A Sea Of Red

Hey Sly, looks like I'll be switching phones again in June! I've heard all the rumors before saying this and that will be better than the Iphone but finally I havent read many reviews that disagree with that statement made by Sprint.

Not to mention now that a lot are switching to the unlimited plan you can use this phone as a wireless modem for your laptop using the EVDO system as well as WiMax (currently testing in Chicago and Washington D.C.)

By DAVID HO
Cox News Service
Published on: 04/01/08

Sprint Nextel Corp. sought to reverse its recent troubles Tuesday, unveiling with fanfare an iPhone-like handset and reaffirming its support for a next-generation wireless Internet technology.

Chief Executive Dan Hesse, speaking to the wireless industry at its annual convention, said No. 3 Sprint is positioning itself to become "the wireless company of the future."
Sprint
(ENLARGE)
Sprint executives reportedly said the Instinct, which goes on sale in June, will be less expensive than the iPhone, which starts at $399.

BUSINESS

Hesse said nothing in his keynote speech about recent reports that Sprint has been trying to get top cable companies to help the carrier deploy a WiMax network. That wireless technology offers speeds akin to cable modems or digital subscriber lines with range much greater than Wi-Fi.

However, Hesse emphasized his support for the service, called Xohm. He said it will give Sprint a two-year market advantage over its rivals in deploying a next-generation high-speed network.

It was the new Sprint Instinct handset made by Samsung that made a big splash at the show on Tuesday. Sprint plans a massive marketing campaign.

"This is an answer to the iPhone," said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunications analyst based in Atlanta. "We started to see answers to the iPhone come out last year. Those devices were good, but we knew they were just the first wave. This is the next wave."

Kagan said that for Sprint to turn itself around, it will have to find a way to excite wireless customers as it did years ago when camera phones first appeared.

The Instinct handset "looks like something Sprint can ride to success this year," he said. "Every year there's a hot phone. This could be it."

Hesse didn't mention Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone by name, but it was clearly the rival to beat.

He said the Instinct "is like no other touch-screen phone. Period. None are faster. None have more content pre-loaded."

Sprint executives say the Instinct, which goes on sale in June, will be "significantly less expensive" than the iPhone, which starts at $399, said Avi Greengart, research director of mobile devices for Current Analysis.

"For the last few years, Sprint hasn't had a compelling marketing message," he said. "They intend to use the Instinct as a showcase."

The Instinct features a 3.1-inch touch screen with three dedicated buttons on the bottom: phone, back and home. It uses vibrating "tactile feedback" to make it easier to navigate with fingers.

The handset lacks the iPhone's multi-touch abilities, which allow people to use multiple fingers to do things like zooming in and out of photos.

However, the Instinct does have features not found on the iPhone.

It uses Sprint's fastest available wireless network, providing faster online access than the iPhone. A faster iPhone is reportedly in the works, but for now it runs on an older and slower AT&T network.

The Instinct also uses Global Positioning System technology for location-based services. The iPhone pulls off similar tricks by using wireless networks to determine an approximate location.

Sprint's announcements come after some hard months for the Reston, Va.-based company. The carrier said in January that it would cut about 4,000 jobs and close 125 stores to save up to $800 million a year in labor costs this year.

Sprint has struggled with a lower stock price and fewer new customers compared to its rivals in the last year. The carrier had 53.8 million subscribers at the end of 2007.

Sprint in December replaced Chief Executive Gary Forsee with Dan Hesse, former CEO of Embarq Corp, a local phone company and Sprint spin-off.

"They got off track during the last few years," Kagan said. "The new CEO is fixing Sprint. He's spent the last few months cutting some senior executives, eliminating many locations, getting the budget under control. This is a process that's going to take a while."

Many of Sprint's woes began when it acquired Nextel Communications Inc. in 2005, a merger that left the company struggling to reconcile incompatible networks.

The company also faces problems because of many Sprint poor-credit customers who now may be having trouble paying their bills.

The problems have raised doubts about Sprint's WiMax effort.

Sprint plans a commercial launch this year and the service is deployed for testing with Sprint employees in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

News reports last week said Sprint and the wireless Internet provider Clearwire Corp. were negotiating with cable and technology companies to form an alliance behind the service.

Comcast Corp. may put up to $1 billion into the WiMax project, with Time Warner Cable kicking in $500 million, the reports said, citing unidentified sources. Other potential partners mentioned include Intel Corp. and Google Inc.

too bad sprints national coverage absolutely sucks....what a horrible phone company and i recommend them to noone.

Blows AT&T out the water...at least around here

I have Sprint and have great coverage. I'm very happy with them.

I hated Sprint when I had them a few years ago. The coverage was hit-or-miss, and the customer service was terrible.

These are all subjective comments...


I personally get 35% off my bill each month because of their customer service and have no problems with service while others do at my house with other services


anyways this was about the phone

Hold My Own wrote:Blows AT&T out the water...at least around here

Try everywhere. Friends don't let friends use AT&T Wireless.

They are talking to my parents right now about allowing them to put a tower up on their hill

Hold My Own wrote:

I personally get 35% off my bill each month because of their customer service and have no problems with service while others do at my house with other services

Is this the same company that is generally known for having the worst customer service in the industry? If I recall, just about a year ago they sent letters to all of their customers that bothered them too much saying they no longer wanted to do business with them. What a great business model.

These phones are getting more and more outrageous. The only way I'm paying that much for one is if it actually talks for me, makes me dinner, or drives my car. Until then, let's put these things to rest.

TDDance234 wrote:These phones are getting more and more outrageous. The only way I'm paying that much for one is if it actually talks for me, makes me dinner, or drives my car. Until then, let's put these things to rest.

You want a phone that has the potential to get you in trouble or possibly kill you.

apparently those that have sprint don't travel places...



sprints coverage is in green...

and then verizon's coverage



and i've just finished with 4 years of sprint and yes they have the worst customer service of any phone company i've ever been apart of...

i've never used att/cingular. had us cellular before coming to liberty and we are with verizon now.

I'd hate to live on the Puerto Rican inland. For a few reasons.

How does Kansas get covered like a blanket and Mississippi gets just the interstates? I've been to Kansas and, between Colby and Topeka, there's a whole lot of nothin'.

it might have to do with money. If Kansas has a lot of paying customers, they'll cover it. Mississippi I beleive is the poorest state in the Union. Although even poor people have cell phones.

i had sprint about 4 years ago....i broke down on I-95 in Baltimore and couldn't get signal to call for a tow....I-95 are you kidding me??? There isn't one positive i can think of about this company....

You Sprint guys DO get the cool walkie-talkie function, though.

LUconn wrote:

Hold My Own wrote:

I personally get 35% off my bill each month because of their customer service and have no problems with service while others do at my house with other services

Is this the same company that is generally known for having the worst customer service in the industry? If I recall, just about a year ago they sent letters to all of their customers that bothered them too much saying they no longer wanted to do business with them. What a great business model.

Poor business model sure, theres no doubt it seems like they have no idea what they are doing (see Nextel & Sprint merger) although like I said before as far as customer service goes it's all in who you ask...Dave Chappelle even recognized sprint in a skit b/c it's a joke that the black community use sprint b/c they allow them to stay several months behind. Why pay it early if they dont make you!

Sprint is like pretty much all of the carriers in that they offer the moon to new customers and then try to do as little as possible once they have you on contract. I have to say though that their customer service people have been good to me. Of course I have a family plan with 5 phones on it and have paid them big bucks over the last 2 plus years.

One phone lost while on vacation overseas and 600.00 in international roaming charges run up before I could report it stolen. They dropped all the charges, which technically they didn't have to. Another phone was being used by my exgirlfriend and was (she says) stolen, but she didn't tell me for a month. big charges run up for internet use and some sort of chat room. They couldn't drop the charges completely because of the length of time involved, but they cut them in half.

My contract with them is up and I am on a month to month basis. I was thinking of switching to AT&T so I can use the same phone here and overseas by switching SIM cards, but after hearing the bad reports about the GSM coverage around here I'm not so sure.

the only good thing i have to say about sprint is their retention department did everything they could to keep me....offered me more minutes, no roaming, and really really good phones for free to stay... but it was so bad i didn't take it...

I have had Sprint for a year and a half and it's been amazing.

In 01/09 when my contract is up I am gonna renew and get a nice new phone. Maybe this one, if it's so cool.

Not sure what people's problem is with Sprint. Good prices, good coverage.

LUconn wrote:I'd hate to live on the Puerto Rican inland. For a few reasons.

Florida?

HMO can I get a link?

I had Sprint from '01-'04. They were ok. Their coverage kind of stunk, though.

and heres the demo from sprint
http://www.nowisgood.com/?id12=UHP_Billboard_nowisgood