greenbastard

2 hours ago, nexgencpu said:

New plans incoming...

These look a lot more in line with Tmobile, more feature rich (Tidal and Hulu included) and sustainable, even prioritization has been bumped to 50GB..

 

Instead of having two plans, they should have offered HD streaming as a $10 add-on option. With these two plans, an entire family has to buy HD if only one person wants it.

Also, I hope they are including taxes and fees in these new plans. Because if they aren't, then Sprint is selling a Kia Sorento at Chevrolet Corvette prices. A family of four would have $10 worth of Admin Fees added to the bill each month. Then add taxes & fees and Unlimited Basic could be anywhere between $15-25 more a month than T-Mobile.

2 hours ago, Johnner1999 said:

Basically the two companies pitched that with out a merge they would both fail.

https://www.cato.org/publications/techknowledge/lesson-xmsirius-merger

They have begun to go down this road already. During the committee hearing, Sprint admitted that their 5G will be limited to some urban areas  due to money constraints (and within those urban areas, 5G coverage won't be available everywhere). They also admitted to have haulted meaningful investments on their network for the past few years. 

It looks like Sprint isn't scared to let the dirt out in order to get this deal done.

1 hour ago, nexgencpu said:

Not that simple, Sprint is deploying for 2.5 spacing. V had a huge advantage from the get go with 20Mhz of low band, and even though T-mobile now has access to low band, they are still nowhere near as reliable as V in rural areas and indoors, and yes, NIMBY had a huge effect on small cell deployment and still does.

We can all agree that deploying 750Mhz is nothing like deploying 2.5.

I'm not talking about spectrum. I'm talking about small cell deployments. This notion that some communities are responsible for the slow deployment of small cells is nonsense. It hasn't stopped Zayo in my area from deploying small cells. 

24 minutes ago, nexgencpu said:

 

Unfortunately, lack of small cell legislation, NIMBY

 

Can we just drop this excuse already? Because it looks like Verizon and T-Mobile aren't hindered by this one bit. 

3 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

Because RCS is better than SMS in every way. Why wouldn't I be hyped about it? Super high character limit, being able to send larger files, read receipts, typing indicators, etc. Until RCS is standard across Android devices and carriers, Apple will never implement it. So it's in everyone's best interest to want RCS deployed as quick and as wide as possible.

Web Messaging is great too.

>43% of American users have an iPhone. RCS will just become another fragmented messaging solution that is hurt by the division of Android and iOS users. We're better off pushing for cross-platform messaging services such as Telegram or WhatsApp.

I'll get exited once Apple adopts RCS. Until then, big ol' meh.

30 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

T-Mobile released RCS UP 1.0 to users of the GS7 and GS7 Edge and a lot of folks feel like they've been mislead. There is no carrier interoperability and it only works on 2 devices right now. They basically gave two devices the bare minimum so that they could meet the deadline that they set for themselves.

Meh. RCS is a pretty useless feature without iPhone support. I don't know why everyone wants it so much. So many people have iPhones and Apple will probably never support RCS.

What people should be really hyped about is Android Web Messages. It's a really awesome feature and a lot better than iMessage when it comes to computer support. With such a huge leap in messaging accessibility, I don't know why people are so hung up on RCS. 

3 hours ago, Rocket87 said:

Most plans now require autopay to get $5 off each line. It was notified in your previous bills.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 

This. Read your bills folks! I avoided paying over $1k in ETF charges just by reading my bill. Sprint raised my bill, so I walked without penalty.

4 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

With most recent phones supporting the majority of LTE bands offered by both carriers, you probably won't see much in the way of service disruptions, especially with VoLTE and SMS going over LTE as well.

As with any corporate promise, I think people should still be prepared to buy new phones in the event T-Mobile doesn't update phones to support VoLTE. 

Sure, those older phones will work with WCDMA fallback, but voice coverage won't be the same. 1900 GSM isn't as robust as 1x1900. 

4 hours ago, IamMrFamous07 said:

I made the switch to T-Mobile and I’m very impressed with their service. I can only imagine what the combine network will feel like.

 

As did I. Midband 20x20 FDD LTE + 15x15 FDD LTE will do that. They also have a very dense network and are pushing ahead with small cells (without being sneaky like Mobilitie as well).

Add n41 to all of their towers, and Verizon & At&t won't be able to match the speeds and capacity the New T-Mobile will provide. This truly is setting up the be one scary urban network.

6 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

I like the fact that the average signal of the new entity will be 12db better than Sprint standalone. So as a Sprint customer I have a lot to gain. But it will only increase T-Mobile's average signal by one db, which means that they don't plan to increase coverage that much from what T-Mobile covers right now. So the 20,000 additional macro sites will mostly be capacity sites. 

I wonder if  T-Mobile's 700MHz and Sprint's 800MHz will carry VoLTE traffic preferentially. 

I haven't read the report, but it makes sense in my market. T-Mobile has the best site density of all the 4 major carriers in most markets in Texas.

So the AC66u was named as a vulnerable router against the VPNFilter hack. FBI is recommending that everyone with this model update to the latest firmware and do a factory reboot.

The Sprint router wasn't named as being vulnerable. But since it's the same physical router as the AC66u...shoukd we expect Sprint/ASUS to finally rollout an update to the OG firmware?

10 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

Probably because 700MHz is not on every site.

Outside of small cells, Band 12 is on every tower in my neck of the woods. I stand by my previous statement;

1xRTT BC1 (1900) > VoLTE Band 12 (700).

The launch of VoLTE will be very interesting for Sprint. While they do a good job of blanketing entire cities/towns with B26, some UEs will struggle with the upload portion of a voice call.

49 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

14 is going to be huge for AT&T as it allows them 25 MHz of lowband FDD LTE in most markets while maintaining lowband WCDMA/HSPA. The network expansion requirements are going to be really good for their network as well. I’m excited to see how this plays out for them. 

WCDMA-5 fallback will be huge for At&t if they keep it. VoLTE reliability just isn't cutting it for both T-Mobile and Verizon's lowband LTE. Calls can get too choppy on the upload side at times.

In terms of coverage;

1xRTT BC1 (1900 Mhz) > VoLTE Band 12/13 (700 Mhz)

On 5/26/2018 at 7:29 PM, though said:

Egos included.

That's funny, because Nebraska's ego was the reason the Big12 almost broke apart. Nebraska got jelly and they couldn't stand not being the center of attention.

Fight mode: [ON] off

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4 minutes ago, JonnygATL said:

I've never been to Texas at all

I'm sorry to hear that.

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Just now, Paynefanbro said:

Oh I didn't realize that! Thanks for letting me know.

I thought the same thing at first. Seeing as how they left out CDMA BC10 (Sprint) and LTE B13 (Verizon), it's safe to assume US Cellular worked with OnePlus to get this done. I wouldn't be surprised if the phone is sold in US Cellular stores.

3 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

The OnePlus 6 can be used on U.S. Cellular thanks to VoLTE. I hope Sprint decides to be as open to non-CDMA phones when they activate VoLTE.

One plus 6 has CDMA support for BC0 and BC1. That's why it works on US Cellular. It's not because of VoLTE.

6 hours ago, BlueAngel said:

I've relocated the device to a different spot where I am pulling right now on B41 3xCA 90 down 2 up and 28ms ping. Hoping it improves when it finishes setting up. Yep still shit, max of around 40 down and 2 up ping is still the same at 75. So going to the magic box cut my download speed in half and ping more than doubled.

Use Wi-Fi. Problem solved.

22 minutes ago, dnicekid said:

Seems like they’re both always telling me I got a speed upgrade. 

Hidden behind the last speed increase was also a price increase for me.

19 minutes ago, tyroned3222 said:

 

Unfortunately, even in almost mid 2018 sprint still only has 1 tower downtown it is band 41 now , but it's doesnt help much with coverage .. the sun bowl doesn't have a Sprint Tower close by .. TMO att Verizon have sites pointing directly inside the stadium .. sprint has a tower on the U BUILDING, but it's still not band 41

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I've do remember seeing cell tower equipment installed on one of the stadium's lighting towers and a standalone cell tower next to it. Drove right past it so I didn't really get a good look to see if any of them belonged to Sprint.

It must be hard to deploy service there using traditional cell towers/equipment. The stadium/university sit next to a mountain top that sits next to the international border. Too many cell towers, and you cause interference in Mexico. Not enough cell towers and you get coverage holes inside buildings.

UTEP is a great candidate for small cells.

1 minute ago, tyroned3222 said:

Not yet, these upgrades are very recent the sites have not gone live yet with b41... Sprint is doing 5 upgrades less then a week that's pretty impressive

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

That's sort of bittersweet news. Yeah, it's great El Paso is finally seeing upgrades. But it's also a bit frustrating that it's happening on the eve of Massive MIMO (and with the merger looming). This likely means El Paso won't be seeing 64T64R anytime soon.

I stayed in downtown El Paso a few years ago and data was slow for Sprint. When I got to the hotel (which had a view of Juarez), I turned off all the Sprint bands and roamed on Movistar. Sadly, it was a more pleasant experience than being on Sprint (or my T-Mobile tablet for that matter). Hopefully I can go back later this year to catch a game at the Sun Bowl. It's one of the few College stadiums I have yet to visit. 

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

Great question. This Tidal investment was a bad idea from the start in my opinion. It was a distraction from actually improving the network.

I know $200 miilion was chump change in the grand scheme of Capital Expenditure costs, but that money could have prevented some of the layoffs Sprint saw at HQ.

The worst part about the Sprint+Tidal cross promotion was that it was a huge missed opportunity by Sprint. Sprint gave away 6 months free at one point to anyone who used the code "Sprint". And the Jay-Z album release promotion was even worse. I remember reading the T-Mobile Reddit and people were gloating about getting the album for free without being a Sprint customer. Considering T-Mobile locks down their T-Mobile Tuesday giveaways, this was a bit infuriating. It was a botched opportunity by Sprint to reward its loyal customers. Sprint buying up all those album copies was the only reason Jay-Z broke digital album sale records those first few weeks.

Just a huge SMH moment at Sprint.

3 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Honestly, Sprint’s Tidal investment was a waste of $200 Million with very limited upside. I don’t understand why they did this. There’s too much competition in Music steaming and Tidal isn’t even on the radar vs Apple Music, etc.

 

I wonder what T-Mobile will do with the 33% ownership of Tidal? Marcelo is also a board member of Tidal. What will happen to that?

8 minutes ago, speedingcheetah said:

How long does it take for Sprint to process the return and remove the Magic Box form your account?  

Tracking shows "Trailer Dropped" 3 days at at 9am. So its been delivered to them.

You should call Sprint and get it removed. While the MagicBox isn't charged a monthly fee, I believe there are taxes associated with it that are charged to you (or at least that was one of the claims made around the web). 

Maybe someone can verify if this is the case or not. I'd still play it on the safe side and call.

6 hours ago, danlodish345 said:

AT&T as well...

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
 

Just experienced those 6 hours of T-Mobile outage and I hated it. No voice or texts, period! 

I remember whenever Sprint had outages. I would at least roam on Verizon and have voice/SMS service. Not with T-Mobile. No service all day. This is probably the only negative I can think of to come from this merger for Sprint users.