Sprint Reps CANNOT tell the truth!!

[Gizmodo]

First, don't get me wrong. I like Sprint. I have been a Sprint customer for over 10 years. For the most part, I have had little to complain about. But this, what I am about to share with you all, is one of the funniest things I have experienced with Sprint.
The local Sprint store reps will tell you straight out that Lafayette, Louisiana, where I live, does NOT have 3G. My Moment always reads 1X in my home area. I just returned today from Houston. While there, I had EVDO on my phone during my 4-day stay. And my phone was fast! Much faster than it is here in Lafayette. I sometimes take trips to our capital, Baton Rouge, and get EVDO there, too.
So, and this is where it gets funny, I heard that a town 70 miles from here, Lake Charles, was getting 3G in July. I wrote Sprint and asked them when my town would get 3G. As of today I have had 3 email exchanges with different reps at Sprint. The first rep wrote:

"As per the available details, the coverage at the account
billing address is satisfactory. The 3G network is available in almost
all the areas." [emphasis mine.]

Notice the wording: "available details," "coverage at..address is satisfactory...", 3G..available in 'almost' all the areas."

Never once did the rep say, "You have 3G in Lafayette, LA." He made 2 separate comments that said, 1. I have satisfactory coverage, and 2. 3G is available in almost all the areas. I think Sprint expects me to read the 2 separate statements as one.
Now...believe it or not, I received the SAME response from another rep when I responded to the first message questioning their truthfulness. So, last night, I emailed Sprint with a challenge; answer my question with ONE WORD, "Yes" or "NO." And my question was, "Does Lafayette, Louisiana use, have access to, Sprint's 3G network?" Again I emphasized that I wanted a one word response. And now...for the joke of it all; below is their response...read it and weep (or laugh

"I understand your concern and checked there is satisfactory coverage your billing address." [again, emphasis mine.]

So there it is...they CANNOT answer my question with a Yes or No. Gee...I wonder why???

Giz

 

[pdx77]

Perhaps they aren't able to? I don't know how Sprint operates, but I have done e-mail support in the past, and there are some things you can and can not say and some questions that like they might have a generic response that they are required to use..

 

[Gizmodo]

Yeah, they would make GREAT politicians

 

[i VTAK]

Are you saying that anywhere you go in Lafayette, you can't get 3G? And they are telling you it is there?

 

[zcarman]

I have to say that the reps were very up front with me... The area I live in has some of the best available Sprint coverage - including 4G WiMAX coverage. Unfortunately, depending on the flight patterns of the airport that's about a half mile from me, I sometimes only have 1x at home.

Not Sprint's fault, but I feel your pain!

 

[Gizmodo]

Are you saying that anywhere you go in Lafayette, you can't get 3G? And they are telling you it is there?

Yes, that is what they are telling me...that it is there, er, here. It is not. It is just ****in funny to me that they won't tell the truth.

Maybe Sprint CEO Dan should get on television and clear up this mess. He might say something like this: Hi, I'm Dan, CEO for Sprint. Recently some of our customers have complained about the lack of 3G in their areas. Well let me remove your fears and set you at ease. At Sprint we are working hard everyday to please our customers with the finest in technology so that the next time you have a question about our technology or 3G coverage rest assured that coverage is operating at full capacity in areas that are receiving full capacity operation of our 3G network and we think that is something to be proud of.And if you think you are not getting 3G it is probably due to static electricity or a high pollen count. Trust me and my fatherly smile. We are here for you. Yes we are. Really.

 

[htcman724]

Yes, that is what they are telling me...that it is there, er, here. It is not. It is just ****in funny to me that they won't tell the truth.

Maybe Sprint CEO Dan should get on television and clear up this mess. He might say something like this: Hi, I'm Dan, CEO for Sprint. Recently some of our customers have complained about the lack of 3G in their areas. Well let me remove your fears and set you at ease. At Sprint we are working hard everyday to please our customers with the finest in technology so that the next time you have a question about our technology or 3G coverage rest assured that coverage is operating at full capacity in areas that are receiving full capacity operation of our 3G network and we think that is something to be proud of.And if you think you are not getting 3G it is probably due to static electricity or a high pollen count. Trust me and my fatherly smile. We are here for you. Yes we are. Really.

lol true so true

 

[ramiss]

And they wonder why their stock is still under $4...

 

[numus]

They can NOT give you accurate details because:
a) They are not allowed to, that would fall under false advertisement if they said it works everywhere and/or that you will have coverage in 3g
b) They include roaming in that disclaimer since they have a general roam agree (i.e. you don't pay for roaming charges)
c) Multiple factors contribute to the lack of 3g signal.. you can be in a fully covered 3g area and still only recieve a 1xRTT signal (see the argument above about flight patterns and 3g signal)

 

[zcarman]

@ numus - I gotta say you are dead on with A and C, but B is a bit off... If you sign up for the 1500 Data - any mobile plan, you aren't charged extra for roaming, but it comes off your minute pool - even to other mobile carriers. The unlimited M2M only applies when you are on the Sprint Network.

We never get close to our minutes, and 3G coverage has nothing to do with roaming, so it's probably a silly argument to even have, but I did want to correct the fact that we do 'pay' for roaming minutes out of our pool.

 

[ramiss]

I'm not saying that the tech guys are at fault. My issue is with the policy. Either say something useful or just be honest that you aren't allowed to promise anything. All of the double talk just makes the company look incompetent.

 

[Gizmodo]

Gentlemen, gentlemen, now now, there, there. Father Dan Sprint CEO here again. Life is to important to quibble over small-change items like 3G coverage, overages, underages, etc. Why just this morning at the breakfast table my wife was complaining that her coverage was spotty in the Australian outback. I told her that we have 4G coverage in the outback. Low and behold, she deeply apologized, begged to be forgiven and readily admitted that this was HER problem, not Sprint's. You see? That is how you should be. Repeat after me, "Sprint is the Greatest, Sprint Rules, Sprint owns the known universe. I bow to Sprint. I worship Sprint monthly with my offerings of fees. Sprint will take care of me forever and ever." Now...don't you feel better? Sort of peaceful, yes? Now take Father Dan's advice: go out and have a wonderful 3G kind of day. (4G where available.) Ahhhhh, life is good.

 

[numus]

@ numus - I gotta say you are dead on with A and C, but B is a bit off... If you sign up for the 1500 Data - any mobile plan, you aren't charged extra for roaming, but it comes off your minute pool - even to other mobile carriers. The unlimited M2M only applies when you are on the Sprint Network.

We never get close to our minutes, and 3G coverage has nothing to do with roaming, so it's probably a silly argument to even have, but I did want to correct the fact that we do 'pay' for roaming minutes out of our pool.

Oh.. so you want to get into details do you? No voice is transmitted over the EVDO (3g) signal, even while in 3g coverage all voice/sms communications are only transmitted via the 1xRTT signal, thus 3g in a roaming area costs nothing out of your minutes

 

[digiblur]

First, don't get me wrong. I like Sprint. I have been a Sprint customer for over 10 years. For the most part, I have had little to complain about. But this, what I am about to share with you all, is one of the funniest things I have experienced with Sprint.
The local Sprint store reps will tell you straight out that Lafayette, Louisiana, where I live, does NOT have 3G. My Moment always reads 1X in my home area. I just returned today from Houston. While there, I had EVDO on my phone during my 4-day stay. And my phone was fast! Much faster than it is here in Lafayette. I sometimes take trips to our capital, Baton Rouge, and get EVDO there, too.

Here's the truth on things with Sprint in Louisiana. The only Sprint originally owned areas in LA is the New Orleans, LA market. The rest of the network was ran/built by affiliates. I know Lake Charles was ran by US-Unwired and Baton Rouge was Gulf Coast Wireless. I can't remember on Lafayette but I don't think it is US-Unwired as US-Unwired built an awesome network for Lake Charles. Take a look at their map and you'll see nothing but full dark green...look at Baton Rouge and it is quite laughable. Sprint hasn't touched these areas in years!

This year Sprint stated they would start upgrading their old affiliate areas they bought but I haven't seen anything in LA or MS. Take a look at the maps with the other guys, just about everyone has been keeping pace with their 3G rollout around here. Even little ole Cricket put 3G in Lake Charles all the way down to Crowley or so.

Where did you hear Lake Charles is getting 3G in July? I know the stores keep telling me the typical answers of "never", "next year", "6 months" etc. Not that I go to the stores a lot.

Now for Baton Rouge...technically there is no EVDO in Baton Rouge for Sprint. Look at the maps on Sprint.com and you'll see. In the PRL they have it setup to use channel 73 (Alltel towers) for EVDO even though you are using Sprint for voice/text. It's like this all the way down the I-10 corridor to Pensacola/Destin area. It's not as fast as Sprint 3G but it is better than nothing.

And don't get me started with the PRL updates starting at file 60660 and greater for this area. In Baton Rouge and quite possibly Lafayette your phone will scan and check Verizon's 3G channels all the time killing the battery and causing data stalls. In those areas if you force your phone to EVDO only you'll connect to VZW's 3G... I've seen it work in Lake Charles and it works great and does not show your phone as roaming either!

Sprint has labeled this area the forgotten area... they don't want to pump money into it since they have neglected this area and all the customers are gone. Since there are no customers they don't see the point in upgrading this area. I don't see ANYONE with Sprint phones around here anymore. The only reason I'm staying is for the $30 SERO plan..once it's gone I'm gone. So jump ship if you don't have a good plan.

 

[IOWA]

Rant much? Many cmpanies have similiar policies like this to avoid legal trouble. Blame laywers, not sprint.

 

[CriticalCritic]

Rant much? Many cmpanies have similiar policies like this to avoid legal trouble. Blame laywers, not sprint.

Lawyers?
Blame lawmakers for incentivizing people to engage in frivolous lawsuits. Blaming a lawyer isn't going to make a bit of difference. Holding lawmakers responsible will pressure them into a 'loser pays' system which would eliminate the problem. Eliminating the reward for that behavior (frivolous lawsuits) will eliminate that behavior

(granted, nearly all lawmakers are lawyers, but not all lawyers are lawmakers)

 

[Stoney62]

@ numus - I gotta say you are dead on with A and C, but B is a bit off... If you sign up for the 1500 Data - any mobile plan, you aren't charged extra for roaming, but it comes off your minute pool - even to other mobile carriers. The unlimited M2M only applies when you are on the Sprint Network.

We never get close to our minutes, and 3G coverage has nothing to do with roaming, so it's probably a silly argument to even have, but I did want to correct the fact that we do 'pay' for roaming minutes out of our pool.

My families 1500 minutes used to near being used up many times, but since unlimited M2M we've only used less than 100 minutes/ month--last month it was only 16.

 

[digiblur]

Hate to bump an older thread but check the 3G maps now. You'll notice they have 3G in the Hammond, Houma, Morgan City, etc area. They also have it across I-10 in southern Miss (not Alltel 3G, Sprint native 3G).

They are about halfway up highway 90 to you now. Please let me know if you see 3G kicking up in Lafayette.

 

[dudeitstrey]

Old thread is old, but I live in Lafayette and I got the Evo in August. I've had 3G ever since I got it. It drops off in places but it's there.

 

[240phil]

So I was going to multi quote everyone and explain just how far off base all of that is compared to reality and all of that, then realized that those posts were long before today's "reality" started.
So instead of going through all of that, I'm going to just put it out there in a nutshell.
Sprint sucks a year ago. They suck even more now.
Here's why
Verizon bought Alltel. The FCC made Verizon sell off the market shares where Verizon already had coverage. Sprint, being dumb, didn't buy those areas. Instead, ATT&T bought those areas. ATT&T using their huge budget, converted those towers to only work for their Sim card network. This was legal because T-Mobile could also use this network. So now, Sprint as ZERO coverage in those areas. There isn't any alltel towers to Roam on. And Verizon is refusing to share, and why should they? Verizon spent millions of dollars developing their network. Sprint refused to share in the costs. Instead, they were too focused on the now failing WiMax network. Take a look at Sprint's coverage maps. There are entire states now with no coverage.
To make matters worse, ATT&T is now attempting to buy T-mobile since they are on the verge of bankruptcy. The FCC is debating how legal that is. IF the FCC allows it, then ATT&T could legally shut their towers off to any other network type. This would mean that Sprint wouldn't even have voice coverage in those areas. Sprint screwed up. they continued to screw up. And now they are trying to play catch up.
Notice how your monthly insurance costs went up?
Notice how the new plans have all gone up a little bit?
Sprint isn't all that much cheaper than Verizon now. and you are getting half as much coverage and even less stability.
When Sprint went to 3g, they overclocked their existing towers. Then they just added a few new 3g towers to fill in some of the gaps. Then WiMax and 4g came around. All they did was overclock their existing 3g towers and bolted boosters to their old 2g towers. That's why a plane can fly by and screw the signal up. So now Sprint is paying the price for their "short cuts" by not being able to piggy back off of everyone else's networks. Anyone who ever ran a speed test why they were connected to an old Alltel tower could tell you how much faster their connection really was as compared to their native sprint towers.

So the next couple of quarters are going to be very interesting as to how Sprint responds and recovers to all of this. So far, their actions aren't showing much improvement. Kind of hard to cut so much coverage, and then turn around and increase your prices.