F Customer Service

Why do you need a new phone? I gather from your sig you have insurance and ESRP...as for finding numbers to Sprint stores...the Sprint website has those. Getting them to actually answer the phone is another battle all together.

With Sprint, if you have a phone issue you have to take it in. Customer service won't care because they can't see the problem you are having. And if customer service notes your account, the stores don't have to abide by the notes. So it is best to go to the store directly from the beginning.

 

So Cingular does exchanges in store now?

 

Nope! I am guessing they maybe have better coverage where Airb is...AFAIK, of the major companies, only Sprint/Nextel (if you have their protection plan) and Verizon (under phone warranty) offer in-store swaps.

I had my BB swapped in-store for a new device last month.

 

Interesting how Verizon is the only one to really do in-store swaps. I went in after my one year warranty was up with no other insurance on my phone and they just wanted the phone to have the latest Software version, and after they updated that they gave me a FRU. No problem.

 

I know this will sound like a stupid question, but has every a920 you have had had the same problem? Do other Sprint phones not have this problem?

 

It's not likely that 3 A920's could be defective. They generally have a good reputation around the forums.

 

That's what I was thinking...the A920 is one of the few Samsung phones that seems to have a very good reputation.

 

yes but Samsungs in general dont get a very good signal.......their tough to deal with sometime.......my mom has the A640 and its usually ok i can hear her when i cal her but she can hear me breaking up and im calling her from a landline........it will crackle in and out but never drop.....

 

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry 7130e: BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

You're right. And I would still never recommend a Samsung to anyone on sprint, I was just pointing out that the A920 seems to be one of the few Samsung models that is a good phone.

 

I disagree. I don't think there's much difference among the newer Sprint phones whether it be Samsung, Sanyo or LG. A few years back it might have been a different story.

 

its possible that the suckiest brand works different with different services.......some of it rely on the strength of the network too.....

when my moms phone roams on Verizon it has full bars and crystal clear quality.......


FYI: Verizon is running 1900 and 800 in my area

 

But there is a difference, even if it is a small one. My BlackBerry has never once gone into roaming at home, whereas my Sanyos (9000 and 8300) would and still do.

 

But you know for certain that another make/model will work correctly?

 

Well I suppose if there is some sort of tower issue going on, the problem may not be handset specific.

Not being there to see what is going on with your phone though, I can only speculate.

 

The -xxdbs is not as important as your EC/IO. The EC/IO is usually what determines signal quality. A -102 dbs signal can be just as good as a -85 dbs if the EC/IO is less than -10 on both phones. I've seen a lot of variables like that.

 

Dead thread revival time... (came across looking for an answer to an 8400 problem)

Almost guaranteed Airb330 your problem WASN'T the phone, but your phone number. CDMA phone default to a certain channel based on their phone number. If your phone hashes out to one of secondary channels in an area and it sees any glimmer of that channel, it will lock onto it. The only thing that will fix this is to either A)Change your number, B)Have the carrier put that channel on the closest tower to you or C)Switch to a carrier that has a tower with your default frequency closer to your home. This problem only affects CDMA carriers and was designed to balance the traffic load in high traffic areas.

 

Ah dead threads!

But now I have another question...how does this phone number issue relate to other CDMA "problems" such as pilot pollution.

For instance, at my home my signal will fluctuate between -90db and no service. That is a very wide range. So what might cause this wide variation? I thought I knew, but now I will be interested in what possibilities exist.

On Sprint's coverage map I am only in a "good" coverage area.

 

I know I know, dead thread revival. But to your issue, the hashing concept can play havoc on a phone IF you're near a multiple channel border. Say your phone defaults to channel 2, if two channels are available to pick. A few blocks away all the sites are channels 1 and 2, your phone will want to work that channel two. Now let's say all the towers near you are only channel 1, but your phone is still hearing that channel 2 off in the distance. It will still ignore the local channel 1 and hop to that channel 2.

So if you're in an area that see multiple PN's, and several of those have channel 2, your phone will lock on to them, even if they are poor coverage.

 

Re:

This post is also about Sprint Customer Service (Actually Sprint does not service its customers except spread over a table from the rear) . We were happy with Sprint until our contract ran out two years ago, and when they did not match Verizon's deal for new phones, we switched over to a Verizon family plan. From Verizon we got 2 LG phones that I never particularly liked but which never gave me any problems either. (I dropped it on the street 2 or 3 times & it just kept working). We decided to go back to Sprint when Verizon's contract ran out in late August and got two mediocre Razor phones that were not much improvement on the three year old LGs. We went on vacation the 1st or 2nd week we had the service & happened to get a flat tire in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. I had a good signal but when I tried to call AAA, I got a phone sex site. Thought I misdialed but got the same site the 2nd time. My wife dialed and got the same. I called Sprint Customer service & explained that someone had hijacked AAA's number and was defrauding Sprint customers who were trying to contact AAA. I told him I needed road service badly and could he please connect me with AAA. He told me that customer service was not permitted to connect to an 800 number. I told him that I was 66 years old and that I would endanger myself if I tried to change the tire at night on a dark narrow road. He basically said too bad for you. I changed the tire myself in the dark with cars rushing past at 60-70. The next day when I called Sprint to complain, they told me that Sprint had its own road service for $4.00 a month and that AAA was Sprint's carrier for the service. I asked why hadn't the guy at their CS told me that the night before and how could it be that I could not get AAA either by calling its 800 number or by having Sprint connect me through their contractual ties with AAA. They couldn't answer that and offered no appologies for the fact that I might have been killed because of their stupidity. I wanted to quit then and there but my wife seemed to feel that the incident was an anomaly, just bad luck for us because the CS guy din't know enough or have any sense.

On Tuesday this week we got our first bill from Sprint for two months service plus all the initial connection charges. I called them for an explaination of some of the charges and they were able to satisfy me. I told them this was the first bill we had from them, they said the first bill had been sent early in September. I told them that I planned to pay the bill in full on Thursday. They never said there was any danger our service would be shut off for non payment, but bright and early the next morning my wife's service was off but
not mine. She got on the phone with them and gave them a credit card number expecting her phone would be turned on immediately. AT 10PM When she was ready to drive home from work through Brooklyn and her phone still did not work, it required another 20-30 minutes of high stress, threats and anger to get the phone back on. This is absolutely the most screw-you-I-don't-give-a-damn customer service in existence. I called Verizon yesterday to settle Verizon's final bill and the difference between its customer service and Sprints was like night and day.

I kind of like T-Mobile because it is cheaper and has a wider selection of phones, but I'm hearing a lot more bad things about its network than good. I live and work in Manhattan and least three people on this forum and elsewhere have said they had trouble getting T-Mobile service in down town Manhattan. Only one said he did not have trouble. Not scientific but good enough for me. It's back to VZ.

 

Let's say you throw in two different NID's into the mix as well. Will that make it even worse?

 

Re:

Sorry to hear about your troubles with Sprint. The general consensus is that, while NO Customer Service is perfect and some people will always have problems with customer service of any company, Sprint has a ways to go to get their customer service in act.

 

Re:

I absolutely agree with you Andy. I have Sprint and Verizon right now and I have had semi-bad experiences with both companies while on the phone and through e-mail. When I had Cingular a few years ago, I also had a bad experience with them. The good thing about the experiences was that I got them fixed but sometimes, it took a few tries to correct my problem.

 

Yes, because your phone can only be on one NID at a time and in your case, the calls always come from the other NID