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

[RedSpark]

Approximately around 20,000 by my estimates. Give or take.

 

End of 2014 was a little north of 5000 which was heavily impacted by equipment shortages from Nokia and a bit from Samsung / ALU. 2015 was as smooth as can be.

 

Would you say this build is going at a steady rate at this point, or has Sprint been able to increase the rate given additional financial/engineering resources or talent from SoftBank?

[RedSpark]

I never said NGN is fully funded.  I don't really know much about funding of NGN at all.  That info has not been released.  Marcelo has said he was taking his plan to Masa for funding.  Did all of it get funded?  I have no idea.  We are in wait and see mode.

According to this June 4th article, it was "approved". No mention of who's paying though.

 

http://www.androidheadlines.com/2015/06/softbank-approves-sprints-network-densification-plans.html

 

"According to Sprint’s Spokeswoman Adrienne Norton, “Sprint has developed an approved network plan in partnership with SoftBank that will allow for a cost-effective network build on an accelerated timeline.”"

[S4GRU]

According to this June 4th article, it was "approved". No mention of who's paying though.

 

http://www.androidheadlines.com/2015/06/softbank-approves-sprints-network-densification-plans.html

 

"According to Sprint’s Spokeswoman Adrienne Norton, “Sprint has developed an approved network plan in partnership with SoftBank that will allow for a cost-effective network build on an accelerated timeline.”"

 

What was approved?  Even if Masa only funded half initially, it could still be described as 'approved.'  The scope and funding are just completely unknown publicly at this time, except for the vague big picture comments released so far.

[Deval]

Marcelo owned that dude lol

 

Sent from my Nexus 6

 

I want to print that tweet and put it in my cube.

[Fraydog]

In Kagan's link, there was a very interesting blurb about spectrum:

 

T-Mobile US has very little spectrum. Is this a problem? It is in need of spectrum to continue to show growth. This will be interesting to follow.

Consider that the next time anyone is opining about BingeOn on the T-Mobile Subreddit. The end of the spectrum line could be ugly for Magenta and I think BingeOn accelerates that in the long run.

 

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[Paynefanbro]

In Kagan's link, there was a very interesting blurb about spectrum:

 

 

Consider that the next time anyone is opining about BingeOn on the T-Mobile Subreddit. The end of the spectrum line could be ugly for Magenta and I think BingeOn accelerates that in the long run.

 

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I've been thinking this for a while. At this point, isn't T-Mobile running low on spectrum to deploy. THey've repurposed spectrum at nearly every place they can and are now banking on 600MHz to keep going until HSPA usage is decreased to the point where they could use that. Even then, in many places they'll only be getting a 10x10 to open up or a 5x5.

 

Verizon has CLR and PCS licenses that they can use in the future for LTE and they're the closest to being able to shutdown 2G/3G for good.

[Fraydog]

I've been thinking this for a while. At this point, isn't T-Mobile running low on spectrum to deploy. THey've repurposed spectrum at nearly every place they can and are now banking on 600MHz to keep going until HSPA usage is decreased to the point where they could use that. Even then, in many places they'll only be getting a 10x10 to open up or a 5x5.

 

Verizon has CLR and PCS licenses that they can use in the future for LTE and they're the closest to being able to shutdown 2G/3G for good.

I think some on here might disagree, but VOLTE on Verizon is ready for prime time right now. I am having no issues with Advanced Calling on VZ, I could see that becoming the default soon. That will open up refarming on CLR and PCS soon.

 

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[laqn1283]

Question:  At states and nationwide, is it true that Sprint performs better than Tmobile because of roaming?  According to Legere, Sprint spends $500 million each year on roaming more than Tmobile does.

[JThorson]

Question:  At states and nationwide, is it true that Sprint performs better than Tmobile because of roaming?  According to Legere, Sprint spends $500 million each year on roaming more than Tmobile does.

I don't think performs is the correct term but I believe T-Mobile doesn't pay to have roaming. So regarding that, your Sprint phone will likely work in more places than T-Mobile.

[laqn1283]

I guess my question is:  Does it really make much difference state and nationwide in rootmetrics ranking if Sprint does not have roaming?  Since Sprint's site density is less than Tmobile, without roaming, its network will suffer considerably.  

[Paynefanbro]

I don't think performs is the correct term but I believe T-Mobile doesn't pay to have roaming. So regarding that, your Sprint phone will likely work in more places than T-Mobile.

 

T-Mobile doesn't pay for in-market roaming. That's why their costs are much less. But when you lose signal in a T-Mobile market, that's it.

[JWMaloney]

Would you say this build is going at a steady rate at this point, or has Sprint been able to increase the rate given additional financial/engineering resources or talent from SoftBank?

 

New Orleans was a priority market for NSN, but to date they have built out less than 50% of the permitted band 41 sites. Dozens of issued permits and site plans have been completely abandoned -- many for over a year -- with no sign of change. A lot of the sites actually went through two sets of band 41 plans only to get an extra PCS antenna and RRH at the end.

 

From what I've read, it looks like this was part of their shift to a more surgical deployment strategy -- opting only to add capacity where needed to restore a cell to expected market performance. Still, it's disappointing that so much time and money was wasted drawing up site plans and paying for permit applications. 

 

Don't expect a significantly higher deployment rate until NGN is underway next year.

[Johnner1999]

In addition, especially Tmo, they are still burning through cash as well. The only two that won't slow down due to financial reasons is AT&T and Verizon. But as Robert said, stay tuned... 

 

Yes they are burning cash -- BUT they are also making profit... <very little> BUT their owner is very very happy so its a moot point.    

[EvanA]

I guess my question is:  Does it really make much difference state and nationwide in rootmetrics ranking if Sprint does not have roaming?  Since Sprint's site density is less than Tmobile, without roaming, its network will suffer considerably.

RootMetrics only tests the native networks. Roaming does not play in to their rankings.

[boiker]

Question:  At states and nationwide, is it true that Sprint performs better than Tmobile because of roaming?  According to Legere, Sprint spends $500 million each year on roaming more than Tmobile does.

 

In my experience the roaming experience across multiple devices has been terrible. data at 1x speeds. Unable to make calls or dropped calls.  I found roaming to be rather pointless.

[gusherb]

Question: At states and nationwide, is it true that Sprint performs better than Tmobile because of roaming? According to Legere, Sprint spends $500 million each year on roaming more than Tmobile does.

In my 2.5 years on Sprint and lots of traveling through the plains and western states having that roaming from Sprint made all the difference for me. When I look at it from a basic voice/text point of view I could go so far as to say I had the best coverage of any US carrier with them, because I had the denser network (at the time than Verizon) for my area, and then Verizon and many other roaming partners networks for when I was in BFE.

 

If I had T-Mobile I would've been screwed for hundreds of miles at times. Even AT&T hasn't had as much basic coverage as I had with sprint between its own network and roaming partners.

 

That's just my experience.

 

 

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[eljayyy91]

In my experience the roaming experience across multiple devices has been terrible. data at 1x speeds. Unable to make calls or dropped calls.  I found roaming to be rather pointless.

That's crazy because i couldn't have Sprint if I didn't have roaming... Just for those days that i do actually leave town. But really the only two I roam on around here is us cellular and cellcom. What I need roaming for is phone calls if anything were to happen. I guess it's just peace of mind to know I will always at least be able to make calls. I actually used to work out of town, and roamed 10 hours a day 5 days a week and I could always use voice and text, data was hit or miss but that's not what I need roaming for, just my opinion.

[Camcroz]

RootMetrics only tests the native networks. Roaming does not play in to their rankings.

I'm almost certain I've seen rootmetrics reports in some rural areas where they state that certain carriers may have relied on roaming for much of testing. They were most likely implying Sprint and tmobile either way they test everyday network functions and since roaming is an everyday network function I doubt they'd exclude it

 

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[NYC126]

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/3ux4ob/the_congestion_in_downtown_denver_has_been/

 

This is why the magentan religion won't be broken. Dude gives tmobile a pass, gets great service with Sprint and he still left them.

[Fraydog]

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/3ux4ob/the_congestion_in_downtown_denver_has_been/

 

This is why the magentan religion won't be broken. Dude gives tmobile a pass, gets great service with Sprint and he still left them.

Perception ends up being reality sometimes. I thought the main point of mobile was to buy something that worked where you live, work, and play. At least, that was the traditional criteria. On the magenta side, the criteria shifted. Now it's people sticking with T-Mobile because they love that company. It's ascending to Apple levels. Can anyone find a carrier on Planet Earth where there is this much blind loyalty? Or a carrier where perception lags as much as it does with Sprint for that matter?

 

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[Arysyn]

 

Perception ends up being reality sometimes. I thought the main point of mobile was to buy something that worked where you live, work, and play. At least, that was the traditional criteria. On the magenta side, the criteria shifted. Now it's people sticking with T-Mobile because they love that company. It's ascending to Apple levels. Can anyone find a carrier on Planet Earth where there is this much blind loyalty? Or a carrier where perception lags as much as it does with Sprint for that matter?

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You know I'm typically pretty strict against the negative aspects of T-Mobile, Fraydog. However, I've got to admit that they do have some really great higher-up employees that are really trying to make T-Mobile so well loved and its sad they aren't really getting credit for it, considering how much of a showoff John Legere and his top executives are at taking credit for the successes. My mother has been speaking with a guy in their Executive Response department who has been fantastic to deal with, and apparently is going to give my mother a great deal once she talks again with him tomorrow about the device she wants.

[smooth25]

They are just like isheep. Raise the price of phones (with less features and memory btw) and there's still idiots waiting outside for days to get one. This T-Mobile dude basically says Sprint works well for him but he's willing to pay more for T-Mobile even though the service sucks for him, just because he loves T-Mobile.

 

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[Fraydog]

There's some who think I'm a T-Mobile hater, but I actually have given their network people a lot of love and respect. I just think the behavior by Legere and Sievert in particular along with some of the more religious fans is over the top. Most T-Mobile users really don't know or care about this, they just see good network and customer service along with some innovative plans and upgrade features as well as ETF and device buyouts, and respond.

 

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[sbolen]

They are just like isheep. Raise the price of phones (with less features and memory btw) and there's still idiots waiting outside for days to get one. This T-Mobile dude basically says Sprint works well for him but he's willing to pay more for T-Mobile even though the service sucks for him, just because he loves T-Mobile.

 

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The difference between us "iSheep" and TMO fanboys is that we have a vastly superior product. That's why we buy Apple.

 

 

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[Arysyn]

The difference between us "iSheep" and TMO fanboys is that we have a vastly superior product. That's why we buy Apple.

 

 

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The non- I-Sheep Magentans would argue that having service in a company ran by John Legere is worth all the money in the world, even when and where service sucks, which to them is priceless. Those I-Sheep Magentans have the best of both.