SoftBank is lighting a fire under Sprint

[bigsnake49]

That flies in the face of conventional wisdom. On top of that it suggests that mobile customers are more entrenched than your average consumer. I see no evidence of that. In fact I see evidence that they are very transient. Proof of this is contracts. Forcing people onto Sprint will not work. Showing them a good product at a competitive price will.

Contracts have a way of making them more entrenched. So do phones technologically locked to a particularly band or bands.

[WiWavelength]

Forcing people onto Sprint will not work.

"Forcing people onto" VZW and AT&T has made the duopoly what they are in wireless.

 

Do you think that acquired AT&TWS, Alltel, RCC, Dobson, Centennial, etc., subs were thrilled? A lot of them were not. But inertia itself is a powerful force. Most of the acquired subs got over it and stayed because that was the path of least resistance.

 

AJ

[S4GRU]

I also would be fully for putting some buildout requirements for at least the semirural areas, as in, the resulting entities have to cover all highways and towns over a certain population.

 

This!  If the rural coverage buildout requirement was broad enough.  As in covering all markets with 50K people and all interstate highways, then, I may actually flip to being in support of a Tmo buyout.

 

Robert

[WiWavelength]

This!  If the rural coverage buildout requirement was broad enough.  As in covering all markets with 50K people and all interstate highways, then, I may actually flip to being in support of a Tmo buyout.

 

I coin this the "Rapid City Effect."

 

AJ

[S4GRU]

I coin this the "Rapid City Effect."

 

AJ

 

My geography could cloud my judgment.  

 

Robert

[bigsnake49]

This!  If the rural coverage buildout requirement was broad enough.  As in covering all markets with 50K people and all interstate highways, then, I may actually flip to being in support of a Tmo buyout.

 

Robert

 

I would go for 10,000 and state highways of a certain daliy traffic.

[WiWavelength]

T-Mobile USA is better at marketing for one.. this is my area of expertise.

 

That is a rare point of agreement between us.

 

Magenta marketing is too femme -- of course, you may disagree -- but Sprint marketing of late has been exceedingly poor.  The James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell commercials are just awful.  I sincerely hope that Sprint is intentionally taking the backseat in marketing right now because Network Vision is still under construction in many markets.

 

Heck, bring back the black and white Dan Hesse.  Speak honestly -- both of the good and the bad.  And in six months, if the Sprint-T-Mobile knot will not be tied, then hit T-Mobile hard, damn hard with attack ads.  Sprint will have a major 800 MHz advantage over T-Mobile's notoriously weak in building coverage.  And LTE across the entire Sprint footprint will swamp T-Mobile's isolated islands of "4G" surrounded by seas of GSM and no service.

 

AJ

[Bob Newhart]

I do wonder what spectrum Sprint has to give to T-Mobile as part of the break up fees once the government votes to disallow this merger....I do wonder....   

 

Wouldn't $20billion be much better spent on adding  thousands of cell towers?

[WiWavelength]

I do wonder what spectrum Sprint has to give to T-Mobile as part of the break up fees once the government votes to disallow this merger....I do wonder....   

Nothing.  That was AT&T hubris to guarantee spectrum as part of a breakup fee.

 

And I did not know that JoeJoeJoe had amazing foresight into the internal decision processes at the FCC and DoJ.

 

If I actually used the rolls eyes emoticon, I would -- as I would on a lot of your broken record posts.

 

Wouldn't $20billion be much better spent on adding  thousands of cell towers?

No.  Spending that money on building expanded footprint does not guarantee additional revenue.  But buying an existing subscriber base does.  VZW and AT&T have shown this over and over again.

 

AJ

[Bob Newhart]

I was just wondering what if any break up conditions would/could exist.

 

I'm sorry for not posting a youtube from the 1980's if we're talking about broken records.

[centermedic]

"Forcing people onto" VZW and AT&T has made the duopoly what they are in wireless.

 

Do you think that acquired AT&TWS, Alltel, RCC, Dobson, Centennial, etc., subs were thrilled? A lot of them were not. But inertia itself is a powerful force. Most of the acquired subs got over it and stayed because that was the path of least resistance.

 

AJ

In all of those cases there was a certain amount of customers who defected. While that is to be expected it is worth noting that Verizon and AT&T had decent reputations when these acquisitions took place. I fear that there will be a significant defection of former T-mobile customers if Sprint takes over.

[dnicekid]

In all of those cases there was a certain amount of customers who defected. While that is to be expected it is worth noting that Verizon and AT&T had decent reputations when these acquisitions took place. I fear that there will be a significant defection of former T-mobile customers if Sprint takes over.

LOL let them go! They will leave outta spite and regret it later and prolly come back.. 

I have a tmo account on suspension as I was all set to leave,..... Then 800 started popping up on my phone and I noticed I was getting a lot more lte... just not in my home but I thought i should wait a little longer....

[dedub]

Sure. What do you want to know? The only commonality is band 41 TD-LTE 2600 between Sprint and SoftBank.

 

AJ

 

I was just curious how compatible tmo spectrum is with native softbank japan's holdings.

 

If there is more match up between tmo/sbjapan it could be a motivating factor to be able to source a single phone for us/japan.

[centermedic]

LOL let them go! They will leave outta spite and regret it later and prolly come back.. 

I have a tmo account on suspension as I was all set to leave,..... Then 800 started popping up on my phone and I noticed I was getting a lot more lte... just not in my home but I thought i should wait a little longer....

Thats what my issue is. You spend billions just to watch folk walk out the door when you can invest that same billions into your company and run t-mo into the ground. I know that is an overly simplistic outlook as T-mo does bring spectrum to the table but Sprint already has an enviable spectrum portfolio and T-mo does not extend Sprints footprint. I have yet to see anything that would convince me that this is a good idea.

[WiWavelength]

My geography could cloud my judgment.  

 

Yes, choosing to move north of the Arctic Circle, the lack of daylight and omnipresent cold has affected you mentally.

 

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

Thats what my issue is. You spend billions just to watch folk walk out the door when you can invest that same billions into your company and run t-mo into the ground. I know that is an overly simplistic outlook as T-mo does bring spectrum to the table but Sprint already has an enviable spectrum portfolio...

 

I still have not publicly endorsed this Sprint-T-Mobile transaction.  But I will rebut those who oppose it on unsubstantiated or untenable grounds.  And here is my rationale...

 

A truly equivalent third competitor to VZW and AT&T needs to blow the duopoly out of the water with spectrum/capacity in cities.  That is the only way to compete with their essentially insurmountable coverage footprint advantage -- gained from regulatory oversight allowing them to buy up nearly all sub 1 GHz spectrum and associated mature networks over the last 15 years.

 

This hearkens back to what the FCC seemingly intended over 20 years ago when it designed the PCS 1900 MHz band to serve as a competitive foil to the Cellular 850 MHz band.  Back then, it was the digital "city phone" versus the analog "coverage phone."  Of course, the Cellular incumbents circumvented that dichotomy through overlay of digital airlinks and consolidation by the duopoly.

 

But the new dichotomy could be the massive capacity "city device" versus the low capacity "coverage device."  For once, for all, that could put the duopoly in its place -- maybe even on its heels -- as increasingly data gluttonous consumers would have to choose between much faster service in cities or much broader service outside of cities.

 

AJ

[centermedic]

I still have not publicly endorsed this Sprint-T-Mobile transaction.  But I will rebut those who oppose it on unsubstantiated or untenable grounds.  And here is my rationale...

 

A truly equivalent third competitor to VZW and AT&T needs to blow the duopoly out of the water with spectrum/capacity in cities.  That is the only way to compete with their essentially insurmountable coverage footprint advantage -- gained from regulatory oversight allowing them to buy up nearly all sub 1 GHz spectrum and associated mature networks over the last 15 years.

 

This hearkens back to what the FCC seemingly intended over 20 years ago when it designed the PCS 1900 MHz band to serve as a competitive foil to the Cellular 850 MHz band.  Back then, it was the digital "city phone" versus the analog "coverage phone."  Of course, the Cellular incumbents circumvented that dichotomy through overlay of digital airlinks and consolidation by the duopoly.

 

But the new dichotomy could be the massive capacity "city device" versus the low capacity "coverage device."  For once, for all, that could put the duopoly in its place -- maybe even on its heels -- as increasingly data gluttonous consumers would have to choose between much faster service in cities or much broader service outside of cities.

 

AJ

I understand what you are saying and I should preface my comments as being based totally on my own opinions. I will stand by my concern about the debt load and there being more negatives to this deal than positives. Short story, I believe this deal may very well HAMPER Sprints ability to compete with the big two rather then enhancing it. I will be more than happy to retract that opinion if the details of the alleged deal show otherwise.

[Nickel]

How is it that we got stuck with another Sprint-T-Mobile thread?  

[MacinJosh]

How is it that we got stuck with another Sprint-T-Mobile thread?

Good question. But it sure seems to keep happening over and over.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Nickel]

Good question. But it sure seems to keep happening over and over.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I really enjoyed it the first time around but now it feels like Groundhog Day.

[WiWavelength]

How is it that we got stuck with another Sprint-T-Mobile thread?  

Good question. But it sure seems to keep happening over and over.

 

We can rejigger the placement of some of these posts.  But this is important discussion.  And these Sprint-T-Mobile posts are not going to be hidden -- unless I am getting booted from S4GRU.

 

AJ

[Nickel]

We can rejigger the placement of some of these posts.  But this is important discussion.  And these Sprint-T-Mobile posts are not going to be hidden -- unless I am getting booted from S4GRU.

 

AJ

If were going to keep these up then why not put them in the original thread about it?

[The Dave]

The discussion is still pertinent to the original topic. Without Softbank, Sprint wouldn't be in a position to buy out or merge with T-Mobile. Honestly, there are things I like about T-Mobile. Their price plans are enticing and the technology used with their NSN and Ericsson vendors are cutting edge. A marriage between the best of Sprint and the best of T-Mobile would be like the new Bennifer. Only, it wouldn't be so annoying. Hopefully..

[centermedic]

Contracts have a way of making them more entrenched. So do phones technologically locked to a particularly band or bands.

Thats exactly my point. The average cell phone consumer would gravitate towards switching providers if not for the contracts.

[The Dave]

Thats exactly my point. The average cell phone consumer would gravitate towards switching providers if not for the contracts.

That may sound true in theory, but there are so many people who are out of contract and just renew with the same carrier despite not liking them. I also known of a number of instances where another carrier would buy a new customer out of their old contract. I had a friend who was on T-Mobile and had almost a whole year left. I convinced him that Sprint was better and when he went to look at the Epic 4G Touch, they ended up buying him out of his contract and signing him up with Sprint.