Sprint PCS Launches 3G Network

pdp1144 writes "Sprint PCS launched the first nationwide 3G wireless network today. Code named Vision it will allow wireless data speeds starting at an average of 50 to 70 kbps." The question is, how much? If the data plan is such that you can use up a month's allotment in five minutes of downloading... Simson Garfinkel had a good column on this recently.

Comments

I'm getting sick of it, frankly

[krog]

The more technology I live with, the more I like to abandon it and go to the country. I never like phone calls, I usually dislike TV, I often dislike the Web and email and computers...

I am beginning to see a pattern here. Does anyone else notice that the in the last ten years, the fun seems to have slowly bled from computing and technology?

Re:At $1 to 2$ MB transfer....

[RoundSparrow]

Agreed, the prices stink.

Verizon may not have as much coverage yet, but their Express Network 3G data service has a $99/month unlimited usage (day and night) plan.

Sprint wants $120 for 120MB, with $1/MB overage. Those rates STINK!

Maybe on a PDA you can do likttle 1MB downloads, but what is the point? The 14.4 service is almost as fast for your slow little Palm Pilot.

Sprint really needs to reconsider the pricing. There are millions of geeks with laptops looking for wireless (like Richochet) used to have, but not at these prices.

The major SNAFU is that there is no off-peak pricing. I bet most geeks would go for a "weekend and night unlimited plan" for $70/month.

And I firmly believe that Verizon isn't giving it away at $99/month... I mean just how much are you going to use it? Verizon has been giving away unlimited voice + 14.4 data night+weekends for $5 a month... as they realized that with "Unlimited" there is only so much you are going to use it.

Sprint had a chance, so far, they have blown it.

Nothing says....

[SomeOtherGuy]

bound to fail more than charging the same for 100 megabytes downloaded through a tiny screen than it costs me for my car payment. I am not exactly a tight wad. I think my $35 a month for my cable modem connection is the best thing since sliced bread -- but you would not believe how many people refuse to even pay that for home high speed connects. (these are even people in the tech industry...) This is the market that these cell phone companies are going to try to tap for an extra $80 bucks or so to download a few megs through their cellphones??? What are they smoking?

Re:Doesn't anyone use a phone as a phone anymore?

[PigleT]

Datapoint: a couple of weeks after acquiring my current communicative toy(TM) - a simple nokia 6310 - I found myself using said GPRS at about 2am to hunt hospitals in a given town.

Compared to the hassle of hunting a pen & paper and listening while some insert-female-voice-here noise dictates a phone number, being able to see a little bit of text in front of you has its uses.

Personally I think the remaining 99.5% of the time this is going to be used is on the executive corporate toilet - anyone for next-gen Snake between the stalls? ;)

Yeah, Well, I'm Not Running Out to Buy It

[FreeUser]

If you are considering a purchase of any kind of internet connectivity, wireless or otherwise, from Sprint, I have some advice for you.

Run. Run like the wind and don't look back.

I just had Sprint's 8 Mbit Down/ 1 Mbit up business ADSL installed a month ago. It worked beautifully, gave me 5 usable static IPs, and was a modest $160/month for a two year contract.

Within two weeks of having the service I got an email alluding to a "reorganization" of their DSL service.

Eight days later I got a snail mail telling me the service was being cancelled for "economic" reasons ("we would have held you to your two-year contract as a weak individual, but don't even think of trying to hold us to our end of the bargain, and here's a $400 refund on your $600 bill of shut-up money"). Oh, and we'll give you a service that is one sixth as fast (1.5 Mbit down, 384k up) for $130 month, installation waived, because we're such nice folks. Of course, I can buy the exact same service Sprint is reselling (Covad ADSL) directly from Covad for just $80/month ($50 less per month for the identical product!), so that great deal Sprint is offering isn't so great after all.

When I tried to get clarification by phone from Sprint representatives who apparently knew even less than I, I got as a response "look, half of us our losing their jobs, what do you want?"

I want the service I signed a two year contract to receive and am paying for, and I want to know what the hell is going on.

So, long story short: there is no way in hell I will buy any service, wireless or otherwise, from a company as flakey and unreliable as Sprint has proven themselves to be, and I would encourage anyone else considering any of their services to be extremely skeptical of Sprint's ability to deliver.

Ithaca is just one of many examples...

[Andy Dodd]

I have yet to lose digital coverage and features with my phone in ANY area where my roaming light wasn't on, and I've done a lot of traveling up and down the Northeast. My roaming light rarely turns on. Verizon blew away Sprint in Ithaca, and it's marginally better where I'm currently living in Central Jersey.

If you want a better example, try inputting 08836 as your zip code for Sprint.

Compare Sprint's coverage of New Jersey (50% coverage of one of the most densely populated states in the country? You've got to be kidding me!!!) to Verizon's 100% coverage, which has yet to go to analog fallback or lose features for me. (I am now living in central Jersey.)

Basically, Verizon and its predecessors had superior coverage 2-3 years ago to what Sprint has now, and will always remain ahead of the game.