Sprint discontinuing Broadband Direct

If you're one of the few who signed up for the much-loved, hard-to-get, line-of-sight-only Sprint Broadband Direct service, it looks like the party is over -- Sprint's telling customers it's shutting the service down "as the result of a recent FCC action" on June 30 or July 31, depending on the market. BB Direct was only ever offered in a handful of cities and wasn't heavily promoted recently, but once you mounted the 14-inch diamond-shaped antenna on your roof, you basically got ADSL-class service -- which makes Sprint's offer to switch users to EV-DO with a hike in pricing pretty lame all around. Let's hope that huge Clearwire deal will provide comparable WiMAX services to take the sting off soon.

[Thanks, Gerson]

[Eric M. @ May 19th 2008 12:52PM]

Sprint needs to make the way of Betamax and HD-DVD and just roll over and die already. I know people who are actually paying the $200+ fee to get out of their contracts with Sprint.

I'm calling for engadget to put a sucidewatch..urgg.. deathwatch on Sprint!

[Blackstar @ May 19th 2008 1:10PM]

Yes, please let me know when Sprint itself finally shuts down.

Then they can stop sending me incorrect bills of $11 from 5 years ago on a cell phone I did not use in 3 months before I cancelled it.

They have spent more money in printing and mailing me the bill than (they incorrectly say) I owe. No wonder they aren't doing so hot.

[TavisJohn @ May 19th 2008 1:21PM]

I also know people who paid the huge fee to leave other carriors. Oooo that means that those carriors are also dying.

I have had Sprint sense BEFORE there was internet on CellPhones. I have been rather happy with their service. There has been the occotional issue that has been resolved every time with a call to Customer Support.

Yes the Sprint/Nextel merger was a mistake. They should have stayed away from Nextel, and let it die off... But they did not, and they are now suffering for it. However they are not dead yet!

[Audiobxr @ May 19th 2008 1:46PM]

Sprint really does need to die. I made the mistake of re-signing with them in 1999 only to be told I owed $60 from a previous account (probably true). Long story short, they sent me to collections for that previous bill after my second contract ended. Their computer never registered payment.

So, when I finally 'won' (which did include a credit bureau inquiry to clear it off the report) I had no problems with receiving my monthly statement that they sent me showing a credit of $1.19, which they sent to me every month for 8 years--suckers :)

[Don @ May 19th 2008 2:47PM]

Why does everybody hate Sprint so much?

I was with Cingular/AT&T for 5 years, my wife was with Verizon for 2. Cingular had better service than Verizon, same idiot support

We've now had Sprint about a year, and the service has been just a step below Cingular, but much better than Verizon. The support people are idiots, but so was Verizon or Cingular, so no advantage to anybody there

[OziD @ May 19th 2008 3:50PM]

I like sprint. Good Service, phone selection is getting better, and after i get past the low level support, i actually get decent customer service and good prices while renegotiating my bill.

i'd say they are on par with other companies, they just lack a sweet nice phone that every other company seems to be getting.

[Wowzers @ May 19th 2008 12:53PM]

Sprint = Epic Fail

[John @ May 19th 2008 1:02PM]

Eric M. and Wowzers - ummm...nope. Yes, Sprint isn't doing the best right now, but it's as expected. The Sprint/Nextel merger was a huge mistake (dumb decision by previous CEO) and Sprint's paying the price for that now. The new CEO, Dan Hesse, knows what he's doing. Keep talking trash but when WiMax hits you'll all be singing praise. Mark my words....mark my words.

[yeah yeah @ May 19th 2008 2:00PM]

yeah, didn't he just lay off 4000 more people?

[John @ May 19th 2008 2:29PM]

in reply to:

"yeah yeah @ May 19th 2008 2:00PM - yeah, didn't he just lay off 4000 more people?"


Yes, there were 4,000 lay offs and guess what? There's more coming. It sucks and no one likes it but that's what a company has to do if they're going try and turn things around. I don't know how people can't understand that. I think you do though....you're just playing dumb. It's ok to not like Sprint but look at the issue with some rational.

[Graham @ May 19th 2008 1:02PM]

I love Sprint. Can't wait for Wimax!

Love my SERO plan, and my EVDO Data. Card, I hope Sprint never dies.

[D @ May 19th 2008 1:25PM]

But...doesn't WiMax...suck?

Sure the theoretical numbers look great, but have we forgotten the real-world tests indicating horrific LoS problem, latency issues, etc? WiMax is for farmland only, it seems.

I'm holding out for LTE...

[p3t3b2 @ May 19th 2008 1:57PM]

NO!! That's just your biased opinion, all Wimax test have been successful. Also, Wimax is in 90 countries, why hold out for LTE when it hasn't been proven yet?... Test for LTE won't being for 2 years, by that time Wimax will been in all major metropolitan markets!

[disco_delite @ May 19th 2008 1:29PM]

Attn: Nilay Patel

The service is called "Sprint Broadband Direct", not "Connect".

http://www.sprintbroadband.com/about.html

[saq @ May 19th 2008 1:30PM]

Sprint Broadband Connect was nothing to be desired! It had an average latency of about 400ms and occasionally would get fits of very high packet loss. It was true you could get really good download speeds (15mbit down in 1999) but that was really rare, and upload speeds were an atrocious 256kbit. Customer service was awful, and unfortunately you had to call them a lot because their service was constantly dropping out, their control system on their towers would suddenly decide you weren't registered to be on the net, and various other issues. This kind of experience wasn't limited to myself, I had several friends in my area that had identical experiences, as well as some relatives in other states who also experience Sprint Broadband as I described. It was really a very painful experience that I would not wish on anyone.

[LordJohnWhorfin @ May 19th 2008 1:35PM]

@saq: 256kbit/s? I would have killed for that! The best upload speed I EVER got was 12kbyte/s. Awful. Best download speed ever was 800kbyte/s, but I got peaks of 4 times that with Comcast. Over the past few years download speed had been degrading consistenly probably due to the fact that they resumed taking new customers.

[ChillyWilly @ May 19th 2008 4:18PM]

A friend of mine just got his disconnect notice today (Salt Lake City) and has ordered Comcast as a replacement.

His connection was very stable. I never heard him complain about his service, with the exception of the slow upload speeds.

[Cotay @ May 19th 2008 5:13PM]

At my last place in the heart of San Jose I could not get any form of Broadband other than Sprint. Where it was the only option it was a blessing compared to dial up. Sure the upload speeds sucked and it made VOIP or online gaming blow, but it wasn't ever advertised for those services. I kept my equipment just in case I would ever need to go back on the service in the future if I moved to a non-DSL/Cable area. I guess I will now junk my old beloved pizza box...

[LordJohnWhorfin @ May 19th 2008 1:35PM]

Got the discontinuation mail (in the San Jose, CA market) last week. Funny enough, I just signed up for Comcast cable service last month.
After reading all the Comcast horror stories, I expected the worst; turns out I had cable up and running at the house two days after I called, and the service is amazingly fast. What a change compared to Sprint's sluggish, 1-second ping service! I couldn't even use Skype reliably, let alone do video conferencing. For such a lousy service it was very expensive ($55/month).
Good bye Sprint BBD, I'm not sad to see you go... I'm still thrilled with my SERO plan though, don't you dare take that away from me!

[OziD @ May 19th 2008 3:52PM]

Fios FTW

[atomicthumbs @ May 19th 2008 1:39PM]

Guys, your WiMAX link links to a Performancing thing.

Now we know what you use for your blog editor ;)

[KM @ May 19th 2008 2:07PM]

I had Sprint for about 5 to 6 years and while I really didn't have a problem with them (except for over billing) I was pretty much happy with my service.

Now I have ATT and while their customer service is better, I think there motto should be "We love to drop calls"

[Jon Niola @ May 19th 2008 3:10PM]

I sure hope Sprint can turn things around and don't just go under or get acquired by someone else. More options is a win for consumers.

The wireless carriers and their competition with one another is one of those rare occurrences that actually demonstrates the good side of a free-market system.

[Nick @ May 19th 2008 5:01PM]

As long as I can keep my SERO

[UHUH @ May 19th 2008 7:44PM]

Sprint just needs to go away. That company needs to be parted out like a rusty chevelle. I hate sprint.

[Eric @ May 20th 2008 11:43AM]

I don't understand why people would wish for a carrier to "die". The reality is whether you like Sprint or not more competition benefits us all. Less competition will lead to higher rates across the board. I remember not to long ago when Minneapolis had 2 carriers (A side and B side) and it cost 29.99 for 30 minutes. Still think less competition is better?

[Petunia @ May 21st 2008 5:08PM]

We've had the Sprint Broadband Direct service for > 6 years, and only once had a problem with a totally useless tech. Speeds have varied (of course!) but I've seen download speeds of 1.7GB. I hate to see them cancel the service - I've heard both good and bad about ComCast (our only option), have no need or desire for cable TV, and haven't yet been able to find an option that doesn't have stuff I don't want "bundled".

[Tupes @ Jun 30th 2008 4:45PM]

OK - What are you people talkign about? I've had Sprint Broadband for 5 years and I have loved it. I've never once had a problem. I read a bunch of comments about slow speeds and I was truly shocked! I had Comcast prior to Sprint and in comparison, my speed with Sprint was as fast or faster that Comcast. I am so pissed that I don't have Sprint any longer.

[DebinCO @ Jul 11th 2008 8:52PM]

I am also one of the happy SprintBB users, and I am really upset that they are going away. I've had the service for nearly 7 years. Any problems I had (I can only recall a few) were quickly remedied by competent tech support. I'm a Macwoman and they had Mac-centric tech guys so I didn't have to deal with the Windoze side. So I am now looking for a new provider, and it is already clear that the speed(s) will be a lot slower no matter which company I choose. My speeds with SprintBB were exceptional for the price! So, I would like to extend my glass (of wine) and propose a toast for the best ISP I've ever had. RIP, SprintBB. You will be missed.