I HATE Sprint, morons! Image question for A500

[JBird]

It's amazing Sprint stays in business. I read one place on their web site that you could upload images from your pc if you logged on sprintpcs.com onto a part of the Vision section, of course there isn't this "picture" option they talk about. Another place, on the same web site, they tell you it can't be done.

I bought an A500 from Best Buy the other day because the wireless guy there was telling me that I should be able to email pictures from a pc and save them on the phone. I read through a ton of messages on here. Some make it sound like (maybe) futuredial will release a product that'll let you transfer images/ringers yourself. Sounds good, but when six months down the road?

I know Sprint could (and might) fix their end. When you use the camera on the phone it uploads them to sprints picture web site and you download them to the phone. I'd imaging adding a "pc upload" option would take them all of, ohhh.... 10 minutes. But this is Sprint we're talking about so I won't hold my breath.

My question is, I don't want to keep the phone if I'm going to be restricted to only being able to xfer images via some cheap a$$ web cam device. Also I don't want to keep the phone if there's going to be some data cable released that will do this, but it won't be out for another 8 months. I have 30 days to decide if I want to keep the phone or not, I'm probably a moron for even thinking Sprint or Samsung will have done anything in that short of a period, but hay...

Sure the screen on the phone is lovely, but it's useless to me if I'm limited to Sprints pathetic selection of hokey images.

Any ideas what I should do? I'm tempted to take it back and just get a Sanyo 4900, it might not look as high tech or cool, but it will do what I want, without me having to wait forever for a sync cable to MAYBE be released [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[odie1]

JBird, You might want to read on the back of you receipt i believe you have 14 days to return your phone, I bought my A500 from best buy too and they gave my 14 days.. I wonder why alot of stores are doing this now days? I found my old receipt for sprint pcs when i purchase my qualcomm 2700 back in 1999 and even the back of that receipt and 30 days to return the item...now it 14 days with them...things that make you go humm...If you really having problems with sprint, you can always do like i did, cancell sprint and go with cricket phone, there is no contract. Basically i'm waiting for all the bugs to get work out on the A500, and hopefully Samsung will bring in it sister phone in from Europe and Asia it's the T100,, it's got the external speaker on it, and outside led changes diffent colors....I do miss the A500, i think i'm going thru withdraws, but i dont miss the headaches i've had with sprint pcs, web specialist-(advisors)...anyway good luck JBird...

[YummyHoagie]

JBIRD, i FEEL your pain. Ive been at it with Sprint for over 6 weeks now...going on 7! Their site is STILL to this day screwed up, the tech dept cannot help as I get transferred all over the place. I don't have a single clue what is happening, and I dont think they know either.

i am stuck with this phone....and the idiot I am that bought the webcam...I am stuck with this as well.

Yeah the phone is nice but I am not getting my money's worth with this. I got rid of all the features for now until they get their act together and their website fixed, downgraded my plan and got credit for the past 2 months of their crap service.

So right now, it's just a nice pretty phone with a lot of gadgets

[Jazzer]

YummyHoagie,
I did excately the same thing you did. Got rid of the phone! "I'm much better now!"

[ehcruzan]

I read on another post that there won't be a way to transfer images from your PC due to limitations of the phone. I think this was done intentionally to force A500 users to buy images/ringtones/screensavers from Sprint. That being the case, you would expect Sprint to put out some quality images/ringtones/screensavers. If they did, that would justify their limiting the phone's syncing capability since they have to recover their investment in the 1X upgrade.

[kittykatt]

I have the a500. I got it as a free replacement for my broken a400. Because i didnt pay anything then i rate the phone as "tolerable". There are so many annoying things about this phone, but in the end most of the problems are on sprints end.

As for the camera. I picked one up (and im returning it pretty soon) just to try it out. Wow. What a hassle to get a pic in. I get an "error decoding image" error whenever i download a pic so i only managed to get 3 out of 40 attempts at actual pictures on my phone. And these pics are extremely low quality. I was never a sprint lover but this months vision/phone/ww/billing fiasco has really convinced me that i need to get out.

T-Mobile and the a105 is going to be a winning combination for many sprint customers.

Sprint PCS is an extortionist organization. Customers pay Sprint for the privilege of accepting the customer payment. It costs $5.00. Forget about customer service. Customer pays to speak with a customer rep about any account issue. It’s $3.00 per call. National coverage? HA! National roaming is more accurate. There was a time when the customer could pay online by check or VISA, view the bill, view the current usage and minutes left. Sprint has cut off that service and makes it available to select customer accounts.
How does one get rid of the account without getting dinged for bail out charges?

[ALBUNDY]

If you all would look on the internet there are plenty of websites you can actually download ringers and images from your phone with. Sprint PCS exceeds all other carriers. You all need to stop being a bunch of babies and look at what Sprint PCS really offers you. Then you will finally realize what advantages you really have with Sprint PCS.

[LowTech]

Originally posted by: ALBUNDY
If you all would look on the internet there are plenty of websites you can actually download ringers and images from your phone with. Sprint PCS exceeds all other carriers. You all need to stop being a bunch of babies and look at what Sprint PCS really offers you. Then you will finally realize what advantages you really have with Sprint PCS.

you mean all others exceed sprint. T-mobile has only been out for a few years and they are even better than sprint. Sprint has the worst service bar none of any cell phone carrier...hell even nextel is better.

[Slingblade]

Then you will finally realize what advantages you really have with Sprint PCS.

...Like poor call quality due to their lacking coverage, astronomical bills due to all of the roaming calls that you make on their llargest all-digital, all-PCS nationwide network, troublesome phones due to their lack of testing, and poor customer service.


al bundy, name one business that charges customers to receive their payments at a branch.


al bundy, instead of criticizing these people, why don't you help them. Or, was that part of your Sprint customer service training?

JBird, futuredial may not have anything for you in way of transferring images and sounds. Not their fault. Samsung won't allow it. I'm sure the phone s/w will get hacked soon.

Good luck to rest of you folks.
Former sprint customer,
David

[AnythingClose]

Hey, you guys should try the website www.a500hacking.com.
I believe that site shows you how to get ringtones at least.

AnythingClose@hotmail.com

[AnythingClose]

Actually it just leads you to this site now.

3gscreensavers.com

Hope that helps.

AnythingClose@hotmail.com

AlBundy has a point. Sprint offers some great features, at a very reasonable price. If you only need a cell phone in the areas that Sprint services well, they are a good choice.

Unfortunately, I need coverage in lots of areas that Spint offers poor or no coverage. Downtown Chicago is almost unusable, Kansas City (Sprint's corporate home) isn't a lot better, downtown San Diego works well until sundown, but then is useless until morning! When I'm in rural areas (even on major interstate highways), Sprint coverage is haphazard. When I'm in really rural areas (like the Door County peninsula), there is no coverage.

I know that the Sprint customer service has been beaten to death. Even their "corporate customer" support lines aren't nearly as good as the competition's "John Doe" lines. Allegedly this is going to improve soon, but it has been so bad for so long that it will be ages before they can fix this image problem.

I like my Sprint Phone (a Samsung SPH-I300). When Sprint coverage works (roughly 60% of the time), it is great. I still need to carry another cell phone to get reliable service, and that is unacceptable for the long term.

-PatP

[PatP]

Not sure why that posted as Anonymous... Mayhap things were a bit corn-fused.

-PatP

u CAN upload custom images and ringtones. i have no idea how to set them up, but teh dude who runs 3gscreensaver.com has images adn tomnes JUST for samsung A500's they got nice stuff anime, nature, people, porn, but the ring gallery stinks. pcspix.com is good for ringtones, they support A500 also.

i got my a500 at best buy for 175$ [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] it was on sale last week for 75$ off= $224.95 and i got an additional 50$ rebate for switching to sprint from att. I dont notice any diference in coverage cuz my house is in a dead zone with a half mile radius. so nobody on any carrier gets a signal until ya go downtown. Anywhere except around my house, i get a perfect signal and no probs. i live in NJ. Phone is great otherwise cept wireless web is a lil buggy on ocasion. i have this phone since saturday, activated since monday. I love it and yeah sprint is a %^&*$ with proprietary tones adn screensavers. but those sites should help.

I may think about posting free download sites but not for those that are so negative

Al Bundy
Assistant Store Manager
Sprint PCS Retail Stores Division

I had a AH-500 from Sprint and returned it. The tech support was horrible. Text & Email messaging notification was non functioning, messages were piling up in my mail box with no notification even though all the parameters were set correctly on the unit and in the network. Software systemwide was malfunctioning ...Average wait time 1-2hrs on hold!!!!!, multiple promises by a level 3 tech a solution was comming....never heard from them after I hung up. IN SHORT IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE DON't USE SPRINT[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

[Big]

Well, I just switched back to Sprint and I am satiisfied for the most part. I have a SAmsung A500. It is a cool phone. I like the screen. If I could change something, it would be the personal manager capapbilities. I have been used to Nextel for over a year (I had Sprint before then) and I've the Motorola i90c for a while and you could do so much with that phone, filter certain calls or callers, select which calls you want to get through, delete just one number from your calls list (for all the players... just kidding). The only reason I switched was because Nextel's service was horrible where I was. Mind you, this was the first bad experience that I've had with Nextel (I'm from NYC). I am currently on a Naval installation and I found out Nextel had no tower close by. I am in on base housing, but if I were about 1/4 mile down the road in regular housing, I'd be fine. Even when I went to the main road right out in front of the base, I had full strength. Unfortunately, while on the base, the signal just was not strong enough and it got really annoying really quickly. I could have stayed with Sprint during the time that I had Nextel because my bet friend is a manager for them, but even he anticipated the problems they were going to have during this passed year due to upgrades in service and technology. So, he told me to switch. I could have had all the free I wanted, but it would not have been worth. I would highly recommend Nextel if they offer service in your area. Let them know that you'd like to try the phone for a while and see how the service is in the places you will be most often. I once drove from NY to FL and not once did I lose my signal with Nextel. The Samsung A500 is a pretty good phone, just a change from the i90c, plus I had to step into the world of color eventually. The new i95cl is color but not as good or clear as the A500. The bottomline is that cellular services are all relative. Everyone has their own experiences. It is very dificult to say. I now have great service where I am. I have experienced ZERO dropped calls, clear sound and talk quality. I am in the South and my wife is in NYC right now and we have had no problems. I think Sprint takes a lot of slack because they started out with such a high standard that they set. Now, everyone wants results right away, which is understandable, but you have to understand (a little) how many customers they deal with. They may have brought this large amount of business on themselves. Then as they work to make things better, everyone thinks that their service is just getting worse in the process and that is not the case. In the end, it is all about what you want. I had a great Free Incoming Plan with Nextel; all incoming calls were free. That was great, even though it was about $10 more than Sprint plans, but I did not mind. Then as I was thinking about switching back to Sprint, my friend told me about this bad ___ plan (one of many) that they were offering. I have 2000 day minutes, Unlimited Nights and Weekends (Sprint did not have that when I had them a couple of years ago, but Nextel did (plus the 2-way feature)), unlimited PCS Vision (yeah it has its problems, but who doesn't (Nextel did too)), unlimted calling between PCS phones and I added a phone for my wife for free. We split the 2000 anytime minutes, which I don't think I will ever go over. The plan comes out to be $95 plus the $4 for insurance. I don't know, maybe it's me, but that is pretty good for what you get. In addition, you can add 3rd and/or 4th phone for $20 per month. I might be adding my brother-in-law and lowering the overall cost of the plan for myself. I like Sprint and Nextel and I am sure there are other carriers who have good service, but I have never been interested Verizon, Cingular or T-Mobile and definitely not AT&T! I have always seen them as copy-cats in a way, although I know they are not. That's just me, and I am doin' me. You all should do what makes you most comfortable. Just remember that no one is perfect. All phones don't get shipped without any problems. Hell, with my A500, if I scheduled something but had no audible alarm set, for some reason it would not allow any other scheduled events to sound off. It took 2 days to figure that out. It was a small problem for most, but annoyed the hell out of me. I took the phone back and got a new one. Many people have much worse problems. I hope y'all get something that works best for you.

ONE

[jjdu4]

Sprint is not for everyone. But after working for Cingular(Bellsouth Mobility) for 6 years and for the past 2 years having Cellular South coverage, I am pretty impressed with what Sprint has to offer. In my area they don't have much rural coverage but there in town coverage rivals other carriers that have been here over 10 years. Hell the truth is their network is much better than that of any carrier in my local area. So far I am happy with my sprint service. just remeber, opinions are like @$$holes everyone has one.

I have an A 500 and have had a total opposite experience. Sprint PCS had been the best carrier for me. I had Verizon couldn't here anyone when my phone actually received the phone calls. People called me all the time and my phone never rang. When I answered the phone I felt like I was talking through a tunnel. I finally got fed up with Verizon broke my contract and went to Sprint. I have not dropped one call. Get all my calls have not had any messaging problems or customer service problems. Longest hold time was five minutes. Don't know what country your in but SPRINT PCS IS THE BEST WIRELESS CARRIER I HAVE USED.
**CHOOSE SPRINT PCS FOR YOUR WIRELESS CARRIER IF YOU DONT YOU WILL REGRET IT**

Originally posted by: Anonymous
I had a AH-500 from Sprint and returned it. The tech support was horrible. Text & Email messaging notification was non functioning, messages were piling up in my mail box with no notification even though all the parameters were set correctly on the unit and in the network. Software systemwide was malfunctioning ...Average wait time 1-2hrs on hold!!!!!, multiple promises by a level 3 tech a solution was comming....never heard from them after I hung up. IN SHORT IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE DOUSE SPRINT[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

Text

[PatP]

When it works, Sprint coverage is very good. When it doesn't, well... it doesn't.

Unfortunately, there are far too many places where it should work, but it doesn't. I can't see why Sprint can't cover many of the places that it doesn't. There are lots of people in downtown Chicago and downtown Kansas city. There is no reason I can figure for not having a signal in Dulles or Dallas. Why can't I hear a pin drop in the Emarcadero? These aren't remote areas, there are tens of thousands of people through these areas every day.

At least for business use, Sprint's coverage is impossible to build into our infrastructure. It is probably fine for teen agers who want to IM their friends and for people to exchange pictures of their feet, but it just won't cut it when there is work to be done.

-PatP

[chuckwedin]

I took a driving trip this year through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I only lost coverage in one place, which was West TX in the Big Bend area. Of course, it is so rural out there that some people don't even have running water, so I totally expected it. My phone even worked in the middle of the desert while driving between the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. I know this because I used it to call the hotel to change my reservations. An additional note is that I always have my phone set to "Sprint PCS Only" mode, so it has never roamed and it never will. This experience alone allows me to rate Sprint very high for service. I recently got the a500 phone, and have not had any issues with reception.

The phone I am provided through my job is from AT&T and I cannot get 60 miles from my house before it switches to Roam on the screen.

I realize that some people have bad experiences (my brother, for example), but in the past three years I have not had a single issue with my phone or service. My last phone was in two car accidents and a motorcycle accident with me and it kept on ticking at full signal.

I use the USB data cable with the a500 to connect my laptop the the internet and it works great! You can get the cable from www.futuredial.com for $30, and they have it in stock. You can use this cable with the free software downloadable from Sprint's web site. You can also pick up a new a500 from Costco for $199 plus tax that comes with a car charger, hands free earbud, and plastic clip holster for the phone. Then Costco will give you a $35 service credit for buying the phone from them.

Also worth noting is that you can edit your own pictures for upload to your phone. Keep in mind that the pic has to be 112 pixels wide by 128 pixels high to fit your screen properly, and it needs to be in .jpg format. You can also make your own ringers by downloading midi files or creating them yourself with software downloaded from www.anvilstudio.com. I cut all my ringers down to around 20 seconds to keep them small. Remember you only have 500KB of memory to download ringers and pictures. Once you have a ringer or picture you want to put on your phone, go to www.t1mmy.net/visionTool.html (the URL is case sensitive) and upload it there. Once you get a notification on your phone that the file is ready, press Menu and then Go to download the file. You will need to accept the download even though it is not trusted and the file will normally come through just fine. Every once in a while it doesn't work right. I have over 40 ringers for my phone and have pictures of my friends, girlfriend, etc on the phone.