Not Free & Clear, but Cheap & Relatively Consistent
Written: Oct 25 '00
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Pros: Consistent service, inexpensive
Cons: Spotty coverage in the hinterland, some signal issues
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| optionexplicit's Full Review: Sprint Mobile Phone Service in New York |
I've carried a cell phone for a long time. As an on-call software consultant, I first got a mobile phone when they were only nominally smaller than a lineman's handset. At the time, service was through AT&T and airtime minutes cost a little over a dollar a piece.
In the interim, I've watched my phones get smaller, my minutes cheaper, and service, by and large, get better. After a dozen phones and a half-dozen carriers, I've settled on Sprint PCS's Free and Clear 50/$500 plan. While there are still some serious bugs in the system, Sprint PCS provides the tradeoff among coverage, service, and signal clarity that meets my needs as a caller.
Setup: Easy and Fast
If you buy your Sprint PCS phone at Radio Shack, the sales representative can usually set you up for service in the store while you wait. That is with some brief caveats: You must buy the phone in a store within your home area code. For whatever reason, cell phone numbers are supposed to match up to the geographical billing location of the person buying them. I don't know whether this is a limitation of Sprint's own somewhat archaic telco mentality or an FCC regulation. Also, signing up for the service requires a nominal credit check although I can't imagine who ever gets turned down. I know of at least one person with a conviction on her record for check kiting who managed to get a Sprint PCS account.
Provided you meet these basic requirements, signup takes about ten minutes and your service is usually up and running before your phone even has a chance to fully charge.
Billing: Seamless
Billing is smooth and effortless. Always a plus for any service provider, it's a Grade A manna-from-heaven miracle from a telco. Billing is primarily handled via snail mail, but you can also access and pay your bill on their website or tell them to automatically bill your credit card every month. I've used all three options and find the third to be the smoothest and most seamless. Considering the billing nightmares I've gone through with the hydra with the Company Formerly Known As NYNEX Formerly Known as Bell Atlantic Currently Known as the Chowderheads at Verizon, this is a source of big kudos for Sprint PCS.
Service Quality & Technical Support: Transparent
I have nothing to say about technical support at Sprint PCS in that I have never had to use it--not once in two and a half years of service. I've never mysteriously lost service or had any of the sorts of issues that plague other users. When the techies sit around swapping equipment failure stories, I am at a significant disadvantage because I've never had a problem with my phone or service outside of a little stickiness in the keypad on my Startac.
Coverage: Selective
Coverage is excellent in major metropolitan areas like New York, Boston, Washington DC, and Nashville. Even on the routes between these areas, particularly along the Northeast Corridor, signal strength is strong and continuous. However, when I wrote about tradeoffs up top, one of the things I was talking about was the lack of coverage in the mountainous areas of Upstate New York. My parents' house, particularly, is in the Valley of the Jammed. You have to ascend the mountain a bit or wait until you get into the flatlands again before you get any kind of signal strength.
Signal: Usually Good
There's good news and bad news about the signal you get on Sprint PCS: You get a clear, solid signal like the one alluded to in Sprint's "pin drop" ads for their landline about 85%-90% of the time. When you don't, however, you can experience several exceptionally irritating "dropped calls" during a ten-minute phone call or, more commonly, get an echo of your own voice in your ear delayed about a tenth of a second after you speak. Fortunately, these do not happen too often.
Overall: The Best of the Bunch
Because of issues with dropped calls, echoes, and spotty coverage in the hinterland, I won't be putting Sprint PCS on my "Love It" list anytime soon. But, this is the best service I have found to date. As cellular and digital wireless service continue to evolve technologically, I expect Sprint PCS to be at the forefront of bringing that service to me.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 50
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Epinions.com ID:
optionexplicit
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Member: Jekke Bladt
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 94
Trusted by: 71 members
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