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SPRINT STEALS DATA!!!

norb

Android Enthusiast
Jan 8, 2016
251
37
DO NOT USE SPRINT!!!

1) I was forced to download a system update over my data plan. The 500 megabytes of this update came out of my data plan.

2) There is no option to turn off automatic system updates or switch to wifi only.

3) There was no prompt to choose to not allow this.

4) If this was toward the end of my billing cycle I would have been charged overages.


Below are copies of my communications with Sprint.

ME:
"
I lost over 500 megs of my data plan to this stupid update. I had background data restricted and it still downloaded this sorry 502.9 megabyte update over my data plan. Apparently there is no way to restrict this from happening. And it slowed down my already stupidly slow data stream.


What would have happened had I been close to my limit? Would I have been charged extra had I gone over my limit even though this download was done against my will?


I want my data back! AND I WANT THIS SORRY AUTO DOWNLOAD TURNED OFF! This is on an lg g5."

SPRINT:
"
If the device was not connected to a WiFi network during the time it was downloading this update, this counted against the plans data.


To answer your question regarding the overages charges, please allow us the opportunity to review your plan.

Please send me a private message with your name, Sprint telephone number, security PIN or the answer to the security question by clicking here.


Ina.

Sprint Social Care."

SPRINT:
"
Thank you for replying to my message. To answer your question regarding being close to the data allowance and charges, upon reviewing the account I see that you are on the ''T-Mo Simple Choice 10GB 50%Off'' this plan includes 10GBs of high-speed data and unlimited 2G speeds (with the option to buy up high-speed data $15/GB ) Therefore you wouldn't have been charge any overages.

When a device has a software update available, they display a prompt, if you do not wish for your device to download the update while using your plans data, you can press ''Later'' or ''Remind me later' and then download the update while on Wi-Fi.

Unfortunately we cannot give back the MBs used during the download. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.


If you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us."

ME:
"
Finally found my PM, which apparently are only viewable after clicking Ina's link because there is no PM button on this forum for some stupid reason.


This is Ina's response


"Thank you for replying to my message. To answer your question regarding being close to the data allowance and charges, upon reviewing the account I see that you are on the ''T-Mo Simple Choice 10GB 50%Off'' this plan includes 10GBs of high-speed data and unlimited 2G speeds (with the option to buy up high-speed data $15/GB ) Therefore you wouldn't have been charge any overages.


When a device has a software update available, they display a prompt, if you do not wish for your device to download the update while using your plans data, you can press ''Later'' or ''Remind me later' and then download the update while on Wi-Fi.


Unfortunately we cannot give back the MBs used during the download. We apologize for any inconvenience caused."



For one I was never given a prompt nor any choice. Therefore this was theft.


For two, I asked what WOULD happen IF I habd gone over had this been toward the end of the month. And now I have my answer. As you can not refund the 500 megabyte you stole you would simply charge me overages. And that is not acceptable. I will proceed to spam the net until you return my 500 megabytes you stole. And will not be a customer to your sorry garbage company after this phone is paid off. Furthermore I will be switching to a prepaid plan to prevent overages due to your company'a theiving."
 
I'm on a Verizon T-Shirt plan for our family....
I can move the limits up/dn at my own choosing, any day of the month.
i only need a lot of data about twice a month when I take my motorcycle tours...

the rest of the time, I barely use hardly any at all.... right up until the last two days when AT&T ADSL broke... :(

now we are really hitting it hard, we have 0.82 gBtyes left...
it resets at midnight on the 25th though, so 7 more days and I get a new 2.0 gB worth to chomp on. :)

Every OS update that has ever showed up, has ALWAYS asked if you want it now, or later.....
I suspect that you had sloppy fingers that punched before you read the screen....
or, you pulled the phone out of a pocket and punched 'okay' and did not realize it.

it is always easy to stop those things, just pull down the Notification bar and turn OFF DATA....
dun.... it is stopped. now, go to a WiFi of your choice, and then it will continue where it left off.

My wife's S5 still has 4.4.4 on it.
and it asks here every time if she wants to upgrade?

we just hit the 'clear button' and the prompt goes away for that session....

she has not had either DATA or WiFi turned on in two years....
it is a game toy for her, or a device for children to call home... she just won't make outgoing calls.... she things the world should kotow to her.... makes like interesting sometimes, and quite argumentative....

DATA used.png
 
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Are your networks as slimy as ours? I was reading an article by Paul Craig Roberts a while back noting that deregulating the phone industry has lead to crappy over priced service. Apparently there is no real escape any longer.
It sounds like someone never had to pay a phone bill under Ma Bell. 10¢ a minute might not sound like much nowadays, but back then... Well, are you willing to talk to your mom for half an hour and have to shell out $30 for that privilege? And that was one of the cheap rates...
 
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It sounds like someone never had to pay a phone bill under Ma Bell. 10¢ a minute might not sound like much nowadays, but back then... Well, are you willing to talk to your mom for half an hour and have to shell out $30 for that privilege? And that was one of the cheap rates...

And lest we forget: back in the day, you couldn't just go out a buy a phone. You had to pay an "instrument lease" to Ma Bell. If the phone broke, a technician would come out and repair or replace it... but how often did that happen, really? To this day, many elderly holdovers from the Ma Bell days are STILL unwittingly paying the lease fee! I cite this article from 2012:

https://consumerist.com/2012/04/30/...f-people-are-still-leasing-their-home-phones/
 
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Are your networks as slimy as ours?

It's a bit different here, one thing we don't have locked, subsidized phones, with carrier forced updates over cellular data, unlike Sprint. All carrier service is prepaid, no contracts. There's three networks here, all state owned. Up until recently often we did have to choose the right phone for the carrier, unless wanted 2G service only, e.g. a TD-SCDMA device for China Mobile. These days many phones here have all modes in them, and give full service with all three networks.

I was reading an article by Paul Craig Roberts a while back noting that deregulating the phone industry has lead to crappy over priced service. Apparently there is no real escape any longer.
But wasn't it prior to deregulation.. Ma Bell, sucks and expensive, but hard luck, because that's all there is. "We're the phone company...hahaha!"

Are all the telcos in the US like Sprint? Instead of state owned monopoly, it's a private cartel?
 
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Carriers do modify the phone software, so it's not impossible that Sprint have removed options. Forced updates (i.e. updates you cannot decline) are something that so far is unique to certain US carriers - the non-carrier version of the same phone, even used on the same network, will not have this, nor will versions sold in other countries.

Removing the option to download via WiFi only seems odd, but if a carrier were determined that everyone should have the updates that option would be a way of refusing it (as long as you never used WiFi), so it's conceivable this could be done deliberately for that reason. We'd have to compare with a non-carrier version of the same handset (whichever handset model this was) to be sure.
 
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You update on Sprint. It's automatic. My friend complains mightily every time they do it.
With Sprint still being fourth, they need to check up on all the complaints MS has had with updating customers who didn't want 10. I just turned everything off and added more security. I'll eventually split with Linux and 7 Pro with Mint being the online entity.

Data has a habit of going missing during upgrades. Back it up. There's quite a few ways and some good advice around here on backing up.
 
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I haven't updated my phone since I got it (I'm rooted and can't be bothered to re-root after the) and I'm on Sprint... I have a constant reminder that there's an update, but just ignore it.

I also ignore the update reminders for nearly half the bloatware that's permanently installed on my phone. If it gets too bad, I may just go and install a third-party firmware such as Cyanogen.

As long as my phone and data connection work, I will be happy. As it is, I work in a dead-zone, so any connection for me is a happy day.
 
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Along time ago when I was on Sprint I had an update pushed to me over their network when I barely had a bar of signal. Came back to my desk to find my phone downloading the update and a drained battery. I soon left Sprint because their coverage sucked, to say the least.

Yeah, Sprint Sucks.
 
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Upvote 0
Carriers do modify the phone software, so it's not impossible that Sprint have removed options. Forced updates (i.e. updates you cannot decline) are something that so far is unique to certain US carriers - the non-carrier version of the same phone, even used on the same network, will not have this, nor will versions sold in other countries.

Removing the option to download via WiFi only seems odd, but if a carrier were determined that everyone should have the updates that option would be a way of refusing it (as long as you never used WiFi), so it's conceivable this could be done deliberately for that reason. We'd have to compare with a non-carrier version of the same handset (whichever handset model this was) to be sure.

Well that sucks :/
It's bad enough that carriers add their bloatware too
 
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It's one of the reasons I don't buy carrier handsets. But that's a lot easier for me than for many as (a) I can afford the upfront cost of an unsubsidised handset, (b) in the UK there is a major chain (carphonewarehouse) who will sell unbranded handsets with a carrier subsidy if you can't afford that, and (c) GSM networks have a lot less control over what handset you use than CDMA (just stick the SIM in and that's it, no need to register the handset itself with them).
 
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