Free Airave from Sprint!! (YMMV)

btw i have one and it is great , thanks again

yup true it is a nice heads up

Also got one a few months ago. It's awesome. It was a ridiculous process to get one, though. They would not sell me one over the phone, let alone give me one for free. They said I had to find a Sprint store that had one in stock. None of the 3 stores in my area had one. I had to drive over an hour from my house to get one from a more urban area. The workers there told me they never sell any of these, not surprising since cell coverage is generally decent in urban areas. To me that seemed like a really stupid way to market this product. Nice to see that Sprint is finally figuring out who the target audience for this thing is.

In for one for free and they also included one year free before the 4.99 kicks in.

i just got it before 4 days but dint connect it. got it for free and no monthly fees also. going to connect it soon. I have question that sprint calls airave as mini sprint tower. So can I take it to India and join it to internet and get sprint network? will it work as international phone and charge international calls? or will it work as local?

I have 2 HTC Touches on the $30 SERO plan

1. Called last week and was transferred to tech support. That was when I "learned" about this They wouldn't offer it for free... period
2. Called today and told customer service I read about it being free on the Internet. First she offered it at no cost but I would have to sign a 2 year contract and pay $5/month for service. Then she offered it for free without signing a 2 year contract but I would have to pay $5/month.
3. I was transferred to retention where I was finally offered the Airave for free with no new contract and FREE service for it indefinitely.

I always had great service (3-4) bars at my house and then about 6 months ago Boost started offering the $50 unlimited deal and since Boost now uses Sprints CDMA network and everyone and there grandma signed up for it around here the network capacity has been stretched and I rarely see even one bar. That being said I really hope this fixes my problem at home as I have great service everywhere else.

I may grab one while it is still around. It seems that Sprint is slowly cutting down on all the nice things they used to offer in an attempt to expand customer base (first went Sero, then $50 self service phone replacements).

I was able to get one for free and had the $5/month fee waived after talking to retentions. Received it yesterday and it works great! Went from 0-1 bars to 5 bars throughout my house.

nmbadani said: i just got it before 4 days but dint connect it. got it for free and no monthly fees also. going to connect it soon. I have question that sprint calls airave as mini sprint tower. So can I take it to India and join it to internet and get sprint network? will it work as international phone and charge international calls? or will it work as local?

No, this won't work. The Airave has a built in GPS to make sure you are in the US. Technically, Airave is a cell tower and Sprint can not broadcast in the countries where it is not licensed.

thanky0ujesus said: I just spoke with them on Monday and complained about my service at my house. They looked at other complaints in the area and confirmed that the signal power is low in my neighborhood. The rep at retentions approved to send me a free unit and to waive the monthly charge. I went online to check the status and it showed that I was being billed $4.99/monthly charge. I called back to dispute it and there was another issue. It turns out the device wasn't sent because they're BACKORDERED on Airaves for the next 1-2 months! Some B&M stores are even discontinuing it. Bummer.

Look at your bill carefully - it should show a charge for $4.99, and then a credit for $4.99.

Hmmm - not sure why they would be discountinued; perhaps there will be a market for mine...

Just called customer service and have a free one on the way with 24 months no charge....Thank you fatwallet.

Totally worked. Called and said I was very happy with Sprint service but had troubles with reception in my new home (all true). I asked what they could do to help -- pretty much played dumb and never mentioned the Airave or any device. First CSR said they had something that would work and transferred me to an account specialist. Same spiel with her. She had a very interesting leading question though -- she asked me if I was calling because I might leave Sprint if they weren't able to fix the problem. Conveniently my contract had just expired last week so I told her that I would likely cancel if the reception wasn't better (again, all true).

She was able to confirm that my account qualified for a free device and completely free service with no contract extensions. Shipped free too!

She also let me know that the email confirmation would indicate there was a $49 charge but that she was crediting my account by the same amount.

I felt like taking the nicer approach tonight (versus angry consumer), but thought it was interesting that I had to confirm that I would leave them before she would ship it.

Thanks, OP!

adam-i-am said: I always had great service (3-4) bars at my house and then about 6 months ago Boost started offering the $50 unlimited deal and since Boost now uses Sprints CDMA network and everyone and there grandma signed up for it around here the network capacity has been stretched and I rarely see even one bar. That being said I really hope this fixes my problem at home as I have great service everywhere else.

What area do you live in?

These retention CSR's are on the defensive, I swear!

I called *2 and got retentions and told them I was receiving poor service in my home, and was thinking about moving to AT&T because my friend had better reception in my home (all true information.) They offered me the box for $50, with the monthly fee waived, but I would have to sign a two-year agreement for the Airave. I said that I didn't want to be tied down by a contract for a box like that, and wouldn't pay that $50 fee. I was then placed on hold for 10 minutes after saying my issue wasn't resolved, and the retentions CSR said she'll note my account, but will not do anything to make it free or non-contractual.

Any tips/should I just call back?

*EDIT*

Just spoke with a supervisor, and she offered it to me at no cost for two years, no monthly fee. But she did say there was a 2-year contract for the Airave box itself. However, if I was ever dissatisfied with the Airrave or did not want it anymore (if I moved to a better service area, etc) I could return it for free with free shipping, and no cancellation fee.

Weird way to get around this, but it worked..I guess.

*2ND EDIT*

After being placed on hold for verification with the same retention supervisor, she said that there will be no 2-year contract placed on the Airave, and I should receive it within a month (backordered.)

So overall:

35 minutes of CSR haggling for a strong connection in my apartment (or where-ever I move in the future.) I consider that a win. Thanks OP!

fatbutnotfat said: What Phone No you called .. Retention no for airwave ? You mentioned *2 !
For Sprint phones, dialing "*2" connects you automatically to Sprint Customer Service. Their contact us page list other numbers as well.

In the process of adding new phones to my account, I got retentions to give me the Airave and 1 year of service for free.
I'll take it.

I finally got tired of dealing with the reception issues in my house and swallowed my aversion to dealing with Sprint customer service hassles long enough to call them tonight about the airwave. I was on the phone with them for about 45 minutes and was transferred 2x because both people who tried to help me were not able to order it, despite their best efforts, and transferred me to another department. I ended up with Account Services (aka Retentions). They readily agreed to send me a free airwaive with the monthly fee waived (the monthly fee is waived as long as I have the device). It didn't hurt that she had trouble hearing me due to the poor reception in my home, LOL. I had to hold about 5 minutes for her to place the order and she said that I should receive it in about 3-5 days. I have the $30 a month SERO plan.

Interestingly, at the end of the call the CSR mentioned that the airwave requires a modem. That was the first time I ever heard of that. Can anyone provide some insight into this? I have an unopened NIB modem somewhere but am currently accessing the internet wirelessly through my landlord. I'm wondering if the airwave will work if I hook it up to my own modem and plug the modem in, even if that modem is not connected to an internet source/an ISP. TIA.

JaxChris said: Airave sends your calls over the internet using VoIP, which is just how real cell towers work nowadays. You have to plug the Airave into a router with an active internet connection. If you don't have your own router/modem then you'd have to either:

A - Plug it into your landlords router (if they know you're using their connection)
B - Get a Wireless Ethernet Bridge & Wireless Router

Instructions for B:
Plug Wireless Ethernet Bridge into your laptops Ethernet port. Follow guide in box to join it to your landlords network. Next plug it into your router through the WAN/Uplink port. After that you plug the Airave into your router. Then you can go back to connecting your laptop to either your landlords router or connect to your router which will give better signal strength in your apartment (the Wireless Bridge has a stronger antenna than a laptop and will get faster speeds from the landlords router).

That make sense? I guess one of your five talents isn't networking or telecommunications. =)

Thanks for the quick and informed response. i was hoping that someone would chime in. Yes, my landlords know that I'm using their connection, it's password protected. I've actually taught myself how to set up wireless networks so that I could set them up in the home of two more technologically challenged friends, but that comment about the airwave needing a router really threw me. However, given my many talents and your clear instructions, I'm sure that I can figure it out with few hiccups. In re-reading my last post, I realize that I said that I have a modem when I should have said Linksys wireless router (WRT54G I think but I have to find the box). I'm going for option B. Thanks again