Database Users

My setbacks with the phone

I was really excited with this phone but somewhat disappointed, first and foremost the signal. I live less than .5 Miles from BB I checked with best buy tech as I’m new with sprint (was on att), he said signal is great and he has been with them for 5 year and he is very happy, I also went to the sprint coverage area and checked with them and seems as if my zip is in good coverage with lot of 3g, but my EVO has been rooming since yesterday, I drove on the main freeway of Cleveland and still rooming, but internet is fast while browsing, 3g lights up and I’m getting good speeds. So I’m assuming I’m under sprint 3g but not voice, that is strange as I drove nearly 30miles to downtown and still roaming
And what with light bled, is it this bad for everyone else
I also have a dead pixel
Should I exchange the devise for a new one? And dose it use my minutes if I’m roaming and call a mobile, as this would be unlimited if on sprint network not sure if this would be case wile roaming.
Please advice. Thanks

If worse comes to worse you have a 30 day grace period. Do you have another line on Sprint or is it just you? Is that person getting bad signal? It could have to do with the port. You can try calling Sprint with your Evo off and tell them to send you some signal updates to see if that corrects anything. Try that first and if not maybe you can get the device swapped.

I fallowed your advice and called it in. The rep asked me to do a few updates like profile and prl. Now there seems to be no roaming, but still only 2 bars to none. She said she was going to call me back after 1/2 hour to check back. I hope this works out, I would really like to keep the phone.

Magus_doc said:
I fallowed your advice and called it in. The rep asked me to do a few updates like profile and prl. Now there seems to be no roaming, but still only 2 bars to none. She said she was going to call me back after 1/2 hour to check back. I hope this works out, I would really like to keep the phone.
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I have been with Sprint for several years, and have learned that the number of bars doesn't always accurately reflect the signal strength. On my Diamond, I tried several different radios, and it was common for the bars to vary quite a bit. I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you're getting coverage, and reasonable data speeds.

I fallowed your advice and called it in. The rep asked me to do a few updates like profile and prl. Now there seems to be no roaming, but still only
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I have been with Sprint for several years, and have learned that the number of bars doesn't always accurately reflect the signal strength. On my Diamond, I tried several different radios, and it was common for the bars to vary quite a bit. I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you're getting coverage, and reasonable data speeds.
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I can attest to this.
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Sent via the XDA taptalk app from my EVO

wmdunn said:
I have been with Sprint for several years, and have learned that the number of bars doesn't always accurately reflect the signal strength. On my Diamond, I tried several different radios, and it was common for the bars to vary quite a bit. I wouldn't worry about it, as long as you're getting coverage, and reasonable data speeds.
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Ditto on the bars.
It took me a while to find the light bleed...the only place I see it is looking down at the extreme angle (as shown in your picture). It doesn't bother me so it may be more of a preference thing but the bleed appears only to be from the "buttons" on the bottom of the device.
The dead pixel thing...I guess I never noticed it after having a bunch of dust under my hero's screen for so long. You can try convincing the rep to get you a new one and keep going through the devices until you find one without the dead pixel but it may take you a while. I think I'd be more concerned if there were a plethora.

I was at RadioShack close to my house talked to rep and he said he also has great coverage with sprint and the unit shouldn’t be roaming, so went back to best buy and man the signal is at max, i told the rep about my problem and he said his friend lives in my complex and he has no problem with sprint coverage, and asked me to give it some time as the network profile gets optimized or something, and I’m back home now, zero bars and incoming calls are all droping of, cant even talk.
ya i don't care much about the light and dead pixel just as long as i could get the phone to work.
I’ll give it couple of more days before i take it back for an exchange. Thanks for the feedback guys.
On a side note what resolution should the contact pic be? I have them at 256x256 and there all fuzzy.

Magus_doc said:
I was at RadioShack close to my house talked to rep and he said he also has great coverage with sprint and the unit shouldn’t be roaming, so went back to best buy and man the signal is at max, i told the rep about my problem and he said his friend lives in my complex and he has no problem with sprint coverage, and asked me to give it some time as the network profile gets optimized or something, and I’m back home now, zero bars and incoming calls are all droping of, cant even talk.
ya i don't care much about the light and dead pixel just as long as i could get the phone to work.
I’ll give it couple of more days before i take it back for an exchange. Thanks for the feedback guys.
On a side note what resolution should the contact pic be? I have them at 256x256 and there all fuzzy.
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They really don't want you to return the phone and will tell you anything that makes even the slightest bit of sense. Even if his friend gets good reception, you're not getting the same.
Signals can degrade greatly inside of an apartment building.

As previously mentioned. Do you have a friend that has a Sprint phone? See if you can hook up at your place and compare coverage. If his works and yours doesn't, you may have got a lemon.
Signal strength tends to degrade really fast as you get away from the tower. We tried setting my Dad up with Clear Wireless (Sprint uses their network for 4G) for his house, according to the map it should work. Signal strength sucked, a neighbor a few hundred feet down the road (closer to the tower) had full power.

Magus_doc said:
I was really excited with this phone but somewhat disappointed, first and foremost the signal. I live less than .5 Miles from BB I checked with best buy tech as I’m new with sprint (was on att), he said signal is great and he has been with them for 5 year and he is very happy, I also went to the sprint coverage area and checked with them and seems as if my zip is in good coverage with lot of 3g, but my EVO has been rooming since yesterday, I drove on the main freeway of Cleveland and still rooming, but internet is fast while browsing, 3g lights up and I’m getting good speeds. So I’m assuming I’m under sprint 3g but not voice, that is strange as I drove nearly 30miles to downtown and still roaming
And what with light bled, is it this bad for everyone else
I also have a dead pixel
Should I exchange the devise for a new one? And dose it use my minutes if I’m roaming and call a mobile, as this would be unlimited if on sprint network not sure if this would be case wile roaming.
Please advice. Thanks
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Click to collapse
I may return mine becasue of a dead pixel. the store supervisor told me to call her Tuesday and she would set a unit aside. not sure if its worth it for just one.

You haven't rooted you phone or anything right? Is GPS turned on or off? Are you set to use only 3g or are you set to use 4g?
I would save everything you can now and do a factory reset of the phone. If everything looks good, then start one by one adding your apps back and see if it might be an app that might be causing it.
Just need to do troubleshooting sets and start at the beginning as if you just took the phone out the box.

Call Sprint and explain your problem with the crap-tastic signal in your home. You may be able to get a free Airrave with waved monthly fees.
Several other users (from the XDA Hero forum) with your situation got this by speaking to a customer service rep.
http://shop.sprint.com/en/services/airave/

danknee said:
Call Sprint and explain your problem with the crap-tastic signal in your home. You may be able to get a free Airrave with waved monthly fees.
Several other users (from the XDA Hero forum) with your situation got this by speaking to a customer service rep.
http://shop.sprint.com/en/services/airave/
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It's very unlikely that they'll waive both the monthly fee and the cost of the Airave itself. I was in the exact same situation as him, I called up Sprint to explain the situation, and they suggested the Airave. One representative told me that he could waive both fees ONLY for customers that have been with Sprint for some time. Those who are still in the 30 day window of opportunity to cancel are screwed in terms of negotiating the Airave. I luckily got transferred to a very sympathetic manager who offered the device for free and only required that I pay the $5 monthly fee. He explained to me that new customers are not likely to get the whole deal for free considering they technically aren't locked in yet. I'm still in the first 30 days of service, and feel extremely lucky for getting a $99 equipment fee waived so early into the contract.
And yes, the Airave does work. It's as large as your typical Wi-fi router and uses your internet connection to turn itself into a small cell phone tower. The only downside is that the data is only transferred at 1X, but that's not important since you likely have a wi-fi connection set up anyway. If you do manage to get an Airave sent to you, make sure you install it near a window; it has a small GPS receiver that needs a strong outdoor signal in order for the entire device to function properly. The package also comes with a fairly long extender cable that lets you separate the GPS unit and place it closer to a window.

*edit* Guitarlp said it better below.

Mecha2142 said:
It's very unlikely that they'll waive both the monthly fee and the cost of the Airave itself. I was in the exact same situation as him, I called up Sprint to explain the situation, and they suggested the Airave. One representative told me that he could waive both fees ONLY for customers that have been with Sprint for some time. Those who are still in the 30 day window of opportunity to cancel are screwed in terms of negotiating the Airave. I luckily got transferred to a very sympathetic manager who offered the device for free and only required that I pay the $5 monthly fee. He explained to me that new customers are not likely to get the whole deal for free considering they technically aren't locked in yet. I'm still in the first 30 days of service, and feel extremely lucky for getting a $99 equipment fee waived so early into the contract.
And yes, the Airave does work. It's as large as your typical Wi-fi router and uses your internet connection to turn itself into a small cell phone tower. The only downside is that the data is only transferred at 1X, but that's not important since you likely have a wi-fi connection set up anyway. If you do manage to get an Airave sent to you, make sure you install it near a window; it has a small GPS receiver that needs a strong outdoor signal in order for the entire device to function properly. The package also comes with a fairly long extender cable that lets you separate the GPS unit and place it closer to a window.
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You called customer service... you need to call retentions.
I went through the same with when I first switched to Sprint. Talked to at least 8 different CSR's and none of them would give me an airwave for free and waive the monthly fee. So I called retentions (their cancellation department), told them I wanted to cancel since I had no service in my house and I wasn't allowed a free airwave, and the lady happily overnighted me an AirWave (while waving the monthly fee) as long as I would stick with Sprint.
Retentions will usually get you what you want. When you call them to cancel they're allowed to give you "perks" to stick with them. Normal CSR's are not... and since you're not calling to cancel they don't want to give you stuff for free.

Mecha2142 said:
It's very unlikely that they'll waive both the monthly fee and the cost of the Airave itself. I was in the exact same situation as him, I called up Sprint to explain the situation, and they suggested the Airave. One representative told me that he could waive both fees ONLY for customers that have been with Sprint for some time. Those who are still in the 30 day window of opportunity to cancel are screwed in terms of negotiating the Airave. I luckily got transferred to a very sympathetic manager who offered the device for free and only required that I pay the $5 monthly fee. He explained to me that new customers are not likely to get the whole deal for free considering they technically aren't locked in yet. I'm still in the first 30 days of service, and feel extremely lucky for getting a $99 equipment fee waived so early into the contract.
And yes, the Airave does work. It's as large as your typical Wi-fi router and uses your internet connection to turn itself into a small cell phone tower. The only downside is that the data is only transferred at 1X, but that's not important since you likely have a wi-fi connection set up anyway. If you do manage to get an Airave sent to you, make sure you install it near a window; it has a small GPS receiver that needs a strong outdoor signal in order for the entire device to function properly. The package also comes with a fairly long extender cable that lets you separate the GPS unit and place it closer to a window.
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I would say that was a very good deal. Since you are still in the 30days.
Most of the time, depending on who you talk to will offer something if you arent happy with your service. Specially if you were promised something (like good coverage). Its why I really like being with sprint. Iv had so many phones replaced or upgraded because something went wrong with the phone. Give sprint a chance im sure you wont regret it. Specially now that we have some really awesome smart phones, it was what held sprint back for so long.

guitarlp said:
You called customer service... you need to call retentions.
I went through the same with when I first switched to Sprint. Talked to at least 8 different CSR's and none of them would give me an airwave for free and waive the monthly fee. So I called retentions (their cancellation department), told them I wanted to cancel since I had no service in my house and I wasn't allowed a free airwave, and the lady happily overnighted me an AirWave (while waving the monthly fee) as long as I would stick with Sprint.
Retentions will usually get you what you want. When you call them to cancel they're allowed to give you "perks" to stick with them. Normal CSR's are not... and since you're not calling to cancel they don't want to give you stuff for free.
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I didn't call customer service, I called a department that was probably somewhere higher in priority like retentions. I know this because a real life representative speaking perfect English through an excellent telephone connection answered within ten seconds of me dialing the number. Out of curiosity, did you go through this while Sprint had its 30 day trial period? The initiation of that sort of kills almost any chance of you getting a free Airave and service, since they aren't really losing anything by refunding the fees you've paid.

Mecha2142 said:
I didn't call customer service, I called a department that was probably somewhere higher in priority like retentions. I know this because a real life representative speaking perfect English through an excellent telephone connection answered within ten seconds of me dialing the number. Out of curiosity, did you go through this while Sprint had its 30 day trial period? The initiation of that sort of kills almost any chance of you getting a free Airave and service, since they aren't really losing anything by refunding the fees you've paid.
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Like I said, you probably didn't talk to retentions. You called and were upgraded to a higher level CSR. When I called (and finally got what I wanted), I hit the option in the menu's to cancel service.
Yes, I was 5 days in on my 30 days when I got my free airwave. I told her I had perfect coverage with AT&T (I didn't... but they don't know that), and that if I don't get similar coverage I'd rather cancel and go back to AT&T.
If you call their cancellation department, tell them you want to cancel, and then explain you had better service with *whatever company*, and that when you tried getting a free airwave through customer service you were denied, they'll give you the free airwave and wave the monthly fee.
I've read a number of threads where people said they got it for free, and others said they had to pay. One thing was consistent in the ones saying they got it for free... they called retentions and asked to cancel service.
When you talk to someone who's goal is to keep you a customer when you're ready to cancel, they'll give it to you for free.

No i have not rooted the phone, it's as is. I have been just trying to get a call out. For some odd reason i can’t get a signal past 1 bar. I checked with another sprint user in the same complex she said it’s the same with her 1 bar or none. This is not right as the sprint converge map shows good signal. Signal boosters seems like a good idea, so I’ll call and see if i could get one, but how about roaming, if it's on roaming will it use up my unlimited mobile to mobile minutes, if not than that’s not too bad.
So can I use one of those things you stick on a car to get better signal, will that work?
Thanks a lot guys you were all really helpful, I wish this transition would have been simple. I gave up a lot, grandfathered unlimited data for 15 with at&t, they have perfect signal here.

I fallowed your suggestion and called the retentions department, and she said I could have the AirRave unit for 49 no monthly charge, some “hmm I don’t know” (I’m not good at haggling ) got it down to free but shipping and processing was 18, so all and all good deal. I just hope it works out well.

Goodbye Sprint, Goodbye EVO

well after only about 6 months i have had it with Sprint.
I live in Cedar Rapids, Ia and the service here is to the point of almost not even having data.
by that i mean i have been consistantly getting 50-100kbps. day or not.
occassionaly between 6am and 9am i can get 700-1100kbps but this is not a daily routine.
I have been speaking to and met with the Regional Sprint Manager who was a very nice, polite and well spoken woman to work with.
She, unfortunately for sprint, has let loose on some key things such as her getting calls from their business customers that the network is toast and data is gone. and that for years its been known that Sprint in Cedar Rapids has been horrible. although the latter comment was not a blatant statement but more under the table & nonchalant.
we swapped phones and nothing changed, as she admitted probably would happen.
but i am working with her to get out of my contract with no fee's because i am not, and never have gotten actual 3G service. I was blatantly mislead and lied to on several occassions about the service in CR and even told by a store employee "oh yeah, we are going to get 4G by christmas". when the fact of the matter is because of my contacts in the wireless world, Iowa isnt even on the roadmap for 4G in any of the future plans my contacts have seen although they admit it is no doubt coming.
but even if they say i have to pay the early term. fees i dont care i am done with sprint and i will pay my fees in my own due time.
funny thing is.... the minute you leave cedar rapids, ia and start travelling down the highway your data speeds go thru the friggin roof..... but.. i dont live out on the highway in the middle of nowhere, i live in town, where service is not even service.. its 1xRTT at BEST.
I have int he past even been going 75mph down the highway, been tethered to my EVO with my iPad, and been streaming Netflix to my ipad thru my EVO... but the minute you hit Cedar Rapids,,, the network is history. and has been like that for a long time, i doubt sprint will ever fix it, it will take alot... a l o t of T1's to fix their oversold network.
yesterday i went to US Cellular and got hooked up with a Samsung Mesmerize.
Its no EVO but its a nice phone none the less. but the service, even though maxes out at about 1200kbps, is lightyears better than Sprint Service ever will be.
i thought about getting the HTC Desire but its too small. i dont like small screens, but its a Sense phone and as such is a nice phone and has the email and browser i like.
The mesmerize is not, and uses the stock android browser and email which i friggin hate. but... it is what it is.....
good bye sprint, good bye evo.....
look for a couple of evo's in the for sale section of XDA

So, for the first 30 days where you had time to test out the service, were you never home to test out the service? That is why they give you thirty days. If I had crappy service for the first week, I would be at the Sprint store returning the phone.

tgruendler said:
So, for the first 30 days where you had time to test out the service, were you never home to test out the service? That is why they give you thirty days. If I had crappy service for the first week, I would be at the Sprint store returning the phone.
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oh believe me i would have but, i was assured repeatedly that this was not normal Sprint when i reported issues. it wasnt AS bad back in June/July even though it was still far far less than minimal 3G speeds. I was told repeatedly atleast twice a month that trouble tickets were made and the field guys were looking into the issues.
But, obviously they have done nothing, absolutely nothing because not only has it not been fixed it is now worse than it ever has been.
so 30 days what ever... when sprint tells customers its getting looked into and yet absolutely nothing happens, well, what do you expect.
i am going to get fed up and leave, but i wont leave and pay ANY fees, they lied to me to get me to sign up, they lied to me to stay, and i refuse to allow anyone or any company to do that to me.

tgruendler said:
So, for the first 30 days where you had time to test out the service, were you never home to test out the service? That is why they give you thirty days. If I had crappy service for the first week, I would be at the Sprint store returning the phone.
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yeah thirty days would of been more than enough time to figure this out, after that I would understand why Sprint wouldnt let you out of your ETF, especially after sticking through it for 6 months. And some reps arent really lying as much as speaking out of ignorance, 4g is being rolled out every month in different cities, but not on any schedule that I know of. But like you said it was always bad service by you so you didnt just wake up one day and your had nothing to work with. Sprint isnt much to blame for not covering the whole nation with service, all providers have bad spots, Im sorry that you live in one of Sprints. I hope you US Cellular works out better for you.

So I guess we shouldn't go with Sprint if we live in uninhabited backwaters then?

umm bye ?
sounds like some attention whoring going on here

Verizon have service there? Reason is if they do then you can just use roam control to stay on verizons towers in cedar rapids.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I would check VZ

I switched to Sprint from ATT (Iphone) and so far love it.
No dropped calls, better signal and more crisp voice.
Rooted EVO is as much fun as JB Iphone.

I have a 6 bedroom house and signal dies whenever I go inside very far. I use the Airave and I get full bars now everywhere in the house.

You should of just used a Verizon PRL, it would of probably increased your data speeds aslong as verizon had good coverage there. Worse case scenerio would of been Sprint canceling your contract without a ETF for excesive roaming...
sultan.of.swing said:
Verizon have service there? Reason is if they do then you can just use roam control to stay on verizons towers in cedar rapids.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
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RoamControl doesnt do anything for DATA roaming. You need to manually load a different PRL with ##775#

Just a recommendation, if your not getting good service I would talk to someone in retention. I did this due to my phone dropping calls constantly inside my house. Anyways when all was said and done, I got a FREE Airave plus service for the Airave for free they just wave it every month. Just something to consider trying before you pay that termination fee, companies are very unlikely to let you go free.

CheesyNutz said:
umm bye ?
sounds like some attention whoring going on here
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LOL.. *sorry* "attention whoring"? Is that what it's called?
I've been disappointed with Sprint and my Evo many times for a variety of different reasons and I don't think I even told my wife--even after she stopped me from slamming my Blackberry 8330 up against the wall. Life's not perfect, that's what makes it cool--creating solutions. Good luck with other carriers.

> Stay in **** hole, for crap service, ditch evo or...
> Move out of **** hole keep EVO, scratch lottery ticket, win millions of dollars.
> Use money and buy your own sprint towers in **** hole
> Profit???

thlinx said:
> Stay in **** hole, for crap service, ditch evo or...
> Move out of **** hole keep EVO, scratch lottery ticket, win millions of dollars.
> Use money and buy your own sprint towers in **** hole
> Profit???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
swap step 3 and 4 around, step 3 should always be profit

Personally i would suggest moving, just a thought, may make you happier with life in general...

Roam control!

dabezt1 said:
You should of just used a Verizon PRL, it would of probably increased your data speeds aslong as verizon had good coverage there. Worse case scenerio would of been Sprint canceling your contract without a ETF for excesive roaming...
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Any idea how much roaming Sprint would consider, "excessive?" One of the phones on my account roams just about all of the time (He is stationed at an AFB in South Dakota, basically the middle of nowhere) and I'm curious if any one knows how much roaming would cause Sprint to end the contract...

rooster94 said:
Any idea how much roaming Sprint would consider, "excessive?" One of the phones on my account roams just about all of the time (He is stationed at an AFB in South Dakota, basically the middle of nowhere) and I'm curious if any one knows how much roaming would cause Sprint to end the contract...
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There is a certain percentage I think but I was stationed at Vandenburg AFB in California and I roamed there for almost two years straight and received no warning. Still with Sprint today.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4g

psssst....
YOU LIVE IN CEDAR RAPIDS!

is this grounds for no eft fee's?

so in grand rapids michigan we have 3 towers down right now. been down for 4 weeks with no eta. everyone i know is having huge network & radio issues. it was soo bad sprint sent me a free airave and payed my next months bill. BUT aside from my home with the airave i get horrid service now anywhere else in my area.
i was at t-mobile the other night and a ton of people are leaving sprint because of this. t-mobile told me they fix their towers in 48hrs, not 4+ weeks. so my question is, is this grounds for me getting out of sprint for free? i mean im paying for a service that is not working, if anything this is sprint's fault for not fixing the issues. i used to have a perfect signal. i feel like im being sorta ripped off right now in a way.
bottom line is i need my phone for work and i cannot stand all calls going to voicemail, 45 seconds to connect to call someone. not being able to send texts...etc. as i said this affects me, my wife's line and all of my co-workers.
getting VERY annoying!

It sounds like an issue Sprint is aware of, and if they cannot provide you the service you are paying for, they should let you go without assessing the ETF. Just be nice and you will get further than if you call hollering at them.

rugedraw said:
It sounds like an issue Sprint is aware of, and if they cannot provide you the service you are paying for, they should let you go without assessing the ETF. Just be nice and you will get further than if you call hollering at them.
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ive called several times and they are aware but can give no explanation as to why it's taking soo long or a eta fix. i agree that the eft should be waived right now. i may call later this week.

What's the zip code?
Sent from my spaceship!

Grand Rapids is down due to adding capacity to the tower. ETA is mid March.
Sent from my spaceship!

DirtyShroomz said:
Grand Rapids is down due to adding capacity to the tower. ETA is mid March.
Sent from my spaceship!
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see advanced tech told me 2-3 towers down and it's been like this for 4 weeks now. again you work for sprint, if i need my cell service can i get out with no eft?

fixxxer2008 said:
see advanced tech told me 2-3 towers down and it's been like this for 4 weeks now. again you work for sprint, if i need my cell service can i get out with no eft?
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It can be waived due to towers being down but will require approval.
Sent from my spaceship!

I was in the same position except with tmobile a few months ago. You have to continue calling them everyday and keep complaining. It may take a week or two, but if you call everyday at least once or twice a day and complain they should let you out.
However, I don't think this is an automatic given for an etf b.c i think somewhere in the contract it talks about towers going down etc.
But keep calling and sooner or later they will let you out.

I"m no lawyer, and I imagine it would get resolved before it got to this. But if they actually tried to charge you an ETF for a service that isn't working, and you decided to fight it in court (small claims), I think you'd have a pretty good shot. No matter what the contract says, forcing you to pay for a service that they aren't providing probably wouldn't stand up.
As others have said though, I imagine if you're persistent, they'll let you out.

be careful what you wish for..
I heard Grand Rapids is a test site for some new technology exclusive to Sprint; 25mb+ down.

nebenezer said:
be careful what you wish for..
I heard Grand Rapids is a test site for some new technology exclusive to Sprint; 25mb+ down.
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i figured that's why it's taking soo damn long to fix. i was going to leave sprint but with the evo3d & nexus s coming i may hang around. plus the fact i do not like t-mobiles policy on creating a contract. if you do not have prefect credit you are on a month to month basis with them.
looks like sprint bumped my lines upgrade eligibility as well. i can use it as of 11/1/10. so ill sit on this until one of the new phones comes out.

My Sprint Service Is now dead

So the service in my neighborhood is now completely dead and I've called sprint about 4 times now concerning the issue. I spot to a guy from advance tech support today and he told me the tower in my area is down for maintenance and the estimated time to get it back running would be around June 1st. He said I might be eligible to get out of an early termination fee because he wrote in the notes that my area had service and now it does not anymore. I got a new phone with metro and I was planning on switching over. So i called up sprint again to start the porting process and explained the situation and they refuse to transfer over without charging me the ETF. I think this is total bs since I have not had any service in my area since March 29.
How do I cancel and port my number without paying the ETF? I know there's got to be something about no providing service that can break a contract or something.
Thanks in advance guys.

Did you ask to speak to a supervisor?

I did and the person i spoke to said "I'm a manager in charge of plan cancellations"

FuMMoD said:
I did and the person i spoke to said "I'm a manager in charge of plan cancellations"
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Do you know if this was someone in the retention department? Thats who you need to be talking to, they are the last line of customer service so to speak. They deal with customers who are leaving, and yeah they will probably try to nail you with an ETF at first but keep pushing and I am sure you can get somewhere.

FuMMoD said:
I did and the person i spoke to said "I'm a manager in charge of plan cancellations"
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Yeah the person lied to u its not called plan cancellations its called retentions. So u obviously where talking to an idiot. Call sprint back and get the retentions department then ask for a supervisor when u get transfered. After u get to retentions supervisor u should have no problem getting out with no ETF. By law they have to let u out of your contract with no etf if u are gonna be withought service for that long.

flight01 said:
Yeah the person lied to u its not called plan cancellations its called retentions. So u obviously where talking to an idiot. Call sprint back and get the retentions department then ask for a supervisor when u get transfered. After u get to retentions supervisor u should have no problem getting out with no ETF. By law they have to let u out of your contract with no etf if u are gonna be withought service for that long.
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+1
And if I remember correctly retentions is not open 24/7 so you will probably have to call back during "normal" business hours.

Thank you guys, I'm going to call back right now and see what they tell me. I really just want to switch my evo over to metro to have service. I'm sick of this deadzone in my neighborhood.

Why not just get an airrave?

Bielinsk said:
Why not just get an airrave?
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What good is that when he steps out side Airwave range he doesn't have working tower in his neighborhood.
OP call retentions get out of contract if June1 fix is all they can do.
If they want to pass you free months of service hmm I would stay on give them a chance

sprint likes to check both "sides" before you cancel like if u dont have Sprint atleast they can offer you Nextel... and vice versa...
Wait for like a month... plus make sure you not using your phone at all because sprint can see everything in there systems.
When you call to cancel say, "I want to cancel due to poor signal" and you would love to stay but the signal is bad...
they going to make atleast 2 good offers then try to cancel your line.

Something about this just doesn't seem right. Your house should be covered by at least two towers, unless you are really off in the boonies.
And an airrave is good for a decent distance.
Now if you say you have zero service in a 2 mile radius of your house, than I would complain.
And it just doesn't sound right that Sprint would take down the tower for 2 months.

Bielinsk said:
Something about this just doesn't seem right. Your house should be covered by at least two towers, unless you are really off in the boonies.
And an airrave is good for a decent distance.
Now if you say you have zero service in a 2 mile radius of your house, than I would complain.
And it just doesn't sound right that Sprint would take down the tower for 2 months.
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Towers down or not, not having service at your home is a pretty big issue especially with paying the money that we do for the Evo and the plan necessary to have it.
I had a similar issue with Verizon when I lived in California because we lived in the hills of Orange County. Verizon eventually sent a tech. out and they tested the signal and determined that it was a poor service area and let me cancel without paying the ETF. I would imagine that Sprint would go along similar steps as well.
I can tell you from experience that if you experience poor service in your house that if you go through retention and push enough, they will give you an Airave completely free of charge and will credit the monthly charge every month. So if its just service in your house I would go with that route if they aren't willing to wave the ETF.

Thanks for all your help guys. I called back today and spoke with another supervisor and they reviewed what the advance tech support guy told me yesterday. The coverage in my area is incredible full 4g and everything but since the tower is down till June 1st I was able to get off my contract with no ETF. The guy i spoke to today was trying to tell me to send my phone in and I informed him that there is no service and to check the network map they have for outages. He reviewed it and approved me switching over to another carrier temporarily without any fees. I was offered an Air Rave but the tech guys said it's useless because the problem was not the signal, it was the actual tower itself.

FuMMoD said:
Thanks for all your help guys. I called back today and spoke with another supervisor and they reviewed what the advance tech support guy told me yesterday. The coverage in my area is incredible full 4g and everything but since the tower is down till June 1st I was able to get off my contract with no ETF. The guy i spoke to today was trying to tell me to send my phone in and I informed him that there is no service and to check the network map they have for outages. He reviewed it and approved me switching over to another carrier temporarily without any fees. I was offered an Air Rave but the tech guys said it's useless because the problem was not the signal, it was the actual tower itself.
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Still sucks though about "switching to another carrier temporarily" because what happens when you have to switch back to Sprint. Won't you get stuck with an ETF with the other carrier?

FuMMoD said:
Thanks for all your help guys. I called back today and spoke with another supervisor and they reviewed what the advance tech support guy told me yesterday. The coverage in my area is incredible full 4g and everything but since the tower is down till June 1st I was able to get off my contract with no ETF. The guy i spoke to today was trying to tell me to send my phone in and I informed him that there is no service and to check the network map they have for outages. He reviewed it and approved me switching over to another carrier temporarily without any fees. I was offered an Air Rave but the tech guys said it's useless because the problem was not the signal, it was the actual tower itself.
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Useless? That does not sound right since the Airrave does not use any tower signal but uses your wired broadband connection..

Yellowcard8992 said:
Still sucks though about "switching to another carrier temporarily" because what happens when you have to switch back to Sprint. Won't you get stuck with an ETF with the other carrier?
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It's a pay as you go company. Metro PCS. They got just as good service in miami as Sprint, just the internet is a little more slower.

FuMMoD said:
It's a pay as you go company. Metro PCS. They got just as good service in miami as Sprint, just the internet is a little more slower.
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Well I guess your good to go then! Good Luck.

Isn't Metro PCS service using the Sprint towers?

swaydude said:
Isn't Metro PCS service using the Sprint towers?
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They have certain agreements when several companies, including Sprint.

swaydude said:
Isn't Metro PCS service using the Sprint towers?
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They roam on Sprints

Towers messed up and I'm roaming...will they terminate me ?

In my area, Sprint's towers are messed up (for alot of ppl) and my wife and I are roaming. We both like tunein Radio and stream radio stations from out of state. I noticed that we are both using a considerable amount of roaming data. Will they terminate me or send me a letter to "knock it off" ?? If they'd fix their damn towers, I wouldn't be using roaming data LOL..
I know it's not necessarily Epic related, but I am using an Epic LOL

Not at all. Roaming is a free service with Sprint. In fact, if you are rooted I highly reccomend an app called Roam Control. It allows you to manually switch over to Verizon's towrs if you ever find yourself in an area with little to no coverage from Sprint. Its a great way to save battery to as your phone will not be trying so hrd to find the signal. I tend to only have one or two bars at my mom's house so I use Roam Control everytime I visit her which is almost everyday for long periods of time. The only disadvantage is that at this time you will not get 3g coverage though you will still be able to have EVDO coverage which is still fine for casual web browsing.

stir fry a lot said:
Not at all. Roaming is a free service with Sprint.
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Not quite true - roaming is free up to 300mb of data; if you use a majority of your minutes while roaming or go significantly over 300mb, they have the right to strongly suggest you 'reevaluate your options'.
So... it's free, and there's no problem with using it, just don't go crazy. And if it's a problem with their towers (or, more likely, PRL) and it affects many people, they can't really say anything about it.

k0nane said:
Not quite true - roaming is free up to 300mb of data; if you use a majority of your minutes while roaming or go significantly over 300mb, they have the right to strongly suggest you 'reevaluate your options'.
So... it's free, and there's no problem with using it, just don't go crazy. And if it's a problem with their towers (or, more likely, PRL) and it affects many people, they can't really say anything about it.
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my wife's roaming data usage for last month was 3.2 Gigs, mine was 2.3gigs
I called and complained about texts showing not sent, then the recipient receiving them 3 times (sometimes days later).. very sporadic data.. their suggestion was to "reset" the lines on their end, then for my wife and I to power cycle our devices. Needless to say, this didn't help.
We're not the only ones complaining though.. Yesterday afternoon they called my wife for something (survey, customer service evaluation or something like that ??).. they asked if she used her phone primarily for personal and business etc.. she also complained to whomever called her and asked about the signal problem, they suggested the airave for $120 plus another $10/mo. She refused by telling them that we can't afford the $120 nor the add'l per month fee. "If we're already paying for service that we can't use, it's not fair to make us pay additional money to use your service". they said "we're going to note your account that you refused the airave".. bastards..
Anyhow.. I'm gonna call again and speak to someone because this is a bit ridiculous
/rant
(thanks WDM for the insight though.. it's appreciated)

If you read the thread on PRLs Sprint is having lots of roaming issues right now so I wouldn't worry about it until they straighten their crap out. 3G roaming will be removed from us commoners and replaced with 1xrtt service. Business customers will still have 3G roaming. 2 different prls are being released.
Do you BONSAI?

If your signal is bad, I remember reading some posts where people were able to get a free Airave. Might want to search the threads on info about that.

adelmundo said:
If your signal is bad, I remember reading some posts where people were able to get a free Airave. Might want to search the threads on info about that.
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I just got off the phone w/ CS.. I was told that the outage is a pretty bad one and is expected to last until July !! pretty major outages/problems in pultiple counties is what I'm told.
The did offer a credit for our service for next month, then he transferred me to someone that has the ability to discount the airave...
I'm now getting a free airave and they're waiving the monthly fee for the airave as well AND no 2 yr contract on the Airave.. I can keep it, or send it back or whatever i wanna do w/ it.
They're not too shabby IMO
YMMV

adelmundo said:
If your signal is bad, I remember reading some posts where people were able to get a free Airave. Might want to search the threads on info about that.
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Yeah I got one but they have their problems too. Unless your internet is perfect you will get problems calling. To test your internet they sent me to voiptest.packet8.net. Biggest problem on Brighthouse is jitter and occasionally quality of service. But the Airwave costs like $1.50 a month in additional taxes, that's it. 3G is great on it.

kennyglass123 said:
Yeah I got one but they have their problems too. Unless your internet is perfect you will get problems calling. To test your internet they sent me to voiptest.packet8.net. Biggest problem on Brighthouse is jitter and occasionally quality of service. But the Airwave costs like $1.50 a month in additional taxes, that's it. 3G is great on it.
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Thanks for the test site. I checked and my connection is EXCELLENT.. (sucks that it's comcast, but whatever LOL)
I don't mind the taxes.. I have a 20MBps connection w/ average of 5.6 down stream and 2.7 upstream.. 1.9% jitter.. heh.. Can't wait to use my phone like a phone again (at least at home)

daddymikey1975 said:
Thanks for the test site. I checked and my connection is EXCELLENT.. (sucks that it's comcast, but whatever LOL)
I don't mind the taxes.. I have a 20MBps connection w/ average of 5.6 down stream and 2.7 upstream.. 1.9% jitter.. heh.. Can't wait to use my phone like a phone again (at least at home)
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That is awesome. Brighthouse had no clue about how to reduce jitter. Best I got was 125msec. Needs to be below 5msec.

kennyglass123 said:
That is awesome. Brighthouse had no clue about how to reduce jitter. Best I got was 125msec. Needs to be below 5msec.
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my jitter was higher when my wife's file sharing software was running so i asked her to turn it off for comparison.. heh.. (shhh... don't ask don't tell )

Open a ticket by emailing [email protected]. 4 or 5 of us have had tickets open for over 8 months for our downtown tower by the state capital building. Roaming over 1 gig a month sometimes with no phone calls or letters.

digiblur said:
Open a ticket by emailing [email protected]. 4 or 5 of us have had tickets open for over 8 months for our downtown tower by the state capital building. Roaming over 1 gig a month sometimes with no phone calls or letters.
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they're already aware of the problem and "expect" to have it resolved by the end of July.. seems pretty long time but they're aware of it.

Idunno where you guys are, im in the Seattle area, and the double triple messages are annoying as hell, mms not sending...
As far as the airrave, its a ***** because it 1)uses your home internet, and 2) in my case, I have a 2 line fam plan and dont qualify for another phone, so no airrave, even though im in an admitted dead zone... so until sprint decides my credit is better, I have a 'credit' for an airrave and free service 'noted' on my account... dont pay for em!! Does anyone pay for em?? I read on here that they will give em up for free if you ask and are out of coverage at home, and yeah, he tried to get me to pay and I said I read it was free on some tech blog... he said 'let me see what I can do' put me on hold, got a coffee refill, and said yes, his mgr said it was ok... oh well... moving soon, im in a 5 sq mile dead zone... sux... hopefully I can use 4g where I move!

ungovernable1977 said:
Idunno where you guys are, im in the Seattle area, and the double triple messages are annoying as hell, mms not sending...
As far as the airrave, its a ***** because it 1)uses your home internet, and 2) in my case, I have a 2 line fam plan and dont qualify for another phone, so no airrave, even though im in an admitted dead zone... so until sprint decides my credit is better, I have a 'credit' for an airrave and free service 'noted' on my account... dont pay for em!! Does anyone pay for em?? I read on here that they will give em up for free if you ask and are out of coverage at home, and yeah, he tried to get me to pay and I said I read it was free on some tech blog... he said 'let me see what I can do' put me on hold, got a coffee refill, and said yes, his mgr said it was ok... oh well... moving soon, im in a 5 sq mile dead zone... sux... hopefully I can use 4g where I move!
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That's BS! I have a 2 line share and got an Airave as soon as I told them I had signal drop. They practically forced me to take it. Free, just the additional tax per month, no contract...just call for them to send a return postage ticket when I don't need it anymore. Yell at them about you paying for no service in your area, speak to supervisor's and managers. It is not a line that will have minutes on it so it shouldn't require credit approval.

ungovernable1977 said:
Idunno where you guys are, im in the Seattle area, and the double triple messages are annoying as hell, mms not sending...
As far as the airrave, its a ***** because it 1)uses your home internet, and 2) in my case, I have a 2 line fam plan and dont qualify for another phone, so no airrave, even though im in an admitted dead zone... so until sprint decides my credit is better, I have a 'credit' for an airrave and free service 'noted' on my account... dont pay for em!! Does anyone pay for em?? I read on here that they will give em up for free if you ask and are out of coverage at home, and yeah, he tried to get me to pay and I said I read it was free on some tech blog... he said 'let me see what I can do' put me on hold, got a coffee refill, and said yes, his mgr said it was ok... oh well... moving soon, im in a 5 sq mile dead zone... sux... hopefully I can use 4g where I move!
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my home internet has plenty of room for the traffic.
I'm in Northern Indiana (barely south east of lake Michigan)
They did tell me that it would show up as an extra line on our account. We are approved for a total of 5 and have 3 now (not including the Airave)

yep according to the phone rep I talked to the airrave counts as a device, I think he even said its assigned a phone number... its retarded, probly just for bookkeeping, but you would think they could have a workaround for situations like mine... I pay my bill... eventually Not a big deal, I tried to resolve the issue with their services, even willing to use my FIOS to supplement their network... but I solved the issue with Roam Control... I just need to make sure calls come in at night, etc... although with the ISI and mms issues, sprint better be making some serious infrastructure progress... I am about 3 miles from I-5, not in the sticks. The phone guy also said that you have to be above the base of the towers elevation to get reception, idunno if thats true.. but if it were it makes sense, im on an incline down to the water, probly at 300' elevation... I just cant wait till I move... in the Seattle area CDMA is the best... the others are crap... maybe a lil better the past couple years, but I cant stand static on a phone like im on a CB or something...