cletus

 

"Junk" status, really? If that's true the ratings agencies don't know what they're talking about. If you count wholesale subscribers, their subscriber count is rapidly growing. There seems to be a new Sprint MVNO every other day...

 

Junk status is appropriate. Softbank took on a huge liability in Sprint and junk status is reflective of future risk, not present optimism. To keep up the planned CapEx ALONE for Sprint, Softbank will have to take on probably $15-20 billion more in debt. Actually I believe the figure was $8 billion for 2013 and 2014 and then $6 billion per year for AT LEAST 4 more years after that. That is simply an enormous amount of money to finance for a company that lost something like $50 billion over the last 8 years.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-envisions-completing-network-vision-mid-2014/2013-08-06

Well, at least they have come out and stated what we all knew was true. Network vision is taking longer than anticipated for reasons partially out of Sprint's control. I'm not too concerned though as what I am really looking forward to is the addition of Clearwire towers and 800 mhz spectrum.

http://youtu.be/xRtCJmcw-6A

 

The skin looks terrible. Look at the monstrosity that is the notification panel at 0:25.

yeughh. Do LG phones typically come locked or unlocked?

This sounds like a good deal but I do want to know why sprint is basically whoring out its LTE network to all of these MVNO companys so fast. Every other company only has a few while sprint has at least 10 of them and I can't help but think there network would be a little less burdened if they stopped doing this or just kept boost, virgin, and ting

 

Well, in my case it kept me from moving to another carrier completely. So, Sprint still gets revenue off of my service at Ting and I am not providing money to competitors. Win-win in terms of "losing" a customer. Once Triband phones are here I plan to go back to Sprint but I have to say, having a $38 phone bill is pretty damn exciting.

So Republic Wireless seems to beat this already. Both offer mediocre locked down phones but Republic Wireless has unlimited data.

How has LG been with Android updates and how intrusive are the LG "skins"? I'm super interested in this phone unless it is not very well supported and loaded down with terrible skins..

Does anyone else even know about GoSmart mobile? I haven't seen any advertisements for it and the only way I discovered it is through fiercewireless. It's a Tmobile brand that only offers data AND voice on TMO native network. If you only need voice and text, at $30 the only better deal is metro's promo $25 so they can clear out their CDMA phones. $35 - adds unlimited 2g data $45 - 5 GB @900 Kbps then 2g

This is sort of off-topic but I would enthusiastically recommend against this MVNO for two reasons. 1) The customer service is absurdly bad and to get one of my relatives issues fixed I ended up spending 45 minutes on hold. 2) This is the T-Mobile NATIVE network which means you get about as much coverage as a G-string. Great for the beach but terrible for cellphone service. You are better off picking almost any MVNO from any other carrier because what absolutely will happen is that you will leave the urban area with good signal and suddenly have no service at all. No voice/No texts/No data. I tried out the T-Mobile native network on their $30 plan and I was shocked that people continue to recommend it as the greatest thing ever. 

If you must try out T-Mobile, http://www.solavei.com/ has roaming (but is expensive). Otherwise, maybe net10 wireless for the AT&T network with roaming. On the Sprint side, Ting is a good bet https://za8ilf19763.ting.com/ (shameless referral link for $25 off my bill and yours) that allows roaming on Verizon. If you go with a MVNO with no roaming I recommend AT&T or Verizon. Unfortunately while the Sprint network is leaps and bounds better in terms of coverage than T-Mobile it still cannot beat the rural coverage that AT&T and Verizon currently have,

I practically guarantee that the market of Sprint subs who would be willing to pay on the order of $649 for a Google Play edition handset is minuscule.  Why in the world would they do that?  They would then activate it or attach it to their existing plan, which includes device subsidy that they would not be using.

 

AJ

Yeah, the only scenario people would do this in is early upgrades I guess? OTOH, taking a Google Play edition phone to a Sprint MVNO like Ting/Virgin/Zact might be attractive for some people. A minuscule amount for sure though.

Care to elaborate? There have been Nexus phones on Sprint in the past.

As far as I understand it boils down to this: GSM phones use SIMs on the various GSM carriers so if you have a SIM you can toss it in any compatible phone and you are good to go.. However, Sprint and Verizon require pre-approval for all phones before they are added to the network. In addition to this the radios/apk files must be digitally signed by Sprint/Verizon. Basically these networks don't want to allow Google to update their phones without extensive testing and signoffs beforehand. Google does not like this and is therefor not supporting CDMA.

Seeing the precursors to rumors of a Google Play Edition of the G2: http://www.phonedog.com/2013/08/02/should-the-nexus-brand-be-replaced-by-google-play-edition-devices/

 

Eight paragraph:

 

 

Anyone see anything similar, and what are the odds it would be CDMA? Am I correct in thinking it would be the first CDMA Play Edition phone?

I'd put the chances of a CDMA Play Edition of the phone at precisely 0.000001%.

Another vote for Ting with more reviews of the service in a thread here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2606-the-ting-thread/

Roaming voice and SMS is the reason I chose Ting (Verizon has better coverage in a few more rural spots I need it when visiting family) and it has been fantastic for me so far.

The S4GRU corporate jet otherwise known as the Chevy Suburban?

 

 

AJ

Maybe he meant this: 

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2006/07/31/story2.html?page=all

Very few of us work for Sprint.  Even fewer are attorneys. None of us can speak of Sprint's behalf.  Basically, the legal opinion of every person on this site means piddle when convincing Sprint to let someone go ETF free.  Unless Sprint admits its an out, the best way to answer that question is to contact care, executive care, or consult your attorney.   If we tell them "its an out, run!!"  and Sprint flat out refuses, who's credibility is on the line?    

Yes, but in the case of the changes to employee discounts Sprint did post that it was a material change on a page from one of my bills. The changes in April to billing structure etc DID allow for an ETF. So, a tax increase would not be a material change and neither will this administrative change.

I guess S4GRU moderators could just copy paste numbers for Sprint support and tell people to call and then lock the thread but it won't stop people making threads or complaining about changes/poor service in other threads. Being pro-Sprint is fine and I think we are all here because we want to see Sprint succeed but I also see no issue with people discussing charges that make them unhappy and seeking advice on alternatives. I generally tell people who think they are paying too much to move to Ting because the service remains the same and Sprint still makes more money (albeit less than a contract customer) than if it lost a customer left for a competitor.

I agree.  I greatly dislike these kinds of contract loophole threads.  And they are certainly miles away from the chartered intent of this site.  But S4GRU has entered something of a grey area.  We are closing in on 20,000 members and 200,000 posts.  Will S4GRU remain a niche Sprint wireless network focused site?  Or will it become the go to Sprint general discussion site?

 

AJ

Hmm. I disagree. If people come here asking how to force roaming so Sprint kicks them off the network I have a problem with that. If people come here asking for advice on if a rate change means they can leave without ETF then I am okay with that. Which is better for the community: People who are unhappy and see increasing charges but remain complaining about Sprint until their contract ends or people who are able to end a service that clearly is not working up to their expectations? 

I've been a Sprint customer for a long time and I ended up moving my lines to Ting anyways. Why? Because I don't feel the current Sprint network is worth $157/month for 2 lines and the changes to how the employee discount were applied cost me $5 extra a month. I do plan on rejoining Sprint with triband phones BUT I can sympathize with people that are feeling nickeled and dimed for the subpar service that still exists in many parts of the country. 

Redundancy is important, and I won't suggest it's not. Clearwire has been upgrading its backhaul the last year. Some places it is great, some places it is lacking still. Case in point, in my Denver TD-LTE testing, I had lots of full signals tests with speeds around 5-10Mbps. And and a few over 30Mbps. Obviously use on a 20MHz TDD channel with only a few hotpots out there is nil. On most of these sites, I was likely the only person on that channel. If Clearwire backhaul had been upgraded and up to snuff, I would have had all 35Mbps speeds (the maximum my Note 2 would have handled on WiFi). But it was about 3 sites out of approximately 30 that I tested. As you suggested, it's not likely the microwave links that are impacting performance (although it might in a daisy chain deployment), but its probably the final termination point to fiber or AAV backhaul on the microwave chain that needs to be upgraded. Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

To piggyback on this. I have a WiMax phone and I have noticed that some sites in Austin appear to have higher bandwidth available now than a year ago. Part of that is, of course, due to people moving off WiMax but it is not a consistent change among all the towers here. I am fully expecting Austin to be in the next round of cities that Clearwire LTE is launched in. If only someone in Austin had a Triband hotspot to test. . .

Are you forgetting the LG Chocolate?  The Chocolate!

 

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=980

 

AJ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7y6kXwMo_M

Interesting... like others I plan to wait for RF reports before jumping in on a new phone. First isn't always best as the EVO LTE showed us.

The first article on Sprint/Clearwire TD-LTE 2600 has been published.

 

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/162029-sprint-turns-on-lte-tdd-allowing-it-to-compete-with-att-and-verizons-coverage-and-performance

 

It appears to draw a lot of its info from this very thread.

 

AJ

Tsk tsk, no credit for the speedtest picture

edit: now I see it. I wonder why it didn't show up under the pic until after I refreshed. Oh well

My ideal phone is the GS4 Active, but it looks like Sprint wont be getting it.

 

So I want the GS4 with triband.

 

Upgrade date is August 1.

 

Con of upgrading on that day:

-No triband

-Lose my 4G coverage

 

Pro

-Get to throw GS2 in front of a truck*

- Start the 20 month upgrade clock

 

 

 

*will keep it in drawer as backup, but you know what I mean.

The other option is to take your phone to an MVNO like Ting until Triband phones arrive. This is what I am doing and without changing my habits much I pay about 45% less per month. However, I know my data usage (and therefor cost at Ting) will go up on a triband phone so I do plan to go back to Sprint. FYI, The "back to new" customer timeout at Sprint is like 45 days. Just something to think about.

On triband, purportedly the priority order is 2600, 1900, 800. Sprint will have the ability to have your device select an LTE band based on performance too, not just signal strength. Custom PRL's will not be able to be made to control LTE networks. LTE network selection is not handled by PRL's. Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Would this work similar to the Network Optimizer program that Sprint uses to offload traffic onto WiMax? If I remember right it uses the 3g connection to know where you are and if that area is serviced by WiMax and if so, turns on your 4g radio.

So this might use the 1900 band to find 2600 and 800 signal that is underutilized to offload traffic from the 1900 band?

That's a fair point; however, the move to LTE was delayed (IIRC) because of battery performance.

 

(I have a feeling that it was also due to their extremely large customer base on AT&T, stuck with HSPA+ as their "4G" option while they rolled out LTE in major markets.)

Good point on the AT&T customer base. With that in mind it seems even less likely that Apple will make major design changes for Sprint, who sells less iphones last quarter(1.7 million) than Verizon (6.2 million) and AT&T (8.1 million). 

If there are tri-band networks anywhere else in the world and Qualcomm makes a Tri-band chip, I bet Apple would at least consider it, if anything, for supply chain purposes.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Apple has historically not been a first mover in adding bands or even new radio technology such as LTE. I expect them to be dragged into triband and LTE-A kicking and screaming.

I'm surprised at the lack of cities in TX Austin/San Antonio/Houston/Dallas and no Atlanta actually seeing as WiMax is fairly well deployed in those cities

WiMax coverage in Austin remains superior to LTE coverage. It has actually sped up around town as people transition to LTE.

So, I called up Sprint and they confirmed employee discounts now apply to all lines but ONLY to the data portion as was previously posted. So some people will indeed see a bigger savings with the new setup (23% discount is roughly $7 off per line and 20% is $6). I'm still not switching until triband phones are out but if I was on Sprint (rather than Ting) these new plans would be a savings over the old ones for 2 lines.