cletus

Social media app in play store from sprint that launched last year with framily. Never seen it used and i have no clue what premium familywall is.

 

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Premium just adds like 10GB of storage and video upload and sharing, etc.

I still don't get the point of FamilyWall but I think they originally billed it as a private social network in your family.. which is weird.

Are you flying into IYK Inyokern? I did that once.

 

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I'll be coming in from Ontario, CA and then driving in. Easier than driving from LAX.

There is a NV site accepted there. 3G/800. In Ridgecrest. Unless it was removed for some reason. But my father in law goes to Ridgecrest every year and has Sprint. I know he was using it there last year. He asked me to help him with his hotspot. It was 3G only then.

 

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Really? Cool! I'll check it out when I am there. If I remember right there was a cell tower near the Salvation Army off of Ridgecrest Blvd if my memory is correct.

You have an odd job to put you out there in that rural weird town.

 

 

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I do work relating to radar test equipment so i'll be there at the China Lake test ranges. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Weapons_Station_China_Lake 

It is a fun place really just two hours+ from anywhere like most of these places.

As far as I know, Ridgecrest has always been off network roaming on the map. It's one reason I avoid rural places like that.

 

 

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The government loves it's rural places unfortunately. I'll still have service via my AT&T work phone but my company is ridiculous about restricting data usage on cellphone lines. Here is hoping the hotel has decent wifi (it won't).

Not sure where I should post this so I will ask here: 

I'll be in Ridgecrest, CA this week and the coverage map shows off network roaming only BUT I could have SWORN when I was there years ago I had 3g coverage off a tower there. All I could find on s4gru was that it had a wimax protection site at one point. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4-wimax-protection-site-operation-confirmation/?p=13 (Do wimax protection sites only broadcast wimax and no CDMA?)

Shot in the dark but if anyone knows anything that would be helpful.

Sprint's (S) Management Presents at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Leveraged Finance Brokers Conference (Transcript) http://seekingalpha.com/article/3733776?source=ansh $S

 

Sprint money guy talks about the progression of CA, the lease company money which they got yesterday in the books, roaming costs which he hates. However he didn't talk about the densification project.

I found this a very interesting response

 

Because I am very conscious of the fact by – that by December ‘16 and March ‘17, we have two bond maturities that come due. And it’s really, really, really important that we take the cost out, that’s why we are – we gave that target of achieving this $2 billion of cost reductions on the full year ‘16 exit basis to make sure that we have sufficient momentum in our own operations to be able to partially repay or entirely repay what is going to come due

 

Sprint parent SoftBank considered a potential suitor for Yahoo's Internet business

 

Link: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-parent-softbank-considered-potential-suitor-yahoos-internet-business/2015-12-02

 

There's a reason Yahoo is falling like a rock... Last thing SoftBank needs is this albatross.

Their argument would be that it isn't on the Internet because it it's on their network, much like Comcast on Demand was. Technically, they aren't wrong. 

Well, yes and no. It runs on the same physical network to your home and this differs slightly from comcast on demand in that rather than being delivered over another software network Steam TV  is then transported exactly the same as internet traffic but using a different flow which I have not found enough information on how this would be different, if at all, from other internet traffic.  So far this sounds like they are not using a separate physical network or the TV side of things and they they are using your internet channels. 

Specifically, we provision a separate, additional bandwidth flow into the home for the use of this service — above and beyond, and distinct from, the bandwidth a customer has for his or her regular Internet access service. Our Xfinity TV content is provided through the Xbox over that separate service flow, and therefore does not use a customer's provisioned Internet service capacity. We use Differentiated Services Code Point ("DSCP") markings to mark the Xfinity TV packets to identify these packets so our network knows that these packets must be transmitted over the separate service flow from the CMTS to the customer's cable modem

BUT the only reason for this flagging is to discern it to be exempt from data caps.I mean, basically I see this as them admitting that they are using the existing physical network set aside for internet and their "additional bandwidth flow" is just packet identified traffic that is exempt.

T-Mobile BingeOn is not the only assault on Net Neutrality. Now it's Amazon Underground: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/underground

 

My son posted it on his Facebook. He and his friends are all excited to get free apps and content. But really, Amazon is now picking winners and losers. Winners get access to millions of Amazon customers who get their stuff for free. Losers get shut out and their apps fade to oblivion.

 

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OnePlus refunded my cables since they were found to be noncompliant. They didn't refund the shipping charge but I am okay with that because they didn't make me ship the cables back.

I only manage about 3-3 1/2 hours of on screen time. How am I almost half of what your getting?

I think you meant to reply to me?

It all comes down to usage and location: Browsing reddit on dark mode uses very little battery and for days where I am at home/working from home my cell signal and wifi are both excellent.

If I am at work in the back lab area all day it takes at LEAST an hour off my screen on time for the day. 

Pretty typical day for me. Only odd thing is I believe there is still a bug in these battery stats as Twitch.tv usage is not being calculated correctly which may explain the high android OS/Android System.

Free case for the Alcatel tablet. You heard it here first folks.

NSFW but I have to throw this out...

 

 

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I would happen to know, the one with the flow

Verizon in the Rollz and Sprint's in the bill Cutt Supreme

4G down old Nat, high speed low ping

I split ya stream, as matter' fact I split ya bill

No 3G in the town, gotta stay high on Rootmetric still

Sprint has more towers, Tmobile looks and glowers

Not eligible for TMO advertised promo showers

What a terrible butchering of that noble song

Sounds like they saw more people going to Sprint due to the half off promo and wanted to take a few back from Sprint. TBH if you are on a family plan with 5 or 6 people this could really add up especially if they pay etfs and stuff.

Meanwhile Verizon and AT&T will continue to give pretty much no fucks about the  #3 and #4 carriers and continue to post record numbers.

You're kidding right? You realize that the world has been watching TV just fine at much less than 480p for over 50 years? On big boy TV's nonetheless. The idea that we're talking about whether 480p is "acceptable" for a 5" screen is ridiculous.

Yeah that comment was in regards to TV resolution. I am sure it is acceptable/adequate for a 5" screen/tablet. I wasn't arguing that at all. However, the difference between 480p and 720p/1080p is pretty noticeable when watching streaming video on my TV when I tried it this morning with Youtube. Even 720p is roughly 3 times the pixels shown compared to 480p with 1080p a bit over 6 times the pixels shown. I totally get that 480p is DVD quality but that "480p quality" can vary quite a bit depending on codecs used. Noticeably for black areas on the screen.

I don't think I am being elitist or anything when I point out that all my normal TV channels are at least 1080i and I haven't bought a DVD for nearly 9 years now! I had to actually go look up when Blu-Ray came out and was surprised how long ago it was. To me the jump from DVD-> Blu-Ray was a bigger difference than VHS->DVD. I can't remember the last time I streamed Netflix in non 1080p+ actually.

My point is that I am not sure such a step backwards in quality would be worth it for me to consider dropping unlimited if I was on the Tmobile $85 plan or to use the Tmobile service as a home internet replacement like a few people are suggesting. My original skepticism stands as I am not convinced 480p is sufficient in the modern age of tv viewing. 

very true, it will only lead to a decrease in ARPU, however since binge on white lists hot spot data the same as mobile data it makes that a viable option for people with binge on to cut home internet....... cellular network as a replacement for home internet talk about crippling a network. / :  you are right 3-4 streams at 480p is a lot less data than 1080P however video consumption is far greater on a tv than a mobile device, time wise that is.   

Very true. The only question left is if 480p netflix is sufficient for tv viewing. I am guessing it wouldn't be good enough and would bother most people to watch on a screen larger than a tablet.

but the real question is how much additional streaming will be done?  If some one regularly used 1.5 gigs per month with Netflix and limited it because of concerns of running out of high speed data, now that same person paying the same price can stream 20 gigs of Netflix albeit at a slower rate per hour.  It will be interesting to see if the reduction on rate will be enough to offset the increase in frequency.  and lets not count out the small percentage of people that will cut their home internet and exclusively use t mobile hot spot, since the majority of home broadband is used for streaming video. imagine 3-4 Netflix streams all using mobile hot spot for hours and hours everyday.  

Well,

Think about it this way: If someone on unlimited sees this and goes "Oh! I can save money and still watch Netflix the same amount!" They will use LESS bandwidth than they are currently using. I am not saying many people will give up unlimited but.. some very well might.

In your example of using a hotspot: An unlimited user can ALREADY do this and besides, 3-4 people running 480p netflix streams might not even hit the same bandwidth a single unlimited user on high quality settings might be pulling. The difference is larger if you are comparing 3-4 high quality streams vs 3-4 480p streams.

I've been thinking about BingeOn some more this morning and I will bet it is a net win for Tmobile over all it's customer base. Basically, if you know how much bandwidth services use you can see it might work out.

Netflix has 3 settings I am aware of: Low @ .3GB/hr, Medium @.7GB/Hr, High @ up to 3 GB/hr. Netflix has actually like 7? different resolution settings but these are the rates it advertises.

Youtube (not yet included) 480p uses roughly 400MB/hr and 720p uses slightly more than twice that at 800-900MB/hr while 1080p is like 1.4 GB/hr

You'll notice the huge bandwidth hog, Twitch (720p @ ~1.3GB/hr or higher) is absent and this is also probably because it isn't cached content.

I'll bet they get those bandwidth rates slightly lower with the expectation that mobile users might not notice the slightly degraded quality because, hey, it is "free". All in all I don't think this is necessarily a huge HUGE deal. It may cause more strain on the network if their bet that people won't double their usage doesn't pan out but on the whole I bet truly unlimited users @720p or 1080p (roughly triple the bandwidth) are much bigger strains on the network.

Sprint's going for the long term strategy, and investors only care about short-term.  This is why the stock if plummeting as of now.

If they truly value the long term outlook they should just bite the bullet and go private like Dell.

Let me examine the economics of leasing...lets see...what does it cost me to have a new

phone each year..lets see.. $30/mo X 12= $360..say for three years..I've spent $1080 on new

phones and don't own anything..so after three years I have no phone..my wife's Galaxy 3 is

still going strong and my Note4 will be paid off pretty soon..I guess Apple figured that the only way

to grab market share from Samsung (when no one could afford an $800 iPhone) was to somehow

fleece the sheep with lo-cost leases; $25 or $30 a month is painless isn't it?  Tells me that the

margins on this hardware must be north of 60-70%...wow what a money maker for the carriers!

All you need is a population of sheep that can't figure out they are being fleeced!! 

So it all depends on your use case, really. With the loyalty credit etc leasing is really quite attractive. 

For your example there are definitely downsides such as for your current phones: Your wife's S3 has only band 25 LTE access so she is missing on on b26 for building penetration and b41 for speed. Your current phone DOES have b41 but doesn't have carrier aggregation. Depending on the market, no CA isn't necessarily a big deal.

So, lets compare iPhone and Note costs with 2 scenarios:

2 Years

Lets say you want an iPhone 6s. 

Leasing: $15/mo. (or even less with loyalty credit) over 2 years you would pay $360. 

Buying: $27.09/mo over 2 years you would pay $650.16 and own the phone.

But how much will that phone be worth? Well, lets compare the iphone 6s value now vs the 5s value (to approximate the value of a 2 yr old iPhone that you will have) on Swappa it goes for ~$160 - $180 for a 16 GB model. So in this example you are down $110 in terms of net cost to you with the higher estimate ($650 - $360 - $180). Okay so what about 3 years?

3 Years

Leasing: $15/mo. (or even less with loyalty credit) over 2 years you would pay $360.  But for the sake of fairness lets use the $22/mo non promo price for the 3rd year which is another $264 for a total of $624

Buying: $27.09/mo over 2 years you would pay $650.16 and own the phone. 

But how much will that phone be worth? Well, lets compare the iphone 6s value now vs the 5 value (to approximate the value of a 3 yr old iPhone that you will have) on Swappa it goes for ~$125 for a 16 GB model. So in this example you are up ~$100 in terms of net cost to you ($650 - 624- $125). 

For a Note device that might be a harder choice.

2 Years

Lets say you want a Note 5. 

Leasing: $25/mo. 2 years you would pay $600 

Buying: $30.80/mo over 2 years you would pay $739.18 and own the phone. 

But how much will that phone be worth? Well, lets compare the Note 5 value now vs the Note 3 value on Swappa it goes for ~$170. So in this example you are up ~$30 ($739.18- $600 - $170). Okay so what about 3 years?

3 Years

Lets say you want a Note 5. 

Leasing: $25/mo. 3 years you would pay $900 

Buying: $30.80/mo over 3 years you would pay $739.18 and own the phone. 

But how much will that phone be worth? Well, lets compare the Note 5 value now vs the Note 2 value on Swappa it goes for ~$115 So in this example you are up a whopping $275 ($739.18- $900- $115). 

The differentiation here is if you add in the loyalty credit to these calculations it comes $120 less for each year of lease which is extremely compelling seeing as even in the best case, 3 year old Note example you would STILL be ahead leasing and have a newer phone.

The real money saver would be to buy 1 year or 2 year old used phones every year and then resell them. You might have a total cost of only $75 or so/year. It all depends how important having a new phone is to you. To my wife, having a new iPhone yearly was an easy choice. For myself I buy Nexus phones every 2 years and thus far the net cost to me has been fantastic.

The question is, how does this affect us as customers leasing devices?

 

 

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It does not affect customers. I am sure you will still send/receive devices from Sprint. The process of providing new phones to Sprint and receiving lease returns (after they are shipped to Sprint) will be handled by this new company but we, as customers, will interface with Sprint.

I get it...but they specifically said none of the Nexus devices... None. Lol.

Now, does anyone know about the Moto X Pure? Supposedly it does, and I have yet to see anything past 78mbps.

 

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The moto x pure does support b41 CA: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-389-teaser-hello-moto-x/

I wonder if the referral program works with the new plans?

 

https://promo.sprint.com/Registration/ReferralLanding?ECID=MA:SMS:MBL:20151110:RR:BAS

I'll definitely look into this when they go to switch over next week, Thanks!

Directly from Sprint in twitter. Today but was a while back and can't find link. Someone asked about Project Fi supporting Sprint's LTE+ and they none of the nexus devices would...

 

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Previous Project Fi or Google devices (Nexus 6 and Nexus 5) had Band 41 support but not Carrier Aggregation (LTE+?) support. Easy to get them confused with the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5x which both do support and have CA enabled right out of the box.