After many years with Sprint, I'm finally ready to switch cell phone companies. I'm going to document my research in searching for a new company and phone, but first I'd like to go over why I'm ready to leave Sprint.
The thing that has kept me with Sprint for so long is probably their reasonably priced plans. Originally, their nights and weekends started at 7pm, later to go to 8pm, but still better than the 9pm of other providers. Also, they don't charge extra for SMS messages.
The prices also tend to be quite a bit lower than AT&T or Verizon.
I also attached Sprint Long distance to my land line phone, which included an hour of free long distance a month and didn't cost anything if I didn't use it, which I often don't.
Over the last few years, I've noticed that Sprint's coverage seemed to be getting worse and worse, especially at home. When I first started with Sprint, the signal was great for the most part, but now I get no signal downstairs, and the only way to make a call upstairs is if I have the phone plugged in and even then I only have 1 bar at most.
In fairness to Sprint, I found out later that the antenna on my Treo 600 is broken, but there are still other places where I get four bars without being plugged in, and I've noticed worsening coverage over a period of years.
In the course of my research, I heard that Sprint sold much of their cell network and are leasing back the towers, so that may be part of the reason for the reduction in coverage.
I didn't completely rule out staying with Sprint. If I were to stay, my options would have been to get my Treo repaired (I had insurance, but there is a $50 deductible), or get a new phone along with another 2 year commitment.
It seems like Sprint's service is getting worse rather than better and they appear to be losing customers in droves, so a 2 year commitment didn't sound like a great idea. For example, they now charge extra for detailed billing statements, so you can't even see the numbers you called without paying extra.
Also, in visiting several of their local Sprint stores, I found out that there is now only one store that has technicians who can diagnose problems on site compared to several just a few years ago.
Here are some of the pros and cons for staying with Sprint:
Pros:
been with Sprint forever (inertia)
decently priced plans
includes unlimited text messages with internet plans (unlike most other services)
nights start at 7pm (current plan is 8pm though) compared to 9pm for other services
pretty good nationwide coverage in all the places I've traveled
turn by turn directions for GPS-enabled phones better than other services?
Cons:
coverage appears to be declining
Sprint in financial trouble(?) and losing lots of customers
services (like detailed billing) getting worse or only available for extra charge
local technicians at Sprint stores going away
not on GSM network, so can't use phone in Europe
more and more dropped calls even when I had a strong signal
phone support people seem to be less and less knowledgeable
their account management web site is often down or slow
I'll follow up in future posts about my search for information about other providers and what I found out in my quest for a new cell phone.
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