Sprint Megathread: Dead Man Sprinting

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Sprint Megathread: Dead Man Sprinting

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Gumball Dad posted:

I'm switching from AT&T. If I get on an EPRP contract, do I still get a discount on a phone? I'm thinking I might get the Evo if I can. Also, will I have to pay the $10 per month smart phone fee on an EPRP plan?

Yes, you get the phone subsidized when you sign up with a new 2-year contract. Yes, you will have to pay the $10 smartphone fee.

# ¿ Mar 31, 2011 01:56

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 20:20

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Furril posted:

did anyone have an employee referral?

Use the link to Russ McGuire's blog in the OP.

ExcessBLarg! posted:

I'd start with SyndicateROM Frozen...

From that thread... What Is Carrier IQ? Why Should We Care?

quote:

Carrier IQ is a software package buried deep within Android by Samsung at the behest of Sprint.

Carrier IQ sits in the middle of, and "checks" the data of, SMS and MMS messages. It listens for and receives every battery change notifications. It hooks into every web page you view, and every XML file your device reads. It receives every press of the touch screen. It 'sees' what you type on the physical keyboard. It reads every number you press in the dialer. It can track which applications you use, what 'type' they are, how often, and for how long. It hooks into data sent and received.

Here's the most important part (tl;dr): the Carrier IQ service is a drain on battery life and performance. ACS noticed a significant rise in Smartbench scores and overall system 'snappiness' after Carrier IQ's removal. In addition, with it removed, ACS team lead rjmjr69 saw 30 hours of battery life, with heavy use, on the stock battery.

Samsung products just keep getting better and better.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2011 07:01

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

brc64 posted:

But I did love the fact that WinMo let me set things like 1x only or roam only easily enough, depending on the ROM. That, and USB fast charge. I do miss those things sometimes.

You can still do 1x only or roam only easily on Android as well, at least from my short experience messing wround with a friend's LG Optimus S.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2011 07:02

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

I thought I'd avoid confusion by switching from SERO to SERO Premium on the first day of my billing cycle (March 17). Would anyone smarter than me be able to explain why I'm being charged for two months of service at once on my new bill? I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation, but I'm not quite "getting it".

Old SERO bill:

New SERO Premium bill:

# ¿ Apr 20, 2011 07:49

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Jerk McJerkface posted:

When you change plans, you pay for the current month of service you are using, and then the next month of service ahead of time. Look at the old bill from March 20. You are paying for Feb 17-Mar 16. Now on the bill from April 20, you are paying for Mar 17-Apr 16 and Apr 17-May 17. So you are paying for two billing cycles.

So I won't get a May 20 bill at all?

# ¿ Apr 20, 2011 15:14

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Watch it burn your house down.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2011 10:59

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

jeeves posted:

My questions are: do the employee discounts still work? Are there any Sprint Employees who would like to give me a referal here? Or do I have to look elsewhere for that? Also, should I just try my luck on finding a used HTC EVO, as I have never liked contracts (I may be moving soon, and Sprint might suck rear end in my new locale)?

Yes, you can do the EPRP thing mentioned in the OP, no problem. Go back a page or three and use one of our goon Sprint employee IDs. And you're stuck in a contract no matter what, so you might as well take advantage of that nice subsidized EVO price.

# ¿ May 2, 2011 06:50

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Looks like the one on the right will be coming out on June 5th.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/05/motorola-intros-dualing-portrait-qwerty-android-options-for-spri/

# ¿ May 6, 2011 04:11

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

The Entire Universe posted:

Am I able to switch to an EPRP plan from my current regular-employer-discount plan? Looks like I could save about $15 monthly with that, which adds up to $180 a year - something I would be stupid not to grab.

No. You'd have to port your number out to another carrier (like a pre-paid phone) and then back to Sprint once you get the EPRP account.

And you probably don't want to do this because you're in the middle of a contract - You'd pay a significant ETF.

# ¿ May 6, 2011 11:42

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

mastershakeman posted:

Not shut off physically, but disconnected. Happened when I switched to sprint 2 years back and I don't know if it'd happen again, where shipping was delayed and my old cell phone lost service since the new one had been shipped (despite not being activated).

That only happened because you were porting your number between carriers. Your old Sprint phone here will continue to work until the very moment that you turn on your new phone and it does the "hands-free activation".

# ¿ May 15, 2011 00:40

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

"d[-.- posted:

b"]Do EPRP plans get that extra $10 smartphone fee? So the $60 plan will actually be $70?

Correct, it gets +$10 which makes it $70.

# ¿ May 25, 2011 07:14

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

There's a good post here outlining many of the issues with the Epic 4G and Samsung in general. And another post here about how and why their software tends to suck.

# ¿ May 25, 2011 23:30

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Fancy_Lad posted:

Since I was a Premier member that just got switched to Silver, I understand that until the end of June I should be able to get a 2 year upgrade next month.

Assuming the EVO 3D comes out in time, I'm a nice enough guy that I would be willing switch to that and pass my EVO 4G onto my wife... My question on this is how would her TEP work in this situation? Would it still apply for a phone that was bought on a separate account and transferred over to her?

Yes, TEP will apply just fine. No worries. It doesn't matter where the phone came from.

MrMoose posted:

I know there is the whole Google Voice integration stuff, but I was wondering. Can I port my number over to Google Voice, keep the local number I set the Nexus S up with, and still integrate Google voice properly with the phone?

Yes, you can do that. That's what everybody did before this Sprint-GV integration stuff was introduced.

# ¿ May 31, 2011 00:41

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Odometer piracy is serious business.

You should try again, to see if it was just a one-time fluke or not. Also maybe try other things, like a TV.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2011 06:23

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Oh, wow. And launching this summer. I wonder if that's taking the place of the Atrix that everyone was predicting.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2011 17:56

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

So the Network Vision plan is to have a standard CDMA signal running on both 800MHz and the current 1900MHz, for excellent range, building penetration, and network capacity. But all of our current phones only look for a signal on 1900MHz. I did a bit of googling and, from what I gathered, it looks like we're all going to have to get new phones with multi-mode/whatever radios that are smart and advanced enough to listen on both frequencies.

What are the odds that we'll be able to flash our current-generation android phone radios to behave the same way?

What are the odds that I'll be able to at least flash my old Touch Pro2 (lol) to work on 800MHz?

# ¿ Jun 12, 2011 10:31

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

rockcity posted:

Has anyone recently done total coverage replacement on a touch pro 2 recently? I just accidentally broke the screen on mine and I was curious if they still have replacement TP2's or if they're swapping it for something different now.

I did one back in November. Honestly, you don't have to start worrying until it disappears from their website and stores. I know my local stores still have 'em on display.

Lowen SoDium posted:

td4guy posted:
So the Network Vision plan is to have a standard CDMA signal running on both 800MHz and the current 1900MHz, for excellent range, building penetration, and network capacity. But all of our current phones only look for a signal on 1900MHz. I did a bit of googling and, from what I gathered, it looks like we're all going to have to get new phones with multi-mode/whatever radios that are smart and advanced enough to listen on both frequencies.

What are the odds that we'll be able to flash our current-generation android phone radios to behave the same way?

What are the odds that I'll be able to at least flash my old Touch Pro2 (lol) to work on 800MHz?
Reflashing is not very likely. Firstly because they usually won't add features to older phones like that. Secondly, because the phone's radio would have to support it's hardware.

Yeah, Sprint definitely wouldn't do anything official like that. But what about unofficial stuff made by the community? Surely the EVO is popular enough for someone to figure out how to get it onto the 800MHz SMR band.

td4guy fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Jun 13, 2011

# ¿ Jun 13, 2011 01:04

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

--double post, oops--

# ¿ Jun 13, 2011 01:09

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

hotsauce, I don't even understand why you'd speak with a Sprint retail store person about company policies about tethering and such. Obviously free tethering nowadays is done unofficially without official carrier sanctioning.

IOwnCalculus posted:

8 years ago now is 2003. There's certainly cellular devices from then that still work today
...
Now as far as being able to keep a daily-carried cellular phone in workable condition that long? That's impressive.

I now have a new goal. Keeping my Touch Pro2 through the year 2018. :v:

td4guy fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jun 14, 2011

# ¿ Jun 14, 2011 01:17

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Chow-King posted:

So I have a question for the Sprint guys, currently, I'm on the old SERO plan. I'm planning on calling the number listed on the first page to upgrade myself to SERO PLUS on Monday.

When Friday comes along, can I just walk into a Sprint corporate store and pick up the phone then without them screwing anything up?

When talking to the rep on the phone, be sure to refer to it as SERO Premium 500 ($40/mo), for minimal confusion.

Yes, you should be able to walk into a corporate store and pick up a phone then. But there's always a chance that you'll encounter an employee who doesn't know how to deal with your special employee referral account.

And here's how SERO 500 pricing works, since they messed with the data pricing back in January:

$30/mo SERO 500 - Dumbphones only. Yes, your old WinMo 6.x phone stays at this price point, but you're never ever(*) allowed to activate another WinMo 6.x phone without it being bumped up to:
$40/mo SERO Premium 500 - 3G smartphones. Yes, this includes WinMo 6.x.
$50/mo SERO Premium 500 - 4G smartphones. The $10 bump from $40 is automatically added when you activate a 4G phone.

^{(*) exception - TEP insurance replacement}

# ¿ Jun 18, 2011 08:31

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

echo465 posted:

I tried to do activation online, but it wouldn't activate unless I switched from my sero plan. Called the number in the OP, got bumped up to the $50/mo sero plan, debated with her the merits of putting a Samsung Transform in a blender vs. Craigslisting it, and 10 minutes later I'm testing out 4G from my deck.

Blend it! Blend it!

# ¿ Jun 23, 2011 04:30

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

The Entire Universe posted:

poo poo, you just gave me the idea. Going to give it a whirl in a moment, but I will need to figure out how. There wasn't an HDMI adapter with the phone, so I don't know of any way to get it to my TV.

I guess you have to buy the MicroUSB->HDMI adapter separately then.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2011 11:59

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

chupacabraTERROR posted:

Do you know what exactly the benefit of signing up with an employee discount is? Like do they just take a % chunk off of the main line's price

Yeah, like the normal smartphone data plan is $69.99/mo, so if your company has negotiated 20% off, then you only pay $55.99/mo. Don't forget to factor in the extra $10 premium data fee after that though, which isn't affected.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2011 06:39

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

jerman999 posted:

Just discovered pdanet. If I'm on an everything data plan, will I be capped at a certain number of gb of data use? The OP mentions some limits!

Unlimited means unlimited.

But personally, I once got throttled down to 500kbps after I downloaded a couple of gigabytes as fast as I could.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2011 06:45

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

The Entire Universe posted:

yes to calls but it will stop being a hotspot during the call

Even if you're using 4G? I thought data-interruption was a 3G-only problem.

# ¿ Jun 29, 2011 13:12

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

superm0nk posted:

I'm leaving the country in a few months, but I'm one of those crotchety old men that held on to his SERO plan. Is it worth anything to anyone, and if so, how would I go about transferring it to someone? Would they have to take my number as well?

I'd absolutely purchase this from you. I don't have PMs here, so if you'd like to sell, drop me an email at my username @gmail.com.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2011 03:56

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

You're thinking of the Samsung Galaxy S II, and it's been getting really good reviews. But we're not 100% sure yet if it's coming to Sprint. Just rumors so far.

Evil Agita posted:

Followup: If that won't work with the $30 SERO plan can anybody recommend a decent phone that would work with it for about a hundred bucks or less?

Check the list of dumbphone options in the OP. That's pretty much it.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2011 02:17

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Heffer posted:

So I've been stuck in digital roaming mode for the last three days. I kind of assumed I got booted off because I tethered too much at my friends house. The advanced tech support guy says there's been an outage in my city since the twenty second, which seems ridiculous. Any advice?

Wait for them to fix the outage. There's nothing else you can do.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2011 01:08

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

goku chewbacca posted:

Somebody came in here asking about the $10 data fee recently, and I swear somebody reported that they're not, in fact, adding the fee on Everything plans when you ESN swap to older smartphones like WebOS and WinMo.

Did I imagine this? Maybe I read it in another thread because I can't find that post.

You imagined it. The official press release announcement specifically lists both Palm and WinMo.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2011 06:38

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Looks like Samsung recently announced a cheap competitor to the LG Optimus S. The Conquer 4G.
http://phandroid.com/2011/06/29/samsung-announces-new-conquer-4g-for-sprint-still-no-pricing-or-availability/
4G, HVGA 320x480 screen, and Gingerbread.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2011 09:03

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

IOwnCalculus posted:

Correct. The only time it becomes an issue is if you have excessive roaming data use over a long time, because then you cost more to Sprint than you pay them. I forget what qualifies as such but I believe it's pretty damned generous.

Anything over 300MB of roaming and Sprint will likely terminate your service. But I think I once calculated that that would take 18 hours of nonstop downloading at the 1xRTT speeds you're limited to. So it's really a non-issue.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2011 03:27

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Mnemosyne posted:

My default time and weather widget keeps saying that I'm in Dunn Loring, VA when I'm at home though I'm actually in Baltimore, MD. If I go out, it figures out where I am correctly, but when I return home, it says Dunn Loring again. My husband has the same phone (EVO 3D) and his doesn't do it.

I set my "home" location to Baltimore, MD, and I updated my PRL and profile, and it still says Dunn Loring. Any ideas?

Do you have an Airave at home?

# ¿ Jul 13, 2011 01:05

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

CNN posted:

U.S. Army may soon equip troops with smartphones

(CNN) -- For U.S. Army troops, smartphones could become requisite field gear, along with boots, guns and ammunition.

The Army is wrapping up a six-week program to test the viability of using touchscreen phones and tablets in combat.

...

"We're looking at an assortment of devices," McCarthy said. "All the phones we've tested are pretty good."

A few devices have proved problematic, though. One popular phone from Samsung Electronics failed to connect to cellular networks and had bugs in its Android operating system, McCarthy said. So Sprint Nextel exchanged it for a different Samsung model, he said.

Haha, the Epic strikes again.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2011 09:56

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

blargle posted:

The interior of the (giant steel and concrete) office building I work at blocks or degrades most wireless signals, and sometimes I get a "warning, you are now roaming" error message. Is this because it can't find a signal, or am I actually latching onto a non Sprint tower somewhere and racking up roaming fees?

Roaming is free, buddy. You're not racking up any fees.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2011 16:23

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

visuvius posted:

Well, I went in to my local store and the guy said because I didn't purchase it from Sprint, I would have to send the phone to HTC. Bummer. He told me I could try swinging by the other store nearby which has a repair center to see what they say but I imagine I'll get the same response. gently caress that sucks. I'm not even sure how the gently caress dealing with HTC would work, I'm not sure if I can be without my phone for the 2 or more weeks it would probably take.

That's what you get for telling him that you purchased the phone from a dude on Craigslist. They don't actually keep records of how they sell what phones to whom. Had you simply acted as if you had purchased the phone directly from Sprint a few weeks ago, there wouldn't have been an issue.

Keep your mouth shut when you go to the next store, and the customer service rep won't gently caress with you.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2011 04:28

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

webcams for christ posted:

I've been using the HTC Touch Pro 2 for about 18 months, and it appears to have lost all touch screen functionality.

Since it was only covered by a 12 month warranty, I don't think it would be terribly cost-effective to have it repaired.

I'm on the $30/mo SERO plan right now, so what would be my best option for a used replacement phone?

I just need to get by for another 6 months and then I'll be eligible for an upgrade.

I'm worried that if I pick any old unlocked sprint phone, it somehow won't be compatible with SERO. Or am I just being paranoid?[/url]

You're fine with activating any old dumbphone. They're all* compatible with the $30/mo SERO. You're required to upgrade your account to SERO Premium $40/mo if you wish to activate any 3G smartphone though.

^{*except for the Samsung Instinct, lol}

And what's with this locked/unlocked nonsense? This is a CDMA provider, not GSM. All of our phones have a Sprint logo and serial number, and that's all you can ever use.

td4guy fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Jul 27, 2011

# ¿ Jul 27, 2011 15:37

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

webcams for christ posted:

It looks like it would be easiest to get a refurb from Sprint, and I'm between 3 dumbphones:

Sanyo SCP-2700
LG Lotus
Samsung Reclaim

I haven't looked into repair costs for the Touch Pro 2, I'm just kind of assuming it would be more than $50.00

The Reclaim is out, because SERO people aren't allowed to activate it on their $30/mo plans. Requires the extra $10/mo for us, even though normal consumer and EPRP plans don't require it.

Go with the Lotus.

Or look into that $35 repair/replace thing that goku chewbacca mentioned. I know that with insurance, they can activate another TP2 on your line and keep you on the $30/mo SERO plan. Perhaps you could swing that even without insurance!

# ¿ Jul 28, 2011 10:41

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

ExcessBLarg! posted:

Mind you, Verizon didn't have an HTC-manufacturered Evo equivalent until the Thunderbolt was released. Although it's true that Verizon does have more overall options.

I thought the HTC Incredible was the exact same as the EVO, just smaller and with no front-facing camera.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2011 00:47

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

Harminoff posted:

Well my dad decided to get a Evo 3d, and gave me his old EVO 4G. I'm still on the $30 plan. So do I now just need to call 866-264-1282 to activate it?

You have to call and change your plan to SERO Premium 500 first. Then you can activate it.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2011 10:46

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 20:20

td4guy: Jun 13, 2005; I always hated that guy.

yergacheffe posted:

1. Can I unlock another CDMA phone and use it with Sprint?

No. Just remember, you cannot use a phone on Sprint's network unless it has a Sprint logo on it. That means its serial number is in their database and allowed on the network (assuming it wasn't reported lost/stolen).

# ¿ Aug 11, 2011 13:06

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