“Sprint still serving Calhoun County” |
| Sprint still serving Calhoun County Posted: 27 Dec 2010 01:36 AM PST by Anniston Star  Misti Kidd looks at a Samsung phone recently at the new Sprint store in Oxford. (Anniston Star photo by Trent Penny) In March, all three of Calhoun County's Sprint Nextel stores closed simultaneously due to cell phone quality complaints and increased competition — leaving area customers without a local business to handle phone service or repairs. The nearest locations were Talladega, Gadsden and Birmingham. Within two months, however, a new Sprint store opened in Oxford at 98 Ali Way behind the Logan's Roadhouse and has been going strong ever since. "We felt like if we consolidated into one area, we were confident we could snag business and it has worked out," said Joe Wilson, who owns the Oxford Sprint store through a company called Talk Source Inc. Based in Foley, Wilson and Talk Source own seven Sprint retail and service stores in Alabama and Florida. Since the earlier Sprint stores closed, the company has expanded 3G coverage into the area, helping the Oxford store pull in customers from AT&T, which has had troubles expanding its 3G into the area. "We've seen an influx of customers walking in lately," Wilson said. Oxford Sprint store manager LaShun McGrew said business has been steady the last few months. "We have had pretty good foot traffic and we've only done a little bit of advertising," McGrew said. She noted that in addition to individual customers, Sprint provides service to the Oxford Police Department and Regional Medical Center. "They like the push-to-talk feature," McGrew said. Besides offering Sprint Nextel products and accessories, the Oxford store also provides full phone service. "Any issues with the phones, we can work on them in the store," Wilson said. Atlanta-based national telecommunications expert Jeff Kagan said Sprint lost ground to AT&T and Verizon a few years ago after the company switched CEOs and purchased Nextel. "Depending on where you were, some people complained about quality and dropped calls while some complained about customer service," Kagan said. In the past year, however, Sprint has gained some of that ground back, Kagan said. "They are starting to recover," he said. "They were in a crash dive and now they are pulling up. The problems they had they are solving." He said he expected more success for Sprint in the future. "Over the course of the next year or two, if they continue with improvements, I see them as being very successful," Kagan said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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