Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[the_intern]

On 10/18/2022 at 12:07 PM, jreuschl said:

T-Mobile is still very strict on roaming areas, correct?  There were a couple of times on a trip last week that I had to rely on my wife's phone on AT&T because I was not getting any data roaming (and it is set to on).

I know in the past T-Mobile blocked roaming in areas it "thinks" it has coverage.

Probably won't be adding her to my plan for the time being

They are quite strict, restricting usage on a LAC by LAC basis. I've seen the buildout plans for Wisconsin and Illinois so you may be able to add her in the future.

[though]

8 hours ago, the_intern said:

They are quite strict, restricting usage on a LAC by LAC basis. I've seen the buildout plans for Wisconsin and Illinois so you may be able to add her in the future.

What are you seeing for Nebraska

[Dkoellerwx]

On this latest coverage map update, we have 5 new expansion sites in Nebraska! (6 if you count the one I missed last time). This expands T-Mobiles coverage across central and northeastern Nebraska beyond the old Sprint footprint. We also have 4 new Sprint conversion now on the map. (There are actually at least 3 more conversion we know about that are not yet on the map).

[the_intern]

On 10/19/2022 at 11:15 PM, though said:

What are you seeing for Nebraska

Unfortunately I didn't see a map for Nebraska like I did for WI & IL, but I was told that the plan is to overbuild Viaero and USCC across the state. 

[though]

2 hours ago, the_intern said:

Unfortunately I didn't see a map for Nebraska like I did for WI & IL, but I was told that the plan is to overbuild Viaero and USCC across the state. 

Meaning let the other guys build out and T-Mo will just continue to roam on them?

[Dkoellerwx]

1 hour ago, though said:

Meaning let the other guys build out and T-Mo will just continue to roam on them?

No, build over their coverage. Meaning expanding T-Mobile.

[schmidtj]

T-Mobile Stores Are Quickly Losing The Ability To Service Sprint Accounts

[BucketHead25]

I received constant text messages to switch to the T-Mobile SIM last November which I did.  I also replaced two phones that were not supported by T-Mobile.  Here I am almost one year later still on the Sprint billing system patiently waiting.

[clbowens]

40 minutes ago, BucketHead25 said:

I received constant text messages to switch to the T-Mobile SIM last November which I did.  I also replaced two phones that were not supported by T-Mobile.  Here I am almost one year later still on the Sprint billing system patiently waiting.

Same here.

[Trip]

Same here, though I got all new phones back in May or June.  I didn't think Unlimited Freedom was a particularly rare or old plan, either. 

- Trip

[clbowens]

4 hours ago, Trip said:

Same here, though I got all new phones back in May or June.  I didn't think Unlimited Freedom was a particularly rare or old plan, either. 

- Trip

We're on the Unlimited Freedom Tax Inclusive v8 plan here.

[dkyeager]

Deliberately switched to the Sprint Max hoping to get moved quicker - no such luck.  I have found I can pay off phones to get them unlocked and then the monthly amount is converted to a credit.  Been told if I buy a replacement phone from T-Mobile I will lose that credit, so bought my last phone from Best Buy (factory unlocked).

Edited October 27, 2022 by dkyeager
Primary reason was for high priority related to work.

[RedSpark]

9 hours ago, dkyeager said:

Deliberately switched to the Sprint Max hoping to get moved quicker - no such luck.  I have found I can pay off phones to get them unlocked and then the monthly amount is converted to a credit.  Been told if I buy a replacement phone from T-Mobile I will lose that credit, so bought my last phone from Best Buy (factory unlocked).

Our family plan is on Sprint Max too. Still waiting for the billing switch as well. There are some parts of the Sprint website which look absolutely prehistoric, and it's clear they're just running them as a virtual window inside the current site.

At least the Max plan features are great for traveling in the meantime. Didn't know that about the credit. Interesting.

I do miss iPhone Forever and how easy it was to do. I guess "Forever" doesn't mean what it used to anymore.

[RedSpark]

Some impressive numbers.

• Postpaid net account additions of 394 thousand, best in industry and highest in company history
• Postpaid net customer additions of 1.6 million, more than AT&T and Verizon combined
• Postpaid phone net customer additions of 854 thousand, best in industry and highest since merger
• Postpaid phone churn of 0.88%, only operator to improve year-over-year
• High Speed Internet net customer additions of 578 thousand, best in industry for fourth consecutive quarter

• Ultra Capacity 5G covers 250 million people, as many as Verizon plans to cover more than two years from now
• Raising merger synergies guidance range to $5.7 billion to $5.8 billion in 2022
  • (The network decommissioning is substantially complete, less than 2.5 years post-merger closing, and more than a year ahead of the original merger plan.)

Look at the Ookla, OpenSignal and umlaut results as well. Incredible.

[dkyeager]

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

Some impressive numbers.

• Postpaid net account additions of 394 thousand, best in industry and highest in company history
• Postpaid net customer additions of 1.6 million, more than AT&T and Verizon combined
• Postpaid phone net customer additions of 854 thousand, best in industry and highest since merger
• Postpaid phone churn of 0.88%, only operator to improve year-over-year
• High Speed Internet net customer additions of 578 thousand, best in industry for fourth consecutive quarter

• Ultra Capacity 5G covers 250 million people, as many as Verizon plans to cover more than two years from now
• Raising merger synergies guidance range to $5.7 billion to $5.8 billion in 2022
  • (The network decommissioning is substantially complete, less than 2.5 years post-merger closing, and more than a year ahead of the original merger plan.)

Look at the Ookla, OpenSignal and umlaut results as well. Incredible.

IMO they held their network cards close and did not share many details in their conference call.  Sprint core is  gone, vast majority of Sprint keep sites now converted.  Push on VoNR issues and will add markets. B41 whitespace will be a "flip of the switch" at 14,000 sites.

[RedSpark]

50 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

IMO they held their network cards close and did not share many details in their conference call.  Sprint core is  gone, vast majority of Sprint keep sites now converted.  Push on VoNR issues and will add markets. B41 whitespace will be a "flip of the switch" at 14,000 sites.

That's interesting. I haven't had a chance to listen to the call yet.

Q3 2022 Investor Factbook: https://s29.q4cdn.com/310188824/files/doc_financials/2022/q3/TMUS-09_30_2022-EX-99.2-vFinal.pdf

Page 14: Sites (Combined LTE + 5G) 79K Macro Cell Sites, 38K Small cell/distributed antenna systems sites. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by RedSpark
Spelling

[dkyeager]

5 hours ago, RedSpark said:

That's interesting. I haven't had a chance to listen to the call yet.

Q3 2022 Investor Factbook: https://s29.q4cdn.com/310188824/files/doc_financials/2022/q3/TMUS-09_30_2022-EX-99.2-vFinal.pdf

Page 14: Sites (Combined LTE + 5G) 79K Macro Cell Cites, 38K Small cell/distributed antenna systems sites. 

I missed the site count.  Did not expect it until the end of the year.  Some of my calculations based only on public sources should almost match that number, but choose to add 10k in rural sites for 88k estimate for the end of the year.  On 12/31 last year they had 102k macro sites, so 23k sites were dropped since then.

[Mr.Nuke]

6 hours ago, dkyeager said:

IMO they held their network cards close and did not share many details in their conference call.  Sprint core is  gone, vast majority of Sprint keep sites now converted.

Omaha, a city @Dkoellerwx and I track fairly closely, must be significantly lagging then.

[Dkoellerwx]

6 hours ago, dkyeager said:

Srint core is  gone, vast majority of Sprint keep sites now converted.

Roughly half, maybe as much as 2/3rds, of the permitted retain sites have actually been converted in the Omaha/Lincoln market area. Those that haven't are still broadcasting 10Mhz of Sprint B2/25.

[Dkoellerwx]

Speaking of Nebraska... latest coverage map shows 6 brand new expansion sites in central and southwest Nebraska, plus 3 more conversions. They seem to be rushing the rural coverage for some reason rather than finishing up the conversions where capacity is already starting to get strained, or helping roaming hits by covering I-80.

[Mr.Nuke]

Just now, Dkoellerwx said:

They seem to be rushing the rural coverage for some reason rather than finishing up the conversions where capacity is already starting to get strained, or helping roaming hits by covering I-80.

It honestly seems like a giant vanity exercise right now to fill in a gaping hole in their coverage map, one that had existed for various (may legitimate) reasons.

[RedSpark]

8 hours ago, dkyeager said:

I missed the site count.  Did not expect it until the end of the year.  Some of my calculations based only on public sources should almost match that number, but choose to add 10k in rural sites for 88k estimate for the end of the year.  On 12/31 last year they had 102k macro sites, so 23k sites were dropped since then.

Looking at the Q2 2022 Investor Factbook for comparison: https://s29.q4cdn.com/310188824/files/doc_financials/2022/q2/Q2-2022-Investor-Factbook-vFinal.pdf

Page 14: Sites (Combined LTE + 5G) 88K Macro Cell Sites, 39K Small cell/distributed antenna systems sites.

The Q3 2022 Factbook figures show a drop-off of 9K Macro Sites and 1K Small cell/distributed antenna systems sites vs the prior quarter.

Extended Range 5G percentage is unchanged (97% of Americans) on the Q3 2022 Factbook vs the prior quarter. Interestingly, POPs isn’t mentioned here like it was in the prior quarter Factbook. (320M)

Ultra Capacity 5G POPs is up to 250M on the Q3 2022 Factbook vs the prior quarter, an increase of 15M POPs.

[dkyeager]

6 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

They seem to be rushing the rural coverage for some reason rather than finishing up the conversions where capacity is already starting to get strained, or helping roaming hits by covering I-80.

Perhaps this is because Verizon has behaved the same way with c-band. Initially it was great coverage in cornfields. Reminded me of Sprint. Of course many rural sites don't need permits or have minimal requirements.

The one theme that seamed to permeate the conference call was competition with Verizon.

My home site, which was converted to T-Mobile 18 months ago but never turned on (Sprint cabinet was placed on a pallet has run b25 since then) is now being converted. Might even have the antennas replaced. Meanwhile the site has gone from first in the area at 100Mbps under Sprint to mostly about 60Mbps. Now up to 90mbps as an near by Sprint site that was off was converted.

AT&T surpassed it thus summer.  Verizon easily surpassed it this month with c-band.

[dkyeager]

Any discussion of churn should include this footnote: "Customers impacted by the decommissioning of the legacy Sprint CDMA and LTE and T-Mobile UMTS networks have been excluded from our customer base resulting in the removal of 212,000 postpaid phone customers and 349,000 postpaid other customers in the first quarter of 2022 and 284,000 postpaid phone customers, 946,000 postpaid other customers and 28,000 prepaid customers in the second quarter of 2022. In connection with our acquisition of companies, we included a base adjustment in the first quarter of 2022 to increase postpaid phone customers by 17,000 and reduce postpaid other customers by 14,000. Certain customers now serviced through reseller contracts were removed from our reported postpaid customer base resulting in the removal of 42,000 postpaid phone customers and 20,000 postpaid other customers in the second quarter of 2022.", page 2, https://s29.q4cdn.com/310188824/files/doc_financials/2022/q3/TMUS-09_30_2022-EX-99.1-vFinal.pdf

[dkyeager]

Other quirky items:

Higher realized Merger synergies

Gains from the sale of IP addresses

In changes in operating assets and liabilities: Equipment installment plan receivables have declined from (530) to (77) for this quarter last year to current quarter, thus more stable

Change in inventories: 41 to (7)

(1) Customers impacted by the decommissioning of the legacy Sprint CDMA and LTE and T-Mobile UMTS networks have been excluded from our postpaid account base resulting in the removal of 57,000 postpaid accounts in the first quarter of 2022 and 69,000 postpaid accounts in the second quarter of 2022.

 

 

The elephant in the room is DT taking a much more active role.  The FCC license structure is being realigned to recognize this.