RedSpark

That’s a huge advantage for Sprint. Sprint’s PR/Comms shop needs to be on the ball here.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/360673/t-mobile-5g-wont-start-out-much-faster-than-4g This sums up T-Mobile’s 5G Deployment Issue: According to Karri Kuoppamaki, T-Mobile's VP of radio network technology development and strategy, higher-frequency millimeter wave spectrum only has cells about 900 feet wide, though Verizon's chief network officer Nicola Palmer said last year that they can get gigabit speeds at 2,000 feet from a cell. _______ So that’s a 900 foot cell radius which comes out to 0.1 square miles. The continental US is over 3 million square miles. T-Mobile’s 600MHz network doesn’t have the carrying capacity for true 5G speeds so it will need to supplement with millimeter wave in high-speed hotspots.... and the economics for a wide deployment of that are hard to justify. VS. Dr. Saw previously said this about Millimeter Wave: https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/sprint-says-no-to-mmwave-yes-to-mobile-5g/d/d-id/739592 Sprint's CTO said Wednesday that he is not sure that using millimeter waves to deliver 5G services is a practical economic use of the high-band spectrum and that Sprint will be focusing on using its existing bandwidth to deploy 5G, at least initially. _________ Dr. Saw’s specific quotes: "What is the cost to deliver a bit over millimeter waves? Where is the business case on that?" John Saw asked at the Citi conference in Las Vegas. and "We need to solve the cost challenges before you can scale millimeter wave," Saw said. He did say that mmWave could be useful as a hotspot "overlay" to a lower band 5G network, but he added that "the laws of physics say it won't propagate very far."

Interesting development: https://www.fastcompany.com/40564327/intel-to-supply-70-of-iphone-modems-this-year-100-in-2019

I still have faith and I’m long on Sprint stock. Sprint’s fundamentals are finally on solid ground and it’s making forward progress. The needed investment is finally happening. I believe the push to 5G will put Sprint at self-sustaining critical mass. In my opinion, the reality is much better than the perception... and Sprint can fix the perception problem by making itself the 5G leader and communicating that effectively.

I’m holding onto hope! ? Any way to find out the other FCC ID’s? Would there necessarily have to be a permit for an Antenna swap?

Sprint is on its way to being viable competition. I don’t see Sprint going bust. People have been saying this would happen for years, and it hasn’t happened in spite of the waste, bloat and management mistakes that have happened over the years. No way to pay off its debt? That’s what free cash flow is for, and that’s happening. Sprint’s cost structure is finally under control. Sprint also has been able to be creative with its financing through SpectrumCo. Marcelo has finally righted the ship (with credit due to Hesse as well) and Sprint has a viable plan to lead on 5G. I see good things ahead.

There’s still a few days of April left! http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-unveils-5g-ready-massive-mimo-markets.htm

And what I’m saying is that you can’t view this potential merger as only a benefit to the company (or companies) and not a potential detriment to consumers and the market as a whole. AT&T is fully capable of generating its own competitive appeal for customers. It didn’t need to acquire T-Mobile for that. Same goes for Sprint. This doesn’t have to happen. What’s supposedly “good” for Sprint isn’t necessarily good for us. Sprint is capable of making it on its own steam... and it should.

I think that any network integration would take a substantial amount of time. And, if you get a device (iPhone, Pixel, etc.) which is compatible on both Sprint and T-Mobile, you won’t be left behind.

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. I’ve heard from a number of Sprint site folks that they’re super busy right now and that this is what they’ve been waiting for. I don’t think it you should hold out for a new phone based on the possibility of a merger happening. Any merger, if it did actually happen, would require a substantial amount of time to fully integrate the networks, so your device would work for a while. In terms of device longevity and carrier compatibility, nothing compares to the Unlocked iPhone in my opinion. Sure it doesn’t have HPUE yet, but I’ll bet the next one coming this year does. Or, grab yourself a Google Pixel, which is about as close as you can get to the iPhone in terms of carrier compatibility. The Samsung S8/S8+ now has the universal profile too. Perhaps that will make its way to the S9. You can also trade-in your device to offset any costs of a new one due to a merger. Just my thoughts.

What’s the necessary ROI on a $39 Billion expenditure to warrant it vs a Capital Spend of $3.8 Billion to accomplish the same, which they were clearly capable of doing? Fair enough, I was against the AT&T merger too... and I’m against this one for the same reasons. We shouldn’t trade short term synergies for long term market consolidation, which will for the modern era, be irreversible. I just don’t see the benefits here. Sprint could accomplish this on its own, especially now that more 2.5 GHz Spectrum is going to be available: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/ebs-portions-2-5-ghz-band-headed-for-big-update-at-fcc. A merger shouldn’t be an escape path for Masa to bail and leave the market more consolidated than when he came in.

Remember how AT&T was willing to spend $39 Billion to acquire T-Mobile? https://techcrunch.com/2011/08/12/leaked-fcc-doc-reveals-details-of-atts-strategy-for-t-mobile-deal/ AT&T said it needed T-Mobile to increase LTE network coverage from 80% to 97% of the population, and it was willing to spend $39 Billion to acquire it. Of course, we now know that AT&T didn’t need T-Mobile to accomplish that. It had to arrive at 97% simply to keep up with Verizon... and this is aside from DirecTV and other things that it’s done since to be competitive. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leaked-ATT-Letter-Demolishes-Case-For-TMobile-Merger-115652 Not only that, the leaked material showed the cost stated by AT&T to expand its LTE coverage from 80% to 97%: $3.8 billion. That’s ~1/10 the amount. So why do you think AT&T wanted to acquire T-Mobile?

Here’s an interesting take: The DoJ’s corruption investigation of Verizon and AT&T could save us from a Sprint-T-Mobile merger

No one seems to be using Sensorly for Speed Tests in DC. Seems like a ghost town. I used it for a while, but now I’ve been mapping a bunch using the Rootmetrics App. I am amazed at the huge Map difference between T-Mobile and Sprint on the “Fastest Speed Found” Map Layer in the Rootmetrics App. What explains the difference? Does T-Mobile send out people to Speed Test? Do T-Mobile users Speed Test more frequently in the Rootmetrics App? I always thought that Legere didn’t like Rootmetrics.

Here’s how it would compare in size to people’s heads!... https://twitter.com/SprintCTO/status/987431065642991621 And to other gear... https://twitter.com/SprintNetwk/status/987109435788152833

Yeah, I don’t understand why they’re doing this. The map should reflect the coverage for the last time it’s been mapped. Rootmetrics maps keep the old data around until it’s remapped as far as I know, so that’s why I use it. I assume that some progress has made on the slow areas (Orange/light blue hexes) since whenever they were last done, so I always try to go to those areas and speed test to update the “Fastest Speed Found” Map layer. I was mapping around the north side of Downtown Bethesda (Woodmont Triangle) last night and was pleasantly surprised at the speeds. The speeds around Bethesda Row and south of it could use some work though. Have a look! ?

I did? I’ll have to go back and check! I found this FCC Filing that Sprint made on March 26, 2018: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10326217025032/March 26 Sprint Ex Parte.pdf

Pretty neat!

LOL! Perhaps! I can’t imagine Sprint working with Comcast given Comcast’s arrangement with Verizon. Not sure what Sprint’s actual densification plan is here otherwise.

They are in Altice and Cox markets.... I’d love to see a deal made with RCN for the DC area, including areas of MD and VA. https://www.rcn.com/hub/about-rcn/where-we-service/dc-metro-service-areas/

It’s great news! Also his mention about the thousands of strand mounts they’ve deployed as well. Good to know that 2CA or 3CA is on nearly every Band 41 Site. Hopefully they can accelerate the Band 41 Site upgrades. This was a very detailed report!

John Saw with a pretty thorough update on Sprint’s progress: http://newsroom.sprint.com/putting-spectrum-to-work.htm

Consolidating to 3 Major Carriers is a bad idea in my opinion. I do agree that Softbank has been depriving Sprint of funds in favor of other projects. Perhaps that’s Masa’s way of forcing Marcelo to get rid of the bloat that has dogged Sprint for years... and honestly, if you look at the cost savings that Sprint is achieving now, it’s unbelievable. Literally Billions of dollars of savings. All of this money was wasted for years and didn’t go into the network. Sprint has a chance to stand apart with a 5G Network based on 2.5 GHz. I’d like see them succeed on their own. I believe it can happen, but we’ll know soon either way. T-Mobile might call itself the uncarrier, but it may become the recarrier after merging with Sprint, if it hasn’t already in some respects.

This is pretty sleazy on the part of T-Mobile, and the FCC called them on it: https://www.macrumors.com/2018/04/16/tmobile-fine-rural-areas-fake-ring-tones/ Falsifying ringtones? That’s a whole new level of shady, and Legere had to know. I for one don’t want this merger to happen...

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.