Alternatives to Sprint PCS

I had a Sprint PCS account but did not use it much and just bought what I found in the nearest shop. Now I need phone more, so I bought a new phone and started researching SprintPCS plans and features. Well, it looks like a total rip-off to me - all features are extra fee or unavailable at all. I cannot even upload images from my PC. Another issue is that I need to use the phone in Europe often, and it would be great if I cound do so by just switching SIM-card. Therefore I need a GSM phone, I guess.

Ok, here is the question:
1. Can I return the pnone/cancel the service? I have the phone for about 3 days, but the service for over 6 months.
2. What are good alternatives to service provider/phone? My average usage is 300 minutes busenes time, 400 minutes nights/weekends, occasional emailing and it would be good to be able to send instant messages (MSN or AOL). I live mostly in Nashville, TN. Also, I'd prefer unlocked phone.

Thanks for help.
Pepelaz

if u have T-Mobile in ur area, the get a T-Mobile phone, the plans are the best, and (in the northwest at least) the service is the best, always working almost everywhere.

for aphone, i would recommend the nokia 6610, its slim, has a really sharp color screen, and is triband so u can use it in europe.
however, when u get a GSM phone from a mobile service provider, the phone will locked so u can only use it with the company that supplied the phone (T-Mobile or AT&T for example), however, if u look on the internet, there are ways of unlocking the phones so you can use it with any service provider.

think about Get More 600 (T-Mobile, if your area has no problem)
40=600 daytime+free nights and wkends
20 more to get GPRS access (unlimited)
it is very useful with laptop
while others provides 79.99 for unlimited
this is a steal
and T-Mobile provides unlock code for several bucks (make sure it's tri-band phone), and it's quick!

People that think Sprint is too expensive aren't checking the details of the plan. It's true that Sprint charges $15 for Vision access, but be aware that it DOESN'T use minutes at all, and you get a download credit on your bill to boot.

in contrary, t-zones unlimited for 10 bucks
and unlimited GPRS is 20
great for n-gage and 3650 (internet radio)

Mingkee, are you telling me you get unlimited GPRS data for $20/month?

And unlimited minutes for $10/month? Tell me about this plan!

www.myprepaidsolution.com

First I would like to say that I currently employed at Sprint PCS as a general telesales I am the person you call to set up new service with sprint, I want to say that I agree with everything the sprint CSR is saying about sprint that company doesn¡¦t care about anybody except the bottom line as most of you know when you call sprint you are not talking to sprint it is another company representing sprint there are 3 different companies that have sprint as a client that I know of so you can probably see why you get such lousy service because each company does thing differently than the other the reason I know this I have worked for 2 of them one was collections the last one was sales here is an example of a problem out of numerous ones if you go to a sprint store to get your phone replaced they say call customer service and customer service says call general telesales which I say you need to go to the sprint store this would drive any person into rage and it is not a bit funny! Some store are cooperate and some are franchised meaning they don¡¦t always march to the same drummer like the collections is one call center owned by 1 inenity and sales is another owned by another entity and customer care another entity which I will not name because I can get sued.

But anyway as a Sales Rep I would also like to say that almost every complaint I have heard or seen is a valid legitimate complaint, except for one in particular and that is the phone replacement which is a personal peeve of mine, what is wrong with a mail-in rebate for an existing customer? I have Sprint PCS service and knew that before I signed up with Sprint. Circuit City, Best Buy etc¡K use mail-in rebates but Sprint shouldn¡¦t be able to have mail in rebates? An existing customer can have an instant rebate if they are getting a new line of service, but why does Sprint owe you a new phone for free if you lose it drop it or what ever reason 8 out 10 customer give me this line that they will leave Sprint if I wont give them a new phone because they are long time customers will your local phone company give you a new phone when your home phone dies or a mail in rebate or instant rebate no that is why you can go to the store and buy a new one why don¡¦t you tell your local carrier like you tell me you will move to another company if you don¡¦t by me a new phone. or why don¡¦t you when you buy a printer at Circuit City with a mail-in rebate and 2 years later when it dies tell Circuit City hey buy me a new on or I will got to best buy because the have mail-in rebates for a new printer this sounds like a stupid argument but I here this everyday from you customers.
I get people all the time that want to activate a used phone I tell them that we have free phones with a 2 year agreement 10 out of 10 say no they like to old used one but after it dies they are not eligible for any rebates until after 18 months I tell them that too but they don¡¦t care until their old phone they brought with them and they signed a contract anyway with the old phone want a replacement and can¡¦t get one they have to pay full price and they say it isn¡¦t fair they were warned but didn¡¦t listen and it is Sprint the big bad bullies fault not theirs for not listing right !

On the other hand here is some ideas to help you don¡¦t setup a new account and get a refurbished phone from Radio Shack it isn¡¦t worth saving $10 to $20 dollars if it goes out on you.

If you are a long time customer and have a A or B maybe C credit class and have a good complaint ask for customer retention you can get lots of freebies free minutes, credits on your bill, free services like PCS to PCS, etc. lower credit classes they don¡¦t work with you as well ƒ¼ but it is hard to get past Customer Care to get to Customer Retention

Insurance at $4.00 a month if you are prone to losing your phone a lot only $35.00 to replace it, but you can only replace 2 times a year, if the phone isn¡¦t available anymore then one of comparable value will be given possibly a refurbished phone.

Don¡¦t bring a used phone from a friend etc to a new plan it could die on you before the 18 month handset upgrade is available to you plus if you buy a used Sprint Phone and it has a past due owning on it you will have to pay the amount before it will be activated.

Sprint Sales cannot bill and (cold phone) hand set upgrade to any account even A credit Classes.

A and B credit Class can add a new phone and Service to their bill lower credit classes cannot.

You can have you activation fee billed to your first month¡¦s bill

If you open 3 lines of service 2 of the 3 activation fees can be waived plus if you are transferring 3 phone numbers from another carrier you can go to sprintpcs.com and port the numbers yourself and get a credit of $36.00 per line transfer just don¡¦t mention this to the sales rep when asking for activation fee waived and wait until you get your phones before porting the numbers because they possibly could port before you get the phones and your old phone will stop working once the porting is done and you maybe without service until your new phones show up. Don¡¦t cancel your old service until porting is done because if you do your old provider by law doesn¡¦t have to give you your old phone number and they won¡¦t

Porting if it takes longer than 2 days that is because your old provider is taking their time call them and make them hurry because all you have to say is that you will call the FCC and file a complaint, the FCC may levy fines against your old provider if they have had past complaints (remember the FCC made this possible for us as customers the Mobile providers fought this new law tooth and nail)

Sam¡¦s Club and Costco are the 2 best places to buy a phone you get another discount on top of the sprint regular savings; Best Buy sometimes does too,

If you are an USAA member you will get a 5% discount off your monthly bill not the price of the phone Sprint has no way of verifying the 8 digit USAA number so if you make up a number it is your conscience to deal with.

Ask your company you work for if they have agreements with Sprint you can get discount up to 28% off your monthly bill but not the price of the phone.

If you are in the U.S. armed services you can cancel your advantage agreement if you are being activated.

If you lose your phone you can put it on suspension until you can afford to buy a new phone so you don¡¦t have to pay the full monthly amount.

If you pay your bill online you will get a $50.00 service credit.

If your bill say¡¦s to pay on the 18th pay it that day or you will be shut off by the 4th day after I was because you next months bill will post in that time but you will not receive the next bill in the mail until 2 weeks later also if you check your minutes and billing it will not post there until a week later even though it is updated every 15 minutes to 1 hour your CSR will say it takes days to update the site that is not true I got mine turned back on but it was an hassle for days of threat to turn it back off even after promise to pay way first made 4 days after the 18th don¡¦t talk to collections they don¡¦t care even if you say you have no choice but to leave Sprint and pay the early termination fee of $150.00 talk to customer care several times if you need too this applies to credit classes lower than A,B,C , if you an A Class credit they will wait longer before disconnect and you will receive a courtesy call before they disconnect your phone d,e,z, etc. classes will just get D/C without warning even if you did not go over you ASL (account spending limit) they will shut you off less than 2 weeks past the due date so if a sale rep on the phone or Sprint store rep tells you will be safe as long as you stay under ASL you wont be safe you will be D/C.

You have 14 days not business days if you are not satisfied with your new service to return your phone and you will receive a full refund including your activation fee. With no early termination fee

You also have 14 days not business days to return your new handset upgrade if you are no happy with it.

I would go to corporate Sprint Stores not the franchise stores to return anything including a phone you purchased from Telesales because the franchised stores will you grief they will say they don¡¦t know how much you purchased it for and therefore cannot trade or refund your money even though they can see it on your account, I have gone the rounds with the stores before while I was at work telling them it is their responsibility to take returns and they say to me hey we are a franchised store and I say well you have too follow the guide lines of Sprint or you can loss your franchise but I am wasting my breath with those franchised stores but as a customer you can make thing happen to find out which store is which ask the store manager or assistant manager to tell you where the nearest store is.

Also Customer Care is able to send out an RA (Return Authorization) for your phone if you want to return it before 14 days but do that at your own risk because if it doesn¡¦t get back to Sprint before the 14 days you are out of luck.
FYI if any Department In Sprint PCS tells you they are going to transfer you to Sales to Replace your Phone they are trying to get rid of you or they are poorly trained in sales we have no way of sending you a replacement phone or price it down in anyway because there isn¡¦t a button to do it even if we wanted to for you !!!
All we can do is set up a plan and get you a phone or just get you an upgraded phone we don¡¦t sale used or refurbished phones while I¡¦m on the subject.

A couple of good things I can say about Sprint is that the Phone you Choose with a new plan you will save up to $150.00 on a phone or a free Phone it Value $149.99 so the contract early termination fee is wow what a coincidence all Sprint wants you to do is pay for the phone they bought you from the manufacture if you quit early, which is less than other wireless companies.

Also Sprint Deposits are far less than other wireless companies if you even have one at all most deposits are $125.00 very rare $250.00 so if you know you have bad credit be prepared to pay $125.00 deposit plus the price of the phone id it is the free phone you will pay sales tax so don¡¦t get upset at the sales rep it is your local government that wants the sales tax the sales tax is anywhere from $7.19 to $13.57 from my experience.

If you do get by some rare chance a $250.00 deposit you screwed your credit up real bad or fraud is found some where in your history this is just a guess because I have seen bankruptcy 30 days later one customer had no deposit and another $125.00 and me I have on my credit report $64,000.00 in real bad debt on my credit report and I had only $125.00 deposit with Sprint so f you have $250.00 deposit I think I guessed right you have some shady credit history or didn¡¦t pay your old Sprint bill etc there is something real wrong with you if you have a $250.00 deposit.

If you have to pay a deposit with Sprint I will Guarantee you will have anywhere from $400.00 to $3,000.00 for a deposit else where and I will share with you why because those other companies want you to roam an get into debt so they can get their money back if you leave them they want those big dollars they know they have a large deposit on file with them.

Now Sprint on the other hand wants a $125.00 deposit and you will have an $125.00 ASL you will never get hurt with overages your phone will shut off until you buy it back down below $125.00 very simple and to the point and please if you have a deposit to pay don¡¦t ask for a second line of service it wont happen it isn¡¦t physically possible for a sales rep to do it for you at all.
But after 1 year of good payment history you will receive your deposit back and if you ask after one year for a second line of service you may be eligible and that is done with Customer Care.

Mr. "jerryhan".

Interesting info, thanks for your post. Good to hear from an 'insider'. I have had Sprint since 1999.

I talked with a sales rep today about the "Sprint Upgrade". Difficult at best. He says it is a 100.00 for a one year contract, and 150.00 for two year contract. He said it can be done over the phone, or at a Sprint store. But that you must go to a Sprint store, with a "code number" if done on the phone, or that the whole thing could be done at the store. But that you can end up (in six weeks) with a check for the money. Is all that true.

I am on the fence about getting a new camera phone. One problem is the Sprint store get 349.95 for the Sanyo SCP 5500 / VM 4500. So that is a net expenditure of 200.00. If i can get the cash and buy a NEW one on e-bay for 200.00 to 250.00, seems like a better way to go?

What's the best-better-good camera phone readers?

Thanks

D.R.

sprint is slightly more expensive than the tmobile phones, but just as good. www.uscomco.org/s/

Alternatives to Sprint PCS

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