S4GRU

This is not an issue of greed. Sprint is not a profitable company. Greed would mean they are taking more than fair share. Robert

No it's not. No plans have been removed, yet. It may come to that in the future. But none of us know any of the pricing plans of the future for any carrier. However, these plans are just additional plans at this time. If they don't meet your needs, don't select them. And they are a good fit for a lot of people. Robert

Really? Maybe I'm blindly optimistic in my assessment of the conversation. I interpreted John's "Yes they are" statement to mean he acknowledges Sprint is overhauling their entire network in 2-1/2 years...and that's an admirable feat. He did make reference that if it's not done by 2016, he expects you to come to T-Mobile. And that's fair. If Sprint can't get Network Vision done in the next 2-1/2 years, we all should hold them accountable and perhaps become Tmo customers. That's a fair criticism of the competition, I think. All in all, I rate that as a fair exchange. The onus is on Sprint now. And under SoftBank, I think the next few years should be concerning for Tmo. Because Sprint is going to kick it. The media is already starting to cover Sprint more and more fairly about the future and possibilities. The new "Sprint Corporation" just needs to deliver. Robert

No I don't. That's why I said I was even surprised that he answered as honestly as he did. Robert

Backwards compatibility is the only reason I can think of. And maybe for M2M. Robert

I thought he handled that fairly. That is the best way he could have responded, really. It would be nice if we had that kind of access to Sprint executives. Even if just their Twitter handlers. Robert

I have not seen a quote that I can specifically see where AT&T plans to take LTE over its entire network. I just occasionally see POP references. Verizon and Sprint have said specifically they have. The last thing I specifically I remember Randall Stephenson saying was they were going to put LTE on 95% of their sites. I live and spend most of my time in that 5%, as do many people around S4GRU. Not that I would switch to AT&T anyway... Robert

I've been meaning to tell you this interesting factoid... I borrowed an AT&T SIM card from a coworker to take with me to Chama this week and I put it into my Nexus 4. In the old Alltel areas that AT&T acquired, they only installed WCDMA. No EDGE/GPRS at all. Very surprising. So in Abiquiu, Cebolla, Tierra Amarilla, Dulce and Chama, AT&T native appears to be WCDMA only on these new sites. As I had told you recently, AT&T just recently shut down the old Alltel CDMA network in these locations. You can roam on GPRS off AT&T...on what I believed to be Commnet. Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I'm sure there were ways that Sprint could have deployed faster using different vendors or spending more money. But those decisions were made years ago. Network Vision is pretty much set in stone. And when it completes, it will still be the fastest that amount of work has ever been done. Regardless of what Tmo's Legere says. And when Sprint is complete, it will have a much larger percentage of their network with LTE coverage than AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon is the only other carrier committed to going LTE over its entire network. Once you compare beginning to end of LTE deployment on Sprint and Verizon, history will show Sprint took about the same amount of time (or less) for a lot more scope of work. Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

This doesn't affect you or you streaming unless you switch to the new plan. Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

parallel parking

Site acceptance reports from Tuesday (7/9): Alabama - 1 update (LTE) Atlanta/Athens - 2 updates (1 LTE) Boston - 4 updates (LTE) Central Jersey - 1 update (LTE) Charlotte - 1 update (LTE) Cincinnati - 4 updates (3G) Colorado - 1 update (LTE) Columbus -1 update (3G) East Kentucky - 2 updates (LTE) East Michigan - 1 update (LTE) East Texas - 1 update (LTE) Georgia - 3 updates (1 LTE, 1 new 3G/LTE site) Houston - 1 update (LTE) Jacksonville - 3 updates (1 LTE) Las Vegas -1 update (3G) Louisiana - 1 update (LTE) Memphis -1 update (LTE) Miami/West Palm - 2 updates (LTE) Milwaukee - 3 updates (LTE) Minnesota - 8 updates (3G) Missouri - 3 updates (2 LTE) Myrtle Beach - 1 update (3G) Nashville - 6 updates (3 LTE) New Orleans - 2 updates (3G) New York City - 2 updates (LTE) Northern Jersey - 1 update (3G) Oklahoma - 2 updates (1 LTE) Orange County - 2 updates (1 LTE) Oregon/SW Washington - 7 updates (3 LTE) Orlando - 6 updates (5 LTE) Phoenix - 1 update (3G) Raleigh/Durham - 2 updates (LTE) Riverside/San Bernardino -1 update (3G) San Antonio - 1 update (LTE) SF Bay - 1 update (LTE) Shentel - 18 updates (2 LTE, 8 CDMA 800) South Bay - 1 update (LTE) South Texas - 1 update (LTE) South West Florida - 2 updates (LTE) Tampa - 5 updates (LTE) Upstate NY Central - 1 update (3G) Upstate NY East - 1 update (3G) West Kentucky - 1 update (LTE) West Michigan - 1 update (LTE) West Texas - 1 update (LTE) Maps are updated. Robert Links: Comments regarding this thread, NV Sites Complete Map

You're right...but you are assuming way too broadly. Probably 50% of Sprint sites have fiber near the tower from some vendor. But that vendor may or may not have capacity, and may or may not have reasonable terms...or may not even want to sell Sprint service. Sprint is often using AAV backhaul so they are not beholden to an ILEC (especially AT&T and Verizon). So of that 50%, how many of the AAV's have fiber to the site? Also, there is a lot of microwave installed at these 50% sites you're counting from the other carriers. For instance, many believe that Verizon does not use microwave, and use all fiber. However, here in Northern New Mexico, every single Verizon site has microwave backhaul, as either a donor or recipient. Also, Sprint is upgrading it's entire network at once. Verizon and AT&T started with just urban sites (and not every one, just for complete coverage). They started with a small scope, and just add incrementally. T-Mobile is only doing urban sites. Sprint is being ambitious and adding every site, including many virgin sites that no one has brought upgraded backhaul to. So your point is valid about a lot of other wireless carriers already bringing backhaul into their sites, and Sprint benefits from that to some extent when getting backhaul. However, it is not over most of their network. Not even close. Robert

HERE IS THE BOTTOM LINE: THIS IS NOT A PRICE INCREASE. IT IS ANOTHER PLAN OPTION. Please stop saying Sprint is raising prices. They are not. They are now offering these additional plans, which are cheaper for some customers and more expensive for other customers...IF THEY CHANGE FROM CURRENT PLANS. There is no forced plan changes here. Everything Data plans have not been removed. They may go away in the future...who knows? However, there are no forced increases announced today. All future posts in this thread must be posted with these points in mind. Ridiculous posts about Sprint and Softbank stealing your money and gouging you will not be allowed. Because there is no cost increase here, only people with more than 2 lines and CHOOSE these new plans would see an increase in service cost. Robert

I'd get this phone if it's Sprint LTE tri-band, for sure. Robert

Discussion already under way in this thread: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3420-t-mobile-lte-network-discussion/?p=166451 Robert

I've changed my thinking. I jumped to conclusions based on limited info. I'm pretty sure they are offering discounts on the main service and data service. Hopefully they allow the discount on every line as well. Now I'm back to just the 100MB roaming limit as the problem. *sigh* Robert

No way in the world that 70% of all of AT&T and Verizon smartphone sales are iPhones in 2013. No way in the world. Apple probably couldn't even muster 70% of all sales the month after a new product launch, let alone every month of the year. iOS has steadily lost share over time. They are not gaining it. Robert

distant galaxy

You can connect to an Airave for 1x and 3G EVDO and to a separate LTE site within range, no problem. LTE on 1900MHz has the same signal strength as 3G EVDO on 1900MHz. However, LTE needs a stronger signal to be effective. So LTE is not as usable with a weak signal as 3G EVDO is. So there will be less usable coverage of LTE than 3G EVDO from the same tower. This is not much of an issue in urban areas, as sites are much tighter together than necessary. But in exurban and rural areas, seamless LTE coverage won't really appear until Sprint gets LTE on 800MHz to those areas. Robert

Done! Robert

For some reason, I read the notes to mean that ONLY the data add on was discountable and not the main plan. Getting my discount on all lines and the unlimited data add on would work out well for my 4 lines. However, I liked that I could add a line for only $30 per month on my existing plan. I have two kids I will be adding over the next 2-3 years. $50 per additional line would be too much. But with the discounts applied, that's not too bad. Robert

Which other Tmo thread? We can merge them. Post a link and I'll look at it. Robert

I have retitled this thread to something more appropriate to the ongoing network discussion. Robert

I have edited the title to more appropriately frame the discussion. Robert