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ben824

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2012
192
6
GA
Ok so with all the new legalized unlocking regulations and everything does that mean I can use my AT&T GSM iPhone 5 on Sprint's CDMA network? Or will this still be the subject of hardware and network incompatibility?
 

cnotes2019

Suspended
Aug 17, 2013
1,516
57
Ok so with all the new legalized unlocking regulations and everything does that mean I can use my AT&T GSM iPhone 5 on Sprint's CDMA network? Or will this still be the subject of hardware and network incompatibility?


No you won't be able to.
 

aneftp

macrumors 601
Jul 28, 2007
4,362
546
Pure gsm phones like the att iPhone 5 A1428
Model can never work on a CDMA network like sprint. Period. Different technology no matter
What unlock you do.

But hybrid CDMA/gsm iPhone 5S on ATT can work on sprint CDMA network.

But sprint will not allow any CDMA capable phone like the iPhone 5S onto their network. Period. Heck. They won't allow Verizon pure CDMA iPhone 4 on it's network either.

CDMA networks are most restrictive in the USA.
 

iolinux333

macrumors 68000
Feb 9, 2014
1,798
73
Sprint is the worst company out there in all respects anyway. Find a better provider. Oh the stories I could tell but I'm sure you could just Google up a few thousand stories that people have already put out there.

I think they dumped their dickwad CEO a little while ago though, so maybe in a few months/years they'll change.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
As has been stated, it's a hardware issue. Two entirely different cellular methods.

And to reiterate as well (what's been said already), even if that was not the case, Sprint would never activate your iPhone. Sprint's policy has and remains to never activate phones that were either not sold by them (i.e., non-Sprint branded phones) or were originally not intended to be used on their network.

If you really want to be on Sprint, sell your phone and buy a Sprint iPhone. This is where Sprint's draconian unlock policy (they never unlock for domestic use) will actually work in your favor. Sprint phones sell for less precisely because nobody can get them unlocked to use on different carriers.

As to another poster's comment about Dan Hesse, yes, he was let go. Dan Hesse was what was needed when the Sprint board kicked out Gary Forsee in 2007. The whole Sprint/Nextel debacle was Forsee's fault. Dan Hesse cleaned it up and kept Sprint out of bankrupcty. A lot of the decisions he made were forced on him and were a result of Forsee's bad tenure. At the time a steady hand and slow deliberation was necessary to keep Sprint from going off the financial cliff. Hesse made a lot of mistakes, but Sprint is still here because of Dan Hesse.

Marcelo Claure is now the new CEO and he appears to be action-oriented, which is the inverse of Dan Hesse's way of operating. Time will tell if Claure can pull this off. But I think he can.

Hate all you want on Sprint (I hate a lot of stuff about Sprint too and I am a customer), but know the facts.
 

Truefan31

macrumors 68040
Aug 25, 2012
3,587
835
As has been stated, it's a hardware issue. Two entirely different cellular methods.

And to reiterate as well (what's been said already), even if that was not the case, Sprint would never activate your iPhone. Sprint's policy has and remains to never activate phones that were either not sold by them (i.e., non-Sprint branded phones) or were originally not intended to be used on their network.

If you really want to be on Sprint, sell your phone and buy a Sprint iPhone. This is where Sprint's draconian unlock policy (they never unlock for domestic use) will actually work in your favor. Sprint phones sell for less precisely because nobody can get them unlocked to use on different carriers.

As to another poster's comment about Dan Hesse, yes, he was let go. Dan Hesse was what was needed when the Sprint board kicked out Gary Forsee in 2007. The whole Sprint/Nextel debacle was Forsee's fault. Dan Hesse cleaned it up and kept Sprint out of bankrupcty. A lot of the decisions he made were forced on him and were a result of Forsee's bad tenure. At the time a steady hand and slow deliberation was necessary to keep Sprint from going off the financial cliff. Hesse made a lot of mistakes, but Sprint is still here because of Dan Hesse.

Marcelo Claure is now the new CEO and he appears to be action-oriented, which is the inverse of Dan Hesse's way of operating. Time will tell if Claure can pull this off. But I think he can.

Hate all you want on Sprint (I hate a lot of stuff about Sprint too and I am a customer), but know the facts.



I'll agree with that premise. Hesse inherited the nextel disaster and the 4g WiMAX I believe. I understand he kept things survivable but 6 years and losing over 20 million postpaid customers never looks good. He could've improved customer service, which is consistently ranked at the bottom or near every year
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
I'll agree with that premise. Hesse inherited the nextel disaster and the 4g WiMAX I believe. I understand he kept things survivable but 6 years and losing over 20 million postpaid customers never looks good. He could've improved customer service, which is consistently ranked at the bottom or near every year
He did actually improve it for a while. The first two years or so. Sprint won a number of J.D. Power & Associates awards for customer service. Although, I question which reality that occurred in because I certainly never saw it in my local (non) customer service.

But once Network Vision got started is when this started to slip. At a certain point Sprint management made the poor decision (in my opinion) that they were going to lose customers due to the upgrades. So, CSRs were instructed to make no attempts to try and retain customers. You could call and complain and threaten to leave and the CSRs essentially showed you the door instead of trying to keep you.

Add in Sprint's always present denial of reality, poor customer service training, employee performance based on quantity (not quality) of problems "solved" and high turnover rate and you get the crappy customer service there is now.

Personally, I'd have tried to fight to retain every customer, but that's just me.
 

Tthomas612

macrumors 65816
Aug 24, 2013
1,309
285
He did actually improve it for a while. The first two years or so. Sprint won a number of J.D. Power & Associates awards for customer service. Although, I question which reality that occurred in because I certainly never saw it in my local (non) customer service.

But once Network Vision got started is when this started to slip. At a certain point Sprint management made the poor decision (in my opinion) that they were going to lose customers due to the upgrades. So, CSRs were instructed to make no attempts to try and retain customers. You could call and complain and threaten to leave and the CSRs essentially showed you the door instead of trying to keep you.

Add in Sprint's always present denial of reality, poor customer service training, employee performance based on quantity (not quality) of problems "solved" and high turnover rate and you get the crappy customer service there is now.

Personally, I'd have tried to fight to retain every customer, but that's just me.

Well if anything we do have hope for now. Idk how your LTE is doing or if it has improved, but mine has improved a great deal. Hardly ever do
I go into 3G anymore. The lowest speeds I'm looking at is a little under 10 Mbps down. So while we aren't to the level of AT&T or Verizon it is still very usable. After 10 years of going through horrible everything.

I think Sprint could still get turned around, but it'll take a lot of work
 

cnotes2019

Suspended
Aug 17, 2013
1,516
57
Well if anything we do have hope for now. Idk how your LTE is doing or if it has improved, but mine has improved a great deal. Hardly ever do

I go into 3G anymore. The lowest speeds I'm looking at is a little under 10 Mbps down. So while we aren't to the level of AT&T or Verizon it is still very usable. After 10 years of going through horrible everything.



I think Sprint could still get turned around, but it'll take a lot of work


They are horrible where I live and go in NC airplane mode toggle is my frenemy!
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
Well if anything we do have hope for now. Idk how your LTE is doing or if it has improved, but mine has improved a great deal. Hardly ever do
I go into 3G anymore. The lowest speeds I'm looking at is a little under 10 Mbps down. So while we aren't to the level of AT&T or Verizon it is still very usable. After 10 years of going through horrible everything.

I think Sprint could still get turned around, but it'll take a lot of work
Well…LTE is a story in itself. I'll just say it's getting better, although I get about 10% of what you are getting on average.
 

nnacrumors

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2014
429
7
Marcelo Claure is now the new CEO and he appears to be action-oriented, which is the inverse of Dan Hesse's way of operating. Time will tell if Claure can pull this off. But I think he can.

I sure like the rumors of him lowering prices on Sprint's monthly plans in the next week or so! :D
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
I sure like the rumors of him lowering prices on Sprint's monthly plans in the next week or so! :D
Absolutely! I just hope that there's a path for us (my wife and I). We are on an old Everything Data 1500 family plan. Going to All In or My Way would have cost us more. Going to Framily would have cost us more. The fewer lines you have (we have two only, three counting the free Airave) the more expensive the newer plans are. So moving to a newer plan would have cost us more and gotten us less (1GB tethering versus the 2GB option I already have!).
 

ben824

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2012
192
6
GA
Thanks y'all! You all just confirmed what I was already thinking. She was told by a friend that he could unlock any iPhone to work on any network. I called B.S. on that and wanted to have others confirm what I was saying.

I would love for her to dump Sprint but her Dad works for Sprint networking, not cellular, and gets a crazy good plan for cell phones because of that. He can have like 20 phones on the same plan and all be $40 a month for each line for unlimited everything. So she is going to stick with Sprint for now. I will never switch over because I know how bad they are, for service, speed, and customer service.

Thanks again everyone!
 

nostresshere

macrumors 68030
Dec 30, 2010
2,708
308
As a past Spring employee working with Forsee... he was just a pretty suit.



As has been stated, it's a hardware issue. Two entirely different cellular methods.

And to reiterate as well (what's been said already), even if that was not the case, Sprint would never activate your iPhone. Sprint's policy has and remains to never activate phones that were either not sold by them (i.e., non-Sprint branded phones) or were originally not intended to be used on their network.

If you really want to be on Sprint, sell your phone and buy a Sprint iPhone. This is where Sprint's draconian unlock policy (they never unlock for domestic use) will actually work in your favor. Sprint phones sell for less precisely because nobody can get them unlocked to use on different carriers.

As to another poster's comment about Dan Hesse, yes, he was let go. Dan Hesse was what was needed when the Sprint board kicked out Gary Forsee in 2007. The whole Sprint/Nextel debacle was Forsee's fault. Dan Hesse cleaned it up and kept Sprint out of bankrupcty. A lot of the decisions he made were forced on him and were a result of Forsee's bad tenure. At the time a steady hand and slow deliberation was necessary to keep Sprint from going off the financial cliff. Hesse made a lot of mistakes, but Sprint is still here because of Dan Hesse.

Marcelo Claure is now the new CEO and he appears to be action-oriented, which is the inverse of Dan Hesse's way of operating. Time will tell if Claure can pull this off. But I think he can.

Hate all you want on Sprint (I hate a lot of stuff about Sprint too and I am a customer), but know the facts.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
As a past Spring employee working with Forsee... he was just a pretty suit.
Yeah…it says a lot when some of the oldest tower equipment being replaced in the NV rollout dated back to 1998. Forsee just allowed things to go downhill without trying to fix anything.

Except when he tried to avoid all the lawsuits over the Nextel merger by buying out all the smaller cell companies.
 

Tthomas612

macrumors 65816
Aug 24, 2013
1,309
285
Pure gsm phones like the att iPhone 5 A1428
Model can never work on a CDMA network like sprint. Period. Different technology no matter
What unlock you do.

But hybrid CDMA/gsm iPhone 5S on ATT can work on sprint CDMA network.

But sprint will not allow any CDMA capable phone like the iPhone 5S onto their network. Period. Heck. They won't allow Verizon pure CDMA iPhone 4 on it's network either.

CDMA networks are most restrictive in the USA.

This is true to an extent. It's something that doesn't happen very often, but I have a Verizon/unlocked iPhone 5s on Sprint's network right now. It was a very rare occasion where I had a 5c that happened to be unlocked that was bought at Apple on launch day... It ended up being replaced with a 5s and the 5s they replaced it with had to be an unlocked version as well. I know it's very rare, but Apple owns all the power in it ... If they tell Sprint to activate it on the network then Sprint WILL activate it...

----------

Well…LTE is a story in itself. I'll just say it's getting better, although I get about 10% of what you are getting on average.

It really doesn't make much sense. I live In a much smaller market than you. I live in a small suburban area of Lexington which is actually a small town. It's just weird
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
It really doesn't make much sense. I live In a much smaller market than you. I live in a small suburban area of Lexington which is actually a small town. It's just weird
Ahhh…but it does make sense if you know how Sprint went about it!

Sprint wanted to get this done as fast as possible so their plan (which they stuck to) was to start with whatever tower in the market came up first, then go to the next available tower and so on.

The first hurdles were permits. There are far less towers in suburban areas and far less red tape. It's also easier to get a hold of landlords to allow access. So, what happened is that rural areas ended up getting their upgrades done first. This is why in a lot of the major markets, big cities are still behind. One stupid tower Sprint had to wait a couple of months on because it was inhabited by birds and the laws in that municipality meant Sprint had to wait until the birds migrated before they could work on the tower.

Add in just-in-time backhaul (which wasn't just-in-time), contractors that have no incentive to deliver because there were no penalties or bonuses in the signed contracts and you have delays.

This is entirely different than how T-Mobile handled it. They bought their backhaul upfront, so it was ready to go and they focused on urban areas first. This worked for them as most of their user base lives in cities.

Sprint should have done it the same way as T-Mobile, but that's not what happened.
 

Tthomas612

macrumors 65816
Aug 24, 2013
1,309
285
Ahhh…but it does make sense if you know how Sprint went about it!

Sprint wanted to get this done as fast as possible so their plan (which they stuck to) was to start with whatever tower in the market came up first, then go to the next available tower and so on.

The first hurdles were permits. There are far less towers in suburban areas and far less red tape. It's also easier to get a hold of landlords to allow access. So, what happened is that rural areas ended up getting their upgrades done first. This is why in a lot of the major markets, big cities are still behind. One stupid tower Sprint had to wait a couple of months on because it was inhabited by birds and the laws in that municipality meant Sprint had to wait until the birds migrated before they could work on the tower.

Add in just-in-time backhaul (which wasn't just-in-time), contractors that have no incentive to deliver because there were no penalties or bonuses in the signed contracts and you have delays.

This is entirely different than how T-Mobile handled it. They bought their backhaul upfront, so it was ready to go and they focused on urban areas first. This worked for them as most of their user base lives in cities.

Sprint should have done it the same way as T-Mobile, but that's not what happened.

See now that does make sense. I've wondered for months how I'm getting 10x the LTE that you are. I'm thinking Phoenix vs Lexington... Hmm much bigger area should equal better signal, but I guess you're right when someone's actually working backwards...

I just hope that the iPhone 6 works with Spark. As I so have 2 upgrades to burn and will use them for the 6 if I decide I like it. Right now the 5s is fine and I am a little worries that the thinness of the 6 may be too thin... I guess we shall see in a month.

PLUS WE NEED BLACK.... Not space gray ... WE WANT BLACK... I know you agree
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
28,690
26,700
See now that does make sense. I've wondered for months how I'm getting 10x the LTE that you are. I'm thinking Phoenix vs Lexington... Hmm much bigger area should equal better signal, but I guess you're right when someone's actually working backwards...

I just hope that the iPhone 6 works with Spark. As I so have 2 upgrades to burn and will use them for the 6 if I decide I like it. Right now the 5s is fine and I am a little worries that the thinness of the 6 may be too thin... I guess we shall see in a month.

PLUS WE NEED BLACK.... Not space gray ... WE WANT BLACK... I know you agree
Yes, black would be good! I'm fairly certain that the 6 will be Spark capable, but we won't know until it's out. Sprint has until my tax refund is in my bank account to be better. At that point, if it's not, I'm gone.
 

Tthomas612

macrumors 65816
Aug 24, 2013
1,309
285
Yes, black would be good! I'm fairly certain that the 6 will be Spark capable, but we won't know until it's out. Sprint has until my tax refund is in my bank account to be better. At that point, if it's not, I'm gone.

That's the main reason I've held onto the upgrades I have. Sprint is always trying to get me to upgrade my phones, but I just tell them we have a 5s and a 5c. She's happy with her 5c so what are we going to upgrade to at the moment? I'll get the 6 on launch day hopefully through preorders...

Sorry off topic I know...
 
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juanrp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 14, 2014
591
40
Florida
PLUS WE NEED BLACK.... Not space gray ... WE WANT BLACK... I know you agree

Yes! I like the black more than the 'space' gray.
The slate seems more seamless and sleek.
'Space' gray looks like a black iPhone 5 with the silver aluminum from the silver iPhone slapped on it.

I don't dislike it, but it's not for me...looking like that, at least.
Bring slate back!! :mad:
Maybe that'll make me switch from silver apple products :rolleyes:
 

Tthomas612

macrumors 65816
Aug 24, 2013
1,309
285
Yes! I like the black more than the 'space' gray.
The slate seems more seamless and sleek.
'Space' gray looks like a black iPhone 5 with the silver aluminum from the silver iPhone slapped on it.

I don't dislike it, but it's not for me...looking like that, at least.
Bring slate back!! :mad:

I mean I don't dislike ... I did choose to get the space grey, but only because I do NOT Like white iPhones. The gold and silver only have white fronts and I don't like them. I want BLACK to come back. I know there's people that will argue that Space Gray is black, but it's GRAY. Gray is not black.

We can hope for a month I guess, but going by the leaks I'm afraid we will be disappointed
 
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