Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[Terrell352]

Eleventy billion dollars.

 

AJ

Probably.  lmao

[Johnner1999]

well the new family plan starting this Friday charged an extra $20 per deice per month (plus something about an annual fee which i don't know) for unlimited or just $10 for a 3gb cap.  which isn't bad by any means - but if that was in lace today I'd go back to AT&T I suppose just for a better network - where I live and work.  

[RCM]

Eleventy billion dollars.

 

AJ

 

$TEXAS

[IamMrFamous07]

Great article of fiercewireless today http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-bye-2014-year/2014-01-08

 

 

I need sprint to really market new sprint hard!!! I know they can and I'm glad they are reframing unused evdo channels for LTE coverage.

 

 

 

Random: But I have a feeling tmobile and sprint will merge but they will keep the name tmobile and get rid of the sprint brand.

[utiz4321]

So hopefully the sprint hopes to have 100 additional cities covered by spark by 2016 was a typo, because I don't think the competition is going to stand still long enough to make this a meaningful roll out.

[lilotimz]

So hopefully the sprint hopes to have 100 additional cities covered by spark by 2016 was a typo, because I don't think the competition is going to stand still long enough to make this a meaningful roll out.

 

The thing is they're using 100 markets and 100 cities interchangeably for 2016. I'm inclined to believe 100 markets by 2016 and 100 cities by the end of 2014. 

[Terrell352]

Im all for that. Sprints name is badly damaged.

Great article of fiercewireless today http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-bye-2014-year/2014-01-08

 

 

I need sprint to really market new sprint hard!!! I know they can and I'm glad they are reframing unused evdo channels for LTE coverage.

 

 

 

Random: But I have a feeling tmobile and sprint will merge but they will keep the name tmobile and get rid of the sprint brand.

[Terrell352]

Im confused on how they are rolling this out as well. Is it markets or cities?

The thing is they're using 100 markets and 100 cities interchangeably for 2016. I'm inclined to believe 100 markets by 2016 and 100 cities by the end of 2014.

[PythonFanPA]

Eleventy billion dollars.

 

AJ

 

I'll see your Eleventy billion and raise you Umpteen billion.

[IamMrFamous07]

Im all for that. Sprints name is badly damaged.

It really is. I didnt realize how badly damaged the name is until today. I actually hope they do that

[WiWavelength]

I'll see your Eleventy billion and raise you Umpteen billion.

 

I see your umpteen billion and raise you $Dubai.  I call...

 

AJ

[utiz4321]

The thing is they're using 100 markets and 100 cities interchangeably for 2016. I'm inclined to believe 100 markets by 2016 and 100 cities by the end of 2014.

That is still depressingly slow. This negates any of the competitive advantage sprint would hope to gain from there deployment. By 2016 tmobile will have had 100 plus speeds out for well over a year. Verizon will have their 20x20 aws deployed in many places for nearly 2yrs. Mean while sprint customers will have two 5x5 (in most place) lte channels to pull from until 2016 with still large portions of their customer base not having acess to spark for an undefined time after that. The competition is just going to eat them alive. Who knows what ATT is going to do but two years is a great deal of time for them to figure something out.

[Terrell352]

Im at walmart right now with a -98 to -104dbm on 1xrtt and its actually usable. Probably because its 12:30pm. Typed this over 1x

[WiWavelength]

Im at walmart right now with a -98 to -104dbm on 1xrtt and its actually usable. Probably because its 12:30pm. Typed this over 1x

On the other hand, you were actually at Walmart. Boo...

 

AJ

[Terrell352]

I get lte here turned it to 1xrtt on purpose. I have to go to the back of walmart to lose a lte signal. Wanted to go to publix but walmart rules the hours of late night. Im still trying to figure out why they don't have wifi when publix and winn dixie have it.

On the other hand, you were actually at Walmart. Boo...

 

AJ

[jamisonshaw125]

I get lte here turned it to 1xrtt on purpose. I have to go to the back of walmart to lose a lte signal. Wanted to go to publix but walmart rules the hours of late night. Im still trying to figure out why they don't have wifi when publix and winn dixie have it.

Not in the budget. They would have to lower workers wages even more to pay for it. LOL

[The Dave]

I don't get all of this "Sprint is a damaged name" talk. There was a time not so long ago when AT&T was well known for its crippled and useless 3G network back during its iPhone exclusive days. It recovered and currently has the crown for most consistent and fastest speeds. No one would consider AT&T changing its name. T-Mobile has been well known for its limited network coverage and terrible Edge service, but yet people are flocking towards the Magenta T in record numbers. Many people acknowledge Sprint for its excellent voice service and it's well known that Network Vision is taking care of the long term capability of its data network. Sure, a lot of people have had issues with Sprint's network. But why does that mean that Sprint should ditch its brand identity?

[S4GRU]

That is still depressingly slow. This negates any of the competitive advantage sprint would hope to gain from there deployment. By 2016 tmobile will have had 100 plus speeds out for well over a year. Verizon will have their 20x20 aws deployed in many places for nearly 2yrs. Mean while sprint customers will have two 5x5 (in most place) lte channels to pull from until 2016 with still large portions of their customer base not having acess to spark for an undefined time after that. The competition is just going to eat them alive. Who knows what ATT is going to do but two years is a great deal of time for them to figure something out.

You need to put this into perspective. It wouldn't be slow. Sprint will have Band 25/26 LTE over its entire network this year, and Band 41 complete over the Clearwire network in the Top 25 markets and Band 41 underway with weekly acceptances on NV sites in the Top 100.

 

So this year, Sprint will surpass Tmo on POPs covered. Soon Sprint will be able to claim more POPs and way, way more square mileage of LTE. Tmo is getting near the end of their LTE deployment plan. It stops at just what it has covered with WCDMA. So not only will Sprint have LTE on its whole network, where Tmo doesn't (and ATT too), but it will also have LTE on low frequency spectrum.

 

And even though Band 41 speeds will not be consistent across any market this year, Tmo LTE speeds are not consistent throughout any of their markets either. Legere quotes top theoretical speeds, and the tech media gives him a pass as if network will perform that way in real world conditions.

 

Sprint will be competitive this year, even if it takes two years for a 100% build out of Band 41 in the Top 100 markets. Don't forget, Sprint has committed to adding Band 41 sites to make a denser network. This is the biggest factor in the completion date being two years out. Not the speed of conversion.

 

Band 41 conversion of Clearwire sites and Band 41 being added to NV sites is going to be relatively quick. And Sprint is prioritizing the order for Band 41 conversions to the busiest sites first and working its way down.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[bruce]

You need to put this into perspective. It wouldn't be slow. Sprint will have Band 25/26 LTE over its entire network this year, and Band 41 complete over the Clearwire network in the Top 25 markets and Band 41 underway with weekly acceptances on NV sites in the Top 100. So this year, Sprint will surpass Tmo on POPs covered. Soon Sprint will be able to claim more POPs and way, way more square mileage of LTE. Tmo is getting near the end of their LTE deployment plan. It stops at just what it has covered with WCDMA. So not only will Sprint have LTE on its whole network, where Tmo doesn't (and ATT too), but it will also have LTE on low frequency spectrum. And even though Band 41 speeds will not be consistent across any market this year, Tmo LTE speeds are not consistent throughout any of their markets either. Legere quotes top theoretical speeds, and the tech media gives him a pass as if network will perform that way in real world conditions. Sprint will be competitive this year, even if it takes two years for a 100% build out of Band 41 in the Top 100 markets. Don't forget, Sprint has committed to adding Band 41 sites to make a denser network. This is the biggest factor in the completion date being two years out. Not the speed of conversion. Band 41 conversion of Clearwire sites and Band 41 being added to NV sites is going to be relatively quick. And Sprint is prioritizing the order for Band 41 conversions to the busiest sites first and working its way down. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

Does this mean that in a year from now, there will be no complaints anywhere about dropped calls and patchy lte? Everyday there are new posts on the sprint community website about service issues and obviously we all know the standard response from the social care. Should we expect that in a year, that website will no longer be full of complaints? 

I want to switch back, but if a year from now they still say generic lines like "90 days" or "within 6 months"   its going to be hard to believe.

[jamisonshaw125]

Does this mean that in a year from now, there will be no complaints anywhere about dropped calls and patchy lte? Everyday there are new posts on the sprint community website about service issues and obviously we all know the standard response from the social care. Should we expect that in a year, that website will no longer be full of complaints? 

I want to switch back, but if a year from now they still say generic lines like "90 days" or "within 6 months"   its going to be hard to believe.

There will ALWAYS be complaints of patchy calls and dropped calls. Part of that is due to people being inside of a structure, part of that being due to service outages, and sometimes even the phones. We should absolutely see a giant decrease in complaints though with the addition of 800 on voice, and LTE. Sprint reps say what they are allowed to say. If they went around making promises saying that tower will be done by january 21st, and it wasn't done by then? Well then, you've just increased complaints by X, multiplied how many people saw the post and then add another 2 people on top of that lol. It's better to provide a 90 day time frame, which in reality is a good guestimation. 

 

One thing is for sure. Service (both voice and data). absolutely 100% will improve. It would be impossible for it not too improve with all of upgrades. 

[S4GRU]

Does this mean that in a year from now, there will be no complaints anywhere about dropped calls and patchy lte? Everyday there are new posts on the sprint community website about service issues and obviously we all know the standard response from the social care. Should we expect that in a year, that website will no longer be full of complaints?

I want to switch back, but if a year from now they still say generic lines like "90 days" or "within 6 months" its going to be hard to believe.

Dropped calls sooner than LTE. The 3G portion of Netwotk Vision is in full bore and should be done in 2-3 months in most places. This part was accelerated because of CSFB.

 

As for LTE, it comes down to where you live, where you go and what device you use. Some places are good now. Some places will be good soon. Some places will be good now or soon if you have a Triband device. Some places will not be better until later this year. And then there is even a few places (like Baton Rouge) that will not be good until 800MHz LTE is rolled out.

 

It's all about geography. But this is true of Tmo and ATT too. LTE is only good/available depending on where you are. Only VZW has good and available LTE over all their network.

 

EDIT: As far as complaints, there will always be complaints. There are lots of Tmo complaints, AT&T complaints and VZW complaints out here. I read them everyday.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[utiz4321]

You need to put this into perspective. It wouldn't be slow. Sprint will have Band 25/26 LTE over its entire network this year, and Band 41 complete over the Clearwire network in the Top 25 markets and Band 41 underway with weekly acceptances on NV sites in the Top 100.So this year, Sprint will surpass Tmo on POPs covered. Soon Sprint will be able to claim more POPs and way, way more square mileage of LTE. Tmo is getting near the end of their LTE deployment plan. It stops at just what it has covered with WCDMA. So not only will Sprint have LTE on its whole network, where Tmo doesn't (and ATT too), but it will also have LTE on low frequency spectrum.And even though Band 41 speeds will not be consistent across any market this year, Tmo LTE speeds are not consistent throughout any of their markets either. Legere quotes top theoretical speeds, and the tech media gives him a pass as if network will perform that way in real world conditions.Sprint will be competitive this year, even if it takes two years for a 100% build out of Band 41 in the Top 100 markets. Don't forget, Sprint has committed to adding Band 41 sites to make a denser network. This is the biggest factor in the completion date being two years out. Not the speed of conversion. Band 41 conversion of Clearwire sites and Band 41 being added to NV sites is going to be relatively quick. And Sprint is prioritizing the order for Band 41 conversions to the busiest sites first and working its way down.Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

You are right to point out that tmobile will not have their WLTE across their entire lte foot print and the exstint of this roll out is important. But vzw will have a very extensive roll out of the AWS lte well before 2016. I doubt ATT is going to stand still either (although it is much harder to see where the come up with additional spectrum.). Here is why I think it is painfully slow, tmobile will be hammering the faster network and in carrier message for the next two years (providing they are not bought out which is what I think they are angling for) Verizon will continue with it message and likely see their reputation remained unchanged, ATT might be the only company that might have problems as it is hard to see where they go from here. What is sprint message for the next two years? There pricing plans are innovative and maybe that will be it. But they aren't really the cheapest (nor do They want to be known as that really). So what do they go to market place with as the reason people should choose sprint? Are network is the slowest (in terms of average speeds), our plans aren't the cheapest, every one is doing HD voice (except vzw), they will have the most advance network but the average end user won't see it that way, They'll see slower lte data, so what is the marketing message that they can deliver on. one of the appeals of NV was the speed of the original time line and had it been exicuted sprint would be at rough parody with all the other carriers today. But it wasn't and so they aren't in most areas. Maybe it can argued and maybe it is true that sprint band 41 rollout will keep them in line with their competition but that is not what sprint needs to be doing right now. They need to pull a head of the competition and really try to differinciate their network ( which is what they claim to be doing). For the reasons mentioned above I don't think their current time table will allow them to do this. But maybe this new pricing scheme will be the message.

[irev210]

Every year, I look forward to the Renesys blog that ranks internet providers.

 

It looks like Sprint has picked up a lot of transit from softbank - glad to see softbank taking advantage of sprintlink.

 

Sprint (AS 1239), which has been steadily declining in our rankings for years, showed surprising signs of life late in the year. In part, this was due to increased transit from Japan’s #2 ranked provider, Softbank Telecom (AS 4725).

 

http://www.renesys.com/2014/01/bakers-dozen-2013-edition/

[supert0nes]

You are right to point out that tmobile will not have their WLTE across their entire lte foot print and the exstint of this roll out is important. But vzw will have a very extensive roll out of the AWS lte well before 2016. I doubt ATT is going to stand still either (although it is much harder to see where the come up with additional spectrum.). Here is why I think it is painfully slow, tmobile will be hammering the faster network and in carrier message for the next two years (providing they are not bought out which is what I think they are angling for) Verizon will continue with it message and likely see their reputation remained unchanged, ATT might be the only company that might have problems as it is hard to see where they go from here. What is sprint message for the next two years? There pricing plans are innovative and maybe that will be it. But they aren't really the cheapest (nor do They want to be known as that really). So what do they go to market place with as the reason people should choose sprint? Are network is the slowest (in terms of average speeds), our plans aren't the cheapest, every one is doing HD voice (except vzw), they will have the most advance network but the average end user won't see it that way, They'll see slower lte data, so what is the marketing message that they can deliver on. one of the appeals of NV was the speed of the original time line and had it been exicuted sprint would be at rough parody with all the other carriers today. But it wasn't and so they aren't in most areas. Maybe it can argued and maybe it is true that sprint band 41 rollout will keep them in line with their competition but that is not what sprint needs to be doing right now. They need to pull a head of the competition and really try to differinciate their network ( which is what they claim to be doing). For the reasons mentioned above I don't think their current time table will allow them to do this. But maybe this new pricing scheme will be the message.

First of all AT&T will be deploying WCS next and acquiring as much AWS as they feel they need.  If they want more spectrum, they'll just buy Dish.

 

The 2 year timeline you base your whole argument on is patently false.  It's almost like you completely ignored all the truth in Robert's post.

[Johnner1999]

You need to put this into perspective. It wouldn't be slow. Sprint will have Band 25/26 LTE over its entire network this year, and Band 41 complete over the Clearwire network in the Top 25 markets and Band 41 underway with weekly acceptances on NV sites in the Top 100. So this year, Sprint will surpass Tmo on POPs covered. Soon Sprint will be able to claim more POPs and way, way more square mileage of LTE. Tmo is getting near the end of their LTE deployment plan. It stops at just what it has covered with WCDMA. So not only will Sprint have LTE on its whole network, where Tmo doesn't (and ATT too), but it will also have LTE on low frequency spectrum. And even though Band 41 speeds will not be consistent across any market this year, Tmo LTE speeds are not consistent throughout any of their markets either. Legere quotes top theoretical speeds, and the tech media gives him a pass as if network will perform that way in real world conditions. Sprint will be competitive this year, even if it takes two years for a 100% build out of Band 41 in the Top 100 markets. Don't forget, Sprint has committed to adding Band 41 sites to make a denser network. This is the biggest factor in the completion date being two years out. Not the speed of conversion. Band 41 conversion of Clearwire sites and Band 41 being added to NV sites is going to be relatively quick. And Sprint is prioritizing the order for Band 41 conversions to the busiest sites first and working its way down. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

once again thank you Robert - for talking me off of the ledge!  :-)