Sounds more like you have a axe to grind with Sprint then anything.
More or less the services are identical in nature. I used UMA for about a year i canned it for being useless all the time. IE dropped calls, disconnecting randomly, etc.
While with tmobile only some phones can use UMA. AIRAVE works for all sprint phones. More and more Wifi is getting encrypted anyway. Asking for wifi keys can get weird. Granted it was nice to link in at a resturant or so it wasnt all that great.
Last I checked unless you called in and complained about no signal it was a $10 a month charge per line plus the cost of a router if need be. I would think sprint might waive the fees and do the same if it would keep a customer.
Both ideas are great in concept. But in reality are merely a band-aid for crappy signal strength IMO. Great IF they work properly and often at least with UMA it did not.
I would much rather have REAL signal at my house for several reasons.
1. 1 less link in the chain to screw up. Be that a glicth, power outage or ISP outage.
2. If your internet connection sucks your UMA connection will suck. Not including if your downloading a file and suddenly you get a call.
3. contantly having to look for wifi to make calls.
4. Needing a wifi & UMA capable phone. (currently 7 listed on their online store)
Great in concept like i said, but I wouldnt rely on it.
I was with tmobile for over 3 years and and finally had to call it quits. UMA didnt cut it and I wasnt thrilled with being able to pick from only UMA phones. If they added a tower tomorrow Id call up sprint and tell them I'm sending the evo back.
To that end I'm sure they both are decent in a pinch if you are have the equipment. Be that the AIRAVE or a UMA phone.
However you really need to be objective when your talking about something. Your letting your haterd bias your statements. The way you have it UMA & Tmobile is perfect and we all should have it and I know that isnt the case.
Dear Nomad83, Here is the original quote to which I was replying to before you chimed in and accused me of not reading the posts about AIRAVE:
No he said Sprint was the only provider that offered WiFi calling. I want to call other phones as I would if I had normal service but I told him I dont at my house so he said I could take full advantage of WiFi calling.
Fact: Sprint does not have WiFi calling, but T-Mobile does. I think this statement is pretty objective - no grey areas here. My original post was mainly to point out this fact, and that the salesperson who told him otherwise did not know what he was talking about - not to point out which technology was better than the other. Sprint does not offer any sort of WiFi calling because AIRAVE does not use WiFi. Whether or not it works better or worse in anyone's opinion is immaterial to the fact that the Radio Shack salesperson gave him a bum gouge. Regardless of my point of view regarding either company, my original statement still stands, whether or not you think I read the posts about AIRAVE. I'm glad that you like AIRAVE and that it works for you, but if you still think that AIRAVE works on WiFi and that the salesperson that dannym1212 dealt with actually knew what he was talking about, then I invite you to read FAQ 39 of the AIRAVE FAQ section on sprint's website, which clearly states that it uses the 1900MHz CDMA spectrum and not WiFi.
http://shop.sprint.com/assets/pdfs/en/services/sprint_airave_faqs.pdf
For the record, there are NO additional fees for using UMA on T-Mobile, whether or not you complain about coverage, unless you want unlimited UMA calling. The charges you were speaking of were for the optional UNLIMITED UMA calling, which is comparable to Sprint's UNLIMITED calling (though Sprint does charge another mandatory $5 per AIRAVE unit on top of that). You also don't need T-Mobile's router to use it - any WiFi router will do. If your home router is ethernet only (i.e. no WiFi), then spending $20 to purchase T-Mobile's HiPort router is an option, which will also give your home computers something to connect wirelessly to. To use AIRAVE, you MUST purchase at least one AIRAVE unit (listed @ $99). I didn't even know about UMA until I noticed that my wife's Blackberry 8320 always had signal in my house and my unlocked AT&T-branded 8820 didn't. After I found out that her great signal was because her phone was using the UMA feature via our Verizon FiOS router, I upgraded my phone. We never asked for the UMA service, we just got it - at no extra charge.
I will admit that my experiences with Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, Alltel, and T-Mobile have caused me to favor T-Mobile over others in most cases. IMO, Sprint's biggest drawback is their approach to customer service, which T-Mobile has always excelled at. I also know that there are things that T-Mobile is weak at as well, such as coverage. But I have also found that coverage varies greatly depending on your location (When I was in Virginia Beach, T-Mobile had the best coverage; but in the DC area, Verizon outcovers everyone), but no matter where I am at, I can expect great customer service. T-Mobile is improving on the coverage thing, though. They recently put of a tower in my neighborhood, and now I get four bars in my basement off the T-Mobile network. My neighborhood was the only area I really had issues with and they fixed it. Now, I like the UMA feature mainly for international travel, since I can use it through the hotel's WiFi to make free calls back to the states.
I guess you can say I have an axe to grind with salespeople who don't know the products they are selling, yet act like they do. Customers rely on their so-called "expert" knowledge and end up not getting what they thought they were purchasing. If you want a store that consistently displays true "expert" advice on a variety of wireless providers, then Best Buy is a good place to start. I really don't care for their prices, but you may end up buying from them if only to reward them for the superior product knowledge they impart to you. If you have already decided on a service provider, them your best bet is usually one of the provider's local storefronts (and I don't mean some kiosk in the mall or an "authorized retailer").
So, if your looking for the answer to which technology is better, then it depends on your situation and what you are using it for. If this is a single business phone (as Sprint's business customer service is likely much better, and you generally don't get a say in who your provider is on a work-supplied phone anyway) and you are just looking for a way to get your business phone to work at one specific location, then AIRAVE may be good for you and you could probably convince your employer to purchase the AIRAVE unit for you since they supplied the phone. If, however, there are a number of locations where coverage is bad, regardless of service provider, and you don't want to buy an AIRAVE unit for each location, or if you travel internationally, then T-Mobile's UMA might be a good alternative.
At least we all agree that a real signal is the best way to go, though some people just don't have that option.
