Sprint forcing premium data on ALL SMARTPHONES

[Recursion]

Originally Posted by quick99si

Everything isn't really "everything." I don't think that plan comes with international minutes, text, data, etc.. Look at "everything" as a sales pitch moreso than a descriptor.

Doesn't change the fact that it's BS lol

lol...right? still bs...

[Obijon]

I don't really see the price as the issue here. It's still an issue of fairness. Singling out all smartphone users with an extra data charge is no better than targeting only 4G phone users. The feature phones out today are just as capable of using a high amount of data. My wife uses an LG Optimus mainly because she liked the way the phone looked. I can guarantee I used more data on the old Samsung Instinct I had.

I'm sure data use has increased with smartphone sales. But is that really the only thing or even the main thing gobbling up bandwidth? What about all the mobile broadband users? I use Virgin Mobile's unlimited $40 service on my laptop and probably use more data than 4 or 5 average smartphone users. How can you ask smartphone users to to cover the cost of increased network usage caused by many different factors? I'm guessing some marketing analysts concluded that smartphone users probably have the deeper pockets as a whole and were least likely to be upset about a little $10 fee.

I understand that plan rates can go up over time. But it should be just that. An increase to unlimited data plans. Not targeting users of certain phones. But that's not an option since it would raise the advertised rate. Making the plans initial price a little closer to the competition and less attractive to new customers.

Taking away many of the early upgrades then slapping on an extra data charge seems like a pretty foolish move. Especially for a company with a history of retention problems, competing in a tough market.

[gTen]

Originally Posted by Obijon

I don't really see the price as the issue here. It's still an issue of fairness. Singling out all smartphone users with an extra data charge is no better than targeting only 4G phone users. The feature phones out today are just as capable of using a high amount of data. My wife uses an LG Optimus mainly because she liked the way the phone looked. I can guarantee I used more data on the old Samsung Instinct I had.

I'm sure data use has increased with smartphone sales. But is that really the only thing or even the main thing gobbling up bandwidth? What about all the mobile broadband users? I use Virgin Mobile's unlimited $40 service on my laptop and probably use more data than 4 or 5 average smartphone users. How can you ask smartphone users to to cover the cost of increased network usage caused by many different factors? I'm guessing some marketing analysts concluded that smartphone users probably have the deeper pockets as a whole and were least likely to be upset about a little $10 fee.

I understand that plan rates can go up over time. But it should be just that. An increase to unlimited data plans. Not targeting users of certain phones. But that's not an option since it would raise the advertised rate. Making the plans initial price a little closer to the competition and less attractive to new customers.

Taking away many of the early upgrades then slapping on an extra data charge seems like a pretty foolish move. Especially for a company with a history of retention problems, competing in a tough market.

This concept is not new..metroPCS and others charged extra for smartphones, and Verizon and others enforced data plans...

Virgin mobile is owned by sprint and is part of their prepaid stuff...so they may not go that route but overall it is true that smartphones use more data...simply since they are capable with syncing data via 3g...none smartphones usually utilize 2g to sync and only get headers then get content on demand...

[yankees45us]

There is not much anyone can do at this point except wait to see if any legal actions are taken by any courts. Or switch services. Problem is no other post paid service offers the same price and coverage. Only prepaid like virgin mobile but that is owned by sprint so it makes no sense. The only probable valid complaint anyone has is they keep advertising the "everything" plan when it really doesn't include everything for the base price. Then maybe people have a valid case. All I know is that with the price increase on my family plan the price per line is still under $50 with taxes. So its still viable for me. All I'm aking is that sprint release some awesome phones and better 4g coverage and put this extra money to good use.

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[BlackDynamite]

Originally Posted by yankees45us

There is not much anyone can do at this point except wait to see if any legal actions are taken by any courts. Or switch services. Problem is no other post paid service offers the same price and coverage. Only prepaid like virgin mobile but that is owned by sprint so it makes no sense. The only probable valid complaint anyone has is they keep advertising the "everything" plan when it really doesn't include everything for the base price. Then maybe people have a valid case. All I know is that with the price increase on my family plan the price per line is still under $50 with taxes. So its still viable for me. All I'm aking is that sprint release some awesome phones and better 4g coverage and put this extra money to good use.

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That's not entirely true. People can file complaints with the FCC, BBB, Public utilities Commission, and State Attorney General. Waiting for someone else to take care of it with a court action is probably the worst thing everyone can do.

As for nobody else offering the coverage and/or price, I already posted about that:
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/carrier-di...ml#post2040789

Originally Posted by BlackDynamite

All of this "Sprint is faster in some areas" should really say "T-Mobile is faster in most areas."

Sprint has Wimax that is capable of a theoretical max of 10 meg download speeds. They have 4G covering 120 million people, in 45 cities. That is what Sprint claims. Now some of those 45 cities are really the same city- such as Tacoma and Seattle, or Dallas and Fort Worth.

T-Mobile has HSPA+ that is capable of a theoretical max of 21 meg download speeds. They have 4G covering 200 million people, in 100 cities. And they have announced that they are already in the process of doubling that max speed to 42 meg download speeds and should be done with the network wide rollout in the first half of this year.

And you should also know that T-Mobile does not suffer the same indoor issues that Sprint does with their 4G. T-Mobile 4G works the same way as their 3G. It's an upgrade to their 3G, not some totally new and different technology that uses different frequencies and requires 10x more towers. So their 4G works just fine inside buildings and has far fewer coverage holes. And the tower handoffs are a lot smoother too. Have you ever been streaming Pandora while driving with Sprint 4G? It drops the connection almost every time you change towers. Not an issue with T-Mobile's 4G.

I don't mean to get all T-Mobile on you guys (I actually have an Evo) but I'm just sick of seeing everyone blindly say "Sprint is better" without knowing the facts.

As for plans, I looked at T-Mobile's website and they have the following plans listed, all with unlimited data and messaging:
Individual plans:
Unlimited minutes: $99.99 (Sprint $109.99 with $10 fee)
1500 minutes: $79.99 (Sprint's closest plan is $99.99 with $10 fee for 900 minutes)
Family plans:
Unlimited minutes: 2 lines: $179.99, 4 lines: $319.99 (Sprint with $10 per line fee: $209.98, $409.96)
3000 minutes: 2 lines: $149.99, 4 lines: $229.99 (Sprint with $10 per line fee: $189.99, $249.97)

So lets stop with all the "Sprint is cheaper, faster, better coverage..." It's crap if you actually look at the facts. Yes, in your particular area Sprint may have better coverage, and for your particular plan Sprint may be cheaper. But for the majority of people out there, T-Mobile has faster speeds, better 4G coverage, and cheaper plans.

You might say "but Sprint plans include Navigation..." Well free navigation is available on any smartphone anyway.

If Sprint works for you, fine. But stop knocking this dude for finding something that worked better for himself. It would only help you if you did the research to find out if Sprint really is the best, like you all think. T-Mobile has undergone major network upgrades over the last few years so chances are they aren't the T-Mobile you knew that sucked a few years ago. They now have the nation's largest 4G network, and plans cheaper than Sprint's.

[yankees45us]

Originally Posted by BlackDynamite

That's not entirely true. People can file complaints with the FCC, BBB, Public utilities Commission, and State Attorney General. Waiting for someone else to take care of it with a court action is probably the worst thing everyone can do.

As for nobody else offering the coverage and/or price, I already posted about that:
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/carrier-di...ml#post2040789

Do you know how many complaints the fcc and bbb get? Most never get resolved. Plus the bbb can't do anything but put an f on a book. They can't force any changes.
As for t mobile, I have tried them, but in my area coverage is not good. Also when I travel I have coverage issues as well. If it worked I would love to use them but I guess my area isn't a priority to them. Only companies that work for me are big red and sprint and I don't feel like giving verizon an arm an a leg for their service.

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[quick99si]

Originally Posted by yankees45us

Do you know how many complaints the fcc and bbb get? Most never get resolved. Plus the bbb can't do anything but put an f on a book. They can't force any changes.
As for t mobile, I have tried them, but in my area coverage is not good. Also when I travel I have coverage issues as well. If it worked I would love to use them but I guess my area isn't a priority to them. Only companies that work for me are big red and sprint and I don't feel like giving verizon an arm an a leg for their service.

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I agree that it's next to useless, but I think OP's idea is that if enough people complain/****/whine (whichever way one perceives it), it will attract some sort of attention... whether it be from the Sprint top dogs, competitors seeking to attract defectors, third party tech news sites, any type of social media, real media, oblivious Sprint customers like your uncle, etc..

But if the handling of "4G tax" has shown us anything, it's that Sprint really wants or needs this revenue for their business strategies and goals. So much so that they were willing to suffer a PR black eye to stick with it AND introduce other fees on top of this... during a time when their #1 competitor is getting the #1 phone on the market. This is either overly ridiculous or totally desperate.

That leads me to say that all the FCC filings won't do much if anything. If they miraculously scrap any of the various $10 fees, they're going to turn around and get it elsewhere in order to stay afloat.

Show them what you think with your wallet or just open that wallet up for them.

[BlackDynamite]

Originally Posted by yankees45us

Do you know how many complaints the fcc and bbb get? Most never get resolved. Plus the bbb can't do anything but put an f on a book. They can't force any changes.
As for t mobile, I have tried them, but in my area coverage is not good. Also when I travel I have coverage issues as well. If it worked I would love to use them but I guess my area isn't a priority to them. Only companies that work for me are big red and sprint and I don't feel like giving verizon an arm an a leg for their service.

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So T-Mobile may not work for you. But you made it sound like T-Mobile won't work for anyone. The fact of the matter is they have way more 4G coverage than Sprint. They cover around twice as many people, in around twice as many cities. With 4G that is over twice as fast as Sprint's (and getting upgraded to over 4x as fast as Sprint's at this moment). And some of the plans listed on their website are even cheaper than Sprint's, with a whole category of plans that are way cheaper not listed on the website.

No matter how ineffective you think it is to file complaints with the FCC, BBB, PUC, and state AG, it is still a whole lot better than doing nothing and hoping someone else takes care of it.

If every customer that this is affecting files a complaint with the FCC, BBB, PUC, and state AG, I guarantee you it will either get over turned or Sprint will be forced to let every smartphone owner out of their contract without an ETF.

On the other hand, if nobody files anything and everyone just waits for a lawsuit, then nothing will change. Sprint will know for future reference that they are free to raise our bills whenever they want, not even letting us out of our contracts, and we won't do anything about it.

[boredandtattooed]

I understand the FCC gets TONS of complaints... then again, so does every company damn near..

doesnt mean sit back and do nothing.. no offense to anyone, but Im an ALPHA all the way.. Im a leader, plain and simple.. sitting back and not trying to do shit, well that just isnt me..

ever hear 1 letter is worth 10,000 voices?? everyones like "oh woe is me, this sucks kinda, too bad theres nothing i can do"... there is something you can do.. If even 1/10 of all the Sprint users on the web emailed 1 simply written compaint, itd be hard for Senetors, Congressman, FFC, etc not to notice... but who we kidding, most of the people are online because they like to hide.. they can be fake on the web and act ALPHA, when theyre really just sheep, following along..

You guys should be ashamed really.. "oh the FCC gets lots of complaints".. so freaaakin what! that doesnt mean you dont complain... Outback gets alot of customers at Dinner time, that mean your never gonna go?

and you do realize things happen at a State level too right?? Ie Flordia.. Did you know in FL and a few other states an ALL RED Water Indicator DOESNT mean they can refuse repair work? and that they have to find other signs of Water Damage OTHER than the sticker or they must repair or replace the device???? why is that?? because FL's Consumers stood up for their rights and complained..... come try that in Michigan, theyll kick ya out the door here over the Moisture Indicator being all red..

one last example, maybe the one of the bigger more difficult things that consumer action forced changes in: BlockBuster Late Fees.... remember those?? I was notorious for 3 rentals costing me $25 in the end... but Consumers( and some attorneys yes) made that change happen..

So consumer complaints, CAN MAKE AN IMPACT..

sorry for the rant guys... I have a 5 line account, with 5 smartphones.. I like new devices, i like to upgrade often.... but eventually this is going to lead to $50 a month in extra charges... Im still bent that SPrint forced me to change my plan just to get an ANdroid phone... now this... the $10 fee should be a "flat rate overage"... if you go over 5GB - $10 more, flat! if you stay under, no fee that month...... that seems fair.. then only 2 of my lines would get the fee, not 5... not 3 extra devices that barely use 1-2GB between all 3..

[Dr.8820]

Wirelessly posted (PPCGEEKS Fire Dept.: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows Phone OS 7.0; Trident/3.1; IEMobile/7.0; HTC; HD7))

I'm hurting them where it counts, the wallet. After countless emails, sprint decided they would rather lose my $70/month over $10. They're final argument was I wouldn't get their speed or coverage with anyone else and were cheaper .