Re: Staying with Sprint?

Steve Dossick (sdossick@cs.columbia.edu)
Tue, 08 Jun 1999 16:21:11 -0400


Interesting that you mention this, I was about to send out a message asking
FoRKers for any sprint experiences...
I'm considering dropping my landline entirely for a national plan, and
sprint has the deal sweetener of $15/mo gets you a second phone + number
sharing the same minutes (so Carrie -- my non FoRKer better half can get a
phone too).

My current technogeek phone is the Motorola V3620, which is (I think) the
current smallest-in-the-world record holder. Yes, it's analog, but it has
message notification, and a built in answering machine. AT&T charges an
arm and a leg tho, to the tune of $29/mo and $0.60/min roaming charges,
with only 30mins airtime included. And every bill includes a little ad for
their digital service plans :) I end up paying $80-$100/mo anyway because
of the charges.

So FoRKers, what's bad about Sprint? More imprtant, what's good?

-s

At 10:30 AM 6/8/99 -0700, Rohit Khare wrote:
>It's crunch time to decide on what calling plan to keep, since I want
>to print business cards today. I'm currently paying $50 a month for
>500 minutes, anytime, anywhere *on their network*, no long distance,
>and (finally!) text messaging.
>
>But I'm dealing with a chickenshit carrier who can't even answer
>their phones. I spent an hour on hold yesterday before getting cut
>off; I've now called over two dozen times to pay my bill and keep
>getting a busy tone. Grumble.
>
>BUT --
>
>Plans seem to have gotten a lot more expensive: AT&T is $90 for 600
>minutes. Without first-minute-free, that's effectively the same as my
>$50 plan, but I gain analog roaming for 80% more. Really worth it? I
>don't know -- the only places I've been out of range in the last year
>have been Chicago (now fixed, I believe), and rural I-5.
>
>Airtouch and PacBell both have attractive volume plans -- including
>very useful night/wknd plans for me -- but they're $75 for 600
>minutes of real use.
>
>They're all about 25 cents for additional minutes. All the others
>require minimum committments, unlike Sprint. There, I could drop down
>to a voicemailbox and use it just as a pager for $15/month. There's
>not much to differentiate them...
>
>... except handset envy. The main lure of the rival plans is the
>Nokia 6000 series: small, 200hr standby, the usual. That looks to be
>a $150 investment (tiny). Exposed keypad, though -- don't know how
>long it'll survive in my pocket.
>
>If I stay with Sprint, I desperately have to replace my old clunker.
>The successor model is a Samsung 2010, a Li-ion version with voice
>dialing and voice memo (and headset support).
>
>But, the one around the corner... yes, I know it's a waiting game
>trap, like getting strung along for a year on paging!... is really
>cool. The Qualcomm 1960 thinphone has a built in 4-day battery and
>comes in at 4.23 ounces.
>
>http://www.point.com/asp/ProductDetails.asp?&routeid=3&cityid=16&id=35
>64&manufactid=14
>
>http://www.qualcomm.com/cdma/phones/portables/ (click QCP-1960, get .pdf).
>
>So, I'm tending to stay. The final question, though, is should I
>still keep my 626 area code? I got it there only because it would be
>local to Adam, but that was long ago. He went with Sprint himself a
>while ago, so I'm not worried about him reaching me. But all my OC
>(949) buddies have to call LD.
>
>But changing my number within Sprint could be just as painful a
>relabeling process: there's no number portability between wireless
>carriers...
>
>Worse, I just called and 1) got the "systems crashed" excuse for
>customer care's non pick-up, 2) there's no number portability within
>the sprint net, either, 3) dual-NAM -- two numbers fwded to the same
>handset -- is "illegal", only under FCC test so far, so 4) I'd need
>to have two handsets during a transition to keep the old number with
>a voicemail greeting with my new number but 5) the new thin phone
>won't be out for another month, but it ought to be $99 (so not as
>chic as you'd think, of course :-) 6) but when it does, I *could*
>implement the handoff strategy, because within 60 days of buying a
>new phone, you can bring in any old, operable phone+charger to get
>$50 service credits. So 7) I'm forced to print my business cards with
>the old 626 number.
>
>Sorry, OC folks. I'm stayin' in Pasadena...
>
>Rohit
>
>PS. It doesn't seem to make sense to produce a small initial run and
>reprint cards in 3 months -- I don't want any collateral at out there
>floating around with a bum number, right?