Sprint’s EV-DO Rollout Schedule

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000113045762/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000113045762/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Sprint PCS Info got their hands on the Sprint’s internal EV-DO rollout schedule, which should give us a good idea of which cities will have coverage when the carrier formally launches its EV-DO service sometime next quarter (August seems likely). The schedule shows that they’ve already flipped the switch and are testing coverage in a few cities (including Atlanta, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, and Philadelphia), with New York, Boston, Los Angeles, among others, set to come online sometime this month."</i><br /><br />This is all well and good but I have heard complaints from fellow travelers that Sprint coverage is not very good in a lot of places. What is your experience with them?

[xfrosch]

Sprint's coverage is pretty much as good as anyone else's except for Cingular and Verizon. As long as you're in a freeway corridor you can pretty much count on being in coverage; if you get out into the country you'll find some significant gaps.

Of course, everybody's network has dead spots. At my house in suburban Nashville I get great coverage from Sprint and nothing from Verizon.

If you're sensitive to roaming charges, Sprint may be at a slight disadvantage because they don't have an AMPS network and thus you may occasionally go on roam while you're on the road, but as long as you're in PCS coverage roaming is hasslefree nationwide, no local security logins, nothing like that.

[Fitch]

I've always enjoyed Sprint's coverage. I live in LA, and travel to St. Louis and Chicago often. Never have had a problem. I've been in places in Bumbleville, Nowhere where my Cingular friend had coverage, and I did not, but I've found that Sprint had great coverage in the cities where the others did not, as well as always have understanding customer service-- customer is pretty-much-always-right mentality.

[xfrosch]

one of the first things I had to do when I (briefly) worked for Sprint a couple of years ago was sit with a customer service rep in a call center for a couple of hours. The experience gave me a new perspective on what a difficult job that is, as well as some amazement that anyone could do it well.

That said, I think Sprint's real differentiator is quality of network services, rather than coverage or customer service. I find it almost confusing sometimes to figure out how to use features like SMS, MMS, or RTTTL, or even why people would want them, because I've gotten used to Sprint's mobile IP. They've also come around in the last couple of years in terms of corporate attitude toward the customer, although I think that's at least partly driven by the realization that active interference with the ways in which customers want to use the network - through such tactics as selling crippled smartphones, for instance - ultimately requires an investment in IT infrastructure that they can ill afford.

Having had a couple of years of Sprint wireline service recently, though, has soured my previously rosy attitude about the company.