[godschoice]

I recently order 5 Treo 650s for the managers at my office from Cingular. I have never dealt with a company with such bad customer service. I was on the phone for over 12 hours total over a week trying to get it straighten out (I never did). I was switched to over a dozen different toll free numbers and not two people ever had the same story, rates, etc.

They told me one thing to place orders and others after the phones were received. They told me $19.00 for the special unlimited data plan for the Treo 650s. After I got the phones they were talking $33.99, $44.99 and even $79.99 for the right data plan for it.

They never sent me anything regarding my order. Even the day that I received the phones, the people on the phone thought the order was never placed.

All that being said, I am getting the 5 new Sprint branded Treo 650s for about $250 each (no rebates - instant rebates) and all the phones on a shared plan for about 7000 minutes for $240 a month (including unlimited data for all, free mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends, nation to nation - no roaming or long distance charges and nights beginning at 7pm).

I was using the Unlocked Treo 650 before, but will now have a Sprint one.

What do I need to know?

1. What is the status of the DUNs
2. Recommendation regarding using any unofficial ROMs
3. Are there Firmware upgrades
4. What are the official ROM updates
5. Are there any Reset Issues,
6. What are the known Bugs
7. Are we able to load Screen Mods
8. Does it come with any Sprint Specific apps
9. What indicates that my new devices has or does not have the any official updates
10. Recommendation of Sprint corporate email versus Good or other alternatives
11. Anything else you think I should know

[petesamprs]

Oh man DutchTrumpet is going to go medievel on you.

[BIGtrouble77]

Oh man DutchTrumpet is going to go medievel on you.

Dutch needs to get a life outside of this forum, methinks.

[Cluemeister]

What do I need to know?

1. What is the status of the DUNs
2. Recommendation regarding using any unofficial ROMs
3. Are there Firmware upgrades
4. What are the official ROM updates
5. Are there any Reset Issues,
6. What are the known Bugs
7. Are we able to load Screen Mods
8. Does it come with any Sprint Specific apps
9. What indicates that my new devices has or does not have the any official updates
10. Recommendation of Sprint corporate email versus Good or other alternatives
11. Anything else you think I should know

People are going to tell you to search before posting basically the Treo 650 FAQ's. So search the site, but here's a little information:

1. DUN is possible. Shadowmite patch or PDAnet.
2. I don't use them, no experience. Again, many many posts on this subject
3. and 4. Not sure what's different about ROM and firmware, but homepage of treocentral shows the 1.08 update.
5. Most don't have reset issues, but some have many reset issues. Many many postings on this.
6. Biggest - memory, fixed in 1.08
7. Yes
8. Don't know if they're specific to Sprint, but comes with some nice apps.
9. Go to phone app, choose phone info from menu, software version should be 1.08
10. Don't know
11. Read treocentral

(edited for clarification on #2)

[godschoice]

People are going to tell you to search before posting basically the Treo 650 FAQ's. So search the site, but here's a little information

Thanks, Cluemeister. This helps. I definitely read treocentral (like most a little too much). I never paid much attention to the Sprint related stuff because it did not affect me. This will set me in the right direction. The search is not always as forgiving as one may think. It works great for some topics and poor for others.

[JackNaylorPE]

I recently order 5 Treo 650s for the managers at my office from Cingular. I have never dealt with a company with such bad customer service.

What do I need to know?

Well to start with, I woulda searched here first before ordering. AT&Tingular's customer service is in shambles with the merger going on and half the staff having to be retrained. The best thing for you to have done would have been to walk into an "all carriers" brick and mortar store where you could have talked with a knowledgeable individual about the strengths / weaknesses of each carrier's offering. The dude at the counter don't much care which one you buy cause he can sell you both of 'em. On top of that, you will get a better deal out of the brick and mortar store than any deal available on line or from a carrier.....I paid $325 w/ a 1 year contract for a Cingular Treo 650. best I'd seen on line up to that point was $349 w/ 2 year committment and a $50 rebate I couldn't use.

You can deal with the store instead of AT&Tingular CSR's and they could have advised you on all of the available data plans. That being said....the Treo offerings from both carriers differ by more than price. I'd first consider what carrier offers better service in the areas you most frequent and then I'd look at those differences. As for selecting data plans, the strategy with Cingular is to avoid talking to a CSR, not get any when you buy, and then add them to your plan yourself a day or 2 later through the Cingular web site.

On direct costs, you'll save with Sprint as their Treos are a few bucks cheaper and their unlimited data plan is $10 a month cheaper. With regard to data speeds, when considering latency, for short messages, Cingular and Sprint data speeds are probably not that far apart. But if your 5 guys are downloading large files, and they are 'on the clock" while waiting for these downloads, Cingular's broadband data capabilities with the EDGE service may pay signiifcant dividends in that regard.

Finally, Verizon's Treo is about to exit the gates.

http://mytreo.net/news/archives/000436.php

While Cingular's tested data rates (per PC mag) may be 2 - 3 time faster than Sprint's, Verizons EVDO is 5 times faster than Cingular's (14 times faster than Sprints) and if the Treo is EVDO equipped, that may be a significant choice factor for you. EVDO is only available in 21 cities right now.

See http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1772935,00.asp and click on "View the Test results". Also see:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1772720,00.asp

Here's some excerpts from a review by PC Mag comparing the Sprint and Cingular versions:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C17...72937%2C00.asp

"Think of Cingular's version of the PalmOne Treo 650 as the Treo 655. For the GSM model of its PDA/phone, PalmOne added a world phone with better battery life than its CDMA sibling and a fast EDGE modem, making this version preferable to Sprint's if you're in a location with good Cingular GSM coverage.

As a PDA, this Treo 650 is exactly the same as the earlier version we gave an Editor's Choice to in November. ....[Cingular's] Treo's phone capabilities are superior, however. The quad-band GSM radio works all around the world. You can get your e-mail while overseas: Cingular has GPRS data roaming agreements in 75 countries, and it uses the faster EDGE data network in 18 of those countries. This model lasts longer than the Sprint Treo, too. We got 7 hours, 30 minutes of talk time—a good two hours longer than Sprint's phone. (That gap is typical of CDMA versus GSM phones.)

The Cingular 650 packs in a Class 10 EDGE modem for fast data transfers. We got speeds between 148 and 167 Kbps on FTP file transfers between our Treo and PC Magazine servers using the VFSFTP+ Palm OS FTP program; that's at least double the average speed of Sprint's CDMA 1X network. That bodes well for downloading large attachments in e-mail.....The longer talk time and Class 10 EDGE modem make the best PDA/phone on the market even more usable."

[ButtUglyJeff]

I have to say going to Cingular's "brick and mortar" has been nothing but a pleasure, while dealing with them on the phone; well lets just say I appreciate the store even more now.

You'll hear alot of customer service issues with Cingular and Sprint here, but I'll second Jack's recomendation on going to an actual store, instead of on line or a customer service toll free. No matter if you choose Cingular, Sprint, Verizion, or whoever................

[Burkhardi]

I recently order 5 Treo 650s for the managers at my office from Cingular. I have never dealt with a company with such bad customer service. I was on the phone for over 12 hours total over a week trying to get it straighten out (I never did). I was switched to over a dozen different toll free numbers and not two people ever had the same story, rates, etc.

They told me one thing to place orders and others after the phones were received. They told me $19.00 for the special unlimited data plan for the Treo 650s. After I got the phones they were talking $33.99, $44.99 and even $79.99 for the right data plan for it.

They never sent me anything regarding my order. Even the day that I received the phones, the people on the phone thought the order was never placed.

All that being said, I am getting the 5 new Sprint branded Treo 650s for about $250 each (no rebates - instant rebates) and all the phones on a shared plan for about 7000 minutes for $240 a month (including unlimited data for all, free mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends, nation to nation - no roaming or long distance charges and nights beginning at 7pm).

I was using the Unlocked Treo 650 before, but will now have a Sprint one.

What do I need to know?

1. What is the status of the DUNs
2. Recommendation regarding using any unofficial ROMs
3. Are there Firmware upgrades
4. What are the official ROM updates
5. Are there any Reset Issues,
6. What are the known Bugs
7. Are we able to load Screen Mods
8. Does it come with any Sprint Specific apps
9. What indicates that my new devices has or does not have the any official updates
10. Recommendation of Sprint corporate email versus Good or other alternatives
11. Anything else you think I should know

1.Patch or PDA Net
2.With the 1.08 firmware, you will not need it
3.Yes, 1.08 via Palm One's website
4. Same as #3
5. Not many, more have to do with corrupt data or apps that don't paly well together. If you don't plile a lot of new apps at once, you will be fine and can weed out issues.
6. Versamail can act up and some minor stuff, nothing major somes to mind
7. What kind of screen mods? Wallpapers, yes, Radio on/off screens, yes.
8. Yes, there is Buinnes Connect and some others.
9. Dial ##786 dail from the phone app or select Info fro the phone menu
10. I just use Snappermail
11. Their data plans are good and some of their support is not the best, like any company, so if you feel you have a bonehead then say everything is fine and call right back. If you use their bussiness channles, they have better support IMHO. I have that due to a Dell discount.

This is just my 2-cents worth and opinion, you milage may vary.
Hope this is helpful, Matt

[SoufSidah09]

With sprint you will have 2-5 seconds delay when trying to dial a call which can be frustrating not knowing if you dialed or not, and you end up hanging up the call or redialing wrong numbers...

Some people are fine with the delays and don't see it as an issue, I DO, you may not...

[NiccoloDeiConti]

5.) Disable "Network Date and Time"

This reduced my frequency of resets from "about daily" to "can't remeber when."

[scaredpoet]

The best thing for you to have done would have been to walk into an "all carriers" brick and mortar store where you could have talked with a knowledgeable individual about the strengths / weaknesses of each carrier's offering. The dude at the counter don't much care which one you buy cause he can sell you both of 'em.

Uhm, actually I've found that going to a multi-carrier reseller is the WORST thing you can do. Just because an agent sells more than one carrier, that doesnt' meant that they know everything about all carriers... in fact I've found that most times, they know nothing about ANY carrier.

Most importantly, many DO care about which phone they sell you, depending on what promotions are currently in effect and how generous each carrier is feeling in terms of commissions at that particular point in time. Cingular Blue/Orange might have more favorable commission terms one week, Sprint the next. You can bet that's going to mean that you're going to get totally different answers from the very same sales rep depending on when you show up.

[uribudnik]

...What do I need to know?...

10. Recommendation of Sprint corporate email versus Good or other alternatives...

this was mentioned earlier in the thread but i would like to recommend snappermail again. you can read up on this email app on their web site or do a search here to see how people think it compares to versamail (the built-in email app)

i have been using snapper for over 2 years (i had it on my 300) and i strongly recomend it. i used versamail for a few minutes when i got my 650 and decided to stay with snapper. it was a very easy call for me.

[Pearl_Diva]

I hate to say it, but I think Sprint sucks big time! Don't lose your phones, they don't care! Sprint CS was not at all helpful when I tried to return a lost phone to it's owner, they said "what do you expect us to do about it". I had to wait for the guy's son to call the phone so I could tell him I found his phone. I have dropped lots of calls or can't hear the person clearly, also dialed calls sometimes don't go through. CS is often unfriendly, they should at least PRETEND they want to help the customer, sheesh!

Because of this, I personally would like to switch the line I have with them, but others don't sound much better. My Treo is with Cingular and I've heard horror stories about them too on this forum, your's is the latest.

[DougKoz]

I've dealt with both Sprint and Cingular CS nightmares recently. Cingular is a *complete* mess. Sprint actually seems to do OK unless your issue is with one of their partners (e.g Lockline) rather than Sprint directly.

On the subject of email - if you have MS Exchange and want 100% access for your users, then you want Good without question.

If your users are OK with just using IMAP, then Snappermail is probably your best corporate-ready solution.

Versamail, the app built-in to the phones, keeps corrupting files and causing resets. I recommend it to power users who can deal with that (since it's free and built in to the ROM), but never to people who have to support others.

[dutchtrumpet]

Dutch needs to get a life outside of this forum, methinks.

?

What did I do to you

[B-model#CB]

you're good Dutch - don't listen to him

godschoice - I've been w/ Sprint about 9 years. realize thier customer service sucks. (had the 600, now the 650) Other then that, it looks like the prior posts covered the basices.

no call forwarding, like cingular, unless u pay per call

[JackNaylorPE]

Uhm, actually I've found that going to a multi-carrier reseller is the WORST thing you can do. Just because an agent sells more than one carrier, that doesnt' meant that they know everything about all carriers... in fact I've found that most times, they know nothing about ANY carrier.

The points you make are certanly valid....at least they can be. But you also have to take into account that people, especially people who hang out here, change phones almost as often as Microsoft issues security fixes.

The "reputable" store is interested in keeping your business....."fool me once shame on you, fool me twice and shame on me" holds here. The "fly by night" who opens and closes at new location every 6 months survives by the fool. The reputable dealer survives by the repeat customer. So it certainly helps to:

1) Research your subject BEFORE you walk in and throw a few test questions out to judge how you are being handled.

2) Know what deals are out there before you walk in.

3) Ask around....ask who'd been shopping where over the last few years.

I never made mention of what I knew walking in. Their 1 year, $325 offer was made w/o me mentioning that the best I had found was $349 after rebates w/ 2 year committment.

Certainly they have an interest in getting the best commission they can, "let the buyer beware" holds here. But they are much more willing to "let go" cause they do have another option. While I was there, people were buying Sprint, AT&T, Nextel and Cingular phones. A one brand store doesn't have that, a carrier doesn't have that,.....the "mislead you" factor is likely to be much higher when that option is not available.

Finally, I have yet to see an offer matching the 1 year $325 Cingular offer I got on 02/02 despite the fact that the store was getting an allottment of only 1 every couple of days because of high demand when 1st released. That was the 4th phone I bought at that store in a 2 month period BTW....one of those has since been switched out by same store.

[BIGtrouble77]

?

What did I do to you

Nothing really. Just getting annoyed that some of the long time users on this forum are starting to act like they own this place- and are getting pretty nasty about it. On the other hand, we have these overzealous moderators that are threatening to ban people for saying words like doodoo.

Sorry for the personal comment, tho. You do help alot of people here even if you like to make them feel like morons in the process. I guess it's better than having only nice things to say with no substance.

-BT

[jeffhas]

FWIW I've been with Sprint for 7 years. Their Customer Service used to suck far worse than any other company out there, but they always had great phones first. About 8 months ago, they hired an outside consulting firm to examine their CS, and they started taking customer comments, evaluations, etc. I find them to be MUCH better than they were. Now, only once in a while do I get a CSR that has a bad attitude and won't help you, or give you what you need. I try to identify these people quickly, get off the phone, and call back... there's always another available, and the odds are good your second CSR will be helpful.

It already sounds like you got a great deal on the phones.

All answers listed above seem to be what you're looking for.

Good Luck!

[dutchtrumpet]

Nothing really. Just getting annoyed that some of the long time users on this forum are starting to act like they own this place- and are getting pretty nasty about it. On the other hand, we have these overzealous moderators that are threatening to ban people for saying words like doodoo.

Sorry for the personal comment, tho. You do help alot of people here even if you like to make them feel like morons in the process. I guess it's better than having only nice things to say with no substance.

-BT

I don't have the power to control how someone on an internet board feels. If someone feels like a moron then......


Thanks for the apology