Nextel Network Coverage Changes – PA, DE, NJ, TN, AR

In preparation for Network Vision, Network Ops will continue decommissioning a number of existing iDEN towers throughout the country, the evening of 5/7/12, in the following markets: Central Pennsylvania, Western Pennsylvania, Delaware, Philadelphia Metro and Southern Jersey.

Markets scheduled:

• Tower decommission of the following markets is scheduled :
  • 5/9/12: Arkansas, Memphis, Nashville
  • 5/14/12: Northern California, including: San Francisco Bay, South Bay, Lower Central Valley, Upper Central Valley.
• Tower decommission continues every Monday and Wednesday evening through June.

Network Vision:

• Decommissioning eliminates excess capacity and has minimal customer impact.
• Retuning/decommissioning towersWILL NOT shutdown the iDEN market service in 2012.
• Customers who rely on in-building coverage near a decommissioned tower may experience in-building signal strength changes but street/in-car coverage should remain the same.

Sprint Customer Care Tools

Ever wonder what snazzy tools our care departments have to assist you when problems arise? The list is exhausting!

While most of these tools are internal, there are a few external ones thrown in for good measure. While you won’t be able to access *most* of these tools, you can at least have a good idea of all the resources available to our agents, and what they do.

Sprint Store Information Master Database

Ever wondered what info we have about the retail/Servie & Repair (S&R) stores that you don’t? Believe it or not, it’s not much! Basically, we have:

• Dealer Name / DBA / Legal Name & Address Info
• Standard Store Phone #
• Service & Repair Phone #
• Store Territory / Director of that area / Sprint Contact
• Store’s Contract ID
• & Finally the store’s hours

Some of you may find this info useful? Perhaps for directing complaints, direct phone numbers, or other reasons. In case you do, it’s posted here as a google doc:

Sprint Service & Repair Master DB (2012) (Google Doc)

Keep in mind that most locations are simply DBA’s with a Sprint contract. So when we have issues with them at an executive level we simply refer back to the division manager that enforces the contract, or requests a favor, but in the end, it’s up to the store to handle situations within our guidelines.

#ISN Poll: What do you want to see more of?

Sprint April 2012 Launch Deck

we know we’re late in the month, but our motto is better late than never, right?

Below is the Aprol 2012 Launch Deck for all new devices/plans/services/changes.

We will post May’s next week!

UPDATE! it appears the google doc viewer is having some issues, so here’ sa direct download link to the file:

April_2012_Launch_Deck

Weekend Maintenance Window 2AM-6AM 11/22

We’ll be having some scheduled maintenance during off-peak hours this weekend, though very minimal in comparison to recent weeks.

• CDMA Homedeck (Handset home/landing page for the web), and the Digital Lounge will be unavailable from 2AM-6AM on Sunday 11/22
• Premium Content purchases, both new and stored, will be unavailable for download fromn 2AM-4AM on Sunday 11/22
• Wireless eCare will be unavailable during the same period – 2AM-6AM on Sunday 11/22
• Online Storefront, Sprint.com, and all Telesales systems will be offline 2AM-6AM also on Sunday 11/22

During this time, if there are any CDMA Provisioning requests (adds, changes, and deletes) made during this window, they will be delayed up to 4 hours. Continue to submit any requests as usual, and they will be held in queue until the maintenance window closes at 6AM, at which time they will be processed.

Motorola Debut i856 Maintenance Release

A new software release, RA6.00.004, is available for Motorola® Debut™ i856 customers. Customers with access to a phone cable to connect to a computer and internet access can download this new software themselves. Customers can also go to an authorized Service and Repair center and have a technician update their phone to this new software version.

 

 

Issues that are fixed with the new software:

• Now has Battery Temperature Monitoring: A Cool Down Message screen appears when battery has been exposed to extreme heat.

What you need to do:

• When a customer reports an issue with their Motorola Stature i9 device, first verify the software version of the phone is RA6.00.004.
  1. From the idle screen, press #, *, Menu, the Right Key (Next To OK) in rapid succession. The Trace Mode menu displays.
  2. Scroll down to Unit Info, Press OK.
  3. Scroll down to access Software, Press OK. The software version should be listed as RA6.00.004.
• If the customer is not on the latest software version, tell them if they have access to a phone cable to connect to a computer and internet access, they can download this new software themselves or they can go to an authorized Service and Repair center and have a technician update their phone to this new software version.
• Customer downloading instructions:
  • 1. Have the customer confirm that their PC matches the following requirements before selecting the correct utility on the Web site:
       • Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher installed on your computer
       • If using a USB Data Cable computer operating system should be: Windows 98 SE™, 2000™, ME™, and XP™
       • If using an RS232 Data Cable computer operating system should be: Windows 98™, NT 4.0, 2000™, ME™ and XP™
    2. Go to the Motorola Web site at: http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/support/software/html/firmware_utility.html and download the software to the phone.
    3. Power on the iDEN phone.
    4. Select the utility that matches the phone model.
    5. Connect the iDEN phone to the PC with a Data Cable.
    6. When the utility starts, follow the onscreen instructions provided.

Wireless Backup – Keep Your Contacts

DID YOU KNOW… If your phone currently supports Wireless Backup, .and you are switching to a device that does not support Wireless Backup, we will gladly email you a .CSV export of your contacts that are backed up on the Wireless Backup server ! You can then import the csv file into Outlook, or any other contact manager of your choice.

Contact Technical Support if you are in this situation and would find this useful. As always, our goal is for you to always have access to your contact, and to make the transaction between devices as seamless as possible.

PRL Updates in select LA markets

Starting this morning, we have released new Preferred Roaming List (PRL) updates that allow customers in select areas to keep their roaming ability. This will mean nothing to 99.99% of you that read the blog, but for those few that do, I know you’ve been waiting on this for a little while now, so here you are.

The new PRLs (standard 10055/50555, EVDO 20255/60655 and data card 60755) resolve the loss of mobile broadband roaming as home service in Houma, LA and surrounding markets.

These same PRLs will also resolve the following roaming outages expected to take place on the targeted dates indicated.

• 10/28/09 – loss of roaming voice and 1XRTT – Mohave County (This PRL update does not resolve mobile broadband roaming coverage loss for customers in this area.)
• 11/13/09 – loss of roaming voice and 1XRTT – Yuma County and La Paz County, AZ
• 11/18/09 – loss of roaming voice and 1xRTT – Santa Cruz County, AZ(This PRL update does not resolve mobile broadband roaming coverage loss for customers in this area.)

Customers living in or traveling in these counties should update their PRL prior to the roaming network date, or they will lose the listed services.

Note: Dates listed are planned; however, actual actual dates may vary by about 1 – 3 days before or after.

Visual Voicemail: Upgrade Required

If you’re lucky enough to have visual voicemail on your device, then there’s an update available that you probably didn’t even know about! It’s a required update/release that came out the 2nd week of September.

You may have been ignoring the prompts, or maybe you weren’t sure what they were.. but go ahead, and click upgrade on your device. In fact, you will be required to upgrade in order to continue receiving visual voicemail in the near future. In the coming weeks, if you have not updated it, you will only receive a notification that a message was received, however the message itself will never appear on your device. This means you would not receive your actual messages, so PLEASE ACCEPT THE UPGRADE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Just over 20% of our visual voicemail subscribers have completed the upgrade on their device. There is no risk involved, and it only takes a couple of minutes, so why not go ahead and do it now? If you’re setting up your visual voicemail, you should encounter the following prompt: “An upgrade is now available” – simply choose upgrade.

You can also get there on your own accord through the Voicemail icon > Menu > Settings > Check for Upgrade.

If you encounter a message stating “Install Blocked: For security, your phone is set to block installations of applications not sourced in Android Market”, follow these steps:

1.Click ‘Settings’

2.Check the ‘Unknown Sources’ box, and OK on the ‘Attention’ pop-up

3.Press the back hardkey to return to the Visual Voicemail Inbox

4.Choose Menu > Settings > Check for Upgrade, & click ‘Upgrade’

5.Once it’s found, choose ‘OK’, then ‘Install’, then ‘Done’

To verify the upgrade was successful, or that you have already completed the upgrade on your device,  select the Voicemail icon on your device, and repeat step 4 above. If you have already completed the upgrade, you will receive a message stating: “No upgrade is available at this time”.