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

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.