Sprint PCS' Internet card overture dispute.

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

I am just glad this happened to me before my final recommendation, to
my company, we move to Sprint.

Extreme caution should be taken when doing business with this company.
They are borderline fraudulent. If you have problems with them I
suggest going to www.bbb.org and file a complaint. It only take a few
minutes and you might get results. Also send a formal complaint letter
to any Sprint address you can find. Here is mine.

8-16-04

Sprint PCS
6160 Sprint Parkway
Overland Park, KS 66251

Re: PCS Internet card overture dispute.

Dear Sprint,

In March 2004 I signed up for a PCS Internet card for my laptop
(832-754-4921). I was advised by the salesman to get, at least, the
30-megabyte plan so I did so. I was advised of the overture cost and
to check my usage regularly. I used the card with minimal problems
except I could never get my current usage. The hardware and connection
software did not give this information and when I logged into my PCS
account it always said "Unavailable" and still does. I was able to get
my current usage one time when I called and spoke to your tech support
people. This took over 30 minutes.

Several months went by and according to my records paid about $45 a
month for the service. Suddenly on July 21 I received a bill for $595
and I immediately called customer service. I was told I exceeded my
30-megabyte limit and the outrageous bill was a result. I told the
story of being unable to check my current megabyte usage and disputed
the bill. The person I spoke with agreed and recommended that I move
to the 300-megabyte plan, which I did. He also insured me the July
bill would be based on the new plan so I would owe about $100 instead
of $595.

Last week I went to the Sprint store to move my Wife and I from
Nextel, which we have had for 8 years, onto Sprint. I was told my
current account was in collections and was thus denied. We have not
received anything via mail or phone indicating the account is
delinquent. This as not only embarrassing but very upsetting. I
immediately called customer support again and was told we don't roll
previous usage into new plans and that there is nothing could do
because the account is now in collections.

As a new customer and stockholder of Sprint I don't have a very good
first impression. Although we have been very happy with the service I
feel this $595 bill fringes on being fraudulent. If you can't provide
a reasonable method for me to know my usage how can you charge me for
it? I would have certainly changed my plan if I knew I needed to.

I ask for is this ridiculous $600 bill be based on the new plan
implemented on July 21. Your agent insured me it would, although this
is not reflected in the "Notes" section of your records it did occur.
I insist this phone call be listened to so I am not considered a liar.
I want to continue doing business with Sprint and move my family and
business to it, but unless this can be reasonably settled I don't see
how that can happen.

Best Regards
James Higgins
TOSC International

CC: Gary Forsee, Sprint Headquarters, FON Group, Sprint PCS, Sprint
Store Houston, Kingsbury & Associates

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

"Although we have been very happy with the service I feel this $595 bill
fringes on being fraudulent. If you can't provide a reasonable method
for me to know my usage how can you charge me for it?"

You went over your minutes and were billed correctly. Pay the bill.
You could have tracked your usage by calling customer service. Either
way, you agreed to pay if you went over so pay. Your "excuse" is weak
at best. BTW, unlimited MB is only $80. I would ask how the connection
was (because I'm considering getting a card/service) but apparently it
was pretty good since you used it a lot.

James Higgins wrote:

> I am just glad this happened to me before my final recommendation, to
> my company, we move to Sprint.
>
> Extreme caution should be taken when doing business with this company.
> They are borderline fraudulent. If you have problems with them I
> suggest going to www.bbb.org and file a complaint. It only take a few
> minutes and you might get results. Also send a formal complaint letter
> to any Sprint address you can find. Here is mine.
>
> 8-16-04
>
> Sprint PCS
> 6160 Sprint Parkway
> Overland Park, KS 66251
>
> Re: PCS Internet card overture dispute.
>
> Dear Sprint,
>
> In March 2004 I signed up for a PCS Internet card for my laptop
> (832-754-4921). I was advised by the salesman to get, at least, the
> 30-megabyte plan so I did so. I was advised of the overture cost and
> to check my usage regularly. I used the card with minimal problems
> except I could never get my current usage. The hardware and connection
> software did not give this information and when I logged into my PCS
> account it always said "Unavailable" and still does. I was able to get
> my current usage one time when I called and spoke to your tech support
> people. This took over 30 minutes.
>
> Several months went by and according to my records paid about $45 a
> month for the service. Suddenly on July 21 I received a bill for $595
> and I immediately called customer service. I was told I exceeded my
> 30-megabyte limit and the outrageous bill was a result. I told the
> story of being unable to check my current megabyte usage and disputed
> the bill. The person I spoke with agreed and recommended that I move
> to the 300-megabyte plan, which I did. He also insured me the July
> bill would be based on the new plan so I would owe about $100 instead
> of $595.
>
> Last week I went to the Sprint store to move my Wife and I from
> Nextel, which we have had for 8 years, onto Sprint. I was told my
> current account was in collections and was thus denied. We have not
> received anything via mail or phone indicating the account is
> delinquent. This as not only embarrassing but very upsetting. I
> immediately called customer support again and was told we don't roll
> previous usage into new plans and that there is nothing could do
> because the account is now in collections.
>
> As a new customer and stockholder of Sprint I don't have a very good
> first impression. Although we have been very happy with the service I
> feel this $595 bill fringes on being fraudulent. If you can't provide
> a reasonable method for me to know my usage how can you charge me for
> it? I would have certainly changed my plan if I knew I needed to.
>
> I ask for is this ridiculous $600 bill be based on the new plan
> implemented on July 21. Your agent insured me it would, although this
> is not reflected in the "Notes" section of your records it did occur.
> I insist this phone call be listened to so I am not considered a liar.
> I want to continue doing business with Sprint and move my family and
> business to it, but unless this can be reasonably settled I don't see
> how that can happen.
>
> Best Regards
> James Higgins
> TOSC International
>
> CC: Gary Forsee, Sprint Headquarters, FON Group, Sprint PCS, Sprint
> Store Houston, Kingsbury & Associates

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <untUc.25741$9Y6.1309@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
jim_85cj@NOSPAMyahoo.com says...
> You went over your minutes and were billed correctly. Pay the bill.
> You could have tracked your usage by calling customer service. Either
> way, you agreed to pay if you went over so pay. Your "excuse" is weak
> at best. BTW, unlimited MB is only $80. I would ask how the connection
> was (because I'm considering getting a card/service) but apparently it
> was pretty good since you used it a lot.
>

Only if an account is configured as a Business account. And I can
speak from experience that, even then, reps can be too lazy to even
find it. I was on the 300MB one because of that very issue. Now I'm
back on a phone simply because data was no longer my primary concern.

If the 3 month grace period wasn't explained to him, then he had at
least two bills that made it seem as though he was not going over.
He had no way to see, and two bills (at least) to leave him the
impression that he was fine.

He's got a legitimate beef here, in my opinion.

--
RØß
O/Siris
~+~
"A thing moderately good is not so good
as it ought to be. Moderation in temper
is always a virtue, but moderation in
principle is always a vice."
Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

"Jim85CJ" <jim_85cj@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:rJxUc.26200$9Y6.15701@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> "the get screwed potential"
> explain how paying for what you use is getting screwed?
>

Fair question. The answer is when the overage charges are clearly
unreasonable. I get unlimited usage for $80 a month. On a limited data
plan, depending on you start paying from somewhere between 2-4 cents PER
KILOBYTE, and thats UP and DOWN. Figure for example a month where someone
on an unlimited plan and someone on a limited plan uses 100 megabytes each.
The unlimited user pays $80. Say the limited plan is $45 for 30 megs,
and say the overage charge is 3 cents per kilobyte. So the 70 meg overage
charge is going to 70 x 1024 kb/meg x 0.03 = $2150. Say its 1 cent a
kilobyte, 70 x 1024 x0.01 = $716.8 Say its a 1/2 cent, the overage runs
$358.

Now, how does Sprint get away with charging me $80 for 100 megs and some
other schmoe hundreds of dollars? There are a few ways of looking at this,
but I think most reasonable people would say Sprint has an inherently
predatory pricing scheme on limited data plans.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Whatever is written in the contract is what should be followed. If he
didn't understand the contract that is his issue.

RØß Vargas wrote:

> In article <untUc.25741$9Y6.1309@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
> jim_85cj@NOSPAMyahoo.com says...
>
>>You went over your minutes and were billed correctly. Pay the bill.
>>You could have tracked your usage by calling customer service. Either
>>way, you agreed to pay if you went over so pay. Your "excuse" is weak
>>at best. BTW, unlimited MB is only $80. I would ask how the connection
>>was (because I'm considering getting a card/service) but apparently it
>>was pretty good since you used it a lot.
>>
>
>
> Only if an account is configured as a Business account. And I can
> speak from experience that, even then, reps can be too lazy to even
> find it. I was on the 300MB one because of that very issue. Now I'm
> back on a phone simply because data was no longer my primary concern.
>
> If the 3 month grace period wasn't explained to him, then he had at
> least two bills that made it seem as though he was not going over.
> He had no way to see, and two bills (at least) to leave him the
> impression that he was fine.
>
> He's got a legitimate beef here, in my opinion.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

"how does Sprint get away with charging me $80 for 100 megs and some
other schmoe hundreds of dollars?"
Interesting argument. But if I were to buy a $35, 300 minute phone plan
and I use 2500 minutes, I'd pay a LOT more for the $35 minute plan then
I do for my $130 unlimited plan that I have. If I bought the wrong plan
it would be up to me to pay the bill and upgrade to a more appropriate
plan for the next month. Sprint has NO IDEA what my usage will be. It
is up to me to buy the correct plan. The pricing model for data is very
similar as for the phones (pay for incomin/outgoing calls, pay for
minutes used, etc where with data you pay for incoming/outgoing MB,
etc). I don't think Sprint is doing anything wrong.

Frank Thomas wrote:

> "Jim85CJ" <jim_85cj@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:rJxUc.26200$9Y6.15701@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
>>"the get screwed potential"
>>explain how paying for what you use is getting screwed?
>>
>
>
> Fair question. The answer is when the overage charges are clearly
> unreasonable. I get unlimited usage for $80 a month. On a limited data
> plan, depending on you start paying from somewhere between 2-4 cents PER
> KILOBYTE, and thats UP and DOWN. Figure for example a month where someone
> on an unlimited plan and someone on a limited plan uses 100 megabytes each.
> The unlimited user pays $80. Say the limited plan is $45 for 30 megs,
> and say the overage charge is 3 cents per kilobyte. So the 70 meg overage
> charge is going to 70 x 1024 kb/meg x 0.03 = $2150. Say its 1 cent a
> kilobyte, 70 x 1024 x0.01 = $716.8 Say its a 1/2 cent, the overage runs
> $358.
>
> Now, how does Sprint get away with charging me $80 for 100 megs and some
> other schmoe hundreds of dollars? There are a few ways of looking at this,
> but I think most reasonable people would say Sprint has an inherently
> predatory pricing scheme on limited data plans.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Jim85CJ <jim_85cj@nospamyahoo.com> wrote:
> "how does Sprint get away with charging me $80 for 100 megs and some
> other schmoe hundreds of dollars?"
> Interesting argument. But if I were to buy a $35, 300 minute phone plan
> and I use 2500 minutes, I'd pay a LOT more for the $35 minute plan then
> I do for my $130 unlimited plan that I have.

Interesting that you bring that up. That $130 plan is only available with
Sprint Complete Sense, is it not? I can't even get Sprint here, not for
landlines. There are about a quarter of a million people living in the Victor
Valley, but it's not a large enough market that it can support a bunch of
competing carriers. No MCI, AT&T, Sprint up here except for LD calls.

So even if I wanted to benefit from the unlimited plan, I don't qualify for
it. I wouldn't mind dropping Verizontal in favor of Sprint for my landlines;
hell, I use them for everything else telecomm-related already... cellular and
long distance. But I can't, because Verizon doesn't have competition for
local dialtone in this area. And aren't a couple of the high-end PCS voice
plans more than $130?

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net
PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED)
Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <R6adnXnO_uSOgbncRVn-iw@lmi.net>, sjsobol@JustThe.net
says...
>
> So even if I wanted to benefit from the unlimited plan, I don't qualify for
> it. I wouldn't mind dropping Verizontal in favor of Sprint for my landlines;
> hell, I use them for everything else telecomm-related already... cellular and
> long distance. But I can't, because Verizon doesn't have competition for
> local dialtone in this area. And aren't a couple of the high-end PCS voice
> plans more than $130?
>

And now SPCS has abandoned further advancement into residential local
service. For what it's worth, though, there *is* an unlimited usage
plan, for business customers. $200/month. No add-a-phone sharing
option, so it's $200/month *per line*.

Or, at least, it was there when I left.

--
RØß
O/Siris
~+~
"A thing moderately good is not so good
as it ought to be. Moderation in temper
is always a virtue, but moderation in
principle is always a vice."
Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Yes it is for complete sense. I am stuck with one option as well, it
just happens that my local monopoly is Sprint. I have 2 land lines with
unlimited local/LD, 2 cell plans (one unlimited and one 750 minute plan)
and I have earthlink (which I beleive is still sprint).

Steven J Sobol wrote:

> Jim85CJ <jim_85cj@nospamyahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>"how does Sprint get away with charging me $80 for 100 megs and some
>>other schmoe hundreds of dollars?"
>>Interesting argument. But if I were to buy a $35, 300 minute phone plan
>>and I use 2500 minutes, I'd pay a LOT more for the $35 minute plan then
>>I do for my $130 unlimited plan that I have.
>
>
> Interesting that you bring that up. That $130 plan is only available with
> Sprint Complete Sense, is it not? I can't even get Sprint here, not for
> landlines. There are about a quarter of a million people living in the Victor
> Valley, but it's not a large enough market that it can support a bunch of
> competing carriers. No MCI, AT&T, Sprint up here except for LD calls.
>
> So even if I wanted to benefit from the unlimited plan, I don't qualify for
> it. I wouldn't mind dropping Verizontal in favor of Sprint for my landlines;
> hell, I use them for everything else telecomm-related already... cellular and
> long distance. But I can't, because Verizon doesn't have competition for
> local dialtone in this area. And aren't a couple of the high-end PCS voice
> plans more than $130?
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

> .....I do for my $130 unlimited plan that I have. If I bought the wrong
plan
> it would be up to me to pay the bill and upgrade to a more appropriate
> plan for the next month. Sprint has NO IDEA what my usage will be. It
> is up to me to buy the correct plan. The pricing model for data is very
> similar as for the phones (pay for incomin/outgoing calls,.....

You are right, Sprint has no idea how you or I as individuals are going use
your service, but,
I am certain they have a well developed bell shaped curve for their customer
base and can readily quantify
the proportion of the customer base who will 1) opt for a lower price plan
2) will go
over it and 3) have identified this as a profit center of opportunity -
preying on people who go over their base plans
with price gouging surcharges.

I go back to the example, I use a 100 megs, pay $80, Sprint's revenue is
$80 cents a meg. Schmoe who buys a 30 meg plan and, like some people in
the bell shaped curve, may have no idea how many kbytes are in a meg or
how many megs are in a a typical web browsing session at say yahoo, and gets
charged, min case, 358+45 = $403, or about 4 bucks a meg. If Sprint is
making money on my $80, then they have to be making at least $320 profit
on Schmoe's bill. (Especially when Schmoe says he can't find the data usage
on his bill. Just for giggles, I went to check mine, and lo, the my
account web page says the data is not available at this time - which is what
it said when I looked at it 3 months ago. The only way I have to meter my
usage is through the Merlin software, which just tells me usage per session,
so I would have to keep a manual log to know my total monthly usage - now
Schmoe says his software does not do do that, so how is he supposed to
monitor his usage?)

Should the buyer beware? Sure, this is a free market economy. Is Sprint
entitled to collect something from Schmoe's overuse of his plan, even be
punitive about it to a reasonable extent? No reasonable person would argue
otherwise.
But, in our economy, we also say things like, no price gouging for water
and hotel rooms after a hurricane, things like interest and lending
practices must be regulated to guard against lender abuse, and most
utilities most places are regulated by some kind of public service
commission so the lights stay on, the water flows and the toilet flushes

To me, it looks Sprint's pricing structure for limited data plans is not
only punitive, its crosses the line and is predatory.

 

[Scott]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:15:30 -0400, "Frank Thomas" <nospam@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>> .....I do for my $130 unlimited plan that I have. If I bought the wrong
>plan
>> it would be up to me to pay the bill and upgrade to a more appropriate
>> plan for the next month. Sprint has NO IDEA what my usage will be. It
>> is up to me to buy the correct plan. The pricing model for data is very
>> similar as for the phones (pay for incomin/outgoing calls,.....
>
>You are right, Sprint has no idea how you or I as individuals are going use
>your service, but,
>I am certain they have a well developed bell shaped curve for their customer
>base and can readily quantify
>the proportion of the customer base who will 1) opt for a lower price plan
>2) will go
>over it and 3) have identified this as a profit center of opportunity -
>preying on people who go over their base plans
>with price gouging surcharges.
>
>I go back to the example, I use a 100 megs, pay $80, Sprint's revenue is
>$80 cents a meg. Schmoe who buys a 30 meg plan and, like some people in
>the bell shaped curve, may have no idea how many kbytes are in a meg or
>how many megs are in a a typical web browsing session at say yahoo, and gets
>charged, min case, 358+45 = $403, or about 4 bucks a meg. If Sprint is
>making money on my $80, then they have to be making at least $320 profit
>on Schmoe's bill. (Especially when Schmoe says he can't find the data usage
>on his bill. Just for giggles, I went to check mine, and lo, the my
>account web page says the data is not available at this time - which is what
>it said when I looked at it 3 months ago. The only way I have to meter my
>usage is through the Merlin software, which just tells me usage per session,
>so I would have to keep a manual log to know my total monthly usage - now
>Schmoe says his software does not do do that, so how is he supposed to
>monitor his usage?)
>
>Should the buyer beware? Sure, this is a free market economy. Is Sprint
>entitled to collect something from Schmoe's overuse of his plan, even be
>punitive about it to a reasonable extent? No reasonable person would argue
>otherwise.
>But, in our economy, we also say things like, no price gouging for water
>and hotel rooms after a hurricane, things like interest and lending
>practices must be regulated to guard against lender abuse, and most
>utilities most places are regulated by some kind of public service
>commission so the lights stay on, the water flows and the toilet flushes
>
>To me, it looks Sprint's pricing structure for limited data plans is not
>only punitive, its crosses the line and is predatory.
>
It could also be that they plan for how much data tranfers there might
be in an area due to the plans purchased. If they have 95 people who
purchase a 30 MB plan and only 5 people who purchase the unlimited
plan, Sprint can make a reasonable assumption on how to allocate
resources to this area as opposed to an area where 95 people purchase
the unlimited plan and only 5 people purchase a smaller plan. Not
everyone needs unlimited and are willing to pay a lesser rate for the
access. This is not punitive, it is poor planning on the CUSTOMERS
part,

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <AcqVc.246$lV5.234@fe25.usenetserver.com>, nospam@yahoo.com
says...
> I am not sure about the "reasonable assumption" Sprint makes about how much
> usage occurs based on who pays what
> plan though. I think Sprint probably has a base cost for recovering capital
> invested in the equipment and then almost assuredly has costs that are
> proportional to usage. I would challenge someone in the industry to say
> it ain't so, but charging me 80 cents a meg for 100 megs and charging
> someone else $4 a meg for some bloke who wonked his estimate of usage, or
> didn't care, or couldn't find out, or what, can't be seen as anything other
> than opportunistic.
>

Is that supposed to be a negative, being opportunistic? Look, SPCS
offers plans and are very up-front about those plans having limited
usage. And SPCS *does* train reps in some rough figures to give
customers an idea of usage. But, as SOME point, the customer has to
accept responsibility for knowing what they've used.

Now, in that regard, there *is* a fault in the system. But the Merlin
software isn't the only means to determine usage. Reps at *2 *do* have
the ability to see how much data usage has been incurred, and in fact we
are warned to warn the customer about this. Call us back during that
three months. That's what that first three months is for.

And remember that, too. Three months in which overage is not charged,
and the customer is able to just use the service and decide for himself
or herself if that plan is right for what they intend or need to do.

So, *if* the system was followed as it's designed to be used, then your
analogy needs some modifying. You didn't just use that extra day once.
You were given several warnings, didn't take note of the forgiven charge
on your bill, and then, on the fourth such extra day, NOW you're
complaining.

Let me reiterate, though, that the OP's description of what happened
suggests to me that the system was *not* explained to him, so, in his
specific case, I think he's got a case. But I think equally as much
that your general complaint does not.

--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
"A thing moderately good is not so good
as it ought to be. Moderation in temper
is always a virtue, but moderation in
principle is always a vice."

Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:15:30 -0400, "Frank Thomas" <nospam@yahoo.com>
wrote:
>To me, it looks [like] Sprint's pricing structure for limited data plans is not
>only punitive, its crosses the line and is predatory.

To me, a longtime Wireless Web user who would really like to upgrade
to 3G, it looks like Sprint's entire data plan structure is really
designed to deter me from buying a data plan.

First, why make me buy a phone and a wireless card, and deal with two
different phone numbers and pieces of hardware for voice and data?
Obviously, because Sprint wants to make money, since there is no
technological reason for it. Many Vision phones work fine as modems.
Requiring two pieces of hardware is not user frienldy.

Secondly, given the data transfer speeds that can be achived and the
hardware investment, the cost of the data plans seems way too high for
the service recieved. I get Comcast cable Internet (unlimited data
transfer and I get their increased speed version in my area) for
$50/month. Comcast is probably 15-20 times faster than what I would
get with the data card, yet the unlimited data card plan costs over
$100/month. Granted, I wouldn't be tied to a cable with the data
card, but it's not like I'm free to roam anywhere I want to with the
data card, I still have to be within the range of 3G Sprint tower.

I'd be interested to know how successful Sprint has been at selling
these data plans under their current scheme, or if they really care
about selling data plans. To me, it seems like Sprint wants to be
able to say that they have data capability, so the company looks
progressive to shareholders and prospective investors, but that Sprint
really doesn't want folks using their network for data. Sure,
hardcore data users will buy the plans, but people like me, who travel
occasionally and could use data while traveling, will be deterred
because of the pricing and hardware costs.

The Wireless Web modem is just getting too slow for the content of
most websites now. I'll probably just get Vision, use it as a modem
when I travel, and hope not to cross the magic threshold of abuse.
Actually, with most airports and many medium priced hotels offering
wireless Internet, I'm finding that I can get by ok without Wireless
Web or Vision data.

Joseph Huber
Huber.Joseph@comcast.net

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <412aa315.163749593@netnews.comcast.net>, Joseph
Huberhuber.joseph@comcast.net says...

> Secondly, given the data transfer speeds that can be achived and the
> hardware investment, the cost of the data plans seems way too high for
> the service recieved. I get Comcast cable Internet (unlimited data
> transfer and I get their increased speed version in my area) for
> $50/month. Comcast is probably 15-20 times faster than what I would
> get with the data card, yet the unlimited data card plan costs over
> $100/month. Granted, I wouldn't be tied to a cable with the data
> card, but it's not like I'm free to roam anywhere I want to with the
> data card, I still have to be within the range of 3G Sprint tower.
>

I've only ever been able to speculate about this, because I
never accepted the claim that heavy data usage of the
phones as modems hurt the network.

On the other hand, I think you skirted around the real
reason: home-based broadband. Again, I'm speculating, but
I've always thought the pricing structure was deliberately
high so as to *not* compete with "wired" solutions like
DSL, cable, etc. Sprint designed their network with an eye
on the mobile worker, not on some generic consumer sitting
at home on a PC that never goes anywhere.

That's not to say that Vision *couldn't* support the
stationary consumer. Only that a deliberate decision was
made to design the system without that consumer in mind.
And the pricing just simply works to deter that same
consumer.

BTW, I think the plans have done very well. As a Vision
Tech, I was getting 2-3 calls per night during the troubles
we had early this year. Almost all of them were truckers.
Not as high-volume as phones, obviously. But definitely
noticeable.

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O/Siris
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**A thing moderately good is not so good as it
ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a
virtue, but moderation in principle is always a
vice.**
-Thomas Paine. The Rights of Man. 1792-

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

O/Siris wrote:

> I've only ever been able to speculate about this, because I
> never accepted the claim that heavy data usage of the
> phones as modems hurt the network.

I think the deal is that when you pay for Internet transit and/or peering at
the level that Sprint PCS does, IOW by buying large pipes to the Net, you get
billed for what you actually use. It therefore costs SPCS real money if they
ever need to upgrade their connectivity to handle lots of heavy data usage.

Granted, they probably get a sweet deal from Sprint's Internet division. But
it's still a lot of money when you talk about the volume of data they're
probably trying to push around.

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