Tech I am considering the unthinkable...leave Sprint for ATT/iPhone?

ame

O.G.
Mar 22, 2007
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I now work for a new company that provides me with a really nice discount on ATT products and services, and my husband just left his former employer to work for an ATT contractor. According to the reps handling my office's plan, I can actually get a combination discount--I don't know how true that is--but even if it's not likely to work, my own discount is nearly 20%.

I currently have a Palm Pre on Sprint, which I really dig, though I have been eligible for a new phone since August (I get yearly upgrades) and nothing has come out (really on any carrier) that I am interested in. I keep holding out hope that HP will FINALLY put sometihng new out with WebOS and better hardware, but that's not likely til several months into 2011. I can't afford new anything til January anyway, but I'd like to see something come out that I like.

My whole family switched to iPhones last weekend and they're so far mixed on them having come from "more advanced" phones on Sprint. My sister cannot get a signal on her phone in her building at work, and loses it frequently in her home, despite being very nearby an ATT tower, supposedly. She's not pleased and wants to leave already which really has always been my ATT experience as well--issues with service every time I have tried them in the last several years.

I am debating it also, but I will be giving up a lot for this move, namely a large discount with Sprint and generally good service.

I want to want Android but so far nothing out with Android appeals to me, nor does Android really. I feel like it needs some work still to be appealing.

I love WebOS a great deal, but over a year for new hardware and software is unacceptable.

What would you do?
 
if you have excellent service with sprint - I would not leave for ATT

i love my service with verizon and i would never leave them for a phone on a different carrier.

sprint has the EVO, right?? if you want the iphone then check out the evo - you would probably really like it.
 
Yknow, I actually HATED the Evo and Epic. I thought they were huge and I am not at all a fan of Android. I thought I would be but I could not like it. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be excited but it was a huge disappointment to me. Hate is actually an understatement.
 
I've only had Sprint for a little over a month because I just bought the Evo. I had AT&T prior to them because I had the Blackberry Torch and I already think I prefer Sprint.

A lot of people complain about AT&T's customer service, their service plans, etc. They no longer offer unlimited data plans on phones, and the signal sucks.

You have to weigh your pros and cons. Is having your dream phone worth dealing with sucky customer service, and a poor signal?
 
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My dream phone is not at all the iPhone. AT ALL. I know if I do this move it's going to be a MAJOR step back in phones. My dream phone doesn't really exist.
 
My limited experience with AT&T is so horrible that I couldn't be paid to switch over to them. We have their service on our iPad but have Verizon on our cell phones. Seriously, whenever we travel we always have cell service and the iPad service is very spotty, if available at all.

If I were you, I'd stick with what you have.
 
In the US, the way to start is "what carrier works best in your area." Then you can pick your phone. If AT&T works fine in your area, then getting an iPhone would be fine. If the service is bad, no phone on that service is going to be worth it.
 
In the US, the way to start is "what carrier works best in your area." Then you can pick your phone. If AT&T works fine in your area, then getting an iPhone would be fine. If the service is bad, no phone on that service is going to be worth it.

I totally agree. I had Sprint for years and it was the worst here. I was overjoyed to leave and get an iphone. I had to get a mini tower thing that hooked into my modem and I still could not make a call inside of my house with Sprint. I adore my iPhone but if I had the service I had with Sprint, I would have to give it up. It does not mater how great a phone is if you can;t use it!
 
What would your dream phone be? Do you have details of what you want?
It doesn't exist but I'd say something in size between the pre (closed) and iPhone. If a slider, a vertical slider. Really great camera, really great screen. Some kind of combination of iOS and WebOS because both have great strong points. And lightening fast speed for all things, especially web.



/\Right. I would never leave a good carrier for a phone. But, even after reading your post...why exactly do you want to switch?

Because from what I am learning, if I try to use my upgrade credit and re-sign another 2 year contract we will lose my husband's employee discount as Sprint requires your HR or Supervisor to confirm via email and provide a current pay stub to re-up your contract. I've been told this now by 4 different sprint employees.

Since my husband no longer works for the same company, and one that doesn't get a discount through Sprint, in order to re-up, we have to pay almost $50 more per month to stay with them, not to mention no phones I have interest in at present.

I am under the impression from many friends with ATT locally that its mostly fine, though some have a raging hate for the company.

However...from the sounds of it, once Verizon gets the iPhone, it will never go to another carrier besides ATT. That is, unless Apple agrees to that, or decides to kill the deal later. And I don't care for how Verizon sets up their plans.
 
Never heard of the re-up "re-verify". I'm on a corporate discount, too, and have upgraded twice (online both times). Never had anyone verify anything. Honestly, people in HR have better things to do than verify employment for Sprint's discount.
 
if you have excellent service with sprint - I would not leave for ATT

i love my service with verizon and i would never leave them for a phone on a different carrier.

sprint has the EVO, right?? if you want the iphone then check out the evo - you would probably really like it.

yup. i agree. i had AT&T for 5 years before i switched to sprint back in 2001, and now i will never leave sprint. believe me, when AT&T got the iPhone, it was very tempting since i am everything apple in my home, but knowing i would have to endure AT&T's horrific customer service (which is why i left in the first place) and their notorious bad reception, i knew it just wasn't worth it.

a few weeks ago, i just got the EVO and omg, i absolutely love it. more so than the iPhone. we got my daughter an iPod Touch for her birthday a few weeks ago and so i had the advantage of playing with it while learning my EVO and tbh, i much prefer my EVO over the iPhone (since it's obviously very similar to the iPod Touch).

my friends that have the iPhone complain repeatedly about the horrible reception—even one friend is debating on switching to verizon soon as a result.

and my husband's employer also gets a nice discount through sprint like you—20% off every month. that's a nice savings.

you should play with the EVO for a while and you'll be surprised how user-friendly and intuitive it is.

and honestly, for as long as i have been a sprint customer, the ONLY place that i somehow can never get service is inside our supertarget. have no idea why, but i just know not use my cell phone when i'm shopping at target. :P

otherwise, the reception and service is excellent. i never get dropped calls at all—only when i'm on the phone with my AT&T friends. :graucho:
 
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Because from what I am learning, if I try to use my upgrade credit and re-sign another 2 year contract we will lose my husband's employee discount as Sprint requires your HR or Supervisor to confirm via email and provide a current pay stub to re-up your contract. I've been told this now by 4 different sprint employees.

i know you said you've heard this from 4 different employees, but i think this may be false information.

not only did we just provide sprint with my husband's pay stub for the discount (we just learned about this through sprint, even though he has worked for the same company for over 4 years), AND i upgraded two phones on our account as well (pretty much all within a week to two weeks from each other) and as far as i know, they made it very clear to me while i was upgrading that it does not affect your discount. if it did, i would have thought twice about upgrading our phones.

i would look into this even further if i were you, because i don't feel this information is accurate. unless we're talking about two different things all together.