RedSpark

I hope Sprint’s upgrades now aren’t about just keeping the lights on and doing the bare minimum until the Merger. Saw’s reply to Sascha’s Tweet gives me that feeling however. At this point, I can’t wait for T-Mobile to take over, enable roaming and finally put some capex into the combined spectrum holdings. This has gone on long enough. I didn’t use to feel like this, but now I do.

I’m hoping roaming access to 600 MHz LTE improves indoor coverage on my iPhone 11 Pro. Sprint’s 800 MHz is simply non-existent at my worksite in downtown DC. I pick up 3 sites of barely useable Band 25.

I wonder when T-Mobile will turn on roaming for 5G. You’ll be able to pick up 5G on 600 MHz and on Millimeter Wave too since you got the Ultra (also supported on the Plus model as well).

Am I reading this wrong or is Dr. Saw saying that Sprint isn’t going to launch additional 5G cities beyond the 10 launched so far until the Merger is consummated?

One of the reasons Sprint is in its current predicament is that not enough “free year” or kickstart customers upgraded to higher tiers of service. Instead they churned out In droves, which cost Sprint a lot of money over the years. You can’t offer everything at each service plan level. Not offering 5G on the cheapest service plan is simply plan differentiation.

That’s a good question. Legacy plans such as Unlimited Freedom and Everything Data Share are also eligible for 5G.

Sprint is now offering 5G access across all of its unlimited service plans. That's a change from when Sprint first launched 5G last year; the service was restricted to its most expensive unlimited plan at that time. How about that...

It’s simply incredible isn’t it? I wonder who the Sprint “source” is in the article. “Our government affairs team made it very clear at the time it was the wrong move,” a former high-ranking Sprint executive with direct knowledge of the talks said. “It never occurred to us that he would not listen.” If I had to guess who the source is here, I’ll bet it’s Kevin Crull: https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2018/12/06/sprint-crull-chief-strategy-officer-leaves.html People talk about Nextel being a business failure case study. This should be as well.

Then Masa can ride that train off the rails as far as I’m concerned. I hope he loses every penny possible until the deal closes.

I believe Masa and Marcelo’s combined incompetence and arrogance managing Sprint post-acquisition rivals Gary Forsee’s during Nextel. There, I said it. At this point, I’m for the merger to close quickly so I get better coverage. I’ve now crossed that inflection point because it’s abundantly clear to me that that Masa and Marcelo had no intention of and still have no intention of making the changes or investments necessary to make Sprint competitive.

T-Mobile Parent Is Said to Seek New Terms for Sprint Deal “The German carrier, the majority owner of T-Mobile, is seeking a lower price because Sprint’s shares have been trading below their level when the deal was proposed in 2018, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private.”

Amazing backstory... Masa’s arrogance was simply astounding.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/sprint-surges-60-t-mobile-up-10-after-hours-on-report-merger-will-be-approved-2020-02-10 Up 60% 😮

Wow.

Nice photos!

That is interesting. Unless I’m missing it, T-Mobile only released this information:

Nice performance!

Nice work!

Sprint is using a “split mode” for LTE and 5G in Hard Rock Stadium with an 1,800+ antenna DAS to handle LTE while 5G will be transmitted over Massive MIMO. Sprint also used Massive MIMO to add 5G in select locations around the city to the infrastructure improvements they’ve been working on in Miami. From the Sprint Newsroom Site: At the Miami stadium where Sprint’s hometown Kansas City team and San Francisco will face off, we’ll provide even more Sprint customers with improved capacity and faster speeds on Game Day (as well as future games, events and concerts). Based on the huge increase in customers’ data usage last year and in 2018, we’re using two different technologies this year to help meet fans’ demands to stream, download, video chat, text and connect on social. In and around the stadium, Sprint’s Massive MIMO radios using our fast 2.5 GHz spectrum and breakthrough “split-mode” feature will enable us to simultaneously deliver our most-advanced LTE service and Sprint 5G for customers attending the showdown in person. In addition, we will be providing 4G/5G dual connectivity within the stadium, transmitting 4G over a state-of-the-art distributed antenna system (DAS) with more than 1,800 antennas and 5G through Massive MIMO radios. Together, these solutions will provide the equivalent of 10 macro cell towers at the stadium. That will give fans the coverage and capacity they need whether they’re in their seats, at the concession stand or tailgating in the parking lot. ......... Was the backhaul saturated? Not enough Massive MIMO radios?

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/proposal-to-allow-5g-antennas-deferred-until-june/ The latest... Sprint’s 5G strategy seems to be working out well since they can use existing towers.

Sure seems like it... Sprint’s 5G looks like the big winner this year. Curious what the final reports will show.

Nice! Wow!

The network man is in the house!