Company Overview: Sprint is part of the Sprint Nextel Corporation, which was officially formed in August 2005 following the successful acquisition of NEXTEL Communications by Sprint Communications for $35 billion. Sprint was originally founded as The Brown Telephone Company in 1899 in Abilene, KS. Sprint Nextel (aka "Sprint") is now headquartered in Reston, VA.
Network Benefits: Voice services including Push-to-Talk; High speed wireless data services including Sprint Power Vision streaming TV and radio content and music store; Limited Wi-Fi wireless Internet service.
Special Plan Features: Individual "Fair and Flexible" plans offer free nights and weekends; Free Incoming plans charge only for outgoing minutes; Unlimited mobile to mobile calling available; Overage charged in blocks of 30 minutes on some plans; Mobile data card plans available.
Unique Features: Sprint Power Vision offers mobile data and entertainment services on a monthly or per-Kilobyte basis.
Pros: Extensive coverage for voice and high speed data services; Fair and Flexible plans help eliminate big overage charges; Merger with Nextel means free calling between many Sprint and Nextel subscribers; Exclusive Power Vision multimedia content.
Cons: Fewer handsets available than with GSM carriers; Power Vision plans more expensive than wireless Web offerings from other major carriers.
Technology Used: CDMA Network using the 1xRTT standard. Sprint is currently rolling out a higher speed EVDO network, slated for nationwide coverage by the end of 2007.
Coverage: Nationwide Sprint CDMA network; EVDO network available in 41 U.S. states as of August 2006. Rural coverage through roaming partnership with Alltel.
Sprint's going all out marketing the Samsung Instinct against the Apple iPhone. Here's the first of five smackdown videos: Instinct vs iPhone commercial 1, GPS.
Part two of our hands-on look at Instinct, the new do-it-all device from Sprint and Samsung. We check out text messaging, and go behind the velvet rope at the launch party. Rock Band! Wakeboarding! Pizza!
Noah goes hands on with the HTC Shift in this video, and learns what this CDMA version for the Sprint network can do. This ultramobile PC is a windows touchscreen device that uses Vista, and can run via WiFi or EVDO connection via Sprint. The HTC Shift also offers a Snap View interface which highlights your "day at a glance".
Is this Sprint's iPhone killer? Noah goes hands-on with the new flagship Samsung Instinct phone at CTIA 2008 in Las Vegas. The Samsung Instinct is a new 3G touchscreen device with a custom UI that will be available at Sprint early this summer.
Looking for a great messaging phone to use on the Sprint network? Well, Noah has found one in the LG Rumor. The bar style device come equipped with a slide out QWERTY keyboard that when opened, automatically switches the phone to messaging mode. Other key features include a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x zoom, media player, and expandable memory card slot.
Unlocked episode 1 with Noah from PhoneDog.com. Apple unveils the iPhone SDK and announces iFund. Unlimited plans take center stage with Sprint and Helio leading the way. Hands-on with the Helio Mysto and Palm Centro for Sprint.
Planning on taking a summer vacation anytime soon? Noah has some great advise for packing your bags and losing the laptop by taking the HTC Mogul along instead.
Will you flip over the Samsung UpStage? Noah's phone in 60 second video review of the UpStage gives great insight on the music playing device and the benefits to music lovers who also happen to be looking for a cellular phone!
Could everyone's favorite MVNO be looking to merge with a less cool but bigger and badder MVNO? Could be.
Multiple media outlets have been reporting that Helio (everyone's fave, if you ask me) and Virgin Mobile USA (actually bigger and badder than Helio) are in talks to join forces. Details are a little bit sketchy right now, but one scenario desribed by The Washington Post has Helio's parent company SK Telecom buying out Virgin Mobile USA and then pouring some cash into the...
Wow, Sprint's trying to steal some of that Microsoft-Yahoo! merger thunder, huh? First they hit the headlines as a possible acquisition target for Deutsch Telekom (T-Mobile's parent co.) and now this.
According to the Wall Street Journal (says CrunchGear), the US's #3 mobile carrier is looking to get rid of Nextel after a 2+ year marriage that didn't really do much good for them. Nextel lost almost three and a half million subscribers in '06-'07 and according to CG they're...
A bunch of newspaper ads over the weekend point to the real-soon-like availability of the BlackBerry Curve 8330 on Sprint in not one, but two fabulous colors. While the ads say the CDMA Curve is "Coming Soon," Crackberry.com is taking it a step further in pointing to forum posters who claim Wed May 7th as the release date.
The ads say the 3G, GPS-enabled smartphone will cost you $179 after mail-in rebate, and with contract (two years plus data plan). But hey, you'll get your...
German newspaper Spiegel's online outlet ran a story Saturday about a possible takeover in the offing that would shake up the US cell phone market in a big way. According to Spiegel Online, Deutsche Telekom - the parent company of T-Mobile Europe and T-Mobile USA - is eyeing an acquisition of Sprint, which would effectively mean the merger of the US's #3 and #4 mobile carriers.
Between Sprint Nextel's recent share price drop and the strength of the euro as compared to the dollar, DT...
Hot off the UPS truck it's the HTC Touch, but in white, and running on Verizon. VZW launched the XV6900 at CTIA, and it's currently available only through the online store (should be in retail outlets April 30). So if you haven't had the chance to check one out yet, don't worry - we got ya covered.
Essentially the same device as the Touch that launched on Sprint last year, the XV900 is a slim touchscreen smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 professional topped off by HTC's handy...
So this makes things a little more interesting. That photo I mentioned the other day with two mystery HTC devices in it? Engadget thinks we're looking at the HTC Raphael and Diamond, otherwise known as the successors to the Mogul and Touch, respectively.
Engadget's post features some fuzzy pics of what looks to be an internal Sprint document detailing the two new Windows Mobile devices, both with HTC's TouchFlo UI (and, of course, touch screens), and one with a slide-out...
IntoMobile reported on a story in the Electronic Times quoting an LG rep as saying their VZW flagship handset, the VX10000 Voyager, will be coming to AT&T and Sprint in the US later this year. Considering that the VZW model has sold some 1.1 million units in less than six months, it makes sense that LG would want to milk this cow for all its worth.
The move would necessitate the creation of at least two new variants of the device, since the VX10000 is compatible with VZW's...
Part two of our hands-on look at Instinct, the new do-it-all device from Sprint and Samsung. We check out text messaging, and go behind the velvet rope at the launch party. Rock Band! Wakeboarding! Pizza!
Noah goes hands on with the HTC Shift in this video, and learns what this CDMA version for the Sprint network can do. This ultramobile PC is a windows touchscreen device that uses Vista, and can run via WiFi or EVDO connection via Sprint. The HTC Shift also offers a Snap View interface which highlights your "day at a glance".
Today Doug and I hit the floor in earnest, touring the big booths: Samsung Mobile, LG, and Sony Ericsson, and also catching an AT&T media luncheon where CEO Ralph de la Vega basically confirmed that a 3G iPhone will be hitting his stores' shelves in the next few months. We sat in funny music pod chairs (every show seems to have a different company with music pod chairs), ate some good bbq, and ... of course ... saw lots and lots of phones.
We've posted eight videos from the show...
By: Karl San on Wednesday, May 07, 2008 From: Ann Abor, MD (United States) Experience: 2 Years
Pros: early night calling, free weekendsCons: dropped calls, long customer service waitingSummary: Not that bad of a company, I've been a customer for about two years. The main problem I had was my phone, but Sprint did not make it very well.
By: M Gibbs on Saturday, April 26, 2008 From: Brooklyn, NY (United States) Experience: 8 Years
Pros: NoneCons: Outrageous bills,poor customer serviceSummary: I have been a customer for 8 years. I am very disatisfied and will have to pay a small fortune to get out of the contract. I have 3 phones on the family plan.
By: Heather K on Thursday, April 10, 2008 From: Kansas City , MO (United States) Experience: 7 Years
Pros: ?Cons: customer service is terrible!!!!!!!!Summary: We have had service with sprint for the last 7 years and they were fine to start with but in just the last couple of years the customer service has gotten terrible. The most recent problem we have had is when one of our phones buttons quit working. We don't live very close to the store that does repairs (not all of them do repairs) so we switched the number to an older phone we had which doesn't work very well( drops calls, won't hold a charge well etc )so we could continue to use the line. I took the broken one in when I had time and they told me that they wouldnt fix it b/c it didn't have and active number on it anymore. I explained we paid for insurence on that phone and we needed a working phone on that line b/c it was used for a business line. The phone couldn't be reactived with the number b/c the buttons didn't work so they pretty much told us we were out of luck and could just buy another phone and sign another contract. NEVER! why pay to insure a phone if they will find any excuse not to fix it. This is just one of the many recent problems we have had. Do yourself a favor and don't mess with sprint!!!! oh and They never have the cool new phones either it was like 3 years after the razr phone that everyone wanted came out that they finally got it and by then it sucked compared to everything else.
By: Brian Smith on Sunday, March 30, 2008 From: Hartford, CT (United States) Experience: 8 Years
Pros: Phones, service, call quality, plansCons: NoneSummary: I have never had a problem with Sprint, they have the best phones (Sanyo), great plans to choose from, and excellent reception wherever I go. I have had Sprint for over 8 years and have no plans on ever switching service.
People who complain about Sprint are the ones who constantly switch providers and dislike them all. My answer is to move out of the sticks and quit your complaining.
By: C Damron on Wednesday, March 19, 2008 From: Flagler Beach, FL (United States) Experience: 7 Years
Pros: noneCons: everythingSummary: We updated our phones x4 and got the "new & better" ones that were suppose to get better reception. Since this we have had numerous calls dropped, no service, and lots of roaming charges added to our bill, this didn't happen with the old phone. When I called and complained about it they said I must contact service, when I questioned charges on roaming, they told me I had 10 seconds to cancel the call or be charged. "TEN SECONDS".
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