JeffDTD

With exception to building a bigger and better network faster, I'm wondering what other kind of "nukes" ( a Hesse concept), if any, Son envisions? I really don't want Sprint to engage in pricing wars with the other carriers. I've long scratched my head over Sprint completely canning the Premier Program. Yes, I understood why yearly upgrades weren't feasible, but customer relations wise, any small amount of funds they could use to again do small things to recognize loyalty could help sustain customers. A couple coupons for an accessory discount, a $25 "loyalty renewal" credit (still cheaper than crediting the upgrade fee) .... Relatively inexpensive things like this will hopefully become easier for Sprint once the cash situation is eased. What else? I'd love to see them go ahead and take Direct Connect to every single Sprint phone as a "free incentive" of being a Sprint customer. Promote it and get people using it again. Ideas?

I would love a j-pop sprint commercial.... Why not just call all the mobile carriers softbank owns "splint" and take this old horse international

Verizon just installed lte panels on the tower near my office.... Must be LTE coming ..

While my initial reaction was "this strengthens competition in the US wireless market, it should be a piece of cake to approval wise".... I'm skeptical that Newco or ATT, at a minimum, won't try to raise regulatory concerns about the transaction.

Best post of the entire thread! (Mental image of dan hesse sitting at a boardroom table with Son on a speakerphone , ranting )

Just general expectations.... the japanese will come in with high expectations and even more stringent goal driving... I would think they might decide to invest even more $$ into nv to get even more crews on the ground working at the same time. I also cant see them transitioning away from cdma for the time being. The roaming synergies are too broad. The name? Well, when they acquired vodaphone japan they changed the name to softbank mobile. I dont think they would use a name like that here, but i could see them coming up with a whole new name , investing in the network, and taking a go as an "all new wireless option"

Glad you are happy now ! I dont think we consider tmobile "the enemy" the way that sprint has recently been characterized by tmos leaders and bloggers. Happy sailing over there.

Dish... This newco zombie that is being created... Any private equity firm. Century link also apparently had an interest in sprint at some point? I personally believe that Hesse has the best poker face in the industry ... Sprint drives a very hard bargain. I am certain they anticipate other offers for mergers/investments in the wake of this news. Although others may not offer as much cash as softbank, giving away less equity in the company could be equally as attractive.

Does anyone remember what SK Telecom's offer to Sprint was back when Forsee left? I seem to remember they wanted control of the board , not sure if there was every an amount attached to it. Would be interesting to compare the two. Although this comment is baseless, its possible a huge investment like this would cause NV expansion into areas where iden service is being shuttered with no plans to continue cdma/lte.... it could also fund a nice expansion into areas sprint doesn't for see having cash to be at ever. To be a fly on the wall and see what Softbank has in mind for sprint...

I agree, they're getting the bargain of a century if they get a majority stake in Sprint for 12 billion... IF they pump money into Sprint's assets and network and revolutionize it with the grocery bags full of money Sprint needs! My dark little heart skipped a beat when I saw this headline this morning... but hey, Sprint's legacy is more guaranteed if this happens. Or, perhaps it creates a bidding war for Sprint?

I hear ya. I'm sorry I usually prefer a credit card when making large purchases due to protection there in the event something absurd happens with the transaction...

Wow.... Is it like that everywhere when returning Iphones? I'm trying to think of another line of retail where you can surrender product for return in person, to a human where it was purchased, that is obviously not defective and not receive a refund on the spot. Maybe I'm just outta "the know". Was this not a corporate store? I had a similar experience with ATT here in January of this year. Prior to the NV 3G upgrades, our speeds here had become unusable basically everywhere. ATT had the most high speed 3G access in our area, so I asked around about it and got very good feedback from most everyone I talked to. 2 days into my new service, I couldn't get to the corporate store fast enough to give it back. They refunded 100% of my money on the spot. Also sent me a $900 bill , but ATT Customer Service went "oh we're so sorry" and credited it back no problem. It was shocking to me how many people here are washed into believing that the level of service they get from the big 2 (here, at least) is magically superior to everything else. 1) Despite full signal on one side of my home , ATT drops 100% of calls in my kitchen. Fluorescent lights maybe? who knows 2)Data Speeds were either AMAZING, or not there at all. Hated dropping down to Edge, jumping back up to HSPA+ all the time 3) Hated the garbled calls due to the half rate codec...hated hearing the hand off from tower to tower and all the buzzing and hissing ... and I hated dropping calls in places where there was simply no reason for it. End point? When the mobile device you've been flapping your gums on has been Sprint PCS quality voice for almost 10 years, you're a little spoiled when you try to get acclimated to non PCS half rate garble.

Yeah, if cdma is a dying technology, he obviously has no idea about how his company and its spectrum will fare with volte in its present incarnation. The 3g tmo chooses to market as 4g is in fact wcdma... hmm. Did att shove something in their breakup agreement that forbid tmo from talking smack about them? Again, if it werent for sprint tmo would have be a baby bell right now, either literally or in practice via plans=limited data, no anymobile, higher prices

From someone who understands much less technologically... All this talk about LTE fragility and inferiority makes me want to shake every last one of the sh*teater critics and trolls who taunted and shamed sprint for using wimax and not bandwagoning before they did..... increased site density or sub 1k mhz spectrum is the only way to match volte to pcs voice? Sounds like a big bag of undercooked rubbish as an " end all be all" upgrade path for all the carriers

Sprint will carry htc flagships as long as htc is around.... htc is willing to cater to sprint more than any other manufacturer and cuts them the best volume pricing of the major manufacturers.. What we are seeing, however, is them being treated more as a budget option than "the best"..

Anyone have a map of the spectrum holdings /coverage of the alltel remains?

Few to none, of course. The cash flow of the potential pops doesn't justify the deployment investment in many places.

I love the note's ergonomics, but the exclusion kills my urge to sell the gs3 and pay the difference. Im actually a little bit glad this happened I will now attempt to wait out the gs4 or a great device with data access on the other bands.

AJ, I read the article, greatly appreciate your info. You said in the article that the lack of svdo due to the inclusion of wcdma was "curious". I can see some people running with that but .... whats the most likely business reason? Internationally capable device? Minimalizing customization charges from samsung? A shift away from svdo completely ( that we will see on future devices) to minimize 3g stress ?

The negativity taken towards sprint as a result of this merger is unwarranted. Ill start worrying when tmobile has sufficient 3g coverage outside of metro areas. Its as though everyone expects tmobile to have a magical network transformation and sprint to fail on everything it has planned. Its just unwarranted sour grapes. And "tmo guy" hates sprint? Who cares? Sprints the only reason tmobile brought back unlimited service. Sprint is the only reason anymobile calling exists, especially at tmobile.

Dish network's "dishnet" launched a few days ago and claims 5mb down with a 10gb cap for $40 a month. $10 discount if u subscribe to tv. For an average user, thats not bad at all. Sprint is not suited to replace an isp now or anytime in the future.

Artesian Water