Jay has tried everything that he can think of to get through to Sprint. After being a customer for more than a decade and living in the same house for four years with no phone reception issues, suddenly they started dropping calls at home. Their phones have been pretty much unusable for two months now. Since they don’t have a landline and phone access is kind of what they’re paying Sprint for, they’re just sad and tired and discouraged. They want help. They want to make some phone calls. [More]
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SoftBank Feels Secure Enough In Its Relationship With Sprint To Let It Consider Dish Deal
By 4.29.13
Sounds like someone — and by someone we mean SoftBank — is feeling pretty darn good about its burgeoning relationship with the object of its affections: Sprint Nextel got the go ahead from its current steady to take a closer look at what Dish Network is offering it in a rival deal. [More]
Sprint Pushing FCC To Approve SoftBank Deal While It’s Still Totally Dating Dish Network
By 4.22.13
Sprint, we didn’t know you were such a player on the dating scene. While the company is asking for the Federal Communications Commission to keep working on its official review of a $20.1 billion SoftBank deal, it’s also openly flirting with its other suitor, Dish Network. That’s what we call playing the field, folks. Wonder if it’ll go on two dates in the same night? [More]
Today Was The Deadline For Wireless Companies To Enact Bill Shock Alerts. Did Everyone Make It?
By 4.17.13 — Updated: 4.18.13
In October 2011, the FCC and the nation’s major wireless providers agreed to put systems in place that would alert subscribers when they neared and passed their plans’ thresholds for things like calling minutes, texts, data, and international roaming. Per the agreement, all the providers were supposed to have all their alerts in place by today. So did everyone finish on time? [More]
SoftBank Says It, And Not Dish, Deserves The Final Rose From Bachelor Sprint
By 4.16.13
While it has looked for months like Sprint and Japanese telecom titan SoftBank only had eyes for each other and were mere months away from wedded bliss, that pesky Charlie Ergen at Dish decided to come on strong, making his own $25.5 billion case yesterday for why Sprint and his company should elope. Not wanting to be the one left jilted at the final rose ceremony, SoftBank is firing back. [More]
Dish Network Throws $25.5 Billion On The Table In Bid For Sprint Nextel
By 4.15.13
It’s been about six months since Japanese Wireless company SoftBank said it’d pay a handsome price to buy control of Sprint. And in yet another example of how a much-buzzed about hookup sometimes fails to get to the completion stage, there’s another company suddenly in the running to woo Sprint — the pay-TV giant, Dish Network. [More]
FCC Yells At 2 Million People To Turn Those Darn Cell Phone Signal Boosters Off, Changes Its Mind
By 2.22.13
What’s an average citizen to do if they can’t get a cell phone call to go through, perhaps because they live far from cell towers or their network is just shoddy? About 2 million people in the United States currently use wireless signal boosters, devices that can help strengthen cell phone signals. The Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules on those yesterday, at first saying everyone would have to turn them off and get permission from carriers, but backpedaling shortly after. [More]
How A Sprint Kiosk Worker Got Me In Trouble With The Discount Police
By 1.24.13
R. decided to be scrupulously honest. He had a 15% discount on his Sprint bill because of his employer. When he switched jobs and moved to a different state, he kept his Sprint plan but dutifully reported that he wasn’t eligible for the discount anymore. Unfortunately, he reported this to a Sprint kiosk worker, who failed to actually remove the discount. Moral of the story: no matter who helps you, make sure the changes went through. [More]
Sprint Sells Blind Man Wrong Phone, Charges Restocking Fee, Shrugs
By 1.21.13
Orlando is blind, and had a very specific set of requirements while shopping for a new phone. The staff of the local Sprint store apparently weren’t very savvy about accessibility features on the phones they sell, though, so they sold him the wrong one. Who paid the quite literal price for this error, in the form of a restocking fee? Orlando, of course. [More]
Virgin Mobile Lets A Stranger Cancel My Account, Apparently Has No Regard For Private Infomation
By 1.17.13
In the matter of a single afternoon, Consumerist reader Audriena went from happy Virgin Mobile customer to wondering if anyone at the prepaid carrier has any idea of what they’re doing — or any respect for customers’ personal information. [More]
Sprint Glitch Repeatedly Directs Police & Angry Customers To Home Of Innocent Retiree
By 1.14.13
You know how annoying it is when you keep getting calls or mail for someone that isn’t you? That’s nothing compared to the Las Vegas man who has spent two years trying to convince police and angry Sprint customers that he does not have their lost phone. [More]
Sprint Authorized Retailer Promises No Activation Fees, Guess What Happens Next
By 1.3.13
Tom had a problem with Sprint: an authorized retailer had broken a promise and/or set up his phone upgrade incorrectly. He set out to remedy it by deploying an exquisitely crafted executive e-mail carpet bomb. Now, when you deploy an EECB, we recommend that you provide relevant details, but also that you open with a short executive summary so that the busy people you’re emailing (or their busy underlings) can get a quick idea of what you’re complaining about, and route it to the correct person instead of immediately trashing your missive.
If you spend a lot of time online, think of an executive summary as a “tl;dr” summary that you put first, instead of at the end. Combine that with a clear letter and spelling out his (quite reasonable) expectations, and it’s no wonder that Sprint whipped a response and a resolution to him within the hour. [More]
AT&T Would Rather Upsell Me On A More Expensive Plan Than Investigate Where My Rollover Minutes Went
By 12.26.12
Imagine you wake up one morning and find that your car has been stolen. Then you call to report the crime, but the police only try to sell you on a car with a better security system. That’s the sort of response David got when he contacted AT&T about a problem with his account. [More]
Sprint Salesman Won’t Sell Me iPhone 4, Says My Fingers Are Too Fat
By 12.18.12
The salesperson at Alex’s local Sprint store really didn’t want to sell him an iPhone 4. That phone is old and stuff. Alex knew what he wanted to replace his broken phone: a free phone. Well, a subsidized upgrade with no out-of-pocket cost, anyway. He needed a new phone. He was broke. There was an upgrade on his account. He just wanted a working smartphone. So began the salesman’s campaign to get Alex to buy a Galaxy S III instead. [More]
Report: Cops Want Wireless Carriers To Save Text Messages, You Know, Just In Case
By 12.4.12
That thing you texted to that person the other night which you deleted out of overwhelming shame the next day? Messages like that could be pored over in the future by cops if various law enforcement officials have their way. They’re reportedly asking Congress to make wireless carriers record and store customers’ private text messages for at least two years, in case police need that info for a future investigation. [More]
For Once, AT&T Being Incompetent Is Good News
By 11.30.12
Do you remember reader Aaron? We published his story about a month ago. He was stuck between two mobile providers. He ditched AT&T when his iPhone 5 was devouring so much data that his data connection got throttled. Fine, he said–he switched to Sprint, which has unlimited data, but painfully slow data. He resolved the situation by going back to AT&T, but here’s the interesting part: he got unlimited data back because AT&T thought that he had never canceled his account. Well, um, that’s nice. [More]
Boost Mobile Doesn’t Seem To Understand That “Amazon” Is Not Someone’s Last Name
By 11.27.12 — Updated: 11.30.12
Okay, so there are probably more than a few people out there with the last name of “Amazon,” but when you tell someone at a major prepaid wireless provider that you bought your phone “on Amazon,” they should understand that you are referencing the mammoth online retailer and not a particular human being. [More]
Verizon Wireless Waiving Domestic Text & Voice Charges For Sandy Victims
By 11.9.12
Hurricane Sandy uprooted the lives of many people on the East Coast last week, making even simple things like paying a cell phone bill a hardship. Verizon Wireless announced this week that in order to help ease the burden for is East Coast customers left without power, cell service, Internet or even landlines, it will waive fees for all domestic voice and text usage. [More]
