RedSpark

Sex.  Yes, it will happen a lot.

 

If this autonomous car is a rockin', don't come a knockin'.

 

AJ

So instead of the "mile high club", it will be the "high mileage club"? 

I also predict quite a bit of substance usage.... Can you technically be charged with a DUI in an autonomous vehicle?

Tweet from @marceloclaure: https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/692918460934938624

 

We are flying in Houston. Faster than your cable broadband. Time to cut the cord and consume content in your phone twitter.com/nm_sprint/stat…

 

 

...well that's disconcerting

Legere at T-Mobile has been saying the same thing since Binge On launched: Cut the cord, use your phone.

Does anybody know what's the max theoretical speed for 2x CA B41?

See this Qualcomm page: https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/technologies/lte/lte-carrier-aggregation

Also see this write-up here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/7/8909127/carrier-aggregation-explained-how-lte-speeds-can-be-doubled-or-even

Better that Son spent (invested) that $5.5 million+ in Kansas than keeping it under his mattress in Japan. More money coming in from the rest of the world = making America great again.

How to calculate property tax: http://www.opkansas.org/city-government/sales-and-property-taxes/how-taxes-are-calculated/

Also, SoftBank already owns 83 percent of Sprint, so it can’t invest much more in Sprint. If SoftBank's ownership hits 85%, it actually triggers a contractual mandate from the original merger agreement and SoftBank has to buy out Sprint entirely (as in, buy the rest of the shares).

See here for the original merger prospectus which says this: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1560158/000119312513192860/d425100d424b3.htm

(Do a text search for "85%" and you'll see the applicable section.)

At the time the merger was completed in July 2013, SoftBank acquired a 72% stake in Sprint: http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-and-softbank-announce-completion-of-merger.htm

Since then, SoftBank has gradually increased its ownership stake with regular share purchases: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-30/softbank-increases-its-stake-in-sprint-to-83-19-

So now my opinion, it's fine Masa got a $5.5M house. He's paying for it and hopefully good things come from those taxes.

There is a distinction between Son's personal finances and Sprint's corporate finances. Still, paying $5.5 million for a house is ostentatious.

 

I am surprised, though, that Son was able to purchase a house right next door to Marcelo. That would seem like a remarkable coincidence both high end residences in Mission Hills were on the market at roughly the same time. I wonder if Son just made an unsolicited offer to the homeowner -- name your price.

 

AJ

Marcelo just posted:

Our 50% offer exceeded our expectations, leading us to extend it another month.

That's a good sign it seems?

EDIT: Misread that... Seems like he's just referring to the month that it was already extended.... Oops.

On another note... Based on this Tweet, sounds like there's a Town Hall this Friday. At least, that's what the GIF says at the 1:15 mark.

Inside the Plan to Pull Sprint Out of Its Death Spiral

Now that's a headline! Lol. Some solid reporting in this article. Great stuff. The section on the "Top 10 S--- List" for the worst performing cell sites is hilarious.

Who knows how much of that reported improvement comes from 2x CA and how much comes from beamforming?  But neither helps on the uplink, which is most likely to fail at cell edges and indoors.  In those more signal challenged locations, band 25 and band 26 are there to take over.

 

 

I think you misconstrue my point.  In no way do I suggest denying people 2x CA handsets.  However, they do not need them.  What they need is just any band 41.  Most who have 2x CA handsets do not even know that they do.  You can sell the general public on Sprint being #1 in data speeds, but you cannot sell them on Sprint deploying 2x CA.  They do not have the knowledge to understand that.

 

Oddly enough, I am a case in point, even though I am far removed from the average user.  But because of engineering screen quirks, I have no confirmation if 2x CA is active on my 2015 Moto X and Nexus 5X.  And for actual usage purposes, I could not care less.  I care for network diagnostic purposes.  That, though, is of no consequence to the general public.

 

AJ

Sprint has a very rudimentary chart on that page which shows BF vs. BF + CA. I'd like to see a lot more data on this. Isn't the long term plan for Sprint to use certain bands for downlink-only and others for uplink-only?

I agree with you. (Apple has shown equal neglect for the Field Test Screen on iOS) Customers would benefit from even having a Band 41 device... but for people who just want it to "work" (but don't understand why) and will stay a customer if it does, it seems to me that getting a 2xCA Device in their hands makes that all the more likely to be the case... and hopefully they tell their friends that Sprint "just works".

Sprint needs to relentlessly drive home the message: "LTE Plus means better speeds and coverage. Here are the devices which support it."

From Saw's Post:

PC Magazine looked at Speedtest.net results for LTE connections on Sprint iPhones from October 1-9. They analyzed more than 32,000 individual speed tests, including more than 10,000 taken on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. They found that the average download speeds on the two new devices are 50 percent faster than the iPhone 5/5c/5s. And they found much higher peak speeds on our network - 121Mbps for the iPhone 6s, as opposed to 78Mbps for the iPhone 6, and 42Mbps for the iPhone 5s.

If tri band handset penetration will continue at the current rate of growth and reach 90 percent by the end of the year, then that is good.  There is no problem.

 

And typical users do not need 2x CA or 3x CA handsets.  Those are for RootMetrics results, for Sprint bragging rights -- to gain back public perception.

 

But any band 41 will provide a great experience for most users.  They will not notice the difference between a single carrier and 2x CA.

 

AJ

You know a lot more about this than I do (in fact, you'd forget more than I'd ever learn), but based on John Saw's LTE Plus Blog Post from November 2015, it seems like even typical users would benefit from having 2xCA devices.

As shown in the chart below, the combination of carrier aggregation and beamforming is giving our customers a much improved throughput experience, especially at the cell edges and indoors.

In response to your statement "Those are for RootMetrics results, Sprint bragging rights -- to gain back public perception"...

​Isn't that what's needed here? People aren't Sprint customers sometimes because of RootMetrics results (though that's now changing) or because Sprint doesn't have the bragging rights... or doesn't have the right public perception.

For many customers, I'd wonder how much their overall Sprint experience would change if you took a Dual Band or Tri-Band device out of their hands and swapped in an LTE Plus device.... Would they call Customer Care less often? Would they report Speed/Coverage issues less often? Would they tell their friends/colleagues: "Hey, I've got Sprint and it's awesome now. I'm also paying a lot less than you are."

At some point, these 2xCA devices would seem to pay for themselves either through higher customer satisfaction/retention, new customer acquisition or lower care costs.

I hope Sprint is being aggressive about making it appealing for customers to upgrade to an LTE Plus device and roll their old Single/Dual/Tri-Band devices off the network.

It definitely has to be the biggest factor. Not only do they not hold their value as well, but the range is highly variable.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

So what do you think it'll take for "Android Forever" to launch viably? Marcelo originally said it would happen. What changed?

I thought this metric from the Quarterly Investor Update (Page 5) was especially important: 

• Tri-band phones represented 64 percent of the 25.3 million ending postpaid phone connection base compared to 27 percent at the end of the year-ago quarter and 54 percent at the end of the prior quarter. During the quarter, 93 percent of postpaid phones sold were tri-band, an increase from 78 percent in the year-ago period and 89 percent in the prior quarter.
• Two-channel (2x20 MHz) carrier aggregation capable phones, which allow for higher data speeds, were 76 percent of postpaid phones sold during the quarter, increasing the number of these phones within the phone base to 21 percent.

Tri-band penetration still isn't close enough to 100%, and if we assume a current rate of growth, it should be in the 90% percent range within another year. As for 2xCA devices, Sprint needs to make it easier for customers to upgrade to the newest technology, not harder. Get those handset leasing vehicles in place and launch "Android Forever" already so those numbers continue to improve.

That's not it. Or not the site they gave me to use

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Was it this site?

This page and the submission form are pages on that site.

I spoke via tweeter with a rep from Sprint CEO team about letting Sprint install on my property since I'm in ideal location (I live on a hill, fiber under my driveway and the AT&T dslam is literally next door to my house...) and they sent me to a site called Sprint NPS (national property services). I haven't heard back from them yet but if I do get into something like that, I'll keep everyone posted here.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Was it this site?

Submission form

Let us know how it turns out! 

1.9 GHz mini macros do CDMA + LTE since they are literally macro site radio heads. 

 

Actual pico cells are LTE only.

 

So the small cell deployment is an integral part of VoLTE?

It smells like tower companies, in my opinion. They have a lot to lose if Sprint is successful in even a large scale expansion of Public ROW small cells. Then the others will jump in like gangbusters. Tower companies want all future network growth hosted on their towers.

 

They need all four providers seeking them for network expansion and infill. They invested billions for this pay day to now come to fruition. And they see it possibly being snagged for low operating expense companies like Mobilitie. Even if they aren't responsible, they hate this idea more than anyone.

 

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I'll go one further... It smells like the wireline providers (Verizon/AT&T) or their PR/Trade Association Surrogates.... They have a lot to lose based on this article:

Sprint estimates that the costs it pays for wireline operators to support wireless backhaul for its network historically cost about one-third of its overall operating costs of the base station.

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/399813/b602aca648/1727513141/a32ec9836d/

 

Sprint's new plan: Network Suicide

Jeez. That's a long way from "Network Vision". Ridiculous title.

Most of the so called analysts have no idea what they're talking about.

You just have to stop reading what they write no matter what click-bait title they use or use adblocking on their sites.

Look at Craig Moffett... He's been saying Sprint's been going out of business for years, and yet he magically maintains an aura of credibility in many circles... I don't know how.

It smells like tower companies, in my opinion. They have a lot to lose if Sprint is successful in even a large scale expansion of Public ROW small cells. Then the others will jump in like gangbusters. Tower companies want all future network growth hosted on their towers.

 

They need all four providers seeking them for network expansion and infill. They invested billions for this pay day to now come to fruition. And they see it possibly being snagged for low operating expense companies like Mobilitie. Even if they aren't responsible, they hate this idea more than anyone.

 

Sent from OnePlus 2 using Tapatalk

Yeah. These stories smell like "plants" to me too.

See this Blog Post by John Saw, Sprint CTO:

Sprint’s New LTE Plus Network Delivers the Fastest LTE Download Speeds

Some great content in this post about the Nielsen Mobile Performance Rankings vs. RootMetrics vs. Ookla.

LTE Plus is apparently in 150 Markets now. Wow. "Talk Less, Do More" indeed.

Great response from Sprint. And very quick considering Sprints history!

Link: Kevin Crull Appointed Sprint President for the Central Area; Roger Solé Appointed Chief Marketing Officer

Not sure if Roger has already taken over the role, but this is a sign of new blood in there for sure.

Sprint responds to Verizon's "Colorful Balls" commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KZTIgFzGIc

I can hardly ever get it to work, either. Why would they offer a feature that is only randomly available? I could understand like a M thru F 9-5 type of thing but it seems to be entirely random. I don't understand it.

 

Does anyone know anything further regarding chat? Perhaps one of our members who also works for Sprint? I hope they improve its availability because when it does work, it's quite useful.

 

So do you think they will continue to offer it?

 

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I think they will.

These vendor financing are debts.  If they utilize these financing, they will increase their net debts which management trying to avoid.  The network equipment leasing vehicle works as if the vendors still own the equipment and Sprint leases these equipment from them.  The difference between the two is one Sprint owns the equipment but its net debts will increase, and other one Sprint does not own the equipment but leases them from vendors and has no effect on debts.  

Appreciate the explanation on that!

Apparently, it's not all good news. This Verified Care Rep said his entire call site is closing down on February 5th.

Via the Sprint Subreddit