T-mobile is 100 times better then Sprint!

[xiaoka]

Just wanted to share a datapoint for anyone who's looking for a new cell phone company.

I finally got fed up with 3 years of bad service from Sprint, I've never been able to get a decent phone signal in my apartment, my office or many places in between... often times the voicemails show up late too.

So I finally switched to t-mobile, got the t300 from best buy for only $50! I got their $29.99 plan (which was somewhat ambiguous, they have two plans, one is 500 messages and one is 300 + 1mb of data and their T-zones), they gave me the 500 messages. So today I called them up to add T-zones (1mb) and 300 messages for only $2.99 (thats 1mb of data, 800 messages, 300 anytime minutes and free weekends...not bad) - [they also have a $10.00 10 mb t-zones plan too]

When I called I got to an operator on the first or second menu, I was on hold for only about 30 seconds...
the guy was helpful, friendly, talked compitently about international SMS, roaming etc (not just idiot topics...) and even put in a request to get the unlock code for me (I've owned the phone for only about 30 hours!!!)

Compare this to my calling of Sprint earlier this evening (for the second time) to cancel my service with them. They don't even give 'cancel your service' as an option on any of the many menus you have to navigate through... (t-mobile does!!!) after about 15 minutes on hold I finally talked to someone... and she put me on hold for another five minutes after I told her I wanted to cancel my service. She put me through to their 'service cancel person' or whatever...

I played hardball w/ them though, since I know they try to dangle a lot of free stuff in front of you to keep you from leaving... I explained that I have never gotten decent service from them in the last three years, despite complaining many times through their website and the operator...

so this woman tries to explain it away, saying that is probably because my phone doesn't have the right software on it or something, and that I should have brought it to a sprint store to get it upgraded... so I went off on her, saying "why did you keep this a secret for three years then!??!" and then she claimed it was probably because of my phone (a crappy old samsung)... yet none of my friends with any sprint phone has ever been able to get decent service here... and I don't live in a hole, I live in Emeryville, and even out in the open it still drops calls.

But my ace in the hole was the fact that I already switched to another plan, so there was no going back no matter what (she asked if a free phone and/or a free month of service would change my mind... fat chance, the die is cast!) :-P

when she found out I was switching to t-mobile, she started badmouthing it, saying the coverage was bad, etc etc... I shut her down with- "yeah, so what? it works in my house, which is more then I can say for you guys." (ok,ok, I admit it, I have had a lot of Sprint rage building up over the years...)

she also claimed that sprint's phones could be used overseas just like t-mobile's... yeah if I want to get reamed w/ international roaming charges. there's no way they can compete with gsm's sim card abilities.

bon voyage sprint! if any customer service people are reading this, I hope you are taking notes!

[aiwapro]

Welcome Aboard, new T-Mobile customer.

[ZaphodB]

I'd agree except I think T-Mobile is only 92 times better than Sprint. :-P

I'm glad you found a service that works for you. I hope Sprint do improve their customer care; they could be formidable if they can a) ramp up the customer service and b) shake off a lingering image as the underdog wireless carrier.

[xiaoka]

all the people crowding around me after class to see my camera and listen to my polyphonic ring tones made a good experience even better. now all I need is a fancy rice burner and I'll be totally pimpin'... :-P

[714tmobile]

Personally, I think that T-Mobile is the thorn in Sprint's side (at least since the opened in the West Coast market)

I happen to agree that T-Mobile definitely gives you a better deal on minutes/goodies, which should be the whole focus of a Cell/PCS carrier to begin with.

It boils down to "Yeah, you may have coverage in Podunk, CA...but why am I paying 3 times as much per min when I never go to Podunk?" That's the whole logic.

T-mobile IMHO rolled out quite nicely in CA. They made an agreement with the major GSM carrier in the area (Cingular) and said "Look....you can roam on ours and we roam on yours...plus, we'll dump some $$$ into building/upgrading/expanding the GSM network on the west coast, which will help us both out....deal?"

Although I applaud Sprint for being the real thorn in Airtouch & LA Cellular's side years ago, helping drop the price of cellular along with PacBell, but now they're appearing to become more....well...arrogant about themselves. Kind of an Apple-Computer-attitude towards everyone.

Case in point...

I had an old Motorola (not Startac, but a MicroTac lookalike) Sprint PCS phone that I was planning to give to a friend who wanted a Prepay service. I remember that Sprint *used* to do Prepay on their service, so I visited the Sprint PCS store in Westminster, CA (corner of Westminster/GoldenWest) and politely asked the gentlemen how I could go about getting this setup for Prepay for a friend. When I first walked in, he greeted me very nicely and asked how he could help me, but I noticed when he heard the word "PrePay", he froze and became apathetic.

He said "Sorry...we don't do Prepay". I inquiried, "You used to, I used to sell Sprint PCS and would like to get the rates on Prepay...I have a phone here I'm giving to a friend who'd like to use it and doesn't have good credit". He said "Sorry *pal*, we don't do Prepay...try Verizon" I was furious and walked out.

She signed up on T-Mobile's prepay and couldn't be happier. In fact, they give you extra minutes (some Gold plan) if you've been a prepay customer for some time.

Also, try T-Mobile's customer care....they're very nice. I've only had to call once or twice, but they are very through and do not appear to be on a time-quota.

[larry]

Hey 714tmobile,
I've been to that Westminster store many times. It's the main service center for Orange County. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Anytime I need a software update that's the one I go to.

[714tmobile]

Hi Larry. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Really? I thought the Fountain Valley store (Brookhust/Ellis) was....

[larry]

Nope. I know the manager at the Fountain Valley store. The Westminster and Brea stores are the only true service centers I know of in OC. In LA there are more to choose from.

[714tmobile]

When I had my original Sony (the one w/ the flip earpiece) Sprint phone... I visited the Fountain Valley store every so often for updates.

Their staff (Fountain Valley) was very friendly and helpful... Westminster was a whole diff exp.

btw... a co-worker who has sprint just got the Samsung N400...interesting phone, very stylish. He was having a problem getting his Vision service to work, and told me that he has to wait until the end of his billing cycle in order to use it. When you add a new feature/service, does Sprint really make you wait until the end of the month before you can use it? I'm thinking...if this is at all true...it is to avoid billing issues... ? I figure you're the one to ask. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[larry]

Up until about mid 2001 all of the Sprint stores did software updates. This is no longer the case as they have cut costs by just having one main service center now. The problem is we have to travel a lot further now for the updates if we don't live near the service centers.

I have never heard of having to wait until the end of the billing cycle to add a service. They usually make it effective immediately and prorate the additional costs.

[phnjnkie]

xiaoka,

Hate to jump in late but... Amen, Bother!

I am in my "trial period" with T-mobile but I think I am converted. I was with SprintPCS for 4+ years and I am going to miss my grandfathered 8pm - 7am offpeak minutes. I am also going to miss my sweet corporate partner discount, which nocked off 27% of my bill. Unfortunately, the perks of staying with Sprint are far outweighed by the fact that I have to redial the person I am talking to at least 2-3 times during the conversation.

The sad thing is that I used to swear by my Sprint service. Usually new providers start bad and get better but I think Sprint has done the opposite. Maybe their Vision service is nice but I will never know.

[sandor]

I have never heard of having to wait until the end of the billing cycle to add a service. They usually make it effective immediately and prorate the additional costs.

I changed plans and added a service- both times I had to wait until the next billing cycle for it to take effect. What was worse was that during the transition period, I couldn't get a summary of my minutes online. I even called customer care, and they said I had to wait until the changes took effect before I could start checking my usage again.

[xiaoka]

yeah, I was in on sprint before they started forcing annual contracts (which was one of the big reasons I went w/ them in the first place), and yeah, i got several of my friends to go with them too...

but that was in the wild late 90s... things are different now!
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]


(i'm still exstatic about being able to actually use my phone in my house!)

[virtualdynamix]

I was also with SprintPCS for the previous 4 years before I finally switched to T-Mobile. My SprintPCS account still provided a much better value in terms of both service and minutes as opposed to Cingular or Verizon, hence my 4 years with them. All of the sudden, T-Mobile launched their services in Southern California and was offering some spectacular deals on their monthly plans. I ended up signing up for the 1000 peak, and unlimited weekends + 500 SMS / mo for $43.00/mo. It was comparable to Sprint's 1000 peak and 3000 offpeak for $50.00. I enjoy the enhanced voice clarity of T-M. But, here's the killer, how long does it take to get ahold of an actual SprintPCS CSR to make changes or receive tech support? Then, how many times do you have to call back because they either hang up on you, or tell you that their computer network is down and cannot bring up your account? Ever hear the recorded message telling you that call volume is too high, and to call back later? Doesn't this give SprintPCS a clue to hire new service representatives? Or quit signing up new subscribers when they cannot properly service them?

I feel that SprintPCS' commericals are somewhat "fraudulent" in nature, as they seem to be ONLY network that I have used since being on LA Cellular's AMPS that has breakups in between conversations. I do not notice this when using T-M. Yes, the choice is clear (for now).. T-Mobile in So. Cal.

I would still like to reserve my comments for a year or so because T-M has sold many contracts and I am just starting to get busy signals during heavy peak hours. This did not happen when I first signed up. Almost reminds me of Pacific Bell GSM (rare to hear a busy signal) as it grew another head and turned into Cingular (too many busy signals).

--
Sung H. Suh
Virtual Dynamix, LLC
http://gsm.virtualdynamix.com

[714tmobile]

network busy signals? haven't had any.... :-\

I do notice, however, their TZones service is either overloaded or down occasionally... they said they are upgrading it. So far, they've fixed everything they said they would...so i have no doubts.

BTW... T-mobile's cust. svc. is top notch. i've never waited on hold for more than 2 minutes to talk to someone... I had to finally exchange my handset (V66g) because it was becoming loose and wasn't working very well..(T-mobile reps at the store confirmed that some first-gen V66's may have issue with loose battery)...got the new/refurb handset, works great. The first one was made in Germany, this one in Singapore..

I got the replacement handset in three days (really 2, i wasn't hope to sign for it on the second day)... i noticed the battery is still a little loose, but the phone itself is much more rigid. Reason i'm mentioning this is...."They paid all the shipping!" I thought this was very cool. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Cost me nothing and even sent me an e-mail asking how the new phone worked out..

I'm tickled pink w/ my V66 and T-Mobile...

[714tmobile]

One other thing... T-Mobile gives you a bucket of 500 extra minutes for Voicemails and/or Call Fwding.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[ashdog24]

I just subscribe with T-Mobile last week and I have a problem with bad reception with the Motorola C332 phone and it looses it battery charge quickly. Does anyone have the same problems? How do I remedy this? Thanks!!!!

[714tmobile]

Originally posted by: ashdog24
I just subscribe with T-Mobile last week and I have a problem with bad reception with the Motorola C332 phone and it looses it battery charge quickly. Does anyone have the same problems? How do I remedy this? Thanks!!!!

1) Where are you getting bad reception? In one specific area or just in general (don't say "my house" :-P )

2) If you've got a bad phone, exchange it w/ where you bought it first (takes a sec, just pull out your SIM and drop it in the other phone).

3) T-Mobile does an express exchange...they pay all shipping.

[ashdog24]

I get bad reception everywhere (Fresno, CA). I'll take your advise and try another phone and see
if it solves the problem. Thanks for replying!!

[714tmobile]

Fresno has good coverage... it's probably your phone [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

[714tmobile]

oh..and no problem, anytime [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[ScandaLEX]

Originally posted by: xiaoka
Just wanted to share a datapoint for anyone who's looking for a new cell phone company.

when she found out I was switching to t-mobile, she started badmouthing it, saying the coverage was bad, etc etc... I shut her down with- "yeah, so what? it works in my house, which is more then I can say for you guys." (ok,ok, I admit it, I have had a lot of Sprint rage building up over the years...)

bon voyage sprint! if any customer service people are reading this, I hope you are taking notes!

Her bad mouthing (another carrier) cant be any worse than you sitting there doing the same.
Choosing a carrier and a plan should be a personal choice; what turned out to be a minus for you may have worked out differently for someone else.

If you are so happy NOW with T-mobile; why is it necessary to bash Sprint; you made a decision when you originally chose Sprint, you didnt like it, so you moved on.....Dayum! Be adult about it.

[ScandaLEX]

This is true; but although you loose the ability to see your minutes online, if you call Sprint, or stop in your local store, their software will allow them to tell you what you have going on.

<u>HINT:</u> Only change a service plan the day prior to your billing cycle ending; this way you loose nothing. Sprint's system is designed to always allow you access to your online account after a billing cycle ends. If you make changes to your plan the day before, chances are, you are going to already know at that point how many minutes you have left; for the next day your cycle starts anew [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Originally posted by: sandor

I changed plans and added a service- both times I had to wait until the next billing cycle for it to take effect. What was worse was that during the transition period, I couldn't get a summary of my minutes online.
I even called customer care, and they said I had to wait until the changes took effect before I could start checking my usage again.