*** Please note, my experiences with other cellular phone companies mentioned in this Epinion are from July 1999 - July 2000 for Verizon Wireless, and June 2000 - August 2001 for Cingular. Thus any improvements or changes that have been made after this time would not be reflected in my experiences ***

A month ago I moved from New Jersey to Fairfax, Virginia. One of the things I needed to purchase when I moved was a cell phone (mostly because broadband is unavailable in my area, and my landline is tied up by the modem!). My previous carrier, Cingular had a good deal, but the phone did not operate at ALL in my apartment! Not a good solution for me when I want to use the phone to be able to receive phone calls when I'm online. I knew Verizon and Sprint both had good coverage in my area, so I decided to start looking into both plans. For $5.00 more a month, Sprint offered 650 more night/weekend minutes, free national long distance, and no roaming fees throughout the USA as long as you are on the SprintPCS network. It was about $10.00 more expensive than Cingular, but from what I read it seemed as though Sprint had fewer dropped calls, less problems placing calls, and higher voice quality.

So I bit the bullet and purchased a Samsung SCH-3500 phone through Radioshack (who happens to sell both Sprint and Verizon service). I was guarenteed that if I did not like the service I could return the phone and cancel the service within 14 days, no questions asked. This also beats the policy of Verizon and Cingular who only allow you 1 hour of talktime on the phone to cancel service. (I know from experience when I tried to upgrade my service from analog to digital through Verizon and was told I could not return the phone I had purchased 24 hours ago because it had 4 hours of talk time on it!!!) In any case, I was convinced that it was a no-lose situation and brought the phone home.

I was able to activate the phone online, but to my dismay if I had placed the order over the Internet for the phone I was told I would have received an extra 500 night/weekend minutes per month for 10 months! Make sure you always do your research before you make purchases folks :) ... In any case, after about 10 minutes of going through the online activation, I got stuck at one of the last parts involved in programming my phone. I called SprintPCS Customer Service which told me that the web site had simply given me the wrong "code" to input and that I should input a different one... Simple fix but it would be nice if their online activation would work properly! After 20 minutes I was up and running however and placing phone calls right away. One important thing to note is that I was alloted my entire 350 anytime minutes and 2150 Night/weekend minutes immediately even though I was 6 days into the month. Verizon and Cingular both pro-rated my first month and did not tell me exactly how many minutes I had available. This came as quite a shock when I had used only part of my anytime minutes and found out I had actually gone over! Sprint's billing system must be much more intelligent because I purchased my phone on the 6th of August, and my billing cycle runs from the 6th of one month to the 6th of the following month.

Sprint's "advanced" billing system leads me to another important point ... they tell you approximately how many minutes you have left on your plan! This way in the event that you've gone over your included minutes, you can find out about it and you won't keep using the phone without realizing you're being charged per minute for the airtime. When I had my Verizon phone, all I would be able to check is my monthly statement, and it wouldn't be posted until that billing cycle was over... So by that time I would have already have a huge phone bill. Sprint's web site has other important options like the ability to pay your bill online, and add options to your phone without the need to speak with a CSR.

When you are in a SprintPCS coverage area, voice quality is extremely good... Phone conversations sound almost as good as a normal land-line conversation. I have found though that when you are indoors conversations tend to cut in and out, especially if you are moving around.

The biggest problem lies in SprintPCS's coverage. In the Northern Virginia area coverage is good when you are in a populated area. But when are on the road driving in between big towns for example, you lose service all together! This places you on Analog Roam which results in horrible voice quality and per-minute roaming charges! It seems as though Sprint did not overlap their coverage areas, so when you leave one cellular tower, there is not another tower to pickup the signal so you're left on analog... After you drive 5 more minutes the next tower comes in range and you get back into Sprint's network. Sprint claims that they are constantly upgrading their coverage, so hopefully this will not be an issue forever. The important thing to note is that you do at least get service if your phone is Dual mode, so in emergency situations you can still place call.

The phone I purchased again is the Samsung SCH-3500. The SCH-3500 is a relatively small phone, not the smallest phone on the market, but not big or bulky. It seems to work well most of the time, except for cutting in and out during indoor conversations. The phone's battery is Lithium-Ion which gives it the advantage of being smaller than other batteries. It also does not "learn" when recharging, can't be overcharged in the provided charger, and lasts a reasonable 2.5 hours of continuous talktime when in Digital mode.

Should you choose SprintPCS? It depends. If you plan on making long distance calls during the night or weekends than the $39.99 350 anytime / 2150 night/weekend plan is a great deal. The quality of the cellular service is a lot better than Cingular, but doesn't seem quite as good coverage wise as Verizon. I would definitely recommend SprintPCS to the average person who would like a reasonably priced phone to call friends and relatives long distance. Personally, I would have liked Unlimited nights and weekends, but I supposed that is wishful thinking...


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 40.00