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lunar2000
join:2012-02-05

lunar2000 to kolbitar

Member

to kolbitar

Re: News from Millenicom ....

I speak with the customer service chat ago and he said they're not offering the BYOD 3G/4G plan, only 3G BYOD plan!

What now?
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

Don't like the device they are offering 3G/4G with?
kolbitar
join:2008-10-22
Portland, OR

kolbitar to lunar2000

Member

to lunar2000
I just spoke with Customer Service and they said Yes they could activate 3G/4G Sprint devices.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

That's odd. I just went to the Millenicom web site, and looked at the terms of the BYOD plan at »members.millenicom.com/m ··· oduct=84 . It states specifically "Customer must own a non-active 3G mobile broadband device (not a 3G/4G hybrid nor 4G) of the appropriate upstream carrier."

In other words, if the web site is correct, the BYOD plan does NOT offer 4G, only 3G.

In light of what you've said about customer service, I called them up just now to see whether that has changed.

He immediately said that my hybrid 3G/4G device WAS eligible for the BYOD plan. Being cautious (or paranoid, if you prefer) I pressed him on whether this BYOD plan was only 3G regardless, meaning my hybrid device would only connect to 3G through Millenicom's BYOD plan. He said absolutely not, that once a device was connected to Millenicom, that device would be capable of connecting to any network to which it was normally capable of connecting in my area, meaning I absolutely would get 4G.

Still not quite believing it, I then pointed out that Millenicom's own web site indicates that the BYOD plan does not allow hybrid devices, only 3G devices.

He sounded quite surprised, and took a look for himself to verify what I had said.

After reading it, he said something like "Wow, I guess they don't allow your device then; but that's strange, cause I can't think why that would be the case."

So I then offered a possible explanation:

"I think that TOS page for the BYOD plan has been there for a few years. It may not reflect what happened just a month ago, when Millenicom finally offered a 4G plan. They may have just forgotten to update the BYOD plan page. So maybe a hybrid device is perfectly fine for BYOD after all."

He replied "Well, that might be what's going on, yes, but I can't swear to it. I would email them to see if you can get something more definitive."

So that is what I will do.

In the meantime, it also occurs to me to wonder what the difference is between the Millenicom unlimited 4G non-BYOD plan and the Wireless 'N' WiFi unlimited 4G non-BYOD plan. Millenicom's costs $70 a month while WNW costs $60 a month. Not sure on what basis I would decide between them.

If the only difference is cost, then I suppose I should go with WNW.

If Millenicom is a more reliable or more stable long-lived company, then I suppose I should go with Millenicom.

Also, if the BYOD plan offers 4G, as the customer rep I spoke to said at first, then does the savings from not having to buy a device offset that extra $10 bucks a month if I pick Millenicom rather than Wireless 'N' WiFi?

You know, a year ago, the availability of unlimited 4G was rare -- only Sprint offered it. Now that Sprint no longer offers it, unlimited 4G Wimax seems to be growing on trees. Ironic.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

dib22

Member

said by criggs:

Now that Sprint no longer offers it, unlimited 4G Wimax seems to be growing on trees. Ironic.

Technically Mcoms "unlimited" sprint/wimax plan is 50GB monthly.

Clear (of which sprint owns a giant chunk) is still unlimited.

I have yet to see much information on the "WnW" company, I would still expect to see a customer or two talk about them at least... and yet nothing.

If you are just choosing between Mcom and WnW, I have heard of Mcom

If it wasn't for your need of 3G fallback I would go with clear.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Actually there has been some feedback postings on WnW. A person calling herself Aussie Girl posted at »WiMAX Plan 150; $40/month with some very positive feedback on their service.

Regardless, frankly, in spite of much positive feedback on Millenicom, I remain somewhat reluctant to deal with ANY of the resellers, no matter how ethical or reliable a company they may be. The idea of having a middle man impose themselves between me and a network, with the headache of going through a third party if the network in my area has technical problems that need to be reported and repaired, gives me the willies, frankly. I just see that as being a heckuva chance to take, no matter what company it is, which is why I and my lawyer are still hoping to bring Sprint back to the straight and narrow so that I can stay with them.

The bottom line is that, in spite of themselves, I stand here as someone who effectively has had unlimited 4G with Sprint right up to the present day. The one month when they imposed overage fees I refused to pay them, and filed a complaint with the FCC. Eventually they agreed that I was not properly notified of the change (though, in fact, that was NOT my contention; my contention, based on legal advice, was that the change itself, from unlimited to a 5 gig cap, was illegal and fraudulent), and waived all overage fees from past bills. But they still claim the right to impose overage fees in the future, overage fees which I have assured them I will not pay, setting up another confrontation quite soon, I presume.
kolbitar
join:2008-10-22
Portland, OR

kolbitar

Member

Good for you, criggs, for getting Sprint to waive their overage fees. I hope they continue to do so.

As for your reluctance towards resellers … are you under the impression that Sprint, Verizon and the rest owns their own footprint? They do not own a single tower where they hang equipment. And if something goes wrong do you think it is always Sprint employees that climb those towers and do the work? Do you think it is always Sprint employees that answer the phone when you call? Do you think those are domestic accents you hear?

My point is that whoever takes your call (whether a reseller or not) creates a "trouble ticket" in the same online interface regarding an issue which is then farmed to the same outsourced team that would resolve the issue regardless.

The main differences (for me) are cost, usage, length of contracts and ownership of the customers concerns.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Cost: Argues in favor of Millenicom (M) and/or Wireless 'N' WiFi (WnW), particularly now that I'm fighting these overage fee battles.

Usage: Obviously in favor of M and WnW, in light of the absence of caps vs. Sprint's caps.

Length of Contracts: Again the argument is in favor of the resellers, inasmuch as a network owner, like Sprint or Verizon Wireless, will lock one into a long contract. With M and WnW, if something better comes along, like a higher cap on LTE or something like that, I can switch within a month.

Ownership of the Cucsomters Concerns: Aye, there's the rub. You see, unusual as my experience may have been, aside from a few big issues where Sprint basically ignored me for one or two months (and remember I've been with them for about half a dozen years or so), their responsiveness to technical issues, for the most part, has been pretty good. I've NEVER had the feeling that I'm talking to a third party, or that they're passing the buck to an outside contractor and don't give a f**k.

My fear is that that will be my experience with a reseller. There's nothing like dealing with an entity whose network is its own headache, rather than a hassle it can pass on to someone else. Yes, there are outside vendors and contractors. But ownership conveys a certain minimal level of guaranteed headache for an entity if a technical issue arises which forces them to do SOMETHING, a level of headache that no reseller can experience or needs to address, I'm afraid.
criggs

1 edit

criggs

Member

said by criggs:

He immediately said that my hybrid 3G/4G device WAS eligible for the BYOD plan...I then pointed out that Millenicom's own web site indicates that the BYOD plan does NOT allow hybrid devices, only 3G devices...He replied..."...I would email them to see if you can get something more definitive."
So that is what I will do.

And that is what I did.

Here's the answer I got to my two questions, if the 250U was a permitted BYOD device and whether I can use the 4G as well as the 3G network: "You may certainly use the Sierra 250U as long as that device is of the appropriate upstream carrier...If 4G is in your area, yes."

So that would appear to be good news.

Now I just have to nail down whether there's any technical difference between the unlimited 4G/3G Wireless 'n' WiFi (WnW) non-BYOD plan for 58.99 and the Millenicom (M) unlimited 4G/3G BYOD plan for $69.99.

If there is no difference, then here are the cost choices:

I'm out $196 up front with WnW whereas with M's plan I'm only out $120 up front. Advantage Millenicom.

And if I stay with either of them for only, say, eleven months, then, at the end of that period, I will have spent $786 with WnW while with M I will only have spent $720. Again advantage Millenicom.

On the other hand, if I go with WnW, and stay with them for more than a year, $100 of that up front $196 cost gets rebated to me. So, at that point, in the course of 13 months, I will have paid WnW $804, whereas with Millenicom, at the end of 13 months, I will have paid $960. Advantage WnW.

This is all, of course, assuming that 1) the two plans are technically identical and 2) that both companies are equally good in terms of customer support, technical support and so on. Both of those are huge assumptions which I'm reluctant to make barring further information.

So I guess at the moment, it would be accurate to say that I am insufficiently educated to make a good or informed decision, unfortunately.

However, for now, let's assume that the answer is yes, technically the plans are the same and both companies are equally good. Let's also assume that I decide not to go with Clear because of the very negative impressions I get from their customer postings here and elsewhere.

Then the decision must be made on the basis of how long I expect to be with whichever company I choose.

Do I expect a really good deal to come along, either with LTE or WiMax, which will cause me to switch to something different within the year? If yes, then that is an argument that favors Millenicom.

Or do I expect no good deals to come along in less than a year, and therefore does it make more sense to go with the service that offers me the cheaper service long-term? If yes, then that is an argument that favors WnW.

Since I have absolutely no feel for whether market forces will compel Sprint (S) and/or Verizon Wireless (VW) to raise their 4G caps eventually or not, and I also have no feel for whether some other Johnny-come-lately with its own 4G network will come along soon to compete with S and/or VW with more reasonable data caps and pricing, that leaves me just about nowhere, I guess. Hmmm.

Keep in mind that, at minimum, I consume about 40 gigs a month, so when I talk about companies raising their caps, I'm not talking an increase to 15 gigs or 20 gigs. That doesn't cut it for me.
kolbitar
join:2008-10-22
Portland, OR

kolbitar

Member

Regarding Wireless n Wifi's unlimited account … is the 3G portion of their 3G/4G plan also unlimited?
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

It's complicated. If you go to »Re: WiMAX Plan 150; $40/month you will get a full answer to your question. Let me warn you ahead of time: It's not straightforward or simple.
criggs

criggs to kolbitar

Member

to kolbitar
said by kolbitar:

Regarding Wireless n Wifi's unlimited account … is the 3G portion of their 3G/4G plan also unlimited?

As you can see, it is not. But I have ascertained interesting additional information.

Millenicom's soft usage caps on the 3G side are MUCH HIGHER than with Wireless 'N' WiFi. That tips the scales, in my opinion, and makes the Millenicom plan a superior option to the one offered by Wireless 'N' WiFi, though it's certainly a close call.

In addition, it turns out that Clear now offers its customers NO 3G FALLBACK WHATSOEVER. In my opinion, this is a deal-killer, since Clearwire's incomplete 4G Wimax network looks like a piece of Swiss cheese.

So it would appear the best option is Millenicom's BYOD Unlimited 3G/4G plan, no problem for me since I obviously have Sprint devices (and Millenicom customer service verified for me today that my device will work with their plan).

So the only issue now that I have to resolve for myself is whether I really want to take the chance of switching to a reseller. There are some disturbing questions that raises, in my opinion: how secure is Millenicom's arrangement with Sprint? Could Sprint yank it out from under them at any point? Also, what do I do if the network is experiencing a technical problem? Some folks on this forum tell me absolutely positively I can go direct to Sprint Technical to get it fixed, and I do not have to deal with Millenicom as a middle man. Others have just as vehemently insisted the opposite is the case.

Until I can satisfactorily resolve those two questions, I'm leaning toward staying with Sprint and continuing to fight for the restoration of my unlimited 4G contract with them (which runs through March of next year). I've won one battle this week, when they canceled the $150 overage fee they added to my December bill. But I still haven't won the war over their attempt to terminate the unlimited 4G completely and replace it with this capped outrage. They still insist my unlimited 4G is cancelled, and they still insist on their right to charge me overage fees in the future.

My lawyer says I can win and that I should stick it out. On the other hand, if I can satisfactorily resolve my questions and concerns about switching to Millenicom, then I'm tempted to just make that switch and be done with it.

Decisions, decisions.

somms
join:2003-07-28
Centerville, UT

somms

Member

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said by criggs:

said by kolbitar:

Regarding Wireless n Wifi's unlimited account … is the 3G portion of their 3G/4G plan also unlimited?

Until I can satisfactorily resolve those two questions, I'm leaning toward staying with Sprint and continuing to fight for the restoration of my unlimited 4G contract with them (which runs through March of next year). I've won one battle this week, when they canceled the $150 overage fee they added to my December bill. But I still haven't won the war over their attempt to terminate the unlimited 4G completely and replace it with this capped outrage. They still insist my unlimited 4G is cancelled, and they still insist on their right to charge me overage fees in the future.

My lawyer says I can win and that I should stick it out. On the other hand, if I can satisfactorily resolve my questions and concerns about switching to Millenicom, then I'm tempted to just make that switch and be done with it.

Decisions, decisions.

Come on in 'cause the water is fine and has been just fine for several years...and hopefully several more years to come!
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

said by somms:

Come on in 'cause the water is fine and has been just fine for several years...and hopefully several more years to come!

Well, thanks for taking the time to offer perspective on this matter. Specifically with regard to my concern that Sprint could yank this whole arrangement leaving Millenicom subscribers high and dry, your remark would appear to be reassuring; thank you for that.

I'm still looking for something definitive, however, with regard to this whole question of how technical problems are handled.

At one point, one of the posters in this forum, I believe his name was Jack, posted a message to the effect that when he has problems he's been able to go directly to the network owner, Sprint or Verizon Wirelss, even though he's a Millenicom subscriber.

Others have stoutly maintained precisely the reverse. So that's the other outstanding question for which I'm seeking an answer.

Thanks again for giving me feedback; much appreciated.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

1 edit

Jim_in_VA (banned)

Member

I have Millenicom and also a Sprint cell plan. I rarely call Millenicom support, though I know they are a very respectable, polite, and knowledgeable team of folks that really do all they can to help solve problems. That said, if I have a issue with the connection I can call Sprint advanced support and open a trouble ticket. They are surprisingly cooperative if you say "my business" is being affected.

So if you have a cell plan with Sprint, yes, you can go directly to their support system. No need to mention Millenicom at all.

The first thing Sprint and Verizon customer service wants to know is your phone number, if you can't provide that the conversation ends.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Interesting.

When I call Sprint technical support, their first automated question, before I can speak to a human being, is the telephone number on the account. Do I presume correctly that a Millenicom BYOD plan will have a telephone number assigned to it?

So I would give Sprint the phone number Millenicom has assigned. Is that what you do? If I understand you correctly, in spite of the fact that Sprint itself did not assign that number they nevertheless recognize it as a legitimate Sprint number, correct?

At that point, a human being from Sprint technical gets on the phone and asks my name, which I give. Then it asks me for the 6 to 10 digit password on my account, which I give.

If I have a Millenicom account, do I then give Millenicom my chosen password, the same as I did with Sprint?

And if I subsequently give that password to this Sprint technical human being, does it work in their records, even though I generated it through Millenicom?

Of course, then the Sprint technical rep opens up my account. If I understand you correctly, he is NOT troubled by the fact that opening up my account reveals that I'm a Millenicom customer, not a Sprint customer, correct? In fact, reading between the lines of your message, I gather he is not even AWARE that I am not a Sprint customer, is that right? In other words, the moment I create this account with Millenicom, Sprint will then have me listed, exactly the same, pretty much, as it has all customers listed, in their system, correct?

If I am correct in my understanding of your message above, then the answer to all of my questions above from you will theoretically be yes.

Thanks again for filling me in on this stuff; this is the real hard stuff, the real nitty-gritty to which I want answers before I make the change to Millenicom.
kolbitar
join:2008-10-22
Portland, OR

kolbitar

Member

Allow me to add my two cents … remember you are NOT a Sprint or Verizon customer when you have a Millenicom account, you are a Millenicom customer. They have their own arrangement and agreements with the upstream carriers and their own codes to address concerns.

Their agreements include access to their cell towers but not the rest of the upstream carriers resources. You'll notice they don't have the names "Sprint" or "Verizon" on their site. You'll notice they don't have those companies software automatically download onto your computer. You'll notice they have their own 24-hour technical support taking calls.

These are extraordinary expenses and probably not done for vanities sake. I would strongly recommend against calling the carriers directly, I have read specific posts by users on this forum where clients have run into trouble doing that.

If you need to call the carrier directly, criggs, in order to feel comfortable with your account then I recommend you stay with your existing service directly with the carrier. You've already won the battle getting them to waive your usage fees!

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

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

said by kolbitar:

Allow me to add my two cents … remember you are NOT a Sprint or Verizon customer when you have a Millenicom account, you are a Millenicom customer. They have their own arrangement and agreements with the upstream carriers and their own codes to address concerns.

Their agreements include access to their cell towers but not the rest of the upstream carriers resources. You'll notice they don't have the names "Sprint" or "Verizon" on their site. You'll notice they don't have those companies software automatically download onto your computer. You'll notice they have their own 24-hour technical support taking calls.

These are extraordinary expenses and probably not done for vanities sake. I would strongly recommend against calling the carriers directly, I have read specific posts by users on this forum where clients have run into trouble doing that.

If you need to call the carrier directly, criggs, in order to feel comfortable with your account then I recommend you stay with your existing service directly with the carrier. You've already won the battle getting them to waive your usage fees!

I don't know what your credentials are but your post is IMO mostly BS.

I have had no trouble dealing directly with my upstream carrier on problems with their service. Mostly the tower being down. I've found their customer service very helpful and effective in solving the problem. I don't think they really care who calls and alerts them to problems with their equipment.

Millenicom does have customer service and since I've had them I've found it's mostly effective on the modem and computer operation not the wireless itself as they have to call and report problems themselves which from some posts I've seen over the years is iffy.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned) to criggs

Member

to criggs
To clarify, I have a cell plan with Sprint. I can call them directly because I am a Sprint customer.

As kolbitar mentions, if you only have a Millenicom account then use their tech support - not Sprints. Millenicom frowns on doing an end-around, and rightfully so.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

It just so happens I also have a voice plan with Sprint, so even if I drop the Sprint Mobile Broadband plan and switch to the Millenicom 3G/4G Mobile Broadband plan, I will still be a Sprint customer.

So, because it's still not clear to me how Jack or anyone manages to get Sprint technical to address a network problem being reported by a Millenicom customer, I'll outline a possible scenario for doing that. That way, you can either tell me I'm right, or you can tell me I'm wrong and then proceed to explain to me the correct way of doing it.

So, let's try this again.

Let's suppose a month from now I'm a Millenicom customer, but I still have my voice plan with Sprint.

One fine day I discover that my Internet connectivity is in the toilet, and it looks like something's wrong with the Sprint 4G network in my area.

So, instead of calling Millenicom, I call Sprint. When the automated system asks me for my number I GIVE MY CELL NUMBER!!!

THen the human being picks up. He asks for the password on my account. Since I still have a Sprint account I can give him my Sprint password.

Then I proceed to tell him what's going wrong with the 4G. HE HAS NO IDEA, NOR DOES HE NEED TO HAVE AN IDEA, THAT I'M EXPERIENCING THIS PROBLEM ON MY COMPUTER. For all he knows, I'm experiencing this problem on my smart-phone.

That is why he proceeds, without objection, to help me. As he troubleshoots and experiments, he is fully expecting that I will be testing the results of his work ON MY SMARTPHONE, and is amazed by how fast and comfortable I am in navigating on my smart-phone to test the results of his repair.

Never suspecting that I'm actually on a computer, and, alternately, never suspecting that the reason why I can move around so fast, keeping up with him as he provides me with instructions (go to this speed test site, go to that network test site, etc. etc.), is because I'm improperly tethering the smartphone to my computer, he then proceeds to fix the problem.

Afterward I say thank you to him, at which point he hangs up and is never the wiser.

Have I got that about right?

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

Jack_in_VA to Jim_in_VA

Premium Member

to Jim_in_VA
said by Jim_in_VA:

To clarify, I have a cell plan with Sprint. I can call them directly because I am a Sprint customer.

As kolbitar mentions, if you only have a Millenicom account then use their tech support - not Sprints. Millenicom frowns on doing an end-around, and rightfully so.

Millenicom customer service is good in most respects but my experience with them on three occasions when my tower was down was pitiful and that's putting it mildly. On one call there was a crying baby and barking dog in the background. All three times I was promised a call back. I'm still waiting. Think about it, Millenicom CS has no information on me except my phone number and customer name that's on the Sprint account. They only know I live in Mathews with a PO Box address so just what information could they give Sprint that would direct Sprint to the problem?

Perhaps they have upgraded/improved that part of their customer service. That would lessen the need to do the "End around" to resolve problems.

Calling Sprint directly resulted in the problem being reported and repaired. Sprint was professional and good to deal with. On one occasion the Sprint CS representative and I had to get on Google maps to identify the location of their tower. Now I know the info needed for them to locate it. All you need is your phone number and account name. I don't know how it would be for problems other than their equipment being completely down as I've not had reason to call them for anything else. Perhaps Millenicom would be the better choice for those problems since they are likely to be modem, software or computer related.
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned) to criggs

Member

to criggs
That is exactly right criggs, and the procedure I use.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs to Jack_in_VA

Member

to Jack_in_VA
said by Jack_in_VA:

All you need is your phone number and account name.

Interesting. So what you're saying, if I understand you correctly, is that even if I DIDN'T have a Sprint voice account, I would still be able to get Sprint technical to look at a network problem in my area. So what you're saying is that if you put in, on the initial automated system prompt, the telephone number on the account WHICH MILLENICOM GAVE YOU WHEN YOU CREATED THE ACCOUNT, the Sprint systems recognizes that number AS ONE OF ITS OWN, and consequently patches you through to the Sprint Technical human being.

Furthermore, when the Sprint Technical human being asks you for the password on your Sprint account, you simply say "I don't have the password, but the name on the account is Jack Whatever," and he immediately proceeds to successfully find your account and help you out, accepting you wholeheartedly as a Sprint customer, and never saying anything about not being able to help because you're a Millenicom customer.

Do I have that about right?
criggs

criggs to Jim_in_VA

Member

to Jim_in_VA
said by Jim_in_VA:

That is exactly right criggs, and the procedure I use.

Thanks muchly! That may dispose of one of my major concerns. I appreciate it.

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

Jack_in_VA to criggs

Premium Member

to criggs
The three times I've directly utilized Sprint it's been because their tower was down but I initially had no problems with getting a live technician. I just used the phone number and customer name on the account. One tech told me it was a business account with a number of users so I guess that the password is not really needed. Other problems I don't know as that would involve the equipment being used. Telling them I have a CDU-680 might tip them off.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Interesting. Happy to hear that no password was needed because of it being a business account. Fascinating. That certainly makes things easier!

As for the equipment, I would be going with the BYOD plan, which specifically works with Sprint equipment, of which I have two: Overdrive Pro and the 250U. So no problem there.

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences in regard to this. It's looking more and more like this may be the way to go.

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

Jack_in_VA

Premium Member

Except for my remote tower going down from time to time and Sprint evidently not knowing it unless somebody tells them I've had no other problems.

gdunn2
join:2011-02-19
Lind, WA

gdunn2 to kolbitar

Member

to kolbitar
You'll notice they don't have those companies software automatically download onto your computer.

I was supplied with Verizon Access Software with my account. So they are not trying to hide the fact that I am on Verizon's system. So that statement is not true in my case.

Gary Dunn
Lind, WA
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

So that probably means that if I go for this I'll be supplied with the Sprint software. Of course, in my case, I already have that software. Does that mean they won't even have to do that?

Also the Overdrive Pro does not even require software. Does that mean if I go with the Overdrive all I'll have to do is call up and give them the money plus the Overdrive hex numbers and so on, and that's that? Sounds like a breeze.