Wife and I have been on ATT for about 10 years now and our bill keeps creeping up and up, saw an ad the other day for Sprint and are thinking about making the jump. We live in SE Michigan so coverage is good, the thing is I don't know anyone that actually uses Sprint.
If you do have you been happy with it? Coverage good? Speeds etc etc
I'm using it because I've got a good discount with them through work. Where I live (Iowa), coverage is not so good once you get away from the interstates and the larger towns-- it's actually pretty poor where I live.
Worked pretty well for me in Michigan on trips to Grattan-- that's SW Michigan though.
It's generally worked quite well traveling anywhere with any population.
I've had sprint for 13 years. I almost left them about 9 years ago because our coverage in Livonia was terrible. They fixified it.
I have Verizon for my work phone. Sprint is at least as good as Verizon.
DrBoost wrote: I've had sprint for 13 years. I almost left them about 9 years ago because our coverage in Livonia was terrible. They fixified it. I have Verizon for my work phone. Sprint is at least as good as Verizon.
How is the coverage up north?
We have been getting better coverage over the past few years, just like Boost.
But we've not been up north since we moved to have a data plan- more south, very south- coverage in Puerto Rico has gotten light years better from the first few trips we had with cell phones.
I worked for Sprint for a combined 7 years of my 14 years in the cell industry responsible for Mich, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Pittsburgh. It is an amazingly berked up company and hard for me to recommend due to the product shortcomings.
If you like ATT then look into Cricket which is 100% owned by ATT. You can continue to use your same handset if you wish. If not ATT then follow me to VZ Prepaid.
If you want new handsets, do not buy them from the cell phone companies but rather, buy the handset directly. Choices here are the Moto X Pure directly from Motorola, The Nexus products from Google or if you want Apple, buy your handset directly from Apple.
This way, your handset will not be locked to the cell company that sold it to you and you will have the freedom to switch companies when you want and use the same handset on any of those companies.
PS: I am no longer in the industry and own no stock in the industry so I no longer have a financial interest in any of these companies.
Sprint is selling you a value proposition but, if you know more about the business there are better value propositions out there.
Sprint now wants you to lease your handset. Like leasing cars, this seems good for some people; mostly people who want more than they can afford. The downside is you never actually own the handset so you become indebted. If you do loose that handset, they want to get paid! The other side is you otherwise have to carry the Sprint provided insurance and they set the rate for that so don't be so sure that it is a good price for you.
JohnRW1621 wrote: I worked for Sprint for a combined 7 years of my 14 years in the cell industry responsible for Mich, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Pittsburgh. It is an amazingly berked up company and hard for me to recommend due to the product shortcomings. If you like ATT then look into Cricket which is 100% owned by ATT. You can continue to use your same handset if you wish. If not ATT then follow me to VZ Prepaid. If you want new handsets, do not buy them from the cell phone companies but rather, buy the handset directly. Choices here are the Moto X Pure directly from Motorola, The Nexus products from Google or if you want Apple, buy your handset directly from Apple. This way, your handset will not be locked to the cell company that sold it to you and you will have the freedom to switch companies when you want and use the same handset on any of those companies. PS: I am no longer in the industry and own no stock in the industry so I no longer have a financial interest in any of these companies. Sprint is selling you a value proposition but, if you know more about the business there are better value propositions out there. Sprint now wants you to lease your handset. Like leasing cars, this seems good for some people; mostly people who want more than they can afford. The downside is you never actually own the handset so you become indebted. If you do loose that handset, they want to get paid! The other side is you otherwise have to carry the Sprint provided insurance and they set the rate for that so don't be so sure that it is a good price for you.
Good insight, and I think that pretty much makes our decision for us. We actually own our phones now with ATT.
Talk locally to people and find some who use Sprint near you. Pick their brains about coverage and satisfaction.
I use Sprint via their subsidiary Virgin. Here, it's ok, but nothing to rave about. Get even vaguely rural and I lose signal. Get into the state forests and there is nothing.
One caution about using subsidiaries like Virgin or Boost or Cricket and such. You ride the carrier towers at a lower priority. If the prime customers are using up the band with, you'll see bars on your display but have no connection, or a severely throttled connection.
Honestly we are happy with the ATT service, just enticing to possibly lower our bill a bit. I think in the end we'll prob just stick with them.
This webpage can help with coverage questions. http://opensignal.com/
Storz wrote: Honestly we are happy with the ATT service, just enticing to possibly lower our bill a bit. I think in the end we'll prob just stick with them.
As fox suggested- check your actual usage- you may be able to save a lot of money by going to a per month carrier. Boost is a LOT cheaper than Sprint for low usages- and if your actual usage is that little- one can save a lot of money.
JohnRW1621 wrote: If you like ATT then look into Cricket which is 100% owned by ATT. You can continue to use your same handset if you wish.
Yes, this. I just switched to Cricket from Verizon. I pay $35/month on AutoPay vs. the $80+ Verizon was costing me. That's for 2.5gb of data, which is plenty for me.
Another thing I like about Cricket... If you go over your data limit, they throttle down your connection to almost nothing, but it's still usable in an emergency. With Verizon, if you go over they just keep piling $$$ on your bill.
As for handsets on Cricket... Yes, they are locked to the carrier, although you can have them unlocked after 6 months consecutive service. That's pretty reasonable, as the handsets are somewhat subsidized.
I paid $100 for an LG G Stylo. It was $150 less a $50 discount for porting a number. It's definitely a second-tier device, but it's perfectly serviceable unit for my needs. If you need the latest and greatest, yes, you should buy an unlocked GSM phone, but Cricket does have perfectly usable devices for decent money.
I use sprint due to a hefty discount at work (the Borgata uses Nextel handsets all over the place instead of walkie-talkies, but I have always owned my own phone. I need a new one later this year as mine is getting a bit creaky, have to see how sprint handles that
In reply to EvanR:
I am just chiming in to say EvanR posted a very good posting.
I concur.
I had Sprint until less than a year ago,much of it in Pennsylvania. I was quite happy with it. Switched to Cricket only because they offered a deal... 5 lines for $100/month, including all taxes and fees. Plus the phones were all free (just basic android). 1GB of data for each line, which is plenty for me. They're great so far.
I own 2 iPhones through Sprint.
By "up north" what do you mean? In Fenton it's fine. As far north as Saginaw and Bay City it's fine. We gonto Bad Axe regularly and it's fine there too.
Don't know about Sprint but I use Republic Wireless for a total of $12.xx a month. No data plan just call and text with data being wi-fi only on my plan. They do limit you to buying only their Motorola phones last I checked starting around a hundred bucks. Living in the city wi-fi is most everywhere and I almost never call or text anyone so it's a win for me.
You'll need to log in to post.
