Letter to Sprint Sprint Residential Local Services P.O. Box 7086 London, KY 40742 To Whom It May Concern: I have been a loyal Sprint customer since June 2002.  In the fast-paced, ever-changing, carb-conscious world of today, a two-year commitment to a wireless company really means something to me.  I respect you, Sprint, but fear that the relationship is rather one-sided.  I have been faithful to you.  I have not strayed, succumbing to the dark temptresses of Verizon, Cingular, or god forbid, T-Mobile.  But I feel that I am playing the fool, as you have not provided me with the quality service I deserve.  You claim to be “committed to listening to [your] customers and providing solutions to connect them with their world.”  I, for one, feel silenced by your tyranny of poor reception and very alone in my world with no signal. For the past year I have struggled with my Samsung N400 phone.  At first I saw it only for its fancy screensavers and frivolous games like Monkeyball; I was blind to its faults as is often the case with young love.  As time passed, however, I began to see it for what it really is.  The majority of my calls were made standing outside my apartment in my housecoat, foolishly hoping to get one more signal bar than my usual one or two.  For months, I endured inclement weather and countless dropped calls as I tried to make things work between us. I enjoy the Unlimited PCS to PCS feature, because most of my family members are Sprint customers as well.  It really connects me to my world of complaining to my mom about my useless phone.  Curiously, none of my fellow Sprint users shared my many troubles.  I could scarcely believe that some people using the very same provider as I could actually make calls from the comfort of their homes.  Indoors! Can you imagine? On September 13, I paid a visit to the Sprint Store at 22839 Cedar Road in Beachwood, Ohio.  I told an employee all my woes.  I explained that my phone does not work in my apartment, within one block of my apartment, in my parents’ house, as well as large portions of Illinois, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Nevada.  Surely when you said you were “rewriting the rules of wireless” you did not include a rule prohibiting reception for the Samsung N400 phone in Columbus, Ohio.  I asked if there was anything that could be done.  The answer was no.  According to the Sprint representative, my phone passed the diagnostic test.  It saddens me to think how low the bar must be on this particular evaluation.  As for my inferior reception, I was told that “different models of phones pick up different signals.”  While that statement makes little to no sense in my mixed up little world, I feel that it would be nice if the description of the Samsung N400 explained that it is only capable of picking up signals within the confines of a Sprint store.  If I had known this prior to purchasing it, I would have probably leaned toward buying a phone that acts as more than an unreliable digital clock. I would very much like to stay connected to my world and I am under the impression that I will need a new phone in order to do so.  I realize that as a current Sprint customer, I am ineligible to receive any rebates offered on new phones, so I am willing to trade my stylish Samsung N400, complete with alarm clock and aquarium screensaver, for any model that picks up signals and is suitable for both incoming and outgoing phone calls.  I am not interested in spending upwards of $179.99 for a new clock, so I will need a guarantee that I will have a functioning cellular phone before I give you one more dime, or more accurately, 1800 more dimes.  I hope we can work something out or I will be forced to answer the siren’s song by Catherine Zeta-Jones at T Mobile.  I don’t think either of us wants that to happen. Please feel free to write or email me.  Don’t bother calling me.  I assure you, my phone will not work. Jeanne Goshe goshe.12@osu.edu