When I first explained the problem to a Sprint “Customer Care specialist,” she assured me that it was impossible. “Let’s try reprogramming the phone,” she said. So I did. Ten times. I told the next person who suggested it that I refused to program any more phones until Sprint put me on the payroll. “Please hold, sir, while I get you to a Tier 2 specialist.” Two hours and 25 Muzak-filled minutes later, another specialist told me he’d have to refer me to “Mission Control.” “Isn’t that the space program?” I asked. “This is space,” he said.
“Nobody expected such an abysmal experience,” says wireless-industry analyst Roger Entner of the Yankee Group. Only a million or so numbers have been successfully “ported” since late November, when the Federal Communications Commission ordered phone carriers to begin allowing it. That’s far fewer than the 2.75 million that analysts had predicted would switch by now. The FCC received about 2,400 complaints in the first month alone, and by some estimates more than 40 percent of switchers have had problems.
Industry foot-dragging is the main culprit: carriers had lobbied hard against porting and didn’t expect the FCC to act as quickly as it did, so many weren’t prepared technologically. “When as an industry you set up train tracks so they meet,” and you haven’t done some test runs, “you can’t be surprised that there’s a train wreck,” says Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon, which pushed for early testing of the system. My problem got resolved only when I groused to PR types at Sprint and AT&T. “We have been working hard, along with the rest of the wireless industry and our vendors, to improve the experience,” says an AT&T Wireless spokeswoman. “It’s a learning curve,” says Sprint. Until they succeed, take our advice:
Otherwise, wait a few months to switch, until the kinks are ironed out. That’s what Sprint is now telling customers who encounter problems like mine. Until then, you can listen to the recorded voice at Sprint’s Customer Care center repeat, “We’re making wireless easy for you.”
