Arysyn

I really like that Love Sprint logo on that page. I think it would be great for Sprint to market itself as the "Friendly Carrier", which I think Sprint already is showing some strong signs of doing. I went into explaining some stuff relating to this in my latest post in the T-Mobile thread. I'm definitely intrigued by the possibility Sprint could be in this direction, especially considering their one year free offer, now this also. I think this is a great thing Sprint is doing, and hopefully they continue.

Robert, you are exactly spot-on correct about John Legere. All except that I think Ralph Nader would make a much better CEO than John Legere. Although, this post will be a bit long, as I have alot to say about this and regarding Sprint with T-Mobile, and some of my spectrum ideas at the end. Besides that, I've been saying for a long time how horribly overrated John Legere is. People who credit him for T-Mobile's success in the past few years really ought to keep in mind a few things. T-Mobile had help in the $4 billion breakup fee they received from AT&T, which John Legere had absolutely nothing to do with. That money was used on the network improvements T-Mobile desperately needed, which credit ought to go to Neville Ray for. All John Legere did was to take the popular bad-ass gimmick that has been used in the past to make businesses look cool, such as in professional wrestling. That didn't take much talent to do, nor was it much risk to the company considering T-Mobile has always been more focused on younger adults in the value market. Its pretty simple to see how that character would win over those people, and it isn't as if T-Mobile had much to lose in terms of the business professional market. Getting rid of contracts is likely something any new CEO to T-Mobile would have done, do crediting John Legere for that doesn't make him much more recognition worthy than to say he was in the right place at the right moment. It certainly doesn't make him out to be the visionary genius his supporters and those giving him more recognition than he deserves seem to make him out to be. At the most, he only really deserves to be considered lucky to have been given the job when he did with the ability to copy ideas from other businesses using those ideas in T-Mobile, those being low risk ideas as they were. Of course, my opinion of him is much less. I not only view him as a charlatan, but as an evil, spiteful, very mean-spirited person. Wireless needs someone the complete opposite if him. It would be great for there to be a true "uncarrier", led by a CEO who doesn't act corporate, but rather acts in the interests of consumers. However, that person ought to be some who is kind to others, nice, in general, and certainly not a bully like John Legere. That is why if Sprint merges with T-Mobile, they ought to replace John Legere with Guenther Ottendorfer. Besides Guenther's excellent personality, he actually mentions things of improvement to Sprint not things that have been done before in the past, such as the Magic Box and HPUE. The key is to innovate by means of new ideas, which Sprint actually is quite good at, such as the Fair & Flexible, SERO, Framily, and All-In rate plans, One Sprint, Phone Leasing, Nationwide tri-band Spark network streamlined spectrum portfolio rather than reckless auction bidding creating vast unevenness in spectrum between markets, and other variable aspects that make Sprint quite unique. It is in that case, perhaps Sprint would be best alone, deploying and densifying their way to bring the great wireless network company they can be, if only they'd have the cash for it. Although, a merger with T-Mobile and best to have Dish along with it too, I doubt that would do much to damage/destroy Sprint's character and the uniqueness of it. Merging with Comcast and Charter very well might though, as I see that leading to a takeover by Verizon. At least with Sprint with T-Mobile and preferably Dish too, Sprint would remain a third carrier, rather than being merged into a situation that very possibly could end up in a two carrier market. Plus, Sprint would be very strong on both ends and the middle of the spectrum equation working with T-Mobile and Dish. The 600mhz spectrum would be a minimum of 15x15, though 20x20 would be in many markets. AWS-4 could be 20x20 from Dish's 40mhz, despite Dish petitioning the FCC to allow them to use all of that for download. If Dish got their lost AWS-3 spectrum back from the tax situation, in combination with what they do have I believe its 10x10 or 15x15 in various markets. Same with AWS-1 and PCS, which also go up to 20x20. Combine Sprint with T-Mobile, PCS ought to be 20x20 nationwide. With nationwide 20x20 PCS and 20x20 AWS-4, I think the combined company ought to negotiate with AT&T and Verizon to trade either AWS-1 or AWS-3 spectrum, so the combined company can have either nationwide 20x20 AWS-1 or 20x20 AWS-3, while trading off the other for that opposite spectrum and possibly some extra cash to be used to buy/trade for added 600mhz spectrum elsewhere. If the combined company could get 20x20 nationwide 600mhz spectrum also, they could have a very strong, powerfully streamlined nationwide spectrum operation between three pairs of nationwide mid-band 20x20, along with 20x20 in the low-band (possibly giving up Sprint's 800mhz spectrum and T-Mobile's 700mhz spectrum as part of the merger deal). At last, the combined company keeping the 120mhz of band 41 spectrum, which if divided in half between download and upload, would give the combined company a grand total of 140mhz of download spectrum and 140mhz of upload spectrum, granted if they traded for this spectrum arrangement nationwide, and of course considering all other issues involved in such deals. It definitely would make for a much more spectrum beneficial arrangement than what is available from Comcast and Charter, unless of course Comcast and Charter have bigger plans that include Verizon. If the Charter Comcast deal is announced, I'll post my scenario ideas on that involving spectrum here.

That is pretty embarrassing for T-Mobile! I wonder if John Legere will respond to this. Although he isn't really even pretending to care much anymore, and alot of former magentans have stopped being such fans of his he never really ever deserved in the first place no matter how "cool" he pretended to be. Also, if Sprint does get a deal done with Comcast and Charter, that ought to put them in a better situation to get more business customers.

Probably because T-Mobile or John Legere himself needed to find a way in continuing to honor Neville Ray's "brilliant accomplishment" of working a way to lessen video streaming quality on the network for BingeOn.

Quick update - The store got the tv in today. So now I need to get the defective set picked up by the other store (the one with the image retention issues), and then get my other table delivered that has been in storage holding for over a month now while I've been undecided about the tv. Once I get the table and tv set-up, I might have some computer questions to ask here on S4GRU, as I need to get a new PC. However, now that I'm getting the 65"-inch LG C6P, I'm planning on getting the LG V30.

There definitely seems to be love lost in fans for T-Mobile over at this Reddit article. Seems like the cult of John Legere has broken up, which is a great thing. https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/6mf4jn/john_says_earnings_is_next_week_next_uncarrier/?sort=new

A few interesting Sprint-related news stories. One about the potential merger situation and an article regarding a billing error of sorts : http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/technology/article159892399.html http://theurbantwist.com/2017/07/10/sprint-erroneously-deposits-139000-new-customer/

Here is an article explaining the different plans from the various carriers : http://www.businessinsider.com/unlimited-plans-comparison-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile-2017-7/#att-8 Lately with the discussion on S4GRU regarding data abuse has me rethinking my very long time support of speed capped plans. I'm now more supportive of scrapping unlimited data in favor of low per gb rates after an initial set bucket of data, similarly to what I preferred prior to speed caps that I no longer believe really can be successful or even appropriate for anything, except perhaps as an overage option. If a non-unlimited plan or promotion were to happen, I would love to see one without carryover data, just a monthly allotment - in order to keep the per gb data rates less expensive. : Taxes included. 30gb monthly full-speed data allotment with HD a/v streaming and tethering included for $55 monthly per line with autopay, $60 monthly per line without autopay. Instead of deprioritization, there would be options to add additional data for $1 per gb for full-speed data, or unlimited data for the remainder of the month speedcapped at 3mbps for $15 monthly per line.

CNET has become worse than Consumer Reports in many ways. They both are very dumbed down regarding technology and are there for those uneducated consumers who don't really want to take the time to properly learn about their purchases. So I'm not too surprised by this article being written as it is.

Interesting suggestions regarding peak/off peak times. The difficulty though is that sometimes those change, and could end up being a problem in areas, such as cities when there are late night celebrations and such. Also, carriers really ought to do a better job regarding deprioritization. I very often read comments online from people who are very angry to see their speeds drop drastically in an area when they are just shortly over the limit. Whereas others who've gone way past the limit still are getting very fast speeds. I'd rather there be an across the board speed throttle after a certain limit or better speed management that will affect everyone equally during congestion and at times nearing congestion, which would be better than just automatically throttling a few people while everyone else has faster speeds.

Contracts are okay, but if anything, they'd be better for devices rather than service contracts, as those for service have mostly gone away. Service contracts would need to make a reappearance for this, and that doesn't seem likely. Besides, terms of service can be easily disputed, and I'm not sure that is the best solution to resolving the problem. As I mentioned, I think speedcaps and data caps are a better way of dealing with this.

You both make good points, and I don't see anyone here openly advocating that data abusers have the right to continue doing what they do without repercussions. Its just a matter of should they be removed as customers without warning, or given notice. I believe they should be given notice, but also have something changed to their plan. Adam mentioned having these data abusers be charged for the cost to the network, which while is a neat idea in principle, just doesn't work. Besides, its not just cost involved, but actual disruption to the network for which cannot be reimbursed to carriers by means of cash, and its really a disruption to other customers. Dan obviously takes a stricter stance, for which I understand too. The activity it takes to disrupt a network is really bad, and some of the data numbers I've seen from abuse is really outrageous. Personally, I'd rather see a return to data capped plans that are sensibly priced, while unlimited plans get speedcapped when the network isn't fully available at high speeds. I think such plans would make a great compromise.

Very true, despite my own objection to the family plan discounting. I did like Sprint's Framily plan discounts though, which added value for people on the plan, the more that were in, the more value for everyone. I believe something similar to Framily may happen again after the mergers, unless it takes the other direction back to individual line charging once competition has been minimized. I doubt things are going to stay the exact way, and even if they somewhat do, prices will be raised on multi-line accounts to match closer to the first line.

It is official, rate hike : http://www.tmonews.com/2017/07/t-mobile-one-plus-price-increase-july-6/ However, the article notes that customers can keep it at the current rate, so long as they get it before the rate hike.

Also keep in mind, Dan, that if T-Mobile raises the rate, your rate still may be grandfathered. However if they do raise your rate, that'll be bad, and definitely understandable why you'd consider switching. For a single line with the rate increase, Verizon definitely seems like a better deal.

This probably is a reason why Charter and Comcast are looking at Sprint. If they can consolidate cable across the nation with their own cable, that could be used as backhaul for Sprint to really succeed. My theory is they'll get Sprint, then use Sprint on a national basis for why they need to pickup other cable companies across the nation, also for service bundling purposes too. Then the excuse will be the need for more towers, and from there they can introduce Verizon into it as making a stronger company between Verizon and Sprint. The network reach of Verizon, the immense spectrum of Sprint, in conjunction with the cable reach of the combined cable companies would make for a very strong national carrier completely ready for 5G and beyond. The cable is essential for this, which is why after a deal with Sprint, if that were to happen, likely would bring on the cable mergers.

It really depends on one's own situation. I certainly know the feeling of wanting to leave T-Mobile when certain anti-consumer things happen, but then again, there are long-term advantages to keeping a plan at a great rate. Right now, I'd say the price wars are dead, totally dead. Prices are going to rise as more merger talks happen. This is a merger market for carriers right now, and its exciting to witness on the perspective we finally are going to see some real progress in network development as mergers take place and 5G can be introduced much more efficiently through carrier consolidation. In the meantime, those locked in at a low rate are better off keeping that, unless their service is so bad, they really need to switch. If so, now probably is the best time to do so, before the rates increase upon more merger speculation.

I believe you are right about cable. The path I think things may be on, is where one company controls all the cable in the nation, along with one half of the national wireless carrier competitive market, while the other company controls all the phone line and entertainment satellite providers, along with the other half of the national wireless carrier competitive market. Such as Charter and Comcast buying up the Cable market across the country so they can provide national bundles through the potential Sprint/Verizon conglomerate, while AT&T markets advanced DSL/Fiber bundles, along with Directv/Dish (unless Verizon takes Dish as an alternative to Cable the way Directv is somewhat of an alternative to Uverse), bundling services through AT&T/T-Mobile. Of course, this could completely not happen if Sprint goes ahead with T-Mobile, though its questionable at the moment.

I'm quite surprised T-Mobile isn't raising it any higher, such as to $15 more per month. I might surprise a few people by saying this, but there definitely is a downside to these mergers, and I think these price hikes could get very bad from now on. As good these mergers are for network quality, and while I believe the FCC under the current administration will approve of them beyond anything seen in the past, the excellent for business/pro-merger administration likely will cause the carriers to spearhead major efforts to raise prices. I was trying to see a way forward where these mergers would get approved via promises made and hopefully kept to maintaining prices at reasonable levels, but this administration just seems too pro-business to really care much about consumer price protection, although network quality will get a major boost from this. Sadly though it can't all be the same, and therefore is going to change, and in a major way. Yet, anyone guaranteed a price point will be allowed to keep that rate, so long they don't change carriers. I've decided to keep T-Mobile, as I'm anticipating one of three developments happening. One is they merge with Sprint. The other is they merge with Dish. Finally, they end up with AT&T, possibly both AT&T and Dish merge, while Sprint goes the other way with Charter, Comcast, and Verizon. Yes, I see a huge mega duopoly for the future of wireless, where the first line costs $90-$95 monthly, while each additional line costs $45-60 monthly. At best, perhaps there might be a $90/$60/$30 promo, where HD is offered at a $5 upcharge per line, but thats about it.

That is true. I still think Comcast is going to try appeasing both, but we'll see... In the meantime I'm a bit curious why there hasn't been much talk about Dish, regardless of whether they try again with T-Mobile, or make a counter offer for Sprint, etc. I thought they had a deadline coming up soon with the FCC.

Thank you for sharing the link, AJ. Regarding my tv decision, I did actually make a decision, just that I'm waiting for the store I ordered it at to get it in stock officially from their warehouse. They apparently are not absolutely certain it will come in though, or if it will be new. If it isn't in, or new, then I'll have to go with my second choice at another store. The one I'm waiting for is the 65"-inch LG C6P, which if I get I'll just have to be extra careful with regarding image retention, though most people think the issues I had with the image retention on the 55"-inch were set related, not a common occurrence.. If that doesn't get in, or it turns out they only could get a used unit, the other tv is the 75"-inch Samsung KS9800.

Hi TwoSpirits, Hopefully you slept well and didn't have a dream of a boardroom merger battle with Donald Trump and myself yelling out through tense business negotiations, ha! You very well may be right about my idea being too big of a merger for the FCC to approve, but what I'm going by in my thinking is the out of the ordinary nature of the Trump Administration combined with this being one of the most business-oriented administrations in U.S. political history. I'm definitely not expecting any big mergers overnight, but in a step by step process I believe could lead to a two carrier situation. We've been hearing alot on/off about the T-Mobile merger with Sprint. Then suddenly this Charter/Comcast possibility gets announced and seems to captivate Sprint's attention. To me, this means that Charter and Comcast may have given Sprint executives reason to think this would be a bigger and better deal for Sprint both in the short term to their investors and with long term growth potential. Comcast already has a great working business relationship with Verizon, which I doubt they'd want to jeopardize, especially a deal where Comcast technically would have much better reach with their digital entertainment platform with Verizon than they would with Sprint. Hence why there have been the reported statements that Sprint could still merge with T-Mobile in the future, etc Only difference is that I believe it won't be T-Mobile Sprint merges with under the Charter/Comcast deal, but rather Verizon. Also, I think the Spectrum naming idea is a very good idea you mentioned, TwoSpirits. I think that might happen if Charter/Comcast do get this deal to go through, especially since Xfinity Mobile already is in use.

Thank you for the reminder. Yes, I know things will take awhile getting the networks on the same system. Actually this reminded me back when AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless merged together. I was reading HowardForums alot back then (even posted a few times every so often). I remember when this was happening, there were alot of discussion pertaining to the "Blue" Network and the "Orange" Network. At the time, I figured this meant AT&T was "Blue" and Cingular was "Orange", and talk regarding this went on for some time, with people referring to various connection differences between the two. I'm certainly curious about the process if it were to happen between Sprint and T-Mobile, or whichever other carrier may be involved in a merger with Sprint, etc.

I like the name idea, especially as it could be used well with Sprint's spectrum.

in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti