JeffDTD

When I take into consideration how expensive my isp comcast is and how great of a value sprint is, im far more eager to push comcast for usage as much as possible. I hate paying for a connection thats suppose to be 12- 16mb and usually tops out at 6-8 mb but that the cable nazi for ya... so for me , assessing the value of each providers pricing should be a part of your decision of who to push your usage to when given a choice....

If the reviews are generally positive for sprints version, this gs3 is gonna be on ebay/craigslist! Id like to see a solid day of heavy usage with that 3100 sized battery Any guesses on full retail price? UsCell has priced theres at 299 w/ contract. I think the original note was 550 or 650 full retail. Im wondering if the cdma variant could hit or exceed 700. Ugh.

As someone already said, the wireless landscape will change drastically in the next 8 years. I look forward to seeing their loss/operating costs vs. profit each quarter in 2014 when Network Vision costs are winding down and Iden is completely decommissioned. Sprint has to find a profit at that point otherwise they'll have no choice but raise/restructure pricing. The big bet is that they can sustain their current profitability while reducing costs to find a positive. It has to produce profit or we can look forward huge restructuring, a merger or partnership, or very different pricing in 2015. The unknown, in my mind, is just how much data the average user will consumer will use when they have a high speed unlimited mobile connection. I would strongly encourage Sprint to keep the unlimited products at a higher price but also sell capped data at lower prices. Surveys done this year have shown that customers on capped data plans are less satisfied than customers with unlimited plans, but as time passes more will become acclimated to it. If I'm on a plan of, say, 2-3GB a month at a price lower than the big 2, and lets just say I had to pay $10 for every gigabyte- 1 gig over could cause my plan to be about the same as the big 2's metered plan but , say, unlimited data could be had for less than 2 gigs over.... That would be a value proposition for many customers while i'd just opt to keep my awesome unlimited tap. Nothing to stress over. Sprint will always have to maintain a value proposition.

Snowtrooper1966, after reading your "full story" on your experience with Sprint, I fully encourage you to go to ATT or Verizon. You seem to be focused on obtaining LTE/4G coverage and taking the cost to upgrade without rebate(on sprint) and your low data usage into consideration, leaving makes the most financial sense for you. Sprint's 3G is always improving ( my towers just got more T1's added again this last week here in po-dunk MS), but you're still looking to be shackled to 3G for months. Did your contact tell you if they would require you send the hardware back in order to return to get the ETF's credited? That has been more and more common in recent months. There will be thousands if not millions of Iphone 4/4s Sprint customers shackled to 2 year agreements who will beg, plead and kick to get sprint to give them a discount on the Iphone 5 for the next 14-20 months. Whether their reasoning is quality, speed, dependability.... whatever it is, Sprint is going to be very, very firm. Keep in mind, they're still trying to recoup their subsidy from you on your 4S purchases. Letting you upgrade now would forgo that ever being recouped and start you all over with a new subsidy to recoup. Leaving makes most sense for them and given your experience, it makes more sense for you. Verizon nor ATT will be perfect, but its better to know and accept that to stay and regret. Maybe you can come back in 2 years.

The simultaneous voice/data on cdma networks is now an iphone problem, not a carrier problem. If you can live with limited data, go to the big red and pick up a gs3. Simultaneous voice/data problem solved. Would be wise to also talk to some verizon users in the areas you frequent. Current verizon lte deployment is only to a limited number of towers in any market due to the propagation advantages of 700mhz. Point is , you could end up sitting in your home or place of employment with a very strong 3g evdo (even slow) signal and weak or absent lte.

I look forward to better data compression /codecs that can allow the users with the most simple needs (like streaming pandora) to continue to do so while greatly reducing their consumption. While pandora remains quite the data hog, pay streaming services have utilized phone storage and different codecs to allow seamless streaming at lower speeds and less data consumption. I would love to see sprint partner with Skyfire, for example, to reduce overall consumption. Pre-load it, optimize it for the devices, and make it the default browser. I said this before.. but I also wouldn't mind throttling. If the network around me is capable of delivering 12mb a second to my device, there will be little to no difference in the quality of my experience with mobile apps whether I'm going at 12mb a second or 3-4. Smarter network management could mean slowing me down a bit to allow others a more favorable bandwidth. I suppose that should occur automatically anyway as more users jump on a tower and the load should be balanced better between towers, but just throwing it out there: I'd rather remain unlimited at 3mb a second than end up without unlimited , blazing along at 12mb. I continue to believe that for the majority of average users, guaranteeing a consistent stream of tunes on pandora and their favorite youtube fart video as well as faster mobile facebook is far more attractive than screaming speedtest results...

The assumption or immediate unquestioned correlation between "quality" and data performance is a great reminder of the average wireless users evolved expectation set. I feel so old fashioned, but I still fret over ending up somewhere with gsm that i desperately need help and have no coverage. Then I wonder.... if they would fix that damn bandwith hungry facebook app to be more efficient, how many of these data complaints would go away?

Separate and less important, but has anyone messed with the in call eq settings ? Any feedback on different settings impacting clarity or natural sound?

Go sprint!!! Im impressed

I dont believe this has anything to do with the merger guy leaving. Further, as we know from when they almost bought metropcs, Hesse was intimately involved. I firmly believe Hesse is the hardnose when it comes to valuing sprint, which defeats the idea that this guys departure opens any doors. But it could easily have a lot to do with clearwire or buying additional spectrum elsewhere. We wont know until someone talks. All the press that sprint did this week was directly related to this debt offering.... they were priming.

That sir.... would make waves

Feech, what kind of coverage does Sprint's coverage map say you should be receiving at this location? There is a range of Best/Good/Fair and Varies. IMO, unless they're telling you the location should receive Best/Good coverage, there's not much to complain about. If you decide to open a ticket with them on it, be sure to tell them (and don't embellish it in a negative way) the signal you're getting outside. And specifically, regardless of signal reading or bars, are you able or not able to use the phone to make calls while outside? Keep in mind, any complaints on indoor reception are going to be met with objections about indoor coverage, etc. Years ago I lived in an apartment complex that was surrounded by towers and as soon as you drove into it, BAM, little to no coverage outside and no coverage inside. I did eventually open a ticket because I learned they claimed to have "Best" coverage there. In the end? I got a call from an engineer who told me they had had quite a few tickets there opened in the past and the conclusion from doing a field test was that the topography /elevation (the complex was in a big sunken/sloped terrain) was the culprit. This could be your situation as well .

Im not convinced Sprint's entire board would even sell for a total price of 33 billion . I think they would be happy to find a sugar daddy and allow a giant share/ cash infusion, but it doesnt seem that they envision a buyout, given NV etc etc etc. And I despise the comment in that article "network overhaul isnt going to cut it" or whatever. Sick of the media spewing misinformation about a project thats like 1.5/38th the way complete

Seems the root of all the "promises" people get about 4g is store employees. You just have to remember that many stores arent even owned by sprint . For the ones that are, I look at it the same way I look at my average walmart or bestbuy experience. Although its convenient to rest my impression and the reputation of the entire company on the experience I have with any random underpaid uninformed employee, if I did, I would never shop there again. Sidenote: when I shopping around in January, I went to a verizon store and played with the galaxy nexus. Casually asked the sales associate , "so, any idea when hattiesburg will have lte?". The poor guy hummed for a minute and said "by the end of April, latest will be May". And guess what? Its July, no lte. But had I bought service, I would now blame myself, not verizon, as they have not announced my city on their shortlist.

Robert, Thank you for a wonderful breath of honesty. You are right, the "me" "I want it know" generation expects everything yesterday. We also have to endure the growing inability of the average American to accurately read and properly comprehend written word. So many examples of this when you read "comment" areas below articles and find users asking questions that are clearly answered in the body of an article. Your editorial will grab and hold the attention of new users because its blatant and aggressive. Meanwhile, they have no patience to read the forums or search for market related articles. I also am a little baffled by the users who say "Sprint PROMISED me Wimax" or "Sprint PROMISED me LTE". Individually speaking, I bought two wimax phones in the past and no one, at any point, every "promised" me wimax... not online, not in store, not on the phone. They were indeed ambiguous about where it would go next and I have heard many users who claim that Sprint employees told them "We'll have it soon there!"... but "officially"... Sprint built wimax in all markets they announced. For individuals who groom themselves as "tech savvy" customers , its horribly naive to ask minimum wage paid store workers or front line reps "when are we going to get 4G? when? when?". If Sprint hasn't officially announced deployment in your market, then you should assume the worst. That's where this forums comes in. Sprint has been very vague on the "individual when" for markets and the insatiable irritability of all these "tech savvy customers" is reason #1. Personally, I'm afraid the only way for Sprint to avoid these lashings would be to delay going live until 75% or more are done in a metro area. In the meantime, users need to focus on their 3G speeds. If you do not receive the advertised 3G speeds and it hampers your use of the service (let usage instead of speed tests determine your opinion) then let executive services know and push them until you're allowed to leave ETF free. There are plenty of users out there who have had the ETF waived.

Ship overnight

If your expectations of Sprint are rooted in how it performs on average in your home state of Mississippi, well, I can empathize with your opinions. I live in Hattiesburg and of the general opinion that Sprint has historically neglected everything but Jackson, Hattiesburg and the coast. I've always lived in good coverage and value the C-spire voice and 3G roaming we get down here, but I don't live rural. MS has historically been neglected by big telecom....its a terrible place to root your opinions. I tried Tmo here years ago and ATT in January. Too much "no service" with Tmo then and too many dropped calls/static in "excellent coverage" areas with ATT. You also have to remember C-spire eats a good deal of market share here and would naturally be a deterrent to expansion when considering potential customers. Even Verizon struggled here(didn't sell native coverage) as you probably remember, prior to acquiring Alltel. A lot of people here become very defensive of Sprint because they are very informed about the details of Sprint's modernization plans and agree with the direction the company is headed. While it now seems we all agree the article is a misinformed error, it is an all too familiar stab in a chorus of negativity that tech sites have lobbed at Sprint over the last few years. Despite having the highest rated customer service scores, Sprint catches more negativity now online that I ever remember before. Entire forums have devolved into slam rants. If you're going to write negative leaning or critical pieces on Sprint, there are two types you should expect a response from: 1) Those who are informed and may defend Sprint if the data isn't accurate 2) Sprint haters who will agree and are excited by anything negative they read on the company "sprint sucks... bankruptcy is coming! Hesse is an idiot, they wronged me so bad bla bla bla". Anyways, northern MS is considered part of the Memphis market and 'apparently' is slated to begin receiving NV treatment as a 2nd round/3rd round market. You will probably get network vision up there before any of us down here

Gear shift

Yeah I don't understand why the sale of Spectrum had to include promises of collusion between these companies. If the cable co's are intent on selling the spectrum, then the price should include unrestricted rights and privileges. The sale shouldn't hinge on a buyer agreeing not to compete with the seller in the future or promising the seller a business relationship. When we're talking "competition", first thing that comes to mind is places where both verizon and comcast are an ISP. But does it stop a wired connections? It just stinks to me.

Eh, this is off topic for the thread, but we were on Alltel native roaming here until early 2010, most of the state. That usually averaged 400-600k. When we finally got 3G , it was admirably fast most everyone but quickly fell flat on it's face. The coast is an interesting place for sprint... Its included in a market that's scheduled to get full NV treatment well before I am here in Hattiesburg, but its always been managed a little different than I am up here (given the different market, I suppose). Anyways, my family lives in Biloxi and Pascagoula and I can tell you there are places where it works flawlessly and there are places where it hiccups. I have noticed much improved speeds in the last few months and the coverage update tool continues to show plenty of upgrades scheduled for the area. The oddest thing about the coast , however, is how understated the native network is down there. If you look at the network maps down there, it leads you to believe you will lose a native signal several times over just driving on Interstate 10 from one side of the state to the other.. thats anything but true. Last weekend, I drove on a new highway bypass created between highway 49 south of Wiggins and Biloxi.. had sprint signal all but for about 10 minutes... according to Sprint, they have no coverage there. Oh wait we're talking 3G speed... Spring 2011 , the 3G speeds became unusable at my workplace and at home for about 3 months. Then last summer, upgrades occurred. I average anywhere from about 600k-1.9k at home and anywhere from 400k-1.5mb at work. There is one area in town where the 3G drops out almost completely, ironically at a very busy intersection surrounded by towers.. but in any regard, we seem to be somewhat fortunate in the areas I travel in comparison to the reports from many other markets. Of course, our native network is painfully small as Gulf Coast Wireless was a laggard and Sprint has been cash strapped, but 3G roaming is still available in most places here. Aside, the most used carrier in these parts in C-Spire... And let me tell you, Sprint shats all over their 3G even at 400k. Cspire is grappling with a ton of smartphone users who don't even have an ISP... they had historically sold a $120 2 line "all you can eat" smartphone plan. While they don't anymore, the majority of their users are smartphone carriers and expect to be able to stream Pandora or Youtube all the time and their network can't keep up. Cell shrinkage also seems to be an issue with the increased usage, as many of my friends complain places where they once had 1 bar and could talk are now dead zones. I also am a proponent of more advanced data compression on many of these streaming apps. It seems that your paid apps tend to have better data compression while many the free ones depend on a high speed connection. My point? I subscribe to spotify. I do not let it download songs to my phone. I've been able to stream it for hours on end and use only a fraction of the data that pandora or slacker would use in that time. Also, it will stream perfectly at very low speeds with good sound quality. I'm not justifying slow networks, but my app functionality is usually what leads me to do a speed test, not the other way around. If my connection works reasonably well, I couldn't care less if I'm getting 400k or 600k. All in all, what I pay+ what I get+ fact its mississippi (historically neglected by telcos)= all good.

I was in Savannah from June 29-July 3rd. I agree, the network was great there. Downtown, I had strong signal and very fast speeds. I stayed with a friend that lives on the edge of the city in new development. His apartment is an RF nightmare for his ATT phone, but my phone held on at about -101dbm and data was a breeze. I only speed tested once (when I first got there and realized I had a signal where he didn't) and pulled about 1.5mb. No complaints. Also, drove to Charleston, SC one of those days... only roamed for about 15 minutes in one spot... streamed data much of the trip. Sprint's network isn't perfect, but my experiences continue to contrast with the people who claim 3G is all rubbish.

Wouldnt ATT or Tmobile also have great interest ? I would think ATT would relish inconviencing sprint in any way it can

Got the software update last nite. Could be my imagination, but I believe my battery life has improved . Before bed, was at 50%. After reading news this morning, using forum runner, facebook and 20 minutes of spotify, im at 39%