Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[bigsnake49]

31 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

How will this work with Sprint being CDMA and TMobile being GSM ? To be honest, I've been considering leaving Sprint. I've been using Sprint for awhile, but I'm tired of not having access to other unlocked phones I want to use and the service where I am at is pretty bad. I can understand in the middle of nowhere, but in Orange County, CA the network is more developed and comprehensive, yet everytime I've checked speed test scores with T-Mobile and Sprint mine is always consistently slower. If they merge I'd wait, but I think regulators will halt it.

 

Been with Sprint awhile, but just really getting fed up.....the recent breaking point was last week I need to make an emergency call and was inside my house....yep "no signal".

I think that Sprint's customers will be migrated to WCDMA and VOLTE. CDMA will go away pretty soon and WCDMA will follow in a bit.

[bigsnake49]

If Sprint and T-mobile do not merge, I hope that Sprint, once they are on their feet financially and have their network in order,  enters into some kind of agreement with Dish with respect to some of their spectrum, namely their 600Mhz spectrum. It would not hurt if they sign an agreement for a discount on Dish's Sling service.

[Swordfish]

38 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

If Sprint and T-mobile do not merge, I hope that Sprint, once they are on their feet financially and have their network in order,  enters into some kind of agreement with Dish with respect to some of their spectrum, namely their 600Mhz spectrum. It would not hurt if they sign an agreement for a discount on Dish's Sling service.

 

Honestly Sprint needs T-Mobile more than T-Mobile needs Sprint. Sprint is the weakest of the 4 financially. I think AT&T would not even blink for a second to buy T-Mobile if regulators approved. Sprint really does not offer anything unique anymore. Before they had the 2 yr contracts which kept me, but they were quietly phased out earlier this year which I was unaware of until about July.

 

They have an unlimited plan, but the other networks are now reintroducing it in their own way.....also outdated CDMA which means no internet and voice at the same time.....

[S4GRU]

An Interesting byproduct of this kind of news...

I was on the cusp to move back to Sprint now since they are starting to deploy 800MHz in Washington State.  But now I will just stay on Tmo and wait and see.  Because if the merger does go through, I expect the network to go LTE Only or WCDMA/LTE.  Sprint CDMA being phased out relatively quickly.  No sense (and cents) in buying all new devices and jumping back to Sprint.  I will just ride it out and stay on the VoLTE ecosystem that will likely be the survivor.

I would like to see Sprint stay independent though.  I just don't expect it to happen.

[S4GRU]

4 minutes ago, Swordfish said:

 

Honestly Sprint needs T-Mobile more than T-Mobile needs Sprint. Sprint is the weakest of the 4 financially. I think AT&T would not even blink for a second to buy T-Mobile if regulators approved. Sprint really does not offer anything unique anymore. Before they had the 2 yr contracts which kept me, but they were quietly phased out earlier this year which I was unaware of until about July.

 

They have an unlimited plan, but the other networks are now reintroducing it in their own way.....also outdated CDMA which means no internet and voice at the same time.....

This isn't an issue of need.  Sprint needs someone less now today than at any point in the past 5 years.  And Tmo doesn't need anyone.  It's a business decision.  It's believed it is the best return for share holders, if they can agree on a deal.  That is far different than need.  But money does make the world go round.

[gusherb]

I don't want to see a merger for three reasons:

1. I don't want them having any association with TMO because that has the potential to drag TMO down with them if TMO doesn't handle the merger super carefully. 

2. I don't want my prices going up any higher than they already are (which are already asinine compared to many other countries) 

3. I want to see Sprint put into motion those densification plans that got out recently and see them succeed on their own. 

[radem]

Sprint has some of the best spectrum for dense areas with their huge amount of Sprint2500/2600mhz.  T-Mobile has some of the best wide area rural coverage and in building spectrum with the combination of Tmobile600/Tmobile700/Sprint800mhz.  The combination of the two companies plus some mid-band coverage should allow them to provide great coverage.  Keep 1 CDMA voice carrier and 1 GSM voice carrier and re-farm everything else to voLTE.  The network should be able to perform well for years.

[WiWavelength]

1 hour ago, radem said:

Keep 1 CDMA voice carrier and 1 GSM voice carrier and re-farm everything else to voLTE.

GSM is dead, Jim.

Not everything T-Mobile is GSM.  People need to drop that misconception years ago.

AJ

[dro1984]

1 hour ago, S4GRU said:

This isn't an issue of need.  Sprint needs someone less now today than at any point in the past 5 years.  And Tmo doesn't need anyone.  It's a business decision.  It's believed it is the best return for share holders, if they can agree on a deal.  That is far different than need.  But money does make the world go round.

 

1 hour ago, gusherb said:

I don't want to see a merger for three reasons:

1. I don't want them having any association with TMO because that has the potential to drag TMO down with them if TMO doesn't handle the merger super carefully. 

2. I don't want my prices going up any higher than they already are (which are already asinine compared to many other countries) 

3. I want to see Sprint put into motion those densification plans that got out recently and see them succeed on their own. 

I agree with Robert.   It's about Investor returns.... not much about network...    Besides, Son bought Sprint for this particular reason... you all know that.  No surprise.  He bought 70-80% of Sprint and wanted to Merge with T-Mobile from day one.   

Prices?  Well lets be reasonable... the free ride WILL stop regardless.   Merger or not.   But I do believe there will be incentives we will all enjoy in  addition to a much more robust network!    T-Mobil will make it happen...   Like others, Sprint has made many promises public this week (again) waving the carrot... but history says they are only 40-50% on record to hold true to those promises...   Lots of disappointment and incomplete work over the years.    That won't be the case once combined.  They will have to button the networks up and get them running in harmony and migrate people quickly to WCDMA, VoLTE.... etc...  

As a last resort... there are lower tier carriers (MVNO's) you can go to....   Google FI, Consumers, Metro, Family Mobile.... on and on... still viable options for most.   These are just my ideas and thoughts/oppinons.   Nothing is certain at this point.   Still better than going to AT&T or Verizon.    (My dinner just came up a little after mentioning those 2 names...)

Edited September 19, 2017 by dro1984

[gusherb]

2 minutes ago, dro1984 said:

Prices?  Well lets be reasonable... the free ride WILL stop regardless.   Merger or not.   

I meant everyones prices, not Sprint. Sprint's prices now are clearly unsustainable. 

[dro1984]

Normal.  Part of business.    That's the goal.   Can't always stop that.  We are all employees of someone or something.  We all want pay increases too right?   Well...

I'm very willing to have to pay a little more if I feel the product i'm getting is of good quality and integrity.

Edited September 19, 2017 by dro1984

[Paynefanbro]

6 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

No, why?

Because as of right now it's still pretty high value with only one device that supports it and pretty much undeployed/unable to be deployed in many areas for another 2-3 years. I'm not suggesting that they should divest it, but it would likely be one of the first things on the chopping block.

[Swordfish]

1 hour ago, S4GRU said:

This isn't an issue of need.  Sprint needs someone less now today than at any point in the past 5 years.  And Tmo doesn't need anyone.  It's a business decision.  It's believed it is the best return for share holders, if they can agree on a deal.  That is far different than need.  But money does make the world go round.

That is true however Sprint has a negative operating margin. Out of the 4 US providers, Sprint is the only one to keep having this financial issue. They have for quite sometime and financially while they are not under any threat to go bankrupt, at the same time they are behaving like a half dead zombie that isn't quite dead, but not fully alive to make heavy hitting upgrades to compete with AT&T and Verizon. So you are right it does come down to money which Sprint isn't swimming in.

 

 

In fact, here in California I don't have access to Band 26 due to the issue with Mexico, so it's just 41 or 25 for me.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Swordfish

[grapkoski]

1 hour ago, Swordfish said:

That is true however Sprint has a negative operating margin.

Sprint hasn't had a consistent negative operating margin for a while unless we are confusing things.

[Swordfish]

11 minutes ago, grapkoski said:

Sprint hasn't had a consistent negative operating margin for a while unless we are confusing things.

Their operating margin had been consistently negative annually until 2015. I'd consider that consistent with the exception of 2011 which was flat basically.

Edited September 20, 2017 by Swordfish

[bigsnake49]

2 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

Because as of right now it's still pretty high value with only one device that supports it and pretty much undeployed/unable to be deployed in many areas for another 2-3 years. I'm not suggesting that they should divest it, but it would likely be one of the first things on the chopping block.

No, I don't think so!

[bigsnake49]

2 hours ago, gusherb said:

I meant everyones prices, not Sprint. Sprint's prices now are clearly unsustainable. 

T-Mobile raised theirs already.

[danlodish345]

4 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

T-Mobile raised theirs already.

well T-Mobile has been much much more consistent through action with network upgrades,expansion,and spectrum deployement and use. which as been proven by action. Sprint has made many empty promises that have either never been full filled or have been severly delayed. if they had been much better in terms of deployment and of course money then T Mobile Would be where sprint is Today.

[S4GRU]

1 hour ago, danlodish345 said:

well T-Mobile has been much much more consistent through action with network upgrades,expansion,and spectrum deployement and use. which as been proven by action. Sprint has made many empty promises that have either never been full filled or have been severly delayed. if they had been much better in terms of deployment and of course money then T Mobile Would be where sprint is Today.

This is a very shortsighted comment.  As if Sprint had the ability to print money.  Or they had some large windfall and mis-spent it.  It is Tmo that had the windfall, like when AT&T had to pay them off after they pulled out of the buyout.  Sprint only had tons of debt.

[danlodish345]

ok i see my mistake...but i do hope something good comes out of this...i mean the two smaller carriers needs to be able to compete on larger scale..i hope this works!

[dro1984]

7 hours ago, danlodish345 said:

ok i see my mistake...but i do hope something good comes out of this...i mean the two smaller carriers needs to be able to compete on larger scale..i hope this works!

I don't feel an apology is necessary.    It's your personal take on a given event (Events) many both from a technology standpoint and an Investment strategy...   

Some of the past decisions by Sprint's upper leadership left the company holding the "bag of nothing".   The WiMax decision was huge!   WIthin a month or two after it was announced with huge fanfare, Sprint would use WiMax.   I remember other notables being Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile choosing LTE.   The LTE standard wasn't complete at the time, but quickly came to be..., but being the odd kid on the block, going it alone on a technology nobody wanted to share with them, was a huge blunder that hurt the company for many years and still hasn't completely recovered from.   Scale of economics.    

The inability to police all of their partners at the time (Affiliates) and make sure the network was providing customers a good experience... The lack of them adding CDMA to all of the Nextel Towers.... On and on... yes, it would have taken money, but they ended up wasting millions of dollars regardless by not doing it.    Pay a little now.... or a LOT later!   

That was yesterday.... Let's hope, and it sure does look like now, Sprint is on the right track and is taking their network very seriously!   It is truly a breadth of fresh air! 

[bigsnake49]

With or without the merger, prices will go back up. Right now price is what Sprint competes on. After they expand their network and have a network that can compete with others, they'll no longer have to compete on price.

[Jones]

I agree with Robert, no phone upgrades for me until this gets sorted out... If sprint goes away rebranded under tmo then I'll probably sign up with Verizon.

I think masa has an uphill battle even with the current administration because both companies are operating at their best levels with lowest industry prices in years. 

[Nextel49]

Thoughts https://www.reuters.com/article/us-t-mobile-m-a-sprint/t-mobile-u-s-explores-takeover-of-sprint-source-idUSKCN1BU1W6

[mnjeepmale]

So a lot of news sources are saying that Softbank is giving up most control of Sprint to T-Mobile on the merger. 

Do you think Softbank has a long term plan on buying T-Mobile once the merger is complete?

I'm not in favor of this merger if it does go through.