Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

[Dkoellerwx]

I have a feeling they are going to announce a "nationwide" launch of 3x CA when the iPhone 7 launch.

 

Bookmark this page lol

 

Just waiting on the final vendors equipment to be ready it would appear, now that Nokia and Samsung are ready to go.

[Johnner1999]

Except many towers okay let's not say many.

 

Some towers don't have LTE yet is my point.

 

 

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[lilotimz]

Just waiting on the final vendors equipment to be ready it would appear, now that Nokia and Samsung are ready to go.

Nokia and Samsung are the two vendors.

 

 

Alcatel-Lucent is defunct as a hardware vendor don't forget!

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

[nexgencpu]

Nokia and Samsung are the two vendors.

 

 

Alcatel-Lucent is defunct as a hardware vendor don't forget!

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

So Alu equipment is now at parity with Nokia's? Same software and firmware etc?

[lilotimz]

So Alu equipment is now at parity with Nokia's? Same software and firmware etc?

No. Alu is just Nokia now. Same stuff different name.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

[nexgencpu]

No. Alu is just Nokia now. Same stuff different name.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

So basically because Nokialand equipment is good to go on 3XCA does not automatically mean Alu stuff is.

[caspar347]

I'm not trying to be a downer, I'm calling it like I see it.  I live in Fairfax County, the most populated county in Virginia, and the most populated county in the DC metro area.  I live so close to I-95 I can hear it from my back yard and the exit ramp practically ends in front of my house, and yet I can drive less than 2 minutes and get to a site without NV upgrades or LTE, a site where T-Mobile has LTE on both AWS and 700.  (Somehow they managed to deal with it being on a power line, as did Verizon and AT&T on adjacent power line towers, so why can't Sprint?)  I can drive past that site and less than 3 minutes later I'll be in an area where I'm roaming on Verizon 1X/EV-DO, an area where Sprint allowed a permit to expire that would have filled the hole--a hole found outdoors on a highway that an exit off I-95 leads you to.  Not exactly a back road.

 

In the past year, Sprint has zero antenna permit applications on file with the county, and two granted and active antenna permits, one of which is for a microwave antenna.  For good measure, I also searched for "APC Realty" and "Mobilitie" since I have seen Sprint applications under the first name and could imagine some under the second.  None found.  In the entire county.

 

By contrast, AT&T has two or three pages of permit search results in the last year, T-Mobile has three or four pages of permit search results in the last year, and Verizon has at least six pages.

 

I'm glad to hear they're talking less and doing more, I'm just not entirely sure where else I should be looking for evidence of all this work that's supposedly being done.  It's clearly not being done here.  I have seen zero evidence of any small cells, additional Clearwire/IDEN conversions, new sites, or new B41 equipment being installed.  As far as I can tell, all work here has stopped.  If I'm looking in the wrong places, please tell me.  I want to believe Sprint is continuing to improve, but I can't find any evidence to support it.

 

- Trip

 

I feel your pain. No new permits in a year and a half here. And that powerline story sounds familiar. T-Mobile just took up Cricket's spot and managed to get tower-mounted RRUs and full size antennas permitted on a slim flagpole site near me that required some pretty extensive aesthetic modifications (the site looks kinda like a thin Seattle Space Needle now). Sprint GMO'd it in 2014 and hasn't touched it since.

 

The GMOs really sting. We've got a couple that really give Sprint a bad reputation around here because they happen to be in bad spots. That's something I don't get: all of the other carriers seem to be able to prioritize and fix pain-points at a hyper-local level whereas Sprint will just go through and upgrade as many sites in a market as they can in one pass and leave anything that they couldn't get to whether the non-upgraded site is next to a huge mall or in the middle of a corn field. The other three will do what they need to do to fix the mall site immediately and they’ll even eventually get around to the cornfield site. Sprint will let both sit indefinitely. I know my time watching this stuff is pretty limited compared to many others here, but from where I’ve been sitting for the past three years it looks like when a site isn’t done right the first time (i.e. subcontractor permit screwups, site owner negotiation problems, structural limitations) they just call it a day and leave it until total equipment failure happens. The result is a very inconsistent experience depending on where you live. I can drive from a GMO LTE build to a triband full build to a congested dualband full build to a non-functional 3G GMO to no service in about 15 minutes depending on traffic without leaving suburban south Charlotte. When it’s good it’s great, but when it’s bad it’s like I’m back in 2011. The lack of new sites doesn't help.

 

But I don't think it's fair to put all of the blame on Sprint's new executives or even past executives here. Since before NV started they have never really had a surplus of cash that would be required to go back and fix bad sites. And there's some good news. Even with Sprint's lingering cash deficiencies they appear to be doing serious infill work in critical markets to make the network more consistent. They're still trialing new small cell types. They are appointing regional managers whose duties include local network patchwork. And they’re quite surprisingly taking small cells a lot more seriously than T-Mobile (and AT&T too from what I can tell) which allow them to really fix hyper-local network holes.

 

And have billions of dollars in debt maturing this year and next year. 

 

Oh and they cut their CAPEX by billions. 

 

I wonder where that CAPEX money went... hmmm...

 

^^^ this is really unfortunate timing.

[Dkoellerwx]

Nokia and Samsung are the two vendors.

 

 

Alcatel-Lucent is defunct as a hardware vendor don't forget!

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

 

I know I know... ALU equipment is still not the same as Nokia equipment. Until it gets replaced. 

[laqn1283]

JD Powers released a few days ago that Sprint ranked higher than Att and T-Mobile, second after Verizon in terms of problems customers encountered with their networks.  This is a surprise.  I would never thought Sprint is better than Att or even T-mobile.  

Also the early root metrics release for 2nd half show that Tmobile is falling behind, first place finishes are less than 1st half whereas Sprint's first places finishes are trending up.  Verizon is holding up well and same is true for Att.  Well I guess relatively, Son and Marcelo are doing something right with their limited capital spending.

[Johnner1999]

JD Powers released a few days ago that Sprint ranked higher than Att and T-Mobile, second after Verizon in terms of problems customers encountered with their networks. This is a surprise. I would never thought Sprint is better than Att or even T-mobile.

Also the early root metrics release for 2nd half show that Tmobile is falling behind, first place finishes are less than 1st half whereas Sprint's first places finishes are trending up. Verizon is holding up well and same is true for Att. Well I guess relatively, Son and Marcelo are doing something right with their limited capital spending.

 

Wow I'm very impressed and shocked.

 

Well the old adage -- Thin to Win -- does work. Kudos for them.

 

 

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[Paynefanbro]

JD Powers released a few days ago that Sprint ranked higher than Att and T-Mobile, second after Verizon in terms of problems customers encountered with their networks.  This is a surprise.  I would never thought Sprint is better than Att or even T-mobile.  

Also the early root metrics release for 2nd half show that Tmobile is falling behind, first place finishes are less than 1st half whereas Sprint's first places finishes are trending up.  Verizon is holding up well and same is true for Att.  Well I guess relatively, Son and Marcelo are doing something right with their limited capital spending.

 

 

Link to this for those wondering/not wanting to go searching for it.

[Arysyn]

1) No salesperson will ever mention speed limits. "You get unlimited data including unlimited standard definition video". Who cares about 500Kbps of streaming music or 2Mbps for gaming? No one is that hardcore, no need to mention it. Want HD video? $20 on top of $60

2) At 9Mbps you can watch HD video, and at $45 that would destroy the quality of the network because everyone would be on it. Bad idea.

 

True. This is a reason why these limits are a bad idea for Sprint to implement. There already is enough complaints online against Sprint over the 50% discount mess, with people complaining they were quoted differently than they were billed, etc. When people start noticing their Tidal HiFi usage isn't right over Sprint's Unlimited Freedom plan limitation to 500kbps, they will complain about how they weren't told of the limit an how they wouldn't have switched to Sprint otherwise knowing they'd have to pay more for service that worked with that properly. Same could be said among gamers not told of the limitation.

 

This just makes things confusing to consumers whenever it is they find out about it and then have to calculate their usage. The whole point of Unlimited Data is to remove those complications based on the term "Unlimited", typically meaning "No limits". I'm only supportive of such stipulations where there is a flat across the board policy among all uses, such as Cricket saying "LTE maxed out at 8mbps", since all forms of usage is throttled to that maximum speed. I can understand having different speed tiers too, so long as it covers all forms of usage. 

Yeah I pretty positive that normal folk (that excludes most people reading this) just want to have FB posts occur quickly - send photos or videos to friends - and stream pandora. If it works they are happy.

 

Maybe I'm wrong.

 

 

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There certainly are people like that and they probably won't notice any difference with the speed limitations. However, there are those that will, and a great many of them will complain about it and leave Sprint. Currently, Sprint needs new customers and they need to keep them. Building a great network will certainly help with that, but first Sprint has to offer great rates that people both understand and know that they will have a level of service that works for all of their usage. Sprint could do this easily by removing the speed limitations. The Unlimited Freedom plan without them is a great deal, no doubt. As the example I used here the other day, Sprint is offering through their Employee Referring Customers plan two lines for $90 monthly, This is the exact great rate I had on T-Mobile. This could be like SERO part two, if Sprint removed the speed limits and advertised this quietly through the internet.

 

When I was on HowardForums back in mid2000s when SERO came around, I had a friend who worked at Sprint who gave me their employee number and gave me permission to give it out for people to join. I got dozens of requests per day back then from people on HF. Those are customers Sprint could gain, even with a reasonable across the board speed cap in place, if indeed it does help the network somehow. Otherwise, drop the speed cap and watch the customers rush to sign up.

[Arysyn]

Link to this for those wondering/not wanting to go searching for it.

I'm not surprised to see T-Mobile so poorly ranked, However, this does not look good for AT&T, who really needs to get improving here in the U.S., or risk losing its valuable link as second best to Verizon.

[nexgencpu]

This was just posted on Günther Ottendorfer COO FB page. Thing I noticed right away after they zoomed into the speed results were the upload speeds. Seems like they are still on the same TDD Config version. That would explain the lower peak download speeds.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=176960726067550&id=100012608712657

[Johnner1999]

True. This is a reason why these limits are a bad idea for Sprint to implement. There already is enough complaints online against Sprint over the 50% discount mess, with people complaining they were quoted differently than they were billed, etc. When people start noticing their Tidal HiFi usage isn't right over Sprint's Unlimited Freedom plan limitation to 500kbps, they will complain about how they weren't told of the limit an how they wouldn't have switched to Sprint otherwise knowing they'd have to pay more for service that worked with that properly. Same could be said among gamers not told of the limitation.

 

This just makes things confusing to consumers whenever it is they find out about it and then have to calculate their usage. The whole point of Unlimited Data is to remove those complications based on the term "Unlimited", typically meaning "No limits". I'm only supportive of such stipulations where there is a flat across the board policy among all uses, such as Cricket saying "LTE maxed out at 8mbps", since all forms of usage is throttled to that maximum speed. I can understand having different speed tiers too, so long as it covers all forms of usage.

 

There certainly are people like that and they probably won't notice any difference with the speed limitations. However, there are those that will, and a great many of them will complain about it and leave Sprint. Currently, Sprint needs new customers and they need to keep them. Building a great network will certainly help with that, but first Sprint has to offer great rates that people both understand and know that they will have a level of service that works for all of their usage. Sprint could do this easily by removing the speed limitations. The Unlimited Freedom plan without them is a great deal, no doubt. As the example I used here the other day, Sprint is offering through their Employee Referring Customers plan two lines for $90 monthly, This is the exact great rate I had on T-Mobile. This could be like SERO part two, if Sprint removed the speed limits and advertised this quietly through the internet.

 

When I was on HowardForums back in mid2000s when SERO came around, I had a friend who worked at Sprint who gave me their employee number and gave me permission to give it out for people to join. I got dozens of requests per day back then from people on HF. Those are customers Sprint could gain, even with a reasonable across the board speed cap in place, if indeed it does help the network somehow. Otherwise, drop the speed cap and watch the customers rush to sign up.

 

 

I may be wrong -- but Sero users basically just give sprint revenue.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Arysyn]

I may be wrong -- but Sero users basically just give sprint revenue.

 

 

 

 

 

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I just remember the massive popularity of SERO, which if Sprint were to want something positive to show towards people who generally think negatively about Sprint, perhaps bringing SERO back in a new, affordable form may help them get customers signing up, which means more revenue. Sprint could call the plan "Sprint Everything, Really! Offer" with no limits whatsoever at $45 monthly. I know it sounds silly and that is a pretty low cost, unless you consider the additional line rates Sprint and other carriers are charging below that price point, you've got a plan that wins. Sprint already essentially is charging that for Unlimited Data with two lines under their Employee Referring Customers offer, so I can't see doing this as a loss at all to Sprint, just so Sprint keeps a watch well enough over its network.

[dnicekid]

Except 5G isn't commercially deployed. When Sprint tested CA in 2014 and was getting insanely high speeds of 1Gbps+ we all said "cool but that's obviously not happening on our phone anytime soon". Likewise for VZW and 5G.

 

Sprint's press releases about 3xCA and getting 230Mbps is something that is happening in the field today and can be utilized by devices that are out now (even though they require a software update). That's the difference.

 

It's nice but who cares if I am 230 and 2blocks later on 3G???

 

Don't get me wrong I like 3xcA but would much rather these damn towers get optimized, get their fiber or microwave going. There are way to many areas that are lacking so far into the project

[nexgencpu]

It's nice but who cares if I am 230 and 2blocks later on 3G???

 

Don't get me wrong I like 3xcA but would much rather these damn towers get optimized, get their fiber or microwave going. There are way to many areas that are lacking so far into the project

You need to get in contact with your local regional manager or higher ups so that they can optimize the area's you visit. I have done it two or three times the last few years with awesome results.

[rackhivee]

It's nice but who cares if I am 230 and 2blocks later on 3G???

 

Don't get me wrong I like 3xcA but would much rather these damn towers get optimized, get their fiber or microwave going. There are way to many areas that are lacking so far into the project

2 blocks? Come on, quit your trolling, you have 3 additional carriers to pick from if you're so frustrated with Sprints performance. Most of them offering incentives for your business.

 

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[Johnner1999]

You need to get in contact with your local regional manager or higher ups so that they can optimize the area's you visit. I have done it two or three times the last few years with awesome results.

I doubt I get a response.

 

 

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[nexgencpu]

I doubt I get a response.

 

 

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The last 2 times I tweeted Marcelo/Marci/Sprintcare and got great results.

[Johnner1999]

The last 2 times I tweeted Marcelo/Marci/Sprintcare and got great results.

No I get great results via sprintcares via Marcelo!!!

 

I'm referring to the regional person based off of his twitter account, which is 95% filed with retweets from other events.

 

I'll give the benefit of the doubt by waiting a few days to see if he responds.

 

In my area Sprint pulled the majority of upgrades and no pending new requests.

 

 

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[Paynefanbro]

It's nice but who cares if I am 230 and 2blocks later on 3G???

 

Don't get me wrong I like 3xcA but would much rather these damn towers get optimized, get their fiber or microwave going. There are way to many areas that are lacking so far into the project

 

 

I can sympathize but I can't empathize. The only time I see 3G is on I-84 is around the border of Connecticut.

[Arysyn]

I have another idea that might help Sprint if they went back to having a $75 monthly Unlimited Data plan with no additional line discounts, yet they could remove the restrictions on it. Then, Sprint could apply a $30 monthly discount on lines that had an active device EIP or device lease, making the rate $45 monthly, instead of $75 monthly, so long as there is an active monthly payment on a device for that line.

 

If Sprint offered this, it might be a great way of not only getting customers onto Sprint, but increase store traffic with people getting devices and upgrades, which accessories would get sold more often to go along with the device purchases/leases. Plus, smartphone manufacturers might be impressed upon Sprint having this arrangement and be more willing to have their devices work on the Sprint network. In turn, business would be up and Sprint would have more money to do the necessary and desired network additions/upgrades.

[Sanyo M1]

2 blocks? Come on, quit your trolling, you have 3 additional carriers to pick from if you're so frustrated with Sprints performance. Most of them offering incentives for your business.

 

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Lol, yeah trolling. Austin, MN is perfect example of the two blocks of Band 41. Literally only get Band 41 on north side of town if outside and for a few blocks. Specifically this area: http://imgur.com/a/IUpE4

 

Though where there is density, e.g. downtown Minneapolis, it's fine.