Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[JohnHovah]

"Calling Alaska" is one of the many great Jeff Lynne produced songs for ELO, George Harrison, Tom Petty, etc.  Oh, wait, that is "Calling America."  And Alaska is not really America.  Alaska is where people with something to hide go to escape America.

 

 

 

AJ

never trust a russian eskimo?

[WiWavelength]

never trust a russian eskimo?

Nor a Palin.

 

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

Due to some of the recent (now hidden) posts in this thread, I want to address a public message to our community here.  S4GRU staff work hundreds or thousands of unpaid hours.  Sometimes, we need to amuse ourselves to make this worthwhile.  If you have a problem with posts that make humorous references to pop culture and famous people, my retort is "Too bad."  Alternatively, staff can just decide not to do this any longer, S4GRU can go away, and you can be left again back in the dark ages of technically sound Sprint info.

 

AJ

[dedub]

Nor a Palin.

 

 

AJ

 

Wouldn't trust her, but I'd still hit it!

[Rukin1]

Due to some of the recent (now hidden) posts in this thread, I want to address a public message to our community here.  S4GRU staff work hundreds or thousands of unpaid hours.  Sometimes, we need to amuse ourselves to make this worthwhile.  If you have a problem with posts that make humorous references to pop culture and famous people, my retort is "Too bad."  Alternatively, staff can just decide not to do this any longer, S4GRU can go away, and you can be left again back in the dark ages of technically sound Sprint info.

 

AJ

[Guest tuwsy]

Due to some of the recent (now hidden) posts in this thread, I want to address a public message to our community here. S4GRU staff work hundreds or thousands of unpaid hours. Sometimes, we need to amuse ourselves to make this worthwhile. If you have a problem with posts that make humorous references to pop culture and famous people, my retort is "Too bad." Alternatively, staff can just decide not to do this any longer, S4GRU can go away, and you can be left again back in the dark ages of technically sound Sprint info.

 

AJ

No problem. Hope you don't mind if some other people make humorous references to famous people.

[WiWavelength]

No problem. Hope you don't mind if some other people make humorous references to famous people.

 

Laughter is the best medicine.

 

AJ

[CAREND]

Laughter is the best medicine.

 

AJ

 

A spoon full of sugar helps that medicine go down.

[WiWavelength]

A spoon full of sugar helps that medicine go down.

 

Oh, now you are just asking for another YouTube clip...

 

AJ

[CAREND]

Oh, now you are just asking for another YouTube clip...

 

AJ

 

YouTube can clip coupons and save big this week at your local grocery chain.

[WiWavelength]

 

 

Wow, he has lost a lot of hair since his days in Mötley Crüe.

 

 

AJ

[The Dave]

I wasn't trying to be political, just a harmless comment. Sorry if i have offended anyone. Can't we all just smoke some salmon and get along?

[cletus]

I wasn't trying to be political, just a harmless comment. Sorry if i have offended anyone. Can't we all just smoke some salmon and get along?

Get along? I remind you that this is the internet and the only real thing is proving someone else WRONG.

 

Back on topic and speaking of proving someone WRONG:

 

Does anyone else find Sprint incredibly slow to respond to market trends? Let me list the ways:

1) Faster phone upgrades: Verizon Edge, AT&T Next, T-Mobile Jump, Sprint? Nothing

2) Simplified plans:

T-Mobile: website gets me there in one click and the options are super easy to understand

AT&T: has website herpes and no matter how they try to clean it up it remains infested with superfluous information but once you choose your phone it is quite easy

Verizon: provides nice graphic examples though the navigation could be easier. Streamlined experience with clear pricing options.

Sprint: My All-In vs Unlimited My Way sounds like they are two separate types of plans that Sprint offers rather than just calling it ONE NAME and adding Family at the end.I hate the new branding because it gives the impression that Unlimited is eventually going away. Once you choose a phone suddenly you can choose the non unlimited option. Why is that not presented earlier?? Oh and $11/mo for phone insurance is a complete ripoff.

3) Communication. T-Mobile has been very proactive about promoting network improvements and future plans.  The reason we are all here is because Sprint is really pretty terrible at letting us all know what is going on. Finding towers slated for improvement is fun and all but what difference does it make when it takes 6 months to see any kind of change? Further, I fully expect LTE 2500 to remain underwhelming for some time on Clear towers due to terrible backhaul on the Clear network.

4) Contract free plans: T-Mobile has positioned themselves as the anti-carrier but beyond that has been effective in putting the (truthful) thought in people's minds that carriers who lock you down with contracts are a BAD DEAL. They don't even mention Sprint in their ads and it accomplishes the same thing.

 

Basically these 4 points boil down to this: T-Mobile is a huge threat. Anyone who doesn't think T-Mobile isn't in a position to leapfrog Sprint is kidding themselves. We can make all the arguments to the contrary about "b-b-but SPECTRUM" and "b-b-but COVERAGE" but that changes nothing. Most people don't leave city limits 95%+ of the time and T-Mobile may well fit their needs. I tried it but couldn't deal with lack of coverage in the Texas hill country. Most people see it is faster than Sprint without contracts. I've moved my service to a Sprint MVNO (Ting) and being contract free has really opened my eyes and I may never go back to Sprint itself after the family plan changes and continual Network Vision delays. With how fast phones and the cellular market is changing I find myself questioning if I ever want to sign a contract again.

 

Look at the monthly pricing between Sprint and T-Mobile now for 2 smartphones with unlimited data + insurance.

Sprint: $172.00 monthly + 398 (phones @199) = $4526 over 24 months

T-Mobile: $182 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4388 over 24 months

T-Mobile with upgrades every 6 months! $186 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4484 over 24 months

 

I am rooting for Sprint but so far their execution on every level pretty much sucks. If they want to offer non unlimited plans, fine but making the difference $30 for unlimited vs $20 for 1 GB is pathetic. 

[CAREND]

...

 

Look at the monthly pricing between Sprint and T-Mobile now for 2 smartphones with unlimited data + insurance.

Sprint: $172.00 monthly + 398 (phones @199) = $4526 over 24 months

T-Mobile: $182 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4388 over 24 months

T-Mobile with upgrades every 6 months! $186 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4484 over 24 months

 

I am rooting for Sprint but so far their execution on every level pretty much sucks. If they want to offer non unlimited plans, fine but making the difference $30 for unlimited vs $20 for 1 GB is pathetic. 

 

The thing i see with the numbers here is that you are saying with T-mobile you get a free phone and you just have to pay for the SIM card.  Unless you are bringing a phone from another carrier, you're still buying a phone somewhere.  This makes your numbers skewed.  Even with the T-mobile upgrade whenever you want plan, you are STILL paying for the phone.

 

Say you go to sprint with no phones, with the pricing you put, you could find a deal and get the phones for free or less then the $199 a piece.  That would put it closer if not cheaper then T-Mobile.

 

Like they say in stats, "the numbers don't lie, just how they are presented."

[gnoj]

Does anyone else find Sprint incredibly slow to respond to market trends?

 

I'll throw on another one I may have mentioned before- phone unlocking. Obviously with the GSM carriers this has never really been much of an issue, but now with VZW shipping their LTE phones SIM unlocked (with no remaining block against domestic carriers) because of an FCC mandate, only Sprint and perhaps a couple of the smaller CDMA carriers continue to cling to their phone ESN whitelists. For example, there was no reason they couldn't activate USCC phones for 1x/3G service in Chicago after that sale closed, other than to sell more phones and lock people into contracts. Kind of silly of them, since many device subsidies would have gone unused and made those accounts more profitable.

[cletus]

The thing i see with the numbers here is that you are saying with T-mobile you get a free phone and you just have to pay for the SIM card.  Unless you are bringing a phone from another carrier, you're still buying a phone somewhere.  This makes your numbers skewed.  Even with the T-mobile upgrade whenever you want plan, you are STILL paying for the phone.

 

Say you go to sprint with no phones, with the pricing you put, you could find a deal and get the phones for free or less then the $199 a piece.  That would put it closer if not cheaper then T-Mobile.

 

Like they say in stats, "the numbers don't lie, just how they are presented."

That T-Mobile pricing includes the $20/mo phone payment and I chose new HTC Ones from both carriers. The difference is the phone price is built in to the T-Mobile monthly payment and if you cancel your service you need to pay the remaining balance on your phone. It is an ETF by another name but the flipside is that your monthly payment does go down once the phones are paid off OR if you buy the phones outright.

[Paynefanbro]

Get along? I remind you that this is the internet and the only real thing is proving someone else WRONG.

 

Back on topic and speaking of proving someone WRONG:

 

Does anyone else find Sprint incredibly slow to respond to market trends? Let me list the ways:

1) Faster phone upgrades: Verizon Edge, AT&T Next, T-Mobile Jump, Sprint? Nothing

2) Simplified plans:

T-Mobile: website gets me there in one click and the options are super easy to understand

AT&T: has website herpes and no matter how they try to clean it up it remains infested with superfluous information but once you choose your phone it is quite easy

Verizon: provides nice graphic examples though the navigation could be easier. Streamlined experience with clear pricing options.

Sprint: My All-In vs Unlimited My Way sounds like they are two separate types of plans that Sprint offers rather than just calling it ONE NAME and adding Family at the end.I hate the new branding because it gives the impression that Unlimited is eventually going away. Once you choose a phone suddenly you can choose the non unlimited option. Why is that not presented earlier?? Oh and $11/mo for phone insurance is a complete ripoff.

3) Communication. T-Mobile has been very proactive about promoting network improvements and future plans.  The reason we are all here is because Sprint is really pretty terrible at letting us all know what is going on. Finding towers slated for improvement is fun and all but what difference does it make when it takes 6 months to see any kind of change? Further, I fully expect LTE 2500 to remain underwhelming for some time on Clear towers due to terrible backhaul on the Clear network.

4) Contract free plans: T-Mobile has positioned themselves as the anti-carrier but beyond that has been effective in putting the (truthful) thought in people's minds that carriers who lock you down with contracts are a BAD DEAL. They don't even mention Sprint in their ads and it accomplishes the same thing.

 

Basically these 4 points boil down to this: T-Mobile is a huge threat. Anyone who doesn't think T-Mobile isn't in a position to leapfrog Sprint is kidding themselves. We can make all the arguments to the contrary about "b-b-but SPECTRUM" and "b-b-but COVERAGE" but that changes nothing. Most people don't leave city limits 95%+ of the time and T-Mobile may well fit their needs. I tried it but couldn't deal with lack of coverage in the Texas hill country. Most people see it is faster than Sprint without contracts. I've moved my service to a Sprint MVNO (Ting) and being contract free has really opened my eyes and I may never go back to Sprint itself after the family plan changes and continual Network Vision delays. With how fast phones and the cellular market is changing I find myself questioning if I ever want to sign a contract again.

 

Look at the monthly pricing between Sprint and T-Mobile now for 2 smartphones with unlimited data + insurance.

Sprint: $172.00 monthly + 398 (phones @199) = $4526 over 24 months

T-Mobile: $182 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4388 over 24 months

T-Mobile with upgrades every 6 months! $186 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4484 over 24 months

 

I am rooting for Sprint but so far their execution on every level pretty much sucks. If they want to offer non unlimited plans, fine but making the difference $30 for unlimited vs $20 for 1 GB is pathetic.

 

 

1. Those early upgrade plans are ripoffs.

2. My Way is the general plan name but they are two different plans. One marketed towards the single person the other marketed toward family lines. And the site is pretty straight forward about saving money with each plan.

3. You save less than $100. Big deal. By this time next year, LTE will be ubiquitous while your experience on T-Mobile will be the same network that drops to EDGE in the middle of the city while in the middle of the city on Sprint you'll be on Clear LTE.

 

It's all a matter of perspective.

[CAREND]

That T-Mobile pricing includes the $20/mo phone payment and I chose new HTC Ones from both carriers. The difference is the phone price is built in to the T-Mobile monthly payment and if you cancel your service you need to pay the remaining balance on your phone. It is an ETF by another name but the flipside is that your monthly payment does go down once the phones are paid off OR if you buy the phones outright.

well, right now there is a deal with Sprint for a BoGo on the One, and the price is now $99.  so that is a $300 savings which puts them about equal. 

 

Not to turn this into an argument, but the variation and availability of phones and their prices make the point of the phones almost moot.  so say you paid for neither phone for either company, you save ~5% on T-mobile.  it's up to the customer at that point.

[Rukin1]

Is the Att plan with 10GB of data expensive?

[cletus]

1. Those early upgrade plans are ripoffs.

2. My Way is the general plan name but they are two different plans. One marketed towards the single person the other marketed toward family lines. And the site is pretty straight forward about saving money with each plan.

3. You save less than $100. Big deal. By this time next year, LTE will be ubiquitous while your experience on T-Mobile will be the same network that drops to EDGE in the middle of the city while in the middle of the city on Sprint you'll be on Clear LTE.

 

It's all a matter of perspective.

1) Somewhat agreed, except for the T-Mobile Jump plan.

2) I get that but I feel the actual implementation of the plans is clumsy and not well thought out on the Sprint site.

3) You save less than $100 while changing phones every 6 months vs being on a 2 year old phone on Sprint. If the latest tech is important to you then T-Mobile beats the other options hands down. If you BYOD to T-Mobile or just buy ebay phones instead of doing the JUMP program then you also end up ahead of Sprint in terms of pricing. (Obviously judging by my own Evo3d it is not a big deal to me but I don't see why Sprint doesn't offer ANY kind of fast upgrade option). By this time next year we could also be on 1900 mhz deployment with Clear/2500 LTE sparsely populated on former WiMax towers while Sprint struggles to get the remaining towers deployed.

[cletus]

well, right now there is a deal with Sprint for a BoGo on the One, and the price is now $99.  so that is a $300 savings which puts them about equal. 

 

Not to turn this into an argument, but the variation and availability of phones and their prices make the point of the phones almost moot.  so say you paid for neither phone for either company, you save ~5% on T-mobile.  it's up to the customer at that point.

Hmm, You are correct about the BoGo HTC One.It is about a $200 savings so new math is below. I will say that 2 for 1 pricing is not the usual price for a new smartphone but as a direct comparison it is a valid one. I'll also add the cost if you buy one off of ebay at a normal price and bring it to T-Mobile:

Look at the monthly pricing between Sprint and T-Mobile now for 2 HTC One smartphones with unlimited data + insurance.

Sprint: $172.00 monthly + 398 (phones @199) = $4327 over 24 months

T-Mobile: $182 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4388 over 24 months

T-Mobile with upgrades every 6 months! $186 monthly + $20 (sim card x 2)     = $4484 over 24 months

T-Mobile BYOD ($425x2) + $8/mo Insurance + 120/mo= $3746

[CAREND]

The BYOD is where you save.  Thats why having more then the duopoly is key for competition. 

 

Either way, it will come down to preference and the customers priorities.

[mozamcrew]

I'll throw on another one I may have mentioned before- phone unlocking. Obviously with the GSM carriers this has never really been much of an issue, but now with VZW shipping their LTE phones SIM unlocked (with no remaining block against domestic carriers) because of an FCC mandate, only Sprint and perhaps a couple of the smaller CDMA carriers continue to cling to their phone ESN whitelists. For example, there was no reason they couldn't activate USCC phones for 1x/3G service in Chicago after that sale closed, other than to sell more phones and lock people into contracts. Kind of silly of them, since many device subsidies would have gone unused and made those accounts more profitable.

 

On one hand I'm with you about the unlocking in general. But I also see why Sprint would want to force them onto Sprint devices. Sprint wants customers to buy devices that support all of its bands both because it's better for Sprint's network, and because it will improve the experience for the customer. There are plenty of cheep/free dumbphones they can get at no cost, and USCC hadn't rolled out LTE in those markets because they didn't have enough spectrum to do so. USCC customers shouldn't have to pay anything for their phones, unless they are upgrading from a dumb phone to something that now will be able to use LTE on Sprint.

 

 

[DaQue]

I just wish once you were off contact (eligible for a new phone) your rate would drop like you had BYOD. As it stands now June I will get a new phone because the monthly fee will be the same either way. I know I will have to pay maybe $200-300 out of pocket for a Note 3 or something. If my bill was say $20 a month  cheaper I would wait a few months  for something better  to show  up in  September 2014.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4
 

[cletus]

I just wish once you were off contact (eligible for a new phone) your rate would drop like you had BYOD. As it stands now June I will get a new phone because the monthly fee will be the same either way. I know I will have to pay maybe $200-300 out of pocket for a Note 3 or something. If my bill was say $20 a month  cheaper I would wait a few months  for something better  to show  up in  September 2014.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 4

 

I agree. I moved my lines to Ting because of that very issue. In addition after 45 days I am treated like a new customer for rebates at Sprint so it seems to be win win (referral code available if you want it) I may just stay on Ting because as long as I use under like 4 GB it seems to be a better deal than Sprint. However, I do think it is possible for me to use more than 4 GB if I was streaming youtube/twitch.tv videos.