[Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE] redwings23:
Thought I would try and give back a little to the boards with a short rant about sprint, maybe someone will find a useful bit of info from my crazy month of wtf.

So I got an Evo LTE, and im a OG evo guy since the release day so I expected a great deal from the brand. Im a 10+year guy with sprint, 2 lines, equipment protection plan, yada yada... When I got the phone charged up for the first time I tried making a call right away and couldnt get a signal; same house my OG evo works ok in. I was sent an air rave tower right away, which is both a curse and a blessing. I have my LTE (stock) for about a week and I start getting random reboots, I wait a day to make sure there wasn't something I was overlooking. My conclusion was I'm having the common random reboot problem. In addition I was also getting about 5 hours max battery life, and intermittent wifi, and strange overheating of the metal part of the cover. I called sprint and asked them what I should do, and they set me up with an appointment at the local store.

I bought the phone on a Thursday, and tried to return it two Thursdays later 14 days from the date on my receipt, at which point I was told they would not give me a phone out of inventory because my "14 day" return period expired. I argued all the way up to the store manager, with whom I shared words with. I was left with one alternative which was a "45min" wait for a tech to tell me my phone is broken, and 3 days from then I would get a replacement mailed to that store where I would have to return and exchange my old device, which they rudely handed back to me and said I should keep so "they don't loose it." I was leaving on a plane the next day and there was a hurricane coming so I told them I will keep the phone a few more days and they should f-%# themselves. Their 14 day return period starts the day BEFORE you buy the phone. returning two weeks from the day is 15 days on Sprint clocks, even when the Sprint rep on the phone makes your appointment for you. needless to say I was asked to leave the store.

The hurricane (more like tropical storm) shows up and my flight gets canceled, and the intermittent power outages basically disabled my airrave tower, so I was going on my third week with no working phone. I finally give up on all the crap and got a hold of the retention department or whatever they are called. I told them that if I can't get a phone out of inventory at the store the same day, im pretty sure Verizon would. They coughed up a $50 service credit and told me I had to go through the process. I re-activated my og evo so I would have somewhat of a reliable situation.

I went back to a different sprint store this week with an appointment and got lectured by a flunky girl who quoted the company line and tried telling me I clearly had a bad battery, and software issues. After I received my lecture from her I assured her I read all about many different people with my specific problems and I know she does too so lets get down to business ( I had waited 45 min with on time arrival for the appointment ). She started poking around my account (after having me read her my pin number aloud in public) and told me I canceled my equipment protection on the LTE and there was nothing she could do. I invited her to think about that for a minute, and she realized the person on the sprint *2 call that activated my OG Evo decided to remove my equipment plan without authorization. then I get the manager again, and 30-40 min later they hashed it out and told me keep my LTE and comeback tuesday (today) to pick up my replacement. I should also note that my google voice number was completely disabled from my account, (confirmed after an hour of trying to renew it via phone and computer.)

I go in today at 8pm, wait 30 min before anyone would talk to me about why I was there and encounter a soft spoken kid who couldn't figure out what I was asking for. He disappears in the back for a while then comes out with a refurbished OG Evo! They ordered the wrong Darn phone! I was not really surprised by this in retrospect... I then sat there with the manager while he tried to resolve the problem. His solution? I was told the order ticket was canceled (lies, we all know the first girl ordered me an OG Evo even though she held my LTE in her hand and solicited that I rate her well in my followup survey call); He then deactivated my OG evo, reactivated my LTE so he could order one, then tried and failed to re-activate my OG evo to no avail. After 20 min, I told him i knew how to update my profile and to fix it after I get home.

Needless to say, my OG evo is still not activated (he went home leaving me with no phone for yet another day), and my current status is I'm waiting for my factory (s on) new-ish LTE which may or may not be in by friday afternoon. The whole time there was a drawer full of inventory LTE's that they explicitly would not give me despite my hassle. I invited them to let me out of my contract and take their lemon LTE back and was again told no.

At some point in there I tried a few new ROMS and TWRP. I got stuck in a softbrick after an update to one of them ( I believe it was the meanROM ICS v39) which may have been my fault, not sure so no insult is intended. I believe it was a TWRP problem a few people seem to have had I've read. I was able to break the softbrick by getting into to recovery

(vol down and power pressed for 20 seconds then release > then vol down + power for 2 seconds each, 3 times > re-lock > then running the RUU jewel back to stock. Tamper message goes away after that and I was left with ReLocked message. The phone still has ALL of the aforementioned problems (as it did with any ROM I tried). Sorry I can't be much more helpful to the dev's with my descriptions, but it probably wont serve any of you to troubleshoot based off my results with a defective unit. One last thing- I have a wifi issue since day one with the LTE, it takes about 5 seconds to connect to any website the first time, after that everything loads in a snap, but browsing brings back the 5 second problem about every 3rd link I click.

tl;dr

What you should learn:

-Sprint 14 day return policy is no questions asked replacement from inventory provided you return within 13 days.

-Activating a legacy will probably nuke your google voice integration as well as complicate your replacement order.

-my random reboot problem didn't start until after about 1 week and minimum changes to the phone ( I have been doing most of my android stuff with my Nexus 7 tab.)

-Airrave towers die from fluctuating power for a couple hours (like during a tropical storm). Towers in S. Fla. worked for my girls Metro PCS device the whole time, as well as my OG Evo (not connected to service at that point).

-Sprint will NOT send you a replacement phone via post any longer.

-You must return to a Corporate store to get a replacement, and you have to drive back over there once it comes in (make an appointment!)

-You can probably snag a $50 service credit if you threaten to cancel (I've read people getting more).

On an unrelated note:

-(class 10) 32 GB micro sd card on newegg goes for about $20 with shipping, they are $100 at the Sprint outlet.

-$50 otterbox cases are clunky and not my taste, my 'greatshield' case from the egg was < $10 and I like it.

-Screen protectors at sprint are 10x as much dough as online.

If anyone is interested I will try and update this post after I get my new phone (if I get a new phone.) Sprint has gone a long way down, but the competitors are no better so don't be insulted if your one of their good employees. My total estimated lost time over this debacle has been about 4 weeks without a new working phone I already paid for, and 8 hours of driving, and waiting in the store or on the phone. I got kicked out of the store for cursing out the manager who was talking to me like im an imbecilic drone like he is, other than that almost every one else was dumb but well mannered. He actually called me out when I told him I was flying out of town, and work 7 days a week. He actually told me that there are laws that I must be given days off ( insinuating I was lying ). This is pretty ironic considering im a lawyer in this state; I know more than a few of the lurkers here are lawyers too, i'm sure you understand the long hours). His condescension pushed me over the edge, and hes lucky he didn't meet the old me.

Thx to all the Devs on xda for your superb work.

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I really need a sig here::: would love to post thumbs of my legacy hardware, it would be pretty fun going back down memory lane. I honestly miss my treo(s) :eek: