Sprint’s Service Plans

I became a Sprint customer in 1999 and while I was much happier with their service then either Nextel which I had through work or AT&T which I had previously had for my personal service.  I then switched to Cingular to consolidate the cell bills and reduce the total cost my wife and I were paying.  I soon realized my mistake and how horrible GSM is compared to CDMA and the capacity issues that Cingular had in the bay area before they consumed AT&T.  So as soon as our plan was through, we ported our numbers to Sprint in November of 2003 to get better service and because I wanted a G-1000 PDA Phone.  At the time we got the plan that included the most minutes because I was using it as my primary phone and averaging about 700 minutes a month on my own.                                 

So as you can see, my net monthly bill for my “phone” service is $114.00, I also have a Sprint Data Card and that costs another $59 a month and both the Phone and separate Data Card plans have additional fees and taxes.   We both got upgrades to the Mogul when it came out so that we could share accessories, etc.  Over the last two years I have upgraded from the Mogul to the Touch Pro and then to the Touch Pro 2 because the Mogul was End Of Life and developed an issue where it would reset when you extend the keyboard and then the Touch Pro just stopped turning on.  Neither phone was abused and I pay for the Total Equipment Protection for situations just like this.  After begging and pleading with the management at the store, I usually leave a satisfied if not happy customer.  Only unhappy because I feel like I had to “work” to get the benefits I pay for, but that is another argument altogether and let’s just say it falls in to the “Sometimes you just have to hang up and call back to get another representative.”

So now I want to try and upgrade both our phones to Android handsets and I really like the Evo and the idea that it is 4g is only part of the allure, the larger screen and faster processor are also a big draw because I truly understand what processing power means in the real world.  So, I called Sprint and asked for Retentions to have them help me choose the best plan.  The thing is, there is no better plan.  The closest Sprint has is the new Sprint Everyhing Data Family:Ok, reality check:  I am not interested in Sprint’s Navigation Package because frankly, I don’t want anyone having that kind of record of my traveling, at least not so openly and voluntarily.  It’s also not as good as a stand alone offering, what happens if I lose Cell service enroute?  The GPS will work without cell service.  My upgrade to the new plan immediately increases my bill by $29 and takes away 500 minutes!  The plan gains me nothing that I would utilize enough to justify the additional costs or the new plan.  Now, the HTC Evo and the Samsung Epic are special phones, not for their ability to connect to the Clear WiMax 4G Network, rather it’s because Sprint now charges an additional $10 per month on top of your normal plan per device!  So if I got one for myself and my wife, Sprint would get an additional $20 per month even though there is no 4G in my area.  In Sprint’s defense their CEO Dan Hesse at the 2010 CTIA Show stated that the new fee is not for 4G service although it is a little cloudy what exactly the fee is for.

First, there is absolutely nothing that you can do with the either the Epic or the Evo that cannot currently be done with my Touch Pro 2 and more then likely also done with the Mogul albeit at lower resolutions and slower processor speeds.  So other then the nicer screens and higher resolution and Android there is nothing overly compelling about these devices to warrant a $49 a month increase in my net bill and since most of the Taxes and Fees are percentage based, they would increase exponentially as well.  Over the course of two years that amounts to $1200.  Is that Dan Hessenomics?

Sprint’s Service Plans

I became a Sprint customer in 1999 and while I was much happier with their service then either Nextel which I had through work or AT&T which I had previously had for my personal service.  I then switched to Cingular to consolidate the cell bills and reduce the total cost my wife and I were paying.  I soon realized my mistake and how horrible GSM is compared to CDMA and the capacity issues that Cingular had in the bay area before they consumed AT&T.  So as soon as our plan was through, we ported our numbers to Sprint in November of 2003 to get better service and because I wanted a G-1000 PDA Phone.  At the time we got the plan that included the most minutes because I was using it as my primary phone and averaging about 700 minutes a month on my own.                                 

So as you can see, my net monthly bill for my “phone” service is $114.00, I also have a Sprint Data Card and that costs another $59 a month and both the Phone and separate Data Card plans have additional fees and taxes.   We both got upgrades to the Mogul when it came out so that we could share accessories, etc.  Over the last two years I have upgraded from the Mogul to the Touch Pro and then to the Touch Pro 2 because the Mogul was End Of Life and developed an issue where it would reset when you extend the keyboard and then the Touch Pro just stopped turning on.  Neither phone was abused and I pay for the Total Equipment Protection for situations just like this.  After begging and pleading with the management at the store, I usually leave a satisfied if not happy customer.  Only unhappy because I feel like I had to “work” to get the benefits I pay for, but that is another argument altogether and let’s just say it falls in to the “Sometimes you just have to hang up and call back to get another representative.”

So now I want to try and upgrade both our phones to Android handsets and I really like the Evo and the idea that it is 4g is only part of the allure, the larger screen and faster processor are also a big draw because I truly understand what processing power means in the real world.  So, I called Sprint and asked for Retentions to have them help me choose the best plan.  The thing is, there is no better plan.  The closest Sprint has is the new Sprint Everyhing Data Family:Ok, reality check:  I am not interested in Sprint’s Navigation Package because frankly, I don’t want anyone having that kind of record of my traveling, at least not so openly and voluntarily.  It’s also not as good as a stand alone offering, what happens if I lose Cell service enroute?  The GPS will work without cell service.  My upgrade to the new plan immediately increases my bill by $29 and takes away 500 minutes!  The plan gains me nothing that I would utilize enough to justify the additional costs or the new plan.  Now, the HTC Evo and the Samsung Epic are special phones, not for their ability to connect to the Clear WiMax 4G Network, rather it’s because Sprint now charges an additional $10 per month on top of your normal plan per device!  So if I got one for myself and my wife, Sprint would get an additional $20 per month even though there is no 4G in my area.  In Sprint’s defense their CEO Dan Hesse at the 2010 CTIA Show stated that the new fee is not for 4G service although it is a little cloudy what exactly the fee is for.

First, there is absolutely nothing that you can do with the either the Epic or the Evo that cannot currently be done with my Touch Pro 2 and more then likely also done with the Mogul albeit at lower resolutions and slower processor speeds.  So other then the nicer screens and higher resolution and Android there is nothing overly compelling about these devices to warrant a $49 a month increase in my net bill and since most of the Taxes and Fees are percentage based, they would increase exponentially as well.  Over the course of two years that amounts to $1200.  Is that Dan Hessenomics?

Of Blogs, Blogging, Live Spaces and WordPress.

I am not a blogger.  I created my Live Space as a place to put stuff for my clients when I needed to do so quickly and without a fuss like instructions for connecting to their VPN, etc.  I really haven’t posted much content to it.  Spaces is being phased out so Microsoft created a plan to move it to WordPress.  Lo and behold I have a WordPress account that I made a long time ago and never used.  So here it is.  This is the first post.  This is for Mykel.  Here.  I did it.