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Josh

S4GRU Member
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  • Phones/Devices
    Galaxy S4, Optimus G, Nexus 7
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Butler, Pa
  • Here for...
    4G Information

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Member Level: 3G EVDO

Member Level: 3G EVDO (8/12)

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  1. That makes sense to me, it would probably take more work to send an ota update to those phones to block WiMax access... just to shut it down & have it not matter in less than 90 days. But I'm sure shutting down WiMax is part of the plan to save $2.5B so I'm sure it will not get extended again. On another topic, I wonder if sprint should try and keep these customers & give them branded devices and use it as a marketing tool. They might even be able to write it off as some type of charitable donation, who knows...
  2. This was one of the reasons Dan Hesse was trying to push for the metro merger, they owned spectrum in the entire state of FL & would've brought paying customers... but metro & DT made out with the way they did the reverse merger & DT got a way to exit easily whenever they eventually do. Hindsight is always 20/20 (sometimes even better) lol, but it would have made the economics work better in favor of sprint, now t-mobile has the momentum & sprint has to hope they run out of steam sometime soon! I still believe in this company's potential more than the other 3, and that is the major reason I have stayed even though the other 3 have space on the watertower across from my house... I better be right.
  3. Has anyone in the north pittsburgh area experienced their phone switching back and forth from LTE to ! (no data)? Toggling airplane mode usually fixes it with my GS6, but 3 times in the last week is more than coincidence, so i'm wondering if anyone else has had their phone act screwy lately. If it is b/c they are working on 2X CA in Cranberry twp, i'd be thrilled... but my other half does not like to have to work on her phone while driving & is getting increasingly frustrated... my knowledge of cell networks does not mean anything if she isn't able to use it, lol.
  4. Lets hope that sprint plans to take some 800Mhz if a company wants to unload some non-contiguous spectrum after they spend a boatload on the new 600Mhz spectrum. Sprints new NV gear can already broadcast in those frequencies, and it should be both cheaper and faster to implement than a new band. Although I think that Son could get creative with designated entities to bid so that sprint doesn't have to officially bid, I think its just as likely that he thinks there could be scraps up for grabs after the others bid like crazy to get the new spectrum, and that he might be able to pick up the pieces... either that or buy dish or US cellular once they buy the spectrum.
  5. I completely agree that when a market reaches complete saturation & the majority of customers have a reliable connection for everything they do... it's only us 'wireless enthusiasts' that sporadically check the network. And as sprint fully utilizes the 2.5Ghz spectrum, the draw from a speed test will affect other users less than one will now. I remember when T-Mobile touted their speed tests, ironically now drawing down overall performance. The big difference is now that all carriers are utilizing data buckets, many people will voluntarily stop using the apps as the speed increases b/c of how much data it can use in just a few seconds. The opportunity cost of checking a speed will use the same data as streaming another episode of their favorite show.
  6. If they buy cca members, it will be because they are going under & sprint values the amount of customers they will receive in addition to network assets and spectrum. Otherwise, for now at least, they will try and actually help cca members by leasing them spectrum so that sprint can roam and not have to build it themselves... b/c their cash situation is tight right now. Even if they had the money, it might be more efficient to just purchase the assets, and not the customers and debt. Again, dependant on the # of customers and their perceived value, maybe an area is particularly difficult to challenge the duolopoly, 10% customer base head start might be worth the extra cash. One other point is that they are not looking to "crush the little guys" they are partnering with them to help compete with the big 2. They want the little guys to build out their networks so they can all roam on each other. If someone drags their feet, that might be a buyout candidate, but that would mean sprint would have a whole lot of extra work...
  7. From the last time I looked at the statistics for out west, something like 20% of the population live in rural areas, meaning that 80% should be contained in the cities and medium sized towns. Focusing on those will cover the majority of the population, but the question is how many people will leave their carrier for a network that doesn't have the rural coverage... and will it be economical if they only get a small percentage of the population.
  8. Being "funded" might even just refer to the new off balance sheet vehicle softbank is creating for network equipment. The problem with this is that it's possibly not viewable to anyone outside the organization, so all details do not need to be disclosed in sprint's filings. (Maybe this is by design) I know this is supposed to help sprint's bottom line, but any serious investor will realize that this is just another deferment of costs until (hopefully) sprint's financials get significantly better... and is a way for softbank to provide 'money' but hedge it's bets in case it doesn't work out.
  9. We all knew this was bound to happen, not to all rural partners, but some are just not feasible from a business perspective. I hope that sprint, or one of the other rural partners get the network, b/c if not it will cost sprint far more to invest and cover the area even just to cut down on roaming costs. It's a completely insignificant area to me as I have never been & don't plan on visiting, but in the spirit of hoping sprint can make lemonade or of lemons, I hope they either do a project ocean style expansion in a very cost effective manor, or back one of the other small carriers so that it stays out of the other 3's hands.
  10. I believe it was part of the original offer, but as someone else pointed out, they have an option to add additional data to the free service because: a.) that will allow more customers flexibility and alleviate any worry about joining 'free' and getting overages. b.) it will allow sprint more potential to make something from free subs.
  11. My family got switched from nextel/sprint (who we had since my dad's first smartphone) to Cingular than At&t while I was in college... and the corporate practices of the deathstar are atrocious! I was accused of roaming in Canada while near lake Erie during the winter and got $130-$150 overages every month! I called and tried to explain that I had never been to canada and they accused me of lying, refusing to remove the charges. I switched after swallowing a few months of $200+ bills on a flip phone (in college, that was a LOT), and came back to sprint who has treated me quite well. Any issues I've had are handled quickly, and although the service has a smaller overall footprint in my area, it's adequate enough for my needs and I am hoping once they expand coverage it will be great here. My family has stayed on At&t because my dad travels internationally and originally it was the best option for international roaming b/c they were GSM phones. At&t's voice quality has been steadily decreasing over the recent years, and when NV was going on, we all assumed it was always my phone that was the culprit for the dropped calls and dead silence. But now I know that my phone calls sound great if I call a sprint customer, ok if I call verizon, and garbled when I call my family on At&t. I'm in the north pittsburgh area as well, so I know the areas and some people will not be ok with the amount of 3G only areas north of the city... but if you happen to live & work in areas that have LTE, the service is great and the 3G is acceptable/useable for occasional trips into the more rural areas. Of course do not let this persuade you, it's just my personal experience, but as we say in economics "people vote with their feet" meaning if a company fails to deliver what the customers want, they will leave. Do what is best for you.
  12. Optimization will only take sprint so far, but having a LTE roaming will allow sprint customers who visit those areas to have a better experience & not want to leave. It will still be roaming & will have a cap even with an unlimited plan. Idk where anyone heard that USCC would want to become a sprint affiliate,but I've seen their last quarterly report & they're adding customers & turning a profit! They are not in desperate need and the only way they would even sell is if someone was willing to severely overpay. As much as I would like to see softbank buy USCC to merge with sprint, he's looking a T-Mobile or bust it seams.
  13. There are a few things going for KC staying as the HQ for at least the foreseeable future. In today's day and age, there is a wonderful thing called the "Internet" and they can video conference & collaborate with anyone across the world. KC I'm guessing also has a reasonable tax rate when compared to any large city or anywhere in CA. It's also very centrally located for the country, and the cost of living is near average... Talking about him meeting with they mayor of Miami, remember when they met in Chicago & announced it was going to be the flagship sprint city & show what a great network is capable of being. I think it might have just been sprint tyring to get accelerated permitting etc. Sometimes you gotta grease those wheels yourself, lol. And California was just softbank USA office to try and get the merger pushed through. They would've closed or downsized anyway.
  14. It has been proposed several times, and though they won't (and probably don't need to) change the name unless softbank fails and sells out... which would be more usual. This was more just speculation by us nerds of what would make sense if something were to change.
  15. As of right now, the best Idea is SPARK MOBILE - by sprint... it would be a pure marketing scheme, and some people would be completely aware of what it was, but if it was only marketed once a city was densified with B41... it might work. Also, they could set it up so that it was a different network on the testing sites, so that all the results showed the difference. Once it gets launched nationwide, they can start the switch of all branding. Even if they were to purchase US Cellular, IDK if it would be any different. Their name actually might sound more like a national carriers name han a regional... but the branding process should be similar, pushing the name to areas that are what they envision as their final finished product. That way everyone associates the new name with the better service & they start distancing themselves from the problems of the past.
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