Everybody loves Sprint

[nophix]

Fwiw, I've been seeing guys in the air off and on in Point. I'm pretty sure the new tower that went up by the motel on 10 is Sprint, too.

 

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[n9ovreric]

Spring was when I heard the back haul work was supposed to start on a few. I thought they pulled some of it before frost' date=' but I could be wrong.

 

This crazy winter put the brakes on a lot of work for them, Cell com, AT, and several others.

 

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[/quote']

 

I will have to take a few pictures when I can of the backhaul. One more reason I can't wait for spring summer to get here, fit work to start.

[nophix]

No argument there, Spring can show up anytime now!

 

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[brad162]

Honestly, if Sprint could just put proper backhaul in to get at least 500k/sec (it can be done with EVDO, i've seen VZW do it in several large cities), then people would not complain since they'd be able to do anything they want, but the sub 100kbps speeds at times are what's killing them.

 

I work there and honestly that's the only complaint i ever get is slow data, and i never know what to tell them other than we know and are working on it (but these are people who were told back when the OG Evo came out they'd be getting improved "3G" and WiMax then, so they're already mad about that)

[halcyoncmdr]

Honestly, if Sprint could just put proper backhaul in to get at least 500k/sec (it can be done with EVDO, i've seen VZW do it in several large cities), then people would not complain since they'd be able to do anything they want, but the sub 100kbps speeds at times are what's killing them.

 

I work there and honestly that's the only complaint i ever get is slow data, and i never know what to tell them other than we know and are working on it (but these are people who were told back when the OG Evo came out they'd be getting improved "3G" and WiMax then, so they're already mad about that)

 

Part of it may be that the old equipment isn't setup to accept a different type of backhaul, or the amount of time to get enough T1's installed to get the data speeds high enough would either match with NV or exceed NV's time line. If there's anything I can tell you working in telecom, it's that EVERYTHING takes 10x as long as it really needs to because of the BS in the industry. Permits from local government, community backlash (then complaints about reception), cashflow to get it done (not an issue with NV, but in other regards usually), and of course competition in the area being one of the few wirelines capable of providing adequate backhaul. There are a lot of areas where Verizon and AT&T are the local telcos that have the fiber available that Sprint needs for the enhancements. They obviously want it to take as long as possible to be installed within the contract terms..

[brad162]

Part of it may be that the old equipment isn't setup to accept a different type of backhaul, or the amount of time to get enough T1's installed to get the data speeds high enough would either match with NV or exceed NV's time line. If there's anything I can tell you working in telecom, it's that EVERYTHING takes 10x as long as it really needs to because of the BS in the industry. Permits from local government, community backlash (then complaints about reception), cashflow to get it done (not an issue with NV, but in other regards usually), and of course competition in the area being one of the few wirelines capable of providing adequate backhaul. There are a lot of areas where Verizon and AT&T are the local telcos that have the fiber available that Sprint needs for the enhancements. They obviously want it to take as long as possible to be installed within the contract terms..

 

while i do agree with your post to an extent, in AZ the primary fiber providers are CenturyLink, Cable One, SuddenLink, and Cox.. None of which have anything to do with AT&T or VZ $$$ wise, and even cricket has been able to roll out LTE in Phoenix before Sprint has even started to do anything meaningful with Network Vision, that's what people are upset about.

 

While yes permits take time (and Phoenix being by far one of the worst localities to deal with government wise), that can only get you so far considering every other provider has been able to pull off data upgrades years ago

[halcyoncmdr]

while i do agree with your post to an extent, in AZ the primary fiber providers are CenturyLink, Cable One, SuddenLink, and Cox.. None of which have anything to do with AT&T or VZ $$$ wise, and even cricket has been able to roll out LTE in Phoenix before Sprint has even started to do anything meaningful with Network Vision, that's what people are upset about.

 

While yes permits take time (and Phoenix being by far one of the worst localities to deal with government wise), that can only get you so far considering every other provider has been able to pull off data upgrades years ago

 

I wasn't referring specifically about AZ in that post, just a generalized statement. It is quite true that the southwest is the Cable company capital, and that AT&T and Verizon don't have major networks here. However, on the same token Cable companies have very little incentive to upgrade their equipment here as well. They all have virtual monopolies in their markets here. Very little competition, and the little that is here isn't really comparable.

 

For example, take Tucson. Cox and Comcast are here, due to agreements with local governments dating back from their beginnings, there is only about a 5 square mile area that they overlap. The only other major player is CenturyLink. And CenturyLink I have never seen do anything to upgrade old lines anywhere here (I could be wrong, but I've never seen it). My neighborhood is only capable of receiving 1.5Mbps DSL through Centurylink, but we can get 50Mbps cable through Comcast. The new subdivision 1/8 mile from us have fiber to the box and can get 25+ from CenturyLink at the house. The majority of our neighborhood would rather have CenturyLink than Crapcast, and have been vocal about this, but they still haven't done any upgrades for 10 years here despite having 100+ potential new customers off a single box. The competition is virtually non-existent so they don't care about it.

 

This is one of the things that I hope Network Vision will bring about as a side effect. Since fiber to the tower is going to be a huge part of NV, it also means that new fiber is going to go live in a TON of new places, potentially decreasing the cost of the local companies to increase speeds for consumers in the surrounding areas since the lines are already down. Maybe I'm too hopeful.

 

For Cricket, it doesn't take much to upgrade your network when you're only planning a handful of cities. Cricket's nationwide network is entirely dependent on roaming partners, the vast majority was not native when I last checked.

 

AS for other providers upgreading speeds years ago, again part of this may be a limitation of the legacy equipment. I don't know exactly how the old towers are setup, but I do know most rely on T1 lines, whereas the new equipment is all Ethernet. It may be possible that the old equipment isn't financially viable to retrofit new backhaul to versus just replacing it all with NV. As it is now we're looking at a year left with deployment, with a T1 line taking potentially 6 months to install, that's pretty close to not being worth the hassle in my opinion. Don't forget anything that may already be in the pipeline to still be installed that was started who knows how long ago.

[Fraydog]

I'm in an area where the local telco is so useless that AT&T and Verizon are using AAV vendors to build out HSPA+ and LTE. Good thing that new government funded fiber network is here.

[Contreramanjaro]

I'm just wondering if anyone knows how wind affects installing towers and stuff like that because there has been a ton of trouble with my connection on campus, a few blocks from my house but on a different tower. The weather hasn't been too bad other than some icy rain sometimes but wind has been gusting up to 25mph or so. I know I wouldn't want to get up on a tower in it but to that effect I wouldn't want to get on a tower at all. The Sprint support folks on Twitter confirmed a tower being down a few weeks ago when I had some trouble but it has been very fickle ever since it came back up.

[Bob Newhart]

If you think the Sprint page is bad, take a look at the Boxee and CenturyLink pages, they're great, very funny.

[nophix]

Ah, Century link. I worked there for several years back when they were Centurytel. The stories I could tell you...

 

Short answer, if they're involved, be prepared to wait a loooooong time.

 

As for At&t, we're averaging 6kbps here. Yes, I said kbps. I didn't mistype.

 

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[halcyoncmdr]

Ah, Century link. I worked there for several years back when they were Centurytel. The stories I could tell you...

 

Short answer, if they're involved, be prepared to wait a loooooong time.

 

As for At&t, we're averaging 6kbps here. Yes, I said kbps. I didn't mistype.

 

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Our area is former USWest/Qwest before CenturyLink arrived/merged. USWest was great, Qwest was horrible. I don't have a lot of experience with CenturyLink yet, but I'm not hopeful.

[nophix]

Don't be. They aren't any different.

 

My favorite quote from corporate management during a meeting one day was "what do we care what the customer wants? Where are they going to go? We're they only option." This was true in nearly all markets for a long time.

 

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[halcyoncmdr]

Don't be. They aren't any different.

 

My favorite quote from corporate management during a meeting one day was "what do we care what the customer wants? Where are they going to go? We're they only option." This was true in nearly all markets for a long time.

 

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And this is why government-sponsored monopolies that were contracted 20+ years ago need to disappear. I'm hoping the threat of Google Fiber will start this trend, but Google needs to expand outside of Kansas to do it, even if by one city. It will scare the monopolies, even if only a bit.

[speed4evr]

Sadly the negative comments trump the few or unheard positive comments. Many large internet providers agree to "monopolize" an area, i think its why their industry is usually disliked. http://bgr.com/2013/03/01/time-warner-cable-criticism-353827/

 

I personally like Sprint, based on their businesses and customer decisions(being stuck on 3G is frustrating though) compared to VZW n ATT

Edited March 23, 2013 by speed4evr

[MReiser4670]

Sadly the negative comments trump the few or unheard positive comments. Many large internet providers agree to "monopolize" an area, i think its why their industry is usually disliked. http://bgr.com/2013/03/01/time-warner-cable-criticism-353827/

 

I personally like Sprint, based on their businesses and customer decisions(being stuck on 3G is frustrating though) compared to VZW n ATT

 

This is very true in my area, as Comcast with Xfinity and Verizon with FiOS have been waging battle on Comcast's home turf for several years now. The result? I have 50/15 Mbps home internet bundled with phone & tv (including HBO & Starz) on Xfinity for less than $100 per month. No chance I have anything close to that without a solid competitor. I've been loyal to Sprint / Nextel for that very reason; they offer top line phones with good coverage & the best data plans at a bargain price. I don't need the fastest speeds or biggest network. I want exactly what Sprint provides...good service at a great price.

[kct1975]

I've been loyal to Sprint / Nextel for that very reason; they offer top line phones with good coverage & the best data plans at a bargain price. I don't need the fastest speeds or biggest network. I want exactly what Sprint provides...good service at a great price.

 

I could not have said that better myself.

 

I feel the same way. The call quality on Sprint is great, and the data speeds are good. And the price is much better than Verizon.

[Mobilesolutions]

It should be on the front page of Sprint's website.

 

Explain the shift in technology, the rebuild of the network, and the upcoming acquisition by SoftBank.

 

Come think of it, I like "The New Sprint is Coming" campaign. Such an idea should be forwarded to 6600 Sprint Parkway.

 

Hmm, sounds like a nice weekend project...perhaps in the sponsor section.