Caution using t-mo international "free" data yet - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Counting down the hours until I can load up speedtest.net with my T-Mo sim instead of Telcel in Mexico. I know it's not going to be fast, but I want to see what speeds I get. Hopefully this data thing shakes up the whole mobile industry. Anyone else planning on kicking the tires on it as soon as it's live?
edit - I called yesterday to activate the service on my line. I was told to restart my phone and it would take effect immediately. I waited about 15m and restarted. Ran a speed test, got texts saying I owed 50USD, then one for 100USD very quickly. I called back and was assured the texts were not accurate and that the data was free, not to worry. In the course of just running speed tests I racked up $400 of charges. Apparently today they are saying the feature won't go active until the 27th, even though I called early to activate it.
If you have or are going to call early get names and badge numbers and note the time. Hell, record the call if you can(inform the person you are recording...or don't the laws don't matter to me). Personally, I'd wait til after the 31st, then call in and double check. They are looking in to removing the charges from my account, and I think they probably will, but it's still a shock. Best to avoid the problem if you can help it.
I will keep this post updated to let everyone know if I was able to get the charges resolved. Feel free to add any experiences you may have had.
edit 2 - The rep called back (3-4hours later) and was able to get the charges removed AND activate the feature going forward. I applaud T-Mobile for doing that so quickly. I would still caution anyone activating this feature before the official rollout to be very wary of making sure it is actually activated and noting the time and who you speak with.

Just activated the service with a call to 611. Turned off my phone, restarted it. Enabled data roaming. I was surprised it popped up as 3G. Immediately ran speedtest.net. I am getting between 4-6Mbps down and around 0.4Mbps up. This is a lot more than I expected to get. My location is Mexicali, Baja California Norte, Mexico.
I nearly had a stroke as after the first test I got a text saying my international data roaming charges had hit $50, then 10 seconds later another saying $100. I called 611 again and they confirmed it was an issue, but I would not be billed(or be responsible for) that amount. I ran the test again, this time filming it. The video should be up on Youtube shortly. You can see where I get another SMS saying I have hit $200 in charges.
What are others finding on their speeds and what are your locations? It will be interesting to see what people are getting. I will update this post with the Youtube URL once it's up.

muqali said:
Just activated the service with a call to 611. Turned off my phone, restarted it. Enabled data roaming. I was surprised it popped up as 3G. Immediately ran speedtest.net. I am getting between 4-6Mbps down and around 0.4Mbps up. This is a lot more than I expected to get. My location is Mexicali, Baja California Norte, Mexico.
I nearly had a stroke as after the first test I got a text saying my international data roaming charges had hit $50, then 10 seconds later another saying $100. I called 611 again and they confirmed it was an issue, but I would not be billed(or be responsible for) that amount. I ran the test again, this time filming it. The video should be up on Youtube shortly. You can see where I get another SMS saying I have hit $200 in charges.
What are others finding on their speeds and what are your locations? It will be interesting to see what people are getting. I will update this post with the Youtube URL once it's up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will run a few tests also when I take my 900T to the UK. Good feedback thanks.

The video is now up. Damn Youtube has been a pain in the nuts today, took 3 tries. I finally had to use the https uploader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F-2h8q0Mc0

Related

Spint woes

Even though I'm posting in the Evo section of a mainly rooting community, I was hoping someone could provide a little insight onto my situation. Perhaps there is a Sprint representative on these forums who can better assist me as well.
So I purchased a new Evo June 20th after coming from 3 years of using the iPhone. I love the phone, but I've had nothing but issues with it. It's less the phone itself and more the companies surrounding it - Radio Shack, Sprint, etc.
So like I stated before, I got my Evo on June 20th. After using it a few days I noticed I had terrible signal at home. Normally if I was using the phone for personal reasons only, I could live with it, but I do work 1-2 days per week from home so not having voice service is a pretty big deal to me. After about 7-9 of fighting with the signal loss while walking around my home looking for a sweet spot (Also while on the phone with Spring customer service) They told me it was probably my home or area and that they couldnt guarantee coverage everywhere. My issue with this is, I've test all the carriers in my home. ATT, Tmobile, and Verizon get a minimum of 3 bars in my house. I dont like out in the middle of nowhere, I live in the suburbs of Houston. All other carriers penetrate into my home just fine, except Sprint. Well after arguing with Sprint reps over and over, I finally decided to take it to the Sprint store.
After waiting in a terribly long line (45 min), I was finally speaking to a Sprint rep. I told them about my issues and asked if there was anything I could do. He stated there was a booster that was $99. I flat out denied this as I thought it was ridiculous I had to pay more money just to get voice signal (something that was shown to be EXCELLENT coverage in their computers). He played with the phone for a second, then stated that an update would be coming out shortly that would improve the Wifi, 4G, and radio of the phone. The rep suggested that I was still within my 30 day cancellation period and that I should wait for the update and see if that improved anything.
So, a few short days later I got the OTA message on my phone. Well, this turned out to be a huge mess because I ended up being one of those unfortunate people who had their phones bricked. So at this point I'm phoneless and very frustrated. I take the phone back to where I purchased it, Radio Shack, and they tell me they've seen other customers who had this problem and will gladly exchange the phone for me. The manager of the store states it should be here on Friday, so I say thank you and leave.
Well, the phone didnt come Friday. It didn't even come the next Friday. Yep, it came THREE Friday's later - almost 3 full weeks later. So after not having a phone for two and a half weeks, I finally get my new phone in. The radio shack rep applied the update for me in the store and I left.
Well the weekend went by and I didn't notice any dropped calls, but I wasn't using my phone heavily. Then yesterday I was working from home and my phone was finally getting put to its full use. Call after call dropped and I couldn't even hold a signal for more than 10 minutes. I eventually had to run next door and borrow a neighbors phone to finish up my convo with a client. Normally I could live with this issue for personal use, but for work it was becoming a serious problem.
So I called Sprint and explained the situation. Eventually after sitting on the phone for an hour and talking to person after person I spoke with a manager who basically said either buy the $100 booster or pay $200 to cancel your contract and leave. At that point I was furious - I didn't understand why I should be forced to pay more for something when I was already paying for signal. I explained that I originally had planned on returning the phone earlier, but that had held off at the advice from a Sprint rep I talked to, and that my phone had been broken for over 2 weeks of my 30 day trial period. She continued to iterate that there was nothing she could do. She instructed me to contact Radio Shack and see if they would accept the phone back after 30 days (I'm on day 34 right now).
I just spoke with Radio Shack but they stated I'll need to call back when the manager is in the store - which will be 3-4 hours from now. I suppose maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be able to return the phone - but I'm worried about what will happen if they refuse. I'm going to be stuck with a phone that is unusable for work, while forced to either pay $100 for a booster, or shell out another $200 for the ETF (screwing me out of $400 total).
Anyways, maybe there is nothing that can be done, maybe I'm just an idiot for not testing the phone more aggressively sooner. I'm just sharing my experience on here with the hopes that someone has come across a similar situation or perhaps someone with a Sprint customer service background.
TLDR - got an evo, noticed bad signal, Sprint said OTA would fix the issues, OTA broke phone, waited 2 weeks for replacement, tested phone, reception still suck, Sprint says im stuck.
Wow, that sucks. Sorry to hear that.
I'm curious...you do get to keep the phone if you pay the ETF, right?
If you do, I would pay the $200 ETF and sell the phone on ebay or craigslist because I really doubt the $100 booster is going to help much and with the EVO in short supply, I'm sure someone is willing to buy it.
PS: If you do, just be sure to do a factory reset so all information is erased from it.
Maybe try the Verizon PRL, I looked briefly but cant seem to find the post. It is here somewhere though. Might work for you.
Yea PRL would work, but I don't want to use up my 450 anytime minutes nor do I want to switch back and forth between PRL's. I get great service at work and other places, it's just a dead zone where I live.
Airave?
Is the signal issue only at home? Airave hooks into your broadband service and then you can make phone calls via airave and it routes the calls like Vonage. And if your service really sucks sprint will give you the device for free if you complain the right way. I have had mine for 2 weeks and have had no dropped calls at home. This won't help you outside of your house though....Just my $.02
Really?
Really for free? Sprint was adamant that I would have to purchase one. They said over and over they would not wave the fee since their computers show I'm in excellent coverage area.
I too have been with Sprint for sometime now and I have the booster and it has worked wonders for me at home my office is in my basement so I spend a great deal down there and dint get service upatairs I got 3 bars but now I can make a call anywhere and it doesn't drop or anything well worth the 100 dollars if you can't get them tk give you one for free
Are those boosters provider specific?
I was thinking about getting one for the basement, but we have Sprint and Verizon Androids in the house. Don't want to have to buy one for each carrier.
I can confirm that if your a new customer with sprint they will do absolutely nothing for you, except sell you more stuff. I just went through a very similar situation and after offering me the airwave twice for free only to double back and say no sorry its 100 bucks.
BTW if you get the airwave for free they extend your contact back to 2 years, might be worth it for some.
I'm rocking the verizon prl's now and well its decent enough to stick with it, the phone rocks.
I also got an Airave for free when I was having issues. The only problem it would have is not supporting 3G data, but I suppose if you are at home, you can use wi-fi. The best benefit I saw was paying $10/mo and getting unlimited calls while on the device since I don't have unlimited minutes.
Sprint gave me an Airave for free, waived the fee for 2 years, and didn't touch my contract. But I also have 5 towers within 1.9 miles and they compete for signal...
The thing is, while I don't drop calls within range of the Airave, it doesn't hand off to a tower like it is supposed to so it drops when I walk out of range. :/
I'm pretty pissed at Sprint right now... They had a 2 1/2 outage that affected ALL of Colorado (voice and text - data worked fine in most areas) and just gave me a 25 dollar bill credit for it - couldn't even dial 911 and when people called me phone, it was just dead air - not even voicemail. BIG NO NO! Then on top of that, the subpar 3G speeds (900kbps max, 600 average compared to 3Mbps/1.7 on at&t in the same area), I've had two data outages (another two 25 dollar bill credits) and they charged me an activation fee on my corporate liable line through Comcast which was supposed to be free so I'm fighting to get that waived.
I love the phone. Hate the service.

[Q] Get out of your contract without an ETF?

Ok guys, so I saw somewhere around here, a while back I think that Sprint changed some of it's fine print in the contract...Soooo, no one flame me or anything, but does anyone have any info on this? Thinking of jumping ship to verizon. I have 4 lines right now and pay around $176 a month and all the lines are still under contract for a while. I'm not set on going to verizon, but would just like to get some ideas....Thanks for any input....yes...I'm thinking about getting the iphone
edit: I think I found something...This was just on my latest bill, I did some research and any change to the previous contract is a breach and you have 30 days to get out of your contract. Now, you can get out of your contract and still keep your service, just not be tied down to a fricken contract! Here is what was on my last bill:
Directory Assistance 411 Increase
Effective 3/1/11, the domestic Directory Assistance 411 base charge will increase to $1.99 per call.
Please let me know if I am wrong, but when I worked for Verizon this is the way it was for them too.
good thread, im interested in switching away from sprint too.
my service is horrible.
i dont get calls and my texts dont always come thru
DonRSD said:
good thread, im interested in switching away from sprint too.
my service is horrible.
i dont get calls and my texts dont always come thru
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'm sure a few people are interested in getting out...Have you called Sprint about it yet? Sometimes they're really helpful to me and sometimes they straight up lie to my face and say they gave me a $50 credit and I'll call back a few days later to see where it is and they have "no idea" and then wont give it to me...I guess I was a little let down after this ****ty ass "announcement" they made tonight...I've been with 'em for 8 years and really don't want to switch, but it's starting to look like that.
Nothing will get you out of the ETF right now, Sprint has been really careful with their changes lately. The Premium Data fee, Sprint Premier, 411 charges - none of those are a change to your current contract. The only way out is if you roam too much and they kick you off the network.
DonRSD said:
good thread, im interested in switching away from sprint too.
my service is horrible.
i dont get calls and my texts dont always come thru
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, some days I can't reach my wife if she's at home because the phone won't ring and my texts won't go through for a while. I tried to talk to Sprint about an Airave but they argued with me and said I'm in an "excellent coverage area" and told me no, even after contacting Executive Services. That was the last straw for me.
Change your PRL to a VZW PRL and start hitting them HARD for data. According to the terms of service, they can give you the boot for anything over 300 megs per month or more than 50% of all data as roaming data. If you're rooted on all the phones, do them all at the same time and then Sprint will want you all dead.
ZachPA said:
Change your PRL to a VZW PRL and start hitting them HARD for data. According to the terms of service, they can give you the boot for anything over 300 megs per month or more than 50% of all data as roaming data. If you're rooted on all the phones, do them all at the same time and then Sprint will want you all dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL sprint will put a hit out on you
Sent from my Evo while i should be working
I was doing some reading on and i read that if sprint can't cover you in a place they don't offer service you can complain and they will waive the ETF, for example tell them you are being relocated to somewhere overseas where they don't offer any type of service, if they can't accomadte you they will let you out, i haven't tried this soooo i can't confirm
datajosh said:
Nothing will get you out of the ETF right now, Sprint has been really careful with their changes lately. The Premium Data fee, Sprint Premier, 411 charges - none of those are a change to your current contract. The only way out is if you roam too much and they kick you off the network.
Same here, some days I can't reach my wife if she's at home because the phone won't ring and my texts won't go through for a while. I tried to talk to Sprint about an Airave but they argued with me and said I'm in an "excellent coverage area" and told me no, even after contacting Executive Services. That was the last straw for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I called and got an Airave for free. What you have to do is set up a consistent series of calls with them. It took me three calls but I got it. Then again, I had a legitimate issue.
Essentially, call every time there is an issue. Write down the time it happens, what happened, and where you were. Call sprint and tell them what the issue is. They may transfer to you an "advanced" tech department. Or, they may tell you to come in to the store to have your phone checked out.
As we all know, it most likely isn't your phone because it is happening on multiple lines. Decline going to a store. Insist on speaking to the advanced tech department. Tell them your problem and they will do something on their end. Wait until that "resolves" (which usually it doesn't because the coverage is strong in that area). Then call back again and complain. Try to get transferred to retentions and see if you can get one.
yep
They would not let me out of the ETF but I was able to get a free airave myself. w00t! But I would still like to cancel and switch to BOOST mobile.

Getting screwed by Sprint

I realize this isn't the Sprint forum, but trying to post in many places, so they get the hint:
I'm on my 3rd Epic 4g Touch phone. It's a great phone, but the first one I had wouldn't accept OTA updates. They replaced it with a phone with a broken camera.
Most recently, I can't get text messages from certain numbers. Yeah yeah, it's just texts, but in this day and age, I need to be able to receive text messages. I've missed work meetings, notices from the baby sitter, friends visiting from out of town, etc. Some of my friends have stopped inviting me to do things because it's too big of a pain to just send a text to everyone and then remember to call me.
Here's the real problem: Sprint won't do anything about it. I've had at least 3 escalated service tickets. I've spent at least 10 hours on the phone with customer service and tech support. Each time, they tell me they'll get back to me in 48-72 hours and they never do. When I call back, they tell me that they need to create a new ticket and it will be another 48-72 hours.
Today, the customer service rep told me that I needed to go into a Sprint store and have them look at the phone. I spent $5 in gas and 2 hours out of my work day to go down there and have a very sympathetic associate tell me that there's nothing wrong with my phone, it's a network problem. We spent the time testing my phone, and transferring my number to a different phone and trying it that way. (It didn't work.)
What can I do? Is there legal recourse? Can I take Sprint to small claims and get out of my contract? They've already told me that if I just end my contract and don't pay their outrageous fee that they'll just send my account to collections.
Thanks for any advice.
Know anyone who can take over your contract? I did that with USCC to avoid an ETF.
price1869 said:
I realize this isn't the Sprint forum, but trying to post in many places, so they get the hint:
I'm on my 3rd Epic 4g Touch phone. It's a great phone, but the first one I had wouldn't accept OTA updates. They replaced it with a phone with a broken camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel your pain. I've complained about missing calls/texts since I got the phone. I was promised it would be fixed with an update "any day now" for 2 months. I filed complaints against with with the BBB but nothing has worked to get me reliable service. I use my phone for work calls/txts and can't afford to miss things. I thought I would be in a better service area when I moved from WI to CA at the end of October, but I'm still experiencing the same very poor service. I'm living in a much more populated area but yet I'm roaming ALOT. My wife's phone (Nexus S) has the same issues as my ET4G. Constantly being in Roaming causes our batteries to get hammered, we're lucky to get 16 hours on a full charge.
Since we're constantly roaming, I've called Sprint and they still won't let us out of our contract without paying the ridiculously high ETF fee. They say we're in a "Good" coverage area. I've since started downloading movies to my phone and encouraged my wife to stream Netflix as much as possible. We hit 20gb of 3G Roaming Data last month... I hope it costs them a pretty penny for the data.
-Daryel
price1869 said:
I realize this isn't the Sprint forum, but trying to post in many places, so they get the hint:
I'm on my 3rd Epic 4g Touch phone. It's a great phone, but the first one I had wouldn't accept OTA updates. They replaced it with a phone with a broken camera.
Most recently, I can't get text messages from certain numbers. Yeah yeah, it's just texts, but in this day and age, I need to be able to receive text messages. I've missed work meetings, notices from the baby sitter, friends visiting from out of town, etc. Some of my friends have stopped inviting me to do things because it's too big of a pain to just send a text to everyone and then remember to call me.
Here's the real problem: Sprint won't do anything about it. I've had at least 3 escalated service tickets. I've spent at least 10 hours on the phone with customer service and tech support. Each time, they tell me they'll get back to me in 48-72 hours and they never do. When I call back, they tell me that they need to create a new ticket and it will be another 48-72 hours.
Today, the customer service rep told me that I needed to go into a Sprint store and have them look at the phone. I spent $5 in gas and 2 hours out of my work day to go down there and have a very sympathetic associate tell me that there's nothing wrong with my phone, it's a network problem. We spent the time testing my phone, and transferring my number to a different phone and trying it that way. (It didn't work.)
What can I do? Is there legal recourse? Can I take Sprint to small claims and get out of my contract? They've already told me that if I just end my contract and don't pay their outrageous fee that they'll just send my account to collections.
Thanks for any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It states in the contract that service is not guaranteed 100% of the time and that network issues and device defects do not factor into that.
I've seen this issue before and it is indeed something in the network, if two different devices are exhibiting the same issue.
If you don't mind me asking, where are you located?
Do you have a discount on a family plan? You can get the etf fee waived if so.
I've had customers with this issue that have had similar problems getting it resolved, and a new phone fixed the problem. Since that clearly isn't given your description, I have a few suggestions.
1) try adding the numbers that can't text you to your blocked ptn list on sprint.com or through the phone. Once they are added, wait a few hours and remove them. Totally a shot in the dark, but worth a shot.
2) try enabling tight integration with Google voice. If they text you at your number once it's integrated with Google and the texts still don't work, the problem is on their carrier's end.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Fix for possible Sprint Google Voice integration issue?
I have had the same problem with sending & receiving texts since 11/2011. My Sprint # is integrated with Google Voice & somehow a few of my contacts ended up being marked as spam. Spam doesn't get routed to the native SMS, it is in the GV spam folder. Mark them as not spam & they will come to your inbox. Another issue may be in the contact's individual GV settings. Check to make sure they are not being blocked & that the boxes for sending their communications to your phone are selected in your GV settings for the contacts in general as well as individual contact settings on at www.google.com/voice
Use google voice for texting. It runs through the internet instead of sprint so it works. I don't have many problems with texting normally, but I use voice 50% of the time because its 100% reliable.
I have the same issue. With ALL my contacts from Verizon. The issue got assigned a "case number" by Sprint. That was 48 hours ago...still waiting. So frustrating.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
revamper said:
Use google voice for texting. It runs through the internet instead of sprint so it works. I don't have many problems with texting normally, but I use voice 50% of the time because its 100% reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Though a bit of an annoyance when you suddenly realize you've missed a text/call, this is what I do. Whenever my phone is being sloppy I always check everything through Google Voice.
I've said it before: Google Voice integration (being able to use my Sprint number as my Google Voice number; http://www.google.com/googlevoice/sprint/) is the only reason I'm still with Sprint and haven't jumped to a provider with more reliable/faster network.
Just to let everyone know you cant dial international unless you dial 0 and bill it to you sprint account if you have this setup.
Some things I would try personally:
don't try and install root until all this is over
go to the contact list and export it to your external sdcard, I think it's a vcf file
remove sdcard
full odin factory flash to eg30
through the phone, do a full wipe back to factory
after that I would let the phone update itself to el29
create, on a computer, a new test gmail account and when the phone asks for your gmail, use the new one for troubleshooting purposes
call sprint on normal phone and tell them to fully reset your account and walk you through reprovisioning the phone
TURN ROAMING OFF
have someone text you that previously you couldn't receive texts from before
try texting yourself
You've done other things with google voice already. With the new email account, you can test if texts get through with a fresh account. That's to check if maybe some unknown setting in your original google account might be interferring. There have been some texts with myself and other people that simply fell into the black hole and I never received them or the other person never got them. The same thing has happened to google voice texting too so that's not perfect either.
Same problem here. Missed important calls, missed text, only to find out later after I receive a voicemail notification from a missed call. Text, well, you never find out about them...I called and *****ed about it myself, and I got the same response to take the phone in to a store, because it's probably an "antenna" issue, which we all know it's not.
Please let us know if you find a way out of etf , or whatever the solution may be. (Good thing I have my work blackberry from T-Mobile on me that always works...)
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

How to Leave Sprint

My phone is basically unusable and I am either always roaming or without service (I drop calls constantly and call quality makes the calls indecipherable). I am jumping on to a ATT prepaid service. The question is:
To leave sprint do I:
A) Call, cancel and pay the ETF ($320)
B) Switch PRLs and get kicked off for high data/voice roaming (all while using my GNex)
C) Call, explain I will start purposely data/voice roaming in excess and see if they let me out of my contract?
Normally I am stickler for agreements and upholding my end, but Sprint service has been so bad my E4GT GS2 is basically unusable.
Loki047 said:
My phone is basically unusable and I am either always roaming or without service (I drop calls constantly and call quality makes the calls indecipherable). I am jumping on to a ATT prepaid service. The question is:
To leave sprint do I:
A) Call, cancel and pay the ETF ($320)
B) Switch PRLs and get kicked off for high data/voice roaming (all while using my GNex)
C) Call, explain I will start purposely data/voice roaming in excess and see if they let me out of my contract?
Normally I am stickler for agreements and upholding my end, but Sprint service has been so bad my E4GT GS2 is basically unusable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you decide to pay the ETF, before you do, invest in a cheap non-smart phone and switch to it. This way the ETF you will pay will be decreased.
I know a few people who have been kicked for extensive roaming. 50% still had to pay the ETF because under your contract, sprint is not obligated to waive it.
Surprised to read this as your location shows not even 10 miles away from me - and I have occasional issues but I've found it's usually a tower-specific issue. (At least by being with Sprint you can call and address those - I had to go through my MVNO which took a lot longer.)
I know people are going to possibly disagree but I've found the coverage map to be fairly accurate with the exception of being in a building. All bets are off there, I can't seem to get a decent signal in most buildings, even if I get a full signal + 4G by walking outside! But the signal in Lake County doesn't seem that bad - about the same I get in Northern Cook & DuPage.
First off, have you tried a profile/PRL update to make sure that it's updated? Possibly updating your device? (Maybe there is a hw issue with your E4GT?)
If you're dead set on leaving, consider one thing please. Being aggressive or threatening to a front line employee is probably not going to get you far in my experience. If you know someone that can help you out, that may be another way. I've found that in 90% of the time being upfront and honest with the other party will get the most amicable results.
Doing #2 will at least take 1 month to probably flag so you're out that much. Maybe start there to propose a reduced ETF and negotiate if you find someone willing to do so?
garwynn said:
Surprised to read this as your location shows not even 10 miles away from me - and I have occasional issues but I've found it's usually a tower-specific issue. (At least by being with Sprint you can call and address those - I had to go through my MVNO which took a lot longer.)
I know people are going to possibly disagree but I've found the coverage map to be fairly accurate with the exception of being in a building. All bets are off there, I can't seem to get a decent signal in most buildings, even if I get a full signal + 4G by walking outside! But the signal in Lake County doesn't seem that bad - about the same I get in Northern Cook & DuPage.
First off, have you tried a profile/PRL update to make sure that it's updated? Possibly updating your device? (Maybe there is a hw issue with your E4GT?)
If you're dead set on leaving, consider one thing please. Being aggressive or threatening to a front line employee is probably not going to get you far in my experience. If you know someone that can help you out, that may be another way. I've found that in 90% of the time being upfront and honest with the other party will get the most amicable results.
Doing #2 will at least take 1 month to probably flag so you're out that much. Maybe start there to propose a reduced ETF and negotiate if you find someone willing to do so?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I travel all over chicagoland on a daily basis (my office is in Elmhurst, i have customers downtown, out west and south). I have issues everywhere. I assumed that it was my phone and swapped it out, I am having the same issues. I have updated the PRLs/Profiles routinely. I have called sprint customer service multiple times, been elevated and even have a direct line for a singe person to deal with. Sprint has not been able to correct the issue, they have office discounted rates and credits, which is great, but what I need is working voice and data service. I have no problem paying a premium $150+/month for premium service, right now I am receiving no service. I offered to swap to a different type of phone and pay whatever difference. The only phone available was the photon or an echo. I asked about the nexus and was told I would have to pay full retail. I tried, Sprint didn't.
No reason for me to pay.suffer for Sprint's growing pains.
JSverbal said:
If you decide to pay the ETF, before you do, invest in a cheap non-smart phone and switch to it. This way the ETF you will pay will be decreased.
I know a few people who have been kicked for extensive roaming. 50% still had to pay the ETF because under your contract, sprint is not obligated to waive it.
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Click to collapse
I tried this, it didn't work. Maybe if you've had the phone on that line, and only that line, for long enough it'll work for you but here's what happened to me.
I bought my E4GT on a secondary line but wanted it for my main line. So once I had the phone I swapped it for my main and put some cheap Sanyo flip phone on the number the E4GT was originally bought on.
When I called Sprint to cancel that line I was told they would do it without the ETF but that I had to send the E4GT phone back, which I didn't want to do and I mentioned that the line I wanted to cancel had a flip phone on it but, of course, she has all my records right in front of her and called my bluff.
Garwynn made a good suggestion, and one I ended up using myself. Tell them what's going on (again) and ask them very humbly "what can you do for me?" that's what I did and ended up with an acceptable resolution to my issue.
Just pay your ETF and get out the honest way. Sell your phone (I bought one for $315 recently that will probably cover your ETF depending on when your contract started) and then move on to whomever you choose to go with, just remember all carriers have their issues.
Loki047 said:
Well I travel all over chicagoland on a daily basis (my office is in Elmhurst, i have customers downtown, out west and south). I have issues everywhere. I assumed that it was my phone and swapped it out, I am having the same issues. I have updated the PRLs/Profiles routinely. I have called sprint customer service multiple times, been elevated and even have a direct line for a singe person to deal with. Sprint has not been able to correct the issue, they have office discounted rates and credits, which is great, but what I need is working voice and data service. I have no problem paying a premium $150+/month for premium service, right now I am receiving no service. I offered to swap to a different type of phone and pay whatever difference. The only phone available was the photon or an echo. I asked about the nexus and was told I would have to pay full retail. I tried, Sprint didn't.
No reason for me to pay.suffer for Sprint's growing pains.
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Since I use the wi-fi at work and home I just recently started playing with the 4G and realized it can't lock while I'm driving. I'm wondering if this is part of what you might be noticing. I know there was also a tower problem in Wood Dale because that's the one I reported and it's been corrected now. I could try my device over in some of those trouble spots if near O'Hare and give you something to compare against if it would help.
And out of curiosity, are you going to one of the local offices to talk to someone? There's a corp store on Lake St. in Addison (next to Giordano's) where they've been usually quite happy to talk about things even though I'm on an MVNO. I've found that either that one or at another across from Meijer in Arlington Heights (in the old Arby's) the staff were much easier to work with than other locations.
About your last comment - unfortunately they're going to say that you signed the contract and they're under no obligation to let you out of it. Getting aggressive with them - as I did one time before - actually got every possible charge that they could hit me with done. Just explain it as you have here and a reasonable manager would probably try to help work out a solution to avoid burning the bridge. (Doesn't do their business good either to end on bad terms.)
Wish you the best of luck in getting this resolved.
Esoteric68 said:
I tried this, it didn't work. Maybe if you've had the phone on that line, and only that line, for long enough it'll work for you but here's what happened to me.
I bought my E4GT on a secondary line but wanted it for my main line. So once I had the phone I swapped it for my main and put some cheap Sanyo flip phone on the number the E4GT was originally bought on.
When I called Sprint to cancel that line I was told they would do it without the ETF but that I had to send the E4GT phone back, which I didn't want to do and I mentioned that the line I wanted to cancel had a flip phone on it but, of course, she has all my records right in front of her and called my bluff.
Garwynn made a good suggestion, and one I ended up using myself. Tell them what's going on (again) and ask them very humbly "what can you do for me?" that's what I did and ended up with an acceptable resolution to my issue.
Just pay your ETF and get out the honest way. Sell your phone (I bought one for $315 recently that will probably cover your ETF depending on when your contract started) and then move on to whomever you choose to go with, just remember all carriers have their issues.
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Click to collapse
Worked for me. I had an Evo and ran into financial issues so I sold my Evo, activated a flip phone to reduce my monthly bill. A couple weeks later I canceled service and paid reduced(not smart phone) ETF. I agree that the honest road is always best taken.
garwynn said:
Since I use the wi-fi at work and home I just recently started playing with the 4G and realized it can't lock while I'm driving. I'm wondering if this is part of what you might be noticing. I know there was also a tower problem in Wood Dale because that's the one I reported and it's been corrected now. I could try my device over in some of those trouble spots if near O'Hare and give you something to compare against if it would help.
And out of curiosity, are you going to one of the local offices to talk to someone? There's a corp store on Lake St. in Addison (next to Giordano's) where they've been usually quite happy to talk about things even though I'm on an MVNO. I've found that either that one or at another across from Meijer in Arlington Heights (in the old Arby's) the staff were much easier to work with than other locations.
About your last comment - unfortunately they're going to say that you signed the contract and they're under no obligation to let you out of it. Getting aggressive with them - as I did one time before - actually got every possible charge that they could hit me with done. Just explain it as you have here and a reasonable manager would probably try to help work out a solution to avoid burning the bridge. (Doesn't do their business good either to end on bad terms.)
Wish you the best of luck in getting this resolved.
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Click to collapse
Im not.mad or aggressive. Just frustrated. haha i dont even bother turning on 4g its just a joke.
I have trouble spots in multiple locations ohare is definitly one of them, i can barely keep a call going on 294
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
PRLs to the rescue. I really have no interest in holding up my end of the contract when sprint never held up theirs.
Option b for sure
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
JsVerbal said:
If you decide to pay the ETF, before you do, invest in a cheap non-smart phone and switch to it. This way the ETF you will pay will be decreased.
I know a few people who have been kicked for extensive roaming. 50% still had to pay the ETF because under your contract, sprint is not obligated to waive it.
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lol you do not have to pay an etf if they boot you, your friends got ripped off.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
I would try the Motorola Photon and see if there is a noticeable difference in service. That phone has the best radios (imo) and you should see your signal increase.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
kawaski47 said:
I would try the Motorola Photon and see if there is a noticeable difference in service. That phone has the best radios (imo) and you should see your signal increase.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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I would, but I need my phone basically everyday I already have my GSM Nexus and the T-mobile prepaid service is significantly better than Sprint (my 3g speeds - in my house with basically 0 to 1 bars are 4-5 times faster than sprint), but the great thing is I can make phone calls again and receive them!
Between a refurbished photon and a new GSM Nexus, ill take the nexus. The investment ($450 for the phone, $320 ETF) will pay for its self in 8 months, then the extra money can go towards buying the next Nexus.

[Q] Charged for Malfunctioning Airave?

Has anyone been charged by Sprint for their Airave when it malfunctions? We got a free Airave a year ago due to our poor in house signal. It worked fine until about 3 weeks ago, and lights started flashing. We following tech support's instructions and they finally said it was malfunctioning and that they would send us a new one. When we got the new one (it only took about 3 days) we were to package the old one back up in the same box and send it via UPS back to them. Well, everything was fine until our last bill which showed we were being charged $125 for an Airave "Damaged Beyond Repair." Several calls have not resolved this issue as of now, but they are saying it the warehouse classified it this way, due to corrosion.
rando991 said:
Has anyone been charged by Sprint for their Airave when it malfunctions? We got a free Airave a year ago due to our poor in house signal. It worked fine until about 3 weeks ago, and lights started flashing. We following tech support's instructions and they finally said it was malfunctioning and that they would send us a new one. When we got the new one (it only took about 3 days) we were to package the old one back up in the same box and send it via UPS back to them. Well, everything was fine until our last bill which showed we were being charged $125 for an Airave "Damaged Beyond Repair." Several calls have not resolved this issue as of now, but they are saying it the warehouse classified it this way, due to "damage beyond rpair," but couldn't tell me exactly why. One supervisor said it was probably corrosion or liquid damage, but the waiver request came back denied without an explaination, only that it was DBR and she wouldn't or couldn't say what of the 5 items my device was classified for.
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Click to collapse
UPDATE: A call back from a different tech we talked to upchanneled the issue to his manager and that person made a decision that the charge was "unjustifiable" and gave us a $125 credit. The whole thing was weird, but now I won't going to Verizon over it after all.
rando991 said:
UPDATE: A call back from a different tech we talked to upchanneled the issue to his manager and that person made a decision that the charge was "unjustifiable" and gave us a $125 credit. The whole thing was weird, but now I won't going to Verizon over it after all.
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Thanks for the update, put "SOLVED" in the thread title. Sucks that you had issues, Sprint reps have usually been very nice when I call, but then theres always the one a** that has to mess it up.
I would've replied to this, but I dont even have an Airave haha
Sent from my PG06100
Beyond Charged
rando991 said:
Has anyone been charged by Sprint for their Airave when it malfunctions? We got a free Airave a year ago due to our poor in house signal. It worked fine until about 3 weeks ago, and lights started flashing. We following tech support's instructions and they finally said it was malfunctioning and that they would send us a new one. When we got the new one (it only took about 3 days) we were to package the old one back up in the same box and send it via UPS back to them. Well, everything was fine until our last bill which showed we were being charged $125 for an Airave "Damaged Beyond Repair." Several calls have not resolved this issue as of now, but they are saying it the warehouse classified it this way, due to corrosion.
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Click to collapse
Not sure if you're a new user to the Airave or not but I figured I had better share this.
Oct. 2011 my wife and I switched carriers from a local carrier to Sprint, against my better judgement. I was a long time loyal Sprint customer from 1991-2002 until the digital switch. When we signed up this time we both got the Nexus S 4g. Thank God, because the only thing that saved us was the ability to use Google Talk over Wi-Fi throughout the next period of time.
I was working out of town 5 days a week and home on weekends at the time and from October to December Sprint nearly ruined my marriage and effectually ruined my good name and the state of my account standing because they simply could not get the two devices to communicate properly. We were experiencing things like missed calls, missed texts, no notifications of either, if missed call left a voicemail we would not be notified, texts would arrive 12+ hours after they were sent and Sprint decided we needed to implement an Airave in BOTH locations to improve reception. Unfortunately getting my roommate while working to cooperate with Sprint was virtually impossible, in hindsight, I'm glad he didn't.
Sprint never disclosed that every call going through the Airave was actually changed to an Airave usage minute that came off our then small plan because we were enjoying the unlimited mobile to any mobile minutes. It didn't matter if you were calling a mobile or a Sprint mobile even... every minute through an Airave ate away at your plan minutes. Our $169.00 bill became over $1000.00 in far less than a month. The use of it did decrease our connection issues but throughout the course of troubleshooting with support, executive services and engineers we determined the reason it helped is because the Airave had a single, hardwired MSID that all calls through it used that matched the cellular number that it was assigned. Because it isn't a mobile device it's MSID didn't have to differ from it's mobile number.
Sprint reluctantly refunded the majority of the excess charges, added the unlimited calling feature to the Airave and credited us for it's addition throughout the remainder of our contract and promised not to charge us an early term fee should we decide to take our service elsewhere. From October through April 2012 each my wife and I received 2 replacement NS4G's in spite of the fact that we asked to try something different back on October 10th and was REFUSED believe it or not because of HOW our order was placed. It was a web order that required an instore reservation and for some reason the store cancelled the web order and placed an entirely new order now requiring a deposit where my web order did not. In less than a week of receiving our 3rd NSG4 each, in March of 2012 we both knew the devices still weren't working and with the help of a couple engineers within Sprint, not only did we find the problem we also determined that Sprint was unwilling to admit it and certainly unwilling to address it or repair it.
In our area, our devices have their cellular number and an MSID that differs from it. When I would place a call to my wife, my MSID would receive it's necessary approval from the DSLAM but then the DSLAM proceeded to record a second, different MSID that it randomly assigned to me, her or our communication as you would have it depending on who was initiating the call. Then when the equipment handed off the approved network communication to the receiving end, the second fictitious MSID was handed off and not the originating MSID and because it had no actual communication associated with it, it would simply not notify the receiving party of any call, text or voicemail whatsoever. Not only that, but when the receiving DSLAM received the communication, it recorded a third, altogether different MSID through some dynamic assignment I would assume.
Starting in Feb or Mar Sprint then decided we needed to try new numbers with new devices which was this 3rd NS4G, assuring us both that neither of us would lose our original number since we ported them in, never receiving the benefit of the $125.00 port in credit they claimed we received back in December. All I remembered was a $400.00 bill in December 2011. We tried it and they found even with the new numbers the same MSID issue was going on which prompted the next decision they made which included different devices.
Sprint finally decided to try different devices sending us both used Galaxy S II E4GT's that we were told would be new. By this time, I was no longer working out of town and because we were no longer away from each other and I wasn't using my phone near as much the trouble wasn't seen as often so when we got the new devices it was almost like the issue was non existent. However, the several times I did travel the issue resurfaced immediately. I video taped the opening of the "NEW" devices because they both showed up in a FedEx bubble pack flexible envelope in tiny little boxes with batteries free floating in the envelop in their own plastic bags. No chargers, no headsets, no documentation, no disk with drivers, and no retail box. Both phones had cosmetic damages that appeared to be scuffs. Nicks in the plastic cases on the edge near the glass display and when we registered them on Samsung dotcom, I was sure to use the live representative to do so to make sure it was all documented. We were assured by Samsung that we wouldn't have any trouble receiving warranty service for a year.
Still experiencing the issue with different devices, new numbers and actively engaged engineers calling us to test services we thought for sure they would finally get the issue resolved. Then the time came to put our numbers back where they belong as promised and somehow miraculously Sprint not only lost my number but they continued to hold it hostage until December 2012 when the VP of Consumer Credit was finally forced to send me a "loaner" phone with my original number on it. She agreed to create us a new account with only our two original numbers on it sour current account wouldn't make us look like credit derelicts to any representatives we talked to for any service or support but instead of honoring her agreement, less than a week later, just following Christmas, we receive a letter from Sprint Legal Department telling us we had 30 days to find another carrier since they were deciding to exercise their right to terminate our contract.
Executive services left us hanging, none of our service ever worked as expected, our bill was never repaired virtually none of their representatives were completely honest or knowledgeable and on top of all that, their executives were equally dishonest and frankly I feel damaged irreparably because that period of time I will never get back, I felt like a project manager for them every step of the way because expected call backs would almost never occur and I was constantly prodding someone to do their job in a timely fashion. Over the course of 16 months I spent over 400 hours on the phone with someone from Sprint and we shall see if the Legal department makes good on, not only repairing the account's final status or if they will decide rather to leave the account until it can be written off rather than crediting the account as it should be...
I am monitoring the reporting at the different bureaus very closely right now because if I see any notice of any delinquency I am prepared to take this even further because I am almost certain I will have no problem finding a lawyer in a defamation of character law suit.
I hope your charges don't get nearly as bad as mine did.
Good Luck.
OH, and P.S. This is for Sprint, when I finally complete the project I've been working on I am certain you, like all the other carriers and ISP's, will be interested in utilizing it's functionality because it, if as effective as I think it will be, will reduce network congestion by over 90% by changing the way transferred data is perceived by routing and switching equipment along the path. Don't think you will receive any consideration whatsoever.
I just had the same issue. Took 4 calls to get a new unit, and once I did I thought I was OK. Well my bill showing 300 plus owed said another. Called sprint, guy said it was because I had an innactive unit that I was being charged for it. As last long ad I sent it back I would not be charged, per the rep. It has been a week since I sent it back and still looking for the charge to be removed.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
WOW! I was going to put [SOLVED] in this post header, but maybe I won't now after some of the other comments that had unresolved issues. Very similar. No call backs...I had to call back each day they told me a call was scheduled (and none came). But for the work of one young service rep named James, who IS a concerned and valuable agent, I would have been stuck with that charge and as of today probably would have been a Verizon customer. Note, he missed a call back due to a family emergency. My wife wrote Mr Hesse a 2 page letter (no idea if he will get it) describing this poor situation, but praising the work of young James and his manager in keeping us.
On the subject of the minutes being used by Airave, I haven't noticed that because we have land lines and don't run up cell minutes at home, but I'll be watching that now because I was unaware of that.

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