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

[RAvirani]

I suspect that Sprint & T-mobile could get away with just agreeing to roam on each others LTE network. I doubt if there is any way to stop that. Then quietly, with no announcement, t-mobile could upgrade the LTE in Wyoming and Sprint could upgrade the LTE in North Dakota. It might take some careful engineering of the networks to make it work right. I do not see any law being broke.

Either carrier can decide to NOT build out a state while the other carrier can decide that state is one it will build out.

Is it illegal to meet and talk about which states goes to which carrier?

I'm pretty sure a roaming agreement would fly…splitting the 5-6 states that they both do not cover would probably not be a problem - I think it would actually be a pretty good idea - but the feds would probably interfere if it got much bigger than that. Look at it this way: T-Mobile decides with AT&T where their customers will be allowed to roam on AT&T's network. It wouldn't be much different with Sprint - T-Mobile would be deciding where their customers will be allowed to roam on Sprint's network and Sprint will be doing the same the other way around. I think the feds would would throw a fit over a complete network merger though so, as I said, the roaming agreement probably couldn't get much bigger than a few states.

 

That being said, realistically I don't think it will ever happen. JL and T-Mo have too much pride - they want to completely build out their own nationwide network. Sprint has sites from CellularOne in Montana and northern Wyoming I believe, so those conversions combined with a few boomers along Wyoming highways will already take them to substantial coverage in Montana and Wyoming. North Dakota, South Dakota and Nevada will remain after that and I'm sure Sprint will eventually figure something out for those areas...soon™.

[avb]

About Ookla -

 

Since T-Mobile whitelists it and doesn't count against your data allotment, if you get a 100Mbs+ speedtest you're more than likely going to keep doing speedtests to see how fast you can get.  Those 100Mbs+ speedtests use a lot of data, and if it is counting against your data (Verizon, AT&T, or a Sprint non unlimited plan) you're not going to waste your data doing this.  This skews the average.

 

Same goes for people that are throttled/used up their data..  T-Mobile used to not throttle people when they speedtest, but normal activities like streaming video or downloading an iOS update are throttled.  

[nexgencpu]

Tmobile and Sprint have massive overlapping coverage. To the point that I do not see a point besides adding customers and spectrum.

[greenbastard]

Not necessarily. Ookla speed tests can be skewed in either way. People tend to only test network speeds when the network is really good or really bad. And because it's so reliant on this randomized data set, there is no true one to one comparison between networks since Ookla will receive more data from certain carriers more than others, whether it is due to number of subscribers or the existence of tiered data plans.

So if a network has more bad times than good (and vice versa), don't you think that's still an indicator?

[greenbastard]

Plenty of competition between the big 3. Plus I do believe that we will see the cable cos finally get in the wireless game.

By the looks of it, a merger won't be happening under the Trump Administration. John Legere got into a Twitter fight with him a while back. Don't see any of Trump's henchmen doing T-Mobile any favors as long as Legere is in the picture.

[Paynefanbro]

So if a network has more bad times than good (and vice versa), don't you think that's still an indicator?

 

I don't think it's good for comparison since you can't control the sample size nor the time the test was taken. For example, if most people on one carrier tested at half time, and most of the people on another carrier tested before the game, the results can be swayed in one direction or another which is not necessarily indicative of the network experience overall.

 

I still stand by the idea that drive testing, or testing data speeds from casual everyday data usage such as the speed while streaming videos or movies is the most effective way of looking at network performance as opposed to speed test apps.

[derrph]

Hate to break this conversation but is anyone else getting 8+ notifications at a time from this app whenever someone posts a comment and it's all from the same person?

 

 

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[bipbapbam]

I'm experiencing the same thing with notifications here. It's really odd. Might have something to do with the last app update?

 

 

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[MacinJosh]

That may be a great idea. One of them build out one state and the other one build out a different state. Either company could use the network built by the other company with little or no money changing hands. It would look like native service to both companies.

 

Is there any good reason why it would not work? Would the Feds try to stop that?

I think I remember a network sharing agreement in the past between 2 carriers. Ah yes, Cingular pre AT&T Wireless merger with T-Mobile in the markets of California (probably Southern)/Nevada, and New York/New Jersey. There wasn't a problem then, but I believe those network coverage areas were "owned by a joint venture" between the 2 companies. AJ would remember better than me.

 

 

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[IamMrFamous07]

Not trying to bring politics on here but with a Trump presidency, what does this say for Sprint's future? Can we expect a merger deal with T-Mobile be more favorable?

[caspar347]

Not trying to bring politics on here but with a Trump presidency, what does this say for Sprint's future? Can we expect a merger deal with T-Mobile be more favorable?

 

As far as I've heard, his potential attitude toward such a merger is a total wildcard. You'd think that given his party he would be in favor, but both companies are foreigner-controlled which would probably influence his decision. How much? Not sure.

[bigsnake49]

I think the feds would block this - they have expressed numerous times that they want four major players in the telecom industry, not three. Additionally, an arrangement like this would open the door to many more half-mergers, not necessarily solely in the telecom sector, a slippery slope the feds probably want to avoid.

 

I personally believe competition would be greatly reduced if Sprint and T-Mo were allowed to merge on the network side. The market would probably revert to the way it was before T-Mo's disruption a few years back...

 

Yeah, Verizon is still raking it in and so is AT&T. T-Mobile and Sprint are still limping along. Look at the free cash flows of the 4 and tell me what has competition wrought?

[Dkoellerwx]

Hate to break this conversation but is anyone else getting 8+ notifications at a time from this app whenever someone posts a comment and it's all from the same person?

 

 

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I'm experiencing the same thing with notifications here. It's really odd. Might have something to do with the last app update?

 

 

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One of the recent updates broke notifications for me... I don't get any now. Allllll of them multiple times or none it appears. Ha.

[irev210]

Yeah, Verizon is still raking it in and so is AT&T. T-Mobile and Sprint are still limping along. Look at the free cash flows of the 4 and tell me what has competition wrought?

 

 

Ask the question a different way.  If it wasn't for T-Mobile and Sprint, imagine how much more Verizon and AT&T would be raking it in.

[Hmight]

But in this scenario, it is testing the stadiums during a major game.

and noone on Sprint uses Okhla speedtests, which comes to show the data is selective and biased.  The random data is not controlled data, there are a million plausible reasons to say the data is not accurate. 

[Hmight]

As far as I've heard, his potential attitude toward such a merger is a total wildcard. You'd think that given his party he would be in favor, but both companies are foreigner-controlled which would probably influence his decision. How much? Not sure.

Republican tend to be more free deal willing.  Sprint stock is doing well this morning because of this "potential" merger. 

[RAvirani]

Republican tend to be more free deal willing. Sprint stock is doing well this morning because of this "potential" merger.

I wouldn't count on it - Trump and Legere haven't been on the greatest terms in the past. I wouldn't count on any favors from him.

[dnicekid]

Doesn't sprint and Tmo belong to that CCa thing? Where they all share each other's network for roaming agreements? So what need would there be for one to build out in this state and one in that? Let the little guys build out using their spectrum and keep the roaming agreements??

 

Att should be broken up. They shouldn't be allowed more than a certain %. To have a 40% share in wireless and cable/sat they should have a number to max out at if they are to control/own so much of these markets. Make them drop 100k wireless customers !

[bucdenny]

Sprint is trading over $7.  who bought it at $6?  I guess good news for merger?

[nexgencpu]

Tarek is doing conference..

 

http://investors.sprint.com/Home/default.aspx

[Hmight]

Sprint is trading over $7.  who bought it at $6?  I guess good news for merger?

The trading is definitely pricing into a merger. It has nowhere to go but up.  Any news of a merger or the company is gaining more subscriber this quarter we will see another pop.  

[bigsnake49]

Ask the question a different way.  If it wasn't for T-Mobile and Sprint, imagine how much more Verizon and AT&T would be raking it in.

 

And T-Mobile and Sprint might have been able to afford the network upgrades.

[irev210]

And T-Mobile and Sprint might have been able to afford the network upgrades.

 

Again, big question - why are you saying that they couldn't afford the upgrade?

 

Sprint spent 12 billion on network upgrades in the past two years while T-Mobile is around 10 billion.

 

Can you be more specific on how you define "afford?"  Both can afford spending on their  network just fine.  Or are you just defining afford against the backdrop of Verizon and AT&T?

 

Both TMUS and Sprint have Adjusted EBITDA margins of around 25% now.

 

I'd prefer a lower number as a consumer but if you think they should have Verizon level adjusted EBITDA margins of 35+% that's fine too but it would be good if you were a bit more specific vs. just throwing out random statements.

[bigsnake49]

Yep, since 35% is the percentage that you need in this highly capex intensive business. 

Edited November 9, 2016 by bigsnake49

[tyroned3222]

Any 3×ca speedtest yet?

 

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