Second bill and no EVDO charges with GF Vision Premium Pack

[Brooose]

I have had a Power Vision phone (940, 6700 and now 900) on my account for 2 billing cycles now and I wanted to report that, with my old Vision Premium Pack with $10 in download credits, free unlimited SMS and Picture Mail, that I have once again had no additional charges for accessing EVDO. I have also done some limited tethering of the phone with my ibook and they have not charged me the casual Power Vision rate for that too. Other people can report here too what their experiences are and hopefully we can lay to rest whether or not people with older grandfathered Vision plans are paying extra to access EVDO. I definitely am not. YAY! :deal:

[fl00d_pr0z]

I'm happy to say I haven't been charged anything extra either, and I have also teathered to my laptop while on the drive back to MA, from NC.

[ikandi]

that's good to hear. so when i activate my new phone today i hope i get a rep who doesn't know much and overlooks that this is an EV-DO phone

[a_c_s]

I am in the second billing cycle with an old RL Pics vision pack and no extra charges either...there was another thread yesterday in the vision forum where there was some discussion of Sprint at some point auditing accounts that went through the P2K system on old plans and possibly forcing people to upgrade...I personally would be surprised given what a small % of their overall customer base we represent, not to mention our recurring monthly fees are probably a lot higher than the average...Deval appears to think the early adopters will be fine but that the loophole will close at some point...hopefully that's the case...if they do come after us, my stance is that they can either disable EVDO on my phone or buy it back at full price, because when I purchased it there were no pre-existing conditions of my ever having to upgrade or change plans...not to mention I was specifically told by a supervisor that EVDO would work on my old plan and that I would not have any issues...I guess the fear of what the future might bring is always out there, but so far so good for a lot of us grandfathered users...I am going to ride the free EVDO train as long as they let me...I won't ever switch from my old $85 2000min plan with all the freebies...

[3G Cables]

I am in the second billing cycle with an old RL Pics vision pack and no extra charges either...there was another thread yesterday in the vision forum where there was some discussion of Sprint at some point auditing accounts that went through the P2K system on old plans and possibly forcing people to upgrade...I personally would be surprised given what a small % of their overall customer base we represent, not to mention our recurring monthly fees are probably a lot higher than the average...Deval appears to think the early adopters will be fine but that the loophole will close at some point...hopefully that's the case...if they do come after us, my stance is that they can either disable EVDO on my phone or buy it back at full price, because when I purchased it there were no pre-existing conditions of my ever having to upgrade or change plans...not to mention I was specifically told by a supervisor that EVDO would work on my old plan and that I would not have any issues...I guess the fear of what the future might bring is always out there, but so far so good for a lot of us grandfathered users...I am going to ride the free EVDO train as long as they let me...I won't ever switch from my old $85 2000min plan with all the freebies...

I am glad to see you all made it through ok =) This is contrary to what Sprint has told me but that’s ok. As long as you guys haven’t been charged that’s awesome! I think Deval is right on with his thinking. Only time will tell so enjoy what you have for now and hopefully for a long time to come :clap:

[Lord Bricks]

that's good to hear. so when i activate my new phone today i hope i get a rep who doesn't know much and overlooks that this is an EV-DO phone

tell them you know that ev-do has no coverage in your area and you do not want a ev-do plan.. all you want to do is an esn swap. :clap:

[3G Cables]

tell them you know that ev-do has no coverage in your area and you do not want a ev-do plan.. all you want to do is an esn swap. :clap:

It’s not that easy. They have coverage maps and can tell where the bill is sent. If you have EV-DO coverage at the address you get your bill at, that wont work.

But you could always change your address as I did when canceling two (2-year) agreements =) Southeast Oregon has no coverage at all FYI
:headbang2

[mspecantan]

i thought they usually didnt start charging you until 6 months down the road for like a a thousand dollar bill. ive never heard anyone say they tethered and got his for a $40 bill but once that joint hit 2108, they had to pay.

[3G Cables]

i thought they usually didnt start charging you until 6 months down the road for like a a thousand dollar bill. ive never heard anyone say they tethered and got his for a $40 bill but once that joint hit 2108, they had to pay.

True, I have heard that as well. Well, I guess we will just have to wait and see...

[a_c_s]

i thought they usually didnt start charging you until 6 months down the road for like a a thousand dollar bill. ive never heard anyone say they tethered and got his for a $40 bill but once that joint hit 2108, they had to pay.

those horror stories are generally the result of tethering though...I have been calling Sprint once a week since I got EVDO in Oct and there are no EVDO codes on my account, nor any accumulating data charges...I don't see how Sprint could come back to me in 6 months and attempt to charge me for casual data usage on the phone given the call history and notes on my account... :headbang2

[mspecantan]

those horror stories are generally the result of tethering though...I have been calling Sprint once a week since I got EVDO in Oct and there are no EVDO codes on my account, nor any accumulating data charges...I don't see how Sprint could come back to me in 6 months and attempt to charge me for casual data usage on the phone given the call history and notes on my account... :headbang2


u havent been with sprint long then :haha:

[laursifer]

that's good to hear. so when i activate my new phone today i hope i get a rep who doesn't know much and overlooks that this is an EV-DO phone


I did an ESN swap from my 535 to the 900 this past Friday. When I gave the rep my ESN on the 900 she said, "This is an EVDO phone so you will need to switch to a different plan." I immediately told her no, I don't HAVE to switch to a different plan and that I had confirmed that with other reps. I told her I didn't want anything touched on my plan and she said OK.

So... they might try to tell you that you HAVE to switch to a PV plan. If that happens, hang up and call back until you get someone who will do a simple ESN swap without any plan changes. :)

[3G Cables]

I did an ESN swap from my 535 to the 900 this past Friday. When I gave the rep my ESN on the 900 she said, "This is an EVDO phone so you will need to switch to a different plan." I immediately told her no, I don't HAVE to switch to a different plan and that I had confirmed that with other reps. I told her I didn't want anything touched on my plan and she said OK.

So... they might try to tell you that you HAVE to switch to a PV plan. If that happens, hang up and call back until you get someone who will do a simple ESN swap without any plan changes. :)

We know that can be done but the thing is that if you don’t have a Vision plan on your phone before you do the ESN swap, and don’t change your plan, and you choose to use data you will get charged. That I know for a fact because that is what happened to me and I just got a bill for over $350 in data charges for last month.

Now keep in mind I did NOT have Vision on my plan during the ESN swap and I used data. So that, I know will incur data charges, very expensive data charges.

[slffl]

I activated my a900 on my GFed plan no problem. Well, except that I used to be able to upload photos to sprint's website, but now it says I need a picture pack.

Does anyone think the new PV plans are any different from the GFed Vision plans in terms of Sprint seeing how you're using the data (ie using Vision vs EVDO, phone vs tether)?

[3G Cables]

I activated my a900 on my GFed plan no problem. Well, except that I used to be able to upload photos to sprint's website, but now it says I need a picture pack.

Does anyone think the new PV plans are any different from the GFed Vision plans in terms of Sprint seeing how you're using the data (ie using Vision vs EVDO, phone vs tether)?

Yes, they can tell on all new EV-DO phones exactly what you are using the data for with the exception of the 6700. Please read ALL of below and understand it and it will answer all your questions about it.

Here is what you need to know about EV-DO and tethering (for those of you in Rio Linda, that means to be able to use your phone as a modem). With some exceptions, Sprint considers any handset user who uses 500 MB or more of data tethering (there are some exceptions... PDA users generally are skipped for example). Until now, they have had no way to meter this other than raw data usage. However, EV-DO phones bring new concerns about tethering for the carrier that has been known for letting free tethering go under-the-radar.

After all, this was the company who even had their PR department slip up and admit just about everything above.

Sprint will formally allow EV-DO tethering. There may be dialer software return (something seen before the launch of Unlimited Vision), data cables will return even to stores. But, there's a catch, the phone has a meter. All EV-DO phones will carry a built-in sensing ability for a PC modem connection. When you connect with a PC (or Mac, or Bluetooth DUN), the device will change its internal username.

Here's the unnecessarily technical part...

Previously, Sprint has followed a practice of having a username@sprintpcs.com being the catch-all username for a Vision account. This is known as the NAI, which we have covered previously. There is also ESN@hcm.sprintpcs.com which serves as the IOTA username for specific device identification. Got it? Good, if not, search. Tethering will use username@mobile.sprintpcs.com as a new, third NAI. When the modem event occurs, the device changes the connection username automatically, and then bars access to ##DATA# so that it cannot be changed back (in theory, we haven't tried yet, and we're sure it will be blocked in firmware updates if such a hole is found).

Back to the non-technical...

Now, because the device can now identify that the device is tethering, and so can the network, it can prompt you to change plans (similar to adding Picture Mail to your account when attempting to send a picture). The good news is, the plans are not evil, they actually are pretty fair. It's call the Fair & Flexible for Data plan, and it basically is Power Vision at $25/month with 40 MB of data, plus a $.001/KB charge that caps out at $70. You go over $70 worth of usage (70 MB) and you are not charged. This is $10 less than Sprint and Verizon's aircard-only rates. The good news? Your handset usage will no longer be billed against your bucket for tethering.

So, EV-DO will change everything... almost. The PPC-6700 is the current sole exception, it still falls under old rules when it comes to tethering. This is because Sprint did not want to lose the PPC-6700 or invest added R&D time to add the system outlined above. Because of this, it will continue to tether with a standard (Power) Vision Pack.

[Brooose]

I activated my a900 on my GFed plan no problem. Well, except that I used to be able to upload photos to sprint's website, but now it says I need a picture pack.

Does anyone think the new PV plans are any different from the GFed Vision plans in terms of Sprint seeing how you're using the data (ie using Vision vs EVDO, phone vs tether)?

In the hidden menu (settings-display-0-040793), there is a setting for "Toggle NAI". If the Modem NAI is toggled on, Sprint can track your modem usage because it uses a separate user name. Provisioning can turn this setting on. You can turn this setting off and then they cannot tell the difference between tethered data and phone browser data without looking at the type of packets you are transfering etc. They will only do this if you are a habitual abuser of tethering and they audit your account.

[3G Cables]

In the hidden menu (settings-display-0-040793), there is a setting for "Toggle NAI". If the Modem NAI is toggled on, Sprint can track your modem usage because it uses a separate user name. Provisioning can turn this setting on. You can turn this setting off and then they cannot tell the difference between tethered data and phone browser data without looking at the type of packets you are transfering etc. They will only do this if you are a habitual abuser of tethering and they audit your account.

On which phones does that code work? Does not work on my 6700.

[Brooose]

On which phones does that code work? Does not work on my 6700.

On the Samsung 900 and 940. I have not checked the 920 but I imagine it is the same.

[a_c_s]

u havent been with sprint long then :haha:

I can assure you I've been with Sprint longer than you...I can also assure you I know a lot more about the ins and outs of Sprint's customer service and billing than you...I have unlimited data on all of my lines as code imbedded in my primary line's plan from over 3 years ago...I am not being charged anything for data usage...

[urge]

My billing cycle just ended and im happy to report no charges, NOT EVEN A NEW PHONE ACTIVATION CHARGE! Just my normal bill, plus 9.99 for the Sprint TV pack i purchased. I still have all the normal goodies, PictureMail, Video Mail, UL Txt messaging. Also I did some higher than normal (for me) bluetooth DUN with my Powerbook and Palm T3.

I checked my phones Toggle Mudem NAI, it is set to off.


:clap:

[ziggy4500]

cheers to you risk takers. i'm just afraid to take that plunge and loose my vision

[slm95]

On the Samsung 900 and 940. I have not checked the 920 but I imagine it is the same.

The default setting on mine is to off.

[Dale]

I am really debating to switching from my dying Toshiba VM4050 to a PPC 6700. I am afraid that if I do that, my plan will get screwed up. I also trying to ensure that this phone has SMS or some sort of really good messenging system. I heard that you go through Outlook and stuff, but isn't there a quick SMS application that can be loaded up on this phone just for SMS type messages?

[SpineDoc]

What's the deal with the $25 modem pack? The wording in the description seems to implie that it includes ultimate vision. If this is the case, ie: I can get 40mb of data, as well as having ultimate vision on my handset for 25 bucks, this is well worth it.

Anyone know?

[urge]

What's the deal with the $25 modem pack? The wording in the description seems to implie that it includes ultimate vision. If this is the case, ie: I can get 40mb of data, as well as having ultimate vision on my handset for 25 bucks, this is well worth it.

Anyone know?


it is not included

the paper prochures have it layed out on a seprate page.