Planning to offer on-site repair shops in more than half its stores by mid March, Sprint will be the first cell phone carrier to open dedicated technical facilities at its retail locations.

Within a few hours, everything from a broken antenna or hinge to a cracked LCD screen can be fixed by a Sprint technician at under $50; kinds of repairs that would normally take several days to be sent to a centralized shop. However, more severe problems such as circuitry or repairs that need soldering will still have to be sent away.

As part of a larger redesign of its 800 retail stores, the move comes after The Yankee Group, a technology research firm, reported Sprint customers use their phones more often than customers of other carriers; approximately 16 or 17 hours a month.

"You can imagine someone who relies on their phone for communication, either personal or for their business, and how they would have to wait," said Jim Mickey, vice president of Sprint store management. "They didn't want a replacement phone. The main goal was if we could keep them in their phone, they'll be happier."

Verizon Wireless and Nextel say they can fix light problems in-store such as broken antennas. However, more serious problems would require exchanges for replacements.

Cingular and T-Mobile say they don't even do repairs in their stores, but rather refer customers to a toll-free number and have a new phone shipped to them. Since they run on GSM technology and use SIM cards, the information can be transferred over without difficulty.