Boost Mobile working to fix SMS text message delays by May 7
By Will Park on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 at 1:04 PM PST In Announcements, Boost Mobile
Boost Mobile’s success with their $50 unlimited calling plan has proved to be something of a double-edged sword. On the one side, Boost Mobile’s growth in Q1 helped stem the cash-bleed from parent company Sprint (NYSE: S)’s bottom line. On the other hand, the deluge of new Boost subscribers has crippled the carrier’s SMS text messaging backbone. The carrier’s congested SMS network has resulted in SMS text message delays that sometimes last hours.
In response to customer complaints of unreliable SMS text message plans, Boost Mobile has already started to address their network problems. Boost identified the SMS text message problem back in March, and has tasked engineers with tweaking hardware and software to add more SMS text messaging capacity to their network. John Votava, a spokesperson for Boost Mobile, told the Wall Street Journal that Boost engineers would “have a fix in place by next week, specifically by May 7th.”
Boost’s swfit response to the text messaging snafu may prove a wise move. Boost Mobile’s $50 unlimited plan includes unlimited text messages every month, which is one of Boost’s selling points.
[Via: WSJ]
I purchased the i335 phone and Boost Mobile unlimited plan at my local Radio Shack on April 20th, primarily for the unlimited text, which I need to use frequently when at work. I also planned to use the phone for occasional long distance phone calls. After purchasing and activating my phone on-line and waiting for 3 days for the phone to activate with no success I called customer care (it should be called customer we don’t care) they finally managed to activate my phone. After using it (or attempting to use it) for several days I found that text messaging is a joke. Incoming text often NEVER arrive, the text that do arrive average 47 minutes to several hours to arrive. Long distance service is terrible my calls are always dropped,.Yes calls are “unlimited” but it is extremely annoying to have to call someone 3 or 5 times in an attempt to complete a simple conversation.
I called customer care to complain about the text messaging and the long distance issues and was told they were well aware of both of the issues. I was told that they were sorry, in fact very sorry but the popularity of their unlimited plan had strained their network. The rep informed me that my complaint about texting had been a major issue for 2 months and that they were working on resolving that issue and hoped to have it fixed in May.
I don’t think they should have been advertising unlimited text and pushing unlimited text when they knew it wasn’t working properly for 2 months prior to my phone purchase. I was then told that the issue with long distance call dropping was an issue they’d began to note in “certain areas” and how sorry they are. I was told that it started as a small problem but that the problem seems to be expanding in “certain areas”.
The rep then walked me through various setting resets before sending me a text, which took 6 minutes to arrive to me (only text I ever received in under 40 minutes), he then said my phone was fixed and that they hoped to improve their text service. He said that they had people working on that and I should see improvement in May.
After failing to receive text messages for the following 2 or 3 days, I had 3 friends text me test text, 2 of the text never arrived and the 3rd took 1 hour and 14 minutes to appear in my inbox. I called customer care again and was walked through another series of resets and once again told how very sorry they are and that they understand there is a problem and they know that it is frustrating..etc..
May arrived and texting was still not working in anything close to the expected fashion so I called customer care again to request a refund of the unused portion of my unlimited payment and was told they have a no refunds policy and how sorry they are that I am not happy with my service, they also always make sure to tell me the quick keypresses to use to Reboost my phone, which is very annoying when you are attempting to explain that your phone does not work for what you purchased it for. This time I asked to speak to a supervisor and was evidently transfered not to a supervisor but to another rep who listened to me for awhile and then told me she was not a supervisor. I was told there was no supervisor available,. I asked for the phone number for a supervisor and was told I could leave a message at the Boost website. I said I would stay on the line or call Customer Care back over and over until one could be located, suddenly there was a supervisor available. After explaining the issues to the supervisor I was told again how very sorry they were and that, yes there are text messaging issues and they are working to resolve them. Her excuse for the issues is that Boost had NO idea how popular their unlimited plan would be and that all of the new unlimited users are the reason there are issues. I was told I can not have any portion of my $50 refunded. They have a strict NO refund policy but I was “given” a $15 credit, which really only served to infuriated me. Great I have $15 to use on a phone that I can’t use for phone calls or text. Wonderful, great customer care there! At this point all I want to do is to return my phone and get a refund. I don’t want to use the phone, I DO NOT want to be a Boost customer.
I attempted to return the phone to Radio Shack and was told I can exchange it for a new same model phone. I generally spend several hundred dollars a year at my local Radio Shack, I will no longer be shopping there. Boost Mobile is still advertising their “wonderful” unlimited plan and signing up more people, so I imagine the problems will get worse and not better. I feel duped and ripped off by both Boost Mobile and by Radio Shack.
Last evening I tried (one last attempt) to use the phone for a long distance call, 10 minute conversation and 3 times I was dropped. I then had 2 friends send me text, neither of which has arrived after 15 hours. I sent myself a text and it arrived after 42 minutes. Today is May 16th and text and the long distance issues have obviously not been resolved.
I would strongly suggest that at this time no one sign up for Boost Mobile Unlimited if you want, need or expect to use your phone for phone calls and/or text messaging.
I don’t think my expectations were too high. I wasn’t interested in bells and whistles, just wanted a cell phone on which I can make phone calls and send and receive text messages. Text messaging is supposed to be a quick form of communication. A cell service on which text never arrive or take longer than a few minutes to arrive is of no use to me at my job or at home. My initial $50 of unlimited service runs out on May 20th. I will not be Reboosting.
I have purchased a new Virgin Mobile pay as you go phone. Virgin Mobile is the cell carrier I’d used for 2 years before switching to Boost and never had issues with phone calls or text messaging except for a delayed text on the day that Obama was inaugurated which was understandable. I hope that Virgin Mobiles new unlimited plan won’t degrade their up to this point very solid and excellent service.
I wish my Boost Motorola i335 had a flashlight feature because at least then I’d have something minimally useful for my over $100 expenditure.
I have had Boost Mobile since March of 2008. And The text messaging has always been SLOW, even before the unlimited plan came out. I sometimes get my text messages a day or two late. And when i do receive them it can take anywhere from 2 seconds to 2 minutes to download it, ( yes download). I do not have the Unlimited plan, I have the dollar a day chat plan, which includes unlimited text. Even though the texting is far from perfect, i’d still reccommend Boost Mobile to friends, for the Unlimited plan because it also includes unlimited web access,unlimited chirp and unlimited use of multi media texting.
May 7th has come and gone, and the text messages are still as slow as ever, so what exactly did they do?