Help me decide between carries please?

[cell128]

My carrier dilemma

I have been with att for about 3 years until january 15th when I switched to sprint because of AT&T's bullcrap top 5% throttling thing. I like sprints service but in the middle of the day they're 3G goes horribly slow, like 200kbps to 500kbps.
I work rotating shifts and at about 12am to 4 am it always runs at above 1.5mbps wish it ran like that all day. I noticed that right when I opened the sprint account, I started getting charged for texting internationally to vietnam which I have no idea why as I don't know anyone there. anyways I had them block the single number which they said was only outgoing texts never incoming. anyways, I am lockeed into a contract with sprint now but I called earlier and complained about them changing my discount to only my primary line and told them thats a breach of my contract and voila!!! they said if thats how I feel about it I can cancel My account without ETF fee's. So I have to decide on sprint or att heres the breakdown
on my plans please tell me which one would you guys go with?

Sprint (current carrier)
about $148 a month
1500 minutes with any mobile to any mobile
unlimited text and data

ATT:
$138 a month for 2 iphones
700 minutes with any mobile to any mobile
A-list: 10 landlines that I can assign unlimited minutes too
unlimited data on both lines
unlimited text
I have about 7000 rolled over minutes sitting there at all times

I like my ATT plan better but the throttling is what is keeping me on sprints side as I consume up to 10GB's a month and ATT is throttling down to less than edge after about 2gb's. Also att seems to give me a more solid signal here in Los Angeles. spriint is spotty in some areas and I have already ran into 2 spots where there is no signal at all in the middle of the city.

which one would you guys choose? Consider that sprint is also supposedly upgrading its 3g network this year and rolling out it's LTE network too

 

[tommydaniel]

My carrier dilemma

I have been with att for about 3 years until january 15th when I switched to sprint because of AT&T's bullcrap top 5% throttling thing. I like sprints service but in the middle of the day they're 3G goes horribly slow, like 200kbps to 500kbps.
I work rotating shifts and at about 12am to 4 am it always runs at above 1.5mbps wish it ran like that all day. I noticed that right when I opened the sprint account, I started getting charged for texting internationally to vietnam which I have no idea why as I don't know anyone there. anyways I had them block the single number which they said was only outgoing texts never incoming. anyways, I am lockeed into a contract with sprint now but I called earlier and complained about them changing my discount to only my primary line and told them thats a breach of my contract and voila!!! they said if thats how I feel about it I can cancel My account without ETF fee's. So I have to decide on sprint or att heres the breakdown
on my plans please tell me which one would you guys go with?

Sprint (current carrier)
about $148 a month
1500 minutes with any mobile to any mobile
unlimited text and data

ATT:
$138 a month for 2 iphones
700 minutes with any mobile to any mobile
A-list: 10 landlines that I can assign unlimited minutes too
unlimited data on both lines
unlimited text
I have about 7000 rolled over minutes sitting there at all times

I like my ATT plan better but the throttling is what is keeping me on sprints side as I consume up to 10GB's a month and ATT is throttling down to less than edge after about 2gb's. Also att seems to give me a more solid signal here in Los Angeles. spriint is spotty in some areas and I have already ran into 2 spots where there is no signal at all in the middle of the city.

which one would you guys choose? Consider that sprint is also supposedly upgrading its 3g network this year and rolling out it's LTE network too

How do you figure you will get unlimited data on AT&T? They don't have unlimited data anymore, its capped.

 

[umpirerob]

He has 59 days to reactivate and get his old stuff back.

I suggest you modify your data usage, get the 5 GB data plans (discount eligible) and stick with at&t. They won't throttle you and you'll get the service you want. It'll be a little more expensive, but probably worth it.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[tommydaniel]

He has 59 days to reactivate and get his old stuff back.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

ooh didn't see that in the post.

 

[cell128]

I'm thinking about sticking it out with sprint. I can't take the data throttling as that is the main reason I use a smartphone. My wife uses it mostly for the phone though and with att we used to get the free landlines and she could talk forever to her mother. Now I need to keep an eye on the minutes a little more. She uses about 1,000 minutes a month just speaking with her family lol

 

[prolongExistence]

I'm thinking about sticking it out with sprint. I can't take the data throttling as that is the main reason I use a smartphone. My wife uses it mostly for the phone though and with att we used to get the free landlines and she could talk forever to her mother. Now I need to keep an eye on the minutes a little more. She uses about 1,000 minutes a month just speaking with her family lol

Tell your mother-in-law to step into the 90s and get a cell phone. Then your wife could use Sprint and talk to her a million minutes a month for free with Sprints mobile-to-mobile! And you wouldn't have to modify your data usage!

 

[SERO wireless]

How about $75/mo. for two lines with unlimited minutes and unlimited data? MVNOs have some of the best deals available right now and for various reasons they don't pay most of the junk fees and taxes prepaid plans have. The best part is if it doesn't work out you're not stuck with an ETF to try something else.

Boost Mobile, a wholly-owned Sprint subsidiary, has true unlimited plans (unlimited, not unlimited until they decide to throttle you) starting at $50/mo. and they'll knock off $5/mo. (per line) every 6 months you pay on time. They don't have 4G or top of the line phones (LG Marquee is as good as it gets), but for the unlimited talk and unlimited data you're looking for it may be a better solution.

Sprint is actively upgrading their network. Check here to see what upgrades they're rolling out in your dead zones. Once the dust settles on their network upgrades their new 3G service is supposed to get 9mbps.

 

[joeynumbers]

get AT&T

AT&T throttles you at 2GB.

Sprint throttles your data at 0 GB. You seen the speeds, don't expect them to improve.

 

[prolongExistence]

It really depends where you live, as many have posted over here.http://forums.androidcentral.com/sprint/156254-slow-3g.html

Maybe grab a cheap or used MVNO phone that uses Sprints network (such as Virgin Mobile) and see how the service is in your area. That way you aren't tied to a contract if you are unhappy. But then if you are happy, you can take the plunge to a better Sprint phone on contract. Or, just take the plunge to Sprint and you have 14 days to decide & return if you are unhappy.

 

[dewmik]

Before you dump SPCS try talking to the retentions department. Call *2. When Clare asks what your problem is say cancellations or retentions.
I am sure you talked to a regular CS agent because a retentions agent would never say, "If that's how you feel"
Very politely (That's important) ask if you are talking to a retentions agent and explain your issue. be real detailed, but don't interrupt. Just be a nice guy and be realistic.
By the time your done, you will have 1500 to 2000 minutes on both phones, about $110 bucks a month, That's just a guess.
If you think you are not talking to a retention agent, tell them that your having a phone connection issue and ask them to call you back. CS can't make outgoing calls only retentions can.
If you still can't get in touch with them message me and i will get you the 800 numbers strait to retentions.

 

[dchawk81]

Before you dump SPCS try talking to the retentions department. Call *2. When Clare asks what your problem is say cancellations or retentions.
I am sure you talked to a regular CS agent because a retentions agent would never say, "If that's how you feel"
Very politely (That's important) ask if you are talking to a retentions agent and explain your issue. be real detailed, but don't interrupt. Just be a nice guy and be realistic.
By the time your done, you will have 1500 to 2000 minutes on both phones, about $110 bucks a month, That's just a guess.
If you think you are not talking to a retention agent, tell them that your having a phone connection issue and ask them to call you back. CS can't make outgoing calls only retentions can.
If you still can't get in touch with them message me and i will get you the 800 numbers strait to retentions.

That might work, but then it might not. They called my bluff on more than one occasion.

Even if it does work, that'll rack up a huge amount of minutes but won't help a lick with the slow data problem.

It's a catch-22 right now. You can either have a little fast data or a lot of slow data. I'm sure Sprint will improve but it'll probably be a little while.

 

[SERO wireless]

... won't help a lick with the slow data problem.

I feel your pain, brother. I take comfort in knowing that Sprint admits there's a problem and is doing something about it though.

Blame Apple. Sprint had to have the iPhone to stem the churn. T-mobile lost >700,000 customers in Q4 and said it was because they didn't have iPhones. 40% of Sprint's new phone sales in Q4 were iPhones. iPhones use 10-30 times as much data as a regular phone*. AT&T's network also buckled under the strain when they first rolled out the iPhone.

As much as I despise Dan Hesse I give the man credit for taking Sprint off the sinking WiMax ship. What good is a network if most of your customers cant use it, it isn't as fast as your competitor's solutions and the partner you're depending on to build it is constantly broke? Still, you can't turn a national cellular network on a dime. It'll take a few months, but once the improvements are in place you'll have a better network for a lower rate than if you jump ship now.

* based on Sprint's claim that a smartphone uses 10 times the data of a regular phone and an industry study that shows the iPhone 4S uses three times as much data as the iPhone 3G.

 

[dchawk81]

My data speeds went downhill before the iPhone, but I'm sure it's not helping.

At any rate, I moved on (not by choice). It may be for good or it may be temporary. Who knows. What I do know is my 3G now is anywhere between 10 and 15 times faster than what I got during the day in my last half a year or more with Sprint.

 

[P_M_G]

i'm holding out hope that the LTE rollout to LA later this year will shortly thereafter extend into OC. If it does, I'm expecting to be more than happy staying with Sprint. If not, and they hold out on us then I'm planning on jumping ship to Verizon where I can get a better network, better phones and pay about the same as I am now, within about $10.

 

[Murphy5111]

I left Verizon and have had sprint for 5 months. I'll probably go back to Verizon after my contract is up. Sprint's service has gotten better over the years but still can't penetrate buildings like Verizon can. I'm often in office buildings and I can't access data when people on Verizon can. It happens way too often. I love my galaxy sII but the service is lacking.

 

[cell128]

I decided to stay with sprint. I really liked my att plan and the network but the 3gb that they give you is crap I neveruse less than 5 a month. Usually 6-8. Hopefully sprint doesn't pull the same crap in the future. I'm also on the lookout on Craigslist to take over liability of a Verizon contract with unlimited data.