Overview
Sprint Nextel, one of the oldest telecommunications companies in the United States, prides itself on providing innovation and excellence for its clients. Sprint and Nextel merged in 2004, becoming Sprint Nextel, one of the largest wireless providers in the country.
Pros: Sprint Nextel has a variety of plans for users to choose from, including six individual plans, six family plans, and eleven direct connect plans. Every voice plan has unlimited nights and weekends for no extra cost, although if you want early nights and weekends, you’ll have to pay $5 or $10 extra per month, depending on which plan you choose and how much earlier you want to start. All family plans can have up to five lines included.
Cons: There are activation fees of $36 for each plan,but these are sometimes waived in online-only specials. Termination fees are a bit more expensive than some other companies. Most plans require a two-year agreement.
Detailed Provider Information
Plans: There are six individual plans. They range in minutes from 200 to unlimited, and prices range from $39.99 to $99.99. You get unlimited mobile-to-mobile and unlimited nights and weekends starting at 6pm, 7pm, or 9pm, depending on the plan and whether you choose to pay extra for an earlier start time. You also get domestic long distance.
There are six family plans. These range in minutes from 550 to unlimited, and the price range is $59.99 to $189.98. You get unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited nationwide long distance, and the plan includes two lines. You can choose to add up to three lines (for a total of five lines) for each plan for an extra $9.99 a month per line, or $19.99 for the data plan. You also get unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling.
Sprint Nextel also has a basic plan. This offers you 200 monthly minutes at $29.99 a month. It includes unlimited nights and weekends starting at 9 pm, but you can start at 7 pm or 6 pm for an extra $5 or $10 per month, respectively.
Sprint Nextel offers a Business Essentials category. There are six plans in this category, with minutes ranging from 400 monthly to 4000. The price range is $39.99 to $199.99 and each plan has unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. The plans come with two lines; additional lines up to five cost $25 a month per line. The plans also have domestic long distance and the ability to share minutes between Sprint Nextel phones.
Customer Service: Sprint Nextel has several methods of customer service. You can contact them by phone, email or browse their database to find your question. You can also chat live with their sales reps on the Sprint Nextel site. They have a separate department for businesses. You can also check your account online.
Credit Check: Offers are subjected to credit approval.
Contract:
The minimum contract is two years for most plans. A termination fee of up to $200 is charged to people who break their contract early.Payment Options: You can choose to pay online, by cash, by check, or by PCS payment card, for prepaid plans, which are offered at Sprint Nextel. If you are paying by mail, you can send a check or money order.
Text and Picture Messaging: Text messaging is an extra that can be included with any plan. You can choose to add picture mail, instant messaging, or mobile email to your plan. Prices for picture mail and mobile email range from $15 to $20.
Data Plans: Sprint Nextel has several data plans, but they don’t include voice minutes. Find out more about Sprint Nextel data plans at BBGeeks.com.
Downloadables: You can choose to download games, ringtones, screen savers, and applications. Downloading charges may apply as well as the cost of the downloaded item.
International Calling: Sprint Nextel offers several voice and data coverage plans for customers who call or travel overseas. Rates will depend on the country that you are calling. Sprint Nextel also offers cruise ship roaming, which also costs extra, but is quite convenient for people who frequently travel on cruises.
Roaming Charges: Roaming charges are incurred when users are overseas. For many plans, there are no roaming charges.
Calling Features: All Sprint Nextel plans come with voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, caller ID block, three-way calling, call forwarding ($0.20/minute), and numeric paging.
Activation Fee: For all voice plans, there is a one-time $36 activation fee. For family plans, you will have to pay $26 for each additional line.
Nationwide Long Distance: This is included with nearly all voice plans; data plans will incur long distance charges if voice is included.
411 Calls: $1.79 plus airtime.
911 Calls: 911 calls are free.
Phones: Sprint Nextel has a pretty impressive array of phones available to you right now. With all the hottest features, you are sure to find a phone that suits you. Try the HTC Touch Diamond.
Some Additional Phones Available:
MotoRAZR by Motorola
Several popular Sanyo models
Various Samsung phones
BlackBerry, Treo and other SmartPhones
Average Reviewer Rating
One of the best
Sprint is great... IF you never need customer service!! I was a faithful customer of Sprint for 8+ years. In December 2008, I contacted them and asked if they could "pro-rate" my contract cancellation fee because I had read that many companies were doing so in light of the number of lawsuits pending RE: unlawfulness of cancellation fees. I was told my termination fee would be $10 per month for the remaining 6 mo/ of my contract. I called back a week later to set up termination date and REAFFIRMED $60 termination fee with a DIFFERENT customer service agent. Got my last bill- $250 termination fee. I have been fighting with Sprint for over 7 months now and they have turned my acct over to a collection agency. They DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE CUSTOMER- and you'd better get EVERYTHING IN WRITING!!! Funny, they state they record every phone call for quality service but no one could research my calls and verify that I was told my termination fee would be $60.00. Convenient, huh?
Solid service anywhere in the K.C. area. I've always been well treated by Sprint. I love being a Premier customer as a reward for longevity, and their plan pricing is sweet.
I've been a Sprint customer off and on since 2001. The first time, after being a customer for three years, I decided I wanted a new phone. I was told I had to wait 4 months for a rebate check after buying a new phone, whereas new customers received the rebate instantly. I was told that, if I have a problem with that, I should find another carrier...by three separate CSRs. I told them to cancel my contract and switched to Nextel. They didn't cancel my contract, I had to call the CSRs again 3 months later to have them cancel my account retroactively and remove fees.
Nextel was then purchased by Sprint and my service there went to crap too, making it clear they wanted Nextel customers to get on the Sprint CDMA network. I did so, begrudgingly. When I purchased a new phone, paid for 100% with cash no rebates, they extended my contract based on the activation.
Then, three years after the first contract, I get a bill from a collections agency for $27.00 in late fees for the previously canceled contract, though they never sent me a bill of any kind.
Stay away from Sprint. They're a nightmare.
I am not happy with sprint at all, have been with them for about five years now, loyal costumer here… but that loyalty has degraded, disintegrated due to their horrifying costumer service… I am not one to play games and have very little time… I feel like they waste my time in the stores… they can never solve my problems… when I call I always get somebody that it’s hard to hear or understand, doesn’t understand the issue that I am calling about or knows how to help me, their phones are not up to par with other providers… the reps lie to you and are rude, they are everything you don’t want out of a customer service experience… their billing statements are always wrong… not kidding… and by no small margin… they are expensive… mostly I just pay it to avoid dealing for an hour with their costumer rep… they don’t do anything to retain their loyal customers… I am just tired… just waiting for the contract to be over because I don’t feel like paying their 200 bucks early cancelation fee… which is outrageous… my advice to all would be costumer… Do yourself a favor and avoid my monthly nightmare…
I've had Sprint for a few years now and am generally happy with their coverage and service as a whole. That said, I do from time to time experience dropped calls, but nothing too worrisome.
I've been a Sprint customer for about 3 years now, and I've never had a problem with them. They seem to have plenty of coverage (very few "black hole" areas), and their customer service is pretty solid. Recently my boyfriend and I were charged for extra text messages when we shouldn't have been (we have a joint plan that allows for unlimited text messages each month), and when we called to complain about it, the rep apologized and removed the extra charges immediately.
I know a lot of people have had horror stories about Sprint (but really, isn't that true for all providers?), but I've never had a major issue with them, so I'm content to keep using them.
I have been a Sprint customer for about 8 or 9 years. I pretty much feel apathetic towards all the cell phone companies so I have not had a reason to change companies, but feel that Sprint does not give me too much incentive to stay either. You would think they would reward customer loyalty, but they really don't. As far the service, reception is pretty good. I used to get a lot more dropped calls than I do now, so that is good. But I am also frustrated that they force you to purchase new phones by making the service on old ones obsolete. I also am not completely satisfied with the phone choices available. It seems like other cell phone companies have a better variety of phones with better/ more features. Since Sprint ropes you into a contract, it is usually inconvenient or impossible to switch providers without paying the fees. So I have stuck with Sprint, mostly because I don't beleive the grass is greener with any other company either.