This is a phone conversation that took place on July 1st, 2010, between myself and a Sprint Executive Analyst. This conversation took place due to my complaint at the Better Business Bureau. I was asked to speak with them, so that we can talk about my complaint. The person I am speaking with is who responds to the BBB complaints and other inquiries with the executive offices. This isn't a regular call center Supervisor, this isn't a Sprint.com/chat Supervisor.. this is Sprint's "voice of the company" department. I have provided a transcript here and also added the transcript in the video. It's a little long, but it's .. a great listen. Sprint says Premium Data is for Shrimp and Crab! from Explainthefee on Vimeo. Highlights: 7:02 minutes
Sprint: [..] the fee was decided at a last minute, just because of the amount of data that we expect you using the EVO.
20:30 minutes
Me: [..] it appears that the manufacturer of the phone is describing their device, and you are in addition describing the device as well, is the customer who is paying the $10 fee for premium data, are they paying for a hardware device for everything month for $10 dollars?
Sprint: it’s the amount of data, it’s the additional amount of the data that they’ll be using on our network because of that processor.
Me: so, would the speed of the processor of the hardware processor, which was described to me by the Public Relations manager and let me see if I can quote her, she stated that the.. the super-fast snapdragon processor, it includes a camera, it includes a super-fast snapdragon processor so that navigation on the phone is quicker and the apps load faster, so does the phone as described by her, it what she is basically saying is that the apps will load faster, because that’s what a processor does, not necessarily data usage
Sprint: [mumbled] and therefore, you would be able to multi-task, and use data on multiple applications at the same time, and on other phones, you would not be able to do that.
38:00 minutes:
Me: Your reply to me is that the $10, the $10 premium data add-on is for unlimited data usage, my plan already has unlimited data, what would be the difference between this and I went to say, an all you can eat buffet, that was basically all you can eat, and this term, this is all you can use, what is, why would the $10 premium data fee ensure that I have unlimited data?
Sprint: it would be for shrimp and crab.
Me: OK um..
Sprint: The shrimp and crab is not included in the regular buffet.
Me: OK, what is shrimp and crab, what is the comparison to shrimp and crab on the HTC EVO?
Sprint: the high quality video, like I said, the YouTube application, it’s the other phones have, they do have the YouTube applications, they do have the ESPN and things like that,the ESPN that you’d be able to stream on the EVO is different , it’s higher quality, like I said, it requires more data, when you’re using that actual feature.
39:50 minutes
Me: OK and you said that in the applications you can use Sprint’s TeleNav, and Google maps, are you aware that the Samsung Moment has those applications as well?
Sprint: Right, but it’s not the same applications, it’s a little bit different.
Me: What is different about it?
Sprint: It has more features and the actual quality of the product is superior to what you have on the Moment.
Me: Because I can see it clearly?
Sprint: Yes.
Me: Using the hardware of the phone that I purchased?
Sprint: Right.
Me: And that’s what the $10 add-on adds?
Sprint: The hardware and network go hand in hand, we’re going to go round in circles, we’re not going to get anywhere, the $10 fee is here to stay, it’s not, I mean it’s not.. we’re not really getting anywhere.
Check out the video or read the transcript. I spoke with his Supervisor a few days later and will be posting that conversation as well… it gets even better.