jtravers

Did you sign into the correct iCloud account for Photostream first?

Awesome. Congrats! Was the buyer international or domestic? I was going to have Sprint buyback my 5 32GB for $230. If I could get closer to $450 on eBay I might have to reconsider. Or maybe take my wife's 5S and demote her to a 5, lol.

Beautiful. Thanks!

Does Sprint require the charger, lightning cable, etc. to be turned with the iPhone for a trade-in, or do they just want the phone? Thanks!

I'd be curious to see what the true cost of ownership for an iPhone is given the resale value after 1 or 2 years, especially once Sprint allows them to be unlocked for domestic use. The selling price may be higher than comparable Android phones, but the higher resale may offset that to a large degree.

I wasn't talking about bloatware but unlocking phones for use on other carriers. Dfarley pretty much explained it perfectly.

Hate that Sprint locks down their phones more than any other carrier. You would think they would be trying to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to switch. But I digress....

Yeah, a scrappy, innovative company that almost went bankrupt. I'd say the iPhone was pretty innovative. You can't blame them for not wanting to sell their devices and computers at barely above cost. No one is forcing anyone to buy their products. Like I said, it's just business. As much as we'd like them to be, I doubt Sprint is on the top of Apple's list of carriers to design phones around. It's good to see that they are incrementally improving when it comes to Sprint's bands, though -- single band LTE on the 5 and dual band on the 5s. If Apple had kept the 5s single band LTE on Sprint, that would have definitely been something to complain about.

It's just business. Not sure why iHaters take it so personally. And no phone released before or at the same time as the 5s had Band 41. Where is all the hate for every other manufacturer releasing phones on Sprint?

You could even buy a full replacement kit including battery and tools for $30 from iFixIt. http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPhone-5-Replacement-Battery/IF118-001

Ballgame. Checkmate. Finito. The fat lady just sang. It's over. Sorry, Charlie

What windfall? Sprint stock is already trading above the Dish and SoftBank offers, so anyone that wants to cash out can simply sell their shares now.

Actually, this would only be true if the deal were all cash. Because shareholders will also be receiving shares of the new S/SoftBank or of DISH, the health and strategic position of the post-transaction company is also very important.

Dish doesn't charge current subscribers any fees for "sling" access to their live or DVR'd content. The apps are free, website access is free, and the Sling device is either built in to the receiver or available for a nominal, one-time fee (they were even giving them away at one point). Why do you think they'll change their policy on this in the future? Seems to me that it would be a value add that would help gain and retain subscribers. I know most on this forum don't like Ergen and Dish. I do agree that I think the Softbank deal makes more sense, but I am also intrigued by the possibilities of a combination with Dish just because of all the excess spectrum that will be available. BTIG research has been saying that Sprint/Softbank need to hurry if they want to close a deal because Dish may be hunting for a cash-rich partner to help them in their bid. If Dish is able to find a cash-rich partner, the one big downside of their deal (the huge debt load) would no longer be a concern -- and that would make the Dish deal stronger than it currently looks. Of course, that's all speculation, and right now the Softbank deal looks like the best strategically. This is all so very interesting :-)