Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[danlodish345]

On Bloomberg news service tonight:
Sprint admits customers fleeing due to poor network experience, try to sell the merger to regulators        

I'm surprised to see them admit that.

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[dro1984]

7 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

I'm surprised to see them admit that.

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I'm wondering many things.   One is, that I use to have pretty decent band 41 coverage and if not, 1900 was good.   Now, in the last 6 months, no band 41 (you have to be right near the tower it seems now) and 1900 isn't anything too great anymore.    What happened?   Is Sprint turning down the signal strength?   The service, what was once pretty good, is just lack luster now.    Are they purposely chasing away customers to say: Hey look... we're bleeding and can't stop...      

[danlodish345]

I'm wondering many things.   One is, that I use to have pretty decent band 41 coverage and if not, 1900 was good.   Now, in the last 6 months, no band 41 (you have to be right near the tower it seems now) and 1900 isn't anything too great anymore.    What happened?   Is Sprint turning down the signal strength?   The service, what was once pretty good, is just lack luster now.    Are they purposely chasing away customers to say: Hey look... we're bleeding and can't stop...      

That might be the cause or they are tweaking the network. I'm not too sure what to make of it though.

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[BlueAngel]

I've noticed a decrease in service as well, would be terrible if that's really what they're doing.

[danlodish345]

I've noticed a decrease in service as well, would be terrible if that's really what they're doing.

By what you guys are all saying it definitely sounds like it is what they're doing.

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[tybo31316]

18 minutes ago, BlueAngel said:

I've noticed a decrease in service as well, would be terrible if that's really what they're doing.

I had the same experience for like a month or so. I think it was my phone and not the network. Sprint is starting to perform very well in my market. It just sucks that they are improving so much only months out from merging with T-Mobile. 

[danlodish345]

I had the same experience for like a month or so. I think it was my phone and not the network. Sprint is starting to perform very well in my market. It just sucks that they are improving so much only months out from merging with T-Mobile. 

To me it's all a publicity stunt.

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[tybo31316]

2 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

To me it's all a publicity stunt.

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I agree. Both T-Mobile and Sprint are both acting. 

[danlodish345]

I agree. Both T-Mobile and Sprint are both acting. 

I call it a bunch of BS until otherwise proven. Sprint's network here has improved on the speed side drastically. But the coverage still stinks it's like swiss cheese only a mile from the highway and even T-Mobile has gotten pretty bad at my parents place.

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[Dkoellerwx]

1 hour ago, dro1984 said:

I'm wondering many things.   One is, that I use to have pretty decent band 41 coverage and if not, 1900 was good.   Now, in the last 6 months, no band 41 (you have to be right near the tower it seems now) and 1900 isn't anything too great anymore.    What happened?   Is Sprint turning down the signal strength?   The service, what was once pretty good, is just lack luster now.    Are they purposely chasing away customers to say: Hey look... we're bleeding and can't stop...      

 

34 minutes ago, BlueAngel said:

I've noticed a decrease in service as well, would be terrible if that's really what they're doing.

No. That's not what is happening. Whatever is affecting your service, Sprint is not purposely degrading your experience. I have noticed nothing but improvements in the parts of the network I use. To degrade service on purpose would open them up to so many issues, it wouldn't be worth it just to try and sell the merger. 

[danlodish345]

No. That's not what is happening. Whatever is affecting your service, Sprint is not purposely degrading your experience. I have noticed nothing but improvements in the parts of the network I use. To degrade service on purpose would open them up to so many issues, it wouldn't be worth it just to try and sell the merger. 

So it's actually improving their Network?

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[Dkoellerwx]

3 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

So it's actually improving their Network?

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Read my post again. That's not what I said. 

[danlodish345]

Read my post again. That's not what I said. 

Ok

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[RAvirani]

3 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

So it's actually improving their Network?

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It’s reoptimization. Doing so across an entire market can take a few weeks but RF performance should significantly increase afterwards (namely in the form of better average SNR/RSRQ). 

[danlodish345]

It’s reoptimization. Doing so across an entire market can take a few weeks but RF performance should significantly increase afterwards (namely in the form of better average SNR/RSRQ). 

I'll be looking forward to increase performance it would be fantastic to see that.

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[though]

1 hour ago, dro1984 said:

I'm wondering many things.   One is, that I use to have pretty decent band 41 coverage and if not, 1900 was good.   Now, in the last 6 months, no band 41 (you have to be right near the tower it seems now) and 1900 isn't anything too great anymore.    What happened?   Is Sprint turning down the signal strength?   The service, what was once pretty good, is just lack luster now.    Are they purposely chasing away customers to say: Hey look... we're bleeding and can't stop...      

6 months ago would have been winter and no leaves on the trees. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure coverage weakens with dense foliage. Not saying this is your issue, but it could be.

[Paynefanbro]

Sprint isn't intentionally making service worse. My service has improved here in Boston significantly. I'm coming across more and more small cells as well as carrier aggregation and 64QAM uploads on Band 25.

That said, everything that's being said by either company is being said for the express purpose of selling the merger to the FCC so that they'll allow them to do it. They will say whatever it takes for the FCC to throw them a pity party and give them the green light to merge.

[ingenium]

I've noticed a decrease in service as well, would be terrible if that's really what they're doing.

I also get a lot of drops to 3G now, when previously in the same areas I had solid band 25 or band 41. In my case, I think it's a combination of Android Pie having a crappy modem and the software update for 64 QAM upload in Samsung markets. Network Signal Guru shows lots of failed handoff attempts and failed "attachment".

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[belusnecropolis]

I had several IoT units that simply would not function on band 41 in our area, or 2 and 3x CA would break the unit connection so that it would be in radio search or go to low power mode in MI, OH, and SC. I stuck what I could on band 25 and migrated the rest to other carriers. This was in areas with good, full builds.

The network is in worse shape in many areas it was not less then a year ago; our area is notorious for investment neglect but this is wide and over a large timeframe.

[Thomas L.]

15 hours ago, ingenium said:

I also get a lot of drops to 3G now, when previously in the same areas I had solid band 25 or band 41. In my case, I think it's a combination of Android Pie having a crappy modem and the software update for 64 QAM upload in Samsung markets. Network Signal Guru shows lots of failed handoff attempts and failed "attachment".

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My performance on Android P. on my Essential phone has been a lot crappier too. I thought it was just in my head but maybe that's it. 

[danlodish345]

My performance on Android P. on my Essential phone has been a lot crappier too. I thought it was just in my head but maybe that's it. 

In my opinion the essential phone overall is worse. I had it for like 2 weeks and I was not pleased with the overall reception of the phone.

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[Thomas L.]

1 minute ago, danlodish345 said:

In my opinion the essential phone overall is worse. I had it for like 2 weeks and I was not pleased with the overall reception of the phone.

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That's true without a doubt, it sucks in terms of RF performance compared to be LG V20, but Android P seemed to make it even worse - it doesn't aggregate carriers like it did before. I might actually downgrade to see. 

[danlodish345]

That's true without a doubt, it sucks in terms of RF performance compared to be LG V20, but Android P seemed to make it even worse - it doesn't aggregate carriers like it did before. I might actually downgrade to see. 

I even tested it on T-Mobile and it didn't work right. And the unit turned off on me one night and stopped working so I returned it and I've been happy now with the newer phone.

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[mrjeff]

So currently, some old sprint customers are excluded to data prioritization as long as they don't upgrade.  Do you think it'd be safe to assume these customers will fall under t-mobile's data prioritization policy after the merger? 

[dkyeager]

2 hours ago, mrjeff said:

So currently, some old sprint customers are excluded to data prioritization as long as they don't upgrade.  Do you think it'd be safe to assume these customers will fall under t-mobile's data prioritization policy after the merger? 

These folks may no longer be in contract as two years have likely passed since their last phone purchase. We only have a very few cases of where people have been noticeably throttled on Sprint, so they likely already fall under this policy. I would separate the data prioritization policy from the billing in this situation as one falls under network and the other marketing (who does not want churn and should be making money when they are collecting for an unutilized subsidized phone unless there is a heavy utilization of their higher roaming allowances).  An alternative view is the contract carries on month to month.