Got a Sprint Mogul (6800) for only $288.99

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have been waiting what seems like FOREVER for the new PPC 6800 phone from Verizon. Earlier today I was told by Verizon that this phone is going to be delayed until September.

Sprint has had this phone for a few weeks now (They call it the Mogul)

Looking on PDAphoneHome.COM and Fat Wallet I found an EXCELLENT DEAL which I just took advantage of.

I got this $549 phone for $288.99

But the deal don't end there.

You get an AMAZING deal on service. I got 1250 Anytime Minutes for only $49.99 a month!

This plan includes:

Unlimited Nights & Weekends starting at 7pm!
Domestic long distance
Unlimited Mobile to Mobile
Unlimited Web/Data Access
Unlimited Picture Mail (with compatible devices)

I was paying Verizon $49.99 a month for JUST Unlimited Web / Data!

They had additional plans available (all which include the above features for this phone those packages are...

500 Anytime Minutes for $30.00 a month
and
2500 Anytime Minutes for $99.99 a month

So I am saving LOTS of money a month by switching to Sprint.

I was curious how the Sprint Network Data speed was compaired to Verizon, so I stopped by a Sprint store and did a Side by Side speed test. They didnt have a Mogul on Display so I tried it on a Treo Palm 700wx.

I went to http://text.dslreports.com/mspeed on both the Treo and my old Verizon 6700 PDA.

The Treo downloaded the 1 MB test file in a blink of the eye, with a marked speed of 824kbit/sec

The same test on my 6700 took forever to download. With its highest speed of 219 kbit/sec. I repeated the test a few times, even cleared the cache on the phone and rebooted it. Never got higer the 219 kbit/sec.

I left the Sprint store and came home and ordered this special deal. The phone will be here in 1 to 2 days.

No idea what I will be doing with my 6700. But since that phone is the main phone on our family plan from Verizon we will be keeping that number (we have a new LG phone that we will give to our son who has been needing a cell phone)

Because of this I will be getting a new phone number for the new phone. But thats ok. The fact I am saving $50 a month makes me happy and makes it worth switching.

Now you dont need to get a 6800, they have lots of phones CHEAP! Like the Motorola Q Smartphone for $99 as well as regular phones, datacards and more.

So now your asking how do I get in on this deal...

The answer is go to Sprint Employee Referral Offer
You will need an email address to take advantage of this offer, use the address savings@sprintemi.com

Then follow the prompts.

In addition MANY people over at FatWallet have been reporting that after they get the phone they are calling in and getting $50 in credit, plus unlimited Text Messaging included at no extra cost!

For more details go to Sprint SERO Plan NOW for EVERYONE!!!

It appears that this offer MAY expire on Friday the 13th, but this is not 100% confirmed.

My new phone will be here in 1 to 2 days. I will report back when I get it,

 

[webbydude]

Ah phooey. It won't work for me since I'm already subscribed under one of Sprint's Family Plans.

EDIT: I mean the Sero plan won't

 

[LER]

Yeah, me too, with a contract too boot.

I think you can get a NEW line with SERO, but...

I already have all the #'s I need.

I think you'll like the Sprint EVDO network, Scott.

let me know what the new sprint number is, my Cell is sprint, and I have unlimited sprint-to-sprint......

LER

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The Sprint EDVO Network is MUCH faster then the Verizon Network (at least at where I use it at)

 

[Ramy]

Sprint service in my area sucks, so that isn't an option for me.

 

[stogie5150]

Sprint service in my area sucks, so that isn't an option for me.

Yep. Down here in the New Orleans area Sprint is just above yelling. Maybe 2 cans and a piece of string. My wife's company has a discount for us if we change to Sprint, but no one in the company that has a Sprint company phone is happy, most of them carry TWO phones, their company Sprint phone, and some other carrier's phone for when they want it to actually work.

But SERO is a great deal, let us know how it goes, Scott.:up

 

[digiblur]

I haven't dug around the website but can current out of contract customers get it?

I'd guess I'd be pushing my luck if I tried to get my 25% corporate discount off my bill too, eh? That would be awesome on the $30 deal!

EDIT:
14: WHAT ABOUT A CORPORATE DISCOUNT?
Sprint does offer discounts for certain corporations. Technically it is not valid with SERO, but many of us have been able to get it added. Call Sprint to see if your work place has a discount offer, and then get working on having it applied. You can do this by emailing eCare, or calling CS. Again, if at first you get denied, keep trying. Discounts vary depending on your place of employment and can be as low as 5% or as high as 28%. Remember that Sprint may check to see if you work where you say you do, so be careful. For a partial list of available corporate discounts, see post #2 of this thread. To check if your work participates, you can check HERE (though not all qualified employers show up through this link).

Sweeett!! It might take some work but I'm dedicated to get my deal. Currently paying $40 after taxes for 750 minutes with unlimited vision and unlimited text. The only thing I will miss the USB tethering option to my laptop, but I need a new phone and I know I'll lose this option on the new phones. Unlimited roaming is an option I don't have and could use it in some areas.

 

[jcrandall]

WELCOME TO SERO!!

I have the 500 minutes for $30 on my PPC6700 and love it. Bill is $40 with insurance and taxes.

You'll have to let me know if the 6800 is much better, and if you can still use the phone as modem feature without paying extra like on the 6700.

Some of the new phones have the modem capabilities linked to a seperate service plan.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Verizon pretty much dominates here; and I am in the middle of a two year contract, so my 700p is here to stay for the next 14 months anyway.

But it sounds like did really well.

 

[TheForce]

Scott- I agree about the Sprint speed over Verizon. I tested it out not long ago too and your figures are spot on but a bit low as I get usually 300kbps on the 6700. What I did to improve it was to boost the processor speed to 520 Mhz. Bet you didn't do that!

Anyway, the real deasl for Verizon vs. Sprint is the Laptop speed. I often get 1.4 Mbs with my Dell laptop using the built in Verizon EVDO MB. It really shows with sling box running at 1Mbs. The other disadvantage is the coverage of Sprint isn't near what Verizon is but it is improving. So that is the tradeoff. The cost difference isn't something that I've really looked at because I place a high priority on reliability and coverage both for my wife and myself worth the cost. If I have a problem with my server or my schedules, I need to jump on it fast or suffer great financial risk. That's the trouble with that type of work. Verizon coverage and reliability made those high paying jobs work.

Now back to the PPC6800- What's the deal on the second camera on the front for the skype phone? Did they remove that on Sprint? The model I saw at CES had two cameras and the guy from Microsoft demonstrated the skype video for me on it.

Either way, I think my Verizon upgrade is in October and I'm happy enough to wait until then. I heard they will be targeting you and I for deals when it is out.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I never hook mine to my laptop. To me its like having a laptop with me at all time, I can do all SatelliteGuys functions to it no matter where I am.

I can restart the server, restart services, move messages etc.

About the only thing I could not do with it was send and reply to PMs via PDA mode. However with the new PDA mode I can do that.

I have never overclocked my 6700. I never felt like spending the money for it and a lot of ofolks who do it report that their phone locks up a lot when its overclocked.

There is only one camera on the 6800. A friend of mine sent me a picture he took with his 6800 and its nice to see that camera phone pictures are starting to improve greatly.

It is being reported that you can tether your 6800 with your laptop and incur no extra charges, you do need to make a simple registry change so that the phone does not report that you have tethered it.

Over the past few days I have been doing lots of tests on my 6700 and the highest I got it up to is 317kbit/sec still much slower then sprint.

I still have not received my 6800 yet. My order status displays as: The order is awaiting fulfillment.

Can't wait to get it.

 

[Ramy]

Scott I am afraid that you are going to regret getting Sprint, as far as phone service I mean. It might be different where you are, but every where I went with it, Cincinnati, Houston, All places inbetween Ashland, KY and Houston it wasn't very good for me.

 

[digiblur]

I've had Sprint for about 5-6 years. There's only one place where I go where I don't have service, but at this friends house, there's no cable, no dsl, etc, so it is understandable. I have a Cingular/AT&T phone for work so I get to compare the services quite a bit. Cingular is over sold in this area and continues to have call issues in the middle of town, dropping calls, failed dials, failed answers, etc. They have good coverage but the coverage does you no good when you can't use it. It's almost a daily occurence when I'm talking with a co-worker and we have to use our personal phones(non-Cingular) due to the problems.

I've been looking for a deal on our two phones for quite some time. Unlimited data, unlimited picture mail, unlimited text is a must, as I just couldn't go back to worrying about overages on non-voice services. We order two phones with this deal last night. The Mogul and the Q, both with the $30 plan. Everything went pretty smoothly, we even got unlimited text msgs on both plans. I called back after the phones were ordered and got my 25% corporate discount added on top of that. So I'm guessing my bill will be around $30 a month after taxes and fees. What a steal! No carrier could ever touch that type of deal.

 

[TheForce]

I've had Sprint for about 5-6 years. There's only one place where I go where I don't have service, but at this friends house, there's no cable, no dsl, etc, so it is understandable. I have a Cingular/AT&T phone for work so I get to compare the services quite a bit. Cingular is over sold in this area and continues to have call issues in the middle of town, dropping calls, failed dials, failed answers, etc. They have good coverage but the coverage does you no good when you can't use it. It's almost a daily occurence when I'm talking with a co-worker and we have to use our personal phones(non-Cingular) due to the problems.

digiblur- What you described is typical of GSM overload. The modulation scheme in GSM suffers greatly as the call density increases. The CDMA does not until it reaches channel saturation, then it all goes down which rarely happens these days. Even at the convention center where every 3rd person is yacking on a CDMA phone while the other two are trying to get connection on GSM phones.

I've had Cingular from analog to GSM and T-Mobile GSM. They all suck for connection stability especially as you described. My Verizon hasn't dropped a call in 17 months now. And that goes for my wife's phone too as we both swirtched out plans together. She can't get over the reliability of Verizon. I keep telling her it's CDMA that made the difference. But the coverage footprint is also important. While others are questioning whether they have signal, I never give it a thought. I just dial out or receive calls without worry. GSM is cheaper though because it is open source code. CDMA is a proprietary system that requires license from Qualcomm and that has to be paid for.

 

[digiblur]

digiblur- What you described is typical of GSM overload. The modulation scheme in GSM suffers greatly as the call density increases. The CDMA does not until it reaches channel saturation, then it all goes down which rarely happens these days. Even at the convention center where every 3rd person is yacking on a CDMA phone while the other two are trying to get connection on GSM phones.

Yep... not sure if Cingular's TDMA system was worse but it was pretty close to their GSM. Constantly dropping calls...garbled audio..constant problems with setting up calls...one-way static. Their system used to be great but its overloaded now.

I've had several people comment on how clear the Sprint cell phone was. The only time I've seen issues with Sprint is the hand off of an active call between two different Sprint SID's. Sometimes it just doesn't work right...

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Got my 6800 Mogul tonight!

I like it, its zippy and light, the speeds I am getting blows anything away I have ever gotten from Verizon.

However it does have a few issues...
1) Even with the volume all the way up the sounds coming out of the external speaker are hard to hear. My phone was in my 6700 holster tonight and my phone rang and I barely heard
it
2) Its supposed to have more memory then the 6700, however twice tonight while browsing the web I got an error message that memory space was critical, so I had to reboot it. I never EVER had to do that with my 6700.

3) Sprint does not offer a Wireless Sync type service like Verizon does. In order to get my mail I needed to setup an exchange server account. (Yes I could have popped it directly from the phone but having it check the mail every 5 minutes eats the battery away like nothing. I signed up at mail2web.com and now have a exchange email setup and I am instantly notified of new messages in my inbox.

Other than that this thing ROCKS. I was shocked to see how small the memory card for this beast was! (smaller then the fingernail on my pinky finger!)

I am very happy so far.

 

[TheForce]

Scott- as with the 6700 you may be able to improve the volume on the 6800 in the registry files. I had to do that on my 6700 and now the voice command is quite loud when I receive a call. The only problem with that is the other people in the room know who is calling me. I followed the instructions to do that on PDA Forums and no, I don't recall the exact settings. I also had problems with the Blue tooth volume and another registry file hack fixed that too.

So, does it have the dual camera?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I found the found problem, it seems as though the scroll wheel on the side does not control the volume of the ringer. (Only the sound when you on a call)

No dual camera.

Another strange thing is the way it opens... It slides up now instead of sliding down. I addition that have moved some stuff around on the keyboard. For example the numbers use to be across the top row, and now the numbers are in the middle of the keyboard in a box shape. I stil have not found the $ sign yet.

I used the phone most of the day, in fact had Slingbox running on it for about 2 hours, then did a lot of email and web surfing and only used up 50% of my battery. On my other phone even with the extended battery it would have been telling me the battery is getting low...

I do enjoy it though.

 

[TheForce]

No dual camera- that sucks, I suppose that was one of the things that caused the delay in release. I always wondered if the cell phone companies would permit skype on a phone they sold.

Not sure I understand what you mean by sliding up.

Does the 6700 charging cradle work with the 6800?

Will you get a 4gb micro sd card for it?

 

[Ramy]

2gb is the largest micro sd card so far.