On Monday, 2/26, the Chief Dragon in Residence decided, in a moment of firm resolve, to cast all caution to the winds and load the Dragonmobile with several week’s changes of clothing, her computer, lots of food, and various and sundry toys, and hit the Interstate for Colorado Springs and the eagerly awaiting Consort Elect. Simply as a matter of safety and because her U.S. Cellular service would have her pay roaming charges once she left the east coast corridor, she decided to purchase one of the highly-touted Sprint Digital Wireless PCS phones and activate it before setting out on her journey half-way across the continent.

WHAT THEY PROMISED

The nice young lady working in marketing asked the usual questions, where will you be traveling, will you be staying on Interstate highways or secondary roads, do you have a credit card and on hearing the answers absolutely assured the foolishly trusting Dragon that, yes, indeed, Sprint Digital Wireless PCS was the only way to go! Not only would the clarity of calls be exquisitely free of annoying static and interruptions but there would always be service on Interstates 64 and 70, without a doubt, no question about it. Unfortunately this turned out to be a pack of cruel and truly evil lies!

THE REALITY OR DRAGON DRIVES WEST

At the bright and cheery pre-dawn hour of 4 A.M. the CDR departed the Weyr East, destination Colorado Springs, Colorado, a mere 1500 miles of easy Interstate travel, once the treacherous Blue Ridge and Alleghenies Mountains and the entire state of West Virginia were crossed. While on Interstate 81, for about 8.5 minutes, the Sprint phone was displaying a confident signal, indicating that calls could in fact be placed and received.

Alas, as the hour was indecently early, there was no one to call, so this brief window of opportunity was lost forever. Little was the trusting Dragon to know that it would be hours and hundreds of miles before the Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone would once again display the time and date, the only indicator of available service.

As the miles accumulated and the sky began to lighten in the east, despite a persistent freezing drizzle that made navigation through the mountain passes problematic at best, the minutes finally became hours and the time was right to place calls to arrival and departure bases. Flipping open the Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone and confidently expecting to see that service was available, the Dragon was greeted with the message, “searching for service.”

An hour later and the same message was still being displayed. Yet another hour went by with no service. Finally, arriving in Charleston, West Virginia, another all too brief window of service opened, actual duration less than 3 minutes. This was sufficiently long enough to call customer service and complain before the call dropped off on the outskirts of the state capital.

By now, the CDR was driving with one eye glued to the phone, waiting for a moment of strong signal, any signal, to pull over and make the calls that would ease the anxiety of all loved ones concerned, letting them know that the ice-girt state of West Virginia had been safely navigated and the sun was shining brightly, drying the wet highway and removing some elements of danger from a long cross-country trip.

Did we mention that for a mere $4.00/month Sprint will provide road service? Such a deal! As long as you call from your Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone by punching in ROAD# and talk, they will cheerfully send a wrecker to lend assistance and succor to a stranded motorist. The fly in the ointment being that you must call from your Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone! The worst stretches of highway, the very ones where trouble was most likely to occur, were also those stretches without any phone service.

Finally, in Kentucky, a strong signal was available and calls could be made, but once again, service was disrupted in mid-conversation. The west-ward bound dragon would be effectively out of touch with the world until the mighty gateway city of St. Louis loomed on the horizon. She was paying $34.99 per month plus the additional $4.00 per month for road service to be silent and unreachable, alone, traversing the North American continent, not even a cat for company.

Finally able to contact anxious friends and loved ones, after 13 hours of driving, the Dragon made good use of her time, alerting all and sundry to her location and safety. A few hours later, nearly 900 miles from the Weyr East in central Virginia and over half way to her destination, the Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone was still showing a strong and unwavering signal.

After 16 hours behind the wheel and the worst of the drive behind her, the CDR elected to stop for the night and grab a few hours rest less than 60 miles from the Kansas state line. The Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone was still showing a strong signal and was put to good use to say good night to the Consort Elect, assuring him that Estimated Time of Arrival in Colorado Springs would be 3:30 the next afternoon.

At 4 the following morning, the Dragon was once again behind the wheel, the headlights of the Dragonmobile piercing the thick fall of freezing rain and snow that soon encased the vehicle within a shiny layer of ice. A brief pit stop to remove the frozen slush from the windshield, refill her coffee mug, and alert the Consort Elect to weather conditions and location marked the end of Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone service for the rest of the trip.

Despite driving across some of the flattest and least obstructed real estate to be found this side of Namibia and never straying more than 50 yards from Interstate 70, the Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone was woefully incapable of raising even one bar of signal strength. It was not until 500 miles later and only 14 miles from Colorado Springs that a signal became available!

THE DRAGON HUMBLY SUGGESTS

When you can get a signal the Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone works great. For $34.99 you can purchase 1200 nationwide minutes and will not have to pay a roaming charge no matter where you are. However, only 200 of those minutes are for use during peak hours, between 7 A.M. and 8 P.M Monday through Friday. The other 1000 minutes are yours to use in the evening and on weekends.

If you fly from city to city and confine yourself to the major metropolises, you should be well pleased with the Sprint Digital Wireless PCS Phone and service. The price is good and call quality is generally excellent. If, on the other hand, you are in the habit of traveling by automobile, even on Interstate highways, do not expect continuous service. Chances are that you will be without more than with for the majority of the drive. This renders the highly-touted road service option all but useless and places it squarely into the “good money after bad” category.

At this time, the only mobile phone service provider that can guarantee uninterrupted signal and service nearly everywhere is AT&T. They utilize phones that switch from digital to analog signal automatically, as needed, to insure service. AT&T offers various plans at different rates, all minutes are “anytime” minutes and you will not pay roaming charges anywhere in the United States.

Alas, this service is not available everywhere in the country. If it is not available where you live, you are stuck unless you can arrange to have your bill sent to an address where coverage is provided. This can work for many as AT&T will bill your credit card every month so the bill is only useful as a memo of usage. You must also be in that location to purchase the phone and arrange for service.

Fortunately for the Chief Dragon in Residence, Colorado Springs is a location served by AT&T Mobile and she will be picking up her new phone before returning to the Weyr East in a few weeks. This new phone will be a Nokia, so expect yet another review of Dragon getting Nokia in the near future.


Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 34.99