Sprint's Airave signal booster goes on sale nationwide
By Darren Murph 
posted July 29th 2008 12:21PM
posted July 29th 2008 12:21PM
Just as July began, we heard that Sprint would finally begin shipping its Airave signal booster nationwide before the month ended. It cut things close, but we can't deny that the rumor proved true. Starting right now, Sprint users with horrendous service in their own homes can begrudgingly cough up $99.99 to have the base station sent directly to you. From there, you'll have to throw down $4.99 per month for extending your coverage but still using your plan minutes, $10 per month if you're looking to make unlimited calls (through the Airave) with a single Sprint phone or $20 per month for unlimited calling for multiple lines. Critics have already harshed on the $50 increase in price from when it launched in Denver and Indy last year, not to mention the relatively high monthly fees, but we suppose you can take it or leave it depending on how regularly you drop calls from your couch. Oh, and don't even think of using this overseas -- the required GPS module makes sure you're in the US before enabling calls.[Via PhoneScoop]
Update: Sprint pinged us to say the official "on sale date" is August 17, 2008.
Wait, Sprint still has customers?
I don't suppose there is any chance that Verizon could rebrand this thing and sell it to their customers? I get great service generally, but not in my dorm, and since my cellphone is my only phone line...Let's just say I am sick of dropped calls in my room.
Come on Verizon!!!
Femtocells like the Airave serve an extremely important function in improving coverage. Expecting carriers to have coverage in every residence in America is completely unrealistic. Instead of charging everyone for the deployment of more macrocells, offering a femtocell for those who have indoor coverage issues (due to topography, foliage, construction materials, low density/rural environments, etc.) is a sensible approach.
The femtocells need to communicate with platforms in the network that cost money to install and maintain, so a nominal monthly fee to support this capability is not unreasonable. Paying $10 for unlimited minutes seems like a good deal if it enables you to drop your $30-40 per month landline phone service.
T-Mobile's similar Wi-Fi-based UMA service charges $10 per month and is growing in popularity. This approach reduces or eliminates the cost of the femtocell, but it requires a Wi-Fi capable phone with the appropriate client software. Femtocells work with any phone that utilizes the appropriate cellular technology (GSM, UMTS, CDMA 1X/EV-DO, etc.). Expect to see more carriers supporting femtocells - and charging similar rates - in the near future.
Carrier selection is often driven by more factors than coverage alone, so Sprint's step to help resolve coverage issues for their customers makes sense. Just because the economics don't work for you, doesn't mean that they don't make sense for others.
And no, I don't work for Sprint or Samsung.
T-Mobile charges $10 for unlimited UMA calling but it's free if you just use your bucket minutes (with a WiFi-UMA enable phone of course).
BTW you could use T-Mobile UMA service oversea for free (no roaming) when calling to a US number.
This must be intended for people in urban jungles.... deep inside concrete buildings where there's no service. I live in a somewhat rural community but when you get farther out in 'the sticks' most places where cell phone reception is weak or non-existent, there isn't wired broadband of any type either. There is a good part of the population here living in areas w/o cable tv, and verizon only provisions dsl out of their main offices for the time being, so that makes consumer grade home dsl available to customers living within whatever the limit is (18,000 feet?) worth of copper wire from the CO. I know quite a few people who use verizon or at&t broadband cards to provide their 'home' internet in places where they cant get cable or dsl...so a voip gateway really isn't an option
I am on the phone sprint, they have no idea what the product is or how to order it.
They are telling me it is not available. "It is not available for launch" per Gaymarunahlpannah (Lisa for short), translation to English "I don't know how to do my job"
Per Shentelle on Chat "1-800-Sprint1, you will be able to purchase it through them." Calling now, they are trying to up sell me a plan (yawn). I wonder if AT&T is this hard to buy equipment from? I will update when I know more. (or when they do)
Well I tried to order it.
1. I called several stores in Jacksonville, FL (both Sprint owned and partner owned) they said call sprint. 40 minutes.
2. I called *2 on my cell, they said call the stores. 35 minutes.
3. I chatted with a representative, she said call 1800sprint1. 25 minutes.
4. I called Telesales at 1-800-Sprint1 they said we can transfer you to technical support. 20 minutes
5. I have given up. Sprint If you read this, I chatted with Shentelle (started at 4:45:18 PM EDT) and Dominica (started 4:21:47 PM EDT) today, you should be able to track me down based on this info and make me an offer to retain me as a customer.
Same situation here. I called on July 23rd. I was on the phone for 45 minutes. I finally found someone that knew what it was. They "discovered" that it wouldn't actually be available until the 25th and promised to call me in the evening so they could ship me one. Of course, in normal sprint fashion, no call. I called them on the 26th, got the same runaround and wasted 20 minutes of my Saturday. They told me I had to go to the store to pick one up. The only thing that compares to the uselessness of a sprint store is teots on a boar hog, unless you need some sparkles to put on your phone or a little dangling gem. When I called the store they had no idea what it was, I called 4 stores in the metro Atlanta area. I even stopped in one, just for fun, to see if I got the deer in headlights look, which I did. The store says to call and order it and *2 says to go to the store. Just think about this, if you went to the grocery store and it was this hard to buy a gallon of milk do you think the store would still be in business? I just want to buy something that they have for sale.
I am paying $10 a month and got the unit for Free in Denver last December.
How about for the monthly added fee you just switch to verizon. It will probably come out to the same and you will have better coverage
This explains why my service at home went from full bars during the last year and a half, to toggling between 1 bar and no service. Won't be renewing that contract even though I get a discount.
Yea, I had no luck at ordering one in houston either. Got the same response "whats that?" what a crock their site even says its will work in my area and customer service guy actually called stores trying help me(wow, customer service actually helping, how weird) Was willing to pay but now thinking twice, back to my wi-ex.
3-5 days. Got a hold of someone thats in the know. Finally signal in the stix. Well, if 40 miles outside of Houston is the stix.
40 miles from downtown Houston is still inside the Houston city limits :) You know Sugar Land, Katy, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Channelview, Passedena, and Pearland are all just suburbs of the big H right?
I went down to my local Sprint store yesterday to ask about the Airave. The store manager told me that they didn't have any in stock and she wasn't expecting any until August 17. She did try to find it on the Sprint website (which she did) and see if she could order one (she could not). She was very helpful and gave me her card to check in with her to see when they get them in stock.
Her employees, however, were less helpful. One kept insisting it was a "WiFi thing" and "for data only", neither of which is true, of course.
I don't like having to pay for the thing, but it still works out to be a pretty good deal overall compared to the other carriers.
According to the latest update from Sprint, The newest release date on the Airave is August 17th. We shall see.
As one of those Sprint customers (yes, we are still out there) the $25 for my family to have unlimited at home access is cheaper than what I am paying A&T for the monthly, local dialing only, landline plan. And with AT&T, every time I get a heavy rain I have a noisy line to contend with. So, it can make financial sense.
The ironic thing is that if I decide on this service, I can plug it into my U-Verse modem, all the while disconnecting my landline service.
I picked this up yesterday and after about 15 minutes of settup time, I went from no cell service to FULL service crytal clear calling. Am I upset that I had to pay more money to be able to use a service I am already paying for? Of course I am, but now this enables me to drop my home phone service that is $50 a month and use my cell service all the time for $5. That is an additional $45 a month in my pocket.
If you ask me, this a very good product and I highly recommend it.
I moved just outside of the Omaha, NE city limits about 3 years ago. I have been having horrible reception ever since I moved. Not sure why now, but I decided to call in and complain. I guess mainly I wanted to complain so I would be just one more small voice in a sea of voices and maybe, just maybe it would help get a new tower installed in my neighborhood.
Well instead, after about an hour on the phone, Sprint offered me the Airave for free. Mind you I didn't ask for it, infact I didn't even know it exsisted.
As has been mentioned many times on here already, it's rediculous that I would have to pay a monthly fee for this. I don't mind the idea of paying for the device itself, but Sprint should just suckup the cost of the extra internet bandwidth they have to use to support these devices. I'm sure they still have to pay all of the regular fees involved in phone calls, so all of you who say that Sprint is saving money by distribuing these out there, that's just not likely the case.
Also, the fact that you can't just take this unit anywhere in the world with broadband (because of some GPS thing) is ludicrous. I suppose the reason they do that is because of the local laws in that country that control broadcast transmissions. oh well...
I think the product itself is a great idea, the fees... what were they thinking?
It's not my place to justify the cost, but:
1) The system works as advertised out of the box. Plug an play. No need to change router configurations, no software to install, etc.
2) With regard to the fees: If a customer selects the unlimited plan there is NO charge against air time minutes for calls made and received through the AIRAVE. Customers placing a majority of their calls through the AIRAVE may see a reduction in the amount of monthly air time minutes they require and have an opportunity to lower their plan - saving money.
I have no land line and rely exclusively on cell service. I see the AIRAVE monthly fee as part of my total cellular package and have made adjustments accordingly. The net result was a reduction in my overall monthly bill.
For those considering this device and worried if it works and/or is complex to setup and operate - no worries it works great.
Best Regards, Jim
Called Sprint today and spent about 1 hour on the phone before I got a manager on the line. I have poor service in my area and have 5 unlimited accounts on the plan. They told me that I would have to pay for the airave and subscribe to the monthly charge. I told them that there was no way that I would pay sprint another dime for a phone that I should be able to use at home anyway. The manager was kind enough to send me the airave at no charge and waive the monthly charge because of the situation that I was in. I was beginning to get very frustrated with them at first because of course they are telling you what they are supposed to “no sorry you’ll have to pay for that”. In the end the manager did right by me. Thanks Sprint.
Just called sprint they gave me the airave fore free plus free service how nice till 2098 or when thay go out of busness.