Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[the_intern]

On 4/28/2023 at 9:52 AM, RedSpark said:

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/t-mobiles-merger-with-sprint-everything-thats-changed-3-years-later

Good read. There's a whole lot here...

Also: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/t-mobile-continues-growth-streak-with-1-3-million-new-customers/

It gets increasingly difficult to reach the last slices of the American population given geography constraints, said Ulf Ewaldsson, T-Mobile's executive vice president of network. "I would say it's about three times harder for every 10 [thousand people] you add," he said.

Ewaldsson noted that T-Mobile has 150MHz of dedicated midband 5G spectrum, and as the carrier shifts more frequency from 4G LTE to 5G, it'll end the year with over 200MHz on midband. "We're very confident that we'll reach [our year-end goal] with the build plan we have today," he said. 

Interesting article! But I think Ulf meant three times harder for every 10 million POPs covered, not 10 thousand. 

[schmidtj]

In case anybody missed it:

FINAL LEGAL NOTICE – IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED. YOUR SPRINT SIM OR DEVICE WILL NO LONGER BE SUPPORTED AFTER MAY 1, 2023

More of the same:

Sprint SIM cards will stop working May 1st

[dkyeager]

5 hours ago, schmidtj said:

In case anybody missed it:

FINAL LEGAL NOTICE – IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED. YOUR SPRINT SIM OR DEVICE WILL NO LONGER BE SUPPORTED AFTER MAY 1, 2023

More of the same:

Sprint SIM cards will stop working May 1st

I have heard reports of Sprint SIMs that stopped working after reboot this morning.

[schmidtj]

T-Mobile - T-Mobile Supercharges 5G Standalone Uplink Speeds with Carrier Aggregation First

[iansltx]

2 hours ago, schmidtj said:

T-Mobile - T-Mobile Supercharges 5G Standalone Uplink Speeds with Carrier Aggregation First

n25 + n41 makes a fair amount of sense for UL CA, particularly near-term, since otherwise n25 uplink would be basically unused, and right now even 10x10 n25 should provide comparable uplink capacity vs. 40-50 MHz of n41.

AT&T just did a NR UL CA field test as well, but they only hit ~120 Mbps. Narrower channels and 850 as the FD band, i guess.

[RedSpark]

Something to look forward to?:

https://www.phonearena.com/news/t-mobile-autopay-discount-change-confirmed-may-18-rollout-date_id147310

[RedSpark]

Maybe they wanted to wait until they shut off the Sprint SIM's before migrating more Sprint customers over to T-Mobile Billing?

All of our lines are on Sprint Max and we haven't received an invitation to move over yet.

[dkyeager]

11 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Maybe they wanted to wait until they shut off the Sprint SIM's before migrating more Sprint customers over to T-Mobile Billing?

All of our lines are on Sprint Max and we haven't received an invitation to move over yet.

Likewise. So much for getting moved sooner.

[schmidtj]

22 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Something to look forward to?:

https://www.phonearena.com/news/t-mobile-autopay-discount-change-confirmed-may-18-rollout-date_id147310

You alternatively just set up autopay using a debit card and then just pay manually a few days early using a CC or Smart Wallet and still get the $5/line discount. .

[RedSpark]

2 hours ago, dkyeager said:

Likewise. So much for getting moved sooner.

 

When will then be now?

Soon.

[RedSpark]

2 minutes ago, schmidtj said:

You alternatively just set up autopay using a debit card and then just pay manually a few days early using a CC or Smart Wallet and still get the $5/line discount. .

What a clown show.

So much for being the un-carrier.

[cooltech6597]

 

Costco site got gig+, bringing the total of gig+ in the metro area I've discovered to 9 sites (one not plotted on map for privacy reasons)

[CrackedLCD]

On 5/5/2023 at 12:37 PM, schmidtj said:

You alternatively just set up autopay using a debit card and then just pay manually a few days early using a CC or Smart Wallet and still get the $5/line discount. .

I can think of nothing I'd rather do less than trust T-Mobile with a debit card number, even if it's never actually used.  Their reputation for breaches is terrible and I don't want anything tied to my checking account that much at risk.

[RedSpark]

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/spectrum-will-be-among-many-interesting-topics-dishs-q123-earnings
 

I guess we’ll see what happens here…

Some great detail in this piece.

800 MHz

Under the terms of the Department of Justice's Consent Decree that allowed T-Mobile to buy Sprint, Dish has the right to purchase 13.5 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum from T-Mobile for $3.59 billion. The option originally expired on July 1, but Dish has requested a 60-day extension. The timing isn’t great for Dish because the company has a lot of capital needs at the moment.

If Dish does not exercise the option to purchase, it will instead have to pay T-Mobile $72 million. Then T-Mobile can either apply for a waiver to keep the spectrum, or the FCC might want to auction it.

600 MHz

There was some confusion this week when Dish notified the FCC that it was canceling some 600 MHz licenses.

It turned out that Dish had made a clerical error. Instead of canceling the leases with T-Mobile, it accidentally clicked a button to cancel the licenses.

[schmidtj]

3 hours ago, CrackedLCD said:

I can think of nothing I'd rather do less than trust T-Mobile with a debit card number, even if it's never actually used.  Their reputation for breaches is terrible and I don't want anything tied to my checking account that much at risk.

Agreed. I opened a new checking account dedicated just to autopay’s . I fund it monthly only with the amount necessary. At least that way my exposure in case/when something happens is minimal. Fwiw other services are requiring autopay debit card or ACH to get the best price. Verizon is one. 

[RedSpark]

Pretty high profile store closure:

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tmobile-closes-union-square-store-san-francisco-18084488.php

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/t-mobile-closes-flagship-union-square-store/

[dkyeager]

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

Pretty high profile store closure:

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/tmobile-closes-union-square-store-san-francisco-18084488.php

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/t-mobile-closes-flagship-union-square-store/

San Francisco has the reputation of allowing flash mobs of shoplifters to descend on stores.  You would think having all the phones in the locked managers office would protect them, but likely just not enough shoppers remaining given the departure of many other stores.

[RedSpark]

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

San Francisco has the reputation of allowing flash mobs of shoplifters to descend on stores.  You would think having all the phones in the locked managers office would protect them, but likely just not enough shoppers remaining given the departure of many other stores.

Save for Apple Retail Stores, I think most other company flagship stores are run at a loss, with the idea being that the cost of operation essentially amounts to what a billboard advertisement would otherwise run. At least with a flagship store, it's a giant "permanent" advertisement with the potential to offset its cost somewhat.

However, if customer/employee safety is a factor here for why this SF location closed, that's a sign of the times unfortunately in a number of cities around the country. I don't see this being the last flagship store closure.

[iansltx]

T-Mobile in Chicago is now running the top 20x20 of PCS as n25 (including G), in addition to the usual 100+40 MHz n41. No VoNR yet but my phone is definitely camping on NR. B2 LTE appears to be 10x10.

[clbowens]

7 hours ago, iansltx said:

T-Mobile in Chicago is now running the top 20x20 of PCS as n25 (including G), in addition to the usual 100+40 MHz n41. No VoNR yet but my phone is definitely camping on NR. B2 LTE appears to be 10x10.

That sounds like the same experience here in the Cleveland area.

[PedroDaGr8]

12 hours ago, clbowens said:

That sounds like the same experience here in the Cleveland area.

Same in metro Seattle Market (except we have VoNR).

[mmark27]

On 5/5/2023 at 9:51 AM, RedSpark said:

Maybe they wanted to wait until they shut off the Sprint SIM's before migrating more Sprint customers over to T-Mobile Billing?

All of our lines are on Sprint Max and we haven't received an invitation to move over yet.

So we were finally kicked over to T-mobile billing as I think everyone has by now? There was no invitation. The Sprint site just doesn't work anymore. 

Anyone else have account issues with primary lines?? They assigned the account to one of my child's watches, lol. Thankfully the T-mobile CSR were very good and got everything rectified. 

We're on the Sprint Max plan and the CSR was touting the Go5Gplus plan to us as having "actual premium data" instead of the "premium data" promised with the Sprint Max. Sprint Max tops out at 100 GB of shared data for all lines, then throttles after that. Go5G apparently doesn't throttle ever. 

She also quoted that Sprint Max has 5 GB hotspot but Go5G would have 60 GB? The Sprint Max clearly says 40 GB hotspot. 

Color me a little confused, but I think we're fine on the Sprint Max (which is $25 less a month for our 5 lines). (obviously different things like Hulu or Netflix, etc.)

Should I reconsider? am I missing anything? 

[Dkoellerwx]

1 hour ago, mmark27 said:

So we were finally kicked over to T-mobile billing as I think everyone has by now? There was no invitation. The Sprint site just doesn't work anymore. 

Still on Sprint billing here, still able to log in to the Sprint site. Weird.

[gr8nuguy]

3 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

Still on Sprint billing here, still able to log in to the Sprint site. Weird.

Ditto

[Yuhfhrh]

7 hours ago, mmark27 said:

So we were finally kicked over to T-mobile billing as I think everyone has by now? There was no invitation. The Sprint site just doesn't work anymore. 

Anyone else have account issues with primary lines?? They assigned the account to one of my child's watches, lol. Thankfully the T-mobile CSR were very good and got everything rectified. 

We're on the Sprint Max plan and the CSR was touting the Go5Gplus plan to us as having "actual premium data" instead of the "premium data" promised with the Sprint Max. Sprint Max tops out at 100 GB of shared data for all lines, then throttles after that. Go5G apparently doesn't throttle ever. 

She also quoted that Sprint Max has 5 GB hotspot but Go5G would have 60 GB? The Sprint Max clearly says 40 GB hotspot. 

Color me a little confused, but I think we're fine on the Sprint Max (which is $25 less a month for our 5 lines). (obviously different things like Hulu or Netflix, etc.)

Should I reconsider? am I missing anything? 

There are still a significant amount of customers on the Sprint billing system, complete migration has been pushed back to Q3.

Sprint Max comes with unlimited priority data on device, the CSR was misinformed.