Arysyn

I agree. I haven't seen anyone here defend Sprint adding more retail stores right now, and I think that is quite telling, aside from the obvious aspect of us being advocates for network development. Which leads me to a question I have for a poll I might create, once I think of how to arrange it best.

The network investments definitely sound good! I have a question though regarding VoLTE. As many here probably know, I've always liked Sprint's VQ over CDMA, having been impressed by it over the few times I had Sprint, which to me was a noticeable improvement versus T-Mobile's GSM VQ. While I'm not comparing, or even sure of the differences with VoLTE, as I don't believe I've used VoLTE or HDVoice as of yet other than noticing an improvement when I've used Skype, I'm curious about the different codeca being used for VoLTE. I've read people here mention Sprint using AMR WB, which I'm wondering what the other carriers are using, and how they compare in quality. I still haven't switched from T-Mobile yet, though I have a preorder out for the HTC U11 for using in switching to Verizon. The HTC U11 doesn't have a CDMA radio, so it will be using VoLTE on Verizon. I'm interested in knowing how the quality will be if Verizon is using a different codec for VoLTE than Sprint will be, and how they compare, in the case I decide to go with Sprint instead. Also, to further show I probably am the worst around here to make up my mind over stuff, there is a chance I may end up staying with T-Mobile, because of my possibly getting the Sony Z9D television, in which I'll want to get the Sony Xperia XZ Premium being released in a few weeks, that'll only work over GSM. At least I know I'm not going back to AT&T.

I really hope Marcelo changes his mind about adding retail stores and instead decides to announce "We at Sprint are really underserved in areas where we have a strong market, but currently have not taken full advantage of our greatest spectrum asset, the 2500mhz band. We plan on a mass deployment of this spectrum in key areas where we serve our large customer base, and we expect to aim around 99% of our current sites with this spectrum. Our next immediate step is to pursue any and all means for us to densify on a full-scale operation within these areas to expand our reach of all our spectrum assets. This now is Sprint's top priority."

I like Tidal for what it is in being a provider of high-quality music streaming, though that isn't to say Tidal doesn't have its faults. Besides, $200 million does seem to be alot of money for what Tidal is worth. Billboard even wrote an article about it here : http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7662726/tidal-sprint-deal-future For whatever reasons Sprint had though, hopefully this will turn out to work well for them. If Sprint and T-Mobile merge, if that is Sprint's thinking in planning for the future with Tidal among them, then I can begin to understand this purchase a bit better.

That is a great question... I thought Sprint would have announced some sort of deal for Sprint customers for free HiFi Tidal service. Now, I've heard from people saying Tidal works perfectly fine using Sprint, despite the 1.5mbps music streaming limit. Using Tidal's 16-bit audio quality, I understand that there shouldn't be any problems running Tidal at 16-bit. Although, I've heard that Tidal also is streaming some audio at 24-bit, which makes me wonder if that works or not. I've never tried it at 24-bit, so I'm not sure. However, if Sprint were to eliminate the streaming audio limit, or at least do it for Tidal, while offering Tidal HiFi for free, and offer a permanent non-expiry $90 for two lines, that would be enough of a deal to keep me from going to Verizon. I think the same offer would help get Sprint alot of customers, even as they already seem to be doing better as it is (Sprint's stores were packed around here on Saturday!). Doing this, would help explain the purchase, at least some sort of deal with Tidal on Sprint.

I am too. Although I doubt there ever has been a consensus around here at S4GRU about this, I'd be willing to bet and guarantee others' bets on me being the person most disinterested in sports of all the members here. I'd rather spend an entire week with John Legere talking to me 24/7 about the virtues of T-Mobile and why he hates the duopoly, heck - he can even yell at me for leaving T-Mobile, which would be more tolerable to me than my watching a sports game. No offense to sports fans though, just giving an example of my opinion about it. For this and other reasons, such as caring about Sprint's network progress, I'm glad Sprint stopped sponsoring Nascar. I'm still waiting to see what that investment in Tidal is going to provide though.

RedSpark, I'm unsure if the same thing frustrated you as it did for me, but I remember when I use to search online looking for Sprint news on Google search, and several search results mostly appeared showing information about Nascar, which frustrated me where I'd be thinking, "Noooo!!! I don't care about the racing stuff Sprint sponsors! I wanna know about Sprint and its network!" After a while of that, I discovered S4GRU. Definitely is a great thing Sprint stopped sponsoring Nascar, and hopefully is spending the savings on the network instead. By the way, how much did the sponsorship cost Sprint?

Emulators are great things to have. Its something I really miss from having Android, as its been months I've been without it while having the Lumia. I loved being able to play old Playstation games in the car. Makes me look forward to getting the HTC U11 for Verizon. One thing I recommend highly to anyone who likes emulators on Android, is to get a Moga Pro controller. It has a built-in stand that holds the device, while having large size buttons and easy to operate analog control stick. For emulators on a pc, I suppose it also depends on the game too. For my use, things were still too slow on the 700 series Nvidia Alienware I had a few years ago, and the screen size was 14-inch on the notebook too. I didn't think it should be that demanding, but it was. However, something really messed up badly on the computer after I upgraded the Windows from 7 to 10, so I had to return it to the store, which couldn't even fully fix whatever problem it developed. So, I've been stuck with my very old Asus ROG with a 560 Nvidia card that gets around 25fps on 720p while playing Shenmue with low settings. I really want something more powerful than that, especially for the 4k tv I'm going to get. Richy, in your opinion, if you look on the CyberPowerPC website for the Syber Vapor PC system, is that a workable size for a 1080TI or TitanXP? The other case size I'm considering if I don't end up buying directly from these companies, is something like the Puget Systems Echo Pro or Origin PC's Chronos. To me, the Chronos looks like the least likely to have overheating issues, but then again the EchoPro despite being smaller, has what appears to be several cooling fans.

Update on televisions here. The 75"-inch Sony Z9D has had a price reduction from $9,000 down to $8,000. At the one store I've been dealing with has offered a $500 discount to me for that television, which means I can get it for $7,500. I'm very tempted to get it, despite the $1,500 price difference of the 65"-inch A1E and the $4,500 price difference of the 65"-inch LG C6 OLED, which is the 10"-inch larger version of the tv I had image retention issues on. However, it never did become burn-in and the ir did get more tolerable, so I'm not thinking that particular issue as bas as I did in the past. However, I need a tv, so I'm going to get one of those two.

Does someone here know the spectrum allotments for both Sprint and Verizon in the Chicago.area? I know Sprint has around 120mhz of band 41, but the rest of it and Verizon's spectrum amounts here I don't remember at the moment.

I forgot the name of the DC emulator that is very graphically intensive, or at least was. There was an older one that wasn't as demanding, but didn't have the option to go up to 4k. Although, it has been awhile since I checked. I know $5500 is really extreme, and I'd much rather just get the parts myself and build it to save money, which might even be around $2000 in savings if I could. This is a huge investment I've been waiting for years to get, and didn't even have the money for it until recently from money owed to me as a child. Still, I really don't like having that cost, but then again I have no idea how to build a custom pc, nor do I think I can due to health reasons/needing dexterity to connect the thin cabling between parts. Here is what I'm wanting to get though, in terms of configuration : The i7-7700 4.2 CPU, 32gb or 64gb Memory, 2TB Samsung 960 M2 SSD, Nvidia Titan XP for 4k and to probably last this computer for many years graphically, and a decent fan cooling system. I'm not interested in any fancy liquid cooling, lighting, and what not. Plus, I'm looking for a very compact case that'll still work for these, not a huge tower or anything. When I started looking around online and configuring, I thought this would be around $3,000 to $3,500, but nope, its much more expensive. I've also considered the Syber Vapor from CyberPowerPC, which they go up to a 1080Ti, but the company doesn't offer an extended warranty from when I talked with them a few weeks ago.

Hey Cubbiefan, long time no see! Are you considering getting the U11? I've already ordered it to get active on Verizon when it arrives. I'm glad the unlocked version of the U11 will work on Verizon, despite not having a CDMA radio in it, unlike the Sprint version. This way, it'll keep connected to VoLTE without going onto CDMA, which on Verizon never sounded good to me. Sprint's CDMA always has been my favorite vq, other than the very old Nextel, back before Nextel started shifting over, that is.

That is true. I've even heard that the 900 series cards have difficulty in some capacity running the recent Obduction game by Cyan Worlds. One of the Dreamcast emulators I plan to run using the game Shenmue, did well with lower settings using one of the 900 series cards in 4k from something I saw online awhile back, but I'm taking into consideration that on a large tv with higher settings, it could be too much. I know I'm gambling on this, but I'm more confident that if needbe, it'll at least run in 1080p using the new TitanXp, especially in comparison with the 700 that ran well enough in 720p, just not a great frame rate that became even worse at 1080p.

Building a computer is alot more economical than paying a company to do it for you, especially one of the gaming-specific builders such as OriginPC, DigitalStorm, etc. The other thing, while a moderate PC ought to do fine running some newer high graphics games in 4K, emulators are massively greedy for computing power just on 720p/1080p alone. I had a 700 series Nvidia card in a computer a few years ago that couldn't play the Dolphin emulator at 1080p without having really bad frame rates in the upper 10s, lower 20s fps. I'm going to get the Nvidia TitanXp to make sure this can run. If just pc gaming though, not emulators, a 1050/1060 would do plenty well.

Sounds like a great deal, only $2 more than the contract price. I ordered the unlocked version, which I found a working $50 promo credit for, but still at a higher rate than what you paid. I'm planning on keeping the U11 until the LG V30 gets released. I got the U11 for working on Verizon since I'm leaving T-Mobile. The phone should be good while I wait on the V30.

Is HHGregg still in business by you? The one thing I like retail for is selling televisions and appliances. Everything else online. Its a shame many of stores are closing. Speaking of stores, after leaving from my medical test, I wanted to stop and ask a few questions at a Verizon corporate retail store, where there weren't any other customers, but my mother and I. Of course, we didn't start service there, that is for online. Then I decided to try going to Sprint so I could look at the HTC U11. We left Verizon around 10AM and were at a Sprint corporate retail store within ten minutes away. The Sprint store was so busy, there was a wait over a half hour. We went a few other places then tried another Sprint store, corporate too, and it was just as busy as the other one, but there must have been an assistant to answer my mother's question about the phone, which they told her not until the 9th. I sat in the car waiting during that stop, just too warm out. Although, its a very good sign for Sprint doing so well around here in the Chicago suburbs.

Those are some questions I'll have while making what I expect and hope to be my last trip Over to Abt next week, most likely on Monday, depending on the weather. I had to go out for a Pulmonary Function Breathing Test today, and the Chicago area weather right now is very, very warm. Makes me empathetic towards tv delivery people having to do weekend rounds today. If I decide not to get the Samsung, and there is a possibility of it, because its still going to be $5,500 plus $800 for the warranty, plus Illinois taxes, I may opt to deal with possible image retention issues by upgrading to the 2016 65"-inch LG C6, from the 55"-inch one that gave me those troubles, plus internet issues likely attributed to just that set. Thing is, there are many people, the majority of 2016 LG OLED owners very satisfied with their tvs. Despite the few issues I've had with mine, it still is a very good tv, and this is the time to upgrade. The cost is $3,000 for the larger C6, only around $1,000 more. The other thing is, its the only one of a few 2016 OLEDs with 3d and the only other 3d tvs last year are a few Sony tvs and the Z9D, which as great as the Z9D is, its $9,000, etc. That would interfere in my new computer purchase I need to make, for one powerful enough to run emulator games in 4k/3d, which will cost around $5,500.

Samsung definitely likes to have their own products integrate with each other, which since that is important to me, Samsung is a consideration for a television, though I'm iffy about getting one of the new QLEDs. I'll explain that soon in the 4K Televisions thread. As I've been considering the switch the past few days, I really like the new Verizon 24 smartwatch. I wish XfinityMobile carried it on their new service, or another LTE-enabled smartwatch for my mother. I'd probably get the LG XPower temporarily, until the Note 8 is available. The reason being, is I have Xfinity for Home Internet at 300Mbps download, and it has been working great. Be nice to bundle those services.

The ED1500 really is a great plan, something I think was a great offer by Sprint, which I believe if they introduced a similar plan, it could become highly successful in helping Sprint gain many new subscribers. Is it correct the $47 monthly includes the installment pricing rate costs? It sounds to me it might be, considering that back a few years ago when someone offered a line on their ED1500 plan to me, the plan total for my part of the overall payment prior to the device, was $35 monthly, then adding what I believe was $20 or $25 monthly additional for the Samsung Note 5 payment after the $15 monthly loyalty discount, which I had the added cost for the one-year installment or lease on (I don't remember exactly which right now). I'm a major supporter of service packages, if they give a good deal for one, that is.

Alot of people call the company that, and I don't blame them, as it does sound similar. It is a Chinese company that is really pushing for added competition in the less expensive tv space with specifications on par with much more expensive televisions. I have some good news of my own tv search. I had some difficulty earlier with the store I got the defective image retention-prone tv at, but we negotiated on a Samsung tv with an amazing deal I'll post about here next week if everything goes well. I'm really hoping it does, then I can plan to get a compatible Note 8 later this year to work between it and the tv seamlessly.

I'm planning to eventually get an Android, with my mother getting an iPhone 8 at the very end of this year/early next year. I'm either going to get a Sony Xperia XZ Premium, or wait until the Note 8. I'm trying to coordinate what smartphone I'm going to get based on connectivity with what brand of tv I'm getting, for compatibility reasons. I'm going to be busier the next few days exploring options.

I'm glad to see the carriers at least working together on helping to widen spectrum for their services. Although, it would be good to know what the result totals of spectrum are now, not just what has been swapped/gained.

I think when Marcelo sees the numbers not working too well at the physical retail level, but much better on the online level, hopefully he'll change his mind about spending so much money on physical retail, and really focus that online. Even groceries are getting more and more online nowadays and likely moving to a model with huge warehouses where people don't go shopping as often, saving money on gas, the environment, etc. All the reasons we here for why this is being so heavily promoted. The one difference I have with this physical retail vs online shopping deal, is instead of warehouses, I'd like to see a convergence between physical warehousing and shopping where people still have the choice to shop amidst huge mega buildings, or go up to a counter to shop via a screen, smartphone, or preselect items at home to pick them up. Sprint and other carriers could be right up front digitally assisting purchases while able to make sales all at the same space.

That looks interesting. I'd like to know the results from that particularly if I end up moving to Seattle eventually.

Thank you, greenbastard, and also to RAvirani who posted earlier addressing WiseGuy. I'm totally fine dropping the issue with Digits now, as I have been since a few days ago when I answered Travis' post to me. I've actually posted less the past few days here on S4GRU, other than addressing the few here who've been complaining about me. I addressed that on the last page, and was hoping that was the end of the complaining. I've explained everything I needed to about that. I agree, lets move on.