Game Over for Evo's & Sprint Price Advantage

[JaxChris]

Well I guess this will be a list of my reasons that I've lost faith in Sprint. This is just from the past 18 months of my time with Sprint that started in 2005 when I left T-Mobile. I'm so fed up, I need to vent.

1. Discounts removed from add-ons
2. Discounts removed from lines 3-5
3. Discounts removed from premium data (but you can't elect out of premium data, so not really an add-on)
4. Discounts removed from line 2
5. Administrative charges changed 3 times
6. Introduces Sprint Premier's New Every 12 feature (cool, finally a reason to stick around)
7. Six months later, Sprint Premier is changed so that a majority of users no longer get the New Every 12 benefit (Sprint said I should add another line or increase share plan to 3000 plan)
8. Adds Any Mobile, but still no smaller minute plans (right fit promise my ass)
9. Still no true successor to the Evo 4G (Evo 3D = gimmick, Shift = nothing but Android Touch Pro 2, Design = not leading edge hardware)
10. The Evo line-up is now dead (HTC MWC 2012 announcement, no Sprint announcements, HTC no longer doing side projects -- last one will be the Droid Incredible 3 since it was ordered before the change to One series)
11. Sprint/Clear 4G still not reliable and kills battery flipping in and out of service while driving to/from work (have to stick to 3G to make it through a 16-hour day)
12. Sprint has killed 3G for non-iPhone devices (we can both speedtest.net at the same speed from the same tower, but if we do anything via the web we the iPhone gets 1,000kb+, Evo & Epic both get <=100kb)
13. Increase in protection plan prices
14. Sprint will never grandfather anything

We have 3 lines that used to cost us 131$/month after tax. Now the most recent bill is 173$. I have not had 3 bills in a row for the same price in 2 years. And Sprint wonders why they bleed customers.

Sprint needs smaller plans with smaller prices to help keep customers right now, instead of jacking up discount customers. Sprint is delusional to think they are still the cheapest carrier. They are no longer a true national carrier.

Our total usage average over 18 months: (this is all usage, including n/w and any mobile mins)
Line 1: 230 mins, 400 text, 640mb data (50% talk n/w)
Line 2: 320 mins, 500 text, 420mb data (50% talk n/w)
Line 3: 280 mins, 0 text, 0mb data (50% talk n/w)

Based on this usage, I was able to quote the following prices with the other 3 major carriers: (including corporate discount applied)
Sprint: 173$ (w/ 25% discount) - 1500 Everything Data, Add 1 Line, Insurance Line1/Line2, Premium Data Line1/Line2
T-Mobile: 136$ (w/ 15% discount) - 1000 Classic Share with N/W, 2GB+throttle for Line1/2, Add 1 Line, N/W, Unlimited Text, Insurance Line1/Line2
Verizon: 151$ (w/ 22% discount) - 700 Family Share with N/W, 1000 Text Line1/Line2, 2GB data Line1/Line2, Insurance Line1/Line2
AT&T: 178$ (w/ 12% discount) - 550 Family Talk with N?W, Family Messaging, 3GB data Line1/Line2, Insurance Line1/Line2

Looking at this comparison, Sprint is actually in 3rd place in price but is last place in speed tests from my house and work. And they are device dead until the GS3 comes out. Once that comes out, Sprint will only have the iPhone (hell no), and the GS3 (Line 2 would buy it, I'd be SOL still).

If Sprint has anything up their sleeve, in terms of devices, they sure have failed to gauge their customer reactions and plan their marketing and policy changes accordingly. They are now the worst deal in wireless.

Our Line1 and Line2 used to use about 2GB/month and 1GB/month until we rooted, froze apps that track/update items we don't want, and installed ad blockers. Now our data usage has dropped 60-70% since then. Why should we pay for all that ad traffic and tracking updates? We shouldn't. But analyst groups show that average smartphone usage is 1GB/month, and power users are averaging about 3.75GB/month. This begs the questions of why can't you just buy data at 1GB/10$ shared across the family? And how convenient is it that data from other companies is sold as 2GB or 3GB for 30$ or 5GB for 50$. Neither of those prices or buckets actually match market usage or consumer needs.

Anyhow, now things are so bad at Sprint, I don't see how they can survive on marketing themselves as "the truly unlimited" service, when it isn't even competitive on price or devices anymore. And I haven't even included prepaid services like Straight Talk (SIM plan), Simple Mobile, or Boost/Virgin flashing.

Looks like T-Mobile has the best price and usage availability. Verizon is still cheaper than Sprint, has the best network/speed available, and likely the strongest device selection. AT&T is apparently the example that Sprint is trying to mold themselves as, including how they handle discounts and piss off customers. The problem is that AT&T actually has more network and more cash to get top end devices now. Sprint blew too much cash on iPhone and can no longer get exclusive devices like the Galaxy Note, HTC One X, or Motorola Razr/Maxx.

If anyone can show some concrete evidence that shows Sprint has any hope in the immediate future in terms of pricing or devices, please show me. I want to be with Sprint, but I will not waste money for inferior service, on outdated devices, and watch my price keep rising every other month.

Thanks for listening. And if anyone can prove that Sprint is worth the money, I'm all ears.

 

[dizzle16]

I so agree. I'm still with sprint for one reason: unlimited data. I am rooted and use wireless hotspot to play Xbox live and watch Netflix. Yesterday being a Sunday me and my wife watched like 3 Netflix movies off sprints "4g" network. Now I pay $183 a month for 2 freaking phones so raping them on data actually makes me feel better. Considering I couldn't get good internet for less than $30 a month and would still need to have a cell phone I think $183 works for me and them. Couldn't care less if it worked for them. People say sprint will catch you or charge you for hotspoting. If they do then ill be with T-Mobile the next day

 

[blacksapphire08]

While I dont have an EVO, I have it's older brother the Hero. I've been looking forward to an upgrade but like you said the EVO 3D is a joke and nothing new has come out since on Sprint (HTC wise anyway). I'm looking to jump ship to another carrier since they actually have better HTC phones now.

 

[BigDinCA]

Sprint doesn't announce at MWC. Or CES, for that matter. Their big announcements come at CTIA. That's where the OG EVO and the EVO 3D were announced. That's when I am expecting to hear about the newest Sprint devices. But I really am blown away by how much people discount the EVO 3D as a great phone! If you don't care for the 3D feature that's fine. You're not forced to use it. I use it sometimes and it's fun. Not perfect, but it is fun. I certainly didn't buy it for the 3D feature. But from the OG EVO, which I had from the beginning and loved, it was an improvement on many levels. More RAM, more ROM, bigger battery, better battery life, better screen resolution, faster processor and it was upgraded to a dual-core processor (which was one of the few phones to have it at the time). There are lots of other little things, too, including new Sense and a more robust vibrate function. I'm not sure what people were expecting. Compared to what is out there now it looks a little dated, but when it was launched it really was one of the best devices out there. Hell, it still has better specs than most new handsets coming out now, except for the "flagship" devices everyone talks about.

As for Sprint's pricing - I still get a better deal from them than I would anywhere else. I check it out all of the time. I am still pissed about the Premier Plan myself and the removal of the discount from the 2nd line as well, but that's about it. I don't have any issues w/ data speeds. I don't notice much of a difference between pre- and post-iPhone speeds. I live in SoCal and travel a lot, so I use the data in lots of places. I never had 4G and once Clear was having financial issues and Sprint announced the move to LTE it was a non-issue. My plan hasn't been offered for quite some time and I have never been forced to change, so I am pretty sure that is the definition of "grandfathered". And as far as the price increase in TEP, I am pretty sure that was an Assurion rate increase that all of the carriers passed along to their customers.

Is Sprint the best? Maybe not, but they are the most cost-effective for me (3 phones, no tablets, unlimited data). Are they the most reliable? In my travels they are as reliable as anyone else, and I get the added benefit of roaming on Verizon should the need arise. They are substantially better for me than T-Mo or AT&T. As for the EVO line, I hope they release a new one this summer. I look at the Shift and the Design as mid-range filler for people who want something smaller. But I am hopeful that the EVO line carries on. If it does, we probably won't hear about it until CTIA.

 

[NicksGarage]

It's kind of like picking the lesser of evils. I used to be on Verizon and happy with them until my phone broke and they wouldn't let me activate another of the same model without changing my plan to get me off my grandfathered data plan. I then switched to Sprint and have been happy for the most part. The biggest disappointment has been the 4G system. Why constantly run ads for it in markets where it is never going to happen? I'm still using my launch-day EVO 4G but when the time comes for my next phone in the April-June period I'll be seriously looking at the future of Sprint here in San Diego. Do I switch to an LTE phone that may never get a connection here? And as for HTC, looking at their new phones I don't want something that I can't expand the memory in. I don't care about batteries I can't remove as I never do that now but I do like to be able to expand the memory.

 

[denisew1972]

My plan sits at $192 for 3 lines all premium 2 with ins. And thats after my 25% discount from work... I can't believe my $130 month plan has come to this... And I never have and never will even know what 4g feels like. Sucks! I can't believe I've let myself pay this much for cell service, we are definately being robbed.

 

[tsak6789]

I'm giving Sprint till May when I'm due for an upgrade. If they don't have any new high end Androids by then it's "hello Verizon"!

 

[MikeBinOK]

I saw this thread title as most recent on the HTC EVO forum, and had to join in. I bailed out from Sprint just today--I had almost gone to Verizon (though it would have meant an ETF to Sprint) last Summer just before Verizon ended unlimited data plans. I chose to stay with Sprint because I liked getting a new device every year, and I still hoped they would somehow come up with a new 4G network that was worth anything (no 4G in my city except a single solitary tower with limited coverage that isn't even shown on their service maps or announced). So I skipped Verizon, got the EVO 3D, and planned to stay with Sprint. Soon after, they eliminated the Premier Gold program as mentioned above, and recently I learned that data roaming is to be sharply curtailed in my state. And it appears there is disagreement between Sprint's CEO and the board over acquisitions, and Sprint is gonna have to be pushing iPhones like mad after the deal with Apple, which means Android will get short shrift. Just last Sunday, I heard about Verizon's "double data" program, and that pushed me over the edge. I agonized briefly between the Nexus and the Droid Razr Maxx, and ended up activating my Razr Maxx this afternoon. Felt scarey resetting my EVO 3D and handing it over to Verizon for a service credit, but I won't really have any use for it. The money will help pay my ETF to Sprint. *sigh*

Sad after over twelve years on Sprint, but I think I made the right choice! I hope Sprint makes it, it's better for everyone to have three big service providers than two. And don't worry, I won't let the door hit me in the hiney on the way out of this forum! I've learned a lot from the folks here, and hopefully have helped others at least a bit.

 

[UBDg]

I saw this thread title as most recent on the HTC EVO forum, and had to join in. I bailed out from Sprint just today--I had almost gone to Verizon (though it would have meant an ETF to Sprint) last Summer just before Verizon ended unlimited data plans. I chose to stay with Sprint because I liked getting a new device every year, and I still hoped they would somehow come up with a new 4G network that was worth anything (no 4G in my city except a single solitary tower with limited coverage that isn't even shown on their service maps or announced). So I skipped Verizon, got the EVO 3D, and planned to stay with Sprint. Soon after, they eliminated the Premier Gold program as mentioned above, and recently I learned that data roaming is to be sharply curtailed in my state. And it appears there is disagreement between Sprint's CEO and the board over acquisitions, and Sprint is gonna have to be pushing iPhones like mad after the deal with Apple, which means Android will get short shrift. Just last Sunday, I heard about Verizon's "double data" program, and that pushed me over the edge. I agonized briefly between the Nexus and the Droid Razr Maxx, and ended up activating my Razr Maxx this afternoon. Felt scarey resetting my EVO 3D and handing it over to Verizon for a service credit, but I won't really have any use for it. The money will help pay my ETF to Sprint. *sigh*

Sad after over twelve years on Sprint, but I think I made the right choice! I hope Sprint makes it, it's better for everyone to have three big service providers than two. And don't worry, I won't let the door hit me in the hiney on the way out of this forum! I've learned a lot from the folks here, and hopefully have helped others at least a bit.

I hear you... in exactly the same place. I've got four lines with Sprint, and been with them for eleven years. I am starting to migrate all my lines to, looks like Verizon, beginning in the next couple months.

Sprints deal with the iPhone will shift their focus to a diluted pool (with the iPhone now being sold just about everywhere). CS has finally improved, but I don't need $225 worth of CS a month, I need cell service. They got me with the 4G WiMax stuff. And again with the change to the Premier Program.

So, for me... welcome to customer churn. I will never be an extended customer (like 11 years) again. My plan is to watch rates and services, make comparisons, and change carriers every two years. There will be NO MORE brand loyalty, and I will not be lazy, or uninformed. Carriers have proven to me, they are more interested in finding new customers than keeping the ones they have. OK, i got it finally, and so will play that game.

The sad part to me... I don't think they (any of them) care.

 

[bebeau25]

I was a Sprint customer for 10 years and most of them were good. Actually my whole experience with Sprint was good except the last 6 months of that 10 years. When my data speeds reverted back to speeds of the early 90's and they still wanted to charge me a "premium data charge" of ten dollars a month, I couldn't take it anymore and jumped to Verizon. I...and I would assume everyone else, like the feeling of I'm getting what I'm paying for. These phones and plans have gotten crazy expensive and Sprint didn't give me that feeling anymore. For two lines I was paying 136$ a month with Sprint and now paying 147$ a month with Verizon. I'm sure Verizon has its issues, but at least they don't have the issue of always trying to play catch up in the mobile data speed department. Paying 11$ more a month and having the fastest data speeds in the country is well worth it to me. I hope Sprint can get their 4g Lte implemented soon to keep competition going, but until then its Verizon for me.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk

 

[JaxChris]

So I called Sprint and it took 42 mins for them to cancel my service. It felt like they deliberately tried to get me to hang up/give up. Then they tried giving reasons why Sprint is best, and I used all of my reasons above to explain why none of it matters and does not justify ever increasing costs. And then, as soon as I said the word cancel for the 5th time, there was a loud *DING* on the line and the agent suddenly changed to "so you want to cancel?"

I guess you should just call up and say "cancel cancel cancel cancel cancel" if you want to avoid the headaches. At this point I was put on hold multiple times while they were processing things and setting up my ETF waivers.

After the call was done, I fired up Sprint Chat and said "I was just on the phone with customer service, my Interaction # is XXXXXXXXXXX, can you please tell me the notes that were place under this Interaction?" They stated my service will end on Mar 16th, ETF's are waived, and I can port out at anytime. Asked them if this is accurate and binding. They replied that it was. I then saved the chat and had it emailed to me.

Next it was off to Tmobile. I grabbed 2 SIM's on the Value Plan. After my discount and taxes, my bill is 73$/month for more service then I will need. The 3rd line will be going on a PagePlus 12$ plan and I'll throw 20$ extra on the account to cover any random overage in the future.

Ordered up a couple new Sensations from Expansys until the HTC One models come to the US. After coupons and cashback, they will have cost me 600$. They will be here Tue.

So saving ~90$/month is a great feeling, and I have no trouble with their signal at work or home. Tmobile was cool about letting me use a demo device for a day to check out service levels where they matter to me. Now I wonder why I never left sooner. If I had done this 6 months ago, I would have already saved enough to pay for the phones and selling my old phones would've covered the cost of service for about 4 months.

Sprint, you screwed up. Spending 15.5$ billion in iPhone pre-orders and 4.5$ into the Apple marketing fund was a huge cost that iPhone customers alone will never pay you back for. This is why you are jacking up any price you can. You'll continue to bleed customers until all that is left is iPhone customers and when you try to force them all to 100$/month like Verizon and AT&T do, everyone will abandon you for bigger networks. It's funny, you think Apple will save you, but it will sink you.

I hope Tmobile never invests in the iPhone and uses that AT&T break up money purely for their LTE/HSPA+ upgrades. From what I've read, they are going to transition frequencies to match that of AT&T and set up greater roaming agreements with each other to help alleviate spectrum shortages. This means Tmobile customers will be able to buy good international models, like AT&T customers can, and use them at full 3.5G speeds. I don't care about LTE, the speed is far faster than a mobile truly needs and should be used and marketed for home broadband services.

 

[denisew1972]

I'm glad T-mobile have you a better deal. I also stopped into the local T-mobile store but my experience was a little different. I'm a bottom line kind gal so I told the rep there what I had with Sprint and asked her for a price on something comparable. The price for 3 smartphone lines, "unlimited" data plan was going to be around $180 per month before taxes. Taxes for each line would be 10 so throw in another $30. So we're back to around $200. This T-mobile plan also cut my sons line to 500 minutes (with sprint it's 1500 family) and this is the important part NO MOBILE TO MOBILE is offered via T-mobile just T-mobile to T-mobile. In all honesty 90% of my minutes are any mobile to mobile. That was a dealbreaker. Also, the nights and weekends dont start until 9pm. So, for me T-mobile isn't an option. The rep at t-mobile even told me Sprint was a better deal for me. LOL So alas, I'm staying with Sprint. T-mobile did have some pretty phones though...

 

[blacksapphire08]

I too went ahead and made the switch to T-Mobile and bought a HTC Amaze. I've been really impressed by the solid coverage and data speeds i've been getting. Sprint really needs to step up their game or they'll just keep hemorrhaging customers.

 

[olorin]

Well I guess this will be a list of my reasons that I've lost faith in Sprint. This is just from the past 18 months of my time with Sprint that started in 2005 when I left T-Mobile. I'm so fed up, I need to vent.

1. Discounts removed from add-ons
2. Discounts removed from lines 3-5
3. Discounts removed from premium data (but you can't elect out of premium data, so not really an add-on)
4. Discounts removed from line 2
5. Administrative charges changed 3 times
6. Introduces Sprint Premier's New Every 12 feature (cool, finally a reason to stick around)
7. Six months later, Sprint Premier is changed so that a majority of users no longer get the New Every 12 benefit (Sprint said I should add another line or increase share plan to 3000 plan)
8. Adds Any Mobile, but still no smaller minute plans (right fit promise my ass)
9. Still no true successor to the Evo 4G (Evo 3D = gimmick, Shift = nothing but Android Touch Pro 2, Design = not leading edge hardware)
10. The Evo line-up is now dead (HTC MWC 2012 announcement, no Sprint announcements, HTC no longer doing side projects -- last one will be the Droid Incredible 3 since it was ordered before the change to One series)
11. Sprint/Clear 4G still not reliable and kills battery flipping in and out of service while driving to/from work (have to stick to 3G to make it through a 16-hour day)
12. Sprint has killed 3G for non-iPhone devices (we can both speedtest.net at the same speed from the same tower, but if we do anything via the web we the iPhone gets 1,000kb+, Evo & Epic both get <=100kb)
13. Increase in protection plan prices
14. Sprint will never grandfather anything

We have 3 lines that used to cost us 131$/month after tax. Now the most recent bill is 173$. I have not had 3 bills in a row for the same price in 2 years. And Sprint wonders why they bleed customers.

Sprint needs smaller plans with smaller prices to help keep customers right now, instead of jacking up discount customers. Sprint is delusional to think they are still the cheapest carrier. They are no longer a true national carrier.

Our total usage average over 18 months: (this is all usage, including n/w and any mobile mins)
Line 1: 230 mins, 400 text, 640mb data (50% talk n/w)
Line 2: 320 mins, 500 text, 420mb data (50% talk n/w)
Line 3: 280 mins, 0 text, 0mb data (50% talk n/w)

Based on this usage, I was able to quote the following prices with the other 3 major carriers: (including corporate discount applied)
Sprint: 173$ (w/ 25% discount) - 1500 Everything Data, Add 1 Line, Insurance Line1/Line2, Premium Data Line1/Line2
T-Mobile: 136$ (w/ 15% discount) - 1000 Classic Share with N/W, 2GB+throttle for Line1/2, Add 1 Line, N/W, Unlimited Text, Insurance Line1/Line2
Verizon: 151$ (w/ 22% discount) - 700 Family Share with N/W, 1000 Text Line1/Line2, 2GB data Line1/Line2, Insurance Line1/Line2
AT&T: 178$ (w/ 12% discount) - 550 Family Talk with N?W, Family Messaging, 3GB data Line1/Line2, Insurance Line1/Line2

Looking at this comparison, Sprint is actually in 3rd place in price but is last place in speed tests from my house and work. And they are device dead until the GS3 comes out. Once that comes out, Sprint will only have the iPhone (hell no), and the GS3 (Line 2 would buy it, I'd be SOL still).

If Sprint has anything up their sleeve, in terms of devices, they sure have failed to gauge their customer reactions and plan their marketing and policy changes accordingly. They are now the worst deal in wireless.

Our Line1 and Line2 used to use about 2GB/month and 1GB/month until we rooted, froze apps that track/update items we don't want, and installed ad blockers. Now our data usage has dropped 60-70% since then. Why should we pay for all that ad traffic and tracking updates? We shouldn't. But analyst groups show that average smartphone usage is 1GB/month, and power users are averaging about 3.75GB/month. This begs the questions of why can't you just buy data at 1GB/10$ shared across the family? And how convenient is it that data from other companies is sold as 2GB or 3GB for 30$ or 5GB for 50$. Neither of those prices or buckets actually match market usage or consumer needs.

Anyhow, now things are so bad at Sprint, I don't see how they can survive on marketing themselves as "the truly unlimited" service, when it isn't even competitive on price or devices anymore. And I haven't even included prepaid services like Straight Talk (SIM plan), Simple Mobile, or Boost/Virgin flashing.

Looks like T-Mobile has the best price and usage availability. Verizon is still cheaper than Sprint, has the best network/speed available, and likely the strongest device selection. AT&T is apparently the example that Sprint is trying to mold themselves as, including how they handle discounts and piss off customers. The problem is that AT&T actually has more network and more cash to get top end devices now. Sprint blew too much cash on iPhone and can no longer get exclusive devices like the Galaxy Note, HTC One X, or Motorola Razr/Maxx.

If anyone can show some concrete evidence that shows Sprint has any hope in the immediate future in terms of pricing or devices, please show me. I want to be with Sprint, but I will not waste money for inferior service, on outdated devices, and watch my price keep rising every other month.

Thanks for listening. And if anyone can prove that Sprint is worth the money, I'm all ears.

I understand your frustration, but you're not even comparing like plans. I have the 1500 minute plan for a reason. Dropping to less than 1000 minutes really isn't an option.

Seriously... a 550 minute plan?! I hope Tmo works for you... a fled them several years ago and never looked back. Sprint may not be perfect, but at least I don't have to argue for hours until I finally get a supervisor to fix their mistakes (as was my typical Tmo experience).