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Remember those commercials, where a uniformed employee from each of the bigger carriers were brought together - for lunch, a night of cards or whatever? I occasionally get to be a part of something rather similar. Most recently, I broke bread with four friends - one works for VZW, another Sprint & two AT&T. The Sprint manager has seen time at both AT&T and VZW, and has been with Sprint for a little over a year. To round things out, we also had a friend from Ericsson Services, the company behind the Sprint voice network & a division of Sony-Ericsson & another friend who is a competitor of mine in construction.
Lots of food, some drink & good old-fashioned fun, coupled with some competitive ribbing - just what you'd expect from a bunch of imbibing telco guys.
Before any questions come up, yes - I got stuck with the tab. Telco people are such cheap SOBs.
Much of what was discussed, I already knew. Some of what was discussed, isn't so well known - at least not common knowledge on sites like this. Some of the best came in the form of the actual difference between VZW & Sprint and that is what I will share with you here.
Disclaimer: I am not an employee of any telco carrier - in the spirit of full disclosure, I spent many years in the service of the former Bell System: AT&T (pre-divestiture), AT&T (post-divestiture), then USWest (now Qwest) & have been retired from those companies longer than many of you have had cell phones. I am not here to grind an axe, nor to get anyone's goat. I present this only as an educational tool - a reality check, in this day & age of an uncertain economy & folks' desire to get the most for their hard-earned money.
We hear all the time that VZW's network is superior, and it is. The actual VZW network is vastly larger than Sprint's & VZW has more towers per customer than does Sprint - or any other major carrier (There's A Map For That). But what does that mean to the average cell phone customer? Not a whole lot, after recent agreements were signed. To be completed by the end of 2009 is a full roaming arrangement where Sprint customers can roam on 100% of VZW's network, minus the areas where the two carriers both have facilities. So if you're looking for a pro-VZW item in coverage, it is now effectively gone.
Advantage: Sprint (because of rate plans - below)
The downside to this is that when a Sprint customer roams on the VZW network, Sprint effectively pays VZW for time on their network. Sprint has buried deep in their policies & customer agreements that if too many of your minutes are in roaming areas, they may revisit your service & either limit you or cut you off. This should not be an issue if you maintain and use service in a Sprint area. It might be a problem if you don't live in a Sprint home area, but try to get service anyway. So pay attention to home areas if you want Sprint. Don't add Sonny (or Cher) to your family account, then send them off to college in a town that is not a Sprint home area.
Advantage: VZW
Speed is comparable & the agreement allows for VZW 3G coverage to be fully available to Sprint customers.In some areas, Sprint is slightly faster, in others, not so much.
So far, for the vast majority of customers, no real difference between the two.
Advantage: Draw
But, you say, VZW is bringing LTE to the table, while Sprint is going WiMAX. Well, as it turns out, neither carrier is running to push 4G out very soon on smartphones, as the smartphone manufacturers are having hardware issues with the advanced speed. Some OS platforms can't handle it, either. No 4G capabilities on BlackBerry, Symbian, or Android. Palm, WM, Linux & Apple have no such software issues & are capable of higher speeds right now. The estimates are 4G prevalence in about 4 years, with the majority of devices using 4G sooner will be netbooks, laptops & other devices. So no real advantage there, either.
Now, there are some bandwidth differences between the two home networks - but Sprint's network is underutilized, so this is rarely an issue.
The network differences are such that very few people would notice a difference.
Pricing is a well-known difference between the two carriers, with Sprint blowing VZW into the weeds with their lower rates. You can look them up at the respective sites (Verizon Wireless & Sprint), but let's take a quick look at some of the differences - to keep it simple, I will maintain comparisons with unlimited texting & if data is included, it will be smartphone/BlackBerry.
Individual 450 Minute Plan
VZW: $39.99
Sprint: $39.99
No difference there, but Sprint starts their night & weekend minutes at 7P, compared with VZW @ 9P. Also, Sprint offers nights & weekends starting at 6P for $5 more. No data means bandwidth shouldn't be an issue.
Advantage: Sprint
Individual 450 Minute Plan with Unlimited Text
VZW: $59.99
Sprint: $49.99
Same night & weekend start time as the non-text plan.
Advantage: Sprint
Individual 450 Minute Plan with Unlimited Text & Data
VZW: $89.99
Sprint: $69.99
Same nights & weekend advantages as before, but along with the $20 savings, you get unlimited calls to any mobile on Sprint, while VZW limits you to only other VZW customers. Sprint also gives you GPS Navigation, Music Premier, TV Premier, NFL Mobile Live, NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile & it is all included in the price.
Advantage: Sprint
Individual Minutes Plan with Unlimited Text & Data
VZW: $149.99
Sprint: $99.99
Again, the same details as the 450 minute plans, but Sprint is again giving you all the extras (GPS Navigation, Music Premier, TV Premier, NFL Mobile Live, NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile)
Advantage: Sprint
Some of those added features are available on VZW. Add $10 for GPS Navigation, $15 for TV (only some phones), so if you're interested in those two items, add $25 to the VZW prices above, while they are included on the Sprint Everything plans (the prices I quoted).
A Sprint bill is simpler, since they don't have a bunch of ala-carte extras. No, don't say VZW nickles & dimes you to death - they charge what the market will bear and, for smartphones, it is almost all ala-carte. Still, there are very few surprises on Sprint - just pick up your phone & go with it.
But gee, you say - what about the vaunted stories about VZW service & reports of bad customer service from Sprint? Well, this is where the tides turn a bit - but much of the difference is old news; past history. Dan Hesse has made huge strides in improving Sprint's customer service - you now get treated very well on the phone & their store personnel, overall, are much better than VZW's. In this regard, your mileage & experience may vary, depending on your circumstances, needs, time of day, location & the extent of your unreasonable demands. That being said, I walk into a Sprint store & have always been treated well - they are not always as knowledgeable as the reps at VZW or even AT&T, but they are pretty good at admitting when they don't know & will try to find the answer for you. Walk into a VZW store & you will often find personnel who are uptight, seem exhausted, don't care, are overworked, or seems to look down on you.
Part of the discrepancy in store performance may be that Sprint has more stores in more places - they don't seem to be as busy, so you can spend more time with the staff. It is usually a much more personal experience and if generally much faster. Sprint stores don't make you sign in, so you don't have to wait an hour to buy a battery.
So, based on past track records...
Phone Customer Service/Sales - Advantage: VZW
Store Service - Advantage: Sprint
Overall, a wash. But as I said before, your mileage may vary.
So why are Sprint's prices lower? Take a closer look & you will find some differences - and this part was a full consensus among my meal-time friends (including the Sprint & Ericsson guys) - that VZW customer service is why VZW has 88 million lines, while Sprint has 49 million...
VZW is much faster at giving you warranty service, while Sprint will tend to make certain it actually is a warranty issue. VZW spends over twice as much on hardware per customer than does Sprint. The flip side to this is Sprint's actual valid warranty claims are far better than VZW's. To make it easier to understand, a certain percentage of product warranty returns are customer error & not warranty issues - this is often determined by the manufacturer, well after the exchange. Invalid VZW warranty exchanges exceed 50%, while Sprint's is less than 10%. This means that Sprint doesn't have to fork out as much on bad warranty exchanges, but it also means some customers are going to be upset & mark down Sprint in the customer service surveys.
"That blankety-blank Sprint wouldn't replace my POS phone!" But if you delve into reality here, the truth of the matter is that often the phone was out of memory, left in the hot car too long or the customer simply wanted a new phone. Sprint is much more adept at catching the dummies & the cheats than is VZW - and the dummies & cheats aren't likely to take kindly to not getting what they demand.
Hose your smartphone OS & you're going to have an easier time BSing a VZW rep into sending you another phone. With Sprint, you're probably going to have to accept their offer of assisting you with a wipe/reload.
Advantage: Depends on if you're a stand-up, intelligent soul or a ticked off dummy and/or cheat.
Another difference is in phone subsidies. Take the HTC Touch Pro2, for example (online pricing). The Sprint version is $349, while the VZW version is $199. The BlackBerry Tour is a bit different in pricing strategy. Sprint is $149 for one (after mail-in rebate), while VZW goes with their BOGO pricing, at two Tours for $149 (automatic rebate). HTC Hero is $179 (after mail-in rebate), while the Droid Eris is $99 (automatic rebate).
We see that VZW is $80-$150 less than Sprint on the phones, which makes up for some of the difference in plan rates.
Advantage: VZW
There are loyalty programs at VZW that Sprint generally doesn't match - but both give allowances for new customers signing new contracts, VZW gives you these a little sooner, but less allowance. On the flip side, VZW is very strict with discounts, while Sprint is much easier - they will give a 10% plan discount to nearly anyone with a good payment history, just for the asking.
Advantage: Depends on your needs & expectations.
Now, throughout this little comparison, I have peppered a liberal helping of Advantage choices. I am not going to give you an overall Advantage for either carrier, because I don't know what your needs or expectations are. It all depends on what you're willing to spend & what you're willing to put up with. Sprint has cheaper rates, while VZW has cheaper phones. VZW has better customer service when things go wrong & will tend to suck it up, even when you're in the wrong, while Sprint is a bit more protective of their assets. VZW gives you New Every Two in 20 months, along with early upgrades for many customers, but Sprint charges a lot less for actual service.
When all is said & done, are the higher prices worth it to you to be on VZW? If your answer is yes, great - I have lines of service on both carriers, along with AT&T. My motives aren't cost driven, nor do I sign contracts with any carrier. Sprint is cheaper not because they offer you less network or even less service - they charge more for the phones & are a bit more difficult to deal with on warrantly claims. If you want/need lower prices, you might want to take a look - it doesn't hurt to look, does it? Because in the end, even if Sprint only offers you 90% of what VZW offers you, is it worth as much as 80% more to go with VZW? That customer service may or may not be what you expected, regardless of carrier, but again, your mileage may vary.
Only you can answer that for yourself - I can't answer it for you.11-09-09 02:59 AM - My eyes are actually bleeding I think... BUT it was an excellent post.
Its a shame there arent more unbiased opinions about carriers.
Honestly someone posts that they want a comparison in one particular forum or both carrier forums they will get biased answers from either.
I have my reasons for being with Big Red. I will most likely never leave enless something MAJORLY drastic happens ( zombie apocolypse ) I dont think I could stick around to see the "Can you hear me Now" guy get dismembered.
11-09-09 07:38 AM
