Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[schmidtj]

It would be great if they increased the domestic roaming allowance on non preferred partner systems. What is it? 200Mb? You can burn through that in minutes with Apple Carplay or Android Auto. 

[RedSpark]

In light of T-Mobile's Uncarrier Announcement today, this page has info on the Sprint Plans that are eligible for GoGo Wi-Fi, https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/t-mobile-in-flight-texting-and-wi-fi

Data

• Most T-Mobile rate plans are eligible for one free hour of Wi-Fi and unlimited texting on Gogo-equipped flights to, from, or within the U.S. You can surf, email, and post to your heart's content. Those rate plans include Magenta and T-Mobile ONE plans, among others. Sprint customers on the Sprint ONE plan are also eligible.
• Some T-Mobile rate plans are eligible for unlimited Wi-Fi and texting on Gogo-equipped flights to, from, or within the U.S. These include Magenta MAX, Magenta Plus, PlusUp, and ONE Plus, among others. Sprint customers on the Sprint MAX plan are also eligible.
• To upgrade to an eligible plan, log in to your T-Mobile account, log in to your Sprint account, or contact customer care.
• Most video streaming is not available with this benefit.

I switched our lines to Sprint Max for this benefit.

[RedSpark]

52 minutes ago, schmidtj said:

It would be great if they increased the domestic roaming allowance on non preferred partner systems. What is it? 200Mb? You can burn through that in minutes with Apple Carplay or Android Auto. 

The other carriers must be charging them exorbitant rates for roaming on their networks. I hope T-Mobile keeps on building out native coverage to eliminate roaming as much as possible. That 600 MHz spectrum goes a long way and it's got to be much more efficient to build it out compared to other spectrum.

[though]

1 hour ago, schmidtj said:

It would be great if they increased the domestic roaming allowance on non preferred partner systems. What is it? 200Mb? You can burn through that in minutes with Apple Carplay or Android Auto. 

I agree completely.

[RedSpark]

T-Mobile on track to gain ‘synergies’ from Sprint merger

"They’ve already done one-third of the 35,000 target sites to be decommissioned and are well on their way to complete the rest of them by the end of this year."

"As of April, some 37% of Sprint subscribers completed the migration to T-Mobile."

"During T-Mobile's first-quarter earnings call, Osvaldik said they were looking at 2024 to achieve the full $7.5 billion of run rate cost savings from the merger."

Some great info/context in this piece. Definitely worth a read.

Edited June 17, 2022 by RedSpark
Clarity

[davidtm]

Where would Sprint Unlimited Freedom plan fit in this?

[RedSpark]

22 hours ago, davidtm said:

Where would Sprint Unlimited Freedom plan fit in this?

See the FAQ's at the bottom of this Page where Sprint is mentioned: https://www.t-mobile.com/benefits/travel

Which customers on Sprint plans can take advantage of these benefits?

Everyone on qualifying plans gets these benefits, including those on Sprint MAX and ONE plans. If you have free in-flight Wi-Fi and/or free global data today, you’ll get full-flight connections on more flights and even faster international data starting June 21. Some international benefits will require a T-Mobile SIM. Everyone with an active voice line on a compatible plan gets a year of AAA on Us, and anyone eligible for T-Mobile Tuesdays can unlock discounts on Shell gas and hotels, rental cars and more on T-Mobile TRAVEL via the T-Mobile Tuesdays app.

Here's what I can glean from it as far as the in-flight texting and Wi-Fi goes:

https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/t-mobile-in-flight-texting-and-wi-fi

T-Mobile customers on eligible plans including Magenta and Magenta MAX and Sprint customers on Sprint ONE and Sprint MAX plans can take advantage of this great benefit.

So that doesn't seem to include your Unlimited Freedom plan.

As for International Roaming: https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/coveragebeyond

Starting June 21, when touching down in a foreign country, T-Mobile customers will get 5GB of free high-speed data each month, up to 5G speeds where available, in 210+ countries and destinations on T-Mobile’s most popular plan, Magenta MAX, and on the Business Unlimited Ultimate plan. No passes to buy. No hoops to jump through. No BS.

That doesn't seem to include your Unlimited Freedom plan either.

Plus, customers get the same experience of 5GB of high-speed data in 11 European countries — Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and Slovakia — on Magenta, most business plans and equivalent Sprint plans thanks to T-Mobile’s partnership with Deutsche Telekom. Essentially, everywhere a phone says “T-Mobile” customers will get the highest speeds available for their plan.

This might include your Unlimited Freedom plan. Ask Customer Care.

And T-Mobile is doubling the speeds worldwide across all 210+ countries and destinations (from 128kbps to 256kbps) so customers’ phones just work from the moment they touch down for things like basic navigation and email. This is in addition to the free texting customers already enjoy in those destinations. And it all comes on top of 5GB of high-speed data and free calling and texting for Magenta, Magenta MAX and eligible T-Mobile for Business customers in Mexico and Canada.

This first part might include your Unlimited Freedom plan. Ask Customer Care.

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by RedSpark
Clarity

[RedSpark]

How about that....

 DISH will file its FCC buildout report no later than July 14, 2022. 

https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/dish-confirms-its-offering-5g-more-20-us-population

 

"They estimated Dish would need about 4,000 cell sites to cover 125,000 square miles intended for the 20% target."

"The next deadline is 70% of the U.S. population by June 14, 2023, and New Street estimates that will require 17,000 cell sites covering 375,000 square miles, based on the geographic coverage milestones that Mayo outlined during Dish’s analyst day."

[davidtm]

10 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Ask Customer Care. . .

 

 

Thanks, @Redspark! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a response from either Sprint customer service or T-Mobile this evening. Seems like I'll get at least passable data for navigation, and hopefully will be surprised with better. I thought Unlimited Freedom was a good plan, but things probably changed over the years. 😉

[mmark27]

12 hours ago, davidtm said:

Thanks, @Redspark! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a response from either Sprint customer service or T-Mobile this evening. Seems like I'll get at least passable data for navigation, and hopefully will be surprised with better. I thought Unlimited Freedom was a good plan, but things probably changed over the years. 😉

This might be the thing to get me to actually switch over to the T-mobile billing. I fly enough that this would be a great benefit to me. I haven't switched out yet because the plan they offered me was $40 less total (on like a $500 monthly bill) and had less streaming quality (something I use) and seemingly less hotspot data, but the woman couldn't answer my questions straightforward so I bailed. However, this might be worth me wasting several more hours dealing with CS drones.  Does anyone have a line to good CS? I've always just tweeted at the executive Sprint team, but is there a corollary at T-mobile? 

[RedSpark]

On 6/21/2022 at 9:36 AM, mmark27 said:

This might be the thing to get me to actually switch over to the T-mobile billing. I fly enough that this would be a great benefit to me. I haven't switched out yet because the plan they offered me was $40 less total (on like a $500 monthly bill) and had less streaming quality (something I use) and seemingly less hotspot data, but the woman couldn't answer my questions straightforward so I bailed. However, this might be worth me wasting several more hours dealing with CS drones.  Does anyone have a line to good CS? I've always just tweeted at the executive Sprint team, but is there a corollary at T-mobile? 

These are the plans/pricing currently being offered on Sprint: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/plans/unlimited-cell-phone-plan.html

We were on Unlimited Freedom, but I switched our lines to Sprint Max for these new benefits/features: 4K Streaming, Unlimited Gogo In-Flight Wi-Fi, International Roaming, Scam Shield Premium, etc.

Sounds like Customer Service was offering you the Sprint One Plan with SD Streaming and 5 GB Hotspot. Sprint Max offers add-on hotspot if you need more than what comes with it (40 GB). You can add-on to have 50GB (+$10/Month) or 100GB (+$35/Month) of Hotspot on a per-line basis.

We have T-Mobile SIM's in all of our devices, but our account hasn't been migrated to T-Mobile Billing yet. I'm sure that will happen soon.

If the Rep you get doesn't seem to know what's going on, end the chat and try again with someone else. Also, you can have the plan change be effective immediately. You don't have to wait until the monthly billing cycle date for it to start.

Edited June 22, 2022 by RedSpark
Clarity

[RedSpark]

14 hours ago, davidtm said:

Thanks, @Redspark! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a response from either Sprint customer service or T-Mobile this evening. Seems like I'll get at least passable data for navigation, and hopefully will be surprised with better. I thought Unlimited Freedom was a good plan, but things probably changed over the years. 😉

No problem. Do the math and see if it's a better plan for you. Sprint Max is a better value for what we need/want/use than what we had before. (Unlimited Freedom)

[Paynefanbro]

T-Mobile's first win ever in PCMag's Best Mobile Networks test: 

https://www.pcmag.com/news/best-mobile-networks-2022

Quote

In 2022, T-Mobile isn't just America's fastest network, it's also the best.

— — — — —

This time around, we hit 30 cities and six rural regions using the latest Samsung Galaxy S22+ phones to see how AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon compare. T-Mobile wins 18 of our 30 cities to Verizon's eight and AT&T's four. 

Look purely at speed, and the difference is even more stark. AT&T's entire advantage is in places where it has greater network reliability than T-Mobile. T-Mobile wins 19 cities on speed, to Verizon's nine and AT&T's two.

T-Mobile is also doing better than ever before in rural areas, although it gets docked slightly for still having more rural data dead zones outside the Northeast than the other two carriers do.

In the cities, T-Mobile has by far the least connections under 50Mbps, and it really pulls away from the competition in connections between 300 to 600Mbps, which is the mid-band 5G zone. This shows where T-Mobile probably has sufficient capacity for its new $50-per-month home internet service, too. In rural areas, the effect is less pronounced, but it's still there.

— — — — —

T-Mobile's mid-band is present not only in cities and suburbs, but in rural areas too. Many interstate corridors nationwide showed T-Mobile's "UC" icon, which signifies mid-band connections, and they also showed mid-band speed in our testing.

 

[mmark27]

On 6/21/2022 at 10:44 AM, RedSpark said:

These are the plans/pricing currently being offered on Sprint: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/plans/unlimited-cell-phone-plan.html

We were on Unlimited Freedom, but I switched our lines to Sprint Max for these new benefits/features: 4K Streaming, Gogo In-Flight Wi-Fi, International Roaming, etc.

Sounds like Customer Service was offering you the Sprint One Plan with SD Streaming and 5 GB Hotspot. Sprint Max offers add-on hotspot if you need more than what comes with it (40 GB). You can add-on to have 50GB (+$10/Month) or 100GB (+$35/Month) of Hotspot on a per-line basis.

We have T-Mobile SIM's in all of our devices, but our account hasn't been migrated to T-Mobile Billing yet. I'm sure that will happen soon.

If the Rep you get doesn't seem to know what's going on, end the chat and try again with someone else. Also, you can have the plan change be effective immediately. You don't have to wait until the monthly billing cycle date for it to start.

Okay, just pulled the trigger on the MAX plan for us as well. Worked out to be $12 more per month for us for the MAX but the feature adds are worth it. Over 5 lines and 3 watches, this is miniscule difference. the 40 GB hotspot is per line so said the rep I spoke with. Anyways, thanks for the help and clarity. First time I've changed plans in lord knows how long. Been with Sprint since 1998! lol. 

[RedSpark]

50 minutes ago, mmark27 said:

Okay, just pulled the trigger on the MAX plan for us as well. Worked out to be $12 more per month for us for the MAX but the feature adds are worth it. Over 5 lines and 3 watches, this is miniscule difference. the 40 GB hotspot is per line so said the rep I spoke with. Anyways, thanks for the help and clarity. First time I've changed plans in lord knows how long. Been with Sprint since 1998! lol. 

Glad to hear you got the info you needed and that it worked out to switch to MAX. That's correct: It's 40 GB of hotspot per line, and you can add-on more hotspot for specific lines via the website under "Change Services" if you need to. Yeah, I felt the same way, and the pricing comes out to be very close to what we were paying on Unlimited Freedom. If you're going to use/enjoy them routinely, then the additional features are worth it IMHO: 4K Streaming, Unlimited Gogo Wi-Fi, International Roaming, Scam Shield Premium

We've been on Sprint for a while too. We were on an Everything Data 1500 Plan, which I recall got Unlimited Minutes thanks to Marcelo's "Loyalty Benefits". We then switched to Unlimited Freedom (with the Free HD add-on that Sprint originally wanted $20/month per line for.... remember that?) because the pricing was better with "iPhone for Life", vs. the "Loyalty Credit" for staying on a Legacy Plan. Now we're on Sprint MAX and enjoying these newly announced benefits. Some family on our plan just traveled abroad and they're already making use of the new International Roaming High Speed Data, so it was definitely worth it to switch to MAX for us.

[RedSpark]

Dish, T-Mobile agree to new terms of master network agreement

https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/dish-t-mobile-agree-new-terms-master-network-agreement

"Dish and T-Mobile today said they’ve agreed to new terms related to their master network services agreement (MNSA). As a result, Dish will pay lower rates to T-Mobile for the use of T-Mobile’s network, with these reduced rates applied retroactively to January 22, 2022. And Dish has agreed to a minimum purchase commitment to T-Mobile of $3.3 billion over the course of the MNSA. The MNSA was first entered on July 1, 2020 with a seven-year term, so there are five years remaining on the agreement."

Interesting development.

[mdob07]

Looks like the remaining Sprint network might be dead here now. Forcing my phone to B25 or B26 gives me no network, sad day for sure. 

[iansltx]

25/26 are still on here, though the site historically nearest me has been decom'd. I did have to cycle to B26 and then B25 to get my phone to lock on, as going directly to B25 landed me on AT&T MFBI. Will be interesting to see how long 25/26 stay on; it's hard to connect to Sprint B41 here as there's plenty of T-Mobile B41 on n41 sites.

[mdob07]

16 hours ago, mdob07 said:

Looks like the remaining Sprint network might be dead here now. Forcing my phone to B25 or B26 gives me no network, sad day for sure. 

Confirmed on my way to work this morning and while out on lunch that the only Sprint sites I connected to were keep sites. All others seem to now be offline at least around Louisville and Shepherdsville KY. 

[schmidtj]

Saw this on Reddit:

T-Mobile will soon pay you to get off your Sprint SIM Card

[dkyeager]

31 minutes ago, schmidtj said:

Saw this on Reddit:

T-Mobile will soon pay you to get off your Sprint SIM Card

That tells me they won't be turning off Sprint on June 30.  Previous I had see mention of  shutoff to investors list "summer".

[RedSpark]

23 hours ago, dkyeager said:

That tells me they won't be turning off Sprint on June 30.  Previous I had see mention of  shutoff to investors list "summer".

I'm curious how many Sprint SIM's are still active. Maybe we'll find out at the next Earnings Call? (Sometime in Late July/Early August I'm guessing.)

Edited June 29, 2022 by RedSpark
Clarity

[jreuschl]

There's still some people on Reddit asking if they can reactivate a Sprint SIM.

If T-Mobile isn't working for you, go elsewhere.  Sprint SIM at this point won't help you.

[RedSpark]

1 hour ago, jreuschl said:

There's still some people on Reddit asking if they can reactivate a Sprint SIM.

If T-Mobile isn't working for you, go elsewhere.  Sprint SIM at this point won't help you.

 

Everyone with a Sprint SIM right now.

[jreuschl]

I must have missed it.  What does T-Mobile plan on doing with B26?

Very occasionally I used the Band Selection app to force B26 in an area that T-Mobile hasn't upgraded a tower.  Obviously with the shut down that is probably not going to work anymore.