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

[WiWavelength]

It's been speculated that Sprint has paid a lot to Verizon for roaming for a while. I am personally for cutting off roaming. Better to just go on and not worry about the super rural customers (like myself!) who are on VZW anyway.

 

See my post above.  If the T-Mobile executive is attributing all roaming costs to VZW -- and how would he have that proprietary information -- then he is neglecting the roaming income that Sprint is receiving from USCC, C Spire, etc.  If Sprint were to cut off roaming, those operators would do likewise, go out of business, or seek other roaming partners -- probably VZW, which then would reap that roaming income.

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

See my post above. If the T-Mobile executive is attributing all roaming costs to VZW -- and how would he have that proprietary information -- then he is neglecting the roaming income that Sprint is receiving from USCC, C Spire, etc. If Sprint were to cut off roaming, those operators would do likewise, go out of business, or seek other roaming partners -- probably VZW, which then would reap that roaming income.

 

AJ

There's no way Sprint is making that much off USCC and co. I just don't see it.

 

I do get that counter argument - I was anticipating it. It just doesn't compute with me. Sprint has to cut costs right now. It's critical.

[WiWavelength]

There's no way Sprint is making that much off USCC and co. I just don't see it.

 

I do get that counter argument - I was anticipating it. It just doesn't compute with me. Sprint has to cut costs right now. It's critical.

Ryan, in no way did I say or even suggest that the roaming income from the other now much maligned regional operators -- as some would say, CDMA2000 sucks -- completely are offsetting that $500 million roaming cost. But even if that roaming income is only $200 million, $100 million, $50 million, it is something.

 

Meanwhile, just about no domestic operator of any import roams on T-Mobile -- because T-Mobile has been anti friendly to its own roaming for a long time, while roaming tends to be reciprocal. T-Mobile roaming income tends to come from international roamers. Oh, hooray, the non American "Global" System for Mobile Communications and the "Universal" Mobile Telecommunications System.

 

AJ

[utiz4321]

It's been speculated that Sprint has paid a lot to Verizon for roaming for a while. I am personally for cutting off roaming. Better to just go on and not worry about the super rural customers (like myself!) who are on VZW anyway.

Sprint doesn't provide roaming for customers that live in super rural areas. They provide roaming for customers that spend 99 percent of their time in sprint service areas but still want to have service for the 1 percent of times they are outside of a sprint service area and that if they didn't offer that service would not be their customer.

 

That 500 million figure would add about 1.4 (assuming about 30 million or so post paid subs) to the cash cost per user a month. A significant amount but not probably worth eliminating given what it would cost them.

 

 

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[Fraydog]

Sprint doesn't provide roaming for customers that live in super rural areas. They provide roaming for customers that spend 99 percent of their time in sprint service areas but still want to have service for the 1 percent of times they are outside of a sprint service area and that if they didn't offer that service would not be their customer.

 

That 500 million figure would add about 1.4 (assuming about 30 million or so post paid subs) to the cash cost per user a month. A significant amount but not probably worth eliminating given what it would cost them.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

I get that element of it, but are those customers worth it either at this point? I'm just not convinced this is a large number of people. The compromise would be shutting down VZW in Sprint markets and eventually in CCA markets as well. 

 

 

Ryan, in no way did I say or even suggest that the roaming income from the other now much maligned regional operators -- as some would say, CDMA2000 sucks -- completely are offsetting that $500 million roaming cost. But even if that roaming income is only $200 million, $100 million, $50 million, it is something.

 

Meanwhile, just about no domestic operator of any import roams on T-Mobile -- because T-Mobile has been anti friendly to its own roaming for a long time, while roaming tends to be reciprocal. T-Mobile roaming income tends to come from international roamers. Oh, hooray, the non American "Global" System for Mobile Communications and the "Universal" Mobile Telecommunications System.

 

AJ

 

 

Wait, who is maligning the regional carriers? Fabian? First point I'd make is that I could care less what he thinks. I'd rather look at it from the perspective of a CDMA2000 carrier that sees Sprint's network performance in urban sectors and doesn't want to sell control of his network to Verizon. Guess what's coming out of the fourth generation evolution of the Global standards (GSM and UMTS?) VoLTE. 

 

Now if I'm one of these operators in the CCA hub, I have a pretty powerful motivation to talk turkey with T-Mobile given their leading performance in urban sectors. As far as T-Mobile goes, they now have a pretty powerful motivation to help CCA carriers out with VoLTE/Apple call continuity/One Number/RCS/Advanced Messaging. Most of these platforms Sprint is behind T-Mobile on. At the least it's powerful leverage on Sprint to get them to ether advance quicker or talk down rates. 

 

T-Mobile has lots of technical expertise they can loan out on counsel if they need to in order to gain more rural friends and more roaming agreements. See Mark McDiarmid's words at the CCA conference as a key example of where they're going. What you mention might have been true in the past but it might not be the same with the entire industry circling around one standard for voice in the future. 

 

Then look at the rural carriers being able to move to networks function virtualization and software defined networks. VoLTE and VoWiFi are big parts of that network movement along with IMS and RCS/Joyn. Being able to forge agreements with advanced urban carrier T-Mobile helps them move to a more advanced network on the home front. 

 

I don't doubt that what you are saying is true in the past. I just think that the faster Sprint moves, the more likely they are to retain CCA partnerships. So that "global standard" that Sprint uses for data ends up being very important for retaining the roaming customers from the CDMA era which is dying.

 

AT&T can poach CDMA2000 carriers too if they ever take their head out of their rectal cavity. However this has more to do with AT&T's stubbornness and lack of ability to adapt than their usage of UMTS or VoLTE. 

[utiz4321]

I get that element of it, but are those customers worth it either at this point? I'm just not convinced this is a large number of people. The compromise would be shutting down VZW in Sprint markets and eventually in CCA markets as well.

 

 

 

 

I would say that is the majority of there post paid prime customers. People like to travel and like to travel to rural areas.

 

 

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[Fraydog]

I would say that is the majority of there post paid prime customers. People like to travel and like to travel to rural areas.

 

 

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My hometown is one of the places where you think Sprint customers would travel through. It is exceptionally rare I encounter anyone on Sprint where I live. Maybe I am being influenced by my small sample size but I just question how many Sprint users are hitting off the interstate rural.

[JeffDTD]

A carrier with no in market roaming bashes another carrier for spending extra money to allow in market roaming? This magentan movement, what does it all mean?  I guess you just look down at your "No Service" alert and say " Stick it to the man Tmobile! Yeah!"

[Fraydog]

A carrier with no in market roaming bashes another carrier for spending extra money to allow in market roaming? This magentan movement, what does it all mean? I guess you just look down at your "No Service" alert and say " Stick it to the man Tmobile! Yeah!"

If I am not mistaken, it was Braxton Carter, in comments to the Street, specifically John Akin(sp) from RBC, and this was T-Mobile's CFO making the case that T-Mobile was efficient about capital costs.

 

But this "no service" in building part is getting dealt with by 700 MHz in 27 of 30 top markets. So to merely say that T-Mobile bashing Sprint about it, isn't the full point. This is T-Mobile's CFO justifying their own 700 MHz move to the street as being a driver of profit and network quality as well as a cutting costs. Sprint should do the same with 800 MHz CDMA which has even better coverage characteristics than 800 MHz LTE. One of the key points of Network Vision was to cut down this network roaming. I'd anticipate there's some reductions in costs with this but I'd like to see it go away eventually. Sprint has to ROI at some point here.

[bigsnake49]

Ryan, in no way did I say or even suggest that the roaming income from the other now much maligned regional operators -- as some would say, CDMA2000 sucks -- completely are offsetting that $500 million roaming cost. But even if that roaming income is only $200 million, $100 million, $50 million, it is something.

 

Meanwhile, just about no domestic operator of any import roams on T-Mobile -- because T-Mobile has been anti friendly to its own roaming for a long time, while roaming tends to be reciprocal. T-Mobile roaming income tends to come from international roamers. Oh, hooray, the non American "Global" System for Mobile Communications and the "Universal" Mobile Telecommunications System.

 

AJ

I remember that the total roaming cost at one point was $!B/year, if they reduced it to $.5B that's a major improvement. Now let's see if they can reduce further to let's say $.25B.

[Trip]

If Sprint turned off roaming, I'd be gone.  I don't know where I would go, but I picked Sprint for one reason and one reason only--when I visit my parents for a day or two every few months, my phone works.  It roams onto US Cellular and I am not completely in the dark.  Take that away, and I can then look elsewhere.

 

- Trip

[tybo31316]

If Sprint turned off roaming, I'd be gone. I don't know where I would go, but I picked Sprint for one reason and one reason only--when I visit my parents for a day or two every few months, my phone works. It roams onto US Cellular and I am not completely in the dark. Take that away, and I can then look elsewhere.

 

- Trip

I have a friend of mine that left T-Mobile about 3 years ago for that same reason. Their family would go to Fitzgerald, Georgia to see their family and T-Mobile would have no service. He couldn't call, text, or use data at all. So as soon as he made it back home he dumped them.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6

[Fraydog]

If Sprint turned off roaming, I'd be gone. I don't know where I would go, but I picked Sprint for one reason and one reason only--when I visit my parents for a day or two every few months, my phone works. It roams onto US Cellular and I am not completely in the dark. Take that away, and I can then look elsewhere.

 

- Trip

To clarify, I said no more in market. Maybe in the future no more Verizon. USCC isn't charging the confiscatory rates VZ is.

[WiWavelength]

To clarify, I said no more in market.

 

Because of the geographic size of many SIDs, eliminating in market roaming but maintaining out of market roaming is nigh impossible to do.

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

The Sprint subreddit has posted the new tiered high speed yet "unlimited" data plan prices.  As I expected, the "2G" throttle is 128 kbps.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sprint/comments/3qli36/new_plans_confirmed_for_1030_40_1gb_unlimited/

 

AJ

[nexgencpu]

The Sprint subreddit has posted the new tiered high speed yet "unlimited" data plan prices.  As I expected, the "2G" throttle is 128 kbps.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sprint/comments/3qli36/new_plans_confirmed_for_1030_40_1gb_unlimited/

 

AJ

Another interesting note, unlimited 2G tethering after the initial 3GB. That sounds like a very reasonable compromise. 

[kojitsari]

Another interesting note, unlimited 2G tethering after the initial 3GB. That sounds like a very reasonable compromise.

The real question is how will the pings be? 128kbs is good enough for 99% of the crap most of us use a phone for, if the pings are fine.

[nexgencpu]

The real question is how will the pings be? 128kbs is good enough for 99% of the crap most of us use a phone for, if the pings are fine.

I'm just happy Sprint is offering something no carrier currently is. Personally, im happy with 1 or 2gb tethering total, more than enough for emergency situations when I need to do some basic work on my Surface Pro.

 

Also, I'm sure for basic browsing and email 2G would be fine..

[derrph]

Does this apply to hotspot add on?

 

 

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[DanielB]

I noticed that on the new $70 unlimited plan, there is no longer an option to add more tethering data....is this the way it is now, no option at all to pay for more high speed tethering data?

[kojitsari]

I'm just happy Sprint is offering something no carrier currently is. Personally, im happy with 1 or 2gb tethering total, more than enough for emergency situations when I need to do some basic work on my Surface Pro.

 

Also, I'm sure for basic browsing and email 2G would be fine..

Well I have streamed Pandora on a 56kb/s 1x connection, so 128kb/s would be plenty and I probably should've clarified a little bit better. I was wondering if it has been stated if it's going to be throttled LTE or if you will be locked to Evdo/Ehrpd or 1x? 

[RAvirani]

Well I have streamed Pandora on a 56kb/s 1x connection, so 128kb/s would be plenty and I probably should've clarified a little bit better. I was wondering if it has been stated if it's going to be throttled LTE or if you will be locked to Evdo/Ehrpd or 1x?

Throttled LTE from what I've heard.

[clbowens]

And the new Sprint plan is here:  http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-beats-all-national-carriers-with-unlimited-data-for-20month-family-share-plan-customers-now-get-to-choose-the-best-way-to-control-data-costs.htm

[cletus]

And the new Sprint plan is here:  http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-beats-all-national-carriers-with-unlimited-data-for-20month-family-share-plan-customers-now-get-to-choose-the-best-way-to-control-data-costs.htm

Hum, I assume these plans will replace family share. Do existing family share users get moved over to these plans? I have a pretty good deal right now but not running the risk of overages is always attractive since my wife burned through ~9 GB of data in 2 days when we were traveling.

[Ascertion]

Hum, I assume these plans will replace family share. Do existing family share users get moved over to these plans? I have a pretty good deal right now but not running the risk of overages is always attractive since my wife burned through ~9 GB of data in 2 days when we were traveling.

I absolutely love the fact that Sprint's giving an option.  Either go with no overages, or if you need extra data, you can buy more.  Works well, and essentially makes the family share-plan unlimited data.