RedSpark

CDMA is an extremely robust voice technology.

"Prior to the second half of 2016, Sprint’s LTE coverage had improved across multiple test periods. In the second-half testing, however, Sprint’s rate of tests on LTE remained identical to what we found in the first half of 2016. Specifically, Sprint recorded at least 90% of its tests on LTE in 109 markets for the second consecutive test period." That "at least 90% of its tests on LTE in 109 markets" figure staying the same since the last test period sounds like it could be improved with more CapEx.

Great blog post!

John wasn't silent on Data or Speed: "We’re particularly pleased with this call performance ranking because we know it’s one of the most important drivers of customer satisfaction. While differences in speed (for example, 10 Mbps vs 20 Mbps) is not noticeable to most customers, a dropped or blocked call certainly is."

Sprint could make it happen in these stores by deploying a CommScope S1000 Unit (or larger unit if necessary) on the ceiling. These big box stores tend to have open space design and since they already have backhaul running to the store, Sprint could either utilize that or pick up the tab for the lowest cost Business Class Internet Sevice or Ethernet Backhaul. Sprint should be buying and placing these units by the thousands in Big Box, Pharmacies and Grocery Stores.

I think the issue that Sprint had was that there were so many customers still on Subsidized Plans, the value of which almost depended entirely on getting 2 Year Contracts. Sprint made this cut too soon. The number of people on Subsidized Plans was decreasing over time. (Page 9 of the Investor Update has a chart.) Sprint should have just let that process happen normally. This combined with those ED customers' perceived lack of Sprint's value/options for current customers vs. new customers on Sprint and new customers on other carriers. Once the 2 Year Contracts were eliminated (for good), and before Sprint tweaked the Unlimited Freedom Plan to have HD Audio and Video included for free for current customers in response to Verizon's move and T-Mobile's move in response to Verizon's move, those ED 1500 Customers would have had to pay an additional $20/line for Premium Resolution if they switched to Unlimited Freedom, and if they were doing a Lease/IB, they would have lost their Loyalty Credit. Now that Sprint has made its pricing adjustments, there's value in moving from ED to Unlimited Freedom and staying with Sprint. This wasn't the case about a week ago and so you had current Sprint customers not feeling "value" was being provided from Sprint vs. other Carriers... So they left for other Carriers.

Unlimited Freedom with HD prior to it being made a free add-on as a "thank you" for current customers?

The issue for ED customers is that the primary reason for staying on the plan (2 Year Contracts) was pulled. Now ED customers can Lease or do Easy Pay with a Loyalty Credit. However, the value proposition of staying on the plan kept decreasing as Sprint launched Unlimited Freedom with Mobile Optimized Video/Audio and Hotspot (which ED Plans didn't have) and Sprint charged an additional $20/month per Line for Premium HD Video. ED people were stuck. This, combined with the loss of the Loyalty Credit wasn't often a better priced option for many on ED Plans, so people stayed. Then, Verizon launched a competitive priced Unlimited Plan with HD Streaming and T-Mobile responded in kind with the same. Sprint hesitated in responding to these offers for new/current customers including ED people, even if it was just for a week, it was enough for customers who felt slighted to look for other carrier options. Made some Edits.

True. But you've got employees on the T-Mobile Subreddit giving them out like candy... Perhaps what happened to Framily will happen here. As I recall, Sprint didn't anticipate that people would share the Framily codes online in such great numbers with people they didn't know... and they didn't expect that many accounts to reach 7-10 lines. I'm not sure how Sprint didn't see that would happen. So perhaps the party will last for a bit and then T-Mobile will shut it off?

Where is T-Mobile finding all this money from to do this? It can't last, right?

Give it time! If you take Dr. John Saw (Sprint CTO) at his word, it won't last....

Interesting how the Intel Modem has support for CDMA. Fact Sheet: https://newsroom.intel.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2017/02/XMM7560-Fact-Sheet.pdf Qualcomm could very well find itself on the outside for this year's iPhone....

The Sprint Subreddit has the offer details: Sprints "thank you" to loyal customers

Are Loyalty Credits going to stick around or disappear?

What do you see under "Change My Plan".... The Sprint Website is a disaster for legacy content.

Sprint needs to get its website working properly for this.... Sometimes you have to call telesales for accounts larger than 5 lines.

That seemed to work... hopefully Sprint updates "Optimize my plan" to show this.

Soon: https://twitter.com/sprint/status/834078739872911361

Interesting. We're on a legacy plan and it shows "Unlimited Plan" in the plan optimizer, but it wants to charge $20/line for HD Resolution Upgrade. No mention of anything for Hotspot. Are other people here on a legacy plan seeing the same?

Doesn't come up on the "Optimize my plan" page when I log on. I hope it's better than this...

We're getting near 3:45PM on the east coast... and haven't heard anything yet. Sprint isn't a "value" carrier for current customers when it's the same price or more than the competition. Instead, Sprint is a "value" carrier for new customers.

Has the Sprint announcement for current customers gone out yet? I haven't seen anything and we're on a legacy plan.

Perhaps Verizon's plan was to build up a giant cash pile over the years with fees/overages and launch Unlimited just as Sprint ended Contracts. It was a well executed plan... of course, we'll see if its network can really handle it. Sprint needed to have an answer for this ready to go to offer current customers. It didn't. I honestly believe Sprint got caught totally flatfooted. Hopefully we get a good deal from Sprint today. If we don't, I think there's going to be a real issue with people porting out.

No official word yet from Marcelo on his Twitter or Sprint on its Twitter. This is an important day/announcement for retaining longtime customers... if this isn't handled well, I'm concerned about what the metrics will show during the next Earnings Report.

If Sprint had released new pricing for existing customers with the HD Streaming and 10 GB Hotspot at the same time it was announced for newer Unlimited Freedom customers, perhaps you might have not left... This should have been handled much better for current customers.