Sprint Mobile Phone Service in Chicago

Pros: The Katana is a cool phone, but that's more of an Sanyo-thing.
Cons: Reception, customer service, prices.

I began a contract with Sprint because my employer opened a Sprint retail store, making me eligible for an employee discount. In retrospect, I would rather have paid the regular rate at a different company than subject myself to the unspeakable horror ...

Pros: Plan prices compared to the other big players
Cons: Not many repair locations around town but I've never needed one yet.

I've had sprint for nearly 2 years and prior to that my company provided me a Nextel phone. I have also had at&t and US cellular over the last 7 years. I also work with guys who have different providers and none of them seem any better and certainly ...

Pros: All kinds of places to get you enrolled.
Cons: dropped calls, long waits for customer service, poor problem-solving.

Have a Sanyo 8400 and travel between Tinley Park and Joliet. Have one of Sprint's oldest plans: $45 Free & Clear Area-Wide Plan with 1000 Anytime Minutes.
Since Nextel and Sprint came together service has been eroding slowly but successfully. Customer Service has involved long waits and non-helpful ideas: the service does not exist on the phone (using 8 in returning voice mail calls, removing and reinstalling the battery, reprogramming the phone, connecting me with Technical Service, entering several reports for followup and then taking the phone to Corporate in Crestwood for service. None of which have helped.
Calling out does not work all the time. Voice mail is not delivered for blocks of time, calls are dropped. Have let customers know their calls "have been dropped due to Sprint's service.
Consumer Reports, January 2008 - pages 30-44 - encapsulates my experience: Sprint, "Bottom-ranked of carriers we rate." Was encouraged to read that when they fail to resolve customer problems they may drop customers. No customer dissatisfaction that way. There may be light at the end of the tunnel but their is poor quality telephone service in that tunnel between Tinley Park and Joliet!

Pros: Had good coverage all over the country.
Cons: Unreliable service and non-existent customer service.

I was a Sprint PCS customer for over 10 years and recently (1+ years) coverage in Chicago's Northern Suburbs has dwindled to none. This lack of coverage, along with poor customer support (Sprint automatically dis-connects calls to their *2 Customer Service, so you can't even get "put on hold") has forced me to change. Sprint, it's been a nice ride when you were around.

Pros: None relative to other major carriers
Cons: Dishonest customer service; poor coverage in urban area.

I was a long time Sprint PCS subscriber (10 years). We had 2 phones sharing 300 minutes. These were backup phones; we each have other cell phone pdas provided by work. We moved to Western Springs last year (in Cook County, west of Chicago) and discovered we got no Sprint PCS service on our property! I called in Dec. 2007 to cancel and was talked into keeping the phones as backups if Sprint dropped my $59.99/mo rate to $20/mo. By Feb. 2008, I'm still being charged $60/month although Sprint says they'll correct immediately. Still $60 in May 08, so I call again. I'm told there is no such $20 rate, so I cancelled all service. I was lied to and ripped off.