centermedic

What is the deal with Wake Forest? Coverage is good but all my speed tests are slow.

Just got mine today. I have to get used to the power button on the side (ugh). Other than that no complaints so far. I am trying to keep it off of the charger tonight and play around with the camera.

Has anybody ordered through sprint and gotten a verification of shipping yet?

So I have to echo some of the complaints that folk have had. Most of the stores in my area do not have any HTC10's or even a demo. In my opinion, as a hail mary device, they should be doubling down on the production rather than limiting it. Anyways, not a fan of the silver. I rather have a dark color. If you look at the HTC website only the unlocked version is available in the darker color. The silver is the only color available for both Sprint and Verizon. Despite all of this I went ahead and ordered via Sprints website. 

Yes but MetroPCS is not selling the whole picture. Their 1GB cap is gone fast and after that people are asked to pay money for additional high speed data. Subsequently they seem to be cheap on the surface but in reality will drain your wallet.

Understood but not the point I was trying to make. When those targeted ads came out the first thing that came to mind is that their internal numbers indicated a new found vulnerability to Sprint so they responded.

Not surprised by these results. In my market MetroPCS and Verizon have suddenly started to target Sprint in its advertisements.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/htc-10-launches-on-sprint-lte-plus-network-on-may-13.htm

Don't you think Sprint changing names of their network technology from Spark to LTE Plus already is confusing to customers, yet I haven't seen anyone here complaining about that.

 

 

Actually, quite a few people complained about the whole Spark thing. Perhaps they retired spark branding because they realized it was a mistake or that they could do better.

Grrr. Charging port on my M8 has gone kaput and I can't find anybody to fix it including Sprint.

The problem with that is there are very few if any examples of that kind of success and competence in the modern era. FAA systems? Nope. The IRS' computer systems? Nope. Management of freeway infrastructure? Nope. Can't think of a single govt-run program on a massive scale that demonstrates any level of technological competence let alone superiority.

Those examples do not address the model that I believe AJ is advocating. You only need to look at the original Bell telephone model as an example of a government funded mandate and monopoly in order to build out a piece of critical infrastructure.

So being like China is going to be the cure to our mobile ills? 

I think what AJ is advocating is a system similar to what spawned AT&T. If you think about it it was a brilliant idea then and it is a brilliant idea now. As a former bell employee I can tell you that the old bell system is robust and reliable because of government control.

Audio plans?  HTC has always been above average when it came to audio so thats the least of htc's problems right now.  HTC needs something that will attract buyers, something so cool that it attracts lots of positive media attention.  Without it the only people that will buy the m10 are the ultra die hard htc fans and even those are jumping ship now such as myself.  Yes I am a self proclaimed htc fan and have bought every single htc flagship over the last 10 years.  No matter what htc releases, no matter what feature it has, it will be the first time I won't by an htc flagship on release day.  If it does turn out to be better than expected then I may just get one for my second line but for right now, I don't have a good feeling when it comes to htc.

I just can't buy Samsung due to past issues with them. I would love to stay with HTC but they have to produce a compelling product. I wish Sony would release a phone on Sprint.

Ask Nielsen then if you don't believe they use straight up average data speeds. Not sure if you will believe anything they say.

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/contact-us.html

 

 

Please explain the drop in November for T-Mobile data speeds. If it is not Binge On which launched the exact same time as the drop. Please don't say something like correlation does not mean causation. Tmobile was the only one hurt because nielsen changed the weight of things just to hurt Tmobile?

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160125005532/en/Sprint%E2%80%99s-LTE-Network-Delivers-Faster-Download-Speeds

First off, I have a lot of respect for Nielsen and I am willing to take their word for it. Having said that, I don't know what their methodology is. You simply cannot look at the results of a study and declare the data valid without looking at the methodology. There does not have to be any ill intent. It is as simple as that.

Not sure I follow you on the weighting of real world usage. Their app runs in the background and tracks what your phone uses as you use your phone during the day. They track what apps you use and for how long and how much data is being sent for each app. It is not a speedtest that they breakdown somehow. Nielsen does not use any cellular data other than to send back but your usage log. There formula should be amount of data sent over the length of data session. Data session is the length of time that a data stream is active.

 

If you don't like cisco to show how the vast amount of people use their phones you can google another data colector there are many that show video as #1 usage. Some can even break it down to youtube and netflix being the biggest usage of mobile data. The last time I looked it was one way on PC and then they flipped on mobile.

 

http://en-us.nielsen.com/sitelets/cls/digital/Mobile-NetView30-FAQ.pdf

 

Look at Number 19

No real reason for an NSA when people give all there data for free.

What AJ was saying is that Nielsen may place more importance on one data set over another. We have no idea what their methodology and weighting is until they make it public.

Either my battery or my usb port is starting to give up the ghost. I hope they hurry up with a release so i can check this bad boy out!

Interesting that this is Nielsen reporting this... Not RootMetrics.

From my perspective there are two ways to view this. You can call it valid based on the fact that the Nielsen Company is an expert in research methodology. The caveat is that they do not have a demonstrated expertise in wireless technology.

Wait. So how much of the $30 billion in debt is owed to Softbank?

Perhaps it would help Sprint if Softbank actually became a bank.

Oh, I am sure the accountants, lawyers and actuaries have their reasons.

$30 billion of debt with a market cap of $15 billion is not the end of the world, especially if  Sprint turns profitable. Again the 2.5 billion due this year is not an issue if Sprint turns a profit. However, the $10 billion due in 2020 can be an issue if it cannot be refinanced or properly planned for. At this point, I have enough confidence that I continue to buy Sprint stock.

I was just reading this article on Fiercewireless:

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-hopes-secure-much-5b-mortgaging-spectrum-and-network-gear/2016-03-02

 

And it made it sound pretty bad about the financial condition of Sprint having to borrow against itself?? Kind of confusing with how they are moving the debt around but nonetheless was concerned and wanted some feedback from the experts here just as I'm about to port over 2 lines over to Sprint next Friday 11th when the S7 Edge releases.

 

Is there any concern about Sprint not being able to pay it's debt payments coming due and having to liquidate spectrum (2500 Mhz) saying that their treasure trove of 2500 is worth 115 Billion!!?? to stay afloat?

Ok, if I am reading this correctly, Softbank is hedging its bets. If they fund Sprint and it folds, Softbank loses it investment. However, by setting up a subsidiary and loaning money to Sprint in return for collateral they are essentially making a secured loan. On the flip side, this may be helpful to Sprint also if the loans carry a significantly lower interest rate than their current debt. Eventually, they may be able to refinance that debt. Also of note, Japan currently has a negative interest rate for funds held by the central bank. This is to encourage banks to lend money rather than hoarding it. This set up may have also fueled this action by Softbank.

Then again, I could be totally off base 

So the D/E ratio is often used as a measure of how healthy a company is. Sprints D/E is around .60. This is a point of concern but not horrible in my opinion. So here is the rub, if you think the company is undervalued then throw the D/E out of the window. Stock prices figure into valuation. You can insert your own valuation of the company and figure out what you think the D/E should be OR you can evaluate the companies plan to deal with debt and fuel growth. If you feel confident in the plan then investing may be a good idea. If you have little to no confidence in the plan then you should probably sell the stock. Most financial folk with a head on their shoulders are forecasting healthy profit gains for Sprint this year.

I have been and remain a big HTC fan. However, this year I am waiting on both the M10 and the next Nexus. The wife upgraded her M7 for an A9 and she is happy with it. We don't do Samsung. Bad past experience.

Here's what T-Mobile's Neville Ray had to say about T-Mobile's performance at the Super Bowl.

 

See the chart: Sprint virtually tied for 2nd place with AT&T! Great job Sprint!

So let me get this straight. He is basically discrediting the time honored tradition of using sample of the population? Is that not what eveybody else from ookla to rootmetrics does?

Full disclaimer, I am an active fire medic and also a product manager for a public safety software solution that utilizes in vehicle hardware for a variety of items, mainly avl/gps and CAD integration.  (You can PM me if you want to chat more).  I am extremely up to date on all this tech stuff in our underpaid/overworked world of public safety.  (I am sure you can relate)

 

That being said, I am referencing current hardware as PinPoint Airlink and Sierra MP series 3G modems (Sierra bought PinPoint).  Right now, a GX450 (4G) modem with antenna will run $900 at wholesale cost, typically MSRP going over $1000.  InMotion boxes, Rocket devices and Cradlepoints will garner double that.

 

There are very few services still using IP over radio connections, so I am discarding that, they are upgrading regardless.  Its the ones who already run late 3G hardware and 4G hardware now that will not jump into FirstNet.  It will be cost prohibitive.  I have a few clients that are well over 100 ambulances daily, some over 200.  They arent going to dump $200k into getting new modems unless FirstNet access is so cheap that the hardware pays for itself.  Everything is indicating that FirstNet access will be more expensive then traditional carriers for at least a few years, since it wont be a heavily used system (less users, higher cost, theoretically).  

 

I do think you are dead on, build it, they will come.  But, I think we are talking about a turtle pace just to get the system setup, and at least 3-5 years there after for main stream adoption.  With municipalities tightening all budgets and Obamacare knocking down ambulance reimbursement so badly on the medicare/medicaid front, these companies just dont have the cash to make big technology grabs like they did pre recession.

I would love to talk to you about InMotion boxes. I should have added to my original post that I have no idea how much data these services are pushing presently. However, as we have both acknowledged, it is bound to increase. I think the push will be and always have been from the municipal providers. I am not quite sure why they have been so insistent about a national broadband setup (other than the new and shiny affliction). I have a meeting in the coming days that hopefully will clear it up for me.

I certainly see your point about it being more expensive than traditional carriers for the first few years. I am sure there will be a couple of municipal  test beds or maybe even AMR. Additionally, as Public Safety Departments outgrow their current service provider they may very well jump on board. Thats why I think, at least in the urban markets, there may not be much spectrum left over for the wireless provider.

While public safety is moving a lot of data, they arent going to suddenly jump into FirstNet head first and transmit all that data.  The biggest variable to public safety will be the cost.  First, will it even be viable to jump into the system?  If your data costs double or triple, how many are really going to use it?  Secondly, the hardware costs will be astronomical.  The major public safety solution companies like Sierra Wireless/InMotion, Cradlepoint, etc do not even have a FirstNet device out of prototype planning phases.  If the hardware comes out at cost of todays devices, you are looking at 1k per vehicle to adopt this new technology.  Many public safety agencies are still using 10 year old 3G hardware.  If they dont need video transmission or large amounts of wifi sharing, 3G serves most needs adequately.  And most dont need video transmission or more than 1-2 simultaneous data connections.

 

In all that sense, especially when you factor in hardware cost, Verizon certainly is going to have to fight to lose this bid.  They may as well have the deal in hand.  Verizon will have the clout to drive the hardware costs down to a degree if they can reuse them on the public side, and public safety agencies are not going to support a carrier move to anyone besides Verizon or ATT to begin with.

You make some very valid points. However, you over estimate the cost point or even where most public safety agencies are in regards to the level of technology that they field. Most large city agencies are using LTE along with "wifi bubbles" so that devices can wirelessly connect to their mobile system. Mobile data terminals have replaced the radio for a significant amount of communications. On the EMS side, video conferencing with Medical control is being tested as we speak. Finally, some systems use an IP based radio system. The question, in my mind, really is not how much data they are using today but how much they will use in the near future. All of this is going on in my system which serves one million people and fields 40 ambulances a day. Look at a city like New York which fields over 300 ambulances at any given time and suddenly the one or two simultaneous data connections does not seem very realistic. Could you imagine what would happen if law enforcement decides to do video conferencing to magistrates/judges. I really think this is similar to Field of Dreams. If you build it they will come.