Yeah....looked through the list... at least my mom's Nokia is still on there for $25

 

Any update on the use of the a900 with the lexus?

I havent spoken to my folks while her ein wyoming to find out if they made it work.

 

went to the Sprint store yesterday and asked them if my mom's Nokia can be bought back and they looked at their computer and said no... I went back home to check online and it was still on the list...for $25. WTF! I'm gonna go to a different sprint store later today...

Saw their A900 demo yesterday also... Wow its a nice phone!!

 

i have a pm-8200 and am eligible for the 150 discount for a phone upgrade, but how will this reflect on my plan? i am in a family plan with four other phones, does taking this discount have some sort of affect on the rest of them? i heard that i will be binded in again for 2 more years if i do this upgrade also? i'm looking to get the a-900 also

 

I'm on a family plan with my mom and sister...both of them are eligable for the $150 rebate, and want to get new phones. I'd like an a900, but I've only had my phone for a little over a year now. If they upgrade and sign a new 2-year contract, can I get the $150 discount as well because my contract will be lengthened too?

 

Yes it works. Haven't got the phone transfer thing to work yet but it will dial out using BT.

 

picked up the a900 this weekend, even though I'm not eligible for the $150 rebate until end of Jan 06. I just talked to the manager and told him that I'd be out of town during the time that my agreement expires and when I become eligible for the upgrade. He said it wouldn't be a problem to give it to me now. So I got the a900 for $199, then they essentially credited my sprint account for $50 on the phone buyback deal.

Plus my company has a deal with sprint where I get an $80 rebate on all new phones, so when all was said and done, I got the a900 for about $70.

 

Have you had your phone for 2 years? If so, you can get the $150....otherwise, you'll have to wait till you reach the 2 year requirement and then renew your contract then. Sucks when everyone starts getting new phones at odd intervals. But wouldn't hurt to ask...

 

Nope, just about one year now. I know I can get $75, but if the contract is getting extended two more years I think I should get the $150 too.

 

From what they told me, you won't be able to get it. My fiance is on my plan but she got added in the middle of the year. So while I was eligible in Jan, she wasn't until June. I asked when I was there about upgrading her phone too, and they said I can't get the full rebate until her phone becomes eligible even though we were on the same plan.

 

heh...I wish they would do that too...but they won't. I've tried. Might have luck depending on who you talk to and how nice they are... Other than that, good luck. It is kinda sad to see how phone companies treat new customers better than they do existing customers who's been loyal for years and years...

 

It doesn't have so much to do with the contract renewing as it does the phone. My contract is up in Jan, however I can only get the 75.00 rebate because I have only had this phone for a little over a year. So even though I am starting a new contract in Jan, I can't get the full rebate to upgrade my phone....which sux because I really really want a new phone. I have thought of changing providers due to the crappy customer service I get from sprint. By the way, has anyone had problems with their web text messaging?? I haven't been able to text message through my browser for about 2 weeks now. When I called the tech dept, they said it was a problem on their end, but NO ONE else that I know is having this problem. When I try to text, it just keeps looping back to the compose message screen. The tech told me to just keep trying and eventually it would work!!

 

Ok Beet, others that have the A900: what color is the keypad backlight, white w/red-green on talk-end? It's so dim I can't even really see it in the store. I thought it was blue for some reason

And who the hell at Samsung thought it would be cool to just put the side charge port in? Now I'd have to buy all new chargers and I HATE that multipin style it ALWAYS fucks up when you need it to work the most (IE dealing on the phone, battery about to die). Plus no charging cradle at all so you can't charge a second battery outside of the phone.

The charger thing might be a deal killer for me. I love the screen on the A900 tho, it makes the one on my A700 look like poo - and it's a killer screen! The EVDO is SOOO fast, and AIM works on it (never has on my A700). The metal body is suite, wonder how it will do with scratches? At least with plastic it's generally the same color under the top coating.

Ken, is there any way to "demo" the EVDO as a modem service? I've heard with some of the other carriers that it works without any kind of activation, how does Sprint's work? Since the A900 has Bluetooth and a USB cable included (BTW, how do you charge the thing when the cable is plugged up, will it charge from USB?) I wouldn't have to buy anything extra. I wish you could tell what else was coming out. I'd go for a thicker phone with similar features if it could use my standardized chargers and had a cradle.

 

Yep, white on the numbers, green/red on talk/end.

Its idiotic. Plus you have to pull out this rubber insert and push it to the side to fit in the charger, and the only way to do this without strectching the attachment piece is to point it straight down, which means you can't rest the phone on its back. But the external screen is flush n the front, so I'm not going to put it down that way either. Terrible design in this aspect.

Charger thing is worth dealing with. The rest of the phone is superb, metal body is awesome.

I haven't been able to get AIM to work on this. I can do the web based AIM, but every time I try to actually download the program it says "We're sorry, this item is unavailable".

You don't. It doesn't charge from the USB.

 

You make some good points. The only thing I can say is time to market is an important factor and may impact how a phone functions. A similar phone to the a900 is already out in the Far East.

Would be nice to have the standardized charging port but this side charger is not so bad. The phone includes a USB cable (which does not charge the battery) so you will be able to use the phone as a modem right out of the box, nothing else needed. You will need to activate that feature if you don't want to pay the default rate. If you need to charge the battery while using phone as modem, you should connect using Bluetooth.

I'm not so sure people really wanted a desktop charger (for the price). We haven't offered one recently and I personally haven't heard too many complaints. Battery life on most phones is pretty good but I believe we are thinking about an extended battery for the a900.

The talk key GREEN is and the end key is RED, white when off on a black key.

We have 4 other EVDO phones that might be suitable for you, they are a bit thicker, but they used stardardized charging, and external memory card, and they have ALL the features including Music Store, phone-as-modem, Sprint TV, etc. The Sanyo 9000 has Ready Link, Samsung a920, and the Samsung a940. Also the Sanyo 7500 just came out (no external memory).

 

I've never actually used the phone as a modem before (any phone). How do I do this? I just plug the a900 into my laptops USB and then what? Is there special software I need to run, do I need to set anything on the phone itself?

 

I didn't even know there was a program. The only way I've ever used it on my A700 was WEB>Messaging>Instant Messaging>AIM>Sign On. It comes up, and people can talk to me, but anything I send never goes through. I used this exact same method on the demo A900 at the store, and it worked perfectly.

 

What's the default rate? $.xx per kb kinda thing? Wonder what that adds up to in the real world for just checking my Hotmail? I'm not sure I want to spring for $59.99 a mo just to use it a few times, but if I could do the previous for <$10 I'd be in.

I'll check them out, I went with my mom and sister in to the store so I didn't have as much time to just browse. Thanks for the reply Ken.

 

may want to consider dropping sprint after your contract ends...and then starting a whole new line of service with them... I believe all their deals on new phones are for new lines of service and does not exclude past customers...

 

To use the phone as a modem, you just plug in the cable and then you use the Sprint Connection Manager software from the website to connect. It's software to help you thru the setup but if you are familiar with DUN, you can connect yourself. Not sure about all the rates but the default rate really adds up fast.

 

The $15/month Sprint Power Vision plan has unlimited web/data access. Also has sirius hits channel and a few tv channels, and I think unlimited picture/video mail.

Not bad for $15.

 

Yeah there is an app you can download so AIM runs on the phone instead of through the web connection deal. I'll post details if I can get it to work.

 

I'm online through the a900.

Can't even tell the difference in speed from web browsing between this and my cable modem.

Thanks Ken, Sprint connection software is pretty convenient.

 

i dropped my phone for the first time last nite and now i got a few scratches and some paint chipped off.. i know there would more than likely be some more drops in the future but when it fell, i swear it was in slow motion
otherwise i love this phone

 

Beet, you might wanna check on the details of getting online through the phone. I don't think the unlimited web/data covers using the phone as a modem. I believe it's either pay the now $59.99 special price or use whatever the default kb rate is. You might be racking up quite a bill...

Now I could be wrong, and that would f'in rock and I'd go pick up an EVDO phone TODAY!

Have you used the PC sync feature on the A900? Will it let me keep some kind of list of contacts on my comp or is it just for memos n stuff like that?

 

Oh shit, I thought unlimited web/data meant unlimited phone as modem use. Calling Sprint right now.

And... when I plugged the thing into the computer, it automatically installed all the drivers and whatnot, but I can't figure out what to do from there. I read somewhere it can import my Outlook contacts and back up everything, but I can't figure out what program I need to use or where to get it.

 

According to the person I'm on the phone with now, if your monthly plan is over $40.00, you can add a $25 power vision pack that gives you unlimited data using the phone as a modem.

She doesn't sound very confident that this is correct though, I'm going to email in to Sprint and make sure.

 

Cool, keep us posted. I pay $15/mo now for the Vision Pictures Pack, I'd up it tot he $25 one easy if it had unlimited modem.

 

From the Sprint site:

I can't find any MB limit included in a plan?

 

This is where I get frustrated (Sprint people are you listening )

The customer service rep I talked to had no idea what I was talking about, she had to look it all up. Very nice woman, but didn't know what was going on. She told me I needed the $25 Sprint Power Vision pack, combined with a plan over $40, and I would have unlimited data using the phone as a modem.

Now, I'm looking at my account, and it says she added the "FLEXIBLE DATA PLAN $25.00 ". There is no information available on the site about what exactly this is. The text is a link, but it just links to me a page that says FLEXIBLE DATA PLAN in bigger letters. Does this include TV, Sirius, picture mail, and all the other stuff that the Power Vision packs include? What is 'flexible' about it? Does it have unlimited data or does 'flexible' imply that its going to get more expensive as I use more data, like the 'Fair and Flexible' minute plans that go up in $5 increments every time you use another 100 minutes?

I leave for a ten day trip tomorrow and I need to work from my laptop, and I need to be online. I don't want to find out on my next bill I've been getting charged $100/day for data use.

 

Me either. The power vision plans say 'unlimited data'.

In the support section of Sprint there are zero entries when I search for 'modem', and 'data' just says you can access the web with a vision plan.

 

The $25 'flexible' plan includes 40mb/month of data. After that, the 'flexible' kicks in, and apparently it gets bumped up immediately to $70 if you go over the 40mb. I'll go through that 40mb in the first 20 minutes.

Nextel, however, has $10/month for unlimited pc use listed on their site.
But when I called this number and entered my mobile #, they say 'this is not a Nextel number' and redirect to Sprint rep, who (2 of them so far) no nothing about this plan.

 

The "Flexible Data Plan for Phone as Modem" say that it does include the picture mail and Sprint TV. I just called and asked about the "Unlimited for first month, then use your plan MB limit" and this girl said that it is unlimited all the time, you can be on it 24/7 and it will only be that $25 a month. Then she went on to say that if I didn't want all that extra stuff there is also a $20 and $15 plan, and they way she said it makes me think she still doesn't know what I was talking about. Idiots I say...

Why did they take the 100 texts out of the Vision plans? I had them upgrade mine for free to unlimited texts because the web AIM sends you a text everytime you get a message and it was eating mine up. Should be easy to have them keep that on there as it will still do the same thing.

 

Ugh. The first person I talked to said the vision plans listed on the site don't include ANY pc use, and the data charges would be by the kb even if I have the $25 Power Vision Ultimate Plan. This person added the Flexible Data Plan to my account.

Second person said that the Flexible Data Plan is the exact same thing as the Power Vision Ultimate plan, but if I go over 40mb/month (even though it says unlimited), I get charged an extra $45.


You get unlimited picture and video mail with the vision plans, but not normal SMS. I'm paying $10.00 extra per month for the unlimited SMS. So basically if I stuck a picture on every text message I could save $10.

 

They just need to give us the company to run

Quick question for you...if you get the AIM program on the phone, can you check away messages with it? The web one shows they are away, but you'd have to IM them to get the away message.

A buddy of mine has a good friend that works at one of the bigger Sprint stores here. I'm going to drop by and talk to him about it. I'm guessing the 40mb limit is correct, as thats what the smaller PC plan is on their site. 40mb isn't enough to do squat.

 

I've said it before but I'll say it again, Sprint email customer service is fantastic. Its fast (30 minute turnaround), the people are much better informed, and it gives you a record of the conversation in case you need to refer to it later...

My email to Sprint:Reply
but... just now I talked to a technical support person on Sprint, who told me that this is not true. She said its 40mb limit, not unlimited, and its 1 cent per kb over, capped at $70/month.

 

The AIM app I was talking about thats listed for download on the vision homepage is a mistake. There is no AIM app for phones, the link is to the regular AIM for pc. Technical support doesn't know why its there, its not supposed to be

 

OK I think I got it figured out. I get unlimited pc data use for the first month because its a promotion. I'm still not sure if the unlimited part is free (after 40mb) or if the entire data plan part is free for the first month.

My email:

Reply:

 

what crock then

 

What I don't get...

-Why is it $10 for Nextel subscribers, and (effectively) $70 for Sprint?

-Why does it say
when this is just flat out not true? and not even for just pc use, they told me that if you go over 40mb using just your phone you get charged extra.

-Why is the 'Flexible Data Plan' not listed anywhere on the web site (or is it? I can't find it)




edit:

its in the disclaimer