Sprint's Advantage Plan Is A Clear Winner
Written: Mar 18 '01 (Updated Mar 19 '01)
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Pros: Excellent sound, no busy signals, low rates, web enabled phone, online access to account
Cons: Long waits on hold for customer service but they are helpful and friendly
The Bottom Line: Sprint provides top quality phones at discount prices, a great network and very competitive calling plans. Advisable to access account online because of long hold times for customer service.
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| PeterLRuden's Full Review: Sprint Mobile Phone Service in New York |
Subject: Sprint Advantage Plan in New York Metro Area
Recently I ditched my AT&T Digital Service and up-graded my wife's Sprint phone and service after receiving a couple of pretty irresistible offers from Sprint. Although my AT&T service was not bad, Sprint's offers were too good to refuse.
The Phone: Sprint PCS Touchpoint
Both my wife and I now have dual-band Sprint PCS "Touchpoint" Phones that are light, compact and web-enabled. They weigh only 5.5 ounces and measure only 5.2" x 2.1" x 0.9". The phones have all the most sought after features including caller ID, call waiting, voice mail, text messaging, online messaging, built-in wireless modem, one touch message access, a personal calendar/scheduler, a hands-free jack, etc. The standard battery life is also quite good boasting about 3 hours continuous talk time and 130 hours continuous stand-by time (in digital mode). Because of special promotions, my phone ended up costing me about $30.00 after all the credits and rebates, and my wife's cost about $60.00.
The Calling Plan: Sprint Advantage $34.99/1500 minutes including nationwide long distance
My calling plan costs $34.99 per month for 250 anytime minutes and 1250 off-peak minutes, including long distance. My wife's plan is identical except that, because she obtained it from Sprint through a promotion at her place of employment her plan only costs $27.99 per month. In addition, our phones are web-enabled at no charge for the first six months (thereafter it would cost $10.00 per month on my phone to continue the web service and $8.00 per month for my wife). In order to receive these rates and discounts on the phones, we both had to agree to one year contracts. (The disadvantage of signing onto a contract is that if you for some reason must discontinue service, there usually is a hefty early termination fee.)
A great feature of the plan is that I can make long distance calls from anywhere on Sprint's network to anywhere in the continental United States for no extra charge. (If you make long distance calls while "roaming" on another company's network you would be charged, but Sprint's network is pretty much nationwide.) You can use all your minutes on long distance calls if you like and not pay a dime extra. I have ceased using my home phone for most long distance calls and now use my Sprint PCS phone almost exclusively.
User Experience
After having the service for approximately three months, I can happily report that I have yet to have a dropped call. In addition, I have not experienced any busy signals when attempting to get onto the network. I have had about two occasions where I experienced an echo while speaking on the phone and one occasion when I experienced frequent click noises. Other than those three aforementioned incidents, there has been nary a problem. My wife, who commutes into Manhattan from Long Island (while I mostly use my phone on eastern Long Island) has reported no problems using her phone as well. At times the signal is a little choppy if she calls me from the Long Island Rail Road train on her way home, but the rest of the time the phones are clear and reliable.
Web Access Through Your Phone
Yes, you can access the web, AOL, Amazon.Com, your email, Yahoo, etc. with these web-enabled phones. Personally, I find it a little "clunky" using the interface, but I have been able to check my email when away from home. I don't know if I would pay the extra $10.00 per month to continue that option when my six month trial runs out, but it was fun in the meantime!
In addition, with an optional wire kit you can also use your phone as a wireless modem for your personal computer and can even receive faxes. Might be rather cool if you are out on the road to be able to have that type of access.
How Is Customer Service?
They are cheerful, friendly and helpful, but you wait forever on hold to talk to them. My contacts have been minimal but the few times I did call the wait times were often in excess of 10 minutes. That is entirely too long. When I had AT&T, I did not like the call quality and network nearly as much, but I never waited on hold more than a couple of minutes if I needed to call customer service.
You Can Access Your Account Online
The way to avoid sitting on the phone waiting for a customer service representative is to access your account online. Their web-site is quite easy to use and you can easily do account transactions online at the site. That is the way I conduct my transactions now; it beats sitting with your ear to the phone and waiting for a representative.
Recommendation
My experience with Sprint PCS's service has been excellent. Aside from the long waits to talk to a representative, I have found nothing negative about this experience. Because of their nationwide presence and reliability, I would advise people considering smaller cell phone carriers to compare Sprint's plans to the one being offered and factor in the fact that Sprint covers most of the country quite well.
If it was not for the long hold times for customer service, I would have rated this service at 5 stars. I am going to subtract a star because of that, however, and rate it at 4 STARS.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $34.99
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Epinions.com ID:
PeterLRuden
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Member: Peter L. Ruden
Location: Savannah, GA
Reviews written: 147
Trusted by: 100 members
About Me:
Lynch-Bages? We don't need no stinking Lynch-Bages!
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