Having been a longtime satisfied AT&T Digital One Rate Customer, my corporate policy dictated that I move over to Sprint PCS

In the downtown area, I encounter many cellular dead spots (Wacker and State area is my favorite). I work in a highrise on Wacker Dr., and even when my signal meter reads full, I drop about 10% of my calls. I live out in the burbs (Barrington area), and apparently my entire sub-division is a dead area, since many times my phone slips into "Analog Roam" mode and my battery taps out overnight. Frustrating.

Emails to Sprint customer service promise x number of new cell towers by the end of the year, and x more capacity on many existing cell towers, but when I push them to tell me if my residential area will be improved, they never know...Never any specifics.

I also have been using the web browser, which I find quite helpful. Track my Ebay auctions, read headlines, read and respond to email, etc. It's quite handy. One criticism though: the web menus are quite complicated and often redundant. The Sprint PCS website (supposedly) allows you to customize the menus your browser-enabled phone can show, by eliminating areas you aren't interested in. But this function of their website simply doesn't work. It doesn't work on my Mac G3 at the office, and it doesn't work on my Dell PC at home. An email to Sprint customer service gave me a number to call. I called. I spoke to a gentleman who confirmed that it was working fine for him and it should work for me. Big help. I gave up and have learned to live with the unwieldy menus.

To sum up, AT&T has 2 major advantages to Sprint in Chicago. First is coverage. It was just more consistent with AT&T. Second is the fact that with AT&T you only have to track your total minutes. It doesn't matter whether you're in a digital area or an analog area. Your rate is the same. Nice and easy. Sprint's plan is based on minutes used while on their network. And while they're quick to point out that Sprint is in 400 some odd major metro areas, and all major airports, I'd point out that they're not in my Chicago area suburb, not in select areas of the loop, etc. And once you're in "analog roaming", it's all a la carte: your minutes are all extra, long distance isn't included, etc. Ouch.





Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 75/month for 1000 minutes