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Does Sprint roam on Verizon?

typehxr1

typehxr1

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I live in Houston, but work in remote parts of North Louisiana for 25 out of 30 days a month. I currently have a 1yr old 3GS w/ATT. In Houston, it's fine for all services as I live in the 4th largest city in the nation, but I'm never home. ATT and the iPhone suck ass for reception where I work.

I went to Verizon 3 days ago and got a Droid and a 1yr contract to test drive the VZ network w/the intention of getting the Droid X on the 15th (w/in my 30 day window). I have been blown away at the coverage over the last 72 hours. I get 1-2 bars out of 5 on ATT and 3-4 bars of 3G on Verizon. It's sick.

So I'm looking at Sprint and it seems that every location I work in is in a roaming area according to their coverage map on the website. So, I get to thinking.....the only other CDMA carrier is Verizon. If Sprint phones are to work while roaming on someone else's towers, are they Verizon's towers?

I pose this question because if I got an Evo, would I be getting the best of both worlds? The cost of Sprint, and the use of Verizon's network when roaming? Some lame ass at Best Buy didn't know and I haven't felt like calling Sprint because I think they'd lie to me and say yes so I'd buy a phone.

Let me know. Thanks :)
 
From what I understand the answer to your question is yes. Sprint does roam on Verizon's network for free. And Sprint is much cheaper than Verizon also. If I were you I would go talk to someone at the Sprint store to make sure. And while you are there you can play with an EVO.
 
Sprint does have a limit on how much roaming you can do as a percentage of your total usage. With the amount of time you will be in the roaming area, you might have a problem with that.
 
Don't do it. As much as I love Sprint and the Evo, if I were stuck roaming most of the time I'd go with Verizon. My Evo roams when I'm at the office and the speeds are worse than slow. When you roam you don't get their 3g, just their 1x. It's fine for texting, but phone calls go straight to voice mail when I roam and accessing the net or streaming anything is almost impossible.

One of the reasons I chose the Evo is because I'm also in Houston and 4g is fantastic! (when I'm not in my office)

PS............yes, you roam on Verizon.
 
Another thing to consider is that roaming on Verizon counts against your 'landline' minutes. So for a family share 1500 minute plan, every minute of roaming counts against your totals.
 
Get the EVO, and get yourself an Airave so that you don't have to roam in the places you spend most of your time (at work). Roam when you're out and about. Added bonus, all calls made over the Airave are free and don't count against any minutes, day or night.
 
With Sprint you have an option for unlimited roaming. It's a couple extra bucks, but you never have to worry about how much your phone roams. Gotta love the Sprint Unlimited Everything plans! =D
 
mynamewastaken said:
Get the EVO, and get yourself an Airave so that you don't have to roam in the places you spend most of your time (at work). Roam when you're out and about. Added bonus, all calls made over the Airave are free and don't count against any minutes, day or night.
Click to expand...

Though I don't know what Airave is, I probably wouldn't use it as I'd get the unlimited plan through Sprint. What is it?
 
KitsapAndroid said:
With Sprint you have an option for unlimited roaming. It's a couple extra bucks, but you never have to worry about how much your phone roams. Gotta love the Sprint Unlimited Everything plans! =D
Click to expand...

I didn't see this option (to pay for unlimited roaming) at checkout. How did you do it/find out about it?
 
If you are riding in the mountains do not go with Sprint. The roaming sucks and the phone coverage is even worst. I broke my contact with them and went with verizon. Couldn't be happier.

Sent from my Incredible
 
typehxr1 said:
I didn't see this option (to pay for unlimited roaming) at checkout. How did you do it/find out about it?
Click to expand...

I don't know, they just asked me if I wanted it when I signed up. It's great though. I would just ask your Sprint store about it, or the CS Rep you get with the 800 number.
 
I just tried out the Sprint network, Im coming from verizon and I can say where I am at Sprint is horrible. Roaming off of Verizons towers IS only good for text. Calls were dropped left and right. Go with Verizon.
 
mynamewastaken said:
Get the EVO, and get yourself an Airave so that you don't have to roam in the places you spend most of your time (at work). Roam when you're out and about. Added bonus, all calls made over the Airave are free and don't count against any minutes, day or night.
Click to expand...

Where did you hear that calls on the airwaves are free?


This is NOT true.Your calls are then treated like handled on a sprint tower, But,not free..

Could be costly .... :-(
 
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