Fraydog

I think the most surprising thing that I've found when going back to look [emoji102] at T-Mobile customer numbers was that their ABPU is 7% lower than Sprint, their ARPU is 17% lower than Sprint's, and their postpaid phone numbers went up through the entirety of Uncarrier from 20 million to 32 million. That's barely more than Sprint. The largest engine of their growth has been prepaid.

 

Sprint would be in a better position if not for the past bad debt and bad decisions.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

If the reaction here and on reddit is any indication this quarter is going to be really tough for sprint.

People are upset because they care and want to see Sprint do better.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I guess Intel is not ready to move to 10nm process yet. I don't blame them. Not that much of a jump between the 14nm process and the 10nm process.

But then does Apple just bite the bullet and pay exorbitant sums for X16? Ugh.

 

Qualcomm has been quite the whipping boy over their SoC performance on r/Android and if people investigated what they did on RF that would likely escalate.

 

Maybe Apple could specify that X16 is only used on carriers that can deploy that capability or just limit X16 to the US, China, Japan, and Australia while providing Intel to the rest of the planet.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I am sure they will. Is the Intel modem available this year?

I am assuming that Apple and Intel would really be pushing it to get this out. I am rooting for Intel, especially after the chicanery of patents Qualcomm is pulling has come to light. Someone needs to knock Qualcomm down a notch.

 

Also, Qualcomm SOC's suck compared to both Exynos and especially compared to A Series. Even MediaTek is starting to get close to Snapdragon SoC performance.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/28/the-chronological-history-of-how-qualcomm-became-t.aspx

 

Holy crap, Qualcomm is a foul bunch... no wonder why Apple and Samsung are moving away from them (Samsung in markets other than US, Japan, and China).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Interesting how the Intel Modem has support for CDMA.

 

Fact Sheet: https://newsroom.intel.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2017/02/XMM7560-Fact-Sheet.pdf

 

Qualcomm could very well find itself on the outside for this year's iPhone....

The XMM 7560 has feature parity to the 2017 X16, but probably won't be ready until 2018. By then, Qualcomm will be out with the X20.

 

What is really pushing Apple toward Intel is the lawyer and intellectual property side of Qualcomm, which is truly unfortunate and only hurts consumers.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11138/qualcomm-snapdragon-x20-lte-modem-gigabit-for-mobile-devices

 

In happier news, Qualcomm has introduced X20 which will be making its way into top tier smartphones in 2018.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

A device lease or installment purchase still is a pseudo contract. Terminating service accelerates the remaining lease or installment payments due. In many cases, the remaining balance exceeds that of what would have been the ETF. Many subs are in over their heads on device costs and cannot afford to pay off accelerated balances.

 

AJ

Another point to add: trade ins still don't often get you to $0. Even if I traded in my Note5, I'd still owe $108 to Verizon before being able to either fly contract free or upgrade a device.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

The merge was in play for several months, since Sprint wasn't spending money on their network. The VZ unlimited data was basically the final nail on the coffin.

 

A company ready to sell do this:

 

Cut massive budgets, and spending

 

Start paying down the debt

 

Acquire customers even if they are discount ones to make the sale more attractive

 

 

Finally Did anyone here assume Marcelo was going to stay in Kansas City long term? Nothing wrong with the city, but this dude is a Miami party man.

 

 

Not to mention Marcelo had to neglect the Miami MLS thing until it died, which I'm sure doesn't sit well with him. 

Also, I'd say S shareholders who bought at 2-3 range are going to be happy and that is a lot of people on here. Cash out time. 

 

See, not everything has to be negative. 

Lol

Tmo won???

Masa won he has been trying to offload sprint since he was denied buying Tmo. Vzw and the unlimited plan is like a nail in the coffin for a merger.... Or it's vzw opening up Pandora's box with a merger.

~130 mil subs ridiculous amount of spectrum converting sprint to gsm

Not so sure vzw and att want that

 

 

Maybe not but since Son seems to have already massaged the FCC this time, I'd say it is done. 

T-Mobile won. 

 

At this point, I have to recognize it. 

http://seekingalpha.com/news/3244519-sprint-t-mobile-spike-report-softbank-pursue-carrier-merger?app=1&dr=1#email_link

 

Here we go again.. same shite different day.     

I am personally not a fan of the exploding promos. They just make it hell on billing and on billing people. Verizon might be expensive, but they have predictable billing, I know since I've been a customer for many years now. It isn't just Sprint that struggles with this though, look at the T-Mobile subreddit. Every time I look or post on there, I see a thread complaint about something that their billing either did or didn't do that required either T-Force or one of their executives to go back and fix. Ideally, I'd like the simple pricing structure to be the way forward for all carriers. Now that we're in the unlimited age, people are going to demand simplicity. If it isn't provided, people will be looking for carriers that can provide it. 

I wish there were more people here on S4GRU who live in the Chicago area and have T-Mobile. My mother still is using her T-Mobile prepaid phone and is having all sorts of trouble using voice calls. I'm suspicious its the network in the area, as Chicago isn't one of the greatest markets for T-Mobile spectrum-wise. If alot of people in the area left T-Mobile for Verizon, it would make going back to T-Mobile alot more compelling.

 

Neither Verizon or T-Mobile have that great of spectrum assets here though. In terms of spectrum, AT&T and Sprint are the best here, yet neither of them are great regarding the amount of towers in the area. AT&T does a good enough job of it though based on the spectrum they have deployed, which is why it generally works well enough for me, whereas Sprint is so hit or miss, and when Sprint misses, its bad, under 3mbps non- band 41 PCS tower connections. Still, I'd be back using Sprint so fast if they decided to deploy band 41 on all of their towers here though.

 

 

Over on the T-Mobile Reddit, people are more or less open about it being T-Mobile's weakest market. It is what it is. T-Mobile has hit spectrum constraints especially in the city proper. Cook County is more open and faster. 

Marcelo is now calling AT&T dumb for its Unlimited Plan pricing and saying how "Big Blue is panicking". I liked him better when he wasn't trying to channel Legere.

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/832368453067603969

 

"1/ If @ATT has been #asleepatthewheel, they must’ve just hit a curb! “New” #unlimited plan sucks just a little bit less than it used to."

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/832368453227003904

 

"2/ @ATT ditched the TV requirement (smart) but still charges WAAY too much for #unlimited (dumb). #BigBlueIsPanickingToo"

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/832368831335133184

 

"3/ @Sprint’s #Unlimited HD is STILL the BEST value on the planet!! (link: http://bit.ly/2kP8NEj) bit.ly/2kP8NEj"

 

The outright neglect of current customers is a bit shocking, especially since he took care of longtime customers with Loyalty Credits and the like when he came on board as CEO. I'm a bit stunned.

 

Hey Marcelo: it's not dumb pricing when all customers can get it... and they aren't panicking as much as you are.

 

 

Marcelo found a company with a worse response, the company that barely wants to be in consumer wireless. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Here's Dr. John Saw's take on Sprint's spectrum position and Unlimited:

 

http://newsroom.sprint.com/blogs/sprint-perspectives/in-the-land-of-wireless-spectrum-is-king.htm

 

Thoughts?

 

 

I try to explain spectrum to customers and it goes right over their heads. Fact is, most customers that I talk to whether it is urban or rural, don't care. They just want their smartphone to work and they want it to work well. 

The gossip seems to be around Dish and T-Mobile talking again. Or it could be a ploy by Legere to get maximum value out of SoftBank. Who knows. 

I still think deeper price cuts are needed, since Sprint isn't in a position to compete on network. 

Yeah, and we should relocate the energy industry out of Houston. Enron ruined the civic name.

 

I patronize Sprint in large part because it is a local business. The day that changes is the day that I close my 17+ year account and check out of any further interest in this industry.

 

Anybody who thinks that the Sprint headquarters should be ripped from the Kansas City metro can kiss my ass.

 

AJ

Believe it or not, I'm extremely sympathetic to that belief. Over to the east in my home of STL, we lost what would become AT&T due to Ed Whitacre not getting a membership at STLCC. Then after that was the big shot in the gut, which was InBev taking Anheuser-Busch.

 

In retrospect... it was all inevitable.

 

But I think that if Sprint isn't merged with T-Mobile, any other entity willing to buy is probably nuking Overhead Park.

 

The main advantage KC has is a far better system of regional leadership and better infrastructure to draw in new businesses. As a matter of fact, the Sprint Campus itself could be an incubator for tech startups much like what STL is doing with its downtown.

 

Maybe the new thing will be bigger and better than Sprint someday. Embrace the future. KC's going to be just fine.

 

Tl;Dr Sprint is the problem not Kansas City.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Still, I'm shocked by the lack of response on Sprint's end to Verizon Unlimited. I think that Sprint hasn't done a lot in response is the big Sprint related takeaway on the Verizon response. Verizon laid their bomb on the market Sunday afternoon, and so far only T-Mobile has really responded.

 

AT&T is still dead silent. ????

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I agree I dont want to see a Sprint/Tmobile merger.  If a merger did occur it just seems like it would take the goodness of the Tmobile brand and have it tainted with the Sprint brand.   Sprint needs to learn to compete instead of just trying to buy its way out.  Its not that freakin hard to compete with the news that came out of Verizon and Tmobile.  5 lines/$90 temporarily is utter crap especially since it is only for new customers.  I am sorry but its true.  Why can't Sprint just make it HD video and 15 GB of high speed hotspot tether and bam that should instantly put them back into the game.  

 

 

I'm not sure that's what I'm arguing for here. If anything, I'd say I'm arguing for T-Mobile branding and core network being paired with Sprint spectrum. I'm aware it's probably the end of a lot of the Sprint bureaucracy, but if the current trends in the market keep up, that won't be around anyway. 

Verizon during rush hour in NYC..

 

Imagine six months from now..

 

Like I said before, maybe this is awesome for more rural areas but big cities not so amazing.

 

Verizon in NY https://imgur.com/gallery/4gLnD

 

 

I remember Milan or someone said back in the day to not use the speed test server in Secacaus, NJ. Didn't put out good results.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/business/dealbook/softbank-japan-fortress-investment-group-masayoshi-sun-private-equity.html?_r=0

 

Interesting... SoftBank buys out Fortress Investment Group... Son's investment in America ramping up? 

That's what I read over on reddit.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

 Recheck Reddit.