Sprint to expand to Montana using shut down CellularOne sites

[mhammett]

Hopefully Sprint won't repeat the mistakes they made in regard to contracting for backhaul like they did in NV 1.0.

I'm sure they will.

I would certainly hope they don't. But there are still many variables involved... Hopefully there are choices other than CenturyLink in Montana...

There are always other choices.

[Nickel]

I'm sure they will.

Are you saying they will make the same mistakes or that they'll make better ones?

[mhammett]

Are you saying they will make the same mistakes or that they'll make better ones?

They'll *(&%(* it up again.

[cdk]

They'll *(&%(* it up again.

 

But in the same way or a new creative way?

[mhammett]

But in the same way or a new creative way?

Hah, that much I don't know.

[Nickel]

They'll *(&%(* it up again.

I'd say you're wrong but until they prove they can do it correctly, they can't.

[Josh]

I'd say you're wrong but until they prove they can do it correctly, they can't.

 

Every plan is made with the best intentions, but not always with enough follow through.  They seem to just let the contractors/vendors fail and have no course to correct for this.  I have taken project management courses and most plans are supposed to have contingencies for 'what if' something goes wrong; and for suppliers not meeting deployment goals, it is usually $$$ off the top for delaying the project.  I know that some of it is outside of sprint's control, but it is interesting to me that there was no obvious repercussion for contractors not meeting their contractual obligations!  

I can say that I hope in the future that the new CEO creates a culture that mediocre results are not to be tolerated.  He has to set the new tone, and possibly hire better people to do contract negotiations...  I do hope for the best moving forward, but as you have pointed out, I will believe it when I see it.  

[S4GRU]

Every plan is made with the best intentions, but not always with enough follow through. They seem to just let the contractors/vendors fail and have no course to correct for this. I have taken project management courses and most plans are supposed to have contingencies for 'what if' something goes wrong; and for suppliers not meeting deployment goals, it is usually $$$ off the top for delaying the project. I know that some of it is outside of sprint's control, but it is interesting to me that there was no obvious repercussion for contractors not meeting their contractual obligations!

I can say that I hope in the future that the new CEO creates a culture that mediocre results are not to be tolerated. He has to set the new tone, and possibly hire better people to do contract negotiations... I do hope for the best moving forward, but as you have pointed out, I will believe it when I see it.

I have been in project management for 20 years. There are contract remedies allowed when contractors and vendors fail, but knowing when to use them is extremely important.

 

It's not always in your best interest to institute Plan B immediately after someone is contractually late. Because the remedy often at that point is worse than getting your original contracted party to complete. But as the contract manager, we must use the terms of the contract to our advantage to properly manage these folks.

 

Reminding them of the contract terms early and often. Letting them know that you will enact contingency plans if they fail to meet deadlines. Work with them to establish recovery schedules as they fail to meet critical path milestones. Letting them know their last and final date before you take action and hire someone else to complete the job at their expense.

 

And getting in the Plan B contractors/vendors in way before failure to start talking about pricing, planning and logistics so you can hand over to them with as little impact as possible.

 

But I have found out that Sprint has been trying to order backhaul 'just in time' delivery style. And this has been the biggest problem for them in the backhaul department. So any slippage causes a noticeable delay in LTE integration.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[telefunken]

I have been in project management for 20 years. There are contract remedies allowed when contractors and vendors fail, but knowing when to use them is extremely important.

 

It's not always in your best interest to institute Plan B immediately after someone is contractually late. Because the remedy often at that point is worse than getting your original contracted party to complete. But as the contract manager, we must use the terms of the contract to our advantage to properly manage these folks.

 

Reminding them of the contract terms early and often. Letting them know that you will enact contingency plans if they fail to meet deadlines. Work with them to establish recovery schedules as they fail to meet critical path milestones. Letting them know their last and final date before you take action and hire someone else to complete the job at their expense.

 

And getting in the Plan B contractors/vendors in way before failure to start talking about pricing, planning and logistics so you can hand over to them with as little impact as possible.

 

But I have found out that Sprint has been trying to order backhaul 'just in time' delivery style. And this has been the biggest problem for them in the backhaul department. So any slippage causes a noticeable delay in LTE integration.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

I have to say I helped a couple of offices migrate from T lines to FTTP and this is totally true. In my case I had to enact my backup plan because WindStream literally pushed the date like 4 times. I ended up going with Comcast Metro Ethernet and boy were they a TON easier/cheaper to deal with.

[mhammett]

You are literally the first person I heard say Comcast fiber was pleasant to deal with.

[mozamcrew]

You are literally the first person I heard say Comcast fiber was pleasant to deal with.

Well when you are comparing them to Windstream or (itTakesA)CenturyLink ....

[mhammett]

Here's my favorite quote of the week, "You've got to be pretty terrible as a company when you make AT&T look semi-civilized." That was said about CenturyLink.

[MacinJosh]

(itTakesA)CenturyLink ....

That is hilarious!

[irev210]

I've been watching a fiber contractor digging up a street for a few weeks now outside my office attempting to connect RCN fiber to something.  It's been amazingly slow.  It's nice watching them mark up the street with the orange spray paint so you can see all the fiber providers.  I like that Level3 has their logo on their manholes.

 

Sadly, in our office, we use Centurylink for internet.  I have no idea why.  I know it took a century for them to get the whole thing setup.  We have Level3, Verizon, and probably a bunch of other FTTP providers closets down in the parking garage.

 

It made me want to buy towerstream stock.  Seems like a great idea.

[S4GRU]

I've been watching a fiber contractor digging up a street for a few weeks now outside my office attempting to connect RCN fiber to something. It's been amazingly slow. It's nice watching them mark up the street with the orange spray paint so you can see all the fiber providers. I love seeing all the Level3 manholes.

 

Sadly, in our office, we use Centurylink for internet. I have no idea why. We have Level3, Verizon, and probably a bunch of other FTTP providers closets down in the parking garage.

CenturyLink fiber works great, when and if you can get it. In my latest project, we are using CL fiber, and I can ping the CL switch with 0ms ping. I can ping Level 3 in Denver with 3ms. I can ping S4GRU in 8ms. Crazy. If your office uses CL copper, then I would wonder too.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[irev210]

CenturyLink fiber works great, when and if you can get it. In my latest project, we are using CL fiber, and I can ping the CL switch with 0ms ping. I can ping Level 3 in Denver with 3ms. I can ping S4GRU in 8ms. Crazy. If your office uses CL copper, then I would wonder too.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

That's a lot different than my experience.  I would say my home internet (comcast or RCN) typically outperforms my centurylink experience at work (100mbit symmetrical fiber).

 

That being said... up until 2008 or so, we only had two T-1's providing internet for the whole office.  It was awful downloading at 1.5mbit/sec.

[S4GRU]

That's a lot different than my experience. I would say my home internet (comcast or RCN) typically outperforms my centurylink experience at work (100mbit symmetrical fiber).

 

That being said... up until 2008 or so, we only had two T-1's providing internet for the whole office. It was awful downloading at 1.5mbit/sec.

Here, CL is a former Qwest network. I don't know if that makes a difference. Also, I wonder if your internal network is a contributing factor. My CL fiber connection is being connected to the head end unit at the demark. I have no idea how it will perform at my desk, by the time the building is complete.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[irev210]

Here, CL is a former Qwest network. I don't know if that makes a difference. Also, I wonder if your internal network is a contributing factor. My CL fiber connection is being connected to the head end unit at the demark. I have no idea how it will perform at my desk, by the time the building is complete.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

Very good point - not sure how much our internal stuff slows things down.

 

I'll take a picture of the fiber work that's being done outside.  It REALLY puts it into context as to why it takes so long for backhaul providers to get fiber to a basestation in urban environments.

[bigsnake49]

Sprint's project management skills definitely sucked. It's like they did not have anybody leftover since they outsourced network operations to Ericsson.

Edited August 27, 2014 by bigsnake49

[telefunken]

I for one would love to see Sprint ditch Ericsson as it seems Ericsson was the beginning of Sprint's issues. Back when I was with Verizon, my Sprint friends always had better 3G speeds than me (around 2010).

[runagun]

I for one would love to see Sprint ditch Ericsson as it seems Ericsson was the beginning of Sprint's issues. Back when I was with Verizon, my Sprint friends always had better 3G speeds than me (around 2010).

Nah, it was the popularity of the Evo and lack of investments that crippled the network.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Mr.Nuke
Fixing quote issue

[telefunken]

Nah, it was the popularity of the Evo and lack of investments that crippled the network.

 

Really? It seemed like all the repairs & backhaul that Sprint prepaid for so that Ericsson could deploy it as needed (since they are actually over seeing network ops) that they waited on until things got so bad and then their was a shortage of parts and backhaul takes time to get rolling. I think in fact the Evo had little to do with it, as the majority of my friends in fact had the Evo and it regularly beat my HTC Incredible on Verizon (3G speed wise). In fact I have never seen a EV-DO speed as high in my life as my buddy on Sprint with his Evo, he got 2.6Mbps DL, back in the day.

[runagun]

Popularity of the Evo killed the network.  Sprints back haul consisted of multiple T-1 lines.  Problem was they never forcasted demand properly.Same as when ATT launched the Iphone. Vzw was the smart one out of the bunch. Installing Lte while it was getting fully baked (Old Releases) was a big risk for Vzw. Essentially,  they were ahead of the curve.

 

*Do i really need to mention Wimax?*  

 

Regarding Ericsson- They were already in a hole when they took over.  I'd compare it to a tsunami of Data That no one foresaw until too late.  Brings back memories of when my home dial up internet was faster then sprints evdo network. Its like a bad dream thinking about it now.  lol

 

There is a whole myriad of factors as to why the Network was let go. Bright side from here on, it just keeps getting better.  I wouldn't be surprised by the end of this year we get some number 1's in network reliability and Speed... #NewDayForData

 

  

Really? It seemed like all the repairs & backhaul that Sprint prepaid for so that Ericsson could deploy it as needed (since they are actually over seeing network ops) that they waited on until things got so bad and then their was a shortage of parts and backhaul takes time to get rolling. I think in fact the Evo had little to do with it, as the majority of my friends in fact had the Evo and it regularly beat my HTC Incredible on Verizon (3G speed wise). In fact I have never seen a EV-DO speed as high in my life as my buddy on Sprint with his Evo, he got 2.6Mbps DL, back in the day.

[S4GRU]

I don't see the conflict between these two thoughts.  The EVO popularity drew a lot of people to Sprint and likely had a significant impact on Sprint's 3G network in the long run.  Also, Ericsson's Network Management is notorious for being mismanaged and underfunded.  They deserve the bad wrap they get.  They absolutely have their fingerprints all over Sprint's network woes.  Not the only cause, but undeniably a part of the problem.

 

Robert

[EmeraldReporter]

I don't see the conflict between these two thoughts. The EVO popularity drew a lot of people to Sprint and likely had a significant impact on Sprint's 3G network in the long run. Also, Ericsson's Network Management is notorious for being mismanaged and underfunded. They deserve the bad wrap they get. They absolutely have their fingerprints all over Sprint's network woes. Not the only cause, but undeniably a part of the problem.

 

Robert

When is Erricsons 7 year management contract up?