Fraydog

Comcast won't give up control because the Roberts family doesn't want to be in the same back seat Masa Son will likely soon be in. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

The closest thing to a national cable company is Comcast. That said, they didn't really compete against anything except satellite up until cord cutting became commonplace. Sure you could mention U-Verse. That wasn't in enough places and a lot of times wasn't much better or different than X1. Then AT&T panicked and overpaid for DirecTV. Cablecos will be losing revenue as the pay TV bubble deflates. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sprint-Charter-in-Merger-Talks-140639 Charter back in it. I see the problem with this is that Rutledge and Malone will want control over Sprint and will put Masa in the back seat. When Masa meets with them, that will be the air let out of the Charter/Sprint balloon. Also, cable and wireless tech isn't exactly complimentary at this point, though Sprint could push Charter off QAM to IP for wired video, they might also need a better DVR because Charter's current DVR sucks compared to Dish' s Hopper, DirecTV's Genie, or Comcast's X1. Even my local cable company has a whole home DVR. Charter got rid of theirs! It isn't like a combined Sprint and Charter will be able to bully people into getting wireless like Charter does with cable and Rogers can do with cable and wireless up in the frozen North. Rogers has one less national competitor for one. Only way Masa can replicate that is for DT to take over Sprint and with Masa playing backseat driver while Legere and Hottges trying to negotiate something with Comcast or Charter. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I don't see it on MarketWatch. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I live in a two player market and I'm almost out of contract and the only difference between this upcoming deal and the last one is that AT&T is an equal here as opposed to lagging. In other words, I have a duopoly as opposed to a monopoly. What T-Mobile does is a wait and see due to no 700 MHz here, and the likelyhood that STL region will not experience full 600 MHz clearance until late 2019 at the earliest. It's still better than the landline broadband choices here. Edit: some of the areas around me and around STL are going to be doing some 600 MHz testing so maybe I've spoken too soon on 600 not coming here any time soon. Washington County, IL, which borders Randolph County to the NE, is doing 600 MHz testing. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I'm hoping Sprint goes to 1.5 billion per quarter on CapEx at least. If it's anything less than that, SoftBank isn't putting enough investment in. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

On another note, I'm not sure SoftBank has the 100 billion it would probably take to buy a combined Charter. Besides, if SoftBank was under capitalizing Sprint and yet found 100 billion for a pay TV business people are cutting the cord from, then what in the world was SoftBank doing with Sprint. If that's what Sprint is being owned by, then give me Legere all day. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Truth is, if Comcast came back to the table, I’d be OK with that. Sure, they don’t have a stellar reputation but Sprint doesn’t have a great reputation right now either. Comcast has the capital to spend. Does SoftBank care? Frankly, given SoftBank’s track record, maybe they should sell to someone. It doesn’t have to be T-Mobile.

Masa buys Charter, he has an actual cash cow that could generate profit to invest in wireless. Plus, if he then decided to sell Sprint to T-Mobile later, he'd have Charter to package in with it.

Dish's stock is up on this... lol

Sprint and Charter makes more sense, to be honest. Gives Sprint and SoftBank some landline assets and a very modest amount of content. Spectrum areas could be covered better with small cells. Trying to get T-Mobile through, while it would have been unreal as far as coverage and speed goes, was too much of a pain.

I'm going to briefly emerge from my bunker to comment on this latest "Uncarrier" since I'm near a contract end and there's a large iPhone launch on the horizon. T-Mobile doesn't need another Uncarrier. They need to fix their operations, specifically their ordering and customer service. I read reddit lately and it's thread after thread after thread complaining about all that. Coverage has, on their end, actually improved and I give them full credit for that. T-Mobile has 29 of 30 large metros covered with 700 MHz. I live in the 30th, of course. That said, how is Netflix, something I barely watch and quit subscribing to because it was less and less of a value with less compelling content to me, how is that a big gain? I'd have rather seen T-Mobile partner with YouTube TV, Sling, or PlayStation Vue. There's still a lot of demand for conventional channels out there. Having to pay for Netflix is not a pain point on Verizon. To be honest, the pain point on Verizon comes down to price. That's it. Netflix is not much more of an appeal than GoFing90 is. That said, where I sit, Verizon speed has never been higher, so I don't see where Legere is saying "the Verizon network is slowing down" how are most customers going to tell the difference between 26 Mbps and 22? I sure can't. It's more of a pain point that HD is being taken away on Verizon where T-Mobile just charges more for it. T-Mobile One Plus takes unlimited prices up to VZ levels when they do not yet have VZ coverage. I would have rather seen T-Mobile skip Uncarrier altogether for the rest of the 2017 while they wait to see what the Fatherland wants to do in regard to Sprint (and remember it isn't Legere's call, it's Tim Hottges that makes that call), and also fix the customer service and ordering while they continue coverage expansion with 600 MHz coming online. On another note, Legere's spiel about satellite dishes is hilariously out of touch with how large geographical chunks of the country still get TV. I'm all for cutting the cord, but instead of insulting satellite, maybe realize there are some areas of the country where that's still a better method for TV than over the top, let alone mobile where it ends up being a shitshow due to spectrum constraints. I only recently got rid of satellite, and only because YouTube TV finally filled in the hole. I tried DirecTV Now, it was awful as far as reliability went. It can work for me, but then again I'm probably one of the few in Chester paying for a 100 Mbps cable connection. People on DSL are still likely having horrible luck with over the top.

I wonder how T-Mobile is doing with clearing the 600 MHz block around St. Louis. It has to be a priority considering that this is the only major market left for them without 700 MHz. Right? Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

The long comments are unreadable on Tapatalk. Of course it could be a deficiency of that program. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

That's only a $5 gap for Verizon unlimited and HD streaming and T-Mobile unlimited with HD streaming. I am not sure the coverage and the reliability is there yet for T-Mobile to stick at that price point. Of course the biggest discount is on the multi line plans. That said VZ has really approached the price points intelligently here. There's enough of a premium on their end but it isn't a big price gap by any means. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Also, let's not forget that if HPUE was on in idle mode, that it would be a massive battery cost. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

In a perfect world. With today's marketing climate, zero rating speed tests could encourage a better sample size more reflective of the gains in Sprint's network, and make Ookla tests a better benchmark for positive network progress.

On a side note, my Mom, normally a Verizon customer, went overseas to Europe with a T-Mobile One SIM. It worked really well for her. I was able to use FaceTime, FaceTime audio, and texting to communicate with her flawlessly in the UK, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. That was a nice plan to use for $70 a month considering that she'd have trouble installing different SIM's in each of the countries I mentioned or paying steep roaming on VZ.

https://promo.sprint.com/Registration/AAdvantageLanding Anyone ever tried this promo? This would be interesting to me if I lived in a Sprint area currently.

Both companies aren't that far away from each other. Spectrum is HQ'ed in Des Peres, MO (STL suburb) and Sprint is based in Overland Park as we all know. The geography and cable/fiber in the ground make sense. I imagine Spectrum as a merged entity could use that fiber assets to put serious capability behind the spectrum assets Sprint brings. In fact, Spectrum as the name would make sense.

I honestly thought that on newer Sprint phones, Verizon roaming had to be deliberately enabled in the settings. Someone correct me if I am wrong here.

T-Mobile has to go get some spectrum for their constrained markets. Seems like they are getting hit hard in Chicago and LA from what I see even with 4x4 MIMO and 256 QAM. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Thank the Good Lord above that this is a field test on COMMERICALLY DEPLOYED EQUIPMENT. Now I can only hope the CapEx ramps up in earnest so we can see this come over a far greater part of the network. Also nice to see real progress on VoLTE. I'm hoping there's some sort of opt in this year. Finally Sprint management is talking good game on getting Sprint on a single network standard. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

That's still good to see. With Sprint hosting Ookla servers, that means Sprint users can see results that accurately reflect the state of the network. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

John Saw can't make Masa increase cap ex. And to be fair, Sprint has had to pull back from Cap Ex because of the debt obligations of the past, debt obligations that came because of the past errors of Forsee and Hesse. I realize people are frustrated with the lack of spending and the issues that Trip pointed out which Sprint can fix without cap ex. I just hope people realize frustration can cause cognitive dissonance and see the root of the problem rather than merely mocking it. That said, I think that the engineering people can and should lay low talking about the spectrum haul until much more of it is paired with infrastructure capability. I certainly think that is a fair complaint. Likewise, complaining about spending on RadioShack/Tidal/Pokemon is also fair when that capital could have and should have went into network infrastructure. I hope Marcelo reverses course and pulls back on RadioShack. If the real estate is good for Sprint corporate locations, do that. If the real estate is not, let it be someone else's problem.