Poll: What's wrong with Sprint?

With the bleak news out of Sprint's camp this morning, employees, stockholders, analysts, and subscribers all have to be wondering pretty much the same thing: what's going wrong? Xohm's just around the corner, so these guys have a pretty good lead on the competition in the race to 4G -- but is there something far more systematic about Sprint's core business that's causing paying heads to leave in droves?

What's wrong with Sprint?

Awful handset selection!Customer service (lack thereof, that is)If I could get a signal, I'd tell you.Its data network isn't all it's cracked up to be.Plan pricing and / or features need some serious retooling!It's everything, man. Pack it in and call it done.La la la, nothing's wrong! I can't hear you!Vote

[sinai @ Jan 18th 2008 12:16PM]

how about:

"bought nextel and turned that into shit"?

[Flashpoint @ Jan 18th 2008 12:27PM]

I AGREE WITH YOU.
When sprint bought Nextel, I knew Nextel would be doomed. Nextel handsets were never cutting edge technology but they had character and appeal of their own that made them hot on city streets. Now that Sprint's got them, no new phones have been released carrying on the NExtel tradition. The IC phones are crap and the I870 and I880 are lightyears behind everything else. The I930 was an outdated piece of crap that claimed to be a Smartphone, yet lacked Bluetooth.

Sprint has a bad name in my community BTW. They are notorious for charging crazy fees and sending screwed up phone bills with mistakes all over them. Messing up people's credit when they refuse to pay the ridiculous fees.

The handset selection is crappy to say the least. I hoped Nextel would keep making new models but now, Sprint/Nextel has been well outshined by T-MOBILE's Sidekick and completely eclipsed by apple's Iphone.

I'd hoped Boost Mobile would get new devices but alas, Sprint F*cked that up too.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 18th 2008 12:45PM]

Handset selection is EVERYTHING nowadays.

If not for iPhone, At&T would not have had as many subscribers as they gained when they exclusively released it. Had Sprint gotten a CDMA iPhone, or exclusivity to it, their user number would have exploded.

Verizon has better handsets than Sprint which have better testing/quality control behind them. T Mobile's Sidekick line alone could out subscribe Sprint.

[Adam @ Jan 18th 2008 1:30PM]

Absolutely True.

Although, I really only left due to the iPhone exclusivity.

[John @ Jan 18th 2008 1:37PM]

Where's the option of "America's fucking tired of hearing that god damned bleep sound every time some hick construction worker wants to talk to his buddies over push-to-talk?"


I've been conditioned to associate that sound with greasy hicks in their pickup trucks, and hate Sprint every time I hear it.

[xbit @ Jan 18th 2008 1:47PM]

That's the problem though - Apple never would have chosen Sprint because Sprint runs a CDMA network.

If Apple had developed a CDMA iPhone, it wouldn't have been compatible with Europe's networks. It would have cost Apple a lot of money to develop a separate iPhone for the US and Europe.

[sinai @ Jan 18th 2008 2:37PM]

wrong. it's relatively easy to switch out the radio for CDMA for GSM. it's just a radio that operates on different signal, and in the case of GSM: a slot that uses a SIM card to authenticate users as opposed to a wired ESN.

you must write for wikipedia.

[JerryA @ Jan 18th 2008 3:00PM]

I'm not concerned with Nextel. As long as people stay away from me with that annoying *chirp* "you where you at?" then I could care less about Nextel. Their phones were always a generation behind everyone else anyway. I know it's all the rage to hate on your cell company but so far I've settled on Sprint for a few reasons:

-$15/month unlimited data. ATT charges $45 and Verizon isn't much better. I use my PPC as a modem this way and it's by far the cheapest 3g out there and it is fast as hell.

-handsets. Verizon never has the phones I want and even then they come out half a year after Sprint and with some ugly red skin over the interface and a bunch of media store crap. Do not want. ATT has some decent phones but the iphone won't work for me and the Tilt has horrible driver support so it runs like crap.

-plans. I know about the SERO love out there but I haven't gotten around to canceling my service so I can re-sign up with SERO. Still, my bill is relatively low compared to my friends with similar service.

-coverage. This one is always going to vary with location but in the DC/Baltimore area I am never out of EVDO range and even in the mountains of western PA over Xmas vacation I could use it as a modem for my laptop. In the metro of DC I roam for free on Verizon so I can still use my phone for no extra charge.


Obviously your mileage may vary but I think they get a bad rap. Their service is supposedly garbage but I never deal with it so it's not been an issue. Unless someone comes out with the most awesome smartphone ever with $15/month or less unlimted data, I'll probably stick with Sprint for a while.

[Reid @ Jan 18th 2008 6:25PM]

Does ATT really charge $45 for unlimited data? My iPhone plan of course requires data but it's only like $20 on top of the normal plan. So I pay (well, my company pays..) $80 a month for 900 mins + rollover + unlimited data, versus the same plan I had on Verizon which ended up being over $100 and not having rollover minutes.

I think with standalone mobile data cards, Sprint is like $60 a month and Verizon is $80.

As for push-to-talk, I associate it with tech workers. I had an i1000 like everyone else on the planet. Hearing a chirp-chirp on the elevator in the Westin in Seattle was sheer hilarity as all of us went for our phones.

Ah, crappy Motorola phones. How I don't miss you. That phone wasn't all bad, but the i560 or whatever I had was pure garbage. Java meant it was slow as hell. The send/end keys were reversed from normal on the face, but then the soft keys would be in "normal" order so you'd end up with completely mixed up keys. You couldn't save more than 1 number to a contact. And the time it kept ringing loudly in my ear after I had answered the call and was already speaking with my coworker, fun times.

Sometimes I wonder how Motorola is still in business. If they made cars, half the population would have been wiped out, and they would have been sued into oblivion. I dislike Microsoft, but there's a special place in hell for Motorola.

[Maryann @ Jan 20th 2008 8:41PM]

You are absolutely right about the merge between sprint and nextel. I affectionately call sprintpcs, sprintpos to my college friends. IF I wasn't receiving a corporate discount, sprint would be HISTORY! Everyone has switched to Verizon. Does anyone know of a good discount service for electricity?

[zom @ Jan 24th 2008 11:08AM]

thats odd, i look on their website and its 49.95 for unlimited data.

[jamalekai @ Jan 24th 2008 11:50AM]

Nextel used to rock for business. Then sprint talked me into getting this hunk of crap ic902, after I went after my 870 with a hammer because is sucked so hard.... had to switch to "sprint" voicemail, which sucks goat balls compared to nextel's voice mail... mostly in that now, as a sprint customer I can no longer forward voicemails I receive, to my nextel associates. Suck, Suck, Suck... Damn it, now you got me riled... where the F@#$ is my Hammer!!!!!!

[eyecannon @ Jan 18th 2008 12:17PM]

If it weren't for SERO, I would stay far, far away from Sprint.

[wireless.nemo @ Jan 18th 2008 12:42PM]

word.

SERO > *

my service is GREAT. everywhere except one little spot on my ride to/from work. everywhere else is flawless.

pray you never have to speak to CS, though.

[Andrew Jones @ Jan 18th 2008 12:56PM]

I left Sprint almost a year ago due to shoddy CS, crappy signals, and a number of smaller reasons. If you're with Sprint and you insist on staying, don't even bother calling CS. They can't fix any billing issues - it's handled by a company called Convergys. Instead e-mail into support - you can think out what you want to say, you're less likely to send off something that will make you come across as a dickweed, and the people dealing with e-mails are actually empowered to fix stuff.

[El Erbmocnoc Euqsam @ Jan 18th 2008 1:43PM]

SERO is an unbelievable deal. I'm getting unlimited broadband for less than I was paying T-Mo for horrible, super-slow, crippled WAP-proxied EDGE service. I've had AT&T/Cingular and T-Mobile before; Sprint is considerably better than either everywhere I've been (T-Mobile is borderline useless in my experience, with extremely spotty coverage even in urban areas and along major highways).
The only downside is CS is the pits. 9 out of every 10 reps is incompetent and will just lie to you or make stuff up just to get you off the call. It took me 6 calls and 3 days (sometimes more than an hour on hold) to get my number transferred from my previous carrier and the billing info set right (they had forgotten the unlimited SMS promotion initially).
For me, as long as you don't need to deal with CS it's the best and cheapest carrier around. Avoid phone reps and use email support instead for all issues.

[Cuchanu @ Jan 18th 2008 4:17PM]

Yeah I have SERO too, but STILL I get so angry at them that I want to cancel and pay twice as much somewhere else.
Reception in Seattle is great, fast data, and my SERO plan keep me here, but they have a HORRIBLE phone selection and they should start calling their customer service department "THE MOUTH OF MADNESS." I feel like it's a bad dream when I call them. They don't even know how to transfer you to the right people EVER!!! My God I'm going to have a heart attack... I just have to remember how good of a deal I'm getting with SERO!

[nerdtalker @ Jan 18th 2008 3:53PM]

SERO is indeed the only reason to stick with sprint. However, in the process of switching, I had a taste of their absolutely incompetent technical support. Long story short, it took two months to get my number ported, during which I was hung up on, told I would be called back, told completely different things by different "techs," and outright lied to over the phone.

However, after all of it, I love my HTC Mogul, unlimited data, texts, and only paying $30 a month. Plus, it's very entertaining every time I read another iPhone-bill horror story to know I'm always going to be at $30 unless I do something wrong on my side. That, or Sprint decides to screw up my bill. Honestly I think it's a miracle they even send me a bill after talking to those people.

[Seth Porter @ Jan 18th 2008 12:18PM]

Bad coverage, bad customer service, few phones worth using, EVDO latency sucks.

[tkid92 @ Jan 18th 2008 2:36PM]

Disagree I have a BB8830, it is awesome. Never had any signal problems and I live in Northeast Indiana. I couldn't be happier with sprint. But you are right about the CS, it is terrible but I have yet to find great CS anywhere so you can't knock sprint for that. I had more problems with cingular (we wont go their I got f**k by Cingular/AT&T)... most large corp have bad CS.

[Seth Porter @ Jan 18th 2008 2:41PM]

Yeah obviously they have to have good coverage in some areas, they have to have towers right :D but their phones have terrible battery life. I beleive it is the CDMA which uses twice as much power as CDMA. I had an a900, a Moto Q, a sanyo 8300, all three needed to be charged every night and only got maybe an hour and half of data usage or two and a half talk time. I don't know about other peoples opinions, but bad battery life = a bad phone.

[ReTRO CLUTCH @ Jan 18th 2008 12:18PM]

I'll give you a simple example. My phone came with a defective battery. They agreed to replace it. I can do one of two things. Either I can skip work and take it to a special Sprint store that is 45 minutes away or I can mail my phone into Sprint, then they can take 2 weeks to send it back. What kind of customer service is that? Not to mention talking to anyone who knows anything about my phone takes 20 minutes because the regular guys won't just connect you to a senior tech.

[Andrew @ Jan 18th 2008 12:21PM]

Haha, I actually had one lady tell me she wouldn't transfer me to a superior. I asked her several times and she absolutely would not do it. I asked her what her badge number was and asked one more time if she would, and she said no again, so I hung up and called back, got someone else, asked for a superior, or reported her. Now I'm sure they don't really give a damn and probably didn't say anything to her, but on the off chance that they did, it made me feel a little better at least. I hate these punks in tech support call centers who are rude and disrespectful when I'm always very polite and understanding to them.

[Irfan @ Jan 18th 2008 2:37PM]

customer service. when i called to port my old number I went through 4 different reps because they "got a new system". they claimed they didnt have access to the porting stuff and kept transferring me.. which is ridiculous, they are just imcompetent. one guy told me they couldnt port until i cancelled my contract with ATT.. which is exactly what you are NOT supposed to do... I told him this and it was news to him.

another time my phone didnt ring all morning and I missed several calls.. i asked customer service why callers got "this subscriber is not accepting incoming calls". CS's response was to reboot the phone and then they would call back to verify it was working. of course it was working, i just called them on it! it wasnt working 4 hours ago tho. she calls back and says "oh its ringing! it looks like we have successfully solved your issue!" and she was actually giddy as if she solved some mystery but really did nothing.

whatever stories you hear about CS, its true. SERO and a Centro make it all worthwhile tho.

[Andrew @ Jan 18th 2008 12:19PM]

Their biggest issue is that their customer service is absolutely atrocious. You can't call in for any issue without spending about 2-3 hours at least on the phone with them, and most of them are clueless or barely speak English. It's incredibly annoying.

Aside from that, looking at the other choices on the poll, I'm happy with my Mogul, I get great signal, the data network works just fine (and the Mogul should get Rev A soon), and I'm on a SERO plan, so you couldn't pry me off of it for anything.

[Mike_NYC @ Jan 18th 2008 1:59PM]

I'm in your shoes. Talking to them sucks; the Mogul and the network are fine. The price is good enough.

[quandmeme @ Jan 18th 2008 4:20PM]

Talk to me, who's better? I am a Sprint customer dying to jump ship if I had something to jump _to_. Who woos customers with value instead of binding them with cancellation charges. I think the model's broken and I want out. I want to pay full price for a phone and be able to use it on the carrier I choose without cancellation fees. On principle I want to go for the pay-as-I-go system.

[Michael S @ Jan 18th 2008 9:55PM]

@ quandmeme,

With T-Mobile if you get a FlexPay account you are able to have month to month service. Basically you can get any plan and you pay for your service up front instead of afterwards, and of course since there is no contract you pay full price for the phone. This is the best no contract option out there.

[jeffhas @ Jan 19th 2008 2:55AM]

I was with Sprint for 7 years, because they had decent phone selection - 3 lines. Their Customer Service is by far THE ABSOLUTE WORST OF THE WORST. It was so bad three or four years ago, that management started a customer service training program - all their CS Reps actually got better, they stopped the training program and their service went back to crap all over again.

You want to know who's better. T-Mobile - who I switched my daughter and wife to a few years back - really helpful, I thought all phone companies had crap customer service until them. Also, surprise, AT&T - who I switched ALL of us to for iPhones. I know people knock them, but I always get someone quickly (I swear on Sprint you could die, and they would bury your a** before a person comes on the line to help you)... thevt are nice and treat you like your actually the customer - VERY happy. Many of my business associates swear Verizon is top notch, but I have no personal experience.

Good Luck!

[nxtiak @ Jan 18th 2008 12:20PM]

Where's the option because it's not GSM?

[Ed Hardy @ Jan 18th 2008 4:04PM]

I agree this should have been an option, but mostly because Sprint's use of CDMA greatly limites the phone options. You can't use the tons of unlocked phones that are developed for the world market. That's why my vote went for poor handset selection.

[nikster @ Jan 18th 2008 11:41PM]

Yep - it used to be OK to say "we use our own American CDMA system and F the rest of the world". But now, it's not anymore, for two reasons:

- All the cool phones are GSM.
- No GSM, no roaming fees.

The latter is a huge factor - only recently, a Canadian operator mulled switching to GSM, saying that the cost of several $Bn would be amortised within 2 years through roaming fees alone!

So the GSM operators rake in $Bns every year from roaming fees because people that come from other countries have GSM phones. And the CDMA operators are left out in the cold.

All non-GSM (or GSM based 3G) operators will die out. It's only a matter of time. They have two giant disadvantages vs GSM operators, and maybe they can make up for that for a while, but not in the long run.

It's not that the technology is that much better - it's that it's a huge advantage to be compatible with the rest of the world. And SIM cards rock, BTW.

[whatishalo? @ Jan 18th 2008 12:21PM]

They billing system is horrible. They lost my retention promotions when I was 'switched to the new billing system' and it took 5 calls over an hour each to FINALLY get someone to get it fixed properly and credit the overages.

The high speed EVDO is great and service is great in my area...as long as Customer Service is not required...

[Andrew @ Jan 18th 2008 12:22PM]

Hah, exactly my thought. As long as I never need to talk to them for customer service, they are great. When I have to talk to them, I hate Sprint.

[chaosrain @ Jan 18th 2008 12:21PM]

I live in rural Missouri. I can't get broadband at my home without a satellite. As a result, I went to a Sprint store to see if I could get a wireless network card from them. The sales lady didn't look up my address to see if there was signal in my area and guaranteed that it would work. I got home, set it up and got no signal for 90 minutes so I returned it to the store for a full refund.

Fast-forward to one month later. I get a bill from Sprint for $2 for having 90 minutes of service. Each month they resend the bill. Each month I call to have the fee waived. They waive the fee and resend the bill. I'm guessing that it's cost Sprint upwards of $200 to pay the customer service folks, the postage, and generate these bills. All for $2. That's a customer service/business model that's guaranteed to lose money...even with 4G around the corner. I'm going to pick up my satellite internet dish today.

[SweetSauce @ Jan 20th 2008 2:45AM]

Sounds like a quote from the movie "Better Off Dead"--

"I want my two dollars...."

[Nick Catalano @ Jan 18th 2008 12:22PM]

I get better signal with Sprint than I do with any other carrier here in Chicago and my BB Pearl is great... $30 and I get the navigation plan

Check out sprintusers.com , they have a bunch of cool hacks you can do with your Sprint phone...

I have never had a problem getting through to tech support... although their billing/account department sucks

If I had to do it all over again, I would probably still be with sprint (just because none of my friends have as good of signal as I do)

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Jan 18th 2008 8:25PM]

I'm pretty sure us Chicago users get best service. Been with em' for over 5 years. Nothing wrong at all.

[whatishalo? @ Jan 18th 2008 12:23PM]

Though they need to get some better phones...I am guessing the issue is CDMA vs GSM so phone manufactors don't want to create CDMA versions :(

[nd @ Jan 18th 2008 12:24PM]

I really don't get it- I switched from T-Mo about 2 years ago to Sprint. My T-Mo service was BAD- constant dropped calls and poor reception, and back then they did not have a high speed data network. Now I'm on Sprint and I pay $50/month for 1475 min and unlimited data on my Treo and the service has been great. My parents have T-Mo still and my brothers have Verizon (by far the worst for reception around here), and my service is far better than theirs. The only time I've had a phone problem, I brought it to a store and walked away with a new phone, no hassles.
Eh, maybe I'm just the lucky one! But it's been good.

[LuckyDude @ Jan 18th 2008 12:35PM]

Same story here. I've used Sprint for 8 years now. Never had any nightmares with customer service, have always had great luck at their stores, etc. I have lived in major cities, so it's easy for me to pick out a flagship store where the decent employees are. I like my Sammy m610 and previously used Treos and the rev A card, all of which work awesome on their network. It's too bad Sprint has such a bad reputation. My only gripe is no GSM... I would love to just pop my card in a new phone when I upgrade instead of dealing with a CS person.

[Bryan @ Jan 18th 2008 12:26PM]

This is why Sprint is on my hitlist, it's my Sprint horror story: http://www.akronnewsnow.com/blogs/geekingakron/itemdetail.asp?blog=Geeking+Akron&ID=6012

[ahow @ Jan 18th 2008 12:27PM]

Honestly, I've been with Sprint for 6.5 years. I've called customer service 10-12 times in that period. I have never been on hold for more than about 10 minutes and my problems are always resolved in a timely manner. My reps always have southern accents and are extremely helpful. My only complaint is that my signal sucks in my apartment, but maybe that is my fault for living on the inside part of a U shaped, 12 story building. RELEASE THE AIRAVE NATIONWIDE ALREADY!!!

[Joe T. @ Jan 21st 2008 10:27AM]

I have almost the exact same experience. I've been with Spirnt since 99. I've been with several coworkers who've used AT&T or Verizon, where they have no signal and I have no problems.

And every time I've called customer service, I've been on hold maybe five minutes max each time.

The reps in the Sprint stores are awful, though-- the last three times I've gotten a new phone, I've had charges crammed on my bill, despite specifically telling the reps not to put certain things on my bill (replacement insurance, road hazard, etc.). At least CS has always taken those off without any hassle.

It would be nice to just swap out a sim card to change phones (GSM vs. CDMA), but then again, I can have my phone next to my car radio without the radio flaking out.

[Forrest @ Jan 18th 2008 12:34PM]

I've been a Sprint customer since the late 90s. I've never been with another provider.

I've never had signal problems despite living in various places. I've never had a problem finding a phone that I liked. I've never had a problem with billing or switching plans.

My problem is their customer support. It is TERRIBLE. Actually, terrible isn't strong enough a word. I don't know that one exists in the English language. Over the years I've had to contact them a few times, or visit a store a few times, and it is by far the worst service I have ever encountered with any type of company in any industry.

Minute to hours on hold. I've actually had my battery die while on hold with them. Once you talk to a person, they cannot understand what you're saying, and you cannot understand what they're saying. I wanted to add unlimited data to my plan so I could use my phone as a modem. That took over an hour. I had some questions about the plan, but the person I was talking to couldn't understand what I was asking, so I never was sure exactly what I was getting. It took so long they even credited $10 to my account for the inconvenience. Screw the $10, I want that hour of my life back!

I recently got an HTC Touch. I *love* this phone. The problem is I waited over an hour in the Sprint store to get it. Once I finally got to talk to a representative, it was 20 minutes before I had paid for the phone and was out the door. She had to take it out of the box, play with it, chat, and then provide some insanely large amount of information to the computer in front of her.

And then the guy selling meat from the back of his van came in. I'm not kidding. He was trying to sell her surplus meat, WHILE I WAS TRYING TO BUY MY PHONE AND GET BACK TO WORK! She didn't him to piss off, or at least wait till we were finished. She sat and listened while he explained all the meat options, and then she CALLED HER BOYFRIEND to make sure it was ok to buy the meat. WHAT THE F&%*I?

And then when she was done with the meat negotiations, she turns and looks at me and says 'You're all set'. So I waited for the meat sale for what? Entertainment? GAHHH!!

So yeah..I like the phones, and I like the quality of the cell service. Their customer service is indescribably horrific.

[Duane @ Jan 18th 2008 12:39PM]

I don't know, but it really sucks for the local economy here in Kansas City where Sprint is based. Keep it up Sprint! Maybe "Roger and Me" part 2 can be filmed here.

[Duane @ Jan 18th 2008 12:41PM]

Oops, I meant for that to be its own comment, sorry.

[sprintuser @ Jan 18th 2008 12:59PM]

If it wasn't for sprint the lower class wouldn't have cell phones. Not to say that every single sprint customer doesn't know how to pay bills on time but the majority does. You don't like the company then leave its not Sprints fault that every other carrier wants $1000 deposit to have you as a customer. For those that do know how to pay your bills on time I'm sorry you have to be treated the same way people that don't pay thier bills are but if you can't pay on time you do not deserve good customer service. If you have good credit and like sprints service go to verizon there is a roaming agreement between the two companies and the signal strength is exactly the same in 90% of america just set your roaming settings to automatic

[OneLove @ Jan 18th 2008 6:40PM]

...the lower class?...Ok your majesty...Daddy is still paying your bills.

[Bob @ Jan 18th 2008 12:38PM]

The Philippines is the problem with Sprint.

You have CS reps that only have experience with GSM phones on a prepay model(Globe and SMART, you guys are so ghetto for not pushing the postpay model in your country).

These reps are heavily scripted and have no concept of what they're working on. They can't speak English well and even when you attempt to speak Tagalog to level the playing field, the reps still try to speak English.

1st thing for Sprint: Cut off any outsourced CS. Keep the CS within the US borders like the vast majority of US Cellular carriers have. Even the Maritime Provinces of Canada are being impractical with the Canadian Dollar being on par(give or take) with the US Dollar.

Sprint, you are the new AT&T Wireless, and just like John Zeglis ran that company into the ground; so too did Gary Forsee at Sprint.

Burn Baby Burn. Burn Baby Burn.