Broken cellular device on contract can't be replaced without new contract?

[B. Dean Berry]

Yeah, that's complete garbage. Looks like sales was more important.

Usually, when I have to deal with anything wrong (being on Sprint), I just directly request to speak to Customer Retention. It gets the point across fast, and that's the department that is usually the last stop before dropping service, so they usually pull out all the stops, invalidate device agreements, refund decent chunks of change, or comp entire months worth of services, to retain the customer.

Now, this is with Sprint, which while I've found them to be generally incompetent at managing a functioning network, at least gives a damn if people are their clients. Verizon is a different ballgame, and this may or may not work with them.

The SIM swaps should work well. IINM, as Drew pointed out earlier, Verizon appears to no longer use their CDMA-based system (while Sprint still does), and has gone all-in on LTE. LTE runs off of WCDMA SIM cards, making it much like the old GSM/iDen providers in that the SIM is the brain, rather than the phone itself.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

Now, I know the coverage isn't great in spots (large swaths), but:

Sprint currently has no-lock contracts for service at the lowest rates in the industry for unlimited data. My current contract is for 2 Kyocera Duraforce PRO mil-grade Android phones and a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1" tablet, all with unlimited data, hotspot/tethering, etc, including lease-to-own on the devices, for just a hair under $200 a month.

Sometimes, the coverage can be infuriating. Sometimes (every time), when you need a device added or a problem fixed, customer services is frustratingly incompetent, and you have to call 5 different times and talk with 10 different people, 7 of whom are likely in Bangalore India, before the problem is resolved ~but~ the problem usually does get resolved, and I think if I had the same device count and services with Verizon, I'd be paying a lot more.