RedSpark

It's not Sprint service, but at least it's something:

Metro launches 45-day public Wi-Fi pilot at six Metrorail stations, seeks public feedback

I would say they will but since verizon upped there speed im not too sure. Sprint will need 4xca to make that happen and there equipment is not capable of it.

 

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I thought Sprint has the equipment to do this and beyond: 3/4/5 Channel Carrier Aggregation.

 

Our new LTE Plus network using LTE Advanced technology is a significant differentiator for Sprint and our customers.  It’s also the foundation on which we will roll out more LTE Advanced capabilities such as 3/4/5-channel carrier aggregation, higher order MIMO and more advanced beamforming, seamless WiFi integration and more.

 

Isn't most of it a pushed Software Upgrade to the tower sites?

Hope sprint starts winning rootmetrics speed awards end 2016.

All depends when it goes live nationwide and at what part of the RootMetrics testing cycle we're at. If it goes live before the end of 2016, we may not see the full impact on RootMetrics testing results until the First Half 2017 tests are done. If it goes live in early 2017 (as Marcelo has previously said in the Earnings Calls), we may not see the full impact until the Second Half 2017 tests are done.

Sprint just flipped a switch too: 

Sprint and Samsung Take Three-Channel Carrier Aggregation into the Field with Live Demonstration in Chicago

 

Today Sprint has deployed three-channel carrier aggregation on more than 500 cell sites in Chicago.

 

Today’s three-channel carrier demonstration at Soldier Field utilized Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum to deliver peak download speeds of more than 230 Mbps. It also showcased live streaming of ultra-high definition 4K video and the blazing fast, high-bandwidth capability of Sprint’s LTE Plus Network. Participants were also able to experience a low-latency, high-speed, virtual reality system.

 

What if providers don't "work with Sprint to identify respective traffic keys" and just send encrypted data streams?  Since the plans are unlimited won't that mean that people just get unlimited full speed video streaming?

As I read it, content providers have "three choices" as listed.

If a content provider doesn't provide Sprint with information, then by default "The Sprint Network will optimize streaming rates utilizing the above respective limits for customers on the Unlimited Freedom Plan."

Not to set off a powder keg- but.

 

So with the network optimization in place on the new $60 plan. Does that mean everything is going through a proxy service Like cricket does?

 

 

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Here's how it works.

Sprint has officially announced Unlimited Freedom Premium, which can be added on a per-line basis for $20/month. As the press release says, some people don't mind "mobile optimization" for certain content based on their usage habits, while others do.

Oh yeah. That's for sure. That's human nature though. We are never satisfied.

 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akiVi1sR2rM

The biggest issue is iMessage. Now, I don't know if your close friends or significant other or family also have iPhones like you, or how frequently they message you, but personally, everyone I know has an iPhone. And when I have a phone call, it's never for 5-10 minutes, it's usually an hour or two. And that usually translates to me hanging up, and seeing all the messages pour in late or get double messages (one as SMS, one as iMessage). It's EXTREMELY frustrating, and part of a bigger reason why I want VoLTE so damn bad. Plus, my dad uses his iPhone for calls & navigation in the car. If mom calls him while he's on the road while he's using Maps, there's a reasonable chance he'll miss an appropriate exit or something like that.

Unless I'm wrong on this, it's also not possible to switch from a voice call to FaceTime over cellular on iPhones either because of the Voice/Data limitation.

https://support.apple.com/en-sg/HT204380

https://np.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/comments/4sw42p/after_seeing_the_tweet_from_tmobiles_ceo_about/

 

Just now saw this... oh my goodness, that picture. 

Well that's going to leave a mark...

Days like this make me glad that FierceWireless got rid of the comments section. 

Someone screwed up

 

https://www.sprint.com/landings/freedom/50/index.html?ECID=vanity:freedom60

https://www.sprint.com/landings/freedom/60/index.html?ECID=vanity:freedom60

 

Maybe I am reading it wrong if so please forgive me

These were the test plans limited to the Boston, Milwaukee, Phoenix and Oklahoma markets.

Apparently, Marcelo was just on CNBC and said the plans were ready to go live tomorrow. So that's why Legere had to rush and throw together "Uncarrier 12" with no notice at all, and that's why T-Mobile can't launch the plans until September 6th... probably to get the billing software updated.

Here's the Official Release:

Sprint Launches Unlimited Freedom: Two Lines of Unlimited Talk, Text and Data for Just $100– all on a Great Network – and the Best Price Among All National Carriers

 

Beginning, Friday, Aug. 19, Sprint will offer Unlimited Freedom:

• Unlimited talk, text and optimized streaming video, gaming and music
• Unlimited nationwide 4G LTE data for most everything else
• Just $60 a month for one line
• $40 a month for a second line
• $30 a month each for lines 3-10

 

Right. The Sprint ones could have been released the day the new iPhone is released so John decided to one up him and Marcelo may have did a last minute one up on John. Who really knows for sure.

 

 

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Sprint had these "Freedom" plans in trials in Milwaukee and Boston. They must have been pleased with the results, so why not pull the trigger now.

Loving the new nimble Sprint.

He just dropped the 2/$100 on Twitter that launches tomorrow. Unsure of which one it is though. He also dropped some new Boost Mobile plans as well.

 

Where's my popcorn and soda...today has been lit so far with John and Marcelo.

 

 

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It's actually neither one: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/766273474117640192

Unlimited talk, text and data just $100 for 2 lines; $160 for 4 lines

Marcelo's replies to John and WirelessWeek about T-Mobile's new Plan have been interesting:

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/766239403241041920

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/766263381670162432

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/766263855605514240

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/766264180542468097

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/766265234399035392

Seems like Sprint's new "Freedom Plans" are going National:

https://www.sprint.com/landings/freedom/50/index.html

https://www.sprint.com/landings/freedom/60/index.html

We'll see which one actually launches.

For those in DC having problems. Check out @sprintcare's Tweet: https://twitter.com/sprintcare/status/765579298971451392?s=09

 

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More details on this from The Washington Post:

 

At around 12:45 p.m., a Sprint spokeswoman said the problems were caused by “an extensive commercial power outage and fire.”

 

Adrienne Norton, a company spokeswoman, said in an email that the fire — which happened across from a switch site — caused a commercial power failure to Sprint’s D.C. wireline switch and the company’s generators kicked in to provide power but ran into issues.

 

By 7 p.m., all generator power was restored, Norton said. “Our teams are working aggressively to restore remaining wireline equipment that was impacted from the power failure,” she added. She did not estimate when service would be restored.

 

Time to get those generators checked and/or swapped out.

Here's information on the actual fire that caused it:

Major transformer fire causes road closures in downtown D.C.:

 

A fire that broke out around midnight Monday in electrical equipment below the sidewalk at 18th and L streets NW caused that intersection to be closed during Tuesday’s morning rush hour, authorities said.

 

For those in DC having problems. Check out @sprintcare's Tweet: https://twitter.com/sprintcare/status/765579298971451392?s=09

 

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Turns out it was due to an underground transformer fire:

Sprint media relations representative Adrienne Norton told FOX 5 on Tuesday that the problems resulted from an underground transformer fire that occurred in downtown D.C. early Tuesday morning.

Sprint offers $200 more to users who switch back from Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/report-sprint-offers-200-more-to-users-who-switch-back

Looks like it runs through September 15th... Assuming the iPhone 7 launches before the 15th, as per the circulating rumors, people who switch back to Sprint for the iPhone 7 could get quite a bit of cash back as part of their purchase.

Will the 50% discount offer for Sprint still be available for the new iPhone release this fall?

Sprint has extended the program in the past based on how well it's done. I can't imagine Sprint pulling the plug on it just before the iPhone 7 launches in September.

Word is the announcement/pre-order date is September 9th and shipping date is September 16th.

This stuff I know. The telling will be in the next report. It'll kinda paint the picture of what's to look forward too. I'm hoping they add more next quarter.

 

 

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With the launch of the iPhone 7 combined with iPhone Forever, it's Sprint's opportunity to shine.

So you'll definitely have a bunch of upgraders from the 6s (iPhone Forever) and the 6 (those on 24 month leases or 24 month installments or 2 year contracts). Also, assuming that the iPhone 7 supports Three Carrier Aggregation (which I really hope it does), you'll have a substantial influx of those newly capable devices onto Sprint's network for that feature to go live by Early 2017 as Marcelo discussed in the recent earnings call.

In addition to upgrading its network, Sprint has to get as many folks onto Triband or CA-capable devices as possible so that they actually experience the improvements.

I sure wish Apple put Two Carrier Aggregation in the iPhone SE. That would have really helped Sprint on things, but I guess that's Apple being Apple. Hey, at least it's triband. Apple wasn't so kind to Sprint with the iPhone 5s as we recall.

When you look at these figures from Page 5 of the Quarterly Investor Update, it's interesting to see what percentage of people have devices that aren't triband or that don't support Carrier Aggregation. If you were to cross-reference customer satisfaction rates (or specific churn rates) with those customers, those would be some interesting findings. I'm sure (or at least I hope) Sprint has done that:

 

• Tri-band LTE phones represented 73 percent of the 25.3 million ending postpaid phone connection base compared to 46 percent at the end of the year-ago quarter and 69 percent at the end of the prior quarter. During the quarter, 91 percent of postpaid phones sold were tri-band.
• Smartphones represented 93 percent of the ending postpaid phone connection base compared to 89 percent at the end of the year-ago quarter and 92 percent at the end of the prior quarter. During the quarter, 97 percent of postpaid phones sold were smartphones.
• Carrier aggregation capable phones, which allow for higher data speeds, were 74 percent of postpaid phones sold during the quarter, increasing the number of these phones within the phone base to 35 percent.

 

 

The good thing about programs like iPhone Forever is that it keeps people upgrading to the latest tech for Sprint's network... assuming Apple builds it in of course.

I'm sure they are doing well but let's hope that these people are staying. It's a gamble going from Verizon or AT&T down to Sprint or T-Mobile because those users are accustomed to a caliber of service.

 

I had a friend port out from Verizon to Sprint and he had no issues with service sadly he ported back because he likes to have data while on the phone. Isolated case in some sense but when that's all you're use to its kinda hard to let it go.

 

 

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If Sprint's quarterly churn is low, it means that overall, people are staying instead of leaving.

According to Sprint's Press Release for its recent Earnings Call:

 

Postpaid phone net additions of 173,000 are the fourth consecutive quarter of positive net additions

• Postpaid phone churn of 1.39 percent is the best in company history and improved year-over-year for the sixth consecutive quarter
• Postpaid net port positive against all three national carriers for the first time in over five years

 

Source: http://investors.sprint.com/

Also see Page 3 of the recent Quarterly Investor Update for more info on Sprint's Churn numbers.

Marcelo is going on an absolute tear against Verizon's Communications and PR folks for lying.

Start at this Tweet here: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/762507126572847109

and work your way up to Marcelo's most recent Tweets and Replies in his timeline.

One of my favorites: Marcelo dares Verizon's Executive Director of PR to have Verizon publish net port data:  https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/762844542957608961

Sounds like Sprint is doing pretty well....

That's my point, all these non scientific testing apps have big downsides. I think its a bit more reliable when testing is done repeatedly under the same conditions.

 

Sprint probably still has a shit ton of single band and non CA devices out there. Crowd source really isn't a reliable way to test the current state of the network. Its more of a "regular folks experience" type of app. But even that can be extremely skewed depending on quite a few other factors.

Sprint does have quite a few non-triband and non-CA devices out there.

Quarterly Investor Update (Fiscal 1Q2016) (July 25, 2016)

 

• Tri-band LTE phones represented 73 percent of the 25.3 million ending postpaid phone connection base compared to 46 percent at the end of the year-ago quarter and 69 percent at the end of the prior quarter. During the quarter, 91 percent of postpaid phones sold were tri-band.
• Smartphones represented 93 percent of the ending postpaid phone connection base compared to 89 percent at the end of the year-ago quarter and 92 percent at the end of the prior quarter. During the quarter, 97 percent of postpaid phones sold were smartphones.
• Carrier aggregation capable phones, which allow for higher data speeds, were 74 percent of postpaid phones sold during the quarter, increasing the number of these phones within the phone base to 35 percent.