24 minutes ago, WillM said:

By the time Sprint bought Nextel they seemed pretty ghetto to me and stagnating.  

You're way out of touch with what "Nextel" was.

6 minutes ago, WillM said:

Nobody remembers Nextel ads from God knows when and to be honest a lot of people remember that company as ghetto. T Mobile has resurrected the brand. Why throw that hard work away?

Ghetto? Nextel targeted businesses. You don't know what you're talking about. You're thinking of Boost Mobile. Nextel was a business oriented brand that heavily advertised business solutions like Nationwide PTT, GPS tracking, email, etc (which for the time was very innovative)

T-Mobile still has an image problem. There's a reason why they continue to be #3 despite their aggressive pricing and advertising push in the past few years. Their growth has just about slowed down. This merger has a lot to do with spectrum, but it also has to do with growing the subscriber base. Hardcore Verizon and At&t users still hold a negative view of T-Mobile.

2 hours ago, derrph said:

I think they should do away with both names. Some don’t want to be under the Sprint name or the T-Mobile name. I think creating a new name would usher in a new era for the combined companies. 

I hate to bring up the old roundtable ad that got Sprint in trouble, but....the best word to describe the T-Mobile brand is somewhere between "ghetto" and "Millennial/Liberal". Their network is great, but their brand is very unappealing to many (especially when you consider who the people elected president). Having said that, credit to them for trying to find a middle ground with their new "Military Plan". 

Simple solution to the merger would be to just bring back the Nextel brand and gather up the old marketing team behind their genius ads.

19 minutes ago, Arysyn said:

Meaning if there weren't so much cost involved in densifying the network for 2.5ghz, would the value of the spectrum itself be higher, because at 120mhz of it, I would think so

If build out costs were factored in, then they went in favor of Sprint. 2.5 Ghz is considered ocean front property for 5G deployment since it's mostly paired already by one entity. It definitely offers better propagation than the next slice of paired spectrum that will become available to wireless companies (3.5 Ghz)

And let's not forget about the advancements in Massive MIMO...

17 hours ago, cletus said:

Very excited to see this deal hopefully go through.

I'm split. I'd like to keep Sprint for competitive reasons. But then again, having a 3rd strong carrier is also very tempting for the progress and rollout of 5G internet.

If the deal does go through, I really hope the FCC and DOJ do it on several conditions that benefit the people. Forcing T-Mobile/Sprint to commit to a rural build out and asking them to work with manufacturers to make their phones fully compatible with At&t and Verizon. 

2 hours ago, Arysyn said:

I'm pretty surprised by the deal, and of course hope it goes through, especially at the reported $24 billion, just seems low though. $65 billion definitely is more a number I'd expect to hear. 

Well, Sprint publicly states that they valued their entire spectrum holdings at $16B just a year and a half ago (that's before they started a second spectrum leaseback in order to raise cash). And we all know spectrum is the reason T-Mobile wanted this deal.

We also have to consider that Sprint sold the rights to their leased handsets and also made a deal to sell and then lease back some of their network assets. 

Sprint's debt is the reason why T-Mobile is offering to absorb them at such a cheap rate.

On 4/27/2018 at 12:13 AM, JossMan said:

Son not gonna give up that treasure trove of 2.5 spectrum for cheap, $12 per share minimum.  Gonna love my May 2018 calls!  Cha-ching! 

Counting chickens before they hatch.

11 hours ago, Skypr said:

Another power outage in my area. Currently 7 hours without electricity in the entire town.

Sprint towers are long gone. No 1xRTT, 3G or LTE... Nothing, nada.

Phone is roaming again with Open Mobile. Speeds right now are lighting fast compared to Sprint normal B25 in my town. I can't wait for Sprint to implement B13.

If your phone is rooted, you could turn off the Sprint bands and force your phone to roam on Open Mobile for data with the Network Signal Guru app. You'd miss out on calls since you would have to turn off CDMA 1900 (phone won't roam if it detects Sprint 1x). But at least you could see how well B13 performs for you and test drive it for educational purposes.

2 hours ago, derrph said:

Bam there we go! The Friday news dump. It’s just kinda hard to think there’s a possible merger if they are using money and putting up MM on their towers that could possible be shut off if that tower is redundant in the area to what T-Mobile has. 

We should avoid abbreviating Massive MIMO as MM. It doesn't make sense and it can easily be confused for Mini Macro.

2 hours ago, JossMan said:

Son not gonna give up that treasure trove of 2.5 spectrum for cheap, $12 per share minimum.  Gonna love my May 2018 calls!  Cha-ching! 

Didn't Sprint use a small part of their spectrum licenses for a leaseback deal? I believe the last reports had 14% of their spectrum being leased back to them, but that number could have grown since then due to Sprint's desire to raise money.

I'm don't know if this impacted Softbank's negotiating leverage, but I'm sure it was brought up.

20 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

the best part is that it isn't even a walled garden so Apple could implement it too.

 Apple embracing an open ecosystem???

?

26 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

You can message people on certain Canadian carriers via RCS on Sprint..

Does Sprint charge international SMS rates for messages sent through RCS?

3 hours ago, red_dog007 said:

Google is pausing development of Allo in favor of Android Messages. Android Messages is supposed to be getting a web portal soon. 

I hope their security and login process is strict. T-Mobile users have seen some security breaches through the Digits portals. This has lead to email and banking accounts being taken over by hackers.

2 hours ago, RedSpark said:

The needed investment is finally happening. 

Since we haven't seen any massive MIMO equipment in the wild, I'm assuming that investment has been put on hold. We were promised April for Dallas, Los Angeles, and Chicago and we are about to hit May.

This tells me Sprint is either serious about merging or they are having serious issues with suppliers (highly doubtful it is the latter).

54 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

From everything I’ve heard, the spigot at Sprint is finally open. There’s no indication I’ve been given that any network work has been halted or delayed. 

Has anyone spotted any massive mimo equipment in Los Angeles, Chicago, or Dallas yet? 

On 4/3/2018 at 4:15 PM, etirkca said:

ETFs waived for 30 days

Thank you so much for bringing light to this! I would have never known about it had you not posted it! You've saved me a lot of money and lowered my bill moving forward! It wasn't an easy process, but well worth it.

Unlocking the phones was surprisingly easy. But the small hiccup came with my final bill. When I received it, I thought I was screwed when I saw that the ETF was included. I almost paid for it too, but the frugal in me decided to call Sprint (couldn't hurt, right?). After an hour on the phone with a US supervisor, my account was credited for the full amount of the ETFs. I walked away Scot-free!!

Thanks a bunch OP! I'm trying Verizon's throttled unlimited data plan. Excellent reliability in the city, but there are certain key spots where I need my phone that aren't great. I don't know if it's the throttling or the network.

8 hours ago, mc_gusto said:

HD voice, Wifi calling, Rcs and now volte.

I want to port my number out but I'll lose out on mms

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
 

I believe Google Voice now supports MMS. You should kook into it, but I'm pretty sure I've been able to send and receive MMS from the Google Voice app.

10 hours ago, SprintNYC said:

For those that think that T-mobile going into the fall and be successful in the high band auction, they are delusional. The fact of the matter is the reason why they were successful in the 600mhz was due to Verizon and T sitting out something that will not happen with the next auctions. Also, Verizon is telling phone manufacturers to put the 3.5ghz radios in their products by year end which tell me Verizon will go after the 3.5ghz band with a vengeance. 

The problem with this thought is that you're assuming the FCC won't open 3.7-4.2 Ghz for 5G. 

Everyone is overthinking this. T-Mobile and Sprint both want a merger. Less competition and reducing 5G costs are the goals here.

6 hours ago, RedSpark said:

It boggles the mind for me why major retail chains don’t ensure that they have good wireless coverage in their stores, especially if they invest in having a Mobile App which is a core feature of their business for coupons, payment, prescriptions etc.: CVS, Walgreens, Safeway, etc. Sprint’s Magic Box is a great tool that can be widely deployed to address this issue.

If it’s not already underway, Sprint needs to meet with the regional heads of these companies and work out a deal of some kind to place these boxes.

People have certain types of coverage issues: Home, Work, Errands/Travel. Any of these can cause someone to churn out, but I think Errands/Travel Coverage has the most impact on churn/satisfaction, especially since WiFi Calling is usually available at home (except for Nexus/Pixel people) and perhaps slightly less available at work.

This is aside from the fact that customers will spend more time (and more money) where they have good coverage.

Something to think about; I noticed that Walmart's wifi network throttles Amazon.com to a slow crawl. Makes sense if you think about it. It discourages customers from scanning a bar code and finding it cheaper from one of Amazon's many sellers. 

I definitely do not see Walmart as a a store that would be willing to host Magic Boxes based on that fact.

4 hours ago, Mr.Nuke said:

That isn't for you to decide...

8 hours ago, SprintNYC said:

I just wonder what is Son and Softbank are trying to do here because at the end of the day the Germans want the combined company for themselves. 

I'm guessing that both parties weren't too far off in ownership negotiations. If they were, then I doubt SoftBank and DT would be back to the table this soon.

Most of the work to determine the new company structure and how both networks would be integrated has been done. All they have to do is figure out the ownership ratio. 

1 hour ago, runagun said:

It's a me-me country, no one looks after anyone else anymore. 

Lend people a hand, and they take the entire arm. I never got an Airave because of that. I know my neighbors don't have home internet and they use their Sprint phones as their internet. The moment I hookup an Airave is the moment those cheap bastards will run through my ISPs data allowance. Let them suffer through congested B26 as they attempt to stream Netflix.

1 hour ago, tyroned3222 said:

I know there is hope on the network side , but on the business side you don't operate a loss YOY for over a decade ..you just don't

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

Especially in a cut throat market, where every wireless provider is carrying debt.

This seems like it has been a long time coming. When SoftBank took over Sprint, everyone knew Son's ultimate goal was to make the US a three carrier market. Is that good for the consumer? No. But the numbers for four carriers aren't there. Something has got to give.

I think SoftBank and DT had all the hard details such as network integration, management, and strategy ironed out. The only thing they disagreed on was ownership ratio. If they are back to the table this soon, then that means that they weren't very far off on their numbers. I think the merger goes through. Sprint can't deploy 5G and simultaneously expand their network on their own AND T-Mobile doesn't have 5G spectrum.

They both need each other.

2 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

It's still a rumor and it doesn't make sense given the huge deal they signed with Zayo like a week or two ago. This whole thing just doesn't add up to me.

We don't know that they actually signed with Zayo. This is a rumor turned fact by adding 1+1.

I wouldn't be surprised (if indeed this was Sprint who signed with Zayo) if there is an out clause due to a marger or change in ownership.

2 hours ago, Tengen31 said:

That could be hard without more small cells than any carriers onces that can do more than 2xca. So far I'm not impressed with Sprint small cells. The ones I've been on only have one carrier and it was slow.

 

 

Sprint needs to start thinking about different ways of getting backhaul to small cells. The current method is not long for the new 5G ecosystem.

And now that I think about it, neither are Magic Boxes. At some point down the road, Sprint will have to deploy their entire 2.5 Ghz spectrum in order to have a robust 5G network. Don't think there will be room for Magic Boxes at that point. Airaves will probably have to make a comeback.

14 hours ago, mikejeep said:

I know wifi calling / VoLTE is coming, 

We've heard of VoLTE coming, but WiFi calling for BYOD? Where did you hear this?

23 minutes ago, Dkoellerwx said:

Are they going to give Massive MIMO a new name? 

Umm.......5G?