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Review by vsat1tech See Profile

  • Location: Mercer, Mercer, PA, USA
  • Cost: $100 per month (24 month contract)
It works
1 GB of LTE, unlimited 2G speeds. $20/mo.
Samsung Galixy S7 with hotspot. This is a backup to my now defunked DSL
Pre Sales Information:
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member for 22.1 years, 34 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
updated 7.8 years ago







Review by Rakeesh See Profile

  • Location: Mesa, Maricopa, AZ, USA
  • Cost: $270 per month (24 month contract)
You can talk without a cord.
Slowest data rates, unreliable service, idiot tech support, horrible customer service
Don't even think about it.
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EDIT 21-JUN-2014: I switched to t-mobile in February of 2013. If you're with Sprint and you're on the fence about T-Mobile, just stop thinking about it and switch already. T-Mobile is night and day better, especially in the Phoenix area, not only that but I reduced my bill to only $114 a month for 5 lines, and unlike Sprint I get unlimited talk/text/data with the standard 1.5GB 4g limit. I've been offered numerous times to upgrade to unlimited 4G for another $15 more than I currently pay, but I've found that I never exceed the 1.5GB anyways, so I don't need it. In any case though:

DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO SPRINT.

---Original review follows---

I've been a Sprint subscriber for 9 to 10 years now. In the beginning, it was good. Although it wasn't the tip top service in the world, it was inexpensive and they always had coupons and the premier program ready to hand out.

Over the last four years, all of this slowly faded away. First, they scaled back the discount from applying to all 5 lines to only 3 lines. Lame, but whatever, was still a good price. Then it went from 3 to 2 lines, and then 2 to 1 line. My corporate discount went from about $150 a month off to $25 a month off over the span of 18 months. What assholes, but that's not all.

You realize that you pay $10 extra for what they call "premium data" for each smartphone you have. Thing is, there's nothing premium about it. Their 3g data is literally slower than every MVNO's 2g speed. I live in the 6th largest city in the US, and they still don't offer 4g. Not only does every other carrier do 4g, but even several MVNO's also do 4g, in fact they've had 4g since only a few months after Sprint called themselves the first 4g network. Not only that, but some carriers even do 3g much faster than what sprint calls their 4g.

Sprint should rename their company to Crawl. They should then change their slogan from "The now network" to "It's perpetually coming soon" because for years they've been saying a major upgrade is only a few months away, and none ever comes. They have a stupid chart on their website that tells which towers are being upgraded soon, have just been upgraded, etc. Thing is, these have to be minor changes, because you never observe sh*t for a difference. Meanwhile their support people tell you how many upgrades are coming soon based on the same data, but they don't know a damn thing.

Also their tech support are morons. I bought my dad a Galaxy Nexus on Amazon, and had him take it to the Sprint store to activate it. They provisioned it wrong, and then told him that the phone was defective and that he's SOL because we got it third party. Pissed off, I de-provisioned it (to clean up their mess) and then told them try it again. Sure enough, it worked, no thanks to those dipsh*ts trying to take it out on us for not buying from them.

Also, their $150 off of a phone upgrade is a scam. When I was in the Army, we had a Jody that went like this: "They say that in the Army, the pay is mighty fine. They give you a hundred dollars, and take back ninety-nine." That of course, was a joke, the Army actually did me a lot of favors. However Sprint missed the sarcasm and applied it to their upgrade policy: they give you $150 and take back $36. Used to be there was no activation fee, then there was one but you could talk your way out of it, now there's no getting out of it at all. Then on top of it, you get a two year commitment with horrible data rates and moron customer service.

Stay away from Sprint and their fscktastic service. You've been warned.

member for 12.4 years, 1647 visits, last login: 1 year ago
updated 9.7 years ago

kdouglas10
Premium Member
join:2002-10-04
Jacksonville, FL

kdouglas10

Premium Member

Above Is Correct - Maybe Even Understated

Thank you for the above. As soon as I get my mess cleared up (only 6 weeks into it now after making the mistake of walking into a 3rd Party Reseller instead of a Sprint Corporate Store) I will publish my tales of woe and disservice going back 15 years. Like you, I stayed because they gave you things and I had a plan from 10 years ago with a couple of Premier Perks that made it worthwhile. No longer.

Anyway - no details until I am made whole again. Have recouped almost $400, but have a ways to go, yet. Thank you for sharing what is absolutely correct.

Two additional points:

1) Do NOT even think about an iPhone (or anything Apple) on the Crawl Network. My Novatel 2200 & iPod Touch was minimum 30% faster than an iPhone 5 on the same 3G Network. A Sprint tech explained why in a technical way - the layman's summary is Apple kludged together something to get their phones on our 3G network, but all comm goes through their servers so yeah, it is dogsh$t slow.

2) If you are a Sprint customer you need to check everything about your bill every month. As you may know, Comcast provisions your cable packages using codes. So when we recently upgraded hidef cable package, we were getting ESPNU in ONLY lo-def and not getting the Travel Channel at all. Technician comes to the house and says, yep, they failed to put in the codes for those two channels, and had it fixed after a 7 minute call to the new South Florida Ops Center.

Sprint runs at least some of their provisioning like this, so if at one time CEO Hesse thanked you for being a Premier customer by giving you a perk, provisioning was done by inputting a code into your billing details. FOLKS - if those codes are ever accidentally wiped out (or expire as several are set to do), then they are never coming back - No Way - No How - Absolutely Not, regardless of what some sweet-talking pig-eyed sack of s*it has promised you when you picked up your new phones.

So AVOID Sprint 3rd Party Resellers more than you would the Swine Flu (just ask when you enter the store). Current customers - take the time to check your bill and question any new and unusual charges (cause the same folks who can't run their web-sites are preparing your billing charges). Hopefully at some point a sharp lawyer will initiate a class action suit against Crawl for deceptive marketing, fraud, failure to deliver, etc. In the meantime...

Go with a real phone company. If data speed is what you need, (God help me I thought I would NEVER say this), go with AT&T 3G/4G (sortof); or for half-ass fast and nicer CSRs, chose Verizon. I have personally verified on 4th gen iPod Touch (with FCC speed check by OOKLA) hooked to wifi pucks 11.5 MB/s down on AT&T and 4.85 MB/s down with Verizon. My daughter's company has just changed after 2 years iPhone use from AT&T to Verizon and she says VZN data speeds suck on her iPhone. Course, YMMV, but the reviews are readily available by utilizing Google. Check Google for mobile data package reviews and CHECK YOUR SPRINT BILL!

May Sprint sometime soon crawl off into the sunset.
Rakeesh
join:2011-10-30
Phoenix, AZ

Rakeesh

Member

Re: Above Is Correct - Maybe Even Understated

Yeah I have to check my sprint bill MONTHLY. Every now and then I get a charge that wasn't supposed to be there. One time a person on one of the phones on my account swapped his phone for a used one, and they stuck an activation fee on it. They explicitly tell you that there's no activation fee for used phones, but they billed it anyways.

There's always SOMETHING wrong with the bill.

Also, speak of their website, they are complete morons. The system you use to check your bill, minutes, etc, is down every night.

Review by BlackMagicIT See Profile

  • Location: Avoca, Saint Clair, MI, USA
  • Cost: $60 per month (24 month contract)
It's adequate during off peak hours.
Reliability is non existent. Speeds and pings are ALL over.
Stuck with it until some other company saves me and installs infrastructure.
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I've been using the Sprint mobile broadband (that term is used loosely btw) for over 6 years. I am thankfully grandfathered into a 59.99 unlimited data plan (no longer offered). That is about the ONLY saving grace to this service.

Performance is lack luster at best. Sprint claims 3mb down on 3G networks. Best I've seen is 2mb - keep in mind I'm using a 30db gain directional antenna on my roof so the signal can't get any better (100% strength -67db). If I were to upgrade / change my service / contract (say when they ever get around to releasing 4G LTE to Michigan) kiss unlimited buh bye.

In the mornings the service is adequate speeds are in the 1.5 to 2mb range. Pings so so at 100ms. However as soon as the network becomes busy with voice traffic (e.g. peak calling hours) this service becomes useless. Speeds as slow as .4mb and pings in the 400ms range! If the performance wasn't bad enough the reliability is even worse. Every day is a shot in the dark as to how it'll perform - its a crap shoot literally. To make matters worse the past few months I've been seeing an increasing number of dropped packets on their end (WAN).

Tech Support follows suit and is nothing short of pathetic. You have to endure the first level people who are scripted robots telling you to unplug the data card, reset your router, blah blah blah BS. My last dealings with them I was basically pawned off and told to go to the local Sprint store. Which btw when I got there they just confirmed my hunch that the new modem they sent me was defective (bravo Sprint). Oh yeah you need a new one? Guess what? We can't help you - you need to call the toll free number again.

Dealing with Sprint is like being water boarded - every waking hour you endure pain and suffering waiting for the day you're rescued. I pray for the day some other ISP takes the initiative to expand rural broadband out here. Frontier / Comcast its time to get off your rump - save us!

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member for 12.9 years, 9 visits, last login: 7.6 years ago
updated 11.5 years ago


Review by rv4fun See Profile

  • Location: Eureka, Saint Louis, MO, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Convenience of accessing the Internet almost anywhere
extremely poor throughput
Mobile Broadband service has not met expectations
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I've had this Novatel EX720 air card for several years. The spot it's ever lived up to it's billing is my son's place north of Baltimore where Sprint rolls out all it's latest and greatest offerings. Throughout the rest of the country it's performance has been barely acceptable to absolutely unacceptable. Watching a YouTube video or streaming TV from back home in St Louis is impossible in almost all the locations I've visited with the card. I keep asking myself why I don't discontinue service and move on. I think that day is coming soon. There are still plenty of WiFi hotspots available I could use - they're just not as convenient as using the card from inside my motorhome which is why I bought the card in the first place. Overall, I have been very unimpressed with the level of service and support I've received since I first made this purchase.

member for 16.9 years, 2 visits, last login: 12.2 years ago
lodged 12.2 years ago


Review by UNETMENET See Profile

  • Location: Louisville, Jefferson, KY, USA
  • Cost: $59 per month (2 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
Well you can take it with you where ever you go
it makes for a grate paper weight.
slowest worst priced, bad customer service, unreliable. useless...
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what to do next.?

no i live in Louisville ky. i use 3g its built in to my lap top net book i own a dell mini 12, and i bout this laptop over a mouth ago from sprint, with a two year agreement.. the connection is useless as it is. i have tried many tweaks i just gained some speed from switching my dns to Google . but i still can only get less thin 336k at night and 32k in the day time and 13k around late afternoon sprint is not much help i been trying to beg them for a month for a solution they all have a difficult time and apposition on the problem... it was fine before my thirty day trial period ended... now that im stuck with it my band with drop's out of sight .... what to do ? i used Spybot s-d i get congratulations you have no spy-where detected. i ran my e-set nod32 a-v no infections. i shut down every thing in my start up. no help ...i ran combo-fix just to be safe. no help still real bad speeds and complete drop-outs.. i have ping tested 23 servers across the nation. my hop count is low about 6 to 12 to the sprint sight my H.A is out of Chicago thy will not switch it to Ga. like i requested and had be-for my thirty day was up... i dont know what to do at this point, im stuck in this contract.and i feel raped by sprint. i need help from the dsl communityhigh ping time.. packet loss.. and line quality sucks.. my bill runs 59. a mouth. My connection times out . the longer I'm on it the slower it gets ,and then it drops my connection every hr, it cant download anything past 1mb it always a problem to connect some time i get connected but have no web page ... 3g Going Going Gone ...

i have to put up with two years of this crap.... what is sprint going to do to fix this....

UNETMENET

join:2009-03-26

Elizabethtown, KY

Reviews:

·Sprint Mobile

[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]»www.speedtest.net/result ··· G][/URL]

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member for 15 years, 22 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
updated 12.6 years ago


UNETMENET
join:2009-03-26
Elizabethtown, KY

UNETMENET

Member

this internet connection should not be sold!

you can check your email, but it will take awhile! so go to a coffee shop and sit and drink up... three emails will take about a half of cup of coffee. one post on a web sight with small giff upload to the forum.about the time it takes too have two cups of coffee and a bagel" ... hope you got lots of time on your hands this connection is not for the businessmen. calling customer service, is a chore! you get no where. and you have to do it again the next day anyway... they blame your computer!!! funny thing is i just had it checked out by the I.T department at work ...i have clean system .. i was told its the service that i have.. sprint is known for having the slowest network in town . i was told this by a 9 year veteran head of are I.T.department .. it sad that they blamed my computer , real sad sprint....shame on you !

FPD
@spcsdns.net

FPD

Anon

Re: this internet connection should not be sold!

I agree. Here in Moncks Corner, SC the service is poor and customer service is nonexistant.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

Lowest speed?


JerryTimes
join:2002-01-09
Clinton Township, MI

JerryTimes

Member

Customer service?

I live in Michigan, and the customer service here is great. I called last week about slow speeds, they looked into it. rep told me that they do have an issue and it should be resolved in 7 days. I thought that was a little long, but 4 days later all is well.

Review by (hidden by request)

  • Location: Washington, District Of Columbia, DC, USA
  • Cost: $80 per month (24 month contract)
Internet on the go...
in theory only
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I have 80-100 signal strength at all times.

The service is undependable to say the least. Unable to load simple web pages and check mail about half the time.

Even when working well, the service barely qualifies as Broadband, 1000 Kbs is the average speed.

Guess how long I'll be a customer? About another hour.



(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 12.7 years ago


UNETMENET
join:2009-03-26
Elizabethtown, KY

UNETMENET

Member

same hear

i agree
UNETMENET

UNETMENET

Member

Re: same hear

no i live in Louisville ky. i use 3g its built in to my lap top net book i own a dell mini 12, and i bout this laptop over a mouth ago from sprint, with a two year agreement.. the connection is useless as it is. i have tried many tweaks i just gained some speed from switching my dns to Google . but i still can only get less thin 336k at night and 32k in the day time and 13k around late afternoon sprint is not much help i been trying to beg them for a month for a solution they all have a difficult time and apposition on the problem... it was fine before my thirty day trial period ended... now that im stuck with it my band with drops out of sight .... what to do ? i used spybot s-d i get congratulations you have no spy-where detected. i ran my e-set nod32 a-v no infections. i shut down every thing in my start up. no help ...i ran combo-fix just to be safe. no help still real bad speeds and complete drop-outs.. i have ping tested 23 servers across the nation. my hop count is low about 6 to 12 to the sprint sight my H.A is out of Chicago thy will not switch it to Ga like i requested and had before my thirty day was up... i dont know what to do at this point im stuck in this contract i need help from the dsl community






Review by joeam See Profile

  • Location: Saint Clair, Saint Clair, MI, USA
  • Cost: $59 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
Original support staff I dealt with were very good.
System speeds keep dropping to low levels in this area.
Good service when its working.
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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.

Update: 02/15/11 - System still has problems. Works great for a few days, then suddenly slows to a crawl. Comes back up a while and goes down again. This morning neither my phone nor my computer would go online. Two different devices on 2 separate accounts, and tech support still has me playing with my aircard. They seem to be programmed to deny that there is a system problem.

Update: 02/20/11 - System went down right on schedule in the morning, pretty much have problem every Sunday at same time. Called Sprint tech support. Went through and reset my modem for about 100th time for them and surprise! IT DIDN'T FIX ANYTHING AGAIN!! Told them my phone would not connect either, was ignored. They demanded that I enter a certain code while holding shift key down ((I won't put the code up here)) which I dutifully did, I followed their instructions to the letter AND BRICKED MY MODEM. I believe my modem died because the tower is problem and it couldn't connect here. Be prepared for this if you call their tech support. Visited the local Sprint store, and modem is functional again. For the record: Modem worked great at Sprint store which is about 20 miles from my home, not so good at my house when I got back.

Update: 02/27/11 - System was going up and down Saturday morning (service had not been restored as of Sunday). Called tech support and was told it is a system problem, wow, big surprise there! This was the last straw, the data system has failed in this area repeatedly. I have complained repeatedly, my neighbors with Sprint have complained too. All Sprint Tech support would do is tell me to update my software and reset or reinitialize my modem. They don't want to fix the system problems and just keep jerking me around! I'm not paying for a service which is basically unusable on weekends anymore. Got fed up and went to Verizon Store and got an LG VL600 modem, went on their 10 Gig monthly plan. Have excellent speeds which blow Sprint away and we will have 4G service sometime next year. Verizon 4G (LTE) is already about 15 miles away from my house and is available to me at work. I will be cancelling my data service with Sprint and my Sprint phone service as soon as my contract expires.

member for 19 years, 1226 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
updated 13 years ago

wispagod
join:2001-06-28
House Springs, MO

wispagod

Member

USB Modem

my cusin has the usb modem he can plug it in directly with out the wire and it works, what's the deal with the USB cable with too ports it seems to work fine on 1?
ydoucare
join:2003-03-12
Lafayette, IN

ydoucare

Member

Re: USB Modem

said by wispagod:

my cusin has the usb modem he can plug it in directly with out the wire and it works, what's the deal with the USB cable with too ports it seems to work fine on 1?
A single USB port puts out less power than what the radio/modem can utilize for the RF signal, so one cable that splits off is only used to draw extra power from the other port, and can improve speeds in some situations.
wispagod
join:2001-06-28
House Springs, MO

wispagod

Member

Re: USB Modem

Ok, well on a Laptop i doubt it get's more power with both cables, but it's nice to kn0w, BTW: Does the Linksys router have more power to work in a more rual setting at a SOHO?
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004 to wispagod

Premium Member

to wispagod
In fringe areas, they recommend the use of the Y cable to get more power to it.

On another note, if you have two ports right next to eachother, chances are they're from the same controller and you won't get any more power by doing it this way.

joeam
Got any bugs?
join:2005-02-27
Saint Clair, MI

joeam

Member

Re: USB Modem

Yeah, thats pretty much what the support techs told me when I asked them about the "y" cable.
CMoore2004
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI

CMoore2004

Premium Member

Re: USB Modem

That's also what the documentation that came with it said.
nanaki333
join:2010-08-11
Chantilly, VA

nanaki333

Member

sprint 4G is a joke

but their 3G is pretty awesome in the DC metro area. i can get just shy of 2Mb all over, but 4G, even when i do get it, i actually got capped and couldn't break 100K. the only reason i really use it is for speedtest, so i probably only used like 20MB of traffic a month on my epic.

joeam
Got any bugs?
join:2005-02-27
Saint Clair, MI

joeam

Member

Only have 3G here.

While we aren't exactly rural, we're probably not real high on the priority list for 4G. Problems here appear to be tower related, anyhow.

Review by Rose1 See Profile

  • Location: Seattle, King, WA, USA
  • Cost: $45 per month (24 month contract)
None
Slow
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I switched from Clear to Sprint because I was told that despite Sprint using Clear servers for its 4g service, that they do not cap or throttle. Yet my speeds were slower than when I was with Clear after only one day. Day one I was at 10 Mbps, day 2 I was at 0.06 Mbps. I am a heavy user but after talking to neighbors who use Clear to occasionally check their email or watch a youtube clip, I've come to find that they have trouble even with that.

member for 13.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 13.2 years ago
lodged 13.2 years ago


Review by DS1192 See Profile

  • Location: Winona, Winona, MN, USA
  • Cost: $61 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
Great Coverage, Fast Download, Upload Speeds, Mobile Broadband
5GB Cap for $61.48, Medium Latency in the (100-200+)ms Range
If it's the only broadband you can get-Take It!
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Sprint has great coverage as I live in a valley with high bluffs, and can get full signal a mile away. Download and Upload speeds are fast, not so well with latency. Mobile Broadband is a plus where ever you go. If it's your only option to broadband then take it.

member for 13.7 years, 367 visits, last login: 1 year ago
updated 13.5 years ago







Review by melissakaeb See Profile

  • Location: Venice, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • Cost: $65 per month (12 month contract)
Very convenient (if the speeds are acceptable), easy to install
Painfully slow, switches to roaming broadband without warning
Not a viable option for where I live given that I download 5-10 GB per month
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I considered cheaper alternatives to the Sprint 3G/4G mobile broadband card, but liked the ability to take the card with me. After having helped my parents setup their Sprint mobile broadband card, and hearing that they loved the convenience of it, I ordered the card online. Ordering was a fairly straightforward process, and within a few days I received the 598U Sierra Wireless broadband card via USPS.

The problem with the service was the speed-it was painfully slow, when it could find a 3G network, and it couldn't do so for most of the two weeks that I tried out the card. I also found that the card frequently switched over to roaming access, and I was nervous about incurring enormous roaming charges. I had hoped to make do with 3G until the upcoming release of 4G, but realized that I simply couldn't do so, as a dial-up modem was faster (literally).

I opted to return the card within 30 days for a full refund, per the new Sprint policy. It's a good idea to keep the box and everything that the card was shipped in until you decide whether to keep it, as this will make it easier to return it.

If you decide not to keep the card, here's (in hindsight) the easiest way to return it. First, call the Sprint number provided for returns. Do not tell them that you want to cancel service--it will confuse them, and send you down the wrong road. Tell them you want a return kit; that's all you need to say. They will send you one. The return kit contains a UPS shipping label and package. Return the card as soon as possible. They told me that I had 35 days to return it, but that was a mistake, and keeping the card past the first billing causes billing headaches. In other words, return the card as soon as possible.

member for 13.5 years, 8 visits, last login: 13.5 years ago
lodged 13.5 years ago