Calling Sprint was an experience in itself. I was literally shaking with anger as I tried to control my voice and what I said. Of course, the rep didn’t want me to cancel. She wanted to deny that the contract was changed, or that I could cancel without penalty, but I had already verified I could with a service agent a week prior. The announcement of the change was in this month’s billing statement. I finally said she needed to pass me on to someone who was able to cancel, since I wasn’t willing to answer any more questions regarding “solving the problem of slow data downloads/uploads”. She placed me on hold and came back and said I would be cancelled.
Now I plan to call back and verify the cancellation is indeed in place and that I won’t be charged a cancellation fee. From all the post I’ve ready on various sites, the most important keys to getting things done is documentation and checking back. An informed consumer is a powerful consumer.

p.s. DSL is now available in my area and is my next source of frustration, no doubt.

May 20, 2008

Dear Emergency Communications Workers:

I’m writing to give you a heads up about a drastic and backward terms of service being imposed by Sprint PCS on the use of data cards. I belive this new policy will adversely affect use of Sprint data services for emergency services and casts serious doubt that Sprint can be a dependable partner in this regard.

In July 2008 Sprint will replace the unlimited data usage with a 5GB/month cap on data card usage.

I know many of you and your organizations keep the data cards on hand in case of emergency, using the cards very little when there is no demand. Now that Sprint is putting a cap on the data usage, the cards may well be useless when there is a demand. Imagine having your communications go dead because the 5GB cap was reached.

I think we must look around for alternatives, as Sprint has now put themselves into the realm of being an unreliable partner.

Bruce Miller
PIO
Communications Academy

May 20, 2008

Dear Editor:

The recent news that Sprint PCS is going to impose a 5GB/month transfer limit on data cards is — simply put — appalling.

I signed up in July 2003, paying $80 per month for the unlimited usage. For nearly five years I’ve added my dollars into Sprint for future development of faster and better service. And this is how I’m rewarded for being a loyal customer? It is a slap in the face, to say the least.

I’ve never abused the data card service. Some months I rarely use it. There are other months, however, I’m on the road and depend on the data transfer. I bought into the unlimited plan for two major reasons: a) a predictable monthly expense for the business and b) certainty of knowing that when I needed a lot of data throughput that I would have it.

My data card is also put into use in emergency services. Putting a cap at 5GB creates too much risk to depend on Sprint.

I Sprint’s logic very odd considering that Sprint has been very active in promoting mobile computing. I also find the logic to be at odds on Sprint’s retention rewards. I have been a long-term voice customer — since February 2001. There have been many times I’ve decided to quit Sprint and I am lured to stay through an increasing number of anytime minutes dangled in front of me. Removing the unlimited minutes on the data card contradicts the concept of retention.

Finally, I suspect that part of the reason for the cap is simply because Sprint has mis-managed customer service and infrastructure for so long that it needs yet another way to raise revenue — by hitting data card users in the pocket for usage greater than 5GB per month, similar to the mysterious $437 overcharges on my friend’s three-phone account for Internet usage AFTER a block was put on all phones.

Sprint had a good thing going to keep customers around. Now it does not.