Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

[kg4icg]

Those with HTC One A9's, nougat is now installing on the sprint version

 

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[bigsnake49]

I've been on the 25 GB plan for $50 + $15 per line X 2 = $80 month me and my wife + phone payments. What I like is that I can tether all 25 GB if I want.

 

Too bad that promo ends March of next year as well

 

Seems like Sprint will have a few promos ending next March, then what??

 

That's when the merger with T-Mobile will close .

[dnicekid]

Marcelo believes that "Goliath is panicking"...

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/831619230843957248

 

I don't see it that way...

 

 

He is giving us his best version of J L. Trying to spin off something we all know isn't true.... this is a big move by vzw, and he is acting like it isn't lol

[JossMan]

I gave the Verizon unlimited plan a hard look and decided to stay with Sprint.  Sprint's LTE coverage here is everywhere, I haven't seen my S7 drop to 3G since I've had it and average 15mbps down with some areas pushing 100mbps.  I pay $79.86 a month for 2 lines/6GB shared and never come close to using all the data per month.  

[Arysyn]

I decided to make the switch to Verizon too for my personal account. Been with Sprint/Nextel for over 10 years. I am a shareholder, very hard decision. Sprint only deployed 10x10, 5x5 and swiss cheese B41 in San Diego. At home I get sub 1Mbps on Sprint 10x10, right now 6:30PM PST peak, I am pushing 80Mbps on Verizon. It is day and night coverage on Verizon, as Verizon is king in San Diego and has huge customer base.

 

I hope Sprint one day will blanket B41 in San Diego, but not a single permit since early 2016. In 2019 we will wait and see where Sprint is at with their 5G. I am holding my shares, we will hope they will do very well with 5G and will likely be switching back.

Sounds like the Sprint network there has a similar problem to what I experienced in some of the areas I went around with my Sprint account here in the Chicago suburbs a few years ago. There might be an excellent network for Sprint in the city, but the suburbs were hit and miss. Schaumburg, where Sprint has deployed band 41 quite well, was very impressive, particularly during rush hour. I've written about it alot here on S4GRU whenever I've given my opinions how Sprint ought to focus on expanding band 41. Yet in areas, such as Woodridge, Westmont, Downers Grove, etc., very sporadic band 41, mostly PCS which at the time was only 5x5. Now that its 10x10, its probably better, but I doubt its great.

 

The likely reason AT&T is great here in Chicago, despite also being 10x10, it also has quite a few other active 10x10 frequencies, such as low-band and WCS, also deploying AWS-3. Sprint only has 5x5 low-band, when not in PCS or band 41. So, 10x10 in a primary use case, isn't enough. Sprint needs to make their primary frequency be band 41. 3xca uses 60mhz of spectrum, which is great, and Sprint ought to get that out to at least 90% of the areas where they have band 41. Sprint does that very soon, they'll have a great network definitely worth keeping service activated on.

[Trip]

The graph in this Washington Post article I think hits on why people are so concerned about Sprint's response this week.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/02/14/your-complete-guide-to-choosing-an-unlimited-data-plan/?utm_term=.b6dd5dde9bb5

 

Look at all the asterisks on Sprint's plan.  Look at the things the others offer and Sprint doesn't. 

 

For me personally, I'm not terribly bothered.  I don't have a use for unlimited service, I tether rarely, and I have been out of the country thrice in my life, two of those times to Mexico on behalf of the FCC, when I had a government phone anyway.  And, of course, there's Sprint roaming onto US Cellular, which will keep me as a customer for the foreseeable future.

 

But the optics of it are really bad.  Particularly the "Requires new account?" line.

 

- Trip

[derrph]

The graph in this Washington Post article I think hits on why people are so concerned about Sprint's response this week.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/02/14/your-complete-guide-to-choosing-an-unlimited-data-plan/?utm_term=.b6dd5dde9bb5

 

Look at all the asterisks on Sprint's plan. Look at the things the others offer and Sprint doesn't.

 

For me personally, I'm not terribly bothered. I don't have a use for unlimited service, I tether rarely, and I have been out of the country thrice in my life, two of those times to Mexico on behalf of the FCC, when I had a government phone anyway. And, of course, there's Sprint roaming onto US Cellular, which will keep me as a customer for the foreseeable future.

 

But the optics of it are really bad. Particularly the "Requires new account?" line.

 

 

- Trip

Wow. It makes Sprint look like it has a bunch of catches to its plan. ATT doesn't look no better that you have to add features that I'm sure cost a fee. How the chart looks, Verizon and T-Mobile have the best offer for unlimited as it stands today.

 

 

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[Arysyn]

The graph in this Washington Post article I think hits on why people are so concerned about Sprint's response this week.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/02/14/your-complete-guide-to-choosing-an-unlimited-data-plan/?utm_term=.b6dd5dde9bb5

 

Look at all the asterisks on Sprint's plan. Look at the things the others offer and Sprint doesn't.

 

For me personally, I'm not terribly bothered. I don't have a use for unlimited service, I tether rarely, and I have been out of the country thrice in my life, two of those times to Mexico on behalf of the FCC, when I had a government phone anyway. And, of course, there's Sprint roaming onto US Cellular, which will keep me as a customer for the foreseeable future.

 

But the optics of it are really bad. Particularly the "Requires new account?" line.

 

- Trip

Good posting of that article, Trip.

 

Yet, wow! There are some glaring inaccuracies in that article. AT&T does not limit the video to 480p, unless the stream saver is turned on. Then, the no tethering listing in the same chart that has the wrong information regarding the video streaming, isn't quite true either.

 

I've stayed at a few hotels recently, due to some days I couldn't go upstairs to my room due to my health being so bad, along with a few days my mother had appointed work here. A few of the hotels had decent WiFi, but at a few others the WiFi was getting below 3mbps and I decided to try out the tethering on my ZTE Axon 7. The tethering worked wonderfully! I haven't been charged extra for it by AT&T either. So, seems that tethering is available.

[jreuschl]

Plus the most glaring difference in that article chart..  Sprint restricts to new customers.

 

Seems to me Sprint is being arrogant.  Our customers are so happy they wouldn't look elsewhere!

[IamMrFamous07]

I hope Marcelo wakes up from his delusion pretty quick because a lot of people are leaving sprint for Verizon because of this new deal.

 

Almost every post on Vzw's Reddit page says "left Sprint" "trying to leave Sprint" etc.

 

Sprint has offered unlimited plans the longest, it' s their nitch, they can't let Verizon and others take that away from them.

[utiz4321]

Guys, this was a big and unexpected move by VZW. I can't stress this enough, it caught the entire industry flat footed. The carriers are not responding to VZW's move because they don't have one. It will take them sometime to figure out how/if they can respond. In the meantime their only move is to tout their current offerings.

 

They have all done this, except maybe T-Mobile. I mean I heard they were going to respond to this in "one hour" but then heard nothing more about it.

 

 

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[kg4icg]

Or this could just be you guys over reacting as usual and making it something larger then it actually is. To many on here think something has to be done immediately. Just do it, consequences be damned later. Good thing you don't run a business, you all be broke. Nothing has to be immediately done or passed thru this group of people in here for approval. Heck you act like its the second coming of something.

 

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[utiz4321]

Or this could just be you guys over reacting as usual and making it something larger then it actually is. To many on here think something has to be done immediately. Just do it, consequences be damned later. Good thing you don't run a business, you all be broke. Nothing has to be immediately done or passed thru this group of people in here for approval. Heck you act like its the second coming of something.

 

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Something does need to done. It will take time though.

 

 

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[kg4icg]

I'm not saying nothing is going to get done, but some in here have gone way overboard. Ask John Legere about the first pizza freebie that got cancelled 1 day after it was started. Reacting to something immediately is just going to fail down the road. The funny part is Verizon is in the third day of trending down on the market after this unlimited announcement. While Sprint had recovered and trending back up because unlike the magenta fellow, Marcelo didn't go reactionary and come up with finding half ass. Give it a little time. Patience has its merits especially in business. And what is Sprint after all, a business.

 

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[IamMrFamous07]

Hypothetically speaking, if Comcast and Sprint decided to merge, can that expedite Sprint's network roll out since Comcast does have fiber all over?

[Steve Dean]

Hypothetically speaking, if Comcast and Sprint decided to merge, can that expedite Sprint's network roll out since Comcast does have fiber all over?

 

I doubt it since Comcast only covers (I believe) 35% of the US.  I have Comcast at home and do not have a fiber connection.  It is really obvious when internet download speeds are under 5 megs during peak times.

[IamMrFamous07]

I doubt it since Comcast only covers (I believe) 35% of the US. I have Comcast at home and do not have a fiber connection. It is really obvious when internet download speeds are under 5 megs during peak times.

Always thought Comcast covered the almost the whole country. Learn something new everyday

[tybo31316]

I doubt it since Comcast only covers (I believe) 35% of the US. I have Comcast at home and do not have a fiber connection. It is really obvious when internet download speeds are under 5 megs during peak times.

The problem I have with Comcast isn't the actual service it's self. It's their customer service and all their BS fees that's piled on top of the base package. Other than that they are great. With all of this back and forth about switching carrier's since VZW launched their new unlimited plan. I'm staying put with Sprint. VZW will lure all these new customers in similar to how Comcast does. Then slowly start increasing prices. No thanks.

[RedSpark]

Something does need to done. It will take time though.

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I think Sprint's response needs to be calculated and thought through, but done quickly.

 

Having Sprint's retentions team or "come back" team kick into overdrive with calls and "come back" bill credits will suck up more time and revenue the longer this goes on for.

 

Sprint is no longer the price leader for existing customers. This is where it stood when Marcelo arrived (and he said so himself), except its network is much better now.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2488895-sprints-s-ceo-marcelo-claure-presents-at-goldman-sachs-23rd-annual-communacopia-conference-transcript (9/11/2014)

 

Marcelo Claure - President and Chief Executive Officer

 

So, it’s being about 3.5 weeks since I have taken the job of running Sprint. And the first 3.5 weeks have been amazing in terms of discovering what is Sprint all about and I will confess that the advice that I got being first time as public company CEO, you don’t make any changes for the first 100 days. And I just couldn’t help myself. So, on day 4, we basically changed everything that we do from the time we go to market. And I will share with you that the first day when I met on my Vice President, I just asked him why would anybody want to buy a Sprint phone, I mean, just give me a good solid reason of why we should be attracting customers? And really, there wasn’t any compelling value proposition, right. To be fair, we were more expensive than the others and we are just coming out of a pretty traumatic network experience. So, we figure out and we say and we were advertising a plan called Framily that I had a hard time understanding how hard was it to sign for Framily. So, we said we are going to make things different.

 

------

 

This is where we are now, but with an improved network.

[Arysyn]

Always thought Comcast covered the almost the whole country. Learn something new everyday

 

This is why I don't believe all the supposed cable industry interest in wireless that is being reported in various news sources. The cable industry still is very regional, whereas the wireless industry is national. For instance, AT&T's Uverse service being only regional, couldn't really be used for promotional tie-ins with AT&T's national wireless service. Yet, when AT&T got the national DirecTv service, sure enough they revealed the unlimited plan offer with DirecTv service. AT&T does also offer that with Uverse, though they didn't start the tie-in until they got DirecTv, which again, is national.

 

It just wouldn't work out for a cable company to acquire/merge with a wireless carrier right now for that reason. Unless something happens where say Comcast merges with Verizon after Verizon already gets Dish. I believe Verizon will do just this, go after Dish for an AT&T DirecTv competitor for national satellite, then get Comcast, which Verizon already has a close working relationship with, for the added measure of competing with AT&T's regional Uverse service. From then on, perhaps a cable company such as Charter may start a satellite service for national coverage, then go after Sprint, but that is a bit far off thinking in terms of actually happening. The problem remains with these cable companies not being national.

[TimS]

The funny part is Verizon is in the third day of trending down on the market after this unlimited announcement. While Sprint had recovered and trending back up because unlike the magenta fellow, Marcelo didn't go reactionary and come up with finding half ass. 

Investors do not like "reduced" prices.  If everything goes as planned for Verizon, things will look different when they report quarterly numbers.

[Arysyn]

I think Sprint's response needs to be calculated and thought through, but done quickly.

 

Having Sprint's retentions team or "come back" team kick into overdrive with calls and "come back" bill credits will suck up more time and revenue the longer this goes on for.

 

Sprint is no longer the price leader for existing customers. This is where it stood when Marcelo arrived (and he said so himself), except its network is much better now.

 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2488895-sprints-s-ceo-marcelo-claure-presents-at-goldman-sachs-23rd-annual-communacopia-conference-transcript (9/11/2014)

 

Marcelo Claure - President and Chief Executive Officer

 

So, it’s being about 3.5 weeks since I have taken the job of running Sprint. And the first 3.5 weeks have been amazing in terms of discovering what is Sprint all about and I will confess that the advice that I got being first time as public company CEO, you don’t make any changes for the first 100 days. And I just couldn’t help myself. So, on day 4, we basically changed everything that we do from the time we go to market. And I will share with you that the first day when I met on my Vice President, I just asked him why would anybody want to buy a Sprint phone, I mean, just give me a good solid reason of why we should be attracting customers? And really, there wasn’t any compelling value proposition, right. To be fair, we were more expensive than the others and we are just coming out of a pretty traumatic network experience. So, we figure out and we say and we were advertising a plan called Framily that I had a hard time understanding how hard was it to sign for Framily. So, we said we are going to make things different.

 

Sprint really does need to make some sort of response that is satisfactory to its customers.

 

In the past few days, many of us here on S4GRU have written a lot of good ideas and such for Sprint, and it would certainly be nice if Marcelo was reading this site. I'm not sure if he is or not, but if so, to recap what I've been saying, but here for Marcelo,

 

Deploy band 41 on at least most of the network, which others here have said too, besides myself. I've also given what I think would be a great plan to counter the competition in a flat $45 monthly per line configuration, no "The first line cost this much more than the second line. Then the third line costs this much less than the second line." thing that can be confusing to customers and sometimes is unfair to single-line customers who don't like paying more just because they don't have family or friends to join in with them on their plan. Sell it just like that, a fair, flat rate $45 monthly per line offer. Include unlimited data up to 30gb before possible network throttling during congestion. That is two more gbs than what T-Mobile offers. Include unlimited 2G tethering, but offer upgrades to 3G for $15 monthly per line, 4G for $30 monthly per line, both upgrades including international calling. Also importantly, no audio/video streaming limits! Take those away and inform your customers of this, and also make sure they know everyone is eligible for that plan I just mentioned.

 

Also, it is very important Sprint does some type of public announcement, not just a press release. I think it would be good for Sprint to talk directly to people who are against Sprint and admit the problems openly, just like Domino's did some years ago. Have a fresh clean image and rename Sprint to Arysyn, and hire me! j/k on that part, unless you really want to. Perhaps at least hire someone on S4GRU who cares a lot about your company. That would be good. At least look into a viable new name for Sprint, so the company has a fresh start. No need to go after T-Mobile to be a success when all that is written here in this and many posts on S4GRU, a site where people care about Sprint who don't get paid to do so! 

[RedSpark]

Investors do not like "reduced" prices.  If everything goes as planned for Verizon, things will look different when they report quarterly numbers.

Investors may not like Sprint's increased churn either.

[Arysyn]

Investors may not like Sprint's increased churn either.

 

Especially if Churn continues to worsen with all the negative remarks being made online from customers leaving Sprint over the promo deals being exclusive to new customers while they're paying much more on plans than new customers are being given, Sprint's lack of response to customers reporting this lack of response, etc.

 

Also, could someone give more detail to whatever Sprint is doing with their ED1500 customers?

[RedSpark]

Especially if Churn continues to worsen with all the negative remarks being made online from customers leaving Sprint over the promo deals being exclusive to new customers while they're paying much more on plans than new customers are being given, Sprint's lack of response to customers reporting this lack of response, etc.

 

Also, could someone give more detail to whatever Sprint is doing with their ED1500 customers?

I agree.

 

Nothing beyond Loyalty Credits as far as I know... or having them switch to Unlimited Freedom at current prices.