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Arysyn

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Everything posted by Arysyn

  1. Strange thing is for years there was talk about Dish having to give up spectrum if they don't use it by a certain time, yet that time must have well past by now. Yet, no news regarding that anymore. I imagine so long as Dish doesn't get pressure to do something, then they probably will resist things like mergers, etc., but if that time does come again, it'll be in Dish's interest to look for suitors. My view on a Dish/T-Mobile tie-up, granted if Ergen were more willing based on pressure, is that a merger between those two would be much easier to be accepted by the regulators than a T-Mobile/Sprint combo. It would give T-Mobile some nice selling perks with entertainment bundle options and while not the huge spectrum gain they'd get with Sprint, Dish's added spectrum would keep T-Mobile well set for future growth, while currently some markets are already strapped for spectrum, such as the Chicago market. Surely the added 600mhz spectrum will help, but add in Dish's mid-band spectrum to the mix, T-Mobile has plenty room for growth, without any worry. Regarding Verizon, their spectrum seems strapped when their speed numbers dwindle due to unlimited data. Its one of the few things Legere has been right to target.
  2. In a sense, I'm disappointed about this, but then again this has me hoping T-Mobile will go for Dish, otherwise Sprint may tie up with Dish. However, I think it would be better for Sprint to grab U.S. Cellular, while T-Mobile goes for Dish, then later on let the cable companies go after Sprint once the cable industry consolidates enough to make owning a national wireless carrier viable.
  3. I've been silent on the merger deal for some time now, because besides my lack of time online lately, I haven't had as much interest in it as I use to. However, one of the reasons has been specific to the Sprint/T-Mobile merger itself not being something I thought was really possible, or even necessary for either company, and that the only greater thing about it is that it might open up possible merger attempts by other companies I find more suitable to merge with either Sprint or T-Mobile than having Sprint and T-Mobile themselves merge together. One of the biggest arguments I've heard in favor of the merger between Sprint and T-Mobile is in terms of giving the combined entity a much more competitive scale against AT&T and Verizon regarding customer number figures. I've always been dismissive of that, thinking it to be a minor issue to have reason for merging, particularly as customers can be gained and churned through basic business decisions within normal operating procedures. T-Mobile's growth itself over the past few years is proof of that. However, after reading some articles about this merger when I've found time and interest in doing so, especially since I'm still a T-Mobile customer who would be affected by this merger, I've considered something that makes me more understanding of this and inclined to wanting it to happen more than just the idea of added spectrum being a perk in this. I've read that the customer totals with the combined entity would be much closer to AT&T and Verizon, and when thinking about how the Duopoly got to those numbers through their own mergers and acquisitions, then the Sprint/T-Mobile merger begins to make more sense to me and my figurations on it being allowed to happen, despite the large spectrum advantage the combined company will have. Not to say I've rethought the spectrum matter I've spoken of where I believe they'll be able to keep most of their spectrum and losing very little to the merger deal approval conditions. Yet, I believe this merger now has a stronger chance at happening by focusing on the customer count and allowing the merger on connected attributes, even those of the competition's own history of getting to where they are now, none of which is the pure internal growth many of us here on S4GRU otherwise believe Sprint is capable of. I certainly still do, but at least I understand a bit better why they want this merger so badly and how they'll be able to get it to happen.
  4. My mother use to have the iPhone 6, and when I set it up for her I was quite surprised how much I liked it. I've been a long time Android user, despite my not liking Android much at all. To me, Android is too complex, though I know its complexities has advantages for users who like the level of customization Android provides. Yet, the only reason I was still using Android was because of its openness in accepting video game emulators on the platform, which iOS lacks. However, I really liked iOS on the iPhone 6, in fact so much that it has had me rethinking my priorities for device usage, along with knowing Apple's hardware is much better, faster for gaming and other device usage in contrast with Qualcomm and Mediatek processors using Android. So, non-emulator app games run faster on Apple, of course along with other apps and such. Combined with the excellent hardware and software, I thought this through very carefully, and even brought my computer purchasing plans into consideration, in regards to emulator solutions to possibly switching to Apple from Android. What I decided to do, is wait a few months for the new Nvidia gpus to arrive for the thinner gaming laptops, such as Razer, which I'll get then to bring along with me on car rides that won't be so heavy like the majority of high-end 10+ lb gaming laptops, use that for emulators along with the need I have to replace my six year old behemoth Asus ROG. Doing this, I can quit Android and go with Apple, which is exactly what I'm doing. I got a great deal from T-Mobile for the 256gb iPhone X, which I ordered in time for 11/3 delivery, and my mother is getting the Watch 42mm Space Black with Black Band (the more premium, non-Sport version). Along with that, she's getting the iPhone SE 32gb as her main line, with the Watch secondary. I'm going to have the iPhone X as my device.
  5. I have no interest in social media, personally. The only thing I have that could be consider it, is a LinkedIn account, but I got it way before Microsoft bought LinkedIn and made it more social media-like. I may not keep the account if it gets more that way than not. I figure LinkedIn eventually will become more like Facebook.
  6. Seems as the Pixel XL 2 is better for Sprint while the V30 is better for T-Mobile, in terms of frequency availability. I'm still considering either one of them, or possibly ditching emulation on the phone and going full Apple.
  7. I definitely don't have any issue with how they site looks now, but I'll make a few suggestions that might help make things look easier to view the site for people still preferring it darker. My suggestion would be to have a light black background, not dark black, but a color code similar to what Sprint is using in the top bar of their website where it lists "call to order" and the sign in area, or perhaps the shinier, yet darker black used in the sign-up for Sprint offers box down near to the bottom of the screen. I've seen Sprint using that color alot in their newer stores. Having it as the main background (not the message area background), would give this site a darker, more easier to read feel to the site, while also being more familiar to Sprint. Also for the message bar, perhaps a slightly darker shade of white/light grey that doesn't interfere with the message type, maybe making the message type a pure black #000000 color code would help too.
  8. The great Sprint news posted here lately reminds me of reading S4GRU back in 2014, when talk of network development was back in its prime, already with much of NV having been completed. Its really good for Sprint and their customers to be developing like this at this rate, which will make a major difference in allowing Sprint not only to improve greatly, but also to be able to remain strong on its own without a merger. Yet if Sprint does all this then merges with T-Mobile, then that'll be it for AT&T and Verizon.
  9. I was pretty impressed Google replaced Robert's Nexus 6P for a Pixel for free. That seems like an excellent customer service deal to me.
  10. The issue with service to customers isn't something that is dependant on local vs national. I've done business with big chains that were alot nicer to me and easier to deal with than others that are local and family owned. Likewise, in other situations, vice versa. Having large carrier corporations isn't necessarily going to make it worse for customers than dealing locally. For instance, US Cellular could be considered local/regional, and when I had them several years ago, I had much worse dealings with their customer service than ever from T-Mobile, which of course is a national carrier. In situations with service, and regarding this issue in Maine, what needs to be in place is a better regulatory environment that works. Not necessarily more or less regulations, but ones that actually do what they are suppose to keeping check of the carriers, whether local, regional, or national. Regarding my wanting fewer, more powerful carriers, I never said they should go unregulated and have powers to ban/remove customers, or anything else customer-unfriendly. All I want from these mergers is a system that basically allows these carriers more power over their spectrum, and greater spectrum allotments to serve areas more equally. Again, nothing to do with the current issue being discussed in this thread.
  11. I'm glad ultimately I decided not to go back to Verizon. Otherwise I'd be stuck with 720p resolution paying $30 or $40 more per month than T-Mobile, where I get full HD and even 1440p. Plus, not supporting a company that would do this to their customers in Maine is a reason for me not to be with Verizon. As much I think John Legere can be a jerk, even he wouldn't do this, or if he had to, he'd do alot more for these customers than Verizon would.
  12. Then again, they may be abusing their Verizon data, because there are such limited data options there. Not to say that it is a good excuse, but still one nonetheless. Many news articles I've read of areas with limited data service options almost seem to give permission to people in these areas to abuse wireless data, when they write about how the companies are forcing them onto wireless.
  13. Maine doesn't even get very good broadband internet options either. I once considered moving to Maine, checked the internet options in both Bangor and Portland areas, wasn't impressed at all. They really need more high-tech there.
  14. It would be amusing if Verizon were to announce purchasing USCC. That is one company that no matter what cutbacks USCC makes, they never seem to be involved in a merger attempt.
  15. Thank you, Robert. I'm going to keep aware when posting in the meantime.
  16. Dan, I mean what I'm about to say with respect, no offense intended. This is why cutting customers for any reason isn't necessarily a good thing. Remember the debate from a while back some of us here on S4GRU had regarding cutting customers for data abuse? The problem with allowing that may leak itself into allowing carriers the right to cut customers' service for other reasons, even cutting coverage then doing nothing for them, or possibly picking and choosing which customers the carrier feels deserves refund on device purchases, etc based on remaining monthly payments, leases or whatever. This is why there needs to be some balance between carrier and customer rights, even for issues such as data abuse. Otherwise, carriers very well may get greedier than ever arbitrarily cutting service, coverage, etc. This even makes me understand those who debate me about carrier consolidation issues, which I understand this as a disadvantage to mergers and why there needs to be regulatory consumer protections in place for that, and even now.
  17. That probably is to individual users being cut off, but in case of Dan's post - if Verizon is cutting coverage, then there is a potential loophole around this Verizon could use. Verizon could claim that since their network still technically is national, and it isn't as if they are "restricting" service to people residing in areas where their coverage is being cut, they merely are just "limiting their coverage. If these were the old local plans as Verizon offered several years ago and people in these areas were under contract, they could fight Verizon on this much more easily they they can now. Unless their are laws relating to area codes or some other laws I'm unaware of, this could be difficult for other customers to fight.
  18. I figured it out, its paragraphing that seems to be adding a space to the end. When I keep everything to one paragraph, it doesn't add the extra space. It seems there might be a software glitch, where instead of the space being added in between paragraphs, as the old software did, this update is adding the space after, and is forcing the user to correct the space.
  19. Hmm... Dan likely will respond sometime soon to address what he found. I personally don't like all this local partner business in wireless, regardless of the carrier. I'd prefer the national carriers owned the entirety of their networks, only to make contracts on their towers (ie., leasing towers from Crown Castle, etc., and roaming agreements between carriers). Also, there ought to be some regulation in place restricting national carriers from being able to cut coverage. If it turns out this is what Verizon is doing, regardless if there is some other local company/cooperative involved, then the other carriers ought to condemn this on principle of forcing out customers. I wonder what is going to happen now that contracts generally are not being offered and people have monthly payments in to the carriers for device installments. It isn't always the case they can take their Verizon devices over to T-Mobile, etc. I'm sure the other carriers in the area would love to add these customers on their network, but what about the costs involved forcing these people to switch, and will the other carriers necessarily cover all of that extra cost.
  20. Yes, I am in mobile. Edit Note : I see what is going on now. The new board doesn't automatically remove spaces, at least it isn't for me, unless I keep posts to one paragraph. Any paragraphing seems to be adding an additional space to the end, where then I have to drag the type line down, and backspace until the added space is removed. This wasn't an issue on the older board. Is there a way to fix this in admincp, or Robert - can you please let IPBoard know of this issue?
  21. It seems these are two separate issues though. The news link in Dan's post clearly says Verizon is cutting coverage in Maine.
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