Switching to Sprint? Opinions?

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs Frank Harris <[email protected]> wrote:
> nearly everywhere, but they may not all be using the same providers that
> your Verizon phone was using. In Cleveland, Ohio, the two cellular
> providers are Verizon (A-side) and Alltel (B-side). I was just there,
> and when I was in a weak Sprint signal area between towers on the Ohio
> Tpk west of Youngstown, or if I set my phone to 'analog only', it used
> Alltel, not Verizon.

Yup. Verizon doesn't use Sprint in Cleveland, nor does Sprint use Verizon.
Verizon also doesn't roam on Alltel - their network footprints in Cleveland
and Northeast Ohio are just about identical.

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› See More: Switching to Sprint? Opinions?

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs Mike <[email protected]> wrote:

> This may not have been what you think. In the Youngstown area,
> Verizon HAS no network... in fact, even VZW phones use Alltel in that
> area. If you look at a VZW coverage map, Mahoning and Trumbull
> counties are "Extended Network".
>
> I forget who the other A/B carrier in the market is...I think it's DBA
> Cellular One.

Dobson CellularONE. I believe you're right. Sprint has native coverage
there, Dobson has native coverage there, and Alltel also does. Verizon
does not, and if you have National Single Rate, America's Choice or North
America's Choice you roam for free on Alltel (I think you may also roam for
free on the local plans, but I'm not sure about that).

**SJS (I miss Northeast Ohio!)

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PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
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Robert M. <[email protected]> wrote:

>> I do not think that there is much difference in building
>> penetration between 800 and 1900 Mhz systems. The real difference is
>> how far you are from the antenna site and what is between you and it.
>> In most places there are two cellular (800 Mhz) carriers. If
>> verizon or Sprint PCS do not have service in a certain area, they can
>> choose either analog carrier. Sometimes they are the same. Sometimes
>> verizon roams on Sprint PCS. Sometimes Sprint PCS roams on verizon.
>
> I am not aware of SprintPCS using 800 MHz anywhere. I am not aware of
> SprintPCS having any analog service of its own - anywhere.

Sprint doesn't use 800, but Verizon does use 1900.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

Thankfully, this has apparently changed for the better:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...hreadid=382258

"Robert M." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Jack Hamilton <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Why is that? You don't have to port all your numbers, or even one
> > number, to try a different carrier. When I was thinking of switching
> > from ATTWS to Verizon, I tried out the phone for a week and then ported
> > my number. It would have cost me a bit of money if I hadn't switched,
> > but not a lot (one prorated plan week).
>
> Sprint will charge you
>
> Activation Fee
> Prorated charges for initial short billing period
> a Full month if you go 10 seconds past initial billing period.
>
>
> So even a short 1 week trial on Sprint commonly will cost ~ $100

In alt.cellular.verizon Michael L. <[email protected]> wrote:
: My Verizon contract is up, and I went to Radio Shack today to compare
: phones. I'm very happy with Verizon, except, and this is important, I
: can only get a Verizon signal in one room of my house, and even that is
: a bit spotty. My daughter tells me that one of her friends has Sprint,
: and she gets reception everywhere in my house. My daughter also can't
: get Verizon reception in her dorm room back in Massachusets, and she
: says her friends with Sprint phones can.

A lot depends on the phone. Have you checked how well your Verizon
phone is rated for reception? It could be that getting a better phone
(probably free from Verizon) would solve your reception problems in
your house - maybe your daughter's too.

Sure, could very well be that Sprint has better signal at your house
and that no Verizon phone will make a difference - but you should to
try to make sure a better phone won't make the difference. If you
pick a good Sprint phone to test in your house, try to pick a
different Verizon phone, too, perhaps a friend's. I have a Nokia
3589i for example - it's known to have excellent reception (and it
will work well with low signal, too - with only one bar of reception,
it still worked great at my old place).

: The sales rep at Radio Shack told me that he uses Sprint and likes it.
: He said that he has found a more stable, stronger signal from Sprint
: than Verizon here in Marin County California. I don't know if he has
: any particular agenda, but Radio Shack sells both Verizon and Sprint
: service, so I would assume that it's all the same to him.

No, he probably gets no commission if you stay with Verizon - but he
gets one if you switch to Sprint.

Andrew
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"Michael L." <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Does anyone have any comments comparing the 1900 MHZ CDMA Sprint quality
> with Verizon's 800 MHZ CDMA quality?

I wouldn't make the decision based solely, or even mostly, on the
quality of the reception, any more than I'd buy a car based on how
fast it'll go. For me it's all about overall quality of the
experience, which mostly means customer service.

In my experience Sprint PCS had very bad, awful, really breathtakingly
bad customer service. Given a choice between Sprint PCS and no
wireless service at all, I'd choose no service every time. (I'm not
exaggerating; I did have that choice and did choose to go without a
mobile phone for several months.)

They inspired my little web page at
<http://www.loganet.net/~doumakes/sprint.html>.

Favorite Sprint PCS anecdote: my first phone needed a warranty
replacement, and they promised they'd call me the minute it was
available to be picked up. They didn't call. I went into the store
to ask about my replacement phone. Turns out it had been there for
several days already, and they claimed to have called and left me a
message as promised. You guessed it: they called my dead mobile
phone to tell me my replacement phone was in.

The main factor is the quality of reception. There are cusotmer
service problems in all area of cellular servce. I have rarely had to
access customer service and have had very little problems when I did.

Get a GOOD phone and try it out for the grace period that they offer
(I think 14 days). Make sure you get the reception you need in the
areas that are important to you.




On 8 Jun 2004 15:05:19 -0700, [email protected] (Don Doumakes)
wrote:

>"Michael L." <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>> Does anyone have any comments comparing the 1900 MHZ CDMA Sprint quality
>> with Verizon's 800 MHZ CDMA quality?
>
>I wouldn't make the decision based solely, or even mostly, on the
>quality of the reception, any more than I'd buy a car based on how
>fast it'll go. For me it's all about overall quality of the
>experience, which mostly means customer service.
>
>In my experience Sprint PCS had very bad, awful, really breathtakingly
>bad customer service. Given a choice between Sprint PCS and no
>wireless service at all, I'd choose no service every time. (I'm not
>exaggerating; I did have that choice and did choose to go without a
>mobile phone for several months.)
>
>They inspired my little web page at
><http://www.loganet.net/~doumakes/sprint.html>.
>
>Favorite Sprint PCS anecdote: my first phone needed a warranty
>replacement, and they promised they'd call me the minute it was
>available to be picked up. They didn't call. I went into the store
>to ask about my replacement phone. Turns out it had been there for
>several days already, and they claimed to have called and left me a
>message as promised. You guessed it: they called my dead mobile
>phone to tell me my replacement phone was in.

In article <[email protected]>,
Scott <[email protected]> wrote:

> The main factor is the quality of reception. There are cusotmer
> service problems in all area of cellular servce. I have rarely had to
> access customer service and have had very little problems when I did.
>
> Get a GOOD phone and try it out for the grace period that they offer
> (I think 14 days). Make sure you get the reception you need in the
> areas that are important to you.


pray you never have to deal with SprintPCS CSRs. I haven't found a one
that knows anything about ReadyLink.

In article <[email protected]>,=20
[email protected] says...
>=20
> Sprint natively uses only 1900 MHz. You can only roam where SprintPCS=20
> allows you to roam, not just anywhere.
>=20
>=20

???

Aside from some really small regional carriers, we've got roaming=20
agreements that cover 97% of the entire land area of the country.

--=20
R=D8=DF
O/Siris
I work for Sprint PCS
I *don't* speak for them

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs O/Siris <0siris@spr?ntpcs.com> wrote:

>> Sprint natively uses only 1900 MHz. You can only roam where SprintPCS
>> allows you to roam, not just anywhere.
>
> ???
>
> Aside from some really small regional carriers, we've got roaming
> agreements that cover 97% of the entire land area of the country.

Well, technically, he *is* right. You can't force a Sprint phone to use
a network not in its PRL, can you?

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

In article <[email protected]>,=20
[email protected] says...
>=20
> ONLY if total roaming minutes are less than half of the total minutes=20
> used that month.
>=20
>=20

Actually, no. If you exceed that 50% limit, you're still covered. =20
We send you a friendly reminder of the 50% limit, but cover you=20
unless you exceed it twice within a 3-month period.

--=20
R=D8=DF
O/Siris
I work for Sprint PCS
I *don't* speak for them

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]=20
says...
>=20
> Well, technically, he *is* right. You can't force a Sprint phone to us=
e
> a network not in its PRL, can you?=20
>=20

Yes, if you're way out in the boonies, and the phone find an analog=20
signal from Rinky-Dink Telecom, Inc, it will acquire and sign in. =20
Then, if you try to use the phone to place a call, you will wind up=20
redirected to their customer care center, where they'll ask for a=20
credit card number, and they'll charge you some per-minute fee to use=20
their network (and I'm told some of those fees make our international=20
roaming rates look cheap).

That's just one example.

--=20
R=D8=DF
O/Siris
I work for Sprint PCS
I *don't* speak for them

Sometimes a Sprint PCS phone or a verizon phone will roam cellular
or PCS. Now that there are cellular carriers that use CDMA, verizon may
have them higher in verizon's prl than they have Sprint PCS in their
prl. But it used to be that if a verizon phone roamed in WI, and they
wanted to keep the service provided digital, verizon roamed with Sprint
PCS higher in the prl. Otherwise the verizon phone would roam analog.


Steven J Sobol wrote:
> Robert M. <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>> I do not think that there is much difference in building
>>>penetration between 800 and 1900 Mhz systems. The real difference is
>>>how far you are from the antenna site and what is between you and it.
>>> In most places there are two cellular (800 Mhz) carriers. If
>>>verizon or Sprint PCS do not have service in a certain area, they can
>>>choose either analog carrier. Sometimes they are the same. Sometimes
>>>verizon roams on Sprint PCS. Sometimes Sprint PCS roams on verizon.
>>
>>I am not aware of SprintPCS using 800 MHz anywhere. I am not aware of
>>SprintPCS having any analog service of its own - anywhere.
>
>
> Sprint doesn't use 800, but Verizon does use 1900.
>

Jerome Zelinske <[email protected]> wrote:
> Sometimes a Sprint PCS phone or a verizon phone will roam cellular
> or PCS. Now that there are cellular carriers that use CDMA, verizon may
> have them higher in verizon's prl than they have Sprint PCS in their
> prl. But it used to be that if a verizon phone roamed in WI, and they
> wanted to keep the service provided digital, verizon roamed with Sprint
> PCS higher in the prl. Otherwise the verizon phone would roam analog.

Yeah, I know Sprint's coverage in WI has traditionally been better than
Verizon's. However, I think the real reason why Sprint may not be higher
in the PRL now is that Verizon's roaming deals are much cheaper with US
Cellular and Alltel than with Sprint. USCC is in Wisconsin, I believe...

Anyhow, I don't think 1900 or 800 matters. To qualify for no-roaming
on America's Choice or Verizon's other nationwide plans, you're required
to have a phone that can use both frequencies. Makes sense, since a couple
large chunks of Verizon's native coverage are 1900 MHz. (Most of Texas and
Florida are 1900 MHz, and Verizon has overlaid 1900 MHz coverage on top of
800 in some markets.)

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / [email protected]
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

O/Siris wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
> says...
>
>>Well, technically, he *is* right. You can't force a Sprint phone to use
>>a network not in its PRL, can you?
>>
>
>
> Yes, if you're way out in the boonies, and the phone find an analog
> signal from Rinky-Dink Telecom, Inc, it will acquire and sign in.
> Then, if you try to use the phone to place a call, you will wind up
> redirected to their customer care center, where they'll ask for a
> credit card number, and they'll charge you some per-minute fee to use
> their network (and I'm told some of those fees make our international
> roaming rates look cheap).
>
> That's just one example.
>

1998, Mississippi. Qualcomm QCP-2700. No Sprint. No FM radio even. Want
to call home to tell them I'm still alive. I check the signal meters,
and I do have something. I get this roaming network. I can enter a card
number or I can call collect. No disclosure of fees, no customer service
people. I decided to call home collect. I figured I'd pay $2-$4 for the
call. A month later I get a bill of $16 for a two minute call.
-mike