Wireless Service and Idiocy

Something that I have been writing about is now all over the news now. The mainstream press has finally gotten over its fawning about the iPhone and actually started writing about the actual experience of real iPhone users on the ATT network.

As previously mentioned on this forum, it echoes something that I have always known as a user in New York City ( of all places, this should be one place where there is NO excuse) – that the ATT network – both its voice network (and its spectrum management) and its data networks absolutely is below par and suck!

Of course, the iPhone attacts people like Paris Hilton attracts men (and some women:)) – without any rational and intellectual explanation. (which, to me proves what Oscar Wilde said a while ago – 99% of humanity os composed of fools)

So you pay through your nose for a voice and data plan that is probably the worst of Tier 1 carriers in the US ( Verizon, Sprint, ATT, *T-Mobile*), for a piece of hardware which, while being undeniably the coolest in the market, does little more than offer a sense of conformity to the world.

I am neither an Apple hater (typing on a Macbook) or some kind of evangalist with some motive. I am just talking about common sense – if you stumble upon this post by chance – let me tell you something that most knowlegeable people about the industry would tell you – Verizon Wireless has the best wireless network in the US and Sprint has the best high speed wireless data coverage in the US.

ATT sucks in both the voice and data quarters. What they do have, are cool phones. Way cooler than Verizon and Sprint. But that doesn’t change the fact that their network absolutely is below par by all counts.

So go for it. Buy the same dresses that Paris Hilton wears. And the iPhone she talks on. Only realize that it sort of sucks to identify with single digit IQs. Even if that happens to be a hot celebrity:)

Maybe…

Its time we cast the kind of Geelani and his ilk out of India into Pakistan.  Or take the Israeli route. Let them wallow in their fundamentalist Islamic shit. Let them live with suicide bombings and the crap that pervades Pakistan today.

Thought, from someone who professes rather liberal views stems from unending video footage of crazed Kashmiris waving the Pakistani flag and burning the Indian tri-colour on India’s Independence Day.

Sprint Customer Care Feedback

So, the quest of the perfect wireless company continues. Readers of this forum know that I maintain a pretty strong interest in the wireless space, technology evolution, market trends and competitive news. The interest goes more than the mere cosmetic. I work as a management consultant focused on Telecom and Media clients – so whatever I opine here is not just layman facts – its based on some pretty long years spent at every major Telco in the United States. But I digress.

Today, I want to take some time to write my experience with Sprint Customer Service – one of the much-maligned aspects of Sprint. And frankly, Sprint’s customer service has left a lot to be desired post-merger with Nextel. Almost to a point, where I was ready to break a contract so I didn’t have to speak to the ill-informed and rude Customer Service Reps anytime.

Over the past few weeks, I have had a slew of issues – with the network where I live, with my corporate PDA and finally, today, with my personal line’s billing – for which I have had to call Sprint on more than one occasion. I know I briefly alluded to the topic here, but that was before I had issues with returning my old PDA and issues with the bill.

For a lot of people, Sprint is a favorite whipping boy. But having used every provider in the US (apart from T-Mobile), I can say pretty emphatically that their reputation, though well deserved in some quarters, is definitely worth a re-look.

This post is about Sprint’s customer service improvements. My experience and views on their network can be read here.

So first, the scope of my problems:

a) My corporate PDA stops sending emails: I call Sprint customer service and the very helpful person on the other side makes me go through the motion of the script – take out battery, hit reset button etc. Nothing works. Within 3 minutes, he logs onto his Fulfillment system to see if he can ship me a replacement device. Now, I throw in a curve-ball. While my HTC Mogul was great, I hated the slide-out keyboard that didn’t let me type with one hand. So I request him if he can ship me a Treo instead. He goes through the system and luckily for me there are no HTCs available. 2 minutes later, he puts a shipment order for the Treo 800w – the latest iteration of the Treo. And I receive it the next day.

Then, due to the return equipment and everything, I had a charge on my account that I needed taken out. I call Sprint Customer Care. The CSR on the other side – looks into my issue and realizes he needs to get into the warehouse system to ensure the phone has been returned. After confirming, he actually tells me that it would take him some time to sort through this and promises to call me back the next day. At 8.34 am the next day, to tell me that all the authorizations required to refund the amount had been done and I was good to go. Unbelievable. Especially based on my earlier experience with Sprint.

b) One Time Excess Charge: This month, owing to some family situation, I used around 1000 text messages. Problem is I have a monthly limit of 500. So I get charged extra per additional text message that blows up my bill pretty significantly. So I call Sprint – and it takes them exactly 30 seconds to clear the charge as a courtesy. I am even more amazed.

c) And finally, today – I call Sprint because I see a handset upgrade fee on my personal account (because I decided to change my aging phone for my birthday). I call them and the Customer Service Rep actually apologizes for Sprint charging me as such a longtime customer. He takes it out along with another little charge I saw that I thought was irregular. No questions asked. Courteous. And fast.

The reason I am writing this rather long post is simply this. Sprint has received a lot of flak recently for a number of things that they understandably didn’t do right. But bad as they are doing right now, they are beginning to turn things around and it is showing. In their voice network – which I think rivals the best in the country (Verizon Wireless), their data network (which is THE best in the country) and now their customer service (which, in my experience is getting there).

Turning around a company as large as Sprint will take time. But I think, fundamentally, they are in the right path and will get there sooner than most analysts think. At least operationally.

India Gold

India has finally won a gold at the Olympics!

The government, central and state, have predictably gone bonkers and have started awarding cash money to Abhinav Bindra. Maybe he can build a couple of other shooting ranges for our world class marksmen with it. By the last count, he has netted something like $ 400K from largesse by our state governments (and I am sure the Hero Honda and Pepsi ads arent that far behind)

Meanwhile, other Indian sportsmen are doing what they do best – losing in the first round and sitting around in Beijing, shopping and whiling their time away on taxpayer expense.

All is well.

PS: International Herald Tribune had it best when it called India a “mysteriously unathletic nation” – talking about collective and irrational exuberance of the country on the single gold win. But well done Abhinav. Nice to hear the national anthem during the Olympics.