Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

So, I have a real problem. I've been with Sprint for 10 years as of this August. I have perfect payment history and a credit rating above 780. I currently own the HTC Hero, which has been a good little phone, but I want to upgrade. I have the $150 credit to get a new phone, but that's where the issues begin to crop up.

My current contract expires Feb. 19, 2012. Because of successful negotiations in the past with Sprint's Executive Services, I pay $36 and change after taxes and fees for the following:

Plan details

Everything Data 450 $69.99
450 Anytime Minutes Included
Nationwide Long Distance Included
America - Roaming Included
Unlimited Any Mobile, Anytime
Unlimited SMS Text Messaging
Unlimited Picture Mail
Unlimited Data Usage
GPS Navigation
Sprint Data Essentials Pack
Nights: M-TH 7pm-7am Wknd: F 7pm-M 7am
Caller ID
Call Waiting
Three-Way Calling
Voicemail

Add-on services for:
Sprint Navigation
$0.00
Cellular Call Detail
$0.00
Unlimited Nights&Weekends-7pm
$0.00
Premium Data $0 add-on charge
$0.00
300 bonus Anytime Minutes per month
$0.00
Unlimited Any Mobile, Anytime
$0.00
Data Usage
$0.00
Picture Mail
$0.00

I don't use a whole lot of minutes (mostly mobile-to-mobile), don't use a whole lot of data (never more than 2GB/mo), and my max texts are typically around 3500/mo.

I want to upgrade my phone, and I'm considering the SGS2. I have been in contact with Executive Services recently, and the lowdown is that if I want to get a new phone, I will have to pay $200 for the phone. Then, since I was grandfathered in, I'll have to pay the premium data fee of $10/mo. But, I will also have to renew my contract and I will lose the extra $20/mo service credit that is currently offsetting the price of my service. I will retain my corporate discount of 27%, but, all told, after taxes and fees, simply upgrading my phone for $200 will actually increase the price of my service to about $65-70/mo after taxes and fees. This is nearly doubling the price of my service, and without a free phone to boot.

This is nearly the price of similar competing Verizon and AT&T service plans (after my corp discounts there), but Sprint doesn't offer 4G in my area (Albuquerque, NM), and their 3G service is spotty, at best.

Why should I stay with Sprint? Are there better options? Anything that offers premium phones for close to the same price I'm paying now?



TL: DR Sprint's jacking up my monthly price by nearly 2x if I upgrade phones, or at the end of my contract in February. Nothing I can do after negotiating with Executive Services. Where else can I go with premium phones for cheap?

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

Do what I did recently and goto T-mobile especially since sprint's 3G speeds are like dialup or just completely useless during the day. T-mobile has a prepay plan for $50 a month for unlimited calling,text and 2GB of data with a throttle after that, or u can get the $30 option and get only 100 mins of talk plus unlimited text and 5GB of data. Only problem with these plans is u have to actually pay full price for the phone. Or u can get one of their plans and they also offer discounts to new customers and have business discounts as well.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

i have no sypmathy for cheapo crybabies. its not 1997 and no one else is going to offer you 35 dollar cell service. consider yourself lucky youve gotten a good deal for a long time.
suck it up and pony up for a real phone (the hero "a good little phone"? hahaha!) that really cost money(no one is going to give you a sgs 2 for free on top of a money loosing plan like what youve got)on the only carrier to give truley unlimited data for a good price. im sure you havent accually looked in to vzw or att, because discount or not, the are almost double what sprint charges, and you cant get unlimited data.
that being said, amazonwirelss.com is giving away every sprint phone for a penny until tommorow (nov 28th). i just bougth 2 evo 3ds and a galaxy s2, and besides that, i called executive services and they gave me an 80 dollars service credit per line per upgrade (basically a free month on my 5 lines) just for extending my contract on those 3 lines.
i basicly just call this number 877-775-4886. it is a no waiting time sprint line to an american rep who will probably be more than willing to help.
i love sprint.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

in your area. in my area, i consistently pull 1.5 Mbps all day. up to 10 on wimax.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

I don't know why people worry about the data cap if you know how much you use and know you won't use it all...

But have you thought about buying a used phone craigslist/ebay/amazon or buy outright from sprint and using it on your plan? The phone costs more to buy without subsidy, but you save more than you spend on phone by keeping plan costs down. Using your current plan without upgrade, just adding 4G services you'll pay around $50? which instead of the $70 you'd pay, you save $20x24 months=$480. The subsidy would cost you something like $200-300 for the GSII?

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Im much happier now that i left sprint. The midwest has crippled network service through sprint. OP id look into other carriers.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

@austin420 well that's u. With t-mobile I've never gotten below 2.8m average around 5m as u can see in my sig and the highest I got was 13m
@fixxxer2008 its not just the Midwest @elesbb recently showed me his pitiful speeds and he's in PA.

So does wp7 even have a speedtest app? I tried that site and even with a 500mb packet, I get super varied results that don't compare the same to my speedtest app. The speed test app is from speedtest.net and ookla. I think they are way more reputable than that mobile speed test site.
Juat a bit ago, I did a test on this site you keep mentioning. I pulled a supposed 675k. I stood in the same place less than 10 seconds later and did a speedtest with the app from the android market, and it says I was pulling almost 2 mbps. I just don't trust that site for good results.

Sent from my SPH-D700 on the PPCGeeks App

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

I've not noticed the difference between the two to be significant to me

I get the same speeds if I hotspot my tp2/use mobilespeedtest.com/use ookla's app
They vary but only by like 50kbps...

on the mobilespeedtest site, you can pick the 1mb file or larger for a bit more accurate measure plus ookla uses a gps for nearest location, so that may play a factor in it

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

according to mobilespeknmsdflnma or whatever it says use 500kb or larger for accurate results, so thats what i used.
also, i am talking about on you phone itself. i dont tether. i pay for real internet, so i dont care about all that. on your phone 9touch pro 2 im assuming) using the android port, using the ookla app in the market ON THE PHONE compare your results to mobilespeedtest.com ON YOUR PHONE and im sure they will not match up.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

@austin420 there's no ookla app yet (don't know what's taking them) but I also use an app called bandwidth and the results I get are nearly identical, i also use a dslreports test and it comes out near the same as well.

http://www.mobilespeedtest.com/resul...09sprint91.jpg

THIS ABOVE ME SHOULD ACCUALLY READ LITTLE k LITTLE b NOT BIG KB DONT GET CONFUSED.

http://www.speedtest.net/android/107399830.png


notice a little bit of diffrence?


Sent from my SPH-D700 on the PPCGeeks App

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

i know exactly whats taking them so long. no one wants to dev for wp7. its got no appeal.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

OUCH :violent1: :blackeye:

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

that's what I mean, they do match up, pretty well too. The ookla app on the android port and using mobilespeed test in WM

I can post screenshots if you'd like but it would have to be later since I'm sleeping soon :S

My screenshots above show a huuuggge diff. And they were taken 2 min apart sitting at my desk. 100Kbps to 1.8Mbps is an 1800 percent diffrence.
Using a browser speedtests when there are quality apps available is like going back to the beating rocks together like a caveman.
Sent from my SPH-D700 on the PPCGeeks App

I kid. I kid.
Wp7 is ok.


http://blogs.1077theend.com/files/20...-Comic-Dog.jpg

For me to poop on.

Sent from my SPH-D700 on the PPCGeeks App

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

LMAO..

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

guess I'm up a bit late tonight lol but here's my speeds

The mobilespeedtest was in WM using IE browser, the other one is ookla's app on android port

here's the pictures of them just now, you can see the time in both are about 10 minutes apart (the time it took to boot into android and all.

and yes i did scratch out my gps location :D to be safe lol, anyways the speeds match the speed I got from earlier this month that I have in my sig

edit: my post from earlier about them matching wasn't meant to be to your post :D I didnt see a second page when I posted that :D lol

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

u have to do at least the 2mb test to get an accurate reading. That's why it shows that difference. And as far as wp7 not having any appeal u must be deeply blind because even USA Today and time magazine have now recognized WP.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

ohhh, usa today hmm? now theyve really got thier finger on americas pulse. hahaha.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

You're quite rude, and you didn't even read my post. I said I have this great contract price as a result of negotiating with Executive Services. How did you miss that? You must have just wanted to attack me, as you clearly didn't read what I said before you posted your keyboard diarrhea.

Plus, I said that the price of Verizon and AT&T service with 450min, 4GB data, and unlimited texts, after corporate discount, is roughly the same price as I'll have to pay with Sprint ($65-70/mo after taxes and fees), but with Sprint I won't get 4G service. All other carriers have 4G in my area. I told you there was no advantage to Sprint, and that's the point of my OP: are there better options? Luckily, several people have given me better options. I hadn't even considered Tmobile, but their pricing and service is good where I'm at, and I get a 25% corporate discount with them.

So, your reply was pretty much a failure all around. Next time, try reading what I wrote, using proper grammar so you don't come across as a complete loser, and don't be in such a hurry to prove that you're a huge DB by attacking someone asking legitimate questions. Have some self-control. My advice is to go back to school and find discipline - you clearly could use it.

I'm not worried about the data cap - I don't use much data. And, as I stated in my OP, upgrading to a new phone, used or new, is what triggers this doubling in price on my account. It charges me the $10/mo premium data fee that I currently don't get charged cuz I'm grandfathered in, and it forces my account to drop the $20/mo service credit that I currently receive, according to the Executive Services representative I spoke with, Ke'sha, even if I'm just activating a phone and not changing my plan. Apparently there are all these triggers in the Sprint billing system that happen as a result of adding a new smartphone now.

It's not just the midwest. I'm in a city of 900k in the desert southwest and, with full reception on my Hero, which has been a great little phone, despite what some DBs might think, I can only pull a max of 50KB/s, or just about 1/4 of T1 speeds. That's not great for 3G, and there is no Sprint 4G here, nor will there be for at least six more months. What's worse, is the towers here have been having known issues where 3G service is dropped to 2G service randomly after 7:00PM, an issue that the Sprint techs have repeatedly created trouble tickets about without resolution.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

You act like you're an authority on the subject, but you don't even know how to interpret the results you're getting. You don't realize you have to convert Kilo Bytes Per Second (designated by the uppercase KBPS) to Mega bytes per second (Designated by the lowercase Mbps). You prove this in your later quote below

You make an incorrect assertion, even quoting the different speedtests inaccurately (it's KBPS, not Kbps), then you draw the wrong conclusion and make a terrible analogy. KBPS is 8/1000 of Mbps. It's eight bits per byte, and 1 mega per 1000 kilos. In this case, 100KBPS is .8Mbps. 1.8Mbps is 225% greater. Not 1800% as you noted.

If you're going to want to prove your knowledge of such things, at least get the nomenclature correct. Otherwise, your holier-than-thou, know-it-all routine just comes off as you being a jerk.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

@austin420 its not just USA today, its TIME magazine as well, these are only 2 examples of the recent recognition that WP is getting, not to mention that the nokia lumia 800 is the highest selling phone in europe and the titan is selling out like crazy. can u really be that disconnected?
@ganjah mobilespeedtest does also measure with kbps but they just put it all in capital letters in those sharing images for some reason which is really inaccurate. if he used a larger test such as the 1MB test he wouldve gotten a much more accurate reading, and thanks for that keyboard thrashing, it probably won't register anyway.

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If your sprint speeds are crap why put up with it? If there not then just stick to sprint. Myself and eric got fed up. The grass is greener sometimes guys.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

green isnt always better :D as long as grass isnt brown lol

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

i read it and fully comprehended. like i said. crybabies.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

this, dick weed.
http://serve.mysmiley.net/adult/handjob.gif

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Didnt you get banned from xda? ;)

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

not yet but im fucking working on it.
you did though. they hated you in the evo section. claimed you to be the biggest troll since mattykinsx.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

:-k whats going on in here

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

ive fixed my post so teh nubs dont get confused.

Re: Why should I stay with Sprint?
 

It's Off Topic but try and keep the e-penis measuring to PM's.
Mmmk?

OP said asked and answered.