[Pre] MMS

[Noseeums]

Hey Folks,

I'm currently a Verizon Wireless user (have been for the past 8 years) and I'm several years out of a contract. I've been waiting for Verizon to get a nice smartphone comparable to the iPhone, but it seems like Sprint has beat them to it. This new Palm Pre has really spiked my interest in switching carriers over to Sprint when it launches. I do, however, have some concerns about Sprint that maybe some of you long-time users or Sprint employees can help clear up.

I've been doing some research and Sprint seems to be the lowest rated carrier in about every way from many online and print consumer rating publications. Would you current Sprint users say that is a fair assessment of Sprint? I've read that Sprint also blocks MMS messages and that this would already cripple one of the simplest features of the Palm Pre. Also, I travel throughout the USA (and occasionally Canada) weekly and I need a phone that I can depend on everywhere, not just in major cities or along highways. I know that Sprint roams on some of Verizon's network too, but from what I understand Sprint still doesn't have coverage as complete as Verizon. Any complaints about frequent deadzones or bad signal areas throughout the country?

Another concern I have about switching to Sprint is I'm finding more and more user complaints that their bills are overcharged every month due to calls/texts they never made. It's something about people working for Sprint that have been stealing account numbers to have their personal phones charge customer accounts. There's at least 10 of these complaints on a consumer complaints website just for the month of January and Sprint call center employees have admitted the problem as I've stated. Do you know if Sprint is being proactive to fix this problem or what exactly is going on with this?

Some of these concerns of mine may have been previously brought up in this forum, but I have been unable to find them with the search function. I appreciate any insight and information you folks might have to share. Thanks!

~Noseeums

[Nater]

I've used Sprint phones all over the country, and haven't had reception problems except in the most rural of areas. I haven't looked up the latest reports, but CEO Hesse claims that Sprint has made big gains in the last year in customer service performance and network performance. As for MMS, what you say doesn't sound right. I send picture mail occasionally, which is included with Power Vision plans. I haven't heard anything about that customer service scandal, but then again I don't spend much time reading on these forums. But anyway, I'm on Sprint, I brought my family members on to Sprint, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend anyone coming to Sprint, particularly once that sweet hunk o' phone is available. :)

[Noseeums]

I've used Sprint phones all over the country, and haven't had reception problems except in the most rural of areas. I haven't looked up the latest reports, but CEO Hesse claims that Sprint has made big gains in the last year in customer service performance and network performance. As for MMS, what you say doesn't sound right. I send picture mail occasionally, which is included with Power Vision plans. I haven't heard anything about that customer service scandal, but then again I don't spend much time reading on these forums. But anyway, I'm on Sprint, I brought my family members on to Sprint, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend anyone coming to Sprint, particularly once that sweet hunk o' phone is available. :)

Nater,

Thank you for the info. As far as the picture mail MMS goes I've read that they block MMS on many smartphones. Since the Palm Pre would qualify as a smartphone I was wondering if it would have the same problem.

In any event, thanks for the positive feedback.

[NM08SRT8]

Nater,

Thank you for the info. As far as the picture mail MMS goes I've read that they block MMS on many smartphones. Since the Palm Pre would qualify as a smartphone I was wondering if it would have the same problem.

In any event, thanks for the positive feedback.
Why would they block it when Sprint came out with a MMS app for all WM phones..

[Noseeums]

Why would they block it when Sprint came out with a MMS app for all WM phones..

So I guess it's no longer blocked? I read this article and assumed there was a problem. http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/editorials/sprint_mms_and_windows_mobile.html

[runagun]

Bro, He ain't a Sprint user so he wouldn't know that.

OP. Sprint doesn't cripple phones like Vzw.

Why would they block it when Sprint came out with a MMS app for all WM phones..

[Noseeums]

Bro, He ain't a Sprint user so he wouldn't know that.

OP. Sprint doesn't cripple phones like Vzw.

Yeah I have no idea about Sprint. My last carrier was AT&T (pre Cingular) when they used TDMA. Verizon has been great, but I've only used them for voice. From what I've read here so far and what I've seen of the Pre I am about 99% sure I'm going to switch and get one.

Thanks for the help guys/gals.

[NINO63004]

I have had my fair share of billing errors and network issues over the a 7 years I have been with Sprint. Now more than ever though Sprint is the best deal around. My plan I have and the phones I have with it cannot be matched anywhere by any carrier. I have tried to switch a few times and getting ATT and VZW to match my plan but they just left and said sorry we can't help you and that was just me telling the basic part of my plan not any extras I have.

As for coverage across the US. There are some place where i have not received sprint signal where vzw did but there was just as many places where sprint would have a signal and vzw would not.

As for mms, I would doubt they would block that due to what was already said and they just enabled it on the Blackberry phones which was lacking mms for a while. Sprint will pretty much have the Pre have everything so they can get as much out of it as they can.

[ImmaSlave4U]

Picture Mail (MMS) is CONFIRMED. :tu:

[NM08SRT8]

fyi, Picture Mail is Sprints version of (MMS), such as "Pix" are for VZW. MMS is a set service across the board.

[htowngator]

I think that Sprint "blocks" you from opening the MMS message itself and having the picture displayed. You have to click a link inside the message that takes you to a sprint mobile website with the picture in it. It's annoying as hell, but maybe that's what he means when he said that "block" it.

[SxualChkL8]

Sprint does not block MMS. On the Windows Mobile phones they were having a problem with MMS and did not have a real app that worked well. I have read in these forums that in the next WinMo 6.5 they have a fix for it.

[NM08SRT8]

There are no blocks, before sMMS, there was the "Pic mail hack" that took the program from VZW's WM phones and we had to do some reghacks to get it to work, but we would be able to receive and send them.

Then sMMS came out which is far superior to what Sprint has ever released for their WM phones. It's even more reliable then the Diamond and Touch Pro's MMS software

[buzzardjrt]

as far as customer complaints, yea i have had some when dealing with them. and i have had problems with what i though over billing a couple of times. when i call them and explain they have always taken them off. sometimes i have to be nice and cheer them up from the chewing the last customer gave them, but in the end i dont pay anything more then i should.

since i have switched to the 99 simply everything plain i have not had a problem.

one of my friends who does not pay his bills ontime complain that they shut his phone off and will not turn it back on till he pays it. he does not like that at all.

as far as dead spots, i will get a weak spot from time to time around town and in certain places in my home, however it has gotten better over they years. and it has not made me want to leave.

the biggest complaint i hear is on customer service if you have to deal with them. i just pay my bill and dont deal with them.

[Milenko]

I've been doing some research and Sprint seems to be the lowest rated carrier in about every way ........
~NoseeumsHere's the thing with Sprint, they don't have the coverage like Vzw does...I don't think any carrier does, not even AT&T...that said, they all have their dead-zones.

To take advantage of Sprint you have to be a bit savvy and understand how to get the most bang for your buck. There are allot of threads and posts on SU on how to get what you want and pay little to nothing for those options.. whereas AT&T and Vzw will nickel-and-dime you to death for those same 'extras'.

If you're simply looking for a voice-only phone and rely/depend on customer-service to clear up issues then stick with Vzw. If you're looking for a PDA/smartphone and willing to do a little homework here on SU and want to save a bundle give Sprint a try.

[sfhub]

Here's the thing with Sprint, they don't have the coverage like Vzw does...I don't think any carrier does, not even AT&T...that said, they all have their dead-zones.
Except from a technology standpoint, ATT can't roam on Verizon while Sprint can.

[Milenko]

Except from a technology standpoint, ATT can't roam on Verizon while Sprint can.Good point ...and all the SE plans include no roaming charges....

[sfhub]

Sprint's CS is hit or miss. Sometimes you get a good rep and other times you get a bad one. They aren't all bad. IMO the variance is greater on Sprint where you can get really bad or really good where on Verizon it is more consistently average. I had an experience with Verizon about 5 months ago and found that the CS was all courteous but I was told different information regarding credits for a problem and much of the information was not correct. I had another try to tell me the taxes associated with the incorrect charges couldn't be refunded and accused me of trying to rip off Verizon because they need to pay those taxes regardless. Those were just a few isolated reps though and the rest of them were courteous and effective.

There is no "block" on MMS. What happened was there was no native MMS app to send pictures on Windows Mobile. That meant you needed to send MMS to an email gateway to the MMS system [phone #]@somesprintaddress.com. About 5 months ago they came out with a native MMS app for WM phones so you can send MMS to a phone # now. Even when there wasn't a native app from Sprint, 3rd parties came out with MMS send solutions that are, even today, still nicer to use than Sprint's solution. The initial 3rd-party MMS app was the arcsoft one ported from Verizon phones. At first Sprint was happy that user's came out with a solution and the store folks even pointed people to this solution. However once the higher ups looked at the solution, they started worrying that their might be licensing issues with Arcsoft, so they blocked that app. Once folks came out with an MMS solution that didn't have licensing problems, that app (sMMS) worked fine on Sprint.

I don't have experience with Canada coverage.

I get decent coverage in most areas, but it really depends on where you are going to use Sprint. Just keep in mind, Sprint plans have roaming included, so on the coverage map you do have coverage in the gray areas. Only the white areas are true dead zones. I had dead zones with Verizon also. There are just some areas that don't have cell coverage, especially since they turned off analog (I used to keep an old analog/digital phone because analog roam filled in a lot of the "white" areas in todays coverage map and roaming was included)

http://coverage.sprintpcs.com/IMPACT.jsp?id16=sprint_coverage_map&covType=sprint

The stuff about stealing #s IMO are very isolated incidents that are blown out of proportion. #'s you didn't call showing up on your bill are rare. I've actually never seen it. Random Intl text can happen because Sprint's SMS system treats any non-domestic area code as intl, even if it isn't a valid #, so some people just type the wrong #. Also there are some apps on WinMo that send status information via SMS to an Intl # but didn't tell the user during installation.

Just keep in mind if you read online forums it always sound worse than it is in reality because more people post about problems than about good experiences. If something is really a systemic problem, then you will find a huge thread about it. If you see a few isolated posts, most of the time those are isolated problems and not something you should really worry about.

On the positive side, Sprint's data performs as good or better than Verizon in many markets and with the current everything plans, almost everything is included and unlimited so there isn't really that much to worry about with respect to charges. Also on the positive side is even if customer service can sometimes be inconsistent, most people don't have problems so they never need to deal with customer service. Usually the pattern is if you make no changes you never need to call customer service. If you make changes, most of the time they go ok, but sometimes they get messed up. Then you deal with customer service, sometimes getting a good rep that fixes it right away and sometimes getting a bad rep that screws things up even more. The good news is it eventually gets fixed and then you don't deal with customer service again for another year or two.