Sprint network in Kansas/Oklahoma

[Coadman]

talked to a sprint rep, and was told they would waive the ETF, but wee would have to return our phones. does that sound fair? we paid $200 for an iphone just back in dec, hate to just throw that money away!!!!

[ggore]

talked to a sprint rep, and was told they would waive the ETF, but wee would have to return our phones. does that sound fair? we paid $200 for an iphone just back in dec, hate to just throw that money away!!!!

That's the price you pay to play. You only paid part of the price of the iPhone, the rest is amortized within the 2-year agreement. Also, Verizon will not authorize a Sprint iPhone on their network, and Sprint won't either. So just let them have it and switch to Verizon if & when they ever get their roaming going full-speed.

[ggore]

OK, today my Sprint iPhone started displaying Extended with the little roaming circle. And Speedtest shows I have .05 Mbps speed. A far cry from the 2.5 Mbps I was getting yesterday. Time to switch to somebody, but I don't know who. I don't think Verizon has 3G roaming with Pioneer enabled yet, and I can't take my iPhone to Pioneer. AT&T's out of the question, been there/done that, no coverage at home and no 3G. Guess I'll forget data for a while and use wifi at home and work. Least the thing makes calls.

[WiWavelength]

Guys, instead of just shifting your permanent roaming from Sprint to VZW, why not sign up with Pioneer, the carrier that actually has coverage where you live? Permanent roaming is almost never a good idea.

AJ

[ggore]

Guys, instead of just shifting your permanent roaming from Sprint to VZW, why not sign up with Pioneer, the carrier that actually has coverage where you live? Permanent roaming is almost never a good idea.

AJ

I have been an iPhone user since 2007. That's the primary reason I won't switch to Pioneer. They will never have the iPhone. Actually most people here have the iPhone, they just deal with the foibles of poor service from AT&T and roaming on Verizon.

So here are the options:

Pioneer is the ONLY carrier to offer 3G service here, and it is perfect, blanketing the entire quadrant of the state, and they are working on LTE for their entire service area. No one else is, or will in the future, probably.

T-Mobile has only GPRS or EDGE, depending on where you are.

AT&T only offers EDGE and spotty coverage. AT&T can't even be bothered to convert their system to 3G like they've been promising for 2 years.

CellularOne has only EDGE, no 3G anywhere in their system and Pioneer is buying them out to gain access to 3 larger towns in their service area.

Those are the native options. Pioneer has a monopoly on the CDMA side of things and 3G, and there is nothing but GPRS and EDGE on the GSM side. The other major carriers, US Cellular and Verizon, have no native system here, but they can roam on Pioneer, Verizon at 3G and US Cellular 1X/voice/text.

Now lets look at phones on the one 3G option available here: Pioneer's smartphone options are LG Ignite AS855, Motorola Milestone X and X2, Samsung Showcase 1500. Not exactly the latest/greatest phones by any stretch of the imagination. That's not a surprise, all the best, latest/greatest phones are locked up by the major carriers and I understand that.

Therefore, going to full-time roaming with Verizon is a good option in my opinion, for several reasons. One, the cool 4G LTE phones will be available to people here with full function. Most imortantly, since Pioneer is using Verizon's licenses for the LTE system, there won't be the chance that Pioneer will dump Verizon for someone else like they just did Sprint. If they dump Verizon, there goes their LTE system unless they can magically come up with some spectrum somehow. And Verizon doesn't care if you roam all the time or not, long as you're using your phone somewhere, they will get paid. And the one possibility that no one mentions: Verizon could buy out Pioneer at some point and all this discussion will be moot!

[ggore]

I visited the Pioneer store in Woodward, OK today. It is true that Sprint customers' phones can only send & receive phone calls and text messages now. Same for Verizon customers. The roaming agreement with Verizon will not begin until the LTE system is turned on, which will be "sometime this summer". So I guess it's every man for himself. Pioneer is the only fully functional option on the CDMA side and with 3G service. T-Mobile and AT&T offer EDGE-only for the most part.

[ajac09]

I was just in Thomas oklahoma and they had only voice and sms for Verizon now they have 3g working and in some areas you can get 4g.

[ggore]

I was just in Thomas oklahoma and they had only voice and sms for Verizon now they have 3g working and in some areas you can get 4g.

That sounds right. Thomas is in NW OK north of 40, so it should be only voice/text. Verizon has some 4G LTE of their own in southwest OK. Lawton & Altus with a gap in between.

[mike_augie]

http://news.verizonwireless.com/news...l-america.html

pioneer is live in SW Okla ..

[Evan702]

Verizon forum is down the hall and to your left.

[Wireless Junkie]

http://news.verizonwireless.com/news...l-america.html

pioneer is live in SW Okla ..

Thats great news!

[ggore]

I had a good laugh yesterday while in Clinton, OK. Sprint has opened up a store there (the green dot on the map), and this is what Sprint's western Oklahoma coverage looks like:

Attachment 81432

What a waste!