Fraydog

So you are ok with <25% B41 installed and no 3xCA? Why is the rest of sprint with >60% B41 bad then?

From all I can gather that beats Sprint in a lot of places.

 

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My county disappoints me and they need to learn how to spell Shentel. If only they cared about the heroin problem as much as they do wireless.

 

http://www.your4state.com/news/virginia/after-great-push-back-from-locals-the-board-has-decided-to-deny-that-permit-for-possible-cell-tower/665745619

Shentel will just put up a bunch more small cells and the same dopes won't even be able to identify what they are. ????????????

 

FWIW I wish Sprint were run like Shentel, then it would be competitive with the other national carriers.

 

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Yes, I understand that, but to the average consumer they will not see this benefit for awhile unfortunately. I am not correct in understanding that HPUE headsets are just expected to hit the market this year?

The LG G6 will be the first HPUE handset.

 

http://newsroom.sprint.com/blogs/sprint-perspectives/mwc17-breaking-new-ground-with-gigabit-lte-massive-mimo-and-hpue.htm

 

I'd bet there will be a writeup over this device once the RF info is available from the FCC testing.

 

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How did sprint get so distracted and not finish upgrades on the network. I'm staring believe merger going be push hard. Smalls cell will not be huge this year and and band41 will still be lacking lot markets.I am just waiting for galaxy s8 in April see any improvements or I will just ship . I just want see more coverage.

To be fair, Masa is extremely tight with the purse strings. That makes the RadioShack/Tidal/Pokémon dalliances all the more frustrating.

 

That crap won't get customers in the door. Advanced voice and data capabilities will do that. Not spectrum. Not Tidal. Not RadioShack. Not Pokémon. Only capability. Network product in customer hands paired to top level devices with simple rate plans.

 

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To me, it is a focus issue. The lack of focus is maddening. Sprint has three priorities right now:

 

1. Network

2. Network

3. NETWORK

 

Focus on anything else seems extraordinarily wasteful given Sprint's less than optimal financial situation.

 

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http://www.ibj.com/articles/62811-radioshacks-successor-reportedly-preparing-for-bankruptcy

 

"Filing will likely result in liquidation" well, isn't that something else. ????

 

Seriously the RadioShack deal was just such a waste of money and the Tidal deal would have made some sense if it were SoftBank and not Sprint doing it.

 

Edit: Pokémon too!

 

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Activation fees are bad but SIM fees are worse. Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T charge activation but SIM's are free. T-Mobile charges for the plastic that costs a buck to make. Lose a SIM card? Give us another $20, now $25. I know, it happened to me when I had the $30 plan as a backup.

 

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I've done this before in this post but I'll do it again to show you. I have 2 lines with ED1500. Here is my breakdown for 24 months:

 

Two Premium Phones: $200 x 2 = $400

Primary line monthly: $110 + $10 = $120

Employer 18% discount off whole first line : - $19.80

Secondary Line: $19.99 + $10 = $29.99

Service for 24 months: $100.20 + $29.99 = $130.19 x 24 = $3124.56

Total cost = $3124.56 + $400 = $3524.56

 

New plan and installment comparison:

1st line: $60 existing customers

2nd line: $40 existing customers

-Employee discount as far as I know doesn't work on these new plans but even if it does it is less than ED1500 discount wise.

 

Service: $100 x 24 = $2400

Cost of premium Samsung Phone, since I'm an Android user and stick with Samsung normally with easy pay:

Galaxy S7: $28.96 x 24 months = $695.04 x 2 phones = $1390.08

Total cost for 24 months:

$1390.08 + $2400 = $3790.08

 

So as you can see new plans are more expensive over 24 months with added paying for phones in full, not to mention throttled data for certain aspects of it.

 

I didn't even get into that I actually like to pre-order the best and greatest (generally a Note device) that will be way more money in easy pay than the S7 currently is as well.

 

I know I should buy my phone outright. I have the ability to do that but why do it when easy pay is the same price over 24 months. There is no price advantage

of doing that on a brand new released flagship phone as it saves no money.

 

Now if Sprint is going to offer $10-15 per line per month easy pay credits to make it cheaper over 24 months (which I hear they are doing now to loyal customers) then that makes the new plans on par except the throttled data situation.

 

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Not everyone has employer discount. That's a big part of how the ED1500 is still a better two year plan in your case. You also use a premium smartphone.

 

The people who still have employer discount should try to hang onto it.

 

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I used to have this all the time. Open up the SIM slot and re-seat the SIM card. It fixed my problem.

Edit: I just noticed you already did that. Hopefully it fixed the problem, I haven't seen the error message for months now.

It's pretty common with the Note5. I have it happen too. Best fix is a paper clip followed by a reboot.

 

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The tender offer is triggered at 85% not 83%.

I knew I wasn't dragging 85% out of thin air...

 

 

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An overlooked analysis by Root: http://rootmetrics.com/en-US/content/mobile-performance-in-the-us-part-3-performance-in-metro-areas

 

Rootmetrics do provide really good analysis on carriers' data speed. As you see below, Sprint is in a league completely of its own (in an unflattering way)

If you scroll down the report to see the carrier-by-carrier numbers, you'll see all 3 carriers other than Sprint have made progress from 1H16 to 2H16. But Sprint made no effort to improve speed, thus falling further and further behind. Can't Marcelo at least pretend he cares about his network promises?

I think you're swinging a level low here. Masa controls CapEx with SoftBank. Sprint has to abide by SoftBank wishes as SoftBank owns 84% of Sprint.

 

 

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I fired my cable company's router and went to a Arris SB6141 connected to an AirPort Extreme a few years back. Saved money doing that over rental as well. For what I saved on rental over the last few years I could pay for my current setup and then sell the Extreme for replacing it with a UniFi system. It is crazy to see what people spend on renting things like that they could buy.

 

 

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The market, the state of US networks and the financials of two of the four players argue against a four carrier market. That may be different now that net neutrality is going by the way side, but given the current trends sprint would be able to continue growth with out cutting prices and if they want to pay their maturing debt down they will have to cut somewhere else. The last round of price cuts led to a virtual stall in sprint's network expansion and densification. What do you think this round will do?

 

 

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If Masa was putting in larger capital expansion and was expanding the network, Sprint wouldn't be having to cut their prices to compete. Competing on network would be a better long term proposition.

 

Maybe that can be done with T-Mobile leading the way. Lord only knows Neville Ray would be kicking ass with a $10 billion CapEx. That said, AT&T and Verizon likely raise prices, and T-Mobile pricing would be the future starting point. Sprint like pricing would be going away except for MetroPCS and other MVNO players on the combined T-Mobile network.

 

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That is exactly my thinking regarding Sprint, Fraydog, especially your mention of Macro sites. I'm not totally against small cells, but I think alot of the reports glowing about small cells as if they are going to be the "savior" of dead spots for carriers, and such related praise being bestowed upon smalls cells is a bit too much expectation.

 

I'm also not too thrilled about the idea regarding the use of unlicensed 5.0ghz WiFi spectrum for cellular wireless, as already the 2.4ghz frequency where I live is quite crowded. I have a 300mbps connection using Comcast/Xfinity at home, yet on the 2.4ghz band, I only get around 90mbps. However, when connected to the 5.0ghz band. I usually get at least twice that amount anywhere up to the full 300mbps. So, I worry how this could be impacted by cellular use if carriers decide to use it beyond what they are claiming now will only be used for large indoor spaces.

 

Also, I'm not sure if Sprint really even needs small cells beyond those large indoor spaces, if Sprint could get more Macro sites to add band 41 on, along with adding band 41 to its existing sites, of which there are plenty of without band 41. Surely adding band 41 to them isn't going to be enough, but its a great start they really ought to be able to afford.

 

Obviously, I agree Softbank ought to be able to spend capital on more Macro sites, but if they could just get band 41 on at least most of Sprint's existing sites, along with marketing the vast network improvement made by doing that with a great rate plan for all, that ought to help bring in extra cash to which they won't be justified in using limited available funds as an excuse not to then spend on important Macro site deployment.

Sprint is fortunate to not have to worry about the 5 GHz band, I will be watching to see how operators get in the unlicensed space. I think landlords in particular have to be diligent with 5 GHz as being a property asset. If they can work out T-Mobile or Verizon using LTE-U in the 5 GHz unlicensed band without interfering with other bands, I am all for it. If I'm a Cisco or Ubiquiti network guy, I'm watching very closely for 5 GHz interference. There's only a limited amount of space in 5 GHz bands as is and even with space worked out, prospective LTE-U deployment has to be done a lot like robust UniFi deployments, with LTE-U small cells being deployed in roughly the same density as 5 GHz Ubiquiti deployments. I can barely get 5 GHz to go through two walls in my house and am going to likely have to do a Ubiquiti deployment to get 5 GHz through my house. Whoever is doing LTE-U is going to have to do deploy a lot of Flexi Zone and Radio Dot with a lot of Gig Ethernet and a strong backbone of fiber connected to it in order for LTE-U to really work.

 

Mind you I'm not against LTE-U, I think it has strengths like 4x4 MIMO, efficient spectrum speed over a relatively small 20 MHz block of supplemental download, good capacity handling, and it works with people who forget to look for WiFi. I just think it has to be used in conjunction with WiFi for capacity handling.

 

 

 

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After reading reedacus25's post, I went to look online for more information about VoLTE on T-Mobile. I'm not concerned about not having WiFi calling using the Lumia 950xl, but not having VoLTE might very well be an issue. I found alot of people saying VoLTE won't work, but a few who said it ought to, which were on lists among those that do and don't. I'm going to try getting some answers about it from the Executive Response rep who has been very helpful getting us this great promo and discount, see what he can find out about VoLTE.

 

Otherwise, I've been disappointed in not seeing much in terms of information regarding an option I think ultimately would be the best situation for my mother, which is her having a VoLTE enabled smartwatch on T-Mobile, while she uses the Lumia 950xl for data. I'm not worried about my upcoming choice for the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, because I've seen the latest other Sony smartphones listed as having VoLTE. So now, I've got to hope the Lumia 950xl works well enough on T-Mobile, or else we can resort to using our Skype accounts in the meantime.

Chicago might do better with VoLTE with low band coming online fast there, but based on my experience, I like the idea of having low band for VoLTE. Granted my experience is on Verizon where leaving the VoLTE network is a dropped call. On T-Mobile, eSRVCC exists where calls can get handed off to 3G WCDMA. Sprint has a similar issue to Verizon, so to start to get people off CDMA and get to things people take for granted now like HD Voice and talk and surf, Sprint has to get a denser and larger macro network. Small cells will help but I feel has to go hand in hand with macro expansion including new Nokia and Ericsson mini macro sites.

 

I do get an occasional, one out of 100, dropped call on VZ VoLTE, but even if CDMA never dropped calls here, which frankly it did more than VoLTE did, the gains in voice quality and talk and surf would be worth it in my book.

 

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Sprint started really gaining in customer growth for the first time in a long time after Marcelo Claure more or less abandoned subsidy. I'm just saying...

 

Also, there are very few calculations that I can see that leave 2 year subsidies as being less expensive than 2 years of plan plus device payments. Though to be fair, if you're making money at all, you're better off just paying full price for devices up front.

 

It isn't hard to figure out, I can go on WhistleOut and get 2 years of service costs factored out for each of the four service providers. Three in my case since Sprint doesn't serve here.

 

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As I've been saying, if Sprint would invest in doing this work, rather than sparing money for a merger, Sprint would have a very amazing network to which along with a great rate plan for all customers, would propel their business forward immensely.

The US is completely capable of supporting four players. Sprint is completely capable of turning around with more capital investment. Yet, the chairman, Masa Son, isn't pouring capital in. Banks don't want to SoftBank loaning money to Sprint? Find new banks. Maybe he should look out of Japan to find loaning, or sell part of the Alibaba shares to get $10 billion of capital expenditures into Sprint. Small cells isn't enough, Sprint also needs a more ambitious expansion of the macro grid in both coverage and density. Sprint has to be on one technical track as well. Why should Sprint have 2G/3G networks dragging behind them as they launch 5G networks? Sprint can't repeat mistakes of the past that poured 60,000 macros spread over CDMA, IDEN, WiMax, and LTE. It's time to be on a single technical track. It's also high time Sprint works to minimize the amount of money they pay to Verizon. Verizon isn't putting money into CDMA, they haven't really done that since 2011. They're literally pushing ahead of the pack on 5G. I mean they could get burned if their standard isn't completely compatible with 5G New Radio, but since 5G New Radio appears to be the air interface, they probably won't be that far away.

 

Sprint is capable of turning around without needing T-Mobile to rescue it. If a merger happens, that's because Masa Son wants it.

 

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While it seems fairly definitive WiFi calling doesn't work using the Lumia 950xl, there are mixed reports regarding VoLTE. Some more recent posts I've read suggests it works, while the others say otherwise. I'll have to see what happens when we get the sim cards Wednesday. Thank you for the information!

You just missed the GS7 promo. That would have been the best RF performance device for her. Keep your eyes peeled. T-Mobile has a history of repeating promotions.

 

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Mobile is a scale business.

 

The more of it that you have, the better off you are.

 

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I don't know if AT&T cares about the consumer mobile market any more.

 

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So does mean ping times are the same as AT&T now? If so Cricket is very attractive especially since they will soon have VoLTE.

They are very close by going to a prioritized system sort of like what T-Mobile runs with MetroPCS. I only wonder what took so long to go that direction. The proxy server might have been something needed in the 3G Era but in the 4G Era it seemed redundant.

 

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T-Mobile is now offering anyone with 2 or more postpaid voice lines, a third line for free. Meaning you can have 3 lines for $100 after autopay discounts. The free line lasts as long as you keep the two other voice lines active and the account in good standing. 

 

https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/add-a-line-promo.htm

 

 

Bill credits though. 

They are, yahoo

 

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If I were making that call I'd reverse Verizon out of the deal.

 

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I like that checklist. This is also my wish list.

I'll also add ramping up to 320 million POP'S by 2020 with 5G New Radio being a use case for all the footprint. I don't necessarily buy 5G being a solely urban play. For rural areas 5G might be the only chance for rural to get to gigabit speeds at home.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/www.pcmag.com/news/352002/t-mobile-sprint-might-call-gigabit-lte-5g%3Famp%3D1

 

On another note, I'm watching to see if Neville reverses course on T-Mobile not being excited with home 5G at some stage. If anything I would like to see competition be increased on the home front. Most areas of the country have two broadband options and cable is the faster one, except in fiber areas which trend suburban.

 

I wish we would have an UnTV enter the market.

 

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Verizon is going to have to do a whole lot of cleaning up on yahoo after the deal is final, I wonder how much that is going to cost.

 

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If Verizon wanted a media company they should buy one.

 

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