Something I dont like..
Preface:
Ive worked at SPCS for about 3 months, before that, I worked at VZW for nearly 2 years as tier I/II tech support and cust. svc., so that should set my approximate knowledge level.
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When a customer comes into my store, complaining of no service or dropped calls, I know one of the first things to do is to check the roam settings, MANY times, I find this setting set to sprint only. That annoys me to no end, and is the reason many customers get dropped calls.
If a customer is traveling around, and they are on a sprint tower, and they move to a VZW tower/Alltel tower, etc... and their phone is on sprint only, that call will drop, as it cannot be handed to the VZW tower. Not only that, but...
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Ive worked at SPCS for about 3 months, before that, I worked at VZW for nearly 2 years as tier I/II tech support and cust. svc., so that should set my approximate knowledge level.
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When a customer comes into my store, complaining of no service or dropped calls, I know one of the first things to do is to check the roam settings, MANY times, I find this setting set to sprint only. That annoys me to no end, and is the reason many customers get dropped calls.
If a customer is traveling around, and they are on a sprint tower, and they move to a VZW tower/Alltel tower, etc... and their phone is on sprint only, that call will drop, as it cannot be handed to the VZW tower. Not only that, but...
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Did they explain to you in training about soft hand-offs? It seems to me that what you are describing is no service, not dropping calls. Having the phone be on automatic roaming is a recipe for dropping calls, because the "other" towers don't do soft hand-offs. Plus is kills your battery quicker than Sprint only.
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HUH..?
VZW towers do soft handoffs, far as I know, ALL cdma towers are soft handoff capable.
If youre on Sprint only, and youre "handed off" to a VZW tower, that call will drop, because youre not allowing the phone to roam to vzw.. if youre on automatic, it *should* hand the call off with no issues.
VZW towers do soft handoffs, far as I know, ALL cdma towers are soft handoff capable.
If youre on Sprint only, and youre "handed off" to a VZW tower, that call will drop, because youre not allowing the phone to roam to vzw.. if youre on automatic, it *should* hand the call off with no issues.
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If you are on SPRINT ONLY (hence the name ONLY) you CAN'T hand off to a VZW tower. Only on automatic will your phone pick up the strongest signal whether it is Sprint or VZW.
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Right, which is what im saying..
By reps switching the phones to sprint only, its most likely HURTING service.
I just wish people would listen to me, but they dont.
By reps switching the phones to sprint only, its most likely HURTING service.
I just wish people would listen to me, but they dont.
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Obviously they did not touch on the concept of "soft vs. hard hand off" enough in your trainings. We all know that Verizon wireless does soft hand offs, and so does Sprint, and so does Alltel... A soft hand off is a communication between the towers. We set there phones to Sprint only because in areas like mine (Colorado), there are several Carriers towers interfering with one another. The biggest problem you run into is not the tower, it's what is called a mitzo, i believe, or the billing stations. these do not communicate with each other which is why the phone drops the call. That is called a hard hand off, because there is no communication between the towers telling the next tower that you are coming. If you have good Sprint service in you...
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Much depends on how the phone's software scans for which system to use. Some will set home or Sprint signal as a priority and roaming partner as secondary, these will hold the Sprint signal until signal strength decreases to a point where it hands to the roaming partner. Some phones scan as strongest CDMA signal (Sprint priority) and as you pass near a roaming partner's tower it wants to hand off to that tower. This causes problems in areas where the Sprint signal is strong, but you are nearer a roaming partner's tower. These phones can become schizophrenic and bounce back and forth between carriers leaving the phone unusable for a few seconds and causing calls to drop. Using the Sprint only mode is best for many phones out there to avoid cu...
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Well yes, kind of.. its the PRL that is loaded into the phone.
I try to update peoples PRL as a first solution.. as even a phone thats 5 years old will pick up the same towers as a brand new one, provided the PRL is up to date in both handsets.
I try to update peoples PRL as a first solution.. as even a phone thats 5 years old will pick up the same towers as a brand new one, provided the PRL is up to date in both handsets.
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not to mention you work for sprint now i know your thinking in the cust best interest but fact is we prob have one of the less intelligent cust bases. you can try to explain the diff in settings and roaming charges to a cust and then have 4 or 5 out of every 10 come back in a month and bitch at you because of roaming charges on a bill or set it to sprint only and let them be on their way the choice is yours.
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So.. in theory, I can make my customers happy by giving them their phones so that they wont work properly, even if they're on a no roam plan.
I fail to see the logic.. and besides, if I get to the point in my career that I cant deal with upset customers/troubleshooting simple handset issues, Ill choke on a chicken bone..lol
I fail to see the logic.. and besides, if I get to the point in my career that I cant deal with upset customers/troubleshooting simple handset issues, Ill choke on a chicken bone..lol
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