Sprint Goes in Slow Motion on Promised Feature

My recent story about imaginary Samsung optional equipment has prompted similar tales from readers about advertised features that are missing in action. One reader is particularly frustrated by a long-promised feature that Sprint could easily have delivered but that has yet to materialize.

“Two years ago I purchased what was then the brand-new, whiz-bang PPC-6600 smartphone from Sprint. At the time, the rep told me that when EVDO became available in the Chicago area that the 6600 would have it available. My pre-purchase research showed that the phone was indeed capable of EVDO, so I plunked down my $350 bucks, and signed a two-year contract. Well, the two-year contract is up, my phone still works, but no EVDO.”

Sprint has had EVDO capabilities in his area for some time now but has not chosen to enable it for the 6600. “EVDO works fine with their PCMCIA laptop cards and with the PPC-6700 — the ‘$459 software upgrade’ as it’s been called by some,” the reader wrote. “It’s not blazing speed, but it beats what I and all the other suckers who bought the 6600 get now. My 6600 gets about 145 kbps, so about three times dial-up, while my buddy who has the 6700 gets 350-500 kbps for the same data plan. From what I’ve read online, it appears Sprint had UT-Starcom working on the firmware upgrade for the 6600, but then told ’em ‘nope, we’re not gonna do it after all, never mind.’ I think that’s worse than imaginary products or vaporware, it’s more like we-lied-to-you-and-got-away-with-it-ware.”

The reader believes all it would take for Sprint to enable EVDO for his 6600 would be a minor software upgrade and removing the locks that keep the phone off their network. “When Sprint was first rolling out their EVDO network there was a hacked configuration file floating around that allegedly enabled the high-speed data on the 6600. Then, Sprint applied the security and the phones were locked out. So, basically, the reason 6600 owners don’t have EVDO is because Sprint decided they won’t. The phone was and still is EVDO ready, and Sprint used that as a selling point. But, then they decided to only make it available to newer and more expensive devices — specifically, the 6700 model.”

The reader was fooled by Sprint once, but he says he won’t be fooled again. “Now it looks like they’re peddling the same lie, again, with the new HTC Mogul,” the reader writes. “It’s like ‘oh, please, pay big bucks for this phone, and we’ll give you an upgrade for all the features … later…maybe.’ But maybe not, if they have something else to sell you by then. When my 6600 dies I don’t think Sprint will be getting any more business from me, or maybe I should say I won’t be getting the business from them.”

What advertised features have you found to be missing in action? Tell us about it by posting your comments on my website, calling the Gripe Line voice mail at 1 888 875-7916 or writing me at Foster@gripe2ed.com.

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