Sprint Overcharges for Overages
The new Sprint Framily plans are very inexpensive. It's a trade off. Sprint's service is mediocre and declining. The new LTE roll out was a disaster, with large areas (e.g., the entire downtown Sunnyvale) having no service for extended periods. The service seems to have stabilized now, and the very fast LTE is available in many areas.
The LTE service seems to cover much smaller regions than their 3G. If you happen to be in an LTE area, you will get terrific, very fast service. Outside of those smallish areas, you still have 3G, which performs quite fine. The problem is when you find yourself at the boundary of the LTE area, still inside the 3G. The LTE signal is too weak to provide service but strong enough to prevent the phone from switching to 3G. Thus, in the middle of a perfectly useful 3G signal, I often get no service.
I might blame the device, which should determine that LTE isn't strong enough and automatically switch to 3G. My device is a Samsung Galaxy 4S, the most popular phone in the world. It would surprise me if this most popular device were at fault. Doesn't matter, it's a problem.
To get 3G coverage when I am at the edge of LTE, I change the phone settings. (Settings / More Networks... / Mobile networks / Network mode / CDMA.) This change is inconvenient, as the phone has to reboot. Switching back is another reboot, so I find myself leaving the phone in 3G most of the time. I can stream Netflix in 3G no problem, so maybe LTE isn't that important.
Why not switch to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile? Sprint has been less expensive than the others for a long time. And the new Family plans are priced even much lower. I now pay $25/mo/line, which includes unlimited voice, unlimited text, and 1 GB data. For 2 lines, I pay an extra $10 or $20, for 3 GB data or unlimited data.
Sprint bill is much lower than it would be with Ting, which is known as a low cost leader. If they were less expensive, I'd switch to Ting. Problem is, they haven't lowered their prices since they launched.
Most lines have only 1 GB of data. Not enough, you might think, given that people use a lot of data these days. Surprisingly, Sprint is very reasonable about overages these days. If you use more than the 1 GB but not enough to justify paying the extra $10/mo to get 3 GB, they charge for the overages at a reasonable amount.
How much do they charge? $15/GB. If you use 1.5 GB, then you are charged an overage of about $7.50. My overages this month was $13.06.
I have two points to make about the $15/GB overage charge. First, that amount is mentioned in the contract, but only in the context of the tablet plan and the 3 GB plan. There is no overage amount mentioned for the 1 GB default.
Second, whenever you are approaching your 1 GB limit, Sprint sends text messages:
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These messages state that the overage amount is $0.01/MB (= $10/GB). According to these text messages, Sprint overcharges for the overages.
I called them to ask for my refund. They are sure the overage price is $0.015/MB. We refer to the contract. They are surprised that the overage amount isn't mentioned (for the 1 GB plan). I then quote the messages they send me.
They then provide the refund. (My refund this month was $4.14. Not worth my time, I know, but it's the principle that motivates me.)
One final note. Sprint defines a MB as 210 bytes, so when requesting a refund, remember to divide the KB by 1024, not 1000, and you'll get a few more pennies back.
The LTE service seems to cover much smaller regions than their 3G. If you happen to be in an LTE area, you will get terrific, very fast service. Outside of those smallish areas, you still have 3G, which performs quite fine. The problem is when you find yourself at the boundary of the LTE area, still inside the 3G. The LTE signal is too weak to provide service but strong enough to prevent the phone from switching to 3G. Thus, in the middle of a perfectly useful 3G signal, I often get no service.
I might blame the device, which should determine that LTE isn't strong enough and automatically switch to 3G. My device is a Samsung Galaxy 4S, the most popular phone in the world. It would surprise me if this most popular device were at fault. Doesn't matter, it's a problem.
To get 3G coverage when I am at the edge of LTE, I change the phone settings. (Settings / More Networks... / Mobile networks / Network mode / CDMA.) This change is inconvenient, as the phone has to reboot. Switching back is another reboot, so I find myself leaving the phone in 3G most of the time. I can stream Netflix in 3G no problem, so maybe LTE isn't that important.
Why not switch to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile? Sprint has been less expensive than the others for a long time. And the new Family plans are priced even much lower. I now pay $25/mo/line, which includes unlimited voice, unlimited text, and 1 GB data. For 2 lines, I pay an extra $10 or $20, for 3 GB data or unlimited data.
Sprint bill is much lower than it would be with Ting, which is known as a low cost leader. If they were less expensive, I'd switch to Ting. Problem is, they haven't lowered their prices since they launched.
Most lines have only 1 GB of data. Not enough, you might think, given that people use a lot of data these days. Surprisingly, Sprint is very reasonable about overages these days. If you use more than the 1 GB but not enough to justify paying the extra $10/mo to get 3 GB, they charge for the overages at a reasonable amount.
How much do they charge? $15/GB. If you use 1.5 GB, then you are charged an overage of about $7.50. My overages this month was $13.06.
I have two points to make about the $15/GB overage charge. First, that amount is mentioned in the contract, but only in the context of the tablet plan and the 3 GB plan. There is no overage amount mentioned for the 1 GB default.
Second, whenever you are approaching your 1 GB limit, Sprint sends text messages:
These messages state that the overage amount is $0.01/MB (= $10/GB). According to these text messages, Sprint overcharges for the overages.
I called them to ask for my refund. They are sure the overage price is $0.015/MB. We refer to the contract. They are surprised that the overage amount isn't mentioned (for the 1 GB plan). I then quote the messages they send me.
| Casey A.: I do believe you and we are seeing it here on our end. It's just that these notifications can only have two decimal digits that's why it's only $0.01. |
| You: not my problem |
| You: I make decisions based on the information you provide me |
| You: You can't expect any reasonable person to agree that a company with the technical sophistication to deploy a cell phone system is technically incompetent, as you describe. |
| Casey A.: I have been approved for an adjustment for $4.14 on the account. We will create a report for this one to have these notifications corrected. We do apologize for the inconvenience. |
They then provide the refund. (My refund this month was $4.14. Not worth my time, I know, but it's the principle that motivates me.)
One final note. Sprint defines a MB as 210 bytes, so when requesting a refund, remember to divide the KB by 1024, not 1000, and you'll get a few more pennies back.
posted by Tim at 11:08 AM
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