Don't Knock Sprint & CDMA

Sprint vs The World

I have been blessed with free Sprint service as a proud employee for 4 years.
Before joining Sprint I had a high end Verizon PDA. I am going to try and avoid sounding like a Sprint fanboy when I say this but the coverage spoke for itself.
When me and my friends went camping and I had a brick PPC6700 they marveled I had data in the woods.
Jump a few years ahead when I had my HTC Diamond and a friend had a (drum roll) iPhone, we decided to do the data test again. Low and behold a few years later my phone not only has data but a crisp 3.0mbps downlink speed (via mobilespeedtest). Now on my 3rd HTC Device I have learned much more about different carriers data speeds and which phone would be best for the future of wireless. I have great faith in 4G/WIMAX seeing my data card blow away Time Warner. I look forward to 4G embedded HTC Phones too. All is fair in love & war. AT&T has a big stretch to catch up to Sprint's 4G network.

Ok, I must put my opinion in here.

-First of all, some info on CDMA vs GSM.
Yes, GSM has, for the most part, better range/distance than CDMA.
No, GSM is NOT faster than CDMA on Data (compared side by side with equal signal, lower signal will slow any data connection down).
GSM is proned to being hacked (phone number sniffing, conversation taps, etc), quite easily, it seems.
CDMA, is a standard that was created, or at least refined greatly, by the US military (and some others I am sure, but am only sure about the US Military's part in it). It is a standard that is still in use today. CDMA phones are based off this technology.

Here is some facts about CDMA
"CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access. It is a technique used for digital communication, and wireless technology in particular, that involves multiplexing. Whereas conventional communication systems use constant frequencies, CDMA uses multiple access, or multiplexing. Accomplished through the specific type known as spread spectrum in this case, multiplexing uses varied frequencies to transmit audio signals. This, coupled with code division, which requires a certain code to send and receive the frequency, further protects CDMA communications from interference."

In plain english, though not impossable to hack, is extremely difficult.

On to the next point:

- AT&T vs Sprint

I have had many carriers through the years: Verizion, AT&T (Then Cingular), Nextel, and Sprint.

Verizion, at the time, had horrible customer service (still does, according to many of my Verizion Friends).

AT&T tried to tell me that I had went over my minutes by a few hundred one month. It was impossable because I was in the field (U.S. Army Training) and had left my phone, with battery out, in my locker behind my lock and a coded security band. There was no way that my phone could have been used. I tried to explain this to them. They, on 3 seperate occasions (as I was trying to make it right), told me that "the computer doesn't lie. If the computer says you used your phone, you did. I'm sorry there is nothing we can do for you." Needless to say, I cancled service with them and never looked back.

I started Nextel because they had the "Push-To-Talk" market cornered, at the time (yes, I am kind of a geek, and I liked the feature). Didn't really have much problem with Nextel, aside from a problem or two on my bill, which they were happy to fix.

Shortly thereafter, Sprint bought out Nextel. Though Nextel is still, for the most part, a sperate network, it still hails under the same umbrella as Sprint. Sprint had the HTC Mogul, at the time, and I wanted that phone, despite the bad reviews. Sure, when I got it, there were as many problems with the phone (or more) than I had read in the reviews. But over the next year or so, there were 3-4 updates to the ROM. Each fixed problems as well as provided extra functionality. It was then I became a Sprint/HTC fan. I have since owned the Touch Pro, and now the Touch Pro 2.

The only major complaint I have about Sprint is the fact that it seems their billing department can't do math, sometimes. However, I have never once, had a problem correcting the problems. I would call the company, tell them why I don't believe this should be charged. With reasonable thinking or reasonable proof, they have no problem fixing these issues (something I find lacking in most other companies).

Sure, I have found a few @$$e$ in their ranks. But every company has them. I have had better experiences with Sprint customer service, overall, than any other company I've been with.

+1 sprint, and TP2.

jonner said:

Does CDMA allow simultaneous voice and data? My Sprint TP2 does not right now, but I just did some reg hacks yesterday to get tethering to work, and now I don't know if it is CDMA or the hack preventing V&D usage.

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im not sure if u can but i know that you can on gsm becuse 3g voice on gsm is using WCDMA and wdcma is gsm its not part of cdma so if theres 3g in your area and your on it ur on wcdma so thats just voice so no data connection required and i have noticed on tmobile that when im on a call my 3g speeds are a lil slower the reason i dont like cdma tho is 1 because of no v&d and 2 when you do start to lose signal in places it starts sounding digitalised and to the point where you hear every other word and thats with only cdma ppl so vzw sprint and metro pcs but when i talk to someone on att or tmobile or when im on a call and i drive pass a dead zone ill get 1 or 0 bars and they will sound clear then the call will completely drop if it does the only thing i like about cdma in US is coverage and data

AT&T and Sprint hopping

Me & my wife originally started up with Sprint back in the 90's. Never had much complaint about service until I bought a house in San Antonio, TX. I work from home & cell is my work #. Unfortunately, despite many bars, calls never went through or constantly dropped. Struggled with it for years, then finally dropped Sprint for AT&T.

AT&T service was great. Used my Tilt tethered to laptop while on the phone all the time. Only complaint was getting reamed by AT&T prices.

But then years later my wife opened up her medical office. AT&T had no signal (literally none) inside her office, while Sprint worked fine, so she switched. Also, Sprint apparently added towers around our house over the years because she never has problems with calls @ home now.

Meanwhile, I'm her IT guy so I'm always at her office working & missing calls from my paying clients, so I waited until our AT&T contract was up last month & just switched back to Sprint.

Price wise, Sprint is only $100 for unlimited while AT&T is 50% more, clocking in @ $150 for unlimited. So, I'm happy there.

Then I found this thread and just realized that I can't do simultaneous voice & data with Sprint. Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!! What have I done??!? I've just screwed myself because now if I'm out and a client calls, I can't just grab my phone & laptop and troubleshoot a their servers/PCs while I'm on the phone with them. Hell, that even explains why I sometimes have voicemail even though I didn't miss a call--apparently I did miss a call because I was using my data connection briefly to update weather, surf the web, etc.. Again...AAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!

Plus, this screws me for a new full-time job I'm starting. It's a programming gig, all working remotely. Thought I could program from anywhere just using my phone & laptop, i.e., in the car, on the beach, etc.. Now I can't because CDMA can't do simul voice/data. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Dude,
No voice and data at the same time sucks, but there is an easy work around that will also save you money! Just take a deep breath! You're in IT right? Ever heard of SKYPE?
Just get a SKYPE OUT account for $30/year. Use it when you need to be online and use voice at the same time. You can even use it direct from your phone with SKYPE for WindowsMobile. I do, and I'm able to drop my voice plan to 450 minutes and unlimited data = $69/month! So, in one month, you pay for your SKYPE OUT account, and then save $30/month for 11 months.

Use an app called audioRoute (search here for it) to route the speaker for SKYPE to your earpiece.

Simple, and it saves me over $300/year!

Skype is not the solution

colorado_al said:

Dude,
No voice and data at the same time sucks, but there is an easy work around that will also save you money! Just take a deep breath! You're in IT right? Ever heard of SKYPE?

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Yeah, I know Skype, but that gets too convoluted. What if someone calls my mobile when I happen to be using data for just a minor weather update? I guess I could always forward all my calls to Skype, but then none of my phone features will work, like Voice Command announcing the incoming call (one of my favorite features), voicemail & missed call messages, call logs, NetCallerID, etc.. What about the phone's external indicator lights? If I miss a call or have voicemail, do the indicator lights blink? If not, then that means I have to constantly remember to turn on my phone and go to Skype to check if I missed a call from some frantic client whose servers are down whenever I randomly stepped away from my phone. Plus, now I'm responsible for checking/maintaining 2 voicemail accounts on the same phone. And what about Bluetooth headsets & my car's Parrot? I've used apps like AudioRoute to route audio to Bluetooth, but when it comes to answering VOIP calls, can I answer calls directly with my headset or car kit? Or do I have run to the other room to grab my phone despite the fact that I have the headset on my ear, or even worse, try to pull my phone out of my pocket or bag while driving the highway @ 70MPH? What the hell is the point of my hands-free car kit or headset then?

In addition to these problems with incoming calls, I need to make sure I always use Skype for outgoing calls so I can use the data connection if I need it. E.g., I call a client and while I'm on the phone with them, they need me to troubleshoot something, or I call a friend and I need to look up an address, movie times, etc.. So what about dialing contacts? Can I dial directly from any of the various contact managers like SPB Mobile Shell or Manilla's Favorites? Last I heard (albeit years ago), the answer is no--you have to dial from the VOIP app. Consequently, that means no more Voice Command for hands-free dialing, no dialing numbers straight from text messages or web pages, etc..

Dude, this is getting too complicated and crippling. You know what would be easier? SIMULTANEOUS VOICE AND DATA!!

Your phone should dump the data connection in favor of voice if a call comes in. If not, you may have something wrong. It sucks if you are downloading something and have to start it over. You could always tell your client you need to call them back after you get the data connection established. I used to use AT&T and liked the simultaneous voice and data but have found it workable to do without. If you're within 30 days, you can always return your phone and get out of your contract, and go back to AT&T.

You could always go with a mobile broadband connection for your PC, but that is probably $60/month.

colorado_al said:

Your phone should dump the data connection in favor of voice if a call comes in. If not, you may have something wrong. ... If you're within 30 days, you can always return your phone and get out of your contract, and go back to AT&T.

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Well, crap, if it's supposed to dump data for voice, then that doesn't explain why I keeping getting calls going straight to voicemail. In less than a week with minimal incoming calls, I had 4 calls going straight to voicemail without ringing: twice when phone was in hand playing with it and twice with phone laying next to me--all of a sudden I get the voicemail chime & I'm like "WTF? I'm right here! It never rang!!"

This is the same problem I had years ago, and, along with dropped calls, why I switched from Sprint to AT&T originally. My wife has been on Sprint for a over year, and, as far as I know, doesn't have this problem. (Actually, I just checked with her...she says it happens to her "occasionally," which I got the impression meant maybe once or twice a month--acceptable to me, unlike 4x in the first week.) She's got a Palm & doesn't tweak. I've got WM & tweak the crap out of mine. However, originally with Sprint I had a boring non-PDA phone and it sent calls straight to voicemail without ringing & dropped calls all the time. So this seems to be a Sprint network issue, not phone-specific or tweaking that caused something to go "wrong." Besides, I haven't done a lot of tweaking on this new phone yet. I've resisted the urge to drill a hole in the battery cover to access the reset button without removing the cover (had to soft-reset almost a dozen times so far...buggy ROM I desperately want to flash), and resisted the urge to unlock & flash specifically because, as you mention, I'm within the 30 days & I want to be sure I'm going to stay with Sprint.

colorado_al said:

You could always go with a mobile broadband connection for your PC, but that is probably $60/month.

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Click to collapse

Yeah, wife's got one already. She's a doctor and so she needs access to patient charts wherever she's at. Unfortunately, it's hers and she only lets me borrow it for short, discrete periods. Apparently saving people's lives is more important than "Honey, I don't feel like working at home in my pajamas today. Can I borrow your Sprint card so I can work at the park/lake/beach/etc. instead?"

Well here is an idea drop sprint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just go to at&t already get an lg expo on amazon with at&t for $50 literally if you hate sprint stop *****ing and just leave!!!!!!!!!! Ok at&t droped the price of unlimited voice to $70!!!! Unlimited data and voice is now $100 seriously (cdma is the worst invention since meth!!!!!!!!)

benntech said:

well, crap, if it's supposed to dump data for voice, then that doesn't explain why i keeping getting calls going straight to voicemail. In less than a week with minimal incoming calls, i had 4 calls going straight to voicemail without ringing: Twice when phone was in hand playing with it and twice with phone laying next to me--all of a sudden i get the voicemail chime & i'm like "wtf? I'm right here! It never rang!!"

this is the same problem i had years ago, and, along with dropped calls, why i switched from sprint to at&t originally. My wife has been on sprint for a over year, and, as far as i know, doesn't have this problem. (actually, i just checked with her...she says it happens to her "occasionally," which i got the impression meant maybe once or twice a month--acceptable to me, unlike 4x in the first week.) she's got a palm & doesn't tweak. I've got wm & tweak the crap out of mine. However, originally with sprint i had a boring non-pda phone and it sent calls straight to voicemail without ringing & dropped calls all the time. So this seems to be a sprint network issue, not phone-specific or tweaking that caused something to go "wrong." besides, i haven't done a lot of tweaking on this new phone yet. I've resisted the urge to drill a hole in the battery cover to access the reset button without removing the cover (had to soft-reset almost a dozen times so far...buggy rom i desperately want to flash), and resisted the urge to unlock & flash specifically because, as you mention, i'm within the 30 days & i want to be sure i'm going to stay with sprint.



Yeah, wife's got one already. She's a doctor and so she needs access to patient charts wherever she's at. Unfortunately, it's hers and she only lets me borrow it for short, discrete periods. Apparently saving people's lives is more important than "honey, i don't feel like working at home in my pajamas today. Can i borrow your sprint card so i can work at the park/lake/beach/etc. Instead?"

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Geez, chill out with the exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!

qjsmartphone said:

Well here is an idea drop sprint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just go to at&t already get an lg expo on amazon with at&t for $50 literally if you hate sprint stop *****ing and just leave!!!!!!!!!! Ok at&t droped the price of unlimited voice to $70!!!! Unlimited data and voice is now $100 seriously (cdma is the worst invention since meth!!!!!!!!)

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Geez, man, chill out. I did leave Sprint. In fact, when I was looking T-Mobile was cheapest and I switched to them. $80/month unlimited everything with NO contract. That's right--no contract. Bizarre because their 2-year contract was $100/month. Pay less for no contract? Some marketing idiot really f*d those numbers up. Whatever...I'm happy. The only downside is the gay pink T-Mobile logo on boot, but a new ROM will take care of that. The rest of y'all have fun getting screwed by AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.

BennTech said:

Geez, man, chill out. I did leave Sprint. In fact, when I was looking T-Mobile was cheapest and I switched to them. $80/month unlimited everything with NO contract. That's right--no contract. Bizarre because their 2-year contract was $100/month. Pay less for no contract? Some marketing idiot really f*d those numbers up. Whatever...I'm happy. The only downside is the gay pink T-Mobile logo on boot, but a new ROM will take care of that. The rest of y'all have fun getting screwed by AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.

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You do realize that contract prices are higher since they need to cover for the phone subsidy right?

Do the math

stab244 said:

You do realize that contract prices are higher since they need to cover for the phone subsidy right?

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Click to collapse

Yeah, but here's the math (granted this is dated because the carriers are dropping their unlimited everything prices, but it was valid at the time I was looking):

T-Mobile no contract: $2460
$80 x 24 months = $1920
Touch Pro2 = $540

T-Mobile 2-year: $2650
$100 x 24 months= $2400
Touch Pro2 = $250

Sprint 2-year: $2750
$100 x 24 months = $2400
Touch Pro2 = $350

AT&T 2-year: $3850
$150 x 24 months = $3600
Touch Pro2 = $250

Verizon 2-year: $3900
$150/month x 24 months = $3600
$300 Touch Pro2

So subsidizing actually hurts the overall cost because T-Mobile's no contract is still cheaper than every other option, including T-Mobile's own 2-year contract, but everyone thinks the contract is a good deal because their phone is $200-$300 off list price.

Also, with T-Mobile no contract I had the option to split out the payment of the phone as $27/month for 20 months ($540, same as buying outright and completely interest-free). So I walked out of the store:

• with a new Touch Pro2,
• with no contract, and
• without paying anything upfront.

Every other option requires you to pay $400-$500 upfront because you have to buy the phone first, and you're paying $100 more than I listed above then waiting 3 months for your $100 rebate. And don't forget all the stupid federal and state taxes that are a percentage of your total monthly bill. The $80 plan is going to pay less taxes over the next few years so you're saving slightly more than is shown above.

Back on thread topic, kudos to Sprint for saving over $1000 compared to AT&T and Verizon, but T-Mobile beats them all (and even beats itself).

I want to post in this Sprint Pow Wow! I've been with Sprint since 2001 and my first phone was a really cool blue LG . I forgot the name but it was a sweet monochrome phone. Then I got 3 cool Samsung phones in a row the N400, the A660 and the "Blade" A900. I loved those phones but then I wanted to venture into Smart Phone realm. I wanted the Mogul but then saw that the Touch was coming out. I skipped the Mogul and went Touch. It was a cool phone. I got into the custom ROM thing but after 2 years of no hardware I'd had enough and got excited when I saw the TP2. I know the Original TP was out but I didn't have the $400-$500 to flat out buy it when it was released. Late last year I was ready for the upgrade and got the TP2 for my B-day about 2 weeks ago. I love this phone. I'm afraid I might drop it. I'm running the SSS ROM from the PPCGeeks Forum. It's the Best I've tried.

The thing about all of the Sprint phones I had is they have always been customizable and have never been completely locked down like Verizon phones. Service has always been great. Customer service has for 10 years ALWAYS been helpful, courteous and just great. This goes for Phone, In store and even the chat applet.

It would take Sprint coming to my house, grabbing my phone and busting it up with a Sledgehammer for me to leave them. Even then I still have my Touch as a back-up.

BennTech said:

Yeah, but here's the math (granted this is dated because the carriers are dropping their unlimited everything prices, but it was valid at the time I was looking):

T-Mobile no contract: $2460
$80 x 24 months = $1920
Touch Pro2 = $540

T-Mobile 2-year: $2650
$100 x 24 months= $2400
Touch Pro2 = $250

Sprint 2-year: $2750
$100 x 24 months = $2400
Touch Pro2 = $350

AT&T 2-year: $3850
$150 x 24 months = $3600
Touch Pro2 = $250

Verizon 2-year: $3900
$150/month x 24 months = $3600
$300 Touch Pro2

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Click to collapse

I pay $73 a month ($70 + Nevada Taxes) with 450 minutes and unlimited everything else. So not everyone is paying $100 a month for cellphone data service. I personally love my plan as it is the cheapest HANDS DOWN and if I ever need anymore minutes I can just used Voice over IP.

Sprint 2-year: $2102
$73 x 24 months = $1725
Touch Pro2 = $350

The no contract part of T-Mobile is most definitely a plus, don't get me wrong. I was stuck with Verizon pervious to my latest contract with Sprint and while the service was awesome I paid $69 a month for 450 minutes and texting, totally absurd. Sprint changed their Everything data plan to $70 a month just two weeks before my Verizon contract was up and I signed up with them asap!
So far I haven't had a single problem with Sprint, although I am still waiting on my $100 mail-in rebate. I should probably check up on that now that I'm thinking about it. Either way, it's still cheap!

BennTech said:

Yeah, but here's the math (granted this is dated because the carriers are dropping their unlimited everything prices, but it was valid at the time I was looking):

T-Mobile no contract: $2460
$80 x 24 months = $1920
Touch Pro2 = $540

T-Mobile 2-year: $2650
$100 x 24 months= $2400
Touch Pro2 = $250

Sprint 2-year: $2750
$100 x 24 months = $2400
Touch Pro2 = $350

AT&T 2-year: $3850
$150 x 24 months = $3600
Touch Pro2 = $250

Verizon 2-year: $3900
$150/month x 24 months = $3600
$300 Touch Pro2

So subsidizing actually hurts the overall cost because T-Mobile's no contract is still cheaper than every other option, including T-Mobile's own 2-year contract, but everyone thinks the contract is a good deal because their phone is $200-$300 off list price.

Also, with T-Mobile no contract I had the option to split out the payment of the phone as $27/month for 20 months ($540, same as buying outright and completely interest-free). So I walked out of the store:

• with a new Touch Pro2,
• with no contract, and
• without paying anything upfront.

Every other option requires you to pay $400-$500 upfront because you have to buy the phone first, and you're paying $100 more than I listed above then waiting 3 months for your $100 rebate. And don't forget all the stupid federal and state taxes that are a percentage of your total monthly bill. The $80 plan is going to pay less taxes over the next few years so you're saving slightly more than is shown above.

Back on thread topic, kudos to Sprint for saving over $1000 compared to AT&T and Verizon, but T-Mobile beats them all (and even beats itself).

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So I guess the extra $100 or $200 you pay for Sprint over T-mobile is to pay for something Sprint has a huge lead over T-mobile with and that's Unlimited 3G coverage.

Oh yeah. I got my TP2 for $228 tax included. I work for Volt and they have a NICE discount with Sprint.

wud_e said:

So I guess the extra $100 or $200 you pay for Sprint over T-mobile is to pay for something Sprint has a huge lead over T-mobile with and that's Unlimited 3G coverage.

Oh yeah. I got my TP2 for $228 tax included. I work for Volt and they have a NICE discount with Sprint.

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Cricket is $45 per month for unlimited everything including 3G data ;-)

BennTech said:

Yeah, but here's the math (granted this is dated because the carriers are dropping their unlimited everything prices, but it was valid at the time I was looking):

T-Mobile no contract: $2460
$80 x 24 months = $1920
Touch Pro2 = $540

T-Mobile 2-year: $2650
$100 x 24 months= $2400
Touch Pro2 = $250

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Click to collapse

You paid $250 too much.

T-Mobile has been *giving* away the TP2 (and the Snap/Dash 3G) with a Jawbone headset for free via the Windows Mobile promotion for months. So under that math, the contract option would be cheaper.

There have also been a number of ways to get a Sprint TP2 for $50 if you're opening a new line/contract over the past few months. None of those have been as 100% consistent as the free TMO offer though.

BennTech said:

So subsidizing actually hurts the overall cost because T-Mobile's no contract is still cheaper than every other option, including T-Mobile's own 2-year contract, but everyone thinks the contract is a good deal because their phone is $200-$300 off list price.

Also, with T-Mobile no contract I had the option to split out the payment of the phone as $27/month for 20 months ($540, same as buying outright and completely interest-free). So I walked out of the store:

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Aside from the fact that this statement isn't correct based on the total cost, there is a good reason for it. By purchasing the phone on credit (even at 0% interest) you've created a tangible debt from a financial standpoint. An ETF is a penalty fee, whereas a debt is a different class of obligation.

TMO can sell that debt (at a discount obviously) to get cash up front right away. So it's not waiting for your cash like it would be with a direct subsidy.

It's actually a very SMART way of doing business as it pushes people to opt for buying the phone outright and paying the service fees directly. The less people the carrier has to subsidize the better it is for the carrier balance sheet.

I got my TP2 on Verizon for $150. Thats besides the point, for the service dependability all depends on where you live. Where i live, it is AT&T and Verizon thrive and have the best service. Sprint falls very short of having good service in my area. My friend has sprint and cant get service in my house and i get full service with Verizon. You cant really compare prices because you just want to get the best service coverage in your area. I think you should base your carrier choice on how they cover your area and then go by price.

All companies are the best and have the fasted data connections in certain areas, so do not say another carrier is better than the other. They all have their good and bad areas.

I had the HTC TOUCH, HTC TOUCH PRO, & HTC TOUCH PRO2 all from SPRINT. I have compaired all 3 phones with the same from the other carriers, and the other people were asking what I did to my phone to make it handle and connect faster than there phones. I had explained to all the people who I was compairing phones with, that I did not do anything to the phone at all. We compaired them in a few different ways. they were all running the same version stock ROM's so there was not any way to say that the ROM on my phone was faster, since they were exactly the same. Just yesterday I was compairing my SPRINT TP2 with my coworkers VERIZON TP2. In all the apps, my phone was faster than his, and he also had mulitple problems with his phone, especially where he could not even see his storage card. I found this out when I tried to send him a file through bluetooth. It did not work because of his phone. I had taken his card out of his phone and he could not see anything on my card that I put in there, then he put his card back in and could not see his card again. I E-Mailed him the file and he could not download it either, so he said that he would download it from home and sync his phone and computer to see if he can get the file I sent him. He called me and told me that he could not get the file from his computer to his phone.