marioc21

I just saw this as well. It surprised me when I first found out that Sprint was mostly a "holding" company and outsourced most tasks to contracted companies. I wonder if this trend will continue with any other positions. Also, I'm assuming none of the design is handled by Ericcson, only the actual maintenance/running of it. This would imply that Ericsson was having issues running the nascent, rather small network of LTE sites currently up? Surprising to say the least.

 

EDIT - Also, I'm aware that AT&T contracts out the running of their network as well and that Verizon controls it in house. What do the other providers do? T-Mobile, Leap, etc.?

Ericsson manages the day-to-day running of the network. They have for about 3 or 4 years now. Plus they manage numerous cell networks around the world. Kind of surprising if Ericsson is the hiccup here.

Saw this little article this afternoon trying to give some explanation as to why Sprint's stock slid $0.20/share today. Tiny bit of insight. Sounds like Ericsson is having issues handling the LTE deployment.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-25/sprint-declines-amid-concern-over-expansion-of-faster-network.html?cmpid=yhoo

Here are the details:

http://allthingsd.com/20120625/verizon-and-t-mobile-to-swap-some-spectrum-if-cable-deal-goes-through/?reflink=ATD_yahoo_ticker

Official Press Release:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/verizon-wireless-t-mobile-usa-130000552.html

One thing not clear is if this AWS spectrum is the same as what VZW had said they would divest in order to gain approval.

I bought Sprint back when it hit 2.50 or so; I knew it was a long-term bet but I'm willing to wait.

So far it's paying off. You're up over 25%. We'll see how sprint finishes the week.

Thought this might have been posted earlier, but here you are. Sprint has filed papers with FCC detailing condition it believes should be imposed on the pending deal between VZ and the big cable companies. No a lot of new info, but at least one nugget I found interesting. At various points I've read stories about Sprint workiing on a wifi offload strategy, but no details were ever released. Now there's news. It looks like Sprint was trying to work out a wifi roaming deal with the cable companies to use their new shared wifi network for Sprint customers. The negotiations were stopped once VZ got into the act. Sprint's saying that there have been no negotiations since then. Interesting. I wonder what plan B is if they can't get any of these restrictions imposed on the deal?

Wi-Fi

 

Sprint wants assurances that cable companies that operate Wi-Fi networks won't use discriminatory access or authentication procedures that could prevent Sprint or other wireless carriers from accessing them. Sprint also asks that any Wi-Fi technologies or protocols developed by cable and Verizon Wireless be made available to other wireless carriers "at non discretionary rates and terms."

 

In an ask with some network neutrality overtones, Sprint also wants the FCC to put in measures that would prevent cable from degrading speeds on their Wi-Fi networks based on a user's choice of wireless carrier. Those concerns come amid a series of Wi-Fi roaming agreements between several top U.S. cable operators that have aims of providing seamless hand-offs between access points. (See Cable Goes Big With Wi-Fi Roaming and Comcast Gives Wi-Fi a Voice .)

 

On that point, Sprint's afraid that the cable operators and Verizon could erect barriers that would make Sprint customers enter "a complex code" whenever they try to access the one of these access points. Sprint said it had been in talks with "several large cable companies" about allowing its customers to use cable's wireless hot spots, but claims the MSOs broke off those talks late in 2011, before the Verizon Wireless deals came into play. "Those negotiations have not resumed," Sprint said.

http://www.lightread...&site=lr_cable

Crazy that Jelly Bean could already be on the cusp, and there are a lot of flagship phones without ICS. It also surprises me that Jelly Bean auto capitalizes in swiftkey

 

Sent from my CM9 Toro using Forum Runner

Since it's apparently a .1 upgrade, it must be a lot more refinements than new features. That hopefully means not too much work is required to update existing devices. Although if you now own a shiny new Samsung phone you shouldn't count on seeing jelly bean until next year, when key lime pie(?) is released.

Bumping this thread back up since Sprint's shares are now trading at around $3.18. That's up about 11% from the start of the 2nd qtr. If you bought in at the low of $2.34 you'd be up 35.9% Anybody glad they bought share when they did?

That's the headline of this story. Sprint had a meeting with some local media types in Houston and that was the vibe being given out.

“We’ve said it will be by mid-summer, and mid-summer is almost here,” said Tom Graves, Sprint’s technical lead for the Houston region.

http://blog.chron.co...+-+Full+Text%29

All general talk. No specifics given.

I would tell your friend that if you take into account Clearwire spectrum for additional capacity, including LTE Advanced, Sprint has no spectrum issues. In fact, with Clearwire, Sprint has more spectrum than anyone.

 

Also Sprint is working on a deal with Dish Network which may bring them the use of more spectrum. But that deal is not a definite thing.

 

Sprint without Clearwire is problematic for the long term. However, Sprint can jump in and scoop up Clearwire at any time if they had to. The worst case scenario is it could slow down NV if they had to make that move in the next 36 months.

 

Robert via Galaxy Nexus using Forum Runner

Have you seen info that Sprint is in fact trying to work out a deal with Dish? I know that's been perennial rumor since Dish said they were going to launch wireless services.

 

And that is the question for the ages...

 

Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

They didn't want to be responsible for clearwire's debt load. They had they're own finances to worry about. That's why they dropped their voting power to less than 50%. They were worried if clear wire defaulted they would be forced to take over repayment.

Sent from my Acer A200 using Forum Runner

 

Agreed. However' date=' the roaming issue is supposed to be solved very soon. I'm uncertain about the reconnecting after 3G one.

 

Robert[/quote']

 

Already solved as of Monday. SDC over roaming and 1xRTT now available.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sprint-direct-connect-offers-three-150000894.html

 

Sent from my Acer A200 using Forum Runner

 

I personally don't know anyone who uses over the air television anymore. I know they exist. I just don't know them.

 

Robert

We used an ota antenna for almost a year. My wife was grumbling the entire time. The final straw was after we rearranged the living room and we could no longer pick up the local NBC or PBS affiliates. I called verizon shortly thereafter and got fios TV back. But it was great not to pay for cable for a while.

Just make sure to grab a phone with HSPA+ built in (T-Mobile's less expensive phones tend to only do 7.2 Mbps, out of which you'll see about 5 Mbps) if you have a need for speed. This means spending $250 on a phone, but look at all the money you'll be saving on your monthly bill!

 

Just make doubly sure that coverage is where you want it to be; T-mobile hasn't inked its roaming agreement with AT&T yet (a condition of the happily ailed merger).

I've been thinking my next phone is going to be an unlocked nexus phone. Hopefully T-mobile still offers the plan in the fall.

marioc21, I haven't been in the Richmond area but in RDU with a T-Mobile aircard I was seeing 5-10 Mbps down and 2-3 Mbps up. 5Mbps only happened when I had low signal.

 

Definitely not a fanboy of T-Mobile's (their HSPA+ falls off to EDGE or even GPRS outside semi-major cities) but they do have a nice, speedy network where they've made upgrades.

Good to know. I'm really intrigued by the $30 month unlimited prepaid plan they offer. 100 minutes would be plenty for me, and I can deal with the throttling after 5gb.

What do you think about T-Mobile LTE? Would you ever give it a try in the future?

As my Sprint bill keeps climbing, I've been reviewing all of my possible cell phone options. TMo currently offers HSPA+ 42 here, I believe. Never had a Tmo device so I don't know what kinds of speeds that translates too.

 

Are you ready to hop on Clearwire LTE when it becomes available in the near future?

I would end up getting my lte through sprint, not directly from clearwire. Plus I doubt clearwire would have lte running before sprint.

 

Is the data speed working out for you?

I live in the burbs outside Richmond, and my data is fairly fast. Out here I average from 600-1000 kbps. That's been fast enough for everything but video streaming. However, in downtown the data speeds are terrible. They generally average less than 150kbps. Thankfully we have wimax. My 4g speeds in the city are in the 2-6mbps range.

 

I was one of those same people as well. I absolutely had to have a physical keyboard and that was the end of it. My speed and accuracy was unmatched compared to using an onscreen keyboard. But what can I say' date=' the screen size of the og evo really attracted me and I decided to bite. It took a while getting use to it but once I did there wasn't any looking back. Also with the advancement of swiftkey especially the latest swiftkey beta my speed and accuracy is amazing. There is no way I will ever go back to a physical keyboard.[/quote']

 

I thought I was one of those people. That's why I bought the OG Epic over the Evo. But it turned out that even on the smaller screen of the epic, it's more convenient to use the onscreen keyboard. I usually forget I even have a slide out keyboard. I'll happily take the larger screens of a galaxy s III over a phone with a keyboard.

 

Are you on an Unlimited Data Plan?

Of course. Big reason I'm still on sprint.

Does this claim makes sense?

 

T-Mobile’s customers are the most data intensive customers in the U.S. wireless space' date=' averaging close to 1.7GB per subscriber per month. That is almost 50% higher than Sprint’s 1.2GB, Verizon’s 902MB and AT&T’s 724MB of data usage.

 

Source:

http://www.fiercewir...onth/2012-06-15

http://www.tmonews.c...data-per-month/

I'm doing my part to bring Sprint's average up. Half way into my current cycle and I've used 2gb of combined 3g/4g data.

Try it again. I changed the settings the other day in IP Board that was accidentally blocking members from uploading anything to most forums. It wasn't a Forum Runner issue, it was a Robert issue. Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

Well look at that. There's now an "attachments" button. Thanks.

Twospirits posted a while back that if you add "the S4GRU club" to your favorites, you can access them without that pesky password prompt.

 

As far as which one I prefer, I am starting to come around and warm up to forum runner. I was almost 100% Tapatalk, but forum runner feels like a better program. Tapatalk is wonky at times and Robert has told me that they are not very supportive because the site supports both programs. I do like the way Tapatalk has a widget, and I like how it will show all the threads with new posts.

 

I'm on the fence right now, but due to Tapatalk trying to force the site to drop forum runner support, I am giving forum runner a long look...

 

Sent from my CM9 Toro using Forum Runner

I see you're using forum runner on CM9. Do you get the option to upload pictures to your posts? I don't on either my Epic with CM9 or my acer tablet which is running ICS 4.0.3. Wasn't sure if it was just my phone or a problem with forum runner on ICS.

For my personal situation, for four devices, it would be 300 per month on VZW if we share a 10GB data plan. Which is about approximately how much we use for four devices now.

 

In comparison, I pay 198 per month with Sprint for four lines with my 25% discount. VZW offers me a 15% discount, and assuming they took it off everything, that would still be 67 more per month for me.

 

The last time I did a VZW price comparison, the difference was approximately 75 per month with everyone getting 2GB plans in my family, but me getting 5GB. So the family plan doesn't offer much of a discount. Its more of a convenience to pool data.

 

However, adding a tablet to the pool looks really cheap. As well as the USB/MiFis. And the ability to WiFi tether against your data allotment is a good idea that many people have been clamoring for.

 

Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

You're right the included tethering is a nice add-in. Once you've capped total data there's no reason why it shouldn't include it. Now it would just be nice if the data caps were doubled. Then it would be great.

So today Verizon announced the new shared data plans that have been rumored and talked about for months. Here you are:

http://www.engadget....o-live-june-28/

And Verizon's own site:

http://solutions.vzw...lan_details.pdf

The details:

Monthly charge for phone type:

Smartphone $40

dumbphone $30

usb/data modem/netbook/portable hotspot $20

Tablet $10

That charge gets you unlimited calling and texting. If you want data you'll buy a pool to share among up to 10 devices on your plan. Here are those:

1gb = $50

2gb = $60

4gb = $70

6gb = $80

8gb = $90

10gb = $100

Wifi tethering is now included in the cost. Plans are required for all new customers starting June 28.

Still waiting for AT&T to announce what their shared plans will look like. So there's the competition. Will this give Sprint a leg up?

Enjoy folks.

They didn't sell it down to 47.1%. Clearwire sold more shares this year. It's kind of like adding water to a bucket. If you own 2 gallons of water in a bucket that has 4 gallons of water, you own 50% of the water. However, if someone adds a half gallon (or more shares), the percentage you own goes down to 44%. This is an analogy of what happened with Sprint and Clearwire shares.

 

And now that Sprint owns less than 50% of Clearwire, they should have voting rights restored on all their interest, back up to the maximum percentage owned, not to exceed 49%.

 

Robert

You know what. I completely misread the SEC filing. What the filing says is that Sprint is reversing their divestiture of 77 million shares from back in June of last year. They're paying Clearwire $7,700 dollars to get their get class B common shares back. So yes, Sprint is increasing their voting share back to the same level as their economic share.

My mistake.