irev210

Sounds like it wasn't that great for Sprint. The company said it logged porting ratios of 1.4 versus Verizon , 1.8 versus AT&T and 2.2 versus Sprintin the fourth quarter. I can't believe how many subscribers T-Mobile has gained - they've done a great job. I am glad to see the increased competition - good for us Sprint users as well as we've seen Sprint up their game significantly as of late.

I mean, once we go VoLTE and cast CDMA away - can't any handset manufacturer just include the bands of the carriers they want to cover/support? In the rest of the world, it seems like it is very common for devices to be unlocked and just work on carriers.

I didn't know AT&T and T-Mobile developed handsets. You mean that T-Mobile and AT&T need to develop an unlocked handset with a manufacturer? I thought that if say, Sony wanted to sell a phone an unlocked phone with LTE Band 4/5/12/17/13/25/26/41 - it could just do it. I could buy it, take a T-Mobile sim, and just rock and roll. I guess carriers could block the IMEIs... *shrug*

It says VERY clearly on the Sprint Unlock Website: Specifically, devices manufactured with a SIM slot within the past three years (including, but not limited to, all Apple iPhone devices), cannot be unlocked to accept a different domestic carrier's SIM for use on another domestic carrier's network. Sprint has no technological process available to do this. In accordance with Sprint's voluntary commitment contained within CTIA's Consumer Code for Wireless Service ("Unlocking Commitment"), Sprint is working to ensure that all devices developed and launched on or after February 11, 2015, are capable of being unlocked domestically. Sprint has no technological process available to do this. It would be EXTREMELY easy to have a process to unlock phones but they refuse to implement one. It still cracks me up every time I read this. Hackers who sell unlocks on eBay can do it, yet Sprint Corp. cannot. It just makes Sprint look like a bunch of arrogant idiots.

This is great news. It's awesome that Apple is just selling the Sprint iPhone unlocked to any customer for use on any major network in the USA. I hope that Apple moves towards selling a single model that works across all carriers in the US - they are very close. Very refreshing. Nexus 6 and iPhone 6, the first phones to break down the 1 device/1 carrier rule. Now, customers will be able to buy 1 device and use it on any carrier they would like. It's game changing. Unhappy with your service? Just switch to a new carrier while not having to deal with contracts, ETFs, and other BS.

Thanks for the update - I didn't know that. 300 million pops native is very aggressive. T-Mobile has a history of announcing what us sprint guys view as impossible, yet they always seem able to pull it off. Hopefully this new announcement will really kick Sprint into high gear. Though I start to wonder if pop coverage even matters with AT&T and Verizon's push into mega-expansion of DAS.

A big part of it will be their roaming partners. fiercewireless had an article on it a few months back.

Google Voice with hangouts. Free!

While true - I've seen people get their AT&T/T-Mobile branded iPhones to support VoLTE on Verizon (some struggle, others report no issue).

This is a bummer to hear. I had hoped that Sprint would continue to be more aggressive on the pricing front. I guess the recent downgrade by Moody's and the stock slump isn't helping.

He has done a nice job showcasing AT&T's "Fiber to the press release" roll out.

I think more competition in this area would be great. Seems legit.

Just as an FYI, Microsoft is now accepting bitcoin: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/12/xbox-windows-store-now-accepting-bitcoin-payments/ The number of merchants accepting bitcoin now is very robust - I think that speaks to how mainstream this now is. I still would love the ability to "tip" great posts.

And in the rest of the USA. Go to the apple store, buy a full price AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile iPhone, and stick any sim in, and you are up and running on every carrier except sprint. Verizon won't activate a new sim on a non-verizon phone but an activated verizon sim will work fine on unlocked devices.

Process shrinks, stopping gate leaks, better software to improve battery life, etc seem to offset the increased power. The power required to light more pixels is the issue - see above

Interesting that they are going to a 20.7 MP shooter. Why can't they just go to a large sensor 8 MP? If apple can do it, HTC should do it BIGGER. I hope they also release a play store edition....

Everything I've read shows that smaller pixels require a brighter backlight to carry the same level of brightness, thus requiring more power. http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_ShootOut_1.htm It's pretty clear that when the iPad went retina, power consumption on the actual display more than doubled from 2.7 watts to 7 watts.

Like the rest of the world? Absolutely! At this point, major handset manufacturers should just be selling one North American device anyhow. There is no reason why Apple makes a Sprint/International iphone and a AT&T/VZN/T-Mobile iPhone but it is fair to guess that Sprint wanted to make sure that AT&T/VZN/T-Mobile customers couldn't bring their handsets to Sprint (which is ridiculous). Sure, there is some education involved, but people should know when they buy a phone what carrier it works with. Like Apple now selling iPads with universal sims - it's already happening.

I would also be curious if unlocked international iphones would work on Sprint http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPhone-Plus-Space-Unlocked/dp/B00NQGOODE/ maybe contest part 2

Agreed. While the Macro network is obviously the first priority, I am surprised Claure isn't jumping onto new projects that the bulk of the engineering work could be handled concurrently with VZN/ATT DAS roll outs. At this stage in the game, it will be VERY difficult to compete with AT&T/VZN once projects like these are completed. I saw an interesting job posting yesterday - a project coordinator for Harvard University. https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWEbHost/jobdetails.aspx?jobId=1115120&partnerid=25240&siteid=5341&type=search&JobReqLang=1&codes=IND

Much agreed - just like the corporate discounts. I know someone that walked into a Sprint store and just said they were with blah blah blah employer and got the highest 27% discount. The associate wanted the commission and just pushed it through. My experience at sprint stores leaves much to be desired. The way employees are compensated definitely invites the potential for a lot of scamming. I look forward to seeing how Sprint actually plans to roll this out. I also read a lot of other comments in major news articles were current sprint customers felt like they needed to switch to AT&T or Verizon, then switch back.

I am just confused how this is actually going to be implemented. Does an employee just get a drop down box of data and price? So a sprint employee sees a $100 verizon bill, then just selects 2 lines, 2GB data, $50/month from three separate drop down boxes? I guess I am just more interested on the back-end implementation. It just seems like a nightmare. I know that T-Mobile just went through a very focused effort to get over 90% of its subscribers on simple choice. This new promotion seems like a disaster for back office and plan management.

I'd really love if any people who work at a sprint store could talk about how they are going to do this. Are they going to create rate plans in $5 increments? This seems like it is ripe for fraud, abuse, confusion, and a bunch of other things - anyone that can help clarify how this "half price" promotion will work - it would be awesome. I like the new plan idea, it's innovative but seems like a back-end nightmare.

I am in the same boat. Lots to love about both phones but for some reason, I find myself missing nexus.

Has anyone noticed a very loud buzz with the iPhone 6 Plus Vibrate motor?