Are You Switching to Sprint? 182
Amongst all the excitement and hubbub of the Palm Pre’s impending launch (still no date yet, sorry folks!), quite a few of us are silently, or not-so-silently debating if the phone is worth switching to the much maligned Sprint. Obviously the answer is going to be a little bit different for everyone, but we feel it’s a debate worth having.
The key factors for anyone looking to switch carriers should be coverage area, and plan pricing. Sprint’s coverage is pretty comprehensive, and they have roaming agreements with Verizon and Alltel to provide roaming coverage where Sprint doesn’t have towers, so most folks should have some semblance of coverage in their area. However, be sure to check Sprint’s coverage maps to be safe, and take caution if you find that you live right on the border between Sprint and roaming coverage, as that could be a recipe for dropped calls galore.
The second factor to consider is going to be Plan pricing. Sprint has some of the most attractive pricing options of any of the major carriers, and we’ve covered which ones will be required for Pre. Perhaps their most talked about plan is the “Simply Everything” plan, which nets you unlimited voice minutes, data, text/mms/e-mail messages, navigation, Sprint TV, and a bunch of other fun goodies for $99 per month. If you find you don’t need quite all that, you can also choose one of the “Everything Data” plans, which has all the same goodies from Simply Everything, just without the unlimited voice minutes.
Finally, this wouldn’t be a proper Sprint debate without mentioning their somewhat shaky Customer Service track record. While it’s well known that Sprint was seriously lacking in this area in the past, it has been generally reported that Sprint CS is steadily improving. My own experiences in recent months have been pretty positive, but your mileage may vary.
So let us know, are you planning to switch to Sprint, or are you waiting for a Verizon or North American GSM version?
182 Comments
...have been with sprint for 9 years and definitely plan on staying for the Pre. They definitely have the best coverage in the parts of the US that I frequent, and the plans are significantly cheaper for someone who uses sms and data a lot (like me). In a perfect world, though, the Pre would release as a hybrid cdma/gsm world phone with a sim slot in there so I could use it when traveling outside of the US. =P
Sprint's been wonderful to me all the way around.
Was considering switching because of the lack of decent phones.
That will be remedied by the Pre. So I'm as happy as can be.
if you're out of contract you're definitely eligable for the $150. when i got my centro, i had the same worries, but they gave me all the same discounts as a new customer down to $99, hopefully they will do the same with the pre
Sprint Customer for 10 years.
Live in the northeast. Traveled literally from Rhode Island to Florida. Only signal issues are (backwoods)Coal Township, PA, and my brother's basement, thats it.
Palm Pre here i come.
Hey hey Pre Central. Brand new to your site but long time geek. I have to agree with some of the nay sayers. It is possible that Palm could still fold. Sprint could even go under. But I see all these tech journalists just gushing over the Pre, after they use it. Not just see some pic of it or spec sheet or 3D render of it. Or how it is
I'm a former Treo user who is now on AT&T with a BlackBerry Curve, and I am considering going to Sprint to get the Pre.
But then again, the iPhone 3 and the HTC Touch 2 look good also.
To seal the deal, I recommend that Palm consider including a micro SD card slot and desktop sync capability with the Pre.
Nope! I am staying with AT&T. However I AM going to fly to London and get an unlocked GSM version as soon as it come out.
Right now I'm rocking an unlocked Treo 680 on T-Mobile and OH MY GODFATHERS I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE A PRE ON SPRINT. I like T-Mobile service fine, haven't had a problem with them, but I mostly use data, not voice (I usually ring up less than 100 minutes of voice usage per month), and I'm really excited about getting a top of the line data phone on a really fast network. Since I don't use a lot of voice, I'll get the entry-level Simply Everything plan, for only a little more than I'm paying T-Mobile now. I'm in a metropolitan area, so no coverage issues, and I rarely travel out of the country or to very rural areas.
Speaking of the magenta T, they've been calling me lately bugging me about switching to the unlimited voice plan. Hello, have you looked at my bills? I don't use voice minutes. Sheesh. I'd go back to pay as you go if I didn't need mobile e-mail and data.