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xcharles718

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Posts posted by xcharles718

    A better plan structure?

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Thought of this while eating cereal...

     

    Talk

    $5-100mins

    $10-250mins

    $15-1000mins

    $20-2500mins

    $30-Unlimited

    Unlimited M2M is included at $15 and up. Sprint2Sprint calling is free for all plans.

     

    Text

    $3-100 messages

    $5-250 messages

    $10-500 messages

    $15-1000 messages

    $20-Unlimited

     

    Web

    $5-250MB

    $10-1GB

    $15-2.5GB

    $20-5GB

    $30-Unlimited

    Overage is $10/GB. Tethering is $8/Mo on the Unlimted plan, Tethering is included on all other data plans.

     

    Phone Subsidy

    Not available on featurephones and dumbphones.

    Cost can be between $0-$35/Mo(depending on how much is paid upfront).

     

    This would allow for one to build a plan to best fit their needs.

    • Like 3

    New buy up program "Upgrade Now"

    in General Topics

    Posted

    From ISN

    http://insidesprintnow.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/early-upgrade-buy-up-replaced-by-upgrade-now/

    (quote isn't working for me)

     

     

    I’ve receive *almost* as many questions about this over the past week as I did about the EVO LTE – and I was finally able to get an answer :) Here’s the new official policy, that eliminates the “early upgrade buy up” (aka contract buy out) and replaces it with a new program called “upgrade now”

    To provide a better customer experience and align Account Services with the same price points as Retail, we’re replacing the “Early Upgrade Buy Up” offer strategy with a new program called “Upgrade Now”. There will be 2 tiers for Upgrade Now fees, based on whether it’s an advanced or non-advanced device:

    Non-Advanced Devices

    • 09-11 mos. RLOF: $150 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY150
    • 12-14 mos. RLOF: $125 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY125
    • 15-17 mos. RLOF: $100 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY100
    • 18-21 mos. RLOF: $50 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY50

    Advanced Devices

    • 09-11 mos. RLOF: $275 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY275
    • 12-14 mos. RLOF: $225 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY225
    • 15-17 mos. RLOF: $175 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY175
    • 18-21 mos. RLOF: $100 UPGRADENOW; CSM charge code: BUY100

    Offers will continue to be targeted in sView/i-Care (Campaign: XU UPGRADE NOW) based on rebate life on file and other qualifying criteria.

    Agents must discuss the buyback program with customers.

    Retail stores will require the customer to use the buyback program on their old device (exceptions may apply), which in turns gives the customer an instant credit.

    Important note: Retail will not be going live until 6/18/12.

    Prior to 6/18/12:

    • Account Services will handle the call business as usual the same way we’ve handled the buy up offer.
    • Offers will need to be dispositioned as Offer Accepted/Declined based on the outcome.

    After 6/18/12:

    • Refer to nearest corporate owned store so the customer can take care of the entire upgrade process end-to-end without having to wait for their device to be delivered or their buyback credit to appear on the account.
    • Important: If customer chooses to visit a store, disposition as Offer/Declined. The store will disposition the Accept during the fulfillment process.

    Notes for Account Services:

    • Familiarize yourself with the new tiers available based on device type.
    • Review Targeted Offers to determine if customer is eligible for this offer.
    • If customer is eligible:
    • Educate on what the Upgrade Now program is, how it works, and options for completing the Upgrade.
    • Position Buyback on every call (instant if going through retail or future bill credit if processed online).
    • If prior to 6/18/12, handle the call business as usual the same way we’ve handled the buy up offer.
    • After 6/18/12, discuss with customer benefits of visiting a store and provide an address to the nearest corporate store. If customer does not want to go to a store, then handle business as usual, the same way we’ve handled the buy up offer.
    • Disposition the offer:
    • If before 6/18, disposition business as usual based on the outcome of the call.
    • If after 6/18 and you refer to store to have offer fulfilled, disposition as Offer/Declined. The Store will click Accept during the fulfillment process.

    • Like 1

    Do you still visit SprintUsers?

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Perhaps I lack the perspective to assert this, but S4GRU has come out of nowhere and -- in less than six months -- has skyrocketed to become the top Sprint focused forum on the Web.

     

    AJ

    I believe so. Just a few months ago we only a handful of members(maybe 25 or 30). Now, we have about 1,700 members and over a hundred users on at one time.

    Also, S4GRU is frequently referenced for Sprint deployment news(by TechnoBuffalo, Engadget, etc.)

    Virgin Mobile USA announces iphone available on June 29

    in General Topics

    Posted

    It'll be nice if VM offered some type of add-on that extended the un-throttled limit. Something like $5 or $10 to move that limit up to 5GB.

     

    Overall, the pricing of the plan is great. The phone's cost itself isn't, but it's un-subsidized, so Sprint should be able to let VM keep it's Beyond Talk pricing w/o any problems.

     

    I do wonder if they'll ever consider putting new phones on VM the same time that it's launches on Sprint. If a 6th-gen iPhone can be launched simultaneously on both postpaid & prepaid. Two separate markets, separate pricing, and more money in their pocket.

    FCC approves LTE deployment in 800MHz SMR band!

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    This is very interesting indeed.

     

    With 800MHz, the rural game can start to make financial sense. This is very very very interesting.

     

    If I was a betting person, I would guess that they are trying to establish the economics of 800MHz @ rural - something they've never been able to test before. You can't plan if you don't know those answers.

    Is the Montana 800 FIT in Kalispell? Nextel has a tower(1) set up there. It serviced a Nextel call center there.

    FCC approves LTE deployment in 800MHz SMR band!

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    I would expect that nearly all of the successful bidders in the FCC Mobility Fund's reverse auction will utilize Cellular 850 MHz spectrum.

     

    The initial Cellular 850 MHz license term is divided into two phases. During Phase 1 (five years, if I recall correctly), a licensee has free rein to construct as much geographic coverage as possible within its respective licensed area. At the start of Phase 2, the extent of geographic coverage that the licensee has constructed becomes the new licensed area, which may be smaller than the originally licensed area.

     

    In other words, if the licensee covers all of its originally licensed area within five years, then the licensed area remains the same. However, if the licensee covers only 75 percent of its originally licensed area, then the new licensed area is fixed at that 75 percent. Furthermore, in Phase 2, the uncovered 25 percent becomes Cellular Unserved area that is available (for free, if I recall this, too, correctly) to other applicants.

     

    By this late date, essentially all Cellular 850 MHz licenses are in Phase 2. So, almost any Cellular Unserved area is up for grabs. As such, I would expect that -- in conjunction with Mobility Fund reverse auction bids -- some bidders will also put in applications to cover Cellular Unserved area, hence be awarded Cellular 850 MHz spectrum for that area. Likely bidders would be remaining rural Cellular 850 MHz licensees (e.g. Plateau Wireless in NM, Union Cellular in WY, etc.) and license "squatters" (of which ATN's Commnet Wireless is far and away the most notable). Maybe VZW and/or AT&T will use the reverse auction to help improve their rural coverage, but I think that $300 million may be too little funding to entice them.

     

    As for Sprint, it could theoretically participate in the reverse auction and use any winnings to deploy LTE 800 in unserved area. That would probably be within the rules of the Mobility Fund, though I am not sure that it should be. Since LTE 800 is effectively proprietary to Sprint, it would not realistically present interconnection opportunities for other carriers and subs.

     

    AJ

    If Sprint does decide to participate in the reverse auction, they don't have to solely do LTE 800. They can deploy a 1xAdvanced carrier with EVDO there as well. CDMA roaming can be offered to VZW in the area.Virtually all Sprint phones already support cellular(prior to the inclusion of ESMR band starting last summer), so no additional work would be needed there.

     

    Also using 1xAdvanced in max-coverage configuration, along with minimum usable down-tilt should make covering large amounts of the licensed area possible without too much difficulty.

    FCC approves LTE deployment in 800MHz SMR band!

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    Probably makes the most sense to offer a rural affiliate use of sprint spectrum in return for native usage....the reverse auction description sounds like it favors regional and local carriers

    But who would they get to use that spectrum? If the area does have smaller carriers, they most likely are already with agreement with the other Tier 1 carriers. Sprint doesn't have any SRA's in Montana anymore(Western Wireless became a SRA member in Fall of 2004. They were bought 9 months later by Alltel, and they were bought by VZ in 2008).

    FCC approves LTE deployment in 800MHz SMR band!

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    FCC approves LTE deployment in 800MHz SMR band!

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    Um Robert, Montana isn't a city :P j/k

     

    But seeing that Sprint doesn't currently have native coverage in the state of Montana, it would seem that they have some coverage expansion in the works, no? Any other brand new future coverage that you can share?

     

    Sent from my Mean Evo 3D using Tapatalk 2!

    Sprint network expansion?

    Now that sounds crazy. I guess we would just hear more has NV progress. Maybe if NV goes well, they might look at a NV-extended plan for network expansion in areas and states they don't offer native service.

    4G or 4G LTE indicator?

    in Misc.

    Posted

    I think that adopting a "LTE" icon would be best. No need to preface it with 4G. It would differentiate itself from the WiMAX generation of phones. It's just a little thing that will let the customer know(or at least perceive) that this is different from the 4G phones of the past(WiMAX).

    • Like 1
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