I want to make sure I understand this, I've read a few other threads that came up in auto-search, but if some one wouldn't mind confirming my understanding I would really appreciate it.
With the "Everything Data Family With Any Mobile Anytime" plan, if I find myself driving to the beach (in the Northwest, theres a good 20 minute stretch that no carrier other than Verizon has bothered with getting signal to) the phones (in this case, the EVO) will just roam onto Verizon's network, right?
Is it as simple, cut and dry as "If Verizon phones get service then sprint phones will too?" or is there more to it?
Lastly, I understand that the bank of 1,500 minutes is used while roaming.
Anyone care to correct me if/where I might be wrong? The sprint reps just tell you "Yes of course" but i'd like to know how it ends up working in the real world.
Thanks again!
Last edited by thezlog; June 2nd, 2010 at 04:08 PM.
I want to make sure I understand this, I've read a few other threads that came up in auto-search, but if some one wouldn't mind confirming my understanding I would really appreciate it.
With the "Everything Data Family With Any Mobile Anytime" plan, if I find myself driving to the beach (in the Northwest, theres a good 20 minute stretch that no carrier other than Verizon has bothered with getting signal to) the phones (in this case, the EVO) will just roam onto Verizon's network, right?
Is it as simple, cut and dry as "If Verizon phones get service then sprint phones will too?" or is there more to it?
Lastly, I understand that the bank of 1,500 minutes is used while roaming.
Anyone care to correct me if/where I might be wrong? The sprint reps just tell you "Yes of course" but i'd like to know how it ends up working in the real world.
Not sure the specifics of the roaming, but yes you can roam on verizons network, but im not sure if thats at 2G or 3G, but the signals are good for either if you were to ever find yourself roaming. The 1500 minutes though, if you are calling any mobile cell phone anywhere, those minutes are unlimited. You will only burn your minutes on your account by calling a land line phone. So as long as you are calling a cell phone, regardless of any carrier, those are basically unlimited or FREE.
Yes you can roam on verizon. The transition is not seamless so if you are on a call with the sprint tower it will drop when you roam. You are then free to initiate the call while roaming. Your phone will also ring while roaming. Data is at 1x.
Sprint may get pissy if you regularly use more than 50% of your minutes roaming.
How about roaming and tapping in to Verizon data? And not trying to get off-subject, but if you can pick up both a Sprint signal and a Verizon signal, is there any downside to using the Verizon signal if it's stronger?
Yes you can roam on verizon. The transition is not seamless so if you are on a call with the sprint tower it will drop when you roam. You are then free to initiate the call while roaming. Your phone will also ring while roaming. Data is at 1x.
Sprint may get pissy if you regularly use more than 50% of your minutes roaming.
You know something, I dont know how long this contract has been in effect but I think I have never roamed on a verizon network because I haven't experianced any ringing anywhere I have used my phone. Hmmmmm.
So as long as you are calling a cell phone, regardless of any carrier, those are basically unlimited or FREE.
I believe you are incorrect. This is straight from Sprint's website terms: "Mobile-to-Mobile:Only available for calls directly between Sprint phones and/or most Nextel phones (not through Voicemail, 411 or other indirect methods). Not available where a Sprint phone is roaming."
This would imply that these minutes are not included in mobile to mobile "unlimited" buckets. I'm not sure if this uses your minutes or not, as this is unclear from the terms.
How about roaming and tapping in to Verizon data? And not trying to get off-subject, but if you can pick up both a Sprint signal and a Verizon signal, is there any downside to using the Verizon signal if it's stronger?
Not sure about that one, but I don't think that would be something the sprint people take a liking to, especially if you do it on a regular basis.
I believe you are incorrect. This is straight from Sprint's website terms: "Mobile-to-Mobile:Only available for calls directly between Sprint phones and/or most Nextel phones (not through Voicemail, 411 or other indirect methods). Not available where a Sprint phone is roaming."
This would imply that these minutes are not included in mobile to mobile "unlimited" buckets. I'm not sure if this uses your minutes or not, as this is unclear from the terms.
Not sure what plan that is, but this is what he is talking about....
"Any Mobile, Anytime: Applies when directly dialing/receiving standard voice calls between domestic wireless numbers as determined when the call is placed using independent third-party and Sprint databases. Available with select Sprint plans and while on the Nationwide Sprint or Nextel National Networks (excludes voicemail, 411 and other indirect methods)."
Doesn't matter what carrier you are calling, and I don't think roaming matters either. Although the roaming isn't specifically addressed.
Not sure what plan that is, but this is what he is talking about....
"Any Mobile, Anytime: Applies when directly dialing/receiving standard voice calls between domestic wireless numbers as determined when the call is placed using independent third-party and Sprint databases. Available with select Sprint plans and while on the Nationwide Sprint or Nextel National Networks (excludes voicemail, 411 and other indirect methods)."
Doesn't matter what carrier you are calling, and I don't think roaming matters either. Although the roaming isn't specifically addressed.
the bit about "while on the NationwideSprint or Nextel National Networks" leads me to believe you'll use minutes for calling other mobile phones if you're roaming on verizon's towers.
That said, I've only ever had mobile-to-mobile (sprint/nextel to sprint/nextel) before and my roaming is included anyway, so I can't say for certain what happens with the any mobile, anytime option.
Not sure what plan that is, but this is what he is talking about....
"Any Mobile, Anytime: Applies when directly dialing/receiving standard voice calls between domestic wireless numbers as determined when the call is placed using independent third-party and Sprint databases. Available with select Sprint plans and while on the Nationwide Sprint or Nextel National Networks (excludes voicemail, 411 and other indirect methods)."
Doesn't matter what carrier you are calling, and I don't think roaming matters either. Although the roaming isn't specifically addressed.
It's addressed right here. Roaming uses your minutes.
ok i just talked to sprint and this is what they said... hope it helps... it did for me
5:31:50 PM :
Arthur V: Hello.
5:32:01 PM :
david carpenter: hi
5:33:10 PM :
Arthur V: The Sprint HTC Evo will require any Data plan with $10 Data premium pack to be activate.
5:33:46 PM :
Arthur V: Should I explain you the Sprint individual Data plan to you ?
5:34:23 PM :
david carpenter: yeah the 69.99 plan i think it is that is offered right
5:34:33 PM :
david carpenter: or is there a cheaper plan than that
5:35:18 PM :
Arthur V: $69.99 Everything Data is the cheapest Individual plan with data these are the other feature of the plan-
5:35:28 PM :
Arthur V: It includes 450 Anytime Minutes
Additional Anytime Minutes will be charged at $0.45 per minute
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile, nationwide long distance and no roaming charges
Unlimited Internet access
Anytime Anymobile: All domestic calls to any mobile on any network unlimited (user must not be roaming)
Messaging: Unlimited nationwide, text, picture and video messages to anyone on any network.
5:36:03 PM :
david carpenter: what happens if i am roaming?
5:36:44 PM :
Arthur V: There will be no roaming charges in this plan.
5:37:02 PM :
david carpenter: ok but will my minutes be used then?
5:37:38 PM :
david carpenter: it says the user must not be roaming... what does that mean exactly
5:38:06 PM :
Arthur V: Let me explain this to you.
5:38:11 PM :
david carpenter: ok ty
5:38:13 PM :
david carpenter: sorry
5:39:59 PM :
Arthur V: The America roaming is free in this plan. The term "All domestic calls to any mobile on any network unlimited (user must not be roaming) " states that user must not be in International roaming.
5:41:12 PM :
david carpenter: ok just so i have this correct i can call anybody anytime to any cell phone as long as i'm in america
5:41:22 PM :
david carpenter: and not be charged
5:41:59 PM :
david carpenter: and they are also, not international calls
5:42:10 PM :
Arthur V: Yes.
5:42:44 PM :
Arthur V: You can call any cell phone in the America for free.
5:42:50 PM :
david carpenter: ok, and i will get free nights and weekends starting at 7pm till 6am
Arthur V: You're welcome.My goal is to ensure the issues that prompted you to chat are fully resolved. Please let me know if I can be of any more help to you.?
5:45:37 PM :
david carpenter: no that is it thank you very much for the help
5:45:40 PM :
Arthur V: It was a pleasure assisting you. We value your business and would appreciate you taking time to respond to a brief survey about your chat experience.
5:46:22 PM :
Arthur V: Thank you. I sincerely appreciate this.To ensure you are able to participate, please disable all popup blockers before pressing the Exit and Complete Survey button to end the chat session.
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Not sure what plan that is, but this is what he is talking about....
"Any Mobile, Anytime: Applies when directly dialing/receiving standard voice calls between domestic wireless numbers as determined when the call is placed using independent third-party and Sprint databases. Available with select Sprint plans and while on the Nationwide Sprint or Nextel National Networks (excludes voicemail, 411 and other indirect methods)."
Doesn't matter what carrier you are calling, and I don't think roaming matters either. Although the roaming isn't specifically addressed.
Those are the terms no matter which plan you pick, as long as it includes "Unlimited mobile to mobile."
At my house i jump between sprint and verizon and my roaming has been seamless, i dont ever recall having a call dropped due to roaming onto a vzw tower.
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ok i just talked to sprint and this is what they said... hope it helps... it did for me
5:31:50 PM :
Arthur V: Hello.
5:32:01 PM :
david carpenter: hi
5:33:10 PM :
Arthur V: The Sprint HTC Evo will require any Data plan with $10 Data premium pack to be activate.
5:33:46 PM :
Arthur V: Should I explain you the Sprint individual Data plan to you ?
5:34:23 PM :
david carpenter: yeah the 69.99 plan i think it is that is offered right
5:34:33 PM :
david carpenter: or is there a cheaper plan than that
5:35:18 PM :
Arthur V: $69.99 Everything Data is the cheapest Individual plan with data these are the other feature of the plan-
5:35:28 PM :
Arthur V: It includes 450 Anytime Minutes
Additional Anytime Minutes will be charged at $0.45 per minute
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile, nationwide long distance and no roaming charges
Unlimited Internet access
Anytime Anymobile: All domestic calls to any mobile on any network unlimited (user must not be roaming)
Messaging: Unlimited nationwide, text, picture and video messages to anyone on any network.
5:36:03 PM :
david carpenter: what happens if i am roaming?
5:36:44 PM :
Arthur V: There will be no roaming charges in this plan.
5:37:02 PM :
david carpenter: ok but will my minutes be used then?
5:37:38 PM :
david carpenter: it says the user must not be roaming... what does that mean exactly
5:38:06 PM :
Arthur V: Let me explain this to you.
5:38:11 PM :
david carpenter: ok ty
5:38:13 PM :
david carpenter: sorry
5:39:59 PM :
Arthur V: The America roaming is free in this plan. The term "All domestic calls to any mobile on any network unlimited (user must not be roaming) " states that user must not be in International roaming.
5:41:12 PM :
david carpenter: ok just so i have this correct i can call anybody anytime to any cell phone as long as i'm in america
5:41:22 PM :
david carpenter: and not be charged
5:41:59 PM :
david carpenter: and they are also, not international calls
5:42:10 PM :
Arthur V: Yes.
5:42:44 PM :
Arthur V: You can call any cell phone in the America for free.
5:42:50 PM :
david carpenter: ok, and i will get free nights and weekends starting at 7pm till 6am
Arthur V: You're welcome.My goal is to ensure the issues that prompted you to chat are fully resolved. Please let me know if I can be of any more help to you.?
5:45:37 PM :
david carpenter: no that is it thank you very much for the help
5:45:40 PM :
Arthur V: It was a pleasure assisting you. We value your business and would appreciate you taking time to respond to a brief survey about your chat experience.
5:46:22 PM :
Arthur V: Thank you. I sincerely appreciate this.To ensure you are able to participate, please disable all popup blockers before pressing the Exit and Complete Survey button to end the chat session.
This is the exact opposite of the information I received from chat. I deleted the conversation but they informed me that if I roam the mobile to any mobile minutes will be take away from my anytime minutes. This is the whole reason I decided to just stick with Verizon. I have also asked many custome rservice reps. The only ones that have said it does not are the sales department on Sprint.
Roaming data is 1X, but some say 2G level and others 2.5G level. If you can stream low res youtube, you are getting higher speed (2.5G) 1X level. If not, it is 2G level.
I actually just got on chat and got the information about roaming to paste.
4:24:32 PM System
Thank you for contacting Sprint. My name is Traci K. In order to better assist you, may I please have your first and last name?
4:25:31 PM Brad
my question is......if I am on a mobile to any mobile plan and I am roaming in the United States.....will the minutes be deducated from my plan allowed anytime minutes?
4:25:56 PM Brad
Sorry.....Brad K
4:26:42 PM Traci K
Thank you so much, Brad. If you are roaming in the U.S. then a mobile to mobile call would use your plan allowed anytime minutes *or* your 7 pm unlimited night and weekend minutes as applicable according to the time the call began.
4:27:03 PM Brad
Thank You
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Doesn't make sense why they still allow unlimited night and weekend minutes, but not mobile-to-mobile while roaming. You'd think they allow any or none.
As long as roaming doesn't incur extra charges above and beyond the normal plan, I don't see the issue with using anytime minutes for it. Just don't talk more than 450 minutes while roaming.
I don't understand why, if you can roam on Verizon with Sprint, I still see a lot of cocmments such as: "I had great call quality with Sprint - when I could make a call. Their coverage is so poor in many areas that I decided I needed ubiquitous calling over quality and switched." A lot of times these people cite that as the reason why they choose to go with Verizon instead. Isn't the roaming on Verizon's entire network? Or is it limited to certain geographic areas?
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I don't understand why, if you can roam on Verizon with Sprint, I still see a lot of cocmments such as: "I had great call quality with Sprint - when I could make a call. Their coverage is so poor in many areas that I decided I needed ubiquitous calling over quality and switched." A lot of times these people cite that as the reason why they choose to go with Verizon instead. Isn't the roaming on Verizon's entire network? Or is it limited to certain geographic areas?
Thats another thing i wonder about... I wonder if some phones be default are sold with roaming disabled?
My friend has an HTC HD2 (?) on sprint and says he's not once ever been without signal. Roaming is enabled on his phone.
He drives back to Colorado to visit family once a year and says he's good the whole way.
I just had an online chat with Sprint and was told in no uncertain terms that mobile to mobile calls within the US are free of charge regardless of on the Sprint network or roaming with the Everything Data Family Share 1500 plan I have...I still wasn't convinced so I called and got the same answer.
Last edited by chazglenn3; June 3rd, 2010 at 09:27 PM.
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sprint is usually pretty good at giving you 1/2 bar of service just so you don't go on roam. the only thing making me hesitate on getting the evo is there is no easy way to toggle roaming only like i am able to on my 4 year old 700p...
This is the only thing that concerns me about sprint, but I am giving them a shot. I have verizon and no problems with dropped calls or call quality. So far the Evo has no issues either. I have only used it for about 15 minutes and it's solid. Hope it remains that way.
Last edited by mms1946; June 6th, 2010 at 06:36 PM.
Reason: mistyped me as be
While roaming onto Verizon, my Evo shows 3G as the network connection. Does the Evo lack the 1x capabilities? I have yet to roam onto Verizon and see anything but 3G. I am curious if anybody here has been roaming on Verizon 1x?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pwabbit
While roaming onto Verizon, my Evo shows 3G as the network connection. Does the Evo lack the 1x capabilities? I have yet to roam onto Verizon and see anything but 3G. I am curious if anybody here has been roaming on Verizon 1x?
I was roaming with my Evo earlier today, in the middle of nowhere, and my 3G icon was not at the top of my screen. I had the normal triangle all Sprint phones get when roaming. it did not show 1x or 3G and I was using Sprint navigation the whole time.
New to Sprint here and trying them out for the 30 days. I tend to roam a lot in certain areas around where I live. However, I still seem to get 3G, although it is a lot slower. It is possible that it is actually on 1X and I don't even know it. Next time I roam I'll try to find out in the programming menus.
As someone who has come from Verizon with rock solid service, this is my only reservation about Sprint.
sprint is usually pretty good at giving you 1/2 bar of service just so you don't go on roam. the only thing making me hesitate on getting the evo is there is no easy way to toggle roaming only like i am able to on my 4 year old 700p...
You can set your phone in the Settings to stay on Sprint-only. I've used it to test out Sprint coverage in NJ, which has turned out to be pretty good. Haven't gotten to the Pine Barrens or towards AC, but everyone's network seems to struggle there. Can't be worse than what I had with AT&T's almost non-existing coverage.
Yes you can roam on verizon. The transition is not seamless so if you are on a call with the sprint tower it will drop when you roam. You are then free to initiate the call while roaming. Your phone will also ring while roaming. Data is at 1x.
Sprint may get pissy if you regularly use more than 50% of your minutes roaming.
This uses your minutes,PERIOD. Don't believe a word otherwise.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BenChase7
Then what network are we roaming on?
I think they are just confused. If you look at Sprint's newest Coverage map you will see it has shrunken dramatically (which you probably know) because Sprint has deemed to post actual coverage versus Roaming. I don't know the full in's and outs of it but Sprint and Alltel had a deal through 2016 with Reciprocal Roaming , meaning they could use each others towers and services without limit. Well , as you know, Verizon bought Alltel and I believe caused that Roaming agreement to expire. Verizon also sold off Alltel assets to AT&T further degrading Sprint's coverage in areas like Montana. Thankfully the FCC has ruled that the big boys essentially have to allow voice and data roaming to the smaller players at a reasonable price but Verizon is fighting that tooth and nail. So yes we are still roaming on Verizon's network mostly (I am sure we hit a few towers from some of the regional players like MetroPCS etc) but it has it's limits as it is Non Reciprocal. To my knowledge Verizon doesn't allow there phones to Roam on Sprint.
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I'd say they are definitely confused, because I just checked my usage and one line has 11 megs of data roaming and the other had 4 megs of data roaming. Since that roaming has to be coming from some other network, I'd have say Sprint still has a roaming contract.
I noticed a significant drop in signal as soon as this happened. It is not just a matter of how they colored in their coverage map! I even started a thread in the Epic forum about roaming all the time all of a sudden before I knew about this:
The one that shows up on your phone is the regular type of roaming and counts as roaming. Meaning it uses your Anytime minutes instead of Any Mobile Any Time, will get you bumped for excessive roaming, etc.
The second one is a Strategic Roaming Agreement and does NOT show as roaming on your phone and is not considered as roaming on your account. It looks just like any other Sprint network call.
With regular roaming, Sprint pays the other carrier when you use their towers. That's why Sprint would rather you not roam.
With a SRA, the carriers allow each other's users to use either network. There may be some compensation one way or the other depending on what was negotiated. This is what happened in Wyoming and other states in that area that are now roaming to users. The SRA with Alltel ended. Sprint had few if any of its own towers there as it was not worth it for the number of subscribers. They just made a deal with the local carrier. That's over.
I suspect we will see more of this while Network Vision is being deployed. Sprint has more towers that any other carrier, but they are split between Sprint and Nextel. Once Nextel is finally killed off, you will see significant native coverage across the US.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEngineer
There are two types of roaming actually.
The one that shows up on your phone is the regular type of roaming and counts as roaming. Meaning it uses your Anytime minutes instead of Any Mobile Any Time, will get you bumped for excessive roaming, etc.
The second one is a Strategic Roaming Agreement and does NOT show as roaming on your phone and is not considered as roaming on your account. It looks just like any other Sprint network call.
With regular roaming, Sprint pays the other carrier when you use their towers. That's why Sprint would rather you not roam.
With a SRA, the carriers allow each other's users to use either network. There may be some compensation one way or the other depending on what was negotiated. This is what happened in Wyoming and other states in that area that are now roaming to users. The SRA with Alltel ended. Sprint had few if any of its own towers there as it was not worth it for the number of subscribers. They just made a deal with the local carrier. That's over.
I suspect we will see more of this while Network Vision is being deployed. Sprint has more towers that any other carrier, but they are split between Sprint and Nextel. Once Nextel is finally killed off, you will see significant native coverage across the US.
Or pretty much what I said above. The agreement with Alltel was a Reciprocal Roaming Agreement (Not Strategic Roaming) and was the first of it's kind in that it allowed both carriers voice and data roaming (1x and EVDO) on each others sites. Sprint also has this agreement with Verizon but only on 1x data not EVDO in so far as Sprint TV, etc but not sure where that is at now as Verizon is trying to change the game.
They are lucky I am concerned about cost, or I would switch to Verizon or AT&T now! It is absolutely idiotic that I cannot keep decent signal along major interstates.
All indications suggest that Sprint customers can no longer roam on Verizon in the Chicago area. The Roam Control app confirms this, via two different explanations which only make sense in one possible way.
from Android Market:
---
Note: Samsung users may not see a signal when in "roam only" in the following areas: most of TX (except for the Houston area), most of FL, the Chicago area, and PR.
---
From the Roam Control FAQ:
---
Samsung phones have different behavior - when in "roam only", they only roam on the 800mhz frequency band. There are areas in the US that are 1900mhz only, which means that Samsung phones will not get a signal in those areas.
---
Verizon in Chicago runs at 800MHz. The only way I can explain the inability of a Sprint Samsung phone to roam on Verizon in Chicago is that Sprint has cancelled its roaming contract with Verizon here, and instead roams on a 1900MHz carrier like US Cellular (which is worthless, since another 1900MHz signal is no more likely to penetrate buildings than Sprint's own).
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@lgmayka - I don't want to quote the whole thing, but I wanted to thank you for that info. I live in the Chicago area, and I got RC even though I saw the warning regarding this area. I mostly got it for when I travel up to certain areas in Wisconsin for family.
It's good information to know though, as now I know I'm SOL at my second office near O'Hare where in the building, service sux. Looks like even if I didn't have an Epic, it still wouldn't do me any good
Further information on the issue of Sprint roaming on Verizon in Chicago:
- One poster in a Sprint forum claims that he still occasionally roams on Verizon in Chicago, but always on the 1900MHz band, not 800MHz.
- Other Internet sources indicate that Verizon indeed now has both 800MHz and 1900MHz bands in Chicago.
- Just today, while in a basement office with no Sprint service, I noticed that my phone often indicated roaming service, but as soon as I attempted a call it switched to no-service.
Here is my latest interpretation:
Sprint's contract with Verizon permits roaming in Chicago, but does not specify the frequency band. Verizon has taken advantage of this loophole: Verizon now force-redirects Sprint roamers to the 1900MHz band. This is almost worthless to Sprint customers, since Verizon's 1900MHz signal doesn't penetrate any farther than Sprint's 1900MHz signal. The net effect is that a Sprint phone may appear to have roaming service, but will immediately switch to no-service as soon as the customer attempts to make a call.
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Sprint's Roaming Contract with Verizon...
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Traci K
