hate how they’re trying to make Sprint stores like Apple stores. I shouldn’t have to sign in just to buy a damn accessory – I should be able to grab the accessory and go to the cashier to pay, end of story.
I’d think that the worst part of bringing your own Sprint device is the fact that you can’t go month-to-month..
Me and my wife have Sprint in Dallas. Awesome reception, 3G and 4G both work in various parts of the city. If I drive into Highland Park the reception drops but I bet that’s because of so few towers in that part of town. I really can’t complain like everyone else on here has. I guess I am in a good spot in the city. Granted if I drive to the middle of no where I go into roaming but I rarely leave the city.
I have had nothing but positive experiences with Sprint for the 6 years I have been with them. Coverage in Colorado is good (will be even better when we get LTE), customer service via the 800 number is excellent. Stores are suspect. But over all best carrier for my money.
We’ve had Nextel and then Sprint for probably going on 10 years now. We’ve seen the rise and fall of Sprint Premier and Sprint’s great pricing and customer service.
Now we stick with Sprint because no matter which way you slice it, it’s still cheapest and I haven’t tracked my data to find out how much I actually use, but I’m guessing it’s plenty.
We have 5 lines on the account, which used to be enough pull to make Sprint do anything we wanted. Not anymore. They’re stingy, confused, and have terrible customer service. But again, pricing out identical plans (with limited data) from Verizon is still 1/3rd more per month (discounts figured in to Sprint and Verizon).
We have 4G WiMax and LTE phones here in the house, and both have 4G coverage (NW Suburbs of Chicago). My Evo 4G LTE pulls 4G coverage (with about 80% consistency) in just about every place I go to. It drops in and out without much logic (here on second, gone the next) but is ON more than it’s OFF. Speeds usually hang around 8-10mbs down and 12-16mb UP (yep, higher up than down).
Honestly, if I didn’t have to interact with Sprint at all, I’d be happy enough. The prices are getting outrageous, but still cheaper than any other national carrier. The coverage in Chicago is adequate to good. The phones are still nice, but slow on the updates and newest ones.
So, for now, I continue with Sprint and suck it up. Still the best bang for the buck (for family plans) in the Chicago area.
Omaha, NE.
Sprint customer since 2002.
I was also a customer for about a year in 1995 (or so). That original experience was abysmal. The Omaha area back then was like a slice of Swiss cheese, with more hole than cheese. I could hardly place/take/maintain calls anywhere. And that was back when phone calling was all you did with mobile phones.
I left back then precisely because of that experience. And, fortunately, at the time Sprint wasn’t doing “contracts”, so I was able to close my account without any penalties.
At the the time I had only 2 lines for my wife and me.
Several years later, economics caused me to re-research the carriers in my area. Sprint was clearly less expensive than any other here at the time (and that remains true, plan-for-plan).
Now I have a 5-line family plan. We all have smart phones (4 EVO 4G LTE’s and one iPhone 5).
Upon returning to Sprint in 2002, and ever since, I have honestly had pretty fantastic service anywhere I travel in Omaha. I can’t think of any time that I dropped a call.
My typical bill is $280, this is for the 5 lines, the Everything 1500 Family plan, which is unlimited everything except daytime mobile-to-landline minutes. My family of 5 barely dents the 1500 monthly minutes. We use a great deal of the unlimited texting and data.
I have enjoyed an 11% discount through my employer for a few years now, and that $280 includes that discount, though Sprint has rejiggered exactly which portions of the bill that that 11% discount applies to, so it is worth less now than it used to be.
When I travel, which is not real often, but some, I’ve never had trouble with service anywhere I went, except out of the country, where I don’t expect service anyway.
I’ve been impressed (on paper) with the EVO line of phones, but disappointed in actual day to day use. Having said that, lately (ever since Jelly Bean) my only complaint is the issue with the proximity sensor blacking out my screen during a phone call and not giving me the screen back when I take the phone away from my head. I just installed the latest fix that came out today, so we’ll see how that goes. If I have no new bugs, and that one is fixed, I think I could breath a sigh of relief and actually say that I truly like my EVO 4G LTE.
My only remaining comment is that I was patient for a time, but grow increasingly disappointed with Sprint’s pace of LTE implementation. I haven’t the slightest idea when Omaha is going to get LTE. If they were on schedule to complete “Network Vision” by the end of 2013, they should be making market announcements weekly, and there should be hundreds of markets in service by now.
I’m growing discouraged and wonder if Omaha may be a couple years off. That will disappoint me.
Over all, unless Sprint’s LTE rollout completely fails, like WiMax did, I am happy with my service, and with my monthly rate. It looks like there is a chance I’ll be happy with my phone again. And, maybe, someday, I’ll be excited by LTE.
I have sprint on my of evo and absolutely hate it I live in ventura, CA and get slow 3g here my rom helps my speeds but not much, I get 4g in the ghetto which I rarely go into and in LA I get 1x alot of the time I’m paying 80$ a month for bull shit service, my 2 year is up here in june and I dont know what I’m going to do in a perfect world id be with verizon but that just ups my bills, most likely if I have the money ill make the switch or maybe go to boast get the same service but for cheaper I dont know its a hard decision
Someone elses green grass is just as brown as the one you have now.
With a work discount, Sprint is a great deal cheaper than any alternative.
Coverage is very spotty here in central MA. Without an Airave I cannot receive a call at my house, even though I can see 3 towers from my roof.
3G speeds are a joke, and most of the time it switches to 1x as soon as I try to use it. Similarly, calls will fail to initiate even when my EVO reports a couple bars of service.
I came from T-Mobile about 3 years ago, and the coverage around here was worst than sprint, and I constantly had to audit my bill for errors.
Okay. I’m not the type that really likes delving into personal details about location etc (yes, call me a tinfoil hat), but I have no issue with telling you my feelings on my Sprint service.
I’ve been with Sprint three years (with my wife) and we’ve been MOSTLY satisfied with their service. In my area, I do enjoy decent 3G speeds. Lately they’ve been between 1.5Mbps and 2.5Mbps. Wi-Max has always ranged in the 15Mbps to 20Mbps area. I HAVE been in areas while traveling where the speed was abysmal though. We’re talking 1X speed. The cost of my service has inched up over the years. Primarily when they added the $10 a line “premium data” charge. I have looked into equivalent plans with Verizon and others and they are substantially more expensive. Admittedly though, you probably would get a much more consistent data throughput experience if you travel. The LTE situation for Sprint is what my main concern is now. I’m near an upgrade and I do use Wi-Max a lot. LTE probably won’t be rolled out to my area for a long time (despite me getting Wi-Max early), so the prospect of “upgrading” to a phone with no 4G data annoys me to no end, especially when I’d be paying an extra $10 a month per line for NON 4G data at that point. I’d basically be funding Sprint’s slow LTE roll out engine and gaining nothing out of it. At this point, I am probably at a crossroads with Sprint. LTE isn’t the be all and end all of service for me, but it annoys me to downgrade from 4G Wi-Max to regular old EVDO again when I have brand-spankin’ new LTE capable handset. I honestly, don’t know what I am going to do when my upgrade arrives. Most likely, I will sit on it for a little while and see what flagship handsets Sprint offers. Even they offer one that I’m in love with, I may just jump ship to an MVNO and get the next Nexus.
20 MB/s over WiMax? I think I got 10 one time. My area generally gives 4-8.
Yeah, I know, right? It’s pretty amazing and just leads me to believe that hardly anyone uses Wi-Max around here.
But yes, it’s averages around 15Mbps, but I do see spurts to 20Mbps. Frankly, I’d still be happy with anything over 5Mbps, if that were the case, but I won’t complain over what I have now.
Sprint in Riverside CA: Used to be great with regards to reception and decent at data speeds. I have seen a steady decline in data speeds since the introduction of the iphone. Most places I go, data is so bad that it is virtually non-existent. I cannot stream music via google play without it skipping at times. I did a download speed test at work the other day, outside even, and I pulled 56kb down and I think it was like 25kb up. Cellular reception seems fine and I have had good luck with customer service. I would like to see my $10 per line (I have 5 lines) go to upgrading the 3g speeds in my area to a functional level. Since I have a smartphone I kinda need a functional level of internet service so this may be the reason I leave sprint after having been with them for the past 10 years.
Sprint customer for 10+ years, SW FL
3 lte and one evo 4g on my plan
bill is around $220 a month with a 20% discount.
with free mobile to mobile on any carrier we use less than 100 plan minutes a month, send thousands of texts (kids) and consume a decent amount of data I’m sure.
I’ve always had good customer service from Sprint, but i rarely call them.
Like many others, I am growing impatient with the LTE that may never come. My 3g seems to be getting worse, not better. Until I get the kids off my plan (if) I will stay. Can’t beat the price anywhere else.
Sprint in Union, NJ:
I’ve been with sprint for over 10 years and I finally think this will be my last contract with them. I just don’t get the sense that Sprint is doing enough to keep up with Verizon, At&t and even Tmob (which i feel is going to be the 3rd best carrier very soon). Horrible 3G speeds and no LTE. C’mon really Sprint. Your customers are paying for it, I’m paying for it and if there’s one thing you don’t want is to have your customers feel cheated. That’s a big no no and trust me your going to have a lot of people jump ship in 2014 or even earlier.
Being on 3G is unbearable even when I have all the bars lit up!! Your Visual VM stinks! So disappointed. I used to back them but there playing with my emotions and I don’t like that. Sprint is pretty much a dead man walking!
I get nearly 20% discount from my job. It pretty much lowers the price 20 bucks after all the fees and taxes.
I went on a 3D binge the year the EVO 3D came out, 3D tv, 3D movies and games, EVO 3D, etc. I bought the EVO 4G LTE thinking the same thing I did when I got the original EVO. LTE would be available around christmas. Well, it’s pretty much February and no LTE in Pasadena, CA. Not only that, but the actual phone has so many problems it pretty much REQUIRES rooting and flashing a rom or installing a zip to fix it’s issues. Some of which are CREATED by UPDATING it’s original software. I have decided not to update it at all.
Not only that, I haven’t even activated it yet. The 3D just works better, imo. No “loading” screen after multitasking and going back to the home screen, no reloading of internet webpages or apps that I switched to and from. All the memory seems to be tied up somewhere else.
I’m not even going to get started on Sprint’s premier or premium customer incentives that showed up and disappeared with the blink of an eye.
As for the service that the carrier provides, I get a good signal for the phone, which is probably the only reason to choose Sprint. Co workers and friends who didn’t have Sprint are usually complaining about not getting a signal.
WiMax 4G is usually really good(if you have it), but occasionally I seem to have a strong signal and my phone just sits there, waiting to load the page.
Sprint is pretty cool for the fact that I got the discount on the LTE for upgrading, but was not required to activate it when renewing my contract.
I like that Sprint had their own NBA app for a while, which turned into NBA Game Time, but I am not sure if that is Sprint exclusive or not.
Depending on how this LTE stuff works out, I may look at other options, like Ting(I know it’s a reseller).
The unlimited data is the only plus for Sprint right now, but who needs unlimited data when the network isn’t even up to par on the older technology?
I have been with Sprint since 1998. I currently have a Galaxy Nexus and an Iphone 5 on my plan which I pay $135 a month (20%) discount. I live in Des Moines, IA. My 3G speeds clock in at .19(down) and .40(up) on my GNex. Frankly these speeds are a joke. I have always been loyal to Sprint but I was fooled to believe that LTE would roll out sometime soon so I renewed my contract last October. I have regretted it ever since. If I could do it over I would sign up with Tmobile and pay roughly the same amount but get access to their HSPA network immediately. My question is this…Can I break my contract based on the fact my 3G speeds are so terrible, or at least get my rate lowered? Please advise.
I know a lot of people don’t like AT&T, but I’ve been very pleased with the company. I’m in Sacramento, CA, and it works great. Plus, every smartphone I’ve ever wanted has been on AT&T. I can’t say the same for the other carriers. I’m currently using the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, but I’ll be switching to the Nokia Lumia 920 soon
Orange County, CA. Been with Sprint for 15+ years now. 2 Line Family Plan with 1500 minutes. Pay about $135 after a work discount. Coverage has REALLY gotten unusable the last 6 months. Data speeds are terrible – average under 300kbs down and far less up on 3G. I actually got 8kbs down yesterday – could do anything! Wimax coverage is hit or miss so pretty much useless where I am.
Phone reception has gotten very bad too. My wife and I are experiencing more and more dropped calls daily. I know the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, but it is getting to the point that we can’t even use our Evo 3D. I get discounts for work for both Verizon and AT&T. I looking into the monthly pricing and it will be pretty much the same as my current Sprint cost – although not unlimited data. Then again, I can’t even use data now so it really won’t be that much of a problem.
Just waiting for my contract to be up and then c-ya later Sprint. I will be leaving for Verizon and the Note 2!!! I have tried to wait it out, but with all the delays in the LTE coverage, I just can’t pay for service that we can’t use because it is so BAD!! If the grass isn’t greener over at Verizon, I can always come back to Sprint once the pull the heads out of their A#$ and get LTE implemented here in Orange County.
I’ve had sprint for about 6 yrs end overall I’ve had a positive experience. I have the evo lte and I get lte at home but not at work, here in the Tampa area. My bill is only $30 thanks to a dealer line I have working for a retailer. At&t and Verizon would cost the same but the lack of unlimited data is a deal breaker.
I’ve been with Sprint going on 9 yrs. I have the EVO 3D and i’m ok with it for now. Waiting for April for my upgrade. (hopefully by then something GOOOD will be out). In my area my service is SLOOOOOW before 2a.m. after that it’s easy going. Ha go figure. Once i leave my area i have NO problems. But with all that i have no intentions on leaving Sprint. Love my old plan, wont change it to pay more for less.
Where i live in is in chino California, i have terrible signal where i live.. I chose to take it to my own hands. I noticedi get unlimited roaming so i chose to root and load a custom Verizon prl through a old ginger bread ROM. Then reflashed a jellybean rom now I’m getting Verizon 3g service i got nothing to complain bout now its unlimited!!!! I loaded a old ROM so i can access epst and load a prl off the phone and found the Prl online just Google it.. I believe it was an old mik ROM i used
I’d be careful with that setup. You’re playing with fire.
If Sprint notices a pattern of you continually roaming on Verizon, they will cut you off (terminate your contract). I think you get something like around 300 MB grace of roaming per month, so try to stay under that.
My best Sprint experience has been the ability to get a busted phone fixed or replaced for $35 at my local Sprint repair center store. I did this at least four times (a couple Heros and a couple EVOs). The only time they refuse me was if phone was exposed to water.
Here’s one…Has anyone moved into a new home and gotten no Sprint service even though your in the coverage area, only to be sent an Airwave that barely works because (Sprints explanation) your internet speed is too slow. They actually told me I should upgrade my internet speed, (seperate from the $150 i pay them per month by the way), if I didn’t want anymore issues. My neighbors have Att and Verizon and have no reception issues in their homes with no “magic antenna”. We have the same builder! See you later Sprint! I might as well got with Crickett!
This happened to me. The problems I ran into with the Airwave is when the Internet connection drops. I live in a valley so I barely got roaming signals and when I got to the top of hill I got decent 3G coverage for voice but really slow data speeds. I told Sprint that because I cannot get service at the billing address on my account that I should be able to get out of my contract.
I’m in the Philadelphia market. We were promised LTE by the end of 2012… nothing yet.
But to make matter worse the 3G is really bad.
I had some very frustrating time with calls going to the wrong number, or nowhere, being unable to pick up calls…. and according to sprint the solution was to turn off roaming.
I switch from my beloved EVO 3D to Galaxy S3 because of the promise of LTE, if I did not have 4 phones to replace by switching carrier I would be on another service right now.
I live in Central Florida and I have Sprint and i am in a wimax area, but the wimax is slower that the 3G. I switched to Sprint from Verizon, because my wife’s friend worked for sprint and were got on her employee discount. Stated out paying $50 a month for 2 phones. She the friend left sprint and we upgraded our phones and now we pay $130 a month. My services is spotty and slow. I have the orginal EVO 4G and it is rooted and my wife has the Samsung epic 4G and it is rooted. When I had Verizon, then the Hurricanes hit Central Florida, I still had good service, while everyone who has Sprint and ATT couldn’t make and calls adn diidn’t have any data service. If sprint doesn’t get it together by July, when my contract is up, I am looking to go back to Verizon or Metro PCS.
I have a 2 line family plan, with a EVO 3d and a 4G LTE. paying $180/Month+Tax customer since before 2000
In the Houston Tx. area we were one of the first to get wimax and LTE.
3G speeds are a joke, usually slower than a dial up connection.
Wimax is spotty and impossible inside a building and when connected only get 2-3mbps. no where close to 15 as stated by sprint.
LTE…I cannot comment on it cause my wife’s 4g LTE has NEVER connected to it.
Honestly i would be happy if sprint just gave us just one of the following:
1- half decent 3G speeds.
2- Actually reward the customer by giving back the yearly upgrades for long term customers.
3- Don’t treat me like something stuck to the bottom of your shoes that needs to be cleaned off with the water hose.
4- Release Software updates in a reasonable amount of time.
5- Support the phones you sell for longer than 6 months. You know we are stuck with them for 2 years!
Well considering the area I am in Sprint has finished the majority of the Tower upgrades. I had decided to sign another 2 year contract with them in November. I was an avid EVO user and I decided to get the S3… I am getting great data speeds although I am still dropping a large amount of calls. I live in the West Suburbs of Chicago and there are still some towns around here that are no where near getting fixed and when I go into the town I can see the difference. Unfortunately I signed a contract rather than purchasing out right because I have been tempted to cancel out already do to the massive amounts of drops.. So in my area there are goods and bads
The dropped calls will go away when your area is 100% complete (which should be in a few months) Chicago is already >86% complete IIRC. Dropped calls are an issue with hand offs from a new base station to an old base station and the reverse. (From Motorola-Samsung)
I remember way back in the day when GoodandEvo now Pockelables use to do articles about the Evo phone line. Articles such as accessory reviews, features of the phone and just Evo related news. Now, 4 of the 8 articles I see on the first page are filled with comments with people, bitching. If its not about Sprint or HTC they are bitching about both. What has the website come to? Most of the time the articles aren’t even related to the Evo. I remember back in the day when this use to be a great website with Evo related news, not several different people posting articles about being unhappy with Sprint and HTC. Its called GOODANDEVO, not let’s bitch about Sprint and HTC.
EVO is made by HTC
EVO runs, primarily on Sprint
Almost all custom software development on the EVO line has stalled due to HTC/Sprint
Most other manufacturers have stopped making EVO accessories as it’s losing market share darn fast.
So, we write about the problems. In this case the hope was for this piece to help people who are with EVOs to find another carrier, or give them some hope that their area would be served by LTE finally. It’s freaking sad to own one of the greatest phones in the world and be brought down by the companies actively working against you.
Some times it’s venting time, and this was it. Positive notes are coming most likely.
And when I can find anything new made for the EVO, I’ll put it up. A whole host of ROMs should be around soon, assuming we can get past the HTC update killing almost all root uses.
Lot of things converged all at the same time
You are right I also remember visiting these pages for articles but now it reads more like support group for abused wives. So as much as understand how the experience one user has differs from one to the other I can tell you that if I was having such a hard time with the service I would move to another carrier even if I had to pay the ETF cause one day without a phone costs me more money than to move to a carrier that lets me get shit done instead of sitting on my ass bitching and moaning about it
Here in aiken sc I’ve been with sprint for 5 years now and absolutely loved it for up until 6 months ago when my closest tower went down. I have called them once a month now and the tower has yet to be fixed and brought back up so I no longer get service in my city and have had to fight with them every month when they freak out on me for roaming so much. I’m paying $180 a month for an evo 3d and sgs2 (there isn’t WiMAX or lte coming to this area or anywhere near so I have yet to bother looking into any new phones)
I switched from AT&T when they where the only ones without 3G in the area and their service was worse then what I’m experiencing now And had cheaper unlimited everything on sprint. Both of us together don’t even use 2 gigs a month because my partner has wifi at home and work and I have wifi at home and no service to communicate with the outside world at all when I’m at work. Our alternative in the area is Verizon which has lte in the area and could cover our needs of data with being $40 cheaper with out the nice discount my work offers for Verizon. I would also get 4g at work.
In all honesty well probably go to Verizon when our contract is up but not because I hate sprint (cause I dont) but because its cheaper has a better selection of the phones I’m interested in better coverage and lte to fit our needs.
Had sprint got our tower back online when I and several people at work notified them about it 6 months ago I honestly would have never even taken the time to sit down and figure out that Verizon would suit our needs (yeah I kinda got a bandwagon going of people that I work with that are effected by the tower calling once a month along with me)
Call 866-984-4962 and talk to them about it. Ask for a ticket number, write it down. Call them back the next day and ask them about the ticket number. It will likely get fixed within the space of a week.
Moved my family from AT&T (great service coverage in our metro Denver area), but wanted to save some money.
Have saved money, but do not enjoy WiMAX coverage, live on the fringe of 3G coverage (pulling 1G half of the time with my EVO 4G).
Contract expires in 2 months and I will be saying hello to VZW with a Samsung S3. I will be the first one to move over and will bring the rest of the family as their contracts expire.
I don’t expect the VZW grass to be greener all of the time, but I would like to receive the premium data service for which I am paying $10/month over the life of the 2-year contract.
As LTE isn’t even a gleam in Sprint’s eye for my coverage area and there seems to be no light at the end of the “high-speed promise” tunnel, I will also be joining the Sprint 4G Class Action Lawsuit.
http://sprint4glawsuit.com/contractrequest.htm
I was with Sprint for nearly 12 years before I switched to another carrier. I liked Sprint and their plans and had an employee discount (22%) that seemed to be shrinking due to their “revised” discounting methods. My bill was considerably less then if I did not have the discount so I never complained.
I moved a year ago into an area that has coverage but not if you live in a valley (I thought 2001 was done and over with). At the top of my street, I already had okay coverage and when I got to my house at the bottom of the hill I had no coverage and roaming was even crappy. After eight months of dealing with this, I switched to AT&T which has worked flawless everywhere that I never had good coverage with Sprint.
I had an Airwave 2 and 2.5 at my house. When my Internet went out, so did my cell service. This pissed me off to no end because I do not have a land-line and with my wife at home, communicating is important.
My coverage problems and data speed problems started two years prior to me moving and I called in almost on a monthly or bi-monthly basis to see if they were fixing it. They claimed it was my phone, sent me a replacement, it did not work; go figure and said they were working on towers in my area. I also had a lot of backup Sprint phones and tried those and got the same results. Over the course of three years, I got a lot of bill adjustments and did sign a contract twice in that time (end of 2008 and 2011).
Fast forward to August 2012, my wife and I are pretty much fed up with Sprint, their lack of making their network better, the slower-than-ever data speeds (Pandora was pretty must useless on all of my Evo’s), and the fact that if the Internet goes out our cell service goes with it.
Between my wife and I in this short time; I had two Evo 4g’s, two different Evo 3D’s, an Evo 4G LTE, an iPhone 4s (promptly sold shortly after), and my wife had a Blackberry Bold, iPhone 4, and Evo 3D. I returned my 4G LTE because I had some signal problems and because there was no 4G LTE in the Atlanta area at that time.
After coming to an agreement that I could cancel my service, return both of the EVO 3D’s that were on the account, and have no cancellation fees. This came about a month before I switched (I gave Sprint one last ditch effort before I switched) and made sure that it was noted in my account.
I switched to AT&T because I have AT&T thru work so I know it works at my house (most important) and everywhere I go. The LTE speeds have been anywhere from 15Mbps on up so Pandora was been working great. I got a share plan with 6GB and now get an 18% student discount so my bill only went up about $15. AT&T even waived the activation fees on both lines because I am a student (grad school). Totally worth it for a service that works great.
I now have an HTC One X+ and my wife has the One X. I had a Vivid before and it worked great until I dropped it.
Sprint customer since i was 17… now 30 so that would make it 13 years. Of course its easy to say Sprint has gotten way better each year, because its true. Of course there are some bumps along the way, i never shoulda bought that Motorla Q when i was 21 lol, Followed by the Palm Pre when I was 27… Things got a lot better when i brought in my broken pre and they gave me an HTC Evo 4G… it was the best and fastest phone i EVER had. Than contract was up about a few months later, and was given an EVO 3D. This has been an ok phone. The 3g speed here in New Orleans, so so. faster in some areas than other, but I usually am on wi-fi when im home or at work, so i don’t notice the really slow speeds. I guess I am on the same boat as everyone else, a bit upset it’s taking so long for 4g, but after checking sensorly, its looking like its progressing nicely. My contract ends on April, so I am hoping by April /May new orleans LTE is at least 70 to 80% done and with the rumors of the HTC M7, it would make my experience on a continuous improvement
I have a two-line Sprint family plan, 1500 minutes. Currently paying about $179 a month after all of the nickel and diming is done. I use an Evo 3D while my wife has a Evo Shift.
While we have no announcement as to when we’ll see LTE here in Colorado, both of these phones are WiMax and I generally get good signal most places. 3G can be pretty slow when 4G drops off, but it’s still good enough.
Overall I’m content with the service I get, though I would be tempted to spend the $100 or so you can get an Evo V for and switch to Virgin Mobile. I’d get back my investment in just a couple months (less after reselling my current phones), save a ton, and be using the same network. The only thing that’s stopping me is the fact that I would prefer a newer phone and just can’t justify the ‘good enough’ 3D for another year or two.
So yeah, I’ll probably be renewing with Sprint when my upgrades roll around in a couple months unless I see something on T-Mobile that catches my interest. Also frustrated with the way Sprint treats contract renewal differently than a new contract, one would think keeping their existing customers would be more important than pulling in a new one.
I have the HTC evo 4g lte since November 2012 (2 line family plan with sprint for $200 a month) in Santa Barbara California. No 4g here. My connection constantly times out. My 3g is slow if not spotty. I’ve been with sprint for a few years now but the past year has made me unhappy with my phone and sprint. I’m looking for alternatives unfortunately
I left Sprint in December when I moved to Western PA. I was happy with them until EVERYONE had 4G service except me, and I increasingly had the need for 4G data. I had 3 lines with them, now I have none. I have 1 line that I transferred over to Straight Talk Wireless (on AT&T’s network) with a Google Nexus 4. AT&T’s HSPA+ isn’t as great as T-Mobile’s (which I tried out for a month) in terms of speed, but in terms of coverage, it’s the best bang for the buck. I consistently get speeds way faster than I did with WiMax on my 3VO and EVO.
Overall, I’ve had to call Straight Talk twice in the past 2 months to release the data throttle, but they always do it without a fight or warning of any sort. The only abysmal thing about their customer service is the wait times for the Bring-Your-Own-Device Customer Service center. During the hours of 7-11PM ET (which is 3PM-7PM PT) you literally will wait on hold 20-30 minutes minimum, and often will be greeted with a message to “…call again later.” because their lines are overwhelmed. They key is to call earlier in the day.
I didn’t mention that Straight Talk’s unlimited everything plan is only $42.50/month if you sign up for Auto-Refill when they occasionally have a $2.50/month off promotion for signing up. Otherwise it’s $45/month. It’s really unbeatable, as AT&T overall has a great network.
Let me just say I had an evo 4g lte and loved thr phone but hated sprint. So I switched to a note 2 on verizon about a week ago… now instead of getting .4mbs down and .03mbs up I get 18mbs down and 5mbs up… on top of it this phone is amazing