Sprint announces massive layoffs, store closings amid subscriber defection
By Evan Blass 
posted Jan 18th 2008 11:22AM
posted Jan 18th 2008 11:22AM
New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas. Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
I was with Srint from the beginning when they were with Radio Shack.Back then they had no contracts, first incoming minutes free, good customer service and no tricks. I watch them become what they are today. Fortunately, I got out several years ago.
And this is why you don't cut off people's contracts because they called customer support too much... bad for business
you mean I can get off my contract if I call them and complain to them.
If that works I will be calling this whole weekend. They suckered me into staying with their fancy TOUCH, the phone is great and all but their service stinks.
Dang. Should I be thinking of switching carriers? I just got a Palm 755p in July, so I still have a year and a half left on my contract...
As a new Treo 755p owner (as of August 2007), I'm planning on staying with them. Most of it is due to the discounts I have, but I've also been pretty happy with them over the last 6 months as their service seems to have improved.
I think part of this news is poor management, but also they've not been able to secure that many solid deals on phones. I'm sure the iPhone and being exclusive on AT&T hasn't helped, either.
All along, I've said they should be focusing on customer service instead of locking people in contracts. If they would make the break from that and really start getting competitive with their current customers and letting new customers they can come on board without a contract (credit checks should still be done, though), I think more people would stay with them. Who knows... like what's happened to DRM, maybe the other cell carriers will follow suit.
Thats what they deserve...
Thank God I've only got 2.5 months until I can get out of my contract and move on to Verizon or AT&T.
They've got horrible customer service and pretty shitty phones so what exactly do they expect? Plus the whole debacle last year with the cancelling of some lines just shows how horrible the company is.
Thats what they deserve...
Thank God I've only got 2.5 months until I can get out of my contract and move on to Verizon or AT&T.
They've got horrible customer service and pretty shitty phones so what exactly do they expect? Plus the whole debacle last year with the cancelling of some lines just shows how horrible the company is.
Stick it to them with this:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=196799&t=685423
@ Jared: Yeah for SlickDeals! \^0^/
I use the SERO plan, it's really great with unlimited data & text msg + 500 anytime mins. + 7pm night & weekend for $30 mo.
I'm pretty happy with Sprint. And honestly, the most frustrated I ever got was with a T-mobile douchebag CSR. Not all of them are douchebags, but this one experience made me realize that at least Sprint was cheap (real cheap with that SERO plan woot!). And back in the day they gave me pretty good perks for staying with them year after year.
Heh, what I did find funny with T-mobile was how friendly they had to be when I canceled-they thanked me for being a T-mobile customer, lol.
So far Sprint's customer service has actually been pretty good to me too-they fixed a glitch with my plan without issue, although my friend had a little more trouble getting similar problems fixed. At the end of the day though, at least Sprint's CSRs don't aggravate me to the level where I wanted to do physical violence to them (that one T-mobile CSR pretty much blacklisted T-mobile for me forever).
blame it on the Jesus phone too.
Or, how about this, we blame it on the fact that Sprint has horrible customer service, low quality phones, horrible selection of phones, and still two distinct companies...
If Sprint consolidated Nextel and became one REAL brand, got some decent phones at the same time, or before other companies did, and didn't insist on getting crappy phones, it think they might survive...
HTC mogul is not low quality, just don't by it from sprint or you will suffer the 2 year contract slavery. My 2 year contract is up and I bought a new mogul from ebay for $300. Waiting for iphone 2.0 if it is any good.
I have a year left on my sprint card. EVDO service has been great so far. Their phone service probably sucks, who knows.
Sprint is the only one of the "big 4" in the US that I don't have a contract with. It's just coincidental, though. I wonder what the problem is? I used to use them when PCS was new, and their service was very good. But that was ten years ago.
ten years ago, for me sprint sucked. It always wen't into roaming and I got no reception and I lived in Chicago. That's one the best coverage areas. Ten years later, I'm still a sprint customer and ther service rocks out loud. By far better than at&t's. But I still hate the fact there isn't a way for cdma consumers to change phones like SIM users. I heard there is a type of card in china that's cdma that can work in GSM phones but it's not likely to come to america in a long time. It might not even be adopted by sprint.
I used to use Sprint too. Their phone service was good in Boston but their retail customer service really sucked. When I told them so, I was told to call customer service. I promised to move on to another carrier, and never come back, at this point...and they let me.
First thing I do with a sprint phone is to turn off automatic roaming. Its in your settings.
Why do you care about being on roaming or not? It's not like Sprint charges you extra $$$ when in roaming like other carriers do. I always flip roaming on when I'm at my parents house since the reception there is poor. The only problem is that the battery doesn't last as long on my phone doing that.
@CUBSWILLWIN:
That card you speak of for CDMA mobile phones is called a RUIM card.
Sprint is constantly trying to add bogus and double charges on my bill. I have to always scan my
bill and call them. Last error was a $15.00 double charge for power vision services. Don't ever add or change your services, it always causes "billing errors". Where's my damn htc mogul gps, evdo rev.A rom?
Agreed. Everytime I call them for anything, my plan ends up getting changed. My wife and I have decided to leave them when our contract is up.
Seriously! I want my update. I feel like i've been using a handicapped phone for months...
you will love this. This is an actually conversation with Sprint. I recieved a HUGE bill that had charges for web access...which i never used..and text message charges. I called them up and asked about my charges on the texts..which was suppose to be an included feature in my plan...the sprint rep says.."well when you send a text message you connect to the internet first to do that.....thats why you have web access charges".....I told her she was incorrect..you dont access the web to send a text...she said on the newer phones it works that way...i again tell her she is absolutely wrong...we argue some and i ask to speak to someone else...the someone else gets on the phone and basicly says the same thing but adds..lol..."you have to realize your phone has a little computer in it and when you send a text message the computer goes online to send it....its like the computer in you're car...? WTF..lol...needless to say i canceled my account with them..paid to get out..it was worth it.
Remind me again why they are focusing on WiMax? Customer retention sounds more important to me...
That's what happens when you offer miserable customer service.
Here's what you need to do:
- Consolidate your departments so that they are enabled to help someone when they call without transferring a call multiple times.
- Train the employees how to transfer a customer without dropping the call.
- Teach the employees which department a customer should be transferred to.
- Be more selective who is representing your company.
word up, church!
I dropped Sprint AND Nextel the day the iPhone came out! Consolidated both accounts (one business and one personal) into one and haven't regretted it for a second. I hated every cell phone I've ever owned until my iPhone. Sprint always seemed to be the last to get the "new" phones too.
This is just a small piece of the puzzle..I think all of the cell phone Nazis, I mean companies, will be changing BIG time over the next few years. I hope we'll finally start seeing consumers getting choices instead of long-term, rip off contracts and crappy devices with crippled features.
I must say that Sprint is bad, but AT&T is the devil!!
I agree. iphone good. AT&T bad. I dropped Nextel when I bought the iphone. I paid the early cancellation fee. Life is too short to worry about $200. I love the iphone, but if, in the future, I can get T-Mobile to work on it, without hacking the phone, I will switch again.
OUCH! Well, stop fighting it Dan. Make the jump to LTE (from EVDO & WiMax). Not only will it bring you in alignment with the technology migration path of 95%+ of global GSM Operators, think of all the roaming revenue $$$!. Take those not so subtle cues from the other CDMA carrier with the big red V. They too have seen the LTE! (See what I did there ;^)...
Sprint has terriable customer service and when I purchased the new HTC Touch I qualified for a $250 rebate..what do they do but send me a postcard saying my phone doesn't qualify. After two twenty-five min phone calls and the runaround and an e-mail that was answered a week later, I was told it was a computer glich. How many have they done that to? Then I was told it was approved and will be mailed in about 4 to 12 weeks?? Thats crazy...no thats SPRINT. Will be switching when my contract is up or just pay the $250 with the rebate and switch.
If they'd have decent phones, maybe people would stay...I like my SPrint service and EVDO but am using my old Samsung A900 waiting for a good resplacment phone to come along...still waiting....
this got to be the worst cell phone company out there, can you believe that they have a spending limit on customers??? for example if you have a $99 plan and you go over lets say to $130 they dont just keep adding it to your bill, they interrupt your service to the next month!!! LOL Nice business model ehh. also its true the jesus phone has hurt them alot because the are the most vulnerable, also there customer service use to be rude as hell, but i guess that is beginning to change now. i also remember this pass holiday they where the only store at the mall that was empty as hell so i will really love to see there financial report next month
Spending limits are for customers with low credit. If you have an ASL on Sprint, try getting another carrier without paying a huge deposit.
Also, they don't cut you off until the next month. They cut you off until you pay the balance down. Pay enough to bring it under your ASL, and your service comes back on.
They are, however, changing the name of the NASCAR championship to the "Sprint Cup" (from "Nextel"). Consumer awareness ftw?
Dude are you serious, that car will be strip and sold for part soon by the shareholder it their customer service department don't learn how to shut the F**K UP and hear customers for once in a life time
I work for the big red V but still have a personal Sprint line. The only reason I do is because last time I did a 1 year upgrade, they signed me for 2. not just on the line I upgraded, but the other two lines as well. Not really wanting to shell out 600 on deact fees. They have horrible customer service, but I dont fully agree with junk phones. They are the only carrier with Sanyo phones and if any of you have used a Sanyo, you know what I'm talking about. Although not a PDA or smartphone contender, Sanyo makes some great, reliable handsets that blow away the other low to mid range competition IMO. Billing is crap, always a problem, and coverage is so so. Dont even get me started on Nextel/iDEN cause we all know its junk. Also, I dont see why anyone who has sprint would complain about roaming as there hasnt been roaming charges for several years unless youre exceeding half of your anytime minutes with your plan. If youre doing that, you need to switch anyway. My 2 cents.
same thing happened to me but they did that when I CHANGED plans. Oh and I went up on my plan. Jan 1 08 my contract with them ended and I got the heck out of there. I had been a customer since 96. I hadn't had a new phone for 3 years because the last year despite my phone starting to fail, I didn't want to be stuck back into a contract with them again.
If am fine if a company is going to give me a phone for cheap or free that I sign a new contract but if I pay full retail for a phone or change my plan I should not have to reup to a 2 year contract.
I had problems with coverage with my phone in my office. I called a few times to complain (and maybe get out of my contract) and they told me it must be my phone so I need to buy a new one and then get on yet another contract.
When people come to me and ask what service to buy on their cells I always tell them "anyone but sprint"
Yeah, they HAD good Sanyo phones but all I see now are a bunch of girly pink and red phones. They had some great Sanyo phones 6 months to a year ago but their selection continues to deteriorate. And there are some much sexier girly phones out there.
Maybe a good selection of gPhones could pull them out of this, but they would have to have some pretty impressive hardware and they need it yesterday.
ITS THE PHONES STUPID!
Although I agree there Customer Service sucks, I feel that all cell phone CS sucks. So they cancel each other out.
Price-wise they're better better than AT&T and Verizon. So that's not it.
The Phone service itself is great. Great reception, signal range, EVDO. I have no complaints.
It really comes down to the phones. If they released the latest blackberries or Razrs FIRST, or had the iPhone, or even the Voyager. We might be singing a different tune. Bottom line: Sprint hasn't had a flagship phone since the Treo 650. They're trying to build around the Touch, but that is stuggling under the iPhones shadow.
You're one of the few who seem to understand this whole thing... Thank you
Agreed.
I agree wholeheartedly. All cellphone companies seriously lack good CS, and depending on where you live, they will all have gaps in the coverage, so the phone selection is what matters, and Sprint is struggling there, mostly due to not having GSM.
I LOVE their EVDO data service though. Use it for the laptop and it's awesome, always connectede even where the phone service can sometimes be spotty.
Definently have to go with you on this one.
Not a single phone interests me on the Sprint side of things. Service, however, is a completely different story.
T-Mobiles customer service is awesome. Their phones stink, but the reason I stay with them is the CS. They always are friendly, they always correct mistakes immediately if there is one. Been with them 2 years now and even in store these people are overly nice. It's refreshing in this day and age.
Looks like NASCAR Cup Series will have a new sponsor in 2009!
Good riddance! I was a Sprint customer back when they were Sprint Spectrum... 1996. I had my phone for a few months before they decided to abandon the Spectrum service and go with their PCS. So my $200 phone which I had for only months was worthless. There was a class action lawsuit against them. However, to ease my pain, I believe the outcome was a $10 gift certificate to purchase a Sprint PCS phone. No THANK YOU!
I have had Sprint and the Touch since November. I love the phone and the service has been without problems. I have even had good luck with eCare. Couple that with a $30/mo SERO plan ($50/mo less than what the same thing on Verizon was) and I have no complaints.
All this talk of which carrier sux is so relative to your location. I had Verizon for 4 years in South Jersey and it was spotty at best. I always had the latest and greatest phones, but that made no difference. My job switched to Sprint for our company Blackberrys and I've never been happier. They have the fastest 3G network, hands down. Sure, they are spotty in some locations, but they work the best for me. In other places, they prolly are the worst. I also have an iPhone and where I live, the AT&T service is better than Verizon-- and AT&T is supposed to be terrible. It's all about location people. FYI-- all customer service is terrible. If you have good people skills however, you will find a way to get your problem resolved.
You shouldn't have to find a way to get your problem solved. Wasting time is wasting money and I have little of both. Goodbye Sprint.
Amazon is so screwed if Sprint goes out of business...think Kindle without EVDO...useless!
If things go worse, Bezos can always be persuaded to buy Sprint.
Hey, guess what? Sprint isn't the only US carrier that uses 1xEVDO, think Verizon. Amazon moves subs over to VZ and problem solved.
Hey BigReg thanks for the obvious comment. I think all of use here know that Sprint and Verizon use CDMA and EVDO. I doubt it would be as easy as moving the users over to Verizon and "problem solved" as you say, Amazon would have to renegotiate a contract with them and I am sure it would be more expensive than Sprint, causing them to possibly up the price of the Kindle. Also the devices would have to be authorized to use the Verizon network, something that everyone knows Verizon takes very seriously. So it would probably not be as easy as you say, but hey, what do I know, right? I'm just some dude commenting on a blog.
I am glad to se them going down in flames. I happily paid $200 to exit their service two months before the contract expired -- they were THAT evil. A FULL year after I paid their final bill, they sent me a bill for $9.16.
Umm, yeah, right, I'll get RIGHT on that bill guys.
Hey, all of the phone companies suck. Sprint is no worse than T-Mobile, AT&T, or V.
Who wants an Iphone when I can't even use 3G speeds? Sprint has had 3G for 8-10 years depending on where you live. EVDO rev A baby!
My Sprint devices and service have always been rock solid, and their selection of phones is on the upswing (not saying much since they usually have 300 versions of the same clamshell phone).
I have Sprint and I hate them. I was able to convince them yesterday,after 2 hours and 5 different people, that because of a change they made to my account they voided my contract. I hope when I finally drop them this weekend, I don't have to deal with problems for terminating my service early even thought I was told I could.
I think Verizon should buy Sprint out and merge it with their service; therefore, they would have more coverage.
Add my name to the growing list of subscribers that will leave when my contract with them expires..
I have Sprint, and continue to do so only because I have the clout a Fortune 500 company...numerous billing errors that were only corrected once I reached out to the personal executive Sprint representative assigned to my company. Their CS is awful, I've had CS reps accuse me of trying to cheat the system by complaining about incorrect charges (I was charged twice for the cost of my handset, resulting in a $1000 charge). Signal is not bad at all in major metropolitan areas, but the handset selection is slim pickings.
OK, here's a comment that's not related to locale.
Two years ago I had a Sprint phone and choose to update to a newer Sanyo with Sprint...great phone by the way except for the fact that Sprint chose to lock out the phone-as-modem capability. I was promised a $150.00 rebate which I never received no matter how many CS reps I spoke with. Now my contract is up, and since I have good reception both at work and at home, I was thinking of staying with Sprint. Why is it that phone companies will lure new customers with phones at great prices but then offer the same phones (especially high-end smartphones) to existing customers for more than twice that price?!?!? I know most of them do, but now after more than six years of being a loyal Sprint customer, I've had enough. Goodbye, Sprint!
I waited around for the longest time for them to come out with a more modern blackberry like the pearl, or 8xxx, or the curve. The iPhone came out first, and they lost me. I'm so glad I didn't take that special $150 credit they were trying to give me out of the blue on the phone one day (with 2 year contract added on).
Oh, also I never once got a frickin' rebate from those guys. And they billed me 1 month in advance when I signed up, but didn't send me a check after I switched to the iPhone last July.
My wife drives by the Sprint campus in Kansas every day to and from work. Amazingly, if she happens to be on the phone while she's closest to the campus, she often loses signal and drops the call she's on. Go Sprint!
True that would seem odd if you were not aware of how cell towers work. The city of Leawood, and more importantly the people that live in Leawood will not allow cell towers to be placed near them due to the adverse affect it would have on property value. This said the only place that Sprint can place there towers is on the campus itself. Unfortunately there are laws in place to restrict the amount of towers one can have in a certain area. Now each one of these towers has a certain amount of cell users that it can handle at a given time, and its not hard to guess with a campus as large as it is how many people are constantly on their own phones while there. Now take into account that the towers first service calls generated and stationed in that area, you understand that when your wifes line tries to switch to that tower while driving it gets disconnected due to lack of space for her call.
I'm a happy Sprint customer. No complaint so far at all
Stick it to them with this:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=196799&t=685423
Sprint has been losing in the area of customer service for some time now. Due to their stone-age thinking and only offering analog roaming in area that offer digital roaming capabilities, I'm switching to another provider.
I was with them for 8 years and finally left.
One time I called to ask a question and months later I found out they renewed my two year contract with them. I told them I had done no such thing and to prove it, they told me they didn't have to prove anything and their agents notes were all they needed.
Here is the problem. They incentivise their call center employees to keep customers and to renew their contracts. So, I call and some call center tech just types in "he agreed to renew his contract" when I didn't and then I get screwed and he get's paid a bonus! And they have nothing to prove it. I told them I wouldn't pay if they charged me a cancellation fee and they told me it would go on my credit. I could have sued and won I'm sure but it's cheaper just to pay the early term fee so why bother but that's exactly why they do it.
I also moved from one state to another and called to ask for a new phone number. They informed me that in order to get a new number I would need to sign another TWO YEAR contract. Just to get a new number.
8 years with that company and they never valued my business. I'm a happy iPhone customer now.
PHONE COMPANIES: Drop the long term agreements (unless your giving LARGE phone discounts) and earn our business! Then we will be your biggest fans!
Once my contract ends in April, it's iPhone here I come!
I can't spill enough bile to adequately illustrate how much I loathe Sprint.
Me: What's this charge on my bill for $2.10?
Sprint: Oh, sorry about that. It was a mistake.
Me: You've made this mistake every month for the past two years.
Sprint: You probably did something to deserve it.
Me: Anyway, can you please credit my account $2.10?
Sprint: Sorry, you've already paid your bill, thus agreeing to the charges.
Me: But if I didn't pay my bill, you'd assess a late charge.
Sprint: That is correct.
Me: So, I either overpay $2.10, or I pay a late charge?
Sprint: (pauses) Can I help you with anything else?
At least AT&T has the decency to laugh maniacally at the end of every support call. They embrace the fact that they're evil. I respect that.
I'm happy with Sprint: I've loved the various Treo phones I owned, and Sprint has always had the most reasonable deal on unlimited internet access: My total monthly bill, including phone services and unlimited internet and text messages is only $55/month. No other carrier even comes close to matching that price. I don't experience any dead zones, the internet access is speedy, I get the phone I want, and it's cheap: what more could I possibly want from a cell phone company?
Good! I'm glad this is happening to Sprint. They are fine when your phone has signal and there are no mistakes in your bill, but have you ever tried to get customer service from Sprint? Hah! What a joke! I switched from Sprint a long time ago and I would never go back. They suck!
My wife and I are happy Sprint customers. We both have Plam Treo 755p. From what I understand its mostly the Nextel customers that are leaving. That does not surprise me.
I had sprint and was delighted to get a much better phone and a cheaper monthly rate at T-Mobile.
Sprint's too expensive and their customer care is just awful...
THE QUESTION IS - WHO IS THE BEST!!???? THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!
Sprint is the mentally challenged idiot out all of the carriers. All I have ever heard was horror stories from users and I was sued from Sprint for nonpayment on an account. Of course, I have never had Sprint service in my life at all, either landline or cellphone. It took those idiots over a year to finally admit that they were wrong and I was not that person.
Their customer service is what sucks beyond anything else. From my experience, from the lowliest tech, to the high up supervisors, they just don't care.
Good riddance to them.
I wish SK Telecom would buy out Sprint, rebrand it, and stock it with a bad ass collection of Korean phones.
i think sprint is good
i've been with them for some time n i hav no complaints
other family members who have had verizon and at&t hav had trouble though
i currently hav a razr2 n itz cool on sprint
there hav been no billin errors either
I was a Sprint user since 1998. I emailed Sprint Management regarding carrying the iPhone. As soon as the rumors went around about an iPhone back in 2005 I emailed the Bigwigs at Sprint and warned them about how they need to carry the iPhone. I told them my business would go to the carrier who has it. So I did. I paid to get out of the contract. You'd think they'd cut you some slack in hopes of returning. After they pulled that stunt I'd never go back to them.
Last summer, I changed plans and ended up paying 5 dollars less, but they gave me a new two year contract. I didn't think about it that much, but I called them when I saw this post and within minutes they let me out my contract and switched me to monthly. I've been with them since 2002 and have never had any issues before this. I also get way better and more consistent reception then anyone I know. I wonder if this is a perception becoming reality thing. I think I might just stay with them because I can't get a data/voice plan for any where close to the price. The HTC Touch looks nice...
I been with sprint for 5 year now, and they do have crappy customer service. But the service it very good I think. I can vision 5 to 10 years for now Verizon buying them out.
Website url
http://www.rywirelessheadphones.com
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true story, i was a customer with nextel for about 7 years, but since they merge with sprint its like the turn off 1/2 of the network after calling them 2 times to complaint about to many drop calls and asking them why my call where being forward to voice mail while my phone had full bars, i ask them to speak to a supervisor, can you believe she had the guts to tell me that if i was not happy i should start looking for another carrier??? thats when i call Verizon the next morning and explain to them my problem, they send me 2 free phones nextday as soon as i got them they pick up the sprint #s withing minutes and i have never had another problem, i just switch again to ATT for the iphone and let me tell you there service has also improve alot att its not what it use to be back in the days. am on the northern east coast and sprint service its the wort here its a drop call after another with them
After talking to Sprint about "sprint fees," (which I'll get to in a moment), A csr asked me a wonderful question.
She said "Sir, if you extend your contract with us for 2 years, we will give you $70.00. Since you upgraded your phone recently, it will only add 5 months to your existing contract. Your contract will expire in 2010, instead of 2009."
I said I would call back and decide. When I did, I received the $70.00 credit as well as 300 free text messages per month until my contract expires. I have to admit, the first tier of csr's are usually clueless at Sprint, that's why I always speak to someone else when I can't communicate with the first csr. Sprint offered me a steal of a deal to stay with them 2 years ago, after wanting to cancel. It's still a better plan and price than any carrier can compete.
I also have a Sidekick LX with T-Mobile (data only), which I've had since the first monochrome sk model. I also had an iPhone for 14 days. Took it back... price of plan doesn't justify cool phone.
Sprint... I got your back ;)
Sorry... about thos "sprint fee's."
I was looking at my e-bill. I noticed $5.00 in gov fee's. That's fine. But I also noticed $5.00 in "sprint fee's." I looked closer and fine print said that these fee's are not gov fee's. But they seemed like gov fee's. They were utility taxes and etc.. So I called and told them I would NOT be paying these fee's. The first tier csr took forever and said there is nothing she can do. I asked for the cancellation dept. The cool lady in that upper echelon of average common sense took her sweet time, but gave me a recurring $10.00 monthly credit. Um, I was only griping about being taxed by the charges Sprint was imposing on me (due to the gov imposition them). I'm happy :)
Also I got a mogul that replaced my 6700. A wm6 software site let me turn it into a Touch with free software. Works perfect and looks dashing!!!
I'd work for Sprint if they weren't going under lol.
Unless your contract is special or grandfathered etc. you aren't supposed to be tethering it to your computer without paying extra for it. Now you can do it (and I do it too) but it is against TOS.
Same thing has happened to me. I've even had them refuse to let me talk to their supervisor. If they'd cancel my contract without ETF I'd do it now and I told them that, but they wouldn't agree to it. Now I know why.
Sero is the only reason is stay. That and my HTC Touch.
You guys obviously aren't on the SERO plan... $30/mo. with unlimited data and the ability to hook my Moto Q up to my laptop and get near-broadband speed. I don't care about customer service because why would I need to change anything from $30/mo. with unlimited data? It's insanely sweet.
This isn't an advertisement for sprint, but take a look:
http://www.sprint.com/sero (enter an email address like john.smith@sprint.com to get in)
Honestly right now the major problem with Sprint isn't coverage or even customer service. It's the fact that their CDMA architecture drains batteries much faster and also limits their selection of phones greatly.
On GSM I was able to use some of the coolest phones out there, but with Sprint there's a pretty slim selection. I don't really care because I needed a Palm, and SERO throws in internet and texts and whatnot, but if I just wanted a regular old phone Sprint would be kind of disappointing.
They'll be updating their infrastructure, but I hope it won't be too little, too late. Because quite frankly if they leave the marketplace then the remaining providers are going to gouge us even more than AT&T is gouging iPhone customers, lol.
I HAVE HAD SPRINT FOR 12 YRS. ANY COMPANY YOU GO WITH THERE ARE PROBLEMS. MY WHOLE FAMILY HAS SPRINT. WE HAVE 5 PHONES ON OUR PLAN. PAY 109.00 FOR 2400 MINS, FREE RAOMING AND ALL TEXT ARE ONLY 20.00 MONTH FOR ALL PHONES. I HAVE THE NEW TOUCH AND GOT THE 250.00 REBATE. THE PHONE IS GREAT AND SMALLER THAN THE IPHONE WHICH IS NICE TO HOLD. SO MANY PEOPLE COMPLAIN COMPLAIN COMPLAIN. GET A LIFE AND FIND SOMETHING NICE TO TALK ABOUT AND QUIT WHINNING. SPRINT HAS COME A LONG WAY AND THEY ARE STILL IMPROVING AND THEY HAVE THE BEST PLANS FOR YOUR MONEY.
I have a good story for you all. Im in the US Air Force. In Dec 2006, was deploying to Iraq. I called Sprint and asked them to suspend my account until I returned from the deployment. Its a program sprint has for military members. Anyways, they suspended the account. Not trusting Sprint, I tried to make a phone call the day before I left and my account was still activated!! Called them back to let them know my account wasnt suspended, they finally shut it off. When I was in Iraq everything was peachy until I found out online that Sprint was still charging me! I called them while I was deployed, and asked them why they were still charging me while deployed. They said that because I had insurance on my phone, that I still had to pay it while deployed!! There were also mystery charges to that they had no idea about. They said they would stop all charges though. I let them know AGAIN that I was deployed and didn't have time to deal with this, they didn't seem to care at all. This happened several times on my deployment, luckly I had access to internet because Im sure Sprint would have ruined my credit while I was on my deployment for sure. Anyways, when I got back to the states I reluctently went to the Sprint Store to reactivate my account. They told me that because they were no longer offering my old plan, that I had to renew my contract for 2 years with a new plan!!!! I only had less then a year left on my current contract at the time, and didnt want to sign anymore contracts with Sprint. I was really angry but agreed. The reason I wanted you all to know this is because Sprint does not care about the military or military member deployed. Thats how great this company is. This article got me upset again about that whole ordeal and I have filed a complaint with the FCC. I hope they burn bad for this. Im not surprised though, they treat everyone like crap!!