Stay with sprint or time to move on?

[noahj1102]

My wife and I have been with sprint now for nearly ten years. Our plan renewal is coming up this July. What I was wondering is if we are on the best plan or should we jump ship to another provider.

Currently my wife and I both have smartphones and are on the unlimited family plan. We also have a cheap non smartphone for our 10 year old son to keep for emergency type stuff.

Here is the breakdown of our usage.

Our cycle ends next weekend for the month. Our son has used 10 minutes this cycle. My phone has used 1.6 3g and 7400 of 4g data. I don't have my wifes usage but I can say its very little. She checks email and occasionally facebook. Her data usage is next to nothing. Of our 1500 minutes, we have used 300 combined. Most of our usage obviously is with each other. Our monthly bill is $160 I believe. That is with a 20% employee discount.

My wife has the Samsung Epic 2 and I have the Epic Evo. We have no problems with the phones. Service is spotty, even in Denver occasionally. So I was wondering if maybe we should consider another provider or contract when our renewal happens in a couple months?

Are we paying too much for what we use? If so, what other plan should we look at? Or should we consider another provider who has a lower plan.

Just looking ahead at what we might consider.

 

[Rush]

What I was wondering is if we are on the best plan or should we jump ship to another provider

I'm just gonna cut through the chase and give you my answer... No!! Why would you even want to go to another carrier -- most people are leaving their phone carrier to come on Sprint.

Are we paying too much for what we use? If so, what other plan should we look at? Or should we consider another provider who has a lower plan.

Sprint has the best and lowest deal on voice and data plan currently. The only carrier who offers Unlimited data. I'm sure you don't want to be worrying about going over your data plan each month.

My wife has the Samsung Epic 2 and I have the Epic Evo.

One of the greatest phone (HTC EVO 4G LTE) is about to come out on Sprint anytime soon! You don't wanna miss out on this.

 

[noahj1102]

okay, point taken. I just have never done any research on the other carriers. I just wanted to make sure we were getting the best deal possible.

 

[itsalexaye]

I would stick with Sprint, it's the only unlimited data in the US, and the cheapest out of the top 4 carriers. They also have some great phones coming out and bringing us some LTE goodness.

The HTC EVO 4G LTE and the Galaxy Nexus are both great devices on Sprint, and I'm sure Moto will have an LTE device hitting Sprint soon to replace the Photon.

 

[marctronixx]

you are in a sprint forum asking users if you should leave or stay with sprint. you are certain to get more PROs FOR SPRINT than cons.

you should investigate other carriers for yourself. give them a call and ask them what they can offer you if you switch to them. then, message up sprint and see if they can beat their competitor. this puts you in the best place to secure the best deal for YOU.

good advice being given here, however just take some time to investigate other avenues on your own...

 

[Joshbear]

Sprint is the only carrier with unlimited data still and they do have some great phones coming out very soon. They are also the least expensive out of the four major carriers. If you're satisfied with Sprint's data speeds in your area, there's really no reason to switch at all, as you most likely won't be paying less on any other carrier.

I jumped to Verizon about a month ago from Sprint because I was tired of getting horrendous data speeds. 80-100 kbps was standard on 3G. And even though I was in a well-covered 4G area, I could never get a strong signal and what I did get would keep getting dropped.

I do know that Verizon is supposed to be announcing their family data shared plans soon, so that might be something to look into when that comes.

 

[BenChase7]

You say you pay $160 for 3 lines.. you cant beat that price on any of the National carriers, and even if you could, their plans are not as good as Sprints.

Also, If you live in one of the markets on the link below, it may be even more enticing to stay with Sprint, as these markets will see improved 3g speeds, increase in coverage, and 4G LTE starting this year.

These markets that are slated for Network Vision in 2012: Network Vision/LTE Deployment Running List - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Edit: And, Like someone else mentioned above, only Sprint is getting the EVO 4G LTE.

 

[damewolf13]

The reality of your situation is, that if you switch carriers, you will pay more for the same (or less) services that you are getting at Sprint right now, so if you have good coverage, and are getting your data downloads without a problem, enjoy!
I have Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon, and trust me when I say that at this time, Sprint gives you the best deal!

 

[KOLIO]

My wife and I have been with sprint now for nearly ten years. Our plan renewal is coming up this July. What I was wondering is if we are on the best plan or should we jump ship to another provider.

Currently my wife and I both have smartphones and are on the unlimited family plan. We also have a cheap non smartphone for our 10 year old son to keep for emergency type stuff.

Here is the breakdown of our usage.

Our cycle ends next weekend for the month. Our son has used 10 minutes this cycle. My phone has used 1.6 3g and 7400 of 4g data. I don't have my wifes usage but I can say its very little. She checks email and occasionally facebook. Her data usage is next to nothing. Of our 1500 minutes, we have used 300 combined. Most of our usage obviously is with each other. Our monthly bill is $160 I believe. That is with a 20% employee discount.

My wife has the Samsung Epic 2 and I have the Epic Evo. We have no problems with the phones. Service is spotty, even in Denver occasionally. So I was wondering if maybe we should consider another provider or contract when our renewal happens in a couple months?

Are we paying too much for what we use? If so, what other plan should we look at? Or should we consider another provider who has a lower plan.

Just looking ahead at what we might consider.

I'd stay w/SPRINT,if for no other reason that your 10 YR. old son will soon be asking for a smartphone, & you'll definitely want unlimited data when that day comes.

 

[simcha]

@noahj1102

For the price you are certainly paying the least for all of the services you're getting. And Sprint is the only one left that has unlimited data plans.

On the other hand...

I've been with Sprint for almost 13 years. I've seen some ups and downs with Sprint like you have. So, I understand the desire to run from Sprint to another carrier.

I have to say that I'm not happy with Sprint at this present moment. Where I live, Verizon simply has the best network and it blows any other carrier's network away in the Bay Area. They have more coverage than any other carrier here. Their data speeds are second to none here. They are the most expensive carrier.

I'm currently in my office in Berkeley, CA. You'd think that Sprint coverage would be perfect in a decent sized city in a major metropolitan area, especially on the coastal plain where it's flat. But, you'd be wrong. I just loaded this forum's page on my Photon 4g and it took a minute to load and 2% of my phone's battery charge. This is because the 3G speed here is tested as follows at the moment: ping 121ms, download 261kbps, up 565kbps. The 3G signal and voice fades in and out here too sucking away more battery life from my phone as it searches for a signal. There is no WIMAX coverage here where I work at all. Keep in mind that Motorola antennas are simply the best, so this isn't my phone's antenna that's causing the issue. It's definitely the network. I have a kicka$$ phone on a very crappy network. And it's been this way for over a year and a half where I work. At home, it's a little better and I can actually get spotty WIMAX at times. WIMAX isn't reliable at all at home in Oakland.

My coworkers who have Verizon and our business phones (also on Verizon) have over 1000kbps down always on 3G and they have LTE coverage that seems to get 5,000-10,000kbps all day long. And the signal is perfect on Verizon (never fades away).

Now allegedly Network Vision and the LTE rollout will fix all of this for the Sprint Network. Network Vision and LTE should be live here by the end of the year if the schedules I've seen can be trusted. I'm hoping, against evidence from previous Sprint "improvements" to their network, that once Network Vision and LTE are live here that I'll be able to laugh at my coworkers who have Verizon. At the moment I can laugh at them for paying way more than I do but they laugh at me because my phone is frustrating to use at times because of Sprint's extremely inadequate network. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

This most certainly isn't the "Now Network" at the moment. This is the "Maybe Later Network."

I'm still not 100% confident that Sprint will roll the improvements out in a way that will actually make their network at least as good as Verizon's here in the Bay Area based on being burned by Sprint before.

I'm sticking with Sprint because, for me, cost is the most important factor. I'm not made of money. If I felt a little richer, I'd dump Sprint for Verizon in a heartbeat due to the amazing Network they've developed here. And I have a little bit of hope that Sprint has finally gotten it right because if they don't, I'm confident that Sprint will disappear through bankruptcy or buyout by another carrier. All of the news coming from Sprint sounds very good and encouraging. Sprint will have to show me proof that the network is up to par when I'm ready to upgrade or end my contract that they have followed through with their plans before I continue with Sprint beyond the end of this current contract. This is 2012 and I have a killer phone. It's crippled by Sprint's crappy network. I can get another killer phone and have optimal performance on another network if Sprint proves to drop the ball again.

I'm in "wait and see" mode. I feel like I'm a Missourian at the movement. They're going to have to "Show me" proof of improvement before I sign another contract.

 

[chrlswltrs]

Personally I think now is a terrible time to leave Sprint. They have the best customer service and great pricing, they are committed to keeping unlimited data (a huge + IMO) and they are making big network upgrades this year and next year. I plan on staying with them for a long time (I haven't ever said that about any carrier and I've been on all of the big 4 over the last few years)