yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
This is just a rant, so sorry if I'm off-topic, but this is just getting to be too much.

I'm a store manager for a multi-carrier cell phone store, nationwide, with stores in the thousands. I won't name names for privacy (and job security) reasons, so yeah. Sprint is just pissing me off lately with everything they've been doing.

First, the OTA ICS update that has been held back for Gods know why, with no official word on anything, and HTC sitting back and just watching, not helping out or releasing source code. They have the gall to release the 3D on Virgin WITH ICS, for half the price of the 3D (unactivated), with better plan pricing and the same coverage for the most part, including 4G, if you can even call it that. Sprint, get off your ass and get us ICS already, the firmware that comes stock on these phones is OVER A YEAR OLD, Jeebus.

Secondly, the way they're dealing with the GSIII fiasco. I have people coming in every day since the 21st, asking where their phone is. Sprint hasn't even contacted almost any of their own preorder customers to let them know about the delay, so anybody not on a forum like this has no idea. Not only that, but they won't release a new date or an explanation, nothing, just a "TBD" is all I have to go by on my system. This is how they treat customers shelling out $200-$250 for a phone? Sure, I don't expect to know everything, but AT LEAST have the corporate courtesy to let your customers 1) know about the delay, and 2) the WHY, even a simple "Samsung can't produce enough phones to keep up with demand" would be fine, but they opted for nothing instead.

Lastly, their pathetic data network. I mean absolutely pathetic. I sell these phones daily, and have to uptalk them as my job, but it's getting harder and harder when I have to DEMO my 3D to customers and can't even load a jpeg at work. I have 2 bars of 3G, on Verizon that gets my associate 1200 kb/s, for me I get 0.7 kb/s. Seriously? Their 4G network? Useless. There's ONE tower in my entire county, a quarter mile from my apartment, and I can't get signal indoors. Even when I'm outside, I'll get up to and including 3 bars, and even then it's barely usable. Then they go and switch to LTE, leaving the rest of us in the dust. I switched years ago just so I could get 4G when it rolled out, and look at where that got us. Now we have another couple years at least until there' LTE where I'm at. It's just disgusting, how Sprint is running things these days. It's not like they're broke, after doubling their upgrade fee, charging every smartphone customer the $10 4G charge, and getting more new customers here than either other carrier (for my store at least), they have the income.

I will give them this, their customer service is by far the best to work with. I've literally been asked if I have any idea what I'm doing while calling AT&T, and been hung up on several times by Verizon, but Sprint has never done me wrong. Any problem I've had they've been able to solve, so kudos. Now get to making your customers happy instead of your reps, unless you want to lose them both to a competitor with better coverage/faster data/faster updates.

</rant>
[HTC EVO 3D] snoopdog:
Excellent thread,

This will open a lot of eyes. I plan to get rid of sprint soon. They are the worst carrier out of them all. Their service is just horrible. I can't imagine your position on convincing customers to go with sprint.
[HTC EVO 3D] gmzombie:
the thing i dont get is why wont they allow good clean esns that have wimax like the shift or the normal 3d on their boost prepaid network. i dont buy their oh it picks up a different signal garbage that they try to say since we all know that they will in fact work just fine with a pri/prl update. I understand the bad esns but let the people use their own damn phone that they have that evo design sux...just my opinion
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
They have an excellent plan in place. But as of now it's only that, a plan. A 3 to 5 year plan, at that. So maybe in two and a half contracts I'll come back, but I'm switching to a Verizon dealer line the day the GSIII comes out.

I tell guests that their network will only get better with time, and that they're putting a lot of effort and money towards it. Not complete BS, but over the last year I haven't seen jack for this whole county. Once their "Network Vision" is complete (check my previous posts about that for a detailed explanation of what they're planning) then they'll have coverage and speeds as good as, if not (don't stone me) better than Big Red. For now though, even my friend with T-Mobile has ludacris speeds compared to what I'm getting. Hell, when I roam (which apparently isn't onto Verizon, I didn't know o_O) with 1X I get over double the speeds of Sprint's "3G"
[HTC EVO 3D] flonker:
Yeah. I'm not a fan of switching carriers, but I am seriously considering jumping on Verizon. My phone has become nearly unusable. Can't run Google Play, wallpaper apps, news feeds, etc. Data is just too slow. Meanwhile, I'm paying just as much as the guy with 4G service, in fact, I'm on the same plan. That should be illegal. I can't think of many industries where that is allowed to happen. That would be like if a cable provider charged everyone the same, but some people got three channels, while some got 600 all in hd. People wouldn't stand for it.

So I guess the question is, what do I want more? Verizon where I'm afraid of going over my limit but have great data, or Sprint where my data is complete garbage but I can use it all I want. Haven't figured out an answer to that question yet.
[HTC EVO 3D] moparfreak426:
verizon.... and u get service everywhere!
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
I literally just spent 7 minutes downloading XDA (3 MB) to reply to this. That was with 5-6 bars of 3G (outside on lunch from work now). I rest my case.

Honestly, when somebody on Verizon tells me they want to switch to sprint, I tell them "unlimited data is nice, but not when your data is slower than AOL in 1998." Verizon might be more expensive, by maybe $10-20, but it's oh so worth it.
[HTC EVO 3D] X219c:
The reason they're not giving you information about the GSIII is because Samsung is having problems getting them to Sprint... Sprint can't tell when they're going to get them, as they're waiting for them as well... I've read press releases that they're looking to get the 32gb a week after the 16gb. Maybe just do a quick search online?
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
Half the people I sell phones to, including GS III preorders, know as much about phones and online forums as I do about the Jersey Shore. The fast of the matter is Sprint dropped the ball and left everybody in the dark. Unless you deliberately went looking for info, you would never know. Courtesy is all I ask, at least tell the people who gave you money what's going on.
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
If this were Reddit I'd upvote the **** out of you
[HTC EVO 3D] X219c:
My bad, I assumed that people who would go and pre-order a phone (that isn't an iphone) would be enough of a tech person to kinda follow this stuff.
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
Never assume anything. If I just assumed people wanting a smartphone knew about the extra data fee and didn't bother telling them, for example, I wouldn't still be a store manager. Only thing you can assume is that the guest knows nothing, so you tell them what they need to know. That way, everybody you help is on the same page, knows the same stuff, and is well informed on what affects them.

Sprint could take a page from that. Don't assume your preorder customers are going to stumble upon your Facebook post, or that article about your press release, or even call up customer service. Assume they live under a rock and it's your responsibility to inform them of any changes in the order process.

Well that small thought escalated quickly... you get the point. ::p
[HTC EVO 3D] swaze:
Suggest you quit your job and drop sprint then. Otherwise stop crying and do something about it.
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
Troll harder, bro.

If something isn't what it should be, if service is less than what is stated, if I'm paying for something that cannot be used as advertized, why would I stay quiet about it? Lemme learn you somethin', boy. The squeeky wheel gets the oil. If nobody makes a complaint, if nobody rises up, nothing will ever change. This applies to more than just a cell phone company, obviously, e.g. everything from the American Revolution to the current battle for gay rights. Nothing will change unless we act and do something about it, which is exactly what I'm doing.

I've already sent letters to both Sprint and HTC about all this, HTC more about the bootloaders and source code. I'm also switching to Verizon until Sprint gets their act together. I'm here to let people know that there are other options besides rolling over and offering to be Sprint's 'bottom' while they take your money. I'm here to tell you that it is not only the customer who is pissed at them, but the CSRs, the Sales Associates and even the SMs like me, who are at their wit's end with all the cloak and dagger secrecy about fraking everything.

Anywho, yeah. Sprint has my full support in the future, and I'll gladly come back when they are better, but I can't deal with not having good service while it's my job to sell these things.

Are there any other Sprint employees or people in Sprint sales positions (Best Buy, Target Mobile, Radioshack, etc.) who feel the same way as I do? Chime in here, let these people know what you think.;)
[HTC EVO 3D] Cetus Corr:
You just made me hate sprint even more than I already do.

Thanks!
[HTC EVO 3D] youdug:
Where else you gonna get unlimited? Sure you get better data speed with other companies, if i was them id make it as fast as i could. Cause when you jump over your 2-3gb limit id just rape the sht out of you with overrage fees just like they do. As much as i dont like sprint, i wont be going anywhere until they get rid of their unlimited plans.
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
I just checked my last 6 months of usage. Due to Sprint's speeds, I've never once used more than a gig. Most months were under 400 MB. I stick to wifi at home, and don't even bother downloading anything until I'm home.

I'd S so many Ds for the ABILITY to use 2 to 3 gigs a month... just saying. Like I said before, unlimited is nice, but it's useless if it's so slow that it becomes unusable.

EDIT: Also, they have no plans to remove unlimited, they have quadruple the bandwidth of every other carrier for data, which is how they can still offer unlimited. Again, good plan in place, but words are just words.
[HTC EVO 3D] bsoplinger:
The above is why I got the Virgin Mobile rebranded version. At $35 a month, I'll break even for the $300 the phone cost in 9 months. And at that price I can accept less that great data speeds.

Sent from my Sprint Evo View 4G (PG41200) using Xparent Purple Tapatalk 2
[HTC EVO 3D] cobraboy85:
lol@ "I'd s so many D's" wth brah. never is anything worth s'in d's unless of course it is for more d's in which case the initial d s is negated by your willingness to s a d.

logic flawed.

*you now realize what you said. world implodes.

Sent from mobile device
[HTC EVO 3D] shook187:
OP you have a few good points when you talk about the slow network, but that's about it. The rest of your rant isnt about anything a regular Joe would even care about. The only people caring about things like official ICS or source code are XDA phone freaks that only make up a small percent of their business. The GS3 fiasco had nothing to do with sprint. All the other carriers are having the same problems.
[HTC EVO 3D] shook187:
Also what do you want them to do about their prepay division? Its actually the only part of their business thats growing.
[HTC EVO 3D] scottspa74:
Great thread. Good points. But the money we spend helps them build.
[HTC EVO 3D] Uchennadi:
I agree with all the OP had to say. I came from tmobile to sprint when I was certain atnt was for sure gonna acquire tmobile (I dislike atnt). They had the 3d, true 4G, which ppl were already dissing hspa+ for not being real 4G at the time anyway, supposedly more towers than tmo, so reception in more places, and cheap plans like tmo. "Yay, " I thought. But, I've regretted switching to sprint. Not only do I not get 4g, 3g crawls at a snails pace, on top of that I'm still required to pay the $10 premium data fee, and then they add other fees on top of the already high taxes on their plans, like surcharges, and admistrative charges, and at the end of the day, their cheapest smartphone plan isn't so cheap anymore, and I feel cheated as a customer.

Anyways, I hope my experience with sprint so far has been the exception, and not the norm that ppl just learn to accept over time. I will stay a little longer, as I great things in sprint's future, and plus I really like the idea of having truly unlimited data, which I'm hoping when they do turn on LTE in my city, it'll be well worth it.
[HTC EVO 3D] A2CKilla:
Never had an issue with sprint, i say to all those whining about speeds

1.

at least it's unlimited

2.

you don't have to have sprint

3.

YOUR DATA IS UNLIMITED

4. if you don't like it, then giiittt out, just means more speed and bandwidth for me

5. the base price of $79.99 a month (NOT INCLUDING TAXES AND OTHER CHARGES) is the cheapest you can get for UNLIMITED EVERYTHING without throttling and or overages as the other carries do

now after saying all this here are the typical responses

duurrrr, the speeds are so slow

duurrrr, the speeds are so slow

duurrrr, the speeds are so slow

.......that is all

P.S. any other rantings, refer to my sig:good:
[HTC EVO 3D] flonker:
I'm glad you haven't had a problem with Sprint, however, I fail to see how that entitles you to be rude to those that do. I would imagine you're growing tired of seeing people complain of Sprint's data speeds. I suggest you get used to it, because as long as you're frequenting internet forum's regarding Sprint-branded phones, chances are likely people will be complaining of the poor product Sprint has provided them.

Yes, anyone upset with Sprint is "free" to leave, provided they pay the ETF. Yes, Sprint's data is "unlimited." That means everytime an error box pops up saying that my connection has timed out, I can hit the "retry" as many times as I want without fear of incurring additional charges. Yes, Sprint's plans are priced competitively. However, it can be upsetting when one person is getting 10mbps down and one is getting 10kbps down and they pay the same amount. Is that really fair? The threat of "throttling" doesn't mean much when you already average 10-75kbps.

I have considered changing networks, however, there are still many redeeming qualities Sprint has to offer. That doesn't mean that I have to be happy about the data services Sprint provides me with.

Oh, wait! I mean, "duurrrr, the speeds are so slow."
[HTC EVO 3D] gilbydakid:
**** sprint!!!

Sent from my sprint Samsung galaxy s2 Epic 4g touch with ics using cm9 on the blazing slow now network
[HTC EVO 3D] wmblalock:
Looks like you have full 4G bars.. where are you, standing outside next to the tower? LOL If not, I guess you are one of the lucky few.

For the majority of users, 4G is not very usable, especially indoors where we would want to use it, and the battery drain to leave it on for that once a week it's useful isn't worth it. Sitting in my office I get 0-1 bar of 4G. Sure, if I go outside I can get 3 bars and produce a screenshot like yours. Last time I checked, it sucked standing outside, in a parking lot, like a retard, just so Facebook pictures will load at a decent speed on my phone!

And may I add, until I get a usable LTE 4G Network indoors, I'd love to be able to cancel that $10 a month fee and have them disable the 4G on my phone. The random fees and other crap Sprint comes up with is BS. For example, I have a corporate discount from sprint. It used to be applied to my whole bill. Then one day they wake up and decide to say, nah, we are now only applying corporate discounts to the base plan cost, not all he BS fees, extra line costs, 4g costs, etc. No warning, no choice, just get my bill the next month and its like $20+ higher. Thanks Sprint, they try to exploit every way possible to screw their customers. If I didn't have any corporate discount, there is no way I would stay with Sprint. As it is, I have been considering getting Straight Talk for $45 a month UNLIMITED EVERYTHING. There is a way to flash the EVO 4G and I believe the 3D to run off of Verizon with Straight Talk from what I've read. That will probably be my next move if sprint doesn't get their crap together.
[HTC EVO 3D] bockjacob:
For the majority of users, 4G is not even available! I'm about to drop Sprint too. I've got MeanROM ICS but it still pisses me off that they haven't released the official update. And what good is unlimited data if it's at 200kbps? I had 3-4x the speed on ATT 4 years ago with my old HTC 8525.
[HTC EVO 3D] youdug:
Real sht tho atoro... Ill pay for your verizon bill if youre serious...;)

If you could download fast as hell everywhere youd probably use a lot more data than you do now. I stream a lot of movies. I couldnt have a tiered plan with crazy speeds because id run thru it in a day or two. 3 700mb movies would take me over 2gb right there.
[HTC EVO 3D] Atoro:
True for a lot of people, but I don't go crazy on my phone lol, I just want to be able to USE it, take a look at my phone at work compared to my associate's Verizon phone.

And I'm supposed to just be happy because it's unlimited? Haha okay. Here, a real world example: all those people on AT&T DSL with a 150 GB cap? Guarantee they're happier on the lowest tier possible than all those people on AOL with completely unlimited, unthrottled dial-up.
[HTC EVO 3D] snoopdog:
we all get the unlimited plan is good but we pay extra for 3g service (whats 4g?) so we should ATLEAST get 3g coverage.. what good is unlimited data when it takes lot longer to send/receive data?:confused:
[HTC EVO 3D] A2CKilla:
notice he's basing 3g vs LTE....

4g is something none of the carriers have actually, they just call everything 4g (in some cases 3.5g) and as long as your phone is getting an internet connection, you're technically getting 3g coverage, may not be speed to your liking, but remember, there are thousands upon thousands of other people using the network as well...but i guess people look at their phone and say "wow sprint sucks,

i'm the only one using data

and my speeds are so slow"...... -_-
[HTC EVO 3D] cobraboy85:
All carriers have huge pros and cons. this thread sucks.

sent from HTC Evo no-LTE
[HTC EVO 3D] poor_red_neck:
Hi Atoro,

Enjoyed reading your rant/thread. Glad to know it's not just the Raleigh/Durham area that has HORRIBLE 3G/4G service. We were one of the first markets to get WiMax service. I of course jumped all over it with the Galaxy S/Epic 4G when it came out. For a while 3G speeds were bearable, but I'm guessing ever since the iPhone came out I'm in the same boat. Completely unusable.

At 3-4AM when there should be LITTLE TO NO TRAFFIC, I'm LUCKY to pull 100kb/sec. That's kilo BITS, not kilo BYTES. .1 mbit. During prime usage times? I average 30-40kbits a second download, 100kbit upload. 4G speeds are lucky to get 200kbit a second.

I know Raleigh/Durham is supposedly scheduled for a Q2 Network Vision upgrade, right after Orange County, but as far as I can tell they haven't even started in Orange County and they were supposed to start in March!

4G speeds? HAH! More like barely 3G speeds. My FASTEST 4G speed with FULL bars standing 500 ft from the WiMax tower near me, gets me 1200kbps IF I'M LUCKY. Upload speeds are consistent at 1000kbps on 4G but who cares about that. I'm not running a damn web server on my phone.

Funny thing is when visiting family in Beckley, WV (nowhere's ville) I get 1.2 mbit CONSISTENTLY. I'm guessing its because there aren't that many smart phone customers there (very poor area. So I know the phone is capable of those speeds on 3G.

I've been with sprint for about 7 years or so. Maybe longer. I started with nextel. First phone was the first dual CDMA/iDen phone. Can't remember but it was a flip phone PTT Motorola.

Unfortunately I talked my fiance into switching from Verizon as they were treating her like crap. So we combined our plans.

Paying two $10 premiums for the 4G is absolutely infuriating, and insulting to me. I made a comment at the sprint store (official sprint store/repair center) when getting my fiance switched over, and the guy tried to tell me it's not a 4G surcharge, just a "premium data surcharge" and that even phones without 4G have that surcharge. Funny because when I renewed my contract it was explicitly stated that it was a 4G surcharge.

Since you probably have way more experience with sprint corporate/customer service I'm wondering if you would mind giving some kind of advice. The only way I'm going to stick with sprint is if they take off the premium data surcharges. I'm sorry, but it's complete bulls*** for customers to finance their network vision upgrades, and offer FAR SUB-PAR service in the mean time. Should have never sold the iphone if their networks couldn't support it. You think this is something that retentions would do for a "long time" customer? I have absolutely no issues with the surcharge when they get network vision working, as long as it works as good as advertised.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. You got me pretty fired up thinking about it. I've loved sprint for a while and don't want to leave, but I'm with you... my phone is damn near unusable.
[HTC EVO 3D] A2CKilla:
well, from working for them

and being a customer myself

,

everyone pays it,

so what makes you special, if you don't like it then you can giiittt out
[HTC EVO 3D] poor_red_neck:
Uh, What?

Sure the ITU-R originally stated that 4G was to be 1 Gigibit/sec for mobile users, but come on.... The fastest home based internet you can get as far as I know if 50mbit connections with DOCSIS 3.0. Time Warner Cable is supposedly supposed to be releasing the 100mbit DOCSIS upgrade soon, but they can't even get the 50mbit to work right in most areas! No way in hell a carrier any time soon will get ANYWHERE NEAR 1 gigabit/sec. Doesn't matter as there isn't a CDN (content delivery network) that will send you data anywhere near that fast.

Hell, an OC-24 fiber connection BARELY supports 1 Gigabit speeds, and you expect your phone to do the same? Not anytime soon.

In 2010 the ITU-R changed what could be called "4G". So is it 4G? Yes it is.

It makes no difference how many people are on the towers. If they don't have the infrastructure to support it, then they sure as hell shouldn't be charging people an extra fee to use it!

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------

Never said I was special. No I can't giittt out when I'm under a contract, smart guy. It makes no difference if everyone pays it. Its whether or not sprint values their customers enough to keep them. Judging by how many times sprint has almost gone bankrupt I'd say they need to keep every customer they have.

---------- Post added at 12:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 AM ----------

One more thing,

I'm certainly glad sprint has upgraded their customer service. If some one like you was working for them before, it's no wonder they got such a bad rep. You've got one hell of an outlook bud.
[HTC EVO 3D] A2CKilla:
oh that was the customer in me talking, i heard it every single day working, and all i said to customers in a polite way is "i work for em, and even i have to pay it" i tried my best to sympathize with customers when this very complaint would come up, trust me, we have a huge thing about customer service, but even if i still did work for them, customer to customer, if we both pay the same fee, why are you entitled to not pay it and not me??? that was my basis, not my outlook