Time to Leave Sprint?

Not many people are fans of their cell phone companies lately. Most people I know are getting upset at AT&T. Their phones, mostly iPhones, are dropping their calls left and right. Verizon's customer service doesn't seem to be up to par. And Sprint, that's the one I get to complain about, I'm getting more and more upset with their phones.

I just picked up an EVO 4G. On the surface, this is a great phone. Easy to set up and use every app I've tried so far. I then noticed that there's a bunch of apps that come prepackaged on the phone that I just have no interest in. NASCAR? What's that? Voice mail? I want to use Google Voice thanks much. Uninstall prepackaged apps? Good luck.

Yes there are people on the web that say they have done it. I tend to believe them as there are videos documenting the process. But it is a process that is not for the computer illiterate; sometimes consisting of multiple updates, flashes, backups and recoveries. And in my case, while I'm not afraid of linux or ADB, all of the instructions I have found simply end with my phone displaying a disheartening message of "Update Fail!"

One post on the web asked the question, "Whose phone is this?" We probably all agreed that the phones weren't ours when we signed those contracts to indicate that we had read said contracts even though in my case the sheaf of papers was barely on the counter long enough for me to dot the 'i' in my last name. Even if that is the case, shouldn't the phone feel like it belongs to me? If it doesn't, why would I want to use it? Meh, I'll probably forget about it eventually... until I go looking to use a nearby app... and remember all the folks that were able to remove that app... and then their phones got faster... and had longer battery life... grumble grumble... damn Sprint...

I suppose all the phone companies are being forced, at gun point of course, to cut corners somewhere to be competitive. In the case of Sprint, apparently that means selling those corner seats out to advertisers. I suppose it did get me talking about NASCAR... Ah well, might as well get in the spirit. "Make that telco your bitch Ricky Bobby!"