Looks Like My TP2/SPRINT Days are Over

[vonnieglen]

I thought I read that for those of receiving free data on an old retention plan... that even if you replace your broken TP2 with another TP2 that Sprint would start charging an additional $10 per month for data. The exception was people who got an insurance replacement. Has that changed?

It is amazing to me the amount of trouble that the OP went through. I have purchased over a dozen phones on Ebay over the last 10 years for my family and never got a bad one. Even the ones that were only in fair condition cosmetically have worked fine. I am not sure that I would actually notice a "blue spot" or the "oil" thing however. I am going to try and forget about the descriptions of those defects before I look at one of our phones again to preserve my happiness.

I think the suggestion of fixing your own phone is a good option. I have had to repair a broken phone or two over the years. I did have to buy a set of bits that could be used on the consumer proof screws to get them apart.

I still think that being as friendly and polite as possible to the Sprint operators is always your best option. A couple years ago I got a representative that was not aware of the retention plan that I had and accused me of being a criminal and screwed up my account. I had told her to look through the notes in my account and she would see that all I had ever done was accept what was offered to me. I called back the next day and got a nice person who fixed everything for me and actually added a couple more free features.

Going somewhere else or upgrading our phones is really not an option at this time for me. My friends are paying approximately twice what we are for their phone service and actually do not get many of the benefits that we enjoy. I hesitate to even mention some of the free benefits that the Sprint TP2 provides me with because I don't want anyone here to tell me that I am somehow violating my service contract. I will say that it was Sprint Customer Service who told me how to use the cable that was included with my phone to teather to a laptop when I first bought a PPC-6700 in 2005. I don't use that "free" feature very often but it is a lifesaver when needed.

[DaveTN]

Yeah, I've repaired many phones in the past and am pretty technically adept. I've even downloaded the various "how to" guides for dosassembling the TP2. For the TP2 the disassembly process for replacing the screen is pretty involved.

However, I pay $8.00 per month for Sprint to worry about that and I have a reasonable expectation that what they give me will work...and they have not made good on that. Its been very obvious that these phones have had problems and have been repaired but the quality control in that process is abysmal.

Another thing is that these phones have been coming directly from sprint, not Asurion, which is good because I'd have paid a heck of a deductible by now.

If Sprint told me that I could keep my plan with the unlimited data addon, get a newer WP7 or droid phone, and have to pay the $10.00/month, I'd have absolutely no problem with that. In fact, I've offered that several times but have been told no. Not even SERO or EPRP either. I just don't get it.

David

[gera229]

Hey DaveTN
I heard that sprint will be expiring there current plans very soon(making them grandfathered) and changing their plan selection lineup to more newer and more updated plans. Maybe they will come up with the plan of the century? I sure hope they do so i can upgrade...

[DaveTN]

Originally Posted by gera229

Hey DaveTN
I heard that sprint will be expiring there current plans very soon(making them grandfathered) and changing their plan selection lineup to more newer and more updated plans. Maybe they will come up with the plan of the century? I sure hope they do so i can upgrade...

Thanks for the info. Thats pretty much waht happened with the plan I have now but they are doing everything they can to make it useless.

I started out on a family plan about 6 years ago that was 1000 shared + unlimited text + the "unlimited datapack addon at an additional 25.00 per month + N/W@ 9pm. Total cost for 4 phones including taxes was right at $100.00/ month with my 23% corporate discount through my employer which was pretty good. About two years ago a CSR told me that my plan was being eliminated and and I would have to "upgrade" but she assured me that nothing would change. Well, there were some tradeoffs. it dropped to the "family share talk 700, so I lost 300 minutes but N/W dropped to 7pm which was a plus. They added in the datapack at NO charge which was a big plus but dropped the discount on the add in phones so with taxes and all, it worked out to be $22.00 more than I was paying. So "nothing would change" was a bit of a stretch.

A couple months after that I decided to upgrade from the TP1 that I bought on ebay to the TP2 that had just come out since I knew it had been a couple years and I was due for my $150.00 upgrade discount. Well, guess what?!? They had reset the counter on my upgrade and it was going to be almost two years before I could get the 150.00 discount!!! I was pissed so I called retentions and they reset it but only by one year so I was only able to get 75.00 off the TP2. However, I was able to sell my TP1 and another phone I had to a still current PPC geeker and make up the difference. Of course, the counter reset again.
THen, all this crap started with my TP2 and during all this I get a notification that I was "upgraded to Sprint Premier Gold" but they had picked my Wifes Rumor II as the one that was eligible. LOL. My TP2 still has 130 days left. Even if I upgrade, my plan which costs me 122.00/month is going to go up to 180.00/month.

My guess is that whatever Sprint does, its still going to cost more. It would make perfect sense for them to create a plan - shared or individual - for people who do not need unlimited data like me. They can still be a leader and ofer the best value in unlimited data plans, but at the same time, offer an "al a carte" plan for less. Heck, they do it with Virgin mobile at 35.00 month for 300 talk and unlimited data. (the only thing holding me back from that is that VM is not compatible with my Airave and I get NO reception in my house.)

I'd be interested to see what happens if they do offer some other plans. ANd, this may be blasphemy, but I would bet that it would be at the expense of SERO and EPRP. From what I understand, they are really nervous about the network hit that would come (IF they) with the iPhone. IMHO, there SHOULD be a more expensive plan for that data hog.

Anyway, the good news is that my daughter is on a corporate Verizon plan that costs her $39.00/month per phone with unlimited text/voice/data. Both she and her husband have iPhones and use them quite a bit. All I have to do is find a decent VZW phone and she can add me, my wife and her brother on at the same cost. NOt a bad deal.

Once TP2 #7 gets here, if it still has problems, I'll switch to VZW and et my contract run out with sprint or at least until the ETF's aren't so painful.

David

[eric12341]

lol @ iPhone being a data hog. its not so much that that's straining the towers its the fact that they have smartphones on their prepaid networks and sometimes even share towers with smaller carriers such as cricket or metroPCS. and that is the case in my hometown as I dont really know how many people could have sprint in a city of ~35,000 to the extent that its been slowing my data speeds down to dialup levels.it's not as bad as before but I would still like to be able to use the premium features of my arrive without looking for WiFi or going to another city. they promised me this would be resolved on 9/30 which is Friday so we'll see but im not holding my breath since I've only experienced a slight improvement.

[gera229]

well i gotta ask, why are you still with sprint? lol... Isn't metro or something cheaper?

*Deleted*
*edit, idk where i was going with that comment, so i deleted it lol.

[DaveTN]

And so it goes...

TP2 #7 arrived today and I went an picked it up....and the keyboard was bad. Yep, quality control at its best.

So, the technician took apart #6 and scavanged the keyboard from it and then disassembled #7 and there was crud inside of it! She wouldn't say that it was water damage but the indicator on the outside of the battery compartment was gone AND the one on the inside housing was BRIGHT RED!! However, the one on the motherboard was still pink. So, she peeled off the plastic backing from the KB and cleaned it and it still didn't work so she ended up swapping with #6.

No blue spots on #7's screen but it does have the rainbow/oil slick, however, she told me that that was "normal for refurbs". IMHO, its due to moisture as was clearly indicated by the completely red moisture indicator.

I'll tell you what though. The tech was GORGEOUS and in her early to mid 20's and she tore into that TP2 like there was no tomorrow. I smalltalked while she was working on it and asked how many she had worked on before and she said it was her first TP2.

So, # 71/2 is now sitting on my desk getting synced and I guess I'll see how this goes....

David

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by DaveTN

And so it goes...

TP2 #7 arrived today and I went an picked it up....and the keyboard was bad. Yep, quality control at its best.

So, the technician took apart #6 and scavanged the keyboard from it and then disassembled #7 and there was crud inside of it! She wouldn't say that it was water damage but the indicator on the outside of the battery compartment was gone AND the one on the inside housing was BRIGHT RED!! However, the one on the motherboard was still pink. So, she peeled off the plastic backing from the KB and cleaned it and it still didn't work so she ended up swapping with #6.

No blue spots on #7's screen but it does have the rainbow/oil slick, however, she told me that that was "normal for refurbs". IMHO, its due to moisture as was clearly indicated by the completely red moisture indicator.

I'll tell you what though. The tech was GORGEOUS and in her early to mid 20's and she tore into that TP2 like there was no tomorrow. I smalltalked while she was working on it and asked how many she had worked on before and she said it was her first TP2.

So, # 71/2 is now sitting on my desk getting synced and I guess I'll see how this goes....

David

@DaveTN was she a hot and spicy Latina?

[DaveTN]

Originally Posted by eric12341

@DaveTN was she a hot and spicy Latina?

Nope, pure southern charm with long wavy brown hair and the most beautiful eyes I think I've ever seen.

David

[gera229]

Aren't you married? lol