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


joshuam

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Color me confused, too. Check out the Sprint subreddit. Users long have been advised to stick with their Everything Data plans, as they were unbeatable sweetheart deals. Now, Everything Data users are whining that they are being left out and shortchanged? Talk about cognitive dissonance.

 

AJ

The issue for ED customers is that the primary reason for staying on the plan (2 Year Contracts) was pulled. Now ED customers can Lease or do Easy Pay with a Loyalty Credit. However, the value proposition of staying on the plan kept decreasing as Sprint launched Unlimited Freedom with Mobile Optimized Video/Audio and Hotspot (which ED Plans didn't have) and Sprint charged an additional $20/month per Line for Premium HD Video. ED people were stuck. This, combined with the loss of the Loyalty Credit wasn't often a better priced option for many on ED Plans, so people stayed. Then, Verizon launched a competitive priced Unlimited Plan with HD Streaming and T-Mobile responded in kind with the same. Sprint hesitated in responding to these offers for new/current customers including ED people, even if it was just for a week, it was enough for customers who felt slighted to look for other carrier options.

 

Made some Edits.

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The math was done on spreadsheet on Sprint Reddit. It isn't like people haven't done ED1500 comparisons before...

 

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If we're thinking about the same spreadsheet then it clearly shows that Unlimited Freedom is cheaper than ED1500.

 

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If we're thinking about the same spreadsheet then it clearly shows that Unlimited Freedom is cheaper than ED1500.

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Unlimited Freedom with HD prior to it being made a free add-on as a "thank you" for current customers?
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I just compared my sisters 3 line ED1500 to the new plan.

 

New plan was ~$20 cheaper, added 10 gig hotspot/vpn/p2p limit, but adding another +25$ for 1 phone still in contract. Not including device payments.

 

Net = new plan $5 more expensive.

 

If you have ED plan and are out of contract (so you don't have to pay $25/line), then new plan may be cheaper.

 

The major 'problem' with ED is no hotspot. For some people that is a critical feature, others not so much.

 

If you need a hotspot, then the newer plans might be better for you.

 

Otherwise, ED still better with no hotspot, and with no other silly/arbitrary restrictions/throttling/etc.

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I just compared my sisters 3 line ED1500 to the new plan.

 

New plan was ~$20 cheaper, added 10 gig hotspot/vpn/p2p limit, but adding another +25$ for 1 phone still in contract. Not including device payments.

 

Net = new plan $5 more expensive.

 

If you have ED plan and are out of contract (so you don't have to pay $25/line), then new plan may be cheaper.

 

The major 'problem' with ED is no hotspot. For some people that is a critical feature, others not so much.

 

If you need a hotspot, then the newer plans might be better for you.

 

Otherwise, ED still better with no hotspot, and with no other silly/arbitrary restrictions/throttling/etc.

Thank you for explaining that to me.

 

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I have the same question. If this is ready to go then it's going to be a huge help to the Sprint network but if hardware is required...we'll it's Sprint so you know the wait is going to be long af.

Whenever 5G comes available on Verizon, T-Mobile likely will follow within a year or two, at the most. T-Mobile is great when it involves network deployment. T-Mobile's 5G network ought to be great where it has plenty of spectrum, and it is in those areas Verizon will have tough 5G competition with Verizon, especially if T-Mobile wins the upcoming merger war I expect it will have against Verizon over Dish.

 

I also expect Sprint to fall behind yet again, as they seem to do with a lot lately. Sprint is further and further behind in network, where they need to deploy with the spectrum advantage they brag so much about. Not that I fault Sprint for being proud of their band 41 spectrum holdings, especially since in areas where the band 41 is deployed well, provides exceptional network experience. Yet, their deployment is weak and already far behind in LTE, along with far last place in the recent Open Signal reports.

 

Granted, AT&T isn't doing much better. Clearly they need major improvements, and like Sprint, I think they are waiting around, buying time, while planning/preparing on a merger attempt at T-Mobile. Although, I expect DT's recent statement claiming not to have any interest in selling T-Mobile likely through both AT&T and Sprint somewhat off a bit regarding those potential plans.

 

Regardless, its pretty clear AT&T needs T-Mobile. I'd even say more so than Sprint needs T-Mobile. The FCC would be more likely to approve of a deal between AT&T and T-Mobile, rather than one between Sprint and T-Mobile, due to issues of a huge network and spectrum advantage being held by a foreign corporation over the remaining U.S.- based national wireless carriers.

 

However, whether or not AT&T gets T-Mobile, which of course is largely based on if DT is willing to sell it or not, Sprint itself being in the unlikely position of merging with T-Mobile, needs to do something. Sprint currently is being run with the intent of being sold, which just because it is doubtful Sprint will be merged with T-Mobile, doesn't mean Sprint won't have another merger opportunity. I believe if Verizon loses a merger war for Dish to DT/T-Mobile, granted AT&T doesn't get T-Mobile, Verizon will likely go for Comcast and Sprint, as Sprint's spectrum will be very valuable for ott video using Comcast over Verizon.

 

The same will be the case if Verizon goes after Charter. Yet, I expect these cable mergers to come later, with the carriers using their consumer-friendly unlimited data plans as an excuse for why they need to merge.

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I think T-Mobile is great for all network categories except coverage and reliability. Where I live, guess what issues carriers tend to run into? You guessed it, coverage and reliability. T-Mobile talks about coverage expansion, but I don't see a lot of talk on their end on reliability. Reliable connections are still kind of important, right? Or could it be I'm missing the boat on this?

 

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I think T-Mobile is great for all network categories except coverage and reliability. Where I live, guess what issues carriers tend to run into? You guessed it, coverage and reliability. T-Mobile talks about coverage expansion, but I don't see a lot of talk on their end on reliability. Reliable connections are still kind of important, right? Or could it be I'm missing the boat on this?

 

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I feel like that's been covered with their B12 and "Extended LTE" advertising. 

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I think T-Mobile is great for all network categories except coverage and reliability. Where I live, guess what issues carriers tend to run into? You guessed it, coverage and reliability. T-Mobile talks about coverage expansion, but I don't see a lot of talk on their end on reliability. Reliable connections are still kind of important, right? Or could it be I'm missing the boat on this?

 

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I haven't heard much from any of the carriers about reliability lately, except a bit from Verizon. Carriers love to talk about speed, which isn't even very reliable as it is.

 

I'll give an example. I've had AT&T Uverse Home Internet for several years at the 18mbps tier, the highest speed tier AT&T offered in this area, until recently. Somewhere along the line, AT&T got rid of the 18mbps tier and made it into the 24mbps tier. Throughout this time on both speed tiers, I received very reliable service using the Motorola, 2Wire, and Arris NVG gateways. Yet, when I noticed AT&T finally offering a 45mbps tier, I upgraded. AT&T is requiring the use of the Pace 5268ac now for this speed tier and up, including Gigapower. However, now with this particular gateway, the service is as erratic as cable, but using far slower speeds than cable. Still, according to the technician I spoke with yesterday, AT&T is making this gateway the standard used for Uverse service. So, instead of the reliable nature Uverse had for many years, its now a crappier form of cable.

 

I decided to ditch AT&T and went with Comcast Xfinity on the Extreme 300 plan, the fastest Comcast offers in this area, but from speed tests I've done so far since getting it yesterday, its erratic between 150mbps to 300mbps, jumping all around, even during the speed test. So, with this happening over landline-based service, I really doubt wireless service is going to be any more reliable.

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What many Everything Data subs want is "irrelevant"? Okay.

What they want isn't irrelevant. What is irrelevant is that you're bringing up features that don't exist anymore.

Then, their want for Sprint to do something for them is irrelevant. You said it.

 

AJ

So users porting out is irrelevant to Sprint?
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What they want isn't irrelevant. What is irrelevant is that you're bringing up features that don't exist anymore.

 

Nope, relevant.  Because what many Everything Data users want is a return to those discontinued plan features.  They want a hot tub time machine.

 

AJ

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I haven't heard much from any of the carriers about reliability lately, except a bit from Verizon. Carriers love to talk about speed, which isn't even very reliable as it is.

 

 

My short but to the point example is that Verizon and AT&T have a tower that they share right next to the local big box that rhymes with Palblart. T-Mobile has a tower here but it is across town a bit next to the town park. Verizon and AT&T work in that Palblart (lol) and T-Mobile has real issues with hanging onto LTE signal. It doesn't help that T-Mobile has no 700 MHz here but most customers aren't going to care about that.

 

In the minds of most customers that would sting. In reality, the smaller carriers have always had issues with Big Box. While I hate said Big Box, shopping there is unavoidable here. Small cells within the Big Boxes would help but that is going to need to happen on a massive scale.

 

 

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How so? Provide some numbers.

 

Nah, I have seen enough of a cross section of users here and at Reddit.  I have accurately conveyed what some want.  If you require numbers, gather your own.  I no longer do free research.

 

AJ

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Nah, I have seen enough of a cross section of users here and at Reddit. I have accurately conveyed what some want. If you require numbers, gather your own. I no longer do free research.

 

AJ

So we should take your word? But if it's anyone else it's OK to reply with...

How so? Provide some numbers.

 

That's rich!
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More people should call retention instead of complaining about how poorly Sprint handled new customers compared to existing customers with this new plan. As soon as I called to inquire about the etf/phone lease cancellation fees they handed me off to (what I assume) was a more senior member that worked with me quite well.

 

Three My Way lines at ~$210 (not including two lines with phone leases) a month are being moved to the new plan for ~$115 (not including phone leases, $5 dollar credit per line for auto pay). So it's a move from a plan with limits, to a plan with similar limits and more benefits. 

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Nope, relevant.  Because what many Everything Data users want is a return to those discontinued plan features.  They want a hot tub time machine.

 

AJ

 

 

I think the issue that Sprint had was that there were so many customers still on Subsidized Plans, the value of which almost depended entirely on getting 2 Year Contracts. Sprint made this cut too soon. The number of people on Subsidized Plans was decreasing over time. (Page 9 of the Investor Update has a chart.) Sprint should have just let that process happen normally.

 

This combined with those ED customers' perceived lack of Sprint's value/options for current customers vs. new customers on Sprint and new customers on other carriers.

 

Once the 2 Year Contracts were eliminated (for good), and before Sprint tweaked the Unlimited Freedom Plan to have HD Audio and Video included for free for current customers in response to Verizon's move and T-Mobile's move in response to Verizon's move, those ED 1500 Customers would have had to pay an additional $20/line for Premium Resolution if they switched to Unlimited Freedom, and if they were doing a Lease/IB, they would have lost their Loyalty Credit.

 

Now that Sprint has made its pricing adjustments, there's value in moving from ED to Unlimited Freedom and staying with Sprint. This wasn't the case about a week ago and so you had current Sprint customers not feeling "value" was being provided from Sprint vs. other Carriers... So they left for other Carriers.

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So we should take your word? But if it's anyone else it's OK to reply with...

That's rich!

 

Apples and oranges.

 

ARPU, ABPU, etc., inherently are numbers.  Fraydog can provide those figures to support/undermine his point.

 

Wants, attitudes, etc. are qualities, not quantities.  What I have done is convey those qualities that many have expressed here and elsewhere.

 

And, yes, I am rich, bitch!  I freely have given 15 years of wireless industry research to the lot of you.  Now, I am done with it.  I have earned the right to say that I am retired and the rest of you can pick up the slack.  If I say you should go crunch some numbers, scour some databases, build some spreadsheets, create some maps, write some articles yourselves, you should.  Or you can do nothing and get nothing in return.  No longer my concern.

 

AJ

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This is what I'm scratching my head about.

ED1500 customers are for the most part high value, high ARPU, high ABPU customers. It isn't like Sprint telling SERO users "sorry, we can't help you here." I would think Sprint would be going a little harder at retaining the ED1500 crowd.

I too am curious as to how you are coming to this conclusion. Sprint's post-paid subscribers per account as of 12/31 was 2.75. I'm going to round that up to 3. 3 Subscribers under the (years outdated) ED1500 plan was $110 + $19.99 + $19.99 = $149.98 /3= ARPU $49.99 or essentially the same ARPU as an individual SERO (years outdated) Premium subscriber. As the Brits would say by sure happenstance this also is Sprint's ARPU. Anything over 3 lines on an ED1500 plan is drag on Sprint's ARPU average. That doesn't indicate a high value customer to me. If we are talking some hypothetical metric like ARPPPB (average revenue per person paying bill) that I think I might have just made up; then there is a more valid argument.

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As a ED1500 customer I can tell, I do not want to return to the days of these plans. What I do want is a smooth transfer forward out of the Subsidized plan. However, If I try online to move up to a better plan it only converts one line up to a new plan at a cost of 90 dollars per line. If I call them, they push me to stay on the current plan.

 

What bugs me is that two simple options are left for them to ease us off of the plans. One is to simply do away with the subsidy charge and simply convert all ED customers to the new plan, just out and out be done with contracts. Granted a possibly expensive root as they eat the remaining cost of the devices but, less expensive than loss of the customers. The Second option is simply to add the feature that is the value difference between the two plans(hotspot) to the ED plans as a loyalty feature, just like the Unlimited minutes and phase out the contract and allow them to run out and convert the accounts after the contact is up.

 

The Second option helps them save face with existing customers, while allowing them to continue to pay down the devices on subed plans. Smooth Transition is all I ask for and so far have been met with stunning levels of ignorance, miscommunication and indifference. It is astounding at just how bad the communication is at Sprint.

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