Sprint PCS... Say it isn`t so?!

Are you a Sprint PCS mobile customer in the United States? Have you been experiencing trouble with Sprint`s Power Vision mobile web?

Sprint`s recent actions has created quite an uproar not only in the web designers community, but now it`s escalating & creating a stir among wap users.

The mobile internet known as W.A.P. (wireless applications protocol) is designed differently than the regular WWW internet & some WWW sites are not accessible on mobile devices. Each application uses different proxys & are not compatible unless your provider alters their reader to adjust. Sprint has recently began employing a new wap conversion called `OpenWeb` & they claim that it`s in an effort to make more WWW sites compatible on the Sprint WAP web service.

Effective mid March of 2008, they began making these upgrades & many Sprint customers are experiencing trouble using the web now. Repeated calls to Sprint in which we spoke to approximately ten different customer service reps has accomplished absolutely nothing. For over a week, Sprint tried to tell customers that the upgrades they make on their `Power Vision` network do not effect third party web sites & if their customers are experiencing difficulty, they need to take their device(s) in to the nearest Sprint service center & have a software upgrade performed.

If customers still experience trouble, Sprint tells them that the issue is not with their Power Vision network & you will need to contact the third party web site for technical support.

In over 9 hours of phone calls with Sprint`s Advanced Technical Support Department, no one bothered to tell us what`s REALLY going on & tried to convince us that we`re more or less hallucinating. If I`m hallucinating, then all the other Sprint customers must be too. I have two different mobile devices through Sprint & they both began malfunctioning on March 21st, right after Sprint did their nightly upgrade.

Incidently, I took both my devices to the nearest Sprint service center & did the software upgrades as they instructed me..... It did NOT solve the problem.

NEWS FLASH

I took the time to research this matter & thanks to professional web designers, I now know something that Sprint isn`t telling us.

SPRINT LIED!

After contacting professional web host providers that have the inside scoop on these sort of things, I was informed that Sprint is intentionally doing these changes. According to my sources, Sprint says they`re employing a new protocol in an effort to make more sites compatible on their mobile network. They are changing the proxy settings so that Sprint`s readers are interpreting the sites differently.

The new system employed is converting the reader to recognize non mobile sites as mobile sites in an effort to make Power Vision more WWW friendly, but this new protocol is interpreting many WAP sites as NOT wap compatible. Meaning that some third party wap sites that were once compatible on your phone, are no longer compatible.

If this new `OpenWeb` protocol is supposed to make more sites visible on a mobile device, then why is it that many mobile sites that were once viewable on your phone are no longer compatible?

The internet (whether wap or www) has it`s own language & providers like Sprint must incorporate this language to those settings in order to translate the internet to your phone or computer. If they don`t, the web is nothing more than retarded. If you spoke english & were trying to talk to a spanish speaking person, would you hire a German translator to moderate your conversation? I hope not. But if you did, you would not be able to understand what the spanish speaking person is saying.

THAT`S EXACTLY WHAT SPRINT IS DOING WITH THEIR MOBILE WEB.

After I learned this info I contacted Sprint again armed with this new information. I explained repeatedly to several customer service reps that I now know what`s really going on & attempted to explain that this move is counter productive. Not only is it making less sites compatible with Sprint Power Vision, but they`re going to upset many paying customers & will probably lose many of them.

All of the reps I spoke too either didn`t have a clue of what I was talking about, or are advised by their superiors to keep quiet. I kept getting lame comebacks that are often used on people that are ignorant when it comes to web & wap. When I explained to one rep that I`m not the average Joe off the streets & that I know more about the web than probably most Sprint customer service reps, guess what?............... The Sprint rep hung up on me.

Many problems that customers are having are:

Pages take forever to load & sometimes won`t load at all.

You are asked for a username & password everytime you launch your browser.

Pictures often will not load.

The web is extremely sluggish.

You get many error messages.

Some saying "the requested url cannot be found"

(Just to name a few)

My last phone call to Sprint yesterday, I spoke to someone that was willing to elaborate on the subject & she told me:

"We cannot troubleshoot an issue with third party web sites because we have no control over them & you will need to seek technical support from that third party site."

She continued by saying:

"Only third party sites featured on the Sprint homepage are compatible & if a third party site wants to be usable on Power Vision, they will need to register with Sprint."

This opens a whole new can of worms here & I don`t think that rep realized what she said. She may have thought she was making a good representation, but I read between the lines & this is what I came up with.

What`s the purpose of changing the protocol & making third party web sites register with Sprint if they want to be WAP compatible on the Sprint network?

$$$ could it be money? $$$

I cannot confirm this & this is just a hunch, but I`m willing to suspect that these third party web sites will be required to pay money if they want to be compatible with Sprint`s network.

Is this really about making the web more friendly for sprint customers, or is this about control & revenue?

Here is a statement one of the web host designers sent me verbatim. I have not edited nor altered this in any way.

""some networks like vodafone uk, & sprint us , have started to implement transcoders in order to help users to browse web sites on their mobile. but their way is selfish and does not meet with current standards. they transcode every site regardless of their format. Our sites are mobile sites and it declares it in source code but if transcoder ignores that declaration we can`t do anything.""

 ""Sprint has deployed a transcoder proxy and there is a big scream from developer community. Transcoder does not work properly and transcodes all sites regardless they are mobile or not. YOu as customer can push them and say your not happy with it. Transcoder called OpenWeb. I am not sure if in US you`ve got internet/wap apn differentiation like in europe. I.e in UK vodafone has transcoder proxy but if you use internet apn (access point) you can bypass it.""

This is how I see this whole mess:

The internet has it`s own language & it`s a worldwide standard. These internet providers have no right to try and change it in the middle of the game like this & they will lose customers over it. I don`t see this as a tool to make the mobile web better, because clearly it`s counter productive & `OpenWeb` is making less sites compatible, rather than making more sites compatible. I see this as a way of giving Sprint more control & I think the hidden agenda here is MONEY.

We as customers have the power to voice our dissatisfaction with this & try to push Sprint to either fix it, or we take our business elsewhere. I myself have two different mobile devices with Sprint & I`m locked into contracts on both lines. If I terminate my service with them I`m sure they will try to charge me the early disconnect fee on both lines.

 But I interpret it this way. Sprint promised me certain services & features when I signed on with them & by no longer allowing me those services, THEY are in violation of our contracts, NOT ME. If I do terminate my service & Sprint attempts to collect that fee, I will go to my local courthouse & file a small claims lawsuit against them.

I was perfectly happy with Sprint until they screwed up the mobile internet on or around March 21, 2008.

These corporations claim that customer satisfaction is their goal, but actions speak louder than words. Their actions are telling me that they`re not listening. There`s only one way to get our message across to these multi million dollar corporations that are too busy to listen........ HIT em in the pocket book! maybe when they start losing revenue over their unprecidented tactics & their reputation becomes tarnished, they will start listening.  Sprint uses the catch phrase "the power to connect" in their advertisements, but if this problem isn`t resolved they better think of a new selling motto.

I will be sending a link to this story to Sprint any day now, because I want them to read this. If Sprint would like to respond in their defense, I will be glad to post it here. Sprint, if your listening & would like to respond.......

We`re listening.

Founded 1938
Headquarters Overland Park, Kansas, USA (World Headquarters)
Area served United States, Puerto Rico
Key people Dan Hesse, President and CEO
Industry Communications Services
Products Wireless: (Sprint PCS): A-GPS, CDMA, EV-DO, WiMAX, QChat, ReadyLink, Wi-Fi, VoIP, Java, (Nextel): GPS, iDEN, WiDEN, Push to talk, BlackBerrys
Revenue ▲ $40.146 billion USD (2007)
Net income ▼($29.580 billion) USD (2007)
Employees 60,000 (2007)

 Blair Witch

blairwitch@nightmareonchatstreet.com

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