Sprint or Do You Have Sprint? That is the question

General Discussions
#1

I hate to say it, but the roll out of RW 3.0 with the new phones and coverage was/is almost as bad as the 1st month of the Trump administration.

Do we have Sprint coverage? No. Not yet. Hope to have it. Maybe by the end of the year (2016). Is it here? Maybe. Where is it? It’s out there? Where? Open a ticket? I opened a ticket. We’ll get back to you. I need help. Sorry. So sorry. We can’t help you. Sorry.

That seems to have been the first part.

Now the second part.

Okay. We’ve got a map checker to show you if you have coverage. Put in your zip code. Fine. Now what? See those phones? They work in your area. Okay, I’ll order two of them. Hey!! My phones don’t work. What? Did you open a help ticket? No. Open one. Okay. Hey!! My phones still don’t work. My former RW phones worked, why don’t these?!!! Did you open a help ticket? Yes. Sorry. So sorry. That’s all we can do.

Now the third part.

I want to buy new phones, but I need for them to work. I’m a current customer and I know Sprint coverage is better than T mobile in most places. Can I order phones that will work on Sprint? Yes. We are rolling out a small number of phones that work with Sprint. But only for current customers. Hey, that’s great for me, not so great for new people. Anyway, use the map checker and it will show you phones that work in your area. But will they be Sprint phones? I don’t know. The computer selects the phones for you. What?? (This is where it veers off into Trumpland) We don’t select the phones, the computer does. Well, you say you have phones that work with Sprint, and it’s based on what, my zipcode? As a current customer, my zipcode hasn’t changed. Why would RW send me a new phone that doesn’t work with my current coverage? I don’t know. The computer selects the best coverage for you. Does RW really have Sprint coverage? Because this sure sounds like the run around. No. No. We have it.

Conclusion.

RW, I’ll wait until you guys figure this out. RW has been a great service and the 3 phones we have continue to work great. But we won’t upgrade into this cloud of if, but, maybe, help ticket confusion.

Please solve it. Your customers want you to win so we can win.

3 phones. 3 year customer. We live in a large metro area.

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#2

the best why to get a Sprint configured phone is to enter a ZIP code in the Coverage Check that gives the results that include BYOD is not variable or when you look at the phones the Moto Z, Moto Z Play, Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy J3 and Huawei Ascend 5W are shown as non optimized. (one like 52358) then put a phone that has the capability of using CDMA (Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Moto G4, Moto G4 Plus, Moto G4 Play, Moto X Pure, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P)

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#3

Hi @johnd.8e056v

While your post is a little hard to decipher, I think I understand.

RW does not have the ability to offer 3.0 BYOD services on CDMA capable phones at the moment. Phones purchased directly from RW can be used on CDMA(Sprint) if the phone has the hardware and the computer determines that CDMA will provide better service for your area. Some phones RW sells are GSM only.

They seem to be making strides in tweaking the algorithms and whatnot that determine which would work better for a given zip code, and appear to be working with customers who find otherwise.

If you don’t mind posting your zip code here we can double check and give you a guess. A CDMA phone on 3.0 should work as well as the devices you have had for 3 years.

There is the Money Back Guarantee Update , so you can give a new phone a try and see for yourself, if that would help.

#4

Hi @johnd.8e056v ,

I’m confused by portions of your post. You wrote:

Open a ticket? I opened a ticket. We’ll get back to you. I need help. Sorry. So sorry. We can’t help you. Sorry.

and

What? Did you open a help ticket? No. Open one. Okay. Hey!! My phones still don’t work. My former RW phones worked, why don’t these?!!! Did you open a help ticket? Yes. Sorry. So sorry. That’s all we can do.

I’ve searched the account associated with your Community username and I do not see any tickets related to our rollout of CDMA for our 3.0 phones. If you have a ticket or tickets on this matter where you were unable to get help, please let me know the ticket numbers.

As for the third part of your post, it seems to be explaining that you want no part in upgrading until you can be guaranteed you’ll have Sprint coverage. I’ve checked your zip code and it appears that coverage for both of our carriers is good, but we rarely move a current customer off of Sprint coverage unless they are in a roaming or very poor coverage area and their situation would be improved by switching.

If I’m understanding correctly, you’re also questioning whether we really offer phones with Sprint coverage. The answer is yes, but if you don’t believe us having said it before, I don’t see how my answering it again will change that. Here’s a screenshot from Network Signal Info showing my X Pure on Sprint, if that helps.

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#5

Downloading it now. I like the suggestion, screen-shot. I have a homescreen dedicated to tools like this…layout looks good.

(edit: Is your picture a “pro-version” shot?).

#6

(edit: Is your picture a “pro-version” shot?).

Ha! No. I’ve yet to ever pay for an app!!

3 Likes
#7

I’ve checked your zip code and it appears that coverage for both of our carriers is good, but we rarely move a current customer off of Sprint coverage unless they are in a roaming or very poor coverage area and their situation would be improved by switching.

@southpaw@rw ,

That seems to indicate that for current members that may be upgrading from a Legacy phone RW’s choice of networks is biased towards CDMA even in areas where GSM network is equal.

That’s good to to know and may answer a large question for many members who’ve been trying to figure things out for the last 2-3 months.

Thanks for adding another jigsaw piece. Why so long in coming?

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#8

Hi @@williamo.vkbg0s,

That seems to indicate that for current members that may be upgrading from a Legacy phone RW’s choice of networks is biased towards CDMA even in areas where GSM network is equal.

That’s good to to know and may answer a large question for many members who’ve been trying to figure things out for the last 2-3 months.

Thanks for adding another jigsaw piece. Why so long in coming?

I said the pretty much the same thing, here:

5. What should I do if I want a CDMA phone and your Coverage Checker leaves me nervous it will assign me GSM?

If you are confident you’ll be happy with CDMA coverage,while not as easy as the GSM solution above, there are some options to work around the uncertainty.

  • Give the system a chance. Now that we can offer 3.0 phones on CDMA, we typically only switch those accounts currently enjoying CDMA coverage to GSM if the CDMA coverage is roaming-only, because that is not an ideal coverage situation for calling, texting, or data. If the system ends up selecting GSM when you really wanted CDMA, open a support ticket. Our support team may want to troubleshoot for activation or hardware issues. Finding none, they’ll work with you to make sure you have the coverage that best suits your needs.
#9

Good evening @southpaw@rw ,

Thanks and think I missed it registering when read. That is rather buried in a very long discussion. Believe that was in the last couple of weeks, could have presented sooner and louder.

It was a surprise to see it today because in the many questions being asked even since then I’ve never seen that statement quoted as it likely should be to help other member’s ?s.

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#10

Keep in mind most people that shop do not check the community or read anything other that the steps to complete their purchase task. Now they can just go to the store put in their ZIP and we tell them what phones will work. The only place we have had lots of questions and confusion is here in the community. Since we did this tickets from confused customers has gone way down and tickets from customers who have bad coverage after purchasing has gone way down. I can’t wait until we launch it for BYOP but doing BYOP with CDMA is very very very hard. That step will wrap the bow on the end and tie all of this together.

#11

When that time comes that we can byop It will be to me one hellva present will jump with joy.

And be right there for a sim.

Morris/aka telemon1

#12

The only place we have had lots of questions and confusion is here in the community.
@seanr ,

Yes your point is well taken…blame it on the stones.

Last time viewing questions/discussions here it was a combination of members and new customers asking for information. Lest you forget these folks have helped RW evolve.

The community is not dazed and confused when RW provides relevant info on their processes.

…

I can’t wait until we launch it for BYOP but doing BYOP with CDMA is very very very hard. That step will wrap the bow on the end and tie all of this together.

01-2021 is a long time to wait for a BYOP SIM.

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#13

Sean,

Can you convert “very very very hard” to a rough estimate in time?

I have been waiting since before the “end of year” promise. I want to go to FI if this is going to take until “the end of this year” or beyond.

#14

Can you convert “very very very hard” to a rough estimate in time?

I have been waiting since before the “end of year” promise. I want to go to FI if this is going to take until “the end of this year” or beyond.

No I can’t, too many cooks involved to gives estimates. I can say it will not take to the end of the year but I cannot get more specific.

#15

@christopherc.7o94ku I don’t believe the problem with BYOD activation is RW’s fault. The snippet below was taken from the BYOD section of the Sprint site. Notice that to you have to bring your phone and your SIM to a Sprint store to activate it because online activation isn’t available.

RW doesn’t have retail stores aside from some retail Kiosks at a few locations. Until online activation is possible their only way around this would be an expensive, time-consuming process involving round trip shipping. Presently they partially activate the phones with Sprint before shipping them.

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#16

Okay everyone. Thanks for your responses to my intentionally sarcastic post.

The point I wanted to make is that the 3.0 roll out has been full of misplaced and missing information, from a customer’s perspective.

RW Reps have been able to offer here and elsewhere some real answers to questions about which phones support which coverage. The point I tried to make and others have made, is that all this information on this matter needed to be, or equally important, needs to be pulled together in one visible place and provided to customers. We need a clear, concise statement or set of statements in one place, not buried or scattered throughout the discussion boards, of the 3.0 plan, the phones, the coverage and what will happen when you order XXX phone.

This has been very helpful. Thanks.

#17

I wish I could have liked your opening line a dozen times. Yes, the 3.0 roll-out was a bit of a cluster- but many of the issues have been fixed. If there was one thing RW could do that would be more helpful it is this:

Get a group of non-technical people together (not employees) in their facility and watch them as they go through the process of selecting and purchasing a phone. Note the questions they have and the roadblocks they encounter. I think If they saw what I see when my non-technical friends want to buy a phone they would produce a clearer, more logical process.

#18

Get a group of non-technical people together (not employees) in their facility and watch them as they go through the process of selecting and purchasing a phone. Note the questions they have and the roadblocks they encounter. I think If they saw what I see when my non-technical friends want to buy a phone they would produce a clearer, more logical process.
Our UX team did exactly this and so did our Product team. This is actually standard practice for them. They also did surveys and third party research.

#19

That is great. I suppose the most significant detriments has been working things out with T-Mobile, Sprint and in the hybrid days Motorola.

#20

billg wrote:

@christopherc.7o94ku[snip[

RW doesn’t have retail stores aside from some retail Kiosks at a few locations. Until online activation is possible their only way around this would be an expensive, time-consuming process involving round trip shipping. Presently they partially activate the phones with Sprint before shipping them.

I would personally be more than happy to pay the round trip shipping in order to get my current BYOD Nexus 6P switched from T-Mobile to Sprint. I understand RW wanting to wait for a more elegant solution, but I sincerely wish that this was an option in the meantime. I bought my SIM card when RW had the “free SIM” program and well before RW’s new coverage checker. The T-Mobile map showed great coverage in my area so I thought it was a sure thing. Unfortunately, however, there are huge holes in T-Mobile’s coverage where I live. I can go from decent LTE to absolutely no coverage in a matter of a few blocks.

BYOD swapping from T-Mobile to Sprint can’t come soon enough for me.

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