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 Review by tek 
Posted: 8 days ago
member for 8.2 years, 190 visits, last login: 2 days ago
 Aliso Viejo,Orange,CA
 $70 per month (24 month contract)
 about 1 days
 "Usually fast and reliable."
 "Can be slow at times"
 "It works."
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Typical 3G service. Nothing outstanding with sales/order process, but not too painful.
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Review by OverModded
UPDATED: 11 days ago
member for 7.9 years, 5127 visits, last login: a few hours ago
undisclosed location
$70 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Service & features on Palm Pre excellent; monthly price very good for included features; sales staff at Sprint store excellent"
"Coverage inside house poor on voice & EVDO; but free Airave femtocell offsets that; customer service willing but mediocre"
"Good phone; good voice quality in my area; good contract price for services"
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Bought a Palm Pre on 1st Saturday available at a Sprint store. Phone was provisioned and phone number ported from Verizon within 2 hours. Store sales & support was excellent.
EVDO & voice inside the house was marginal at best. Ordered the Airave femtocell to improve voice coverage inside the home. EVDO coverage inside house not an issue because Palm Pre has WiFi capability and that is preferable to EVDO speeds anyway. Sprint gave a credit for Airave femtocell when I asked for it.
But here is where Sprint's much maligned customer service came in to play. They lost the initial order for the Airave and when I checked 2 days later, they didn't know anything about it. After an hour on the phone, it was reordered and shipped overnight. It arrived next day and setup was painless. It was working in about 30 mins and voice coverage in the home was now 5 bars all over the house. Sprint gave me an additional $25 credit for the hassle. Sprint customer service has been very nice and very accommodating and goes out of way to please. But their backroom systems stink and their competence is still mediocre.
After receiving second bill, it was fouled up because of all the credits and the Airave purchase. After 2 hours on phone and getting dropped calls twice on transfers to another department, that got straightened out. I got an additional credit for the hassle again.
So, to sum up:
Phone is great
Voice quality excellent
Cell connections good in areas I travel in(mostly South Jersey and Philly metro area)
Store staff excellent
Cust Svc very willing and accommodating
Back room systems & personnel still mediocre
Phone Speeds:
1200 kbps download on EVDO
4000 kbps on WiFi
Wireless plan(Single everything data) for $70 includes:
450 mins voice calls
Free calls after 7 P.M. & all weekend
Free Sprint to Sprint calls
Unlimited text msgs; unlimited internet(5 GB/mo in TOS); unlimited email; unlimited picture uploads
Sprint navigation(GPS)
Sprint TV
Pandora music streaming
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 Review by joeam2
UPDATED: 13 days ago
member for 4.9 years, 325 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Saint Clair,Saint Clair,MI
$59 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Original support staff I dealt with were very good. Not so much now."
"System speeds occasionally drop to low levels in this area."
"Not as good as it once was but can be better than dial up."
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For well over two years, I had outstanding service with Sprint. Their tech people were great and everything was flawless with the system. Everywhere I went I had service and the speeds were great, especially at my house. I was recommending them to anyone who would listen to me. Earlier this year (2009), all that changed. Their system in this area has become somewhat unreliable and their tech support staff is no help.
Service is usually good around here except on weekends. Weekdays, I enjoy good speed, weekends are a different story. Starting late Friday the service begins to slow down, by mid afternoon Saturday it is really slow. Usually on weekends it is just functional enough to do simple web browsing. Weekends, any web applications utilizing audio and video are ridiculously slow, if they work at all.
If you need reliable data service in this part of the state, I can't honestly recommend Sprint MBB. They have problems servicing this area that need to be worked out.
Update: 01/22/10 - First few weeks of January, the slowdowns subsided somewhat and things looked good. But they have returned with a vengeance today. My system has suddenly slowed to a crawl, and ping times are occasionally in full seconds.
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Review by keason
UPDATED: 18 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 1719 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Ann Arbor,Washtenaw,MI
$37 per month (24 month contract)
about 30 days
"Rock Solid connection, reasonably good latency, flawless in moving vehicle, reasonable static IP charge"
"high jitter, not great for VoIP with weak signal"
"Great backup & travel connection"
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Update: Speeds are steady on weekdays, about 800/500, but drop to 500/300 on the weekends. Latency has dropped to about 125ms after adding a 14dBM antenna. I'm still waiting for a tower upgrade.
Update: Sprint continues to perform admirably. On a recent road trip along I-90 and I-94 from Detroit to the Dakotas, the unit worked very well from Detroit to Minnesota. Performance in the Dakotas was mixed with good speed (1 Mb+) but variable (200ms- Rapid City, 800ms- Dickinson) as if the towers used satellites instead of T1's. Back in Minneapolis, Sprint outperformed hotel internet with 1/500 speed and 120ms latency)
I've been able to use VoIP fairly well on the Sprint connection with both Skype and SIP working OK.
I purchased a Sprint approved Telular EVDO/phone device as a backup internet & phone connection and for testing. It uses a Sierra wireless EVDO rev A chipset with diversity antennas and has a built-in extended life battery (about 8 hrs). Despite having a green (strong) signal on the Sprint maps, I average around -93dbM with an indoor 5db gain antenna and speed tests ranging from 400-700 down and 200-400 up. Ping times range from about 200-300ms (average is closer to 200ms) with occasional jumps to 500ms. I've ordered a stronger YAGI antenna to try to increase the signal strength, which I hope will correct the jitter issue.
The device also supports phone calls, which work well. SMS is not supported, which would be a nice addition.
I had some initial problems with the device, but a firmware update made it much more usable and reliable. It now passes the public IP to my router via DHCP or with a manual entry. Sprint offers a static IP for only a $3 upcharge, which is a great value.
On several recent trips on the I-94 corridor between Detroit and Chicago performance was flawless. My passengers played WOW and other games with no interruptions. On a trip from Atlanta to Toledo along I-75, we experienced brief drops in coverage through the Smokey mountains.
VoIP works pretty well over the connection with only mild jitter. I've used skype and voicepulse with the G.711 codec which is pretty clear.
So far, the maximum speed is around 1500/400. I have yet to experience a faster tower. A bonus is that Sprint does not block any inbound or outbound ports. Sprint even includes a reverse DNS record (which says Sprint) but is seems to be sufficient for mail servers which require a reverse record.
The connection works as advertised. I wouldn't recommend it for a primary connection vs. DSL or cable because of speed, but it makes a great mobile & backup connection. Sprint, in combination with a cheaper internet connection makes a good alternative to T1 access.
Update: It appears that Sprint broadcasts voice/1X and EVDO signals on (in my area, at least) different frequencies and/or different antennas (based on different signal strengths). I was able to use a Windows mobile phone in debug mode to optimize the antenna placement for EVDO, upgraded to a 9dB omni antenna (still indoor), and along with a Sprint Airrave unit (which took care of the poor voice/1X signal), I now get perfect voice and much, much better (-78 dBM) EVDO signal. Ping times have dropped to 150-200ms and are much more consistent, and speeds average about 950/450. The static IP works perfectly, (I was able to send and receive email with no interruptions after modifying the MX records), and reverse DNS works perfectly too. I had a 2 hour internet outage on my primary ISP where my router automatically failed-over to sprint, and apart from a degradation in streaming video and slow transfer speeds, the Sprint connection was almost indistinguishable from low speed DSL.
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 Review by gaforces
Posted: 46 days ago
member for 7.8 years, 2550 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz,CA
$38 per month (24 month contract)
about 3 days
"EVDO Rev 1, price"
"$100.00 deductable for smartphone insurance"
"Works well most places, and faster than other carriers in the area"
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After finding out about the Sprint SERO plan in the hot deals forum here, none could compare to it.
500 min a month, unlimited everything else. 1.2Mb was the best for data, mostly ran at 750k.
$30 a month plus $8 for insurance.
I ordered the plan and a HTC Touch online and received the phone ready to go in 3 days.
I'm at the end of my contract now and its been mostly all good.
The first month they tried to charge me an $7.00 a month subscription just for looking at the sample/free part of Sprint TV. I called and a rep took care of it no problem and took it off my bill.
I am still amazed at the customizations I can do with this phone. I put a 4 gb memory card to store/play mp3's and read books.
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 Review by TK Junk Mail
Posted: 54 days ago
member for 3.5 years, 164 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Avalon,Cape May,NJ
$99 per month (12 month contract)
about 16 days
"My Android phone is ŸÆÁÑ"
"Monthly price is exorbitant"
"best value, worst price"
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I'd do it all over again. Maybe.
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Review by Announcer
UPDATED: 70 days ago
member for 70 days, 8 visits, last login: 54 days ago
Chiloquin,Klamath,OR
$60 per month (24 month contract)
"The only service I get in my remote area, works everywhere"
"After midnight the service slows to 400 kbps"
"dail up is 26 kbps here, this runs 1300 kbps usually"
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I am using a Sprint 597U compass USB air card. I also needed a cellphone amplifier with roof mount directional antenna. I could not receive cell phone service without theses devices. I tried AT&T's service before I got the Sprint air card. The AT&T service was only a tiny bit better than dial up. I was lucky enough to get the Sprint unlimited service before they discontinued it to new customers for $60.00 a month. They changed my service to the 5 gig cap one month and I had a $400.00+ overage charge. I got them to fix their mistake after a few days spent complaining to customer service. The card works very well when I travel. I use it on my laptop at airports and in my RV when I travel on the road. At my rural home the service slows after midnight. In metro areas this is not the case. For what I need this for it works very well. If I were living in a metro area I would have a faster DSL/T1/Cable Modem solution. I remember in 1972 when I turned 20 years old we had huge tape feed computers that took up whole buildings. No cellphones, no laptops! Yes I love my Sprint connection even with all the hoops I jump through.
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Review by (hidden by request)
Posted: 73 days ago
(review was emailed from domain yahoo.com)
Woodland Hills,Los Angeles,CA
$60 per month (12 month contract)
about 4 days
"seems to work anywhere, as claimed"
"Much slower than I thought it would be!! Seems like 786kbps is fastest yet: seems slow to me!"
"I haven't yet tried it in "remote" areas. I hope it will work in the middle of nowhere on the 5 Freeway in California"
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I compared ATT aircard, but everything sounded the same so I went with Sprint since they're already my cell phone provider.
I have 5GB for about $60/mo. I do not think (or maybe it's that I don't understand) I purchased a certain speed...? Please help me if I am mistunderstanding!
The order and install process was great. HOWEVER I shouldn't have had the rep activate the card for me before it was shipped. I waited about 7 days from shipping until I actually got around to using it, so that took off 7 days from my 30-day money back guarantee. I think that was deceitful of Sprint. I am not necessarily saying the rep was being deceitful. I don't think that would be accurate. Then again, I was planning to try it out for the 30 days and then send it back cuz I was crammed at work and then I was gonna go with a landline and free hotspots--so maybe I just got a dose of my own medicine, I hate to confess!
Model is Sierra...don't remember the rest...586 U ???
Order and Install process very easy. Rep very knowledgable. Good job. Shipping was faster than I had expected. Yay.
I also considered a landline, but I wanted mobile access because in a little while I expect to be traveling the 5 fwy and Sprint claims the aircard will work anywhere you can get a cell phone service. That's the main reason I got the aircard.
I'm not sure yet whether I will re-up when my contract expires. Probably not if the speed continues to be this slow (786kbps) I do not understand why it is so slow.
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Review by can0lard
UPDATED: 113 days ago
member for 152 days, 2 visits, last login: 98 days ago
Derry,Rockingham,NH
$26 per month (24 month contract)
"Wide coverage"
"High Latency, this is pretty much standard with any wireless I guess..."
"SERO makes my world go round"
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300Kb/s down and 120Kb/s up in southern NH. love being able to connect my laptop to my 3 year old A900. Wireless tethering really wears down the batteries though 
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 Review by powerspec88
UPDATED: 114 days ago
member for 2.9 years, 1398 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Harrisonville,Cass,MO
$50 per month (24 month contract)
about 3 days
"Much faster than 56k"
"Price, it could be a little cheaper"
"Beats 56k any day"
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Update (10/18/09)
My tower has been upgraded to 2 T-1 lines so now I get on avg ~2.5Mbps down and ~600Kbps up. Only had 1 major EV-DO outage but besides that and tower load its been great! Still on a unlimited plan doing ~50GB a month and have yet to be told to stop.
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First review
Well my dad has been wanting something faster than 56k for awhile now but they live 10miles from the cloestest town. So a few months ago my friend got Sprint Mobile Broadband for his house (he lives out the the country to) and i thought this would be great for them (and me when i home)
Ordered all of it all online, i got the Sierra aircard 595 with the linksys router. I get great speeds Last Result:
Download Speed: 1141 kbps (142.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 156 kbps (19.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
I can hit 1.3Mbps late at night most of the time.
They love it, now they can surf the web, check email, etc so much faster and not wait for stuff to load. They will be canceling the 2nd phone line and the 56k provider.
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