Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone 5 - Sprint

S

SamAshleyBlogs

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 11, 2010
106
4
Columbus, Ohio
Lots of questions regarding the new iPhone on Sprint. Trying to decide if the upgrade fromt he 4s is really going to be worth it for me. I know there is a lot of speculation for now, but if anyone has any insight, feel free to join the discussion.

1.) Will real multitasking be supported on the new iPhone for Sprint? Currently, I cannot check email or send a text while on the phone. When I had the Evo 4g on Sprint, I was able to do this. iPhone 4s stripped me of this capability.

2.) 4g/LTE? Evo 4g was much, much faster than my 4s. Loved my 4s for many more reasons, but I always felt like the speed was missing.

3.) Do we still actually have to wait 2 FULL years for the upgrade? Sprint use to give a smaller discount for a year, but their new contracts lock you in for two.

I'm sure there are more, so feel free to add onto the list. Trying to make an informed decision before a drop a ton of cash.

Thanks!
 
Talk and data simultaneously was a feature of 4g, or wimax in the case of your evo. Wimax has been discontinued and now they're building out LTE as their 4g tech. Rumor had it iPhone 5 will be an LTE phone, so we will just be waiting for Sprint to build out LTE. They have 19 cities and just released a list of the next 100 cities (not mine). As far as the subsidy, don't bank on it. When the subsidy used to be $200-300, it was no big deal. Now that it's more like 450, no dice. Sprint has discontinued their premier account program and only has 2-year commitments. That said, they do let you upgrade 2-4 months early usually.
 
If you are a customer for 10+ years you get an early upgrade. As long as there are no breaks in contract. You just need to ask them about it.
 
Darthreflon666 said:
If you are a customer for 10+ years you get an early upgrade. As long as there are no breaks in contract. You just need to ask them about it.
Click to expand...

That is not true. If your were Premier account, you get one last 1 year upgrade. After that it is 20 months. All the OP has to do is look to see when he is eligible for an upgrade.

As for getting an upgrade, if you are over a year already, you could call to ask CS or Account Services, and see if you can get an early upgrade buy out. This means they will charge a certain sum of money to buy out your upgrade, so you don't have to pay full price. Last year my wife wanted a 4S, and she still had 8 months to go till she was eligible. I called them, and they said for $99, I could then buy the iPhone 4S 32 GB for $299 instead of full retail. I am not sure if they are still offering this buy out, but it never hurts to call and ask. Also, one CS might say no, but the next one you call might say yes. Always try to get to a Supervisor.

Good Luck

By the way, I am getting the iPhone 5 on Sprint, because I am already eligible for upgrade. My area gets LTE by end of year. The other questions you asked about the phone, we won't know until the phone comes out the multitasking, etc.

Now my only question is can you reserve(pre-order) one at the a Sprint Corp store tomorrow once Apple announces it? I want to trade in my old phone, and usually do it when I get a new phone.
 
I am actually thinking of leaving AT&T and going to Sprint
My 2 reasons are
We have LTE coverage from Sprint where I live
and it saves me $ and gives my whole family unlimited data
(we have 1 unlimited line still)
Sprint has a few port in deals as well !
 
i have the 4s for sprint in philly adn my service hasnt bene too great. i work outside of the city and service is spotty. Lots of dropped called/ slow data services. I do like the unlimited data and for what i have, i dont pay much.... Ive spoken to sprint a few times adn they say their whole network is in the process of being upgraded.

i was formerly with ATT and before that Sprint/Nextel.... I plan on trying to get an early upgrade for the I5. It says i have 290 days until my next eligible upgrade though.....

Pretty much a wait and see game as to when the LTE will come.
 
SamAshleyBlogs said:
Lots of questions regarding the new iPhone on Sprint. Trying to decide if the upgrade fromt he 4s is really going to be worth it for me. I know there is a lot of speculation for now, but if anyone has any insight, feel free to join the discussion.

1.) Will real multitasking be supported on the new iPhone for Sprint? Currently, I cannot check email or send a text while on the phone. When I had the Evo 4g on Sprint, I was able to do this. iPhone 4s stripped me of this capability.

2.) 4g/LTE? Evo 4g was much, much faster than my 4s. Loved my 4s for many more reasons, but I always felt like the speed was missing.

3.) Do we still actually have to wait 2 FULL years for the upgrade? Sprint use to give a smaller discount for a year, but their new contracts lock you in for two.

I'm sure there are more, so feel free to add onto the list. Trying to make an informed decision before a drop a ton of cash.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

imutter said:
I am actually thinking of leaving AT&T and going to Sprint
My 2 reasons are
We have LTE coverage from Sprint where I live
and it saves me $ and gives my whole family unlimited data
(we have 1 unlimited line still)
Sprint has a few port in deals as well !
Click to expand...

sounds like a good move, i moved from AT&T to sprint last year.
 
Just looked at Sprint's LTE map and I have no idea how Columbus, OH isn't on the list for the next rollout when Cleveland and other smaller cities are. Frustrating. We actually had good 4G here when I had the Evo, too.
 
SamAshleyBlogs said:
1.) Will real multitasking be supported on the new iPhone for Sprint? Currently, I cannot check email or send a text while on the phone. When I had the Evo 4g on Sprint, I was able to do this. iPhone 4s stripped me of this capability.

2.) 4g/LTE? Evo 4g was much, much faster than my 4s. Loved my 4s for many more reasons, but I always felt like the speed was missing.

3.) Do we still actually have to wait 2 FULL years for the upgrade? Sprint use to give a smaller discount for a year, but their new contracts lock you in for two.

I'm sure there are more, so feel free to add onto the list. Trying to make an informed decision before a drop a ton of cash.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

1. This is a limitation of CDMA. The WiMax 4g on your evo did not have this limitation, and neither will LTE, if it's part of the iphone5.

2. Speed will also be variable, with a lot of factors in play. Your location, network congestion at the time, local interference, etc. Overall though, LTE will be much faster than CDMA 3G.

3. Yes, unless you were a former premier customer, in which case you get one final free 12month upgrade. From here on out though, no more annual premier features.

I don't think the iphone5 will be a worthwhile upgrade over the 4s unless the 3g where you are is really really slow all the time and there is no way to alleviate this with wifi. If you spend 50% of more of your time on wifi, then the speed point is moot (imo).
 
SamAshleyBlogs said:
Lots of questions regarding the new iPhone on Sprint. Trying to decide if the upgrade fromt he 4s is really going to be worth it for me. I know there is a lot of speculation for now, but if anyone has any insight, feel free to join the discussion.

1.) Will real multitasking be supported on the new iPhone for Sprint? Currently, I cannot check email or send a text while on the phone. When I had the Evo 4g on Sprint, I was able to do this. iPhone 4s stripped me of this capability.

2.) 4g/LTE? Evo 4g was much, much faster than my 4s. Loved my 4s for many more reasons, but I always felt like the speed was missing.

3.) Do we still actually have to wait 2 FULL years for the upgrade? Sprint use to give a smaller discount for a year, but their new contracts lock you in for two.

I'm sure there are more, so feel free to add onto the list. Trying to make an informed decision before a drop a ton of cash.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

1.) Unless the new iPhone for Sprint supports SV/DO (simultaneous voice and data) for CDMA 3G, then no.

2.) LTE support? Yes. But Sprint barely has 4G LTE, so I'm not sure how this will help you.

3.) 24 months for Verizon, 20 for AT&T. Not sure about others, I think Sprint is 24 months.

Tmobile at least will have HSPDA+, so IMO Sprint falls dead last.
 
SamAshleyBlogs said:
Just looked at Sprint's LTE map and I have no idea how Columbus, OH isn't on the list for the next rollout when Cleveland and other smaller cities are. Frustrating. We actually had good 4G here when I had the Evo, too.
Click to expand...


Well that pretty much squashes my "screw verizon trying to steal my unlimited data, I'll switch to sprint" idea.
 
tito2020 said:
Rumor has it that iphone 5 for sprint will be wimax from a rep at the sprint store.
Click to expand...

BS. Sprint doesnt support WIMAX. Also there is no integrated wimax + LTE chip and there is no way they will add two chips or make two different phones.
 
Call Sprint and get to Retentions (Like you're going to cancel). I did this the other day and i'm not "eligible" for early upgrade until March 2013. I asked how much my ETF would be, then they mentioned i had some offers on my account, a $100 Renewal Credit, so after they mentioned that, i told them i was just at a Sprint store the previous weekend, and the salesman said i was eligible for the "Buy your upgrade" for $100, which would get cancelled out from the Renewal Credit. I'm still on the fence as the 4s works great, but I got a quote (and a box sitting here) from Gazelle for a Good condition 32gb 4s @ $279, which would cost me about $40 after tax to replace it with a 32gb 5, provided they follow the same price structure. It's all gonna depend of whether an iPad Mini gets announced tomorrow, we'll see, but i would give Sprint a call and see if you can get any kind of deal similar to what was offered to me. I'm not really sure why they offered the Renewal credit, that's never happened to me before and i've only been on Sprint since Feb 2009.
 
IXDoubleDXI said:
Call Sprint and get to Retentions (Like you're going to cancel). I did this the other day and i'm not "eligible" for early upgrade until March 2013. I asked how much my ETF would be, then they mentioned i had some offers on my account, a $100 Renewal Credit, so after they mentioned that, i told them i was just at a Sprint store the previous weekend, and the salesman said i was eligible for the "Buy your upgrade" for $100, which would get cancelled out from the Renewal Credit. I'm still on the fence as the 4s works great, but I got a quote (and a box sitting here) from Gazelle for a Good condition 32gb 4s @ $279, which would cost me about $40 after tax to replace it with a 32gb 5, provided they follow the same price structure. It's all gonna depend of whether an iPad Mini gets announced tomorrow, we'll see, but i would give Sprint a call and see if you can get any kind of deal similar to what was offered to me. I'm not really sure why they offered the Renewal credit, that's never happened to me before and i've only been on Sprint since Feb 2009.
Click to expand...
I may try that. I wont go through gazelle but might just use the apple recycle program. Apple store credit is always great.
 
Speaking of the iPhone 5 & Sprint (not to hijack this) but I went to the Sprint store on Sunday to talk over some account stuff (I am a premiere account holder for Sprint). We start talking about the iPhone & I mention how I plan on pre-ordering it on come Tuesday. He then says he can take a pre-order right then and there for $50 bucks, which will go towards the phone of course. Says he's already had plenty of people coming in and doing it. So I say of course and do it, and get the official receipt and all that. Says the store will call when they get them in. Sound fishy? Legit and the guy was just being nice? Seems weird that I haven't seen anyone else post something similar.
 
lmiller1717 said:
Speaking of the iPhone 5 & Sprint (not to hijack this) but I went to the Sprint store on Sunday to talk over some account stuff (I am a premiere account holder for Sprint). We start talking about the iPhone & I mention how I plan on pre-ordering it on come Tuesday. He then says he can take a pre-order right then and there for $50 bucks, which will go towards the phone of course. Says he's already had plenty of people coming in and doing it. So I say of course and do it, and get the official receipt and all that. Says the store will call when they get them in. Sound fishy? Legit and the guy was just being nice? Seems weird that I haven't seen anyone else post something similar.
Click to expand...
Hmm. Well you'll see soon enough if it was or not! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back