Should I go to Sprint?

[dontwalkhand]

I really messed up during my late high school and college years when it comes to credit, but Sprint is a cell phone service that I can afford (currently with T-Mobile and factory unlocked iPhone), and according to the rep, with a deposit and everything, I would be looking at around $300-$400 for the iPhone 4S 16GB (Still cheaper than going and buying a factory unlocked iPhone for $649)....judging by the 4S price, the iPhone 5 would be the same thing. But it seems right now Sprint is doing whatever they can to offload the iPhone 4/4S. How far high do Sprint deposits go? I know people with a 400 credit score and still didn't have to pay a deposit at all.

HOWEVER, is there a way to be able to buy the phone outright to use on Sprint, so I don't have to be suckered into yet another contract (same old $649), but better/more reliable voice service.

Another thing, does Sprint record ON-TIME payments to Credit Agencies? (i.e, Can this actually help FIX what I broke during college? ). I checked my Credit Report, and only have horrible marks on TransUnion with Equifax and Experian pretty clean.

Another thing that worries me, is that I use my phone A LOT for business, is Sprint's network up to snuff? I know about their "less than adequate 3G speeds" but supposedly that is being fixed under Network Vision. How is Sprint coverage when wandering off the highway? Is it comparable to Verizon?

 

[boomhower]

Sprint typically doesn't do deposits. They have what they call spending limits. It's a hard number that your account can be at before your service is cut off. Prevents you from running up a big bill and leaving them with it. That said, 400 is really really low so you won't know until you apply.

Sprints voice coverage is pretty decent. Where they don't have coverage they do roaming agreements so you'll have coverage. Just as you know data is horrible.

I'd wait for the 5. Either you are going to get the 5 for $50 more than they are selling the 4S for or you can get the 4S for $50 less than they are selling it for now.

Sprint, nor any other cell phone company reports payments to the CRA's. They just report when you are late. Yeah, it sucks and isn't fair. To start working on your credit head over to creditboards.com, those guys know their stuff.

 

[CallOfDuty]

I really messed up during my late high school and college years when it comes to credit, but Sprint is a cell phone service that I can afford (currently with T-Mobile and factory unlocked iPhone), and according to the rep, with a deposit and everything, I would be looking at around $300-$400 for the iPhone 4S 16GB (Still cheaper than going and buying a factory unlocked iPhone for $649)....judging by the 4S price, the iPhone 5 would be the same thing. But it seems right now Sprint is doing whatever they can to offload the iPhone 4/4S. How far high do Sprint deposits go? I know people with a 400 credit score and still didn't have to pay a deposit at all.

HOWEVER, is there a way to be able to buy the phone outright to use on Sprint, so I don't have to be suckered into yet another contract (same old $649), but better/more reliable voice service.

Another thing, does Sprint record ON-TIME payments to Credit Agencies? (i.e, Can this actually help FIX what I broke during college? ). I checked my Credit Report, and only have horrible marks on TransUnion with Equifax and Experian pretty clean.

Another thing that worries me, is that I use my phone A LOT for business, is Sprint's network up to snuff? I know about their "less than adequate 3G speeds" but supposedly that is being fixed under Network Vision. How is Sprint coverage when wandering off the highway? Is it comparable to Verizon?

No. The 3G speeds is NOT fixed at all. But it is currently improving, and Sprint promises to do that. In fact, all carriers are obliged to upgrade their networks anyway. Its simply just that the rate they're upgrading can't keep up with consumer demand for data.
My friend's Sprint 4S always received mediocre speeds. My Verizon iPhone 4 does not receive excellent speeds if compared to HSPA+ AT&T 4S iPhones, but I do get a standard, average 1-2mbps which is good enough for a CDMA 2000 carrier.

What I can tell you is don't sacrifice quality for quantity.
You're currently doing a business. Get something that works. Budget shouldn't be a problem as I assume you running a business should be able to earn a good income out of it.
Get Verizon for reliability, AT&T for that occasionally great speeds, and Sprint if you really want that unlimited data and you're on a tight budget.

For credit agencies, you have to tell transunion yourself about your current financial status and how stable and on time your payments are by showing your cheques, financial earnings, bill payments receipts and so on. I don't think Sprint is obliged to do your personal credit statements for you to transunion.
If you have been doing well, I don't think its not too much of a problem. My friend had huge problems with those agencies and he is now doing quite well and nothing much has ever happened to him. In fact, for some reason, his statements became cleaner.

 

[boomhower]

For credit agencies, you have to tell transunion yourself about your current financial status and how stable and on time your payments are by showing your cheques, financial earnings, bill payments receipts and so on. I don't think Sprint is obliged to do your personal credit statements for you to transunion.
If you have been doing well, I don't think its not too much of a problem. My friend had huge problems with those agencies and he is now doing quite well and nothing much has ever happened to him. In fact, for some reason, his statements became cleaner.

That is not how the credit agencies work at all. Lenders report payments to the credit agency's who them combine them into your credit file. Not all lenders report to all three agencies and some lenders don't report at all. Things like utilities aren't reported at all unless you become delinquent. They will report that you failed to pay and the collection agency they hire will report it as well. You do not provide anything to the credit agencies and you surely don't give them account statements or the like. Only time you give them anything is when their is an error on your credit report and you have evidence showing the error.

 

[Cooknn]

Another thing that worries me, is that I use my phone A LOT for business, is Sprint's network up to snuff?

Sprint LTE is on the horizon for Phoenix. More info here.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Well great news, I got a Credit Approval from Sprint, no deposits required, for up to 3 lines. I will have to pay for a deposit if I want more than 3 however, but I am ok with that, because I only need one line!

So how does this work now? I got pre-qualified, and they gave me a "Credit Approval Number"..so on launch day, just go buy the phone, give the Apple Store rep this number to setup my account? Has anyone bought iPhones with a pre-qual before? I don't know how it works. When I got AT&T, I just setup the entire account and paid for the deposit right there at Apple. But this time no deposit or anything, which is fantastic news.

They even threw me into a plan that I could "reserve" should the prices try to go up by the time the iPhone launches. $79 a month for pretty much unlimited everything and 450 "landline" minutes. The rep also said Phoenix should be getting LTE soon! They just did a backhaul upgrade.