I'm a 3-year PrimeCo user and have had MUCH better experience with them. I wish I had come across this URL a month ago.

For local usage, I live in the west suburbs and commute to the north side and north suburbs. We'll call California and Florida to talk with family on a single-band digital phone. Roaming with their dual mode unit is good. Never had trouble with conversations on calls or with the people who work there (stores, customer service). For details, see my other post under PrimeCo in Chicago.

Now take Sprint (somebody, please...take Sprint...). I'm anticipating heavier usage. I'd like to get email on my phone. PrimeCo doesn't have internet service yet (they're working on it--no ETA). Sprint has a nice color LCD Sanyo SCP-5000 with eight (count 'em -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) lines of text! I'm drooling in the store, but it's $500 and I'm fiscally responsible and I go away. After all, I'm still looking at Verizon, too, mainly comparing price plans.

Sprint pricing seems similar to PrimeCo's, and on the next trip to the store I can't help but ask about the 8-line phone. And he can't help but tell me that they're very hard to find but, wait, someone just brought one back. Open-box buy: $300. Uh-oh. Weakening. But I'm strong. I'm responsible. I go home.

But next day I'm back and do the deed. It is indeed cool. Other toys like calendar, appointments, etc., but I mostly want that display for email. Email without going through the company servers is in fact great. I can even get reception (and thus my private email) inside the buildings where I work.

But in most of my usage, it was really poor. My company had some kind of deal with Sprint, and a colleague said that Lake Cook Road is a dead spot. Lake Cook road--about as heavily travelled as the Eisenhower! And every (every!) time he uses it to talk to me -- which is not often -- I hear static on the line and it breaks up. I should have paid more attention to that prelude.

"That's not that bad", I said to myself as I'm talking myself into that neat 8-line display. But I got the same poor performance on OVER HALF my calls once I got that neat 8-line display. As a phone service, it was absolutely unacceptable. Several major towns are just dead. The sound was muffled to begin with, and it frequently dropped volume or cut out with static, and I'd have to ask my conversation partner to repeat themselves. It's ...ike having one-...ird of a con...sation--abso...ly unac...table as a phone service. With all the advances we've made in technology, Alexander G Bell would be sick.


But I try to be fair and thorough. And I want that 8-line display. It could be just that phone. I take it back to Sprint to deal with it, and I got static there, too.

I start with the store where I bought it. I tell them the problem, and they say to take it to the Rolling Meadows service center. I go to Rolling Meadows. I leave it for an hour while they get a chance to put it on a diagnostic machine. Machine says there's nothing wrong. It's an intermittent problem, then. "Is there anything else you can do?" Not if the machine says there's nothing wrong. OK. I want that display. I'll reconsider it for another couple of days.

No improvement. I call the store where I bought it. I want to return it. "We can't do that. Only the service center can make that decision." Well, OK. They do have the testing equipment. Maybe I just talked to the wrong person. I call the service center again. I know the machine said there was nothing wrong, but my ears tell me there Is a problem. "Sometimes the testing machines act up and we get different results with different machines over time. Bring it in and be prepared to leave it for a couple days." I want that display. I'll try it. I bring it in to the service center again. "The store told you What?? Just tell them you want another one. You're within the 14 day trial period and there should be no questions. Or exchange it at any Sprint store for any reason, or even no reason. Here are the numbers for [several stores]."

I want that display. I'll try it. I call several stores from the car on my staticy phone. Schaumburg has one. "Can you hold it? ... Good. It'll take a while but I can be there before you close." I get there. They don't have one after all. Very sorry. They'll call around. I wait for that neat display with a new body that hopefully will sound OK. Rockford has 50? Great. You can get it on Thursday? This is the 13th day -- what will that do to the 14 day trial period? Nothing? Great again. I'll do it. I'll have another 14 days to check out and have a chance at that 8-line display.

But things do not check out. Same static as before. Same dead spots. OK. Internet or not, I do need to use it as a phone, and this is just not right. PrimeCo can give good quality sound, why can't Sprint? I take it back to the nearest store. No problem crediting my account for the cost of the equipment. What about the service contract? "You're on the 18th day." No I'm not, I'm on the 7th day of the second phone. The Schaumburg sales rep told me the clock starts over with the new phone. "I don't know what the rep told you, but it says in the contract that you signed...." I don't see why I should have to pay $150 to get out of a contract for a service that doesn't work. (What the heck? It's worth a try.) "We provided you with service. It just doesn't work the way you think it should." I still...n't under...nd why I should...expected to...ay fo...vice that wor...s li...this. "We provided you with service. It just doesn't work the way you think it should." I got out after 3 weeks. Cancellation fee? Yes. But $150 is less painful than paying $40+/month for a year ($480+) on a service that doesn't work.


Am I "just spoiled" with PrimeCo, with it being pretty close to land-line quality? Too much to expect? Well, I don't know telecommunications technology, but if PrimeCo can get near-land line quality, shouldn't others be able to? Just my experience? Well, yes actually, it IS my experience. Real experience. And that's why I'd recommend at least giving PrimeCo a shot over Sprint. If it doesn't work out with PrimeCo, you don't have the contract to worry about unless you accept a free phone in return for a contract. I didn't have to worry about that because PrimeCo's service actually works well. I'll wait for PrimeCo to come across with internet service. I just hope they don't do themselves in and offer it through some partnership with Sp....nt.



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 325ph+$40/mo