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Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

toplitzin posted:

Which of the MVNOs is best for just enough data for a single app (housemate has an iphone and wants to do amazon deliveries, however they require an android phone for their app) i have a sprint GS3 i'm willing to donate to the cause.
I have no idea how much data the app would generate, assuming it's just addresses and not the mapping feature itself.

Check out RingPlus, FreedomPop, and Ting. They all support BYOD, the first two have completely free plans with 500 meg data included (though watch the overage fees) and Ting has a "pay what you use" pricing model.

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Feb 7, 2016

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Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
Sprint has a new $15/month per line "unlimited" plan (press release with slightly more details) if you are a new customer porting in a number from another carrier. There are a few catches, of course:
  • No domestic roaming (though it's not clear if this applies to just data or also voice & text, and whether this exclusion includes "extended" coverage partners)
  • Video streaming is capped at 480p resolution
  • Audio streaming is capped at 500 kbps (no lossless streaming)
  • Data de-prioritization is apparently applied at all times in congested areas (not just after reaching a certain usage threshold)
  • No mobile hotspot
  • Up to 4 lines
  • Requires autopay ($20/month otherwise)
The plan will only be offered for "weeks" so jump on this soon if you're interested. There's no stated time limit on how long you can keep this plan after getting it (unlike the free for a year plan which goes to $60/month after) so I'm tempted to jump on this just to see if it will carry on after the T-Mobile merger.

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Jun 14, 2018

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

svenkatesh posted:

If you're going to port in anyway, why not take the BYOD 1-yr free offer?

That plan will only last for 1 year. With this new $15 plan there's no set end date. If the T-Mobile merger is approved and the plan grandfathers through (so you'd effectively get T-Mobile service for $15/month for life) this could end up being one of the best deals on a (US) mobile plan ever, even considering that huge list of strings attached. It's a gamble of course, but one I'm very tempted to take.

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Jun 8, 2018

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
LOL, I decided to actually sign up for the $15/month unlimited plan and I'm already regretting it.

I put in my online order for the plan, porting in my GSM FreedomPop number, and a new Moto E4 (since my only current Sprint-compatible phone is locked to prepaid since it's Boost-branded) with in-store pickup to get the phone early and save on shipping. When setting up the port I wasn't able to complete it because FreedomPop's terrible online customer account system wouldn't give me my "account number" (it shows up as blank) so I had to open a support ticket with them to get that information.

Apparently that combination of factors (online order, in-store pickup, pending port-in with no other active lines) majorly confused their system. I scheduled the pick-up to occur at noon today (store opens at 11) and at almost exactly 11 I got a call from the store that something was screwed up with my order. I tried to call them back but it took over an hour of trying before they would pick up. Apparently the guy had been busy with a customer the whole time and couldn't even bother to put me on hold. Anyway, he told me there was no account number associated with the order and that I needed to call corporate to figure out how to fix it.

So I call telesales and they tell me no, I do in fact have an account (the rep gives me the account number) and says the people at the store are wrong. Let me give you some exact quotes from the representative I spoke with: "This is why you should always call us and never go to the store." "Don't put up with their nonsense." "Be arrogant with them." "Scream at them. I'm giving you permission." None of this was prompted, she just straight-up told me to yell at the store employees until I got what I wanted.

Anyway, I try to call the store back to tell them they're wrong, and after another hour of trying to reach them I decide I'll just drive over and talk to them in-person.When I get there I'm greeted by the salesperson I talked to earlier and his manager, who both seemed equally clueless. Sure enough, the order slip they have for the phone doesn't show an account number. I give them my account number and they can definitely find my account but can't find the phone order. Fine, I ask them to call corporate and sort this out and they basically refuse, telling me I have to cancel my order and start again. I'm tell them no, I'll talk to telesales again and try to get this sorted out.

The telesales rep I get this time is very confused about my problem (understandable since it's probably rare and she doesn't seem to speak English very well) so after about 5 minute she transfers me to an American (or at least someone with a passable American accent) in "sales support" who at least seems to understand my problem. That rep says she needs to check with another department about the status of my port and then hangs up on me without telling me (I'l be generous and assume it was accidentally). I wind up spending 10 minutes waiting for this rep to get back to me before realizing she hung up.

I call telesales back again and this time I get a rep with a southern American accent. She understands my problem right away and after getting some details from me asks to speak to the salesperson in the store (which is what I wanted to happen in the first place). She then walks the salesperson through the process of looking up the phone order by order number instead of account number and oh, hey, whaddya know, he can finally find it to ring it out. At this point I've been in the store for 90 minutes, plus the 2 hours I spent playing phone tag with the store. :suicide:

So now I finally have my phone, though it's not set up for service yet since I still need to complete the port which I can't do until FreedomPop answers my support request. Hopefully online activation will work like it's supposed to because otherwise I'll need to spend even more of my time dealing with confused Sprint employees. Oh well, I guess this is just the Sprint "experience." v:v:v

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
Sprint has announced the $15 plan will no longer be offered after Friday, so jump on it soon if you want it. Also, I was slightly wrong in my initial post: domestic roaming is included with the same limits as other postpaid plans. All the other restrictions still apply.

I got my service activated on Monday (I had to call Sprint and get them to re-try the port since FreedomPop screwed something up). My experience with it so far: It's fine? :shrug: I get adequate reception everywhere I go in my normal weekday. Indoors I get dog-slow band 25 service (2-3 Mbps vs 30+ on T-Mobile band 4). Outdoors I get 70+ Mbps on band 41, however I can't get reception on that band indoors unless I'm right next to a window. I guess that's why Sprint is pushing the "Magic Box" so hard (to offload indoor service from the overcrowded band 25 to the underutilized band 41). Either way it's acceptable for farting around on SA and Twitter, so I don't mind too much.

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jun 14, 2018

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.

Metal Geir Skogul posted:

95% of the time I'm in wifi coverage and the other 5% of the time I'm at a goodwill using google maps to look for the next thrift store in the hunt (or whatever), so I think I'm going to drop my current plan and swap to that $15/month one. Save some monies while in school.

E: nevermind, I guess. I'm a member on a family plan, and I can't start my own plan even if I buy a new phone. It's not even worth saying gently caress You, so more just "Sprint."

You should be able to port your number out to Google Voice and then back to a new Sprint account and get on this plan. The only catch is that you need an SSN that hasn't been the primary accountholder on an existing Sprint account for the last 45 days (I've read about people setting up new accounts under their spouse's SSNs, etc. to get on the $15 plan).

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
You can definitely port out from Google Voice, though you do need to pay a small fee. See option 2 here: https://support.google.com/voice/answer/1065667?hl=en. The rep might have been confused by Sprint and Google ending their Google Voice partnership that let you use your Sprint number with Google Voice (so you could get your voice mail and texts to your Sprint phone through the GV web app).

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Jun 14, 2018

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
:rip: Sprint: U.S. Approves T-Mobile-Sprint Merger, a Deal That Would Reshape the Industry. The deal was approved with the conceit that Dish will start a new national wireless network to compete with the now-Big 3. Dish is getting Sprint's prepaid customers and band 26 (800 MHz), 20k cell sites, and a 7-year roaming agreement with T-Mobile. T-Mobile in-turn gets to keep the rest of Sprint's spectrum/cell sites/customers and has also agreed to lease some of Dish's band 71 (600 MHz) spectrum.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
T-Mobile will be moving Sprint customers over to the T-Mobile network pretty much as soon as they can after the merger is finalized. They estimate about half of Sprint customers can be migrated just through a software update on their phone. As long as you buy a fairly recent phone compatible with T-Mobile's bands (in particular look for band 71 support to ensure you get good coverage indoors and in rural areas) you should be good.

T-Mobile has also promised they won't raise rates for 3 years after the merger and has historically been generous with grandfathering old plans as long as you want to keep them (or transferring you to more generous plans at the same cost if they can't support the old plan for whatever reason). Any perks with third parties may not last but your actual phone service should be secure for at least 3 years.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
FYI Sprint now offers 5G on any unlimited plan, including the Unlimited Kickstart plans, at no extra cost. You need to have a compatible 5G phone to activate 5G service, of course.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
Sprint as an independent entity is officially dead today. Sprint stock is no longer trading, all Sprint shareholders should receive TMUS shares in exchange. Sprint customers will have unlimited roaming access to the T-Mobile network for the time being while they begin transitioning people off the Sprint network.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
For now T-Mobile will continue to honor their existing contracts. The real question is what happens when those contracts come up for renewal. It's also a bit of an open question about how they will handle transitioning customers of MVNOs from the Sprint to T-Mobile networks as they shut down the Sprint network since that would require backend changes on the MVNO side in addition to the Sprint/T-Mobile side.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
The Sprint network is literally being dismantled. T-Mobile is taking all of Sprint's spectrum (except band 26, which they are selling to Dish) and shifting it to the T-Mobile network. At some point they will probably send you a new SIM card that natively operates on the T-Mobile network and any future devices you buy will just be T-Mobile devices.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
Since Sprint accounts are still using the Sprint network any phone you use on your free line will need to be compatible with Sprint, though you should look for unlocked models that also work on T-Mobile (in particular look for VoLTE support and LTE band 71; T-Mobile has a list here) so you won't need to buy yet another phone when the Sprint network is finally shut down. Recent phones in the the Moto E and Moto G series tick both those boxes.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
You shouldn't need to mess with bands, your phone should automatically prefer T-Mobile towers and fall back to Sprint only if you can't get a T-Mobile signal. The Moto G7 is only missing band 71 so you should have good service on T-Mobile but may have a weaker signal than phones with it while indoors or far away from towers.

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 01:00 on Mar 27, 2021

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
Yes, iPhones should still support the legacy Sprint network. You should be able to activate the phone on your Sprint account online.

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
FYI, if you're on one of Sprint's Kickstart plans (which includes the "Unlimited on Us" line from last June) you are now eligible to finance devices. This includes the free* (*after 24 monthly billing credits) 5G devices they're giving away (currently the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G and in a week or so the OnePlus Nord N200 5G). So jump on those deals while you can.

In retrospect, getting in on the original $15/mo Kickstart plan was the best decision I ever made. It could have gone terribly, but they've been slowly removing all the limits that made the plan undesirable so now it's just straight up one of the best deals ever in the history of cellular service (like I thought it might end up being). They're even throwing in 5 gigs of hotspot when they switch you to the "tax inclusive" version of the plan! Also, looking back at my past posts in this thread I had to laugh at my troubles getting the plan activated in the first place:

Mr.Radar posted:

LOL, I decided to actually sign up for the $15/month unlimited plan and I'm already regretting it.
[...]
Apparently that combination of factors (online order, in-store pickup, pending port-in with no other active lines) majorly confused their system. I scheduled the pick-up to occur at noon today (store opens at 11) and at almost exactly 11 I got a call from the store that something was screwed up with my order. I tried to call them back but it took over an hour of trying before they would pick up. Apparently the guy had been busy with a customer the whole time and couldn't even bother to put me on hold. Anyway, he told me there was no account number associated with the order and that I needed to call corporate to figure out how to fix it.

So I call telesales and they tell me no, I do in fact have an account (the rep gives me the account number) and says the people at the store are wrong. Let me give you some exact quotes from the representative I spoke with: "This is why you should always call us and never go to the store." "Don't put up with their nonsense." "Be arrogant with them." "Scream at them. I'm giving you permission." None of this was prompted, she just straight-up told me to yell at the store employees until I got what I wanted.
[...]

Mr.Radar fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Jun 19, 2021

Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
You should still be able to convert to SWAC: https://sprint.custhelp.com/app/EWD/SEROtoSWAC/session/L3RpbWUvMTYyNTM2MjQyMy9zaWQvei1QLWc1ZnA%3D Do that and get whatever phone works best for you. You can get a free OnePlus Nord N200 with any trade in (must turn on and not have a cracked screen), though for Sprint customers it's only available in store and I believe requires a conversion to a T-Mobile SIM (so you will lose most access to the Sprint network if any T-Mobile service is also available, even if the T-Mobile service is bad and Sprint service is better where you are). If you log into your Sprint account online and try to upgrade your line you may have additional free upgrade offers (I'm still seeing the Galaxy A32 5G offer when I go to upgrade my Kickstart line even though that offer has been discontinued generally).

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Mr.Radar
Nov 5, 2005

You guys aren't going to believe this, but that guy is our games teacher.
One way to check would be to go to the Sprint site and try to upgrade the device on that line. If you select one of the "free" (Android) 5G devices (the Samsung Galaxy A32, the OnePlus Nord N200, or the T-Mobile Revvl V+) and it tells you it's still free even if you indicate you don't have a device to trade in then it probably will not work after the CDMA shutdown. (Normally you need to trade in a device to get the deal but customers with devices that require CDMA can get the deal without a trade.)

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