Where is Sprint 4G?
So, I live in Florida. Recently I switched my cell service from Verizon to Sprint for a few reasons that will bore you to death. So I’ll sum up — When I first switched, I absolutely couldn’t have been happier. I loved my phone (EVO 4G), thought the CS reps were the bomb, and loved how my phone bill remained constant monthly (with Verizon, no two were ever the same).
Anyway… then comes the iPhone… and now everything changes. The CEO made no secret that iPhone users are their holy grail and will be treated as gold. All of us non-iphone users will simply be… non-iphone users. Since the iPhone came, my “unlimited” account is now capped at 5GB (of course they say this is allowed in my unlimited contract).
But, I digress. Today’s article is about Sprint coverage maps and why you never ever ever should trust sales people. Look at that map above, remembering that I live in Florida. Florida looks awesome for 4G coverage, no? To help, here’s just Florida:
Florida close-up
I mean, just look at that — Sprint 4G is everywhere! Remember, this is a sales map and Yellow indicates 4G coverage. This map has one purpose, and one purpose only: sales. Sales people have one purpose only: get more sales. Anything other than getting more sales is a total failure of the entire function of either the map or the sales person.
To illustrate my point, let’s look at the non-sales 4G coverage map:
Brown is 4G, Orange is NOT
To clarify, remember here BROWN is 4G, orange is NOT 4G. There’s a lot of orange on that map. Kind of a huge contrast to the yellow being 4G coverage, but what do I know… I’m just a Sprint customer that can’t get 4G.
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Disclosure: I’m a Sprint Employee. Two things I would point out in this post: The data usage from the cell phone is not capped to 5G. Those on an unlimited data plan still have unlimited. What is limited are the NON-phone internet devices such as connection cares and Hotspot services (Phone acting as internet connection for another device like a computer). This Cap is for those on a 5G plan. Sprint has launched other plans that have more data access for those customer’s that use more data.
The other issue I had was that if you have an iPhone 4 or 4s you’re not using a device that is capable of connecting to 4G network. Those devices are not built with 4G antenna. They are strickly 3G devices across the board. But I can understand frustration when looking at the two different maps. The second one is the official coverage map for Sprint services.
Hi Carol,
My “hotspot” plan costs $29.95. When I signed the contract it was unlimited. Now, it’s capped at 5GB for 29.95 with heavy overage fees as well as NO WAY TO CHECK USAGE. Signing me into a contract with a promise of unlimited hotspot and then changing it is nothing less than a classic bait and switch. Holding customers to the contract by stating that the plan is “not part of the cell plan” is, pardon my french, complete bullshit. Bait and switch. Shame on you.
Show me where I stated the iPhone was 4G?
Now, the entire post was that your maps deceive people into believing that your 4G coverage is very expansive (such as Florida) when using 4G devices (such as the one I have). In reality, your coverage doesn’t cover much of the state at all. It’s very deceptive… so is changing unlimited to metered… is this a pattern?
I can understand with the change in cap for the Hotspot service. As an employee we’re subject to the same caps. It seems to me that Sprint’s decision was based on increased capacity on the network. In order to ensure that they don’t have to throttle the services they decided to cap the non-phone data. For heavy internet users, its a dissapointment. Sprint is working on updating their website to show Hotspot data usage as it does other data usage for tracking purposing. As of yet, I have not heard an ETA on this.
I understand you didn’t say that the iPhone is 4G directly. The way I read it, there seemed to be an implication of it which is why I made the comment.
Pingback: Fred Posner
Pingback: Fred Posner
When I signed with spring many moons ago they had the mobile TV thing that was pretty cool. It had like ten or twelve channels that were live and legit. But a few months affter signing the contract they cut it back to three good channels. After the contract was up I had the choice to switch to tmobile and get a 4G plan and 4G phone but I stayed with sprint because they promised that they would have 4G coverage in phoenix by the end of the quarter. The quarter being the end of march. I signed my contract on the 20th of march. And later after I signed the contract, they moved that date back to the second quarter. Now, almost a year later still no 4G. And they say that they have no idea when Sprint will get coverage in phx. It’s sad that a big company like this has to lie and change things that they said to get customers
I just tried out my brand new galaxy s2 epic touch in hollis queens ny.
I am supposedly in the dead center of 4g coverage and i cant even get to the internet on 3g coverage. Pandora cant connect, the net cant connect, I cant even get to the android store nevermind my netflix or slingbox.
It may be unlimited, but it is completely useless as far as smart phones are concerned. So much the the BS coverage maps.
Sprint’s CSR’s and Sales team are a joke. Went I bought 3 EVO’s mid 2011 I was put under the impression that there was service in my Area. I also live in Phoenix, Arizona. Just like Chris stated they were claiming to have 4G up and running. But the problem I ran into was that when I found out I got stuck with a 4G phone and no 4G. Excuse me sprint arw you there? Why in the world would I pay for a 4G phone to get 3G service? Would you buy a WINDOWS 7 PC TO USE WINDOWS XP? Yeah that’s what I thought. Im still under contract but I am considering breaking it and not giving them a single dime.
Fred, I have Sprint. The map is misleading but the yellow dots ARE the areas..it’s just they have these “connection waves” around it..but still,it’s so wrong for the costumers.
About the unlimited plan it’s NOT capped to 5gigs,but the hotspots ARE. But Sprint rep told me they have no way of measuring that you went over on your bill..YET..so you can basically go crazy with it..unless they somehow billed you and they just lied to me lol.
And lastly..if you see TMobile,AT&T,and Verizon they also say Unlimited 4g,and then at the bottom they write * up to 5gb..which is stupid because they are saying…we offer unlimited ,but only up to a limit. A straight out lie that probably also applied to your original “unlimited hotspot” plan. Sorry to hear all this. I feel you,why pay $10 for 4g when you can’t have it working at all times? I love sprint,their rates,and service,and they are the best bang for your buck,but come on now!!
I just got Sprint 2 weeks ago. I haven’t had a contract phone in years, I wanted a smartphone for the internet. I also got the mobile hotspot. After reading all the comments here hopefully I didn’t make a mistake! Any one have any advice on the hotspot usage? I dont want a large bill.