ericdabbs

I know two people milking their HTC Moguls 5 years later! Crazy!

 

-- "Sensorly or it didn't happen!"

Wow the HTC Mogul!!!! I wouldn't have thought the HTC moguls could last this long. That is very impressive indeed.

I will stand up and applaud the day that Sprint terminates SERO plans or requires them to be converted to current subscriber plans. That Sprint seemingly looks the other way while some cheat the system through a loophole is one of the most distasteful things about Sprint. I hope that Sprint's improving position will soon give it the strength to tell the SERO crowd to get fully on board or go elsewhere.

 

AJ

I too do not understand your distaste for SERO users as if they are some how scoundrels who have cheated the Sprint system. From my personal experience, Sprint SERO was the single reason why I gave Sprint a chance for cell phone service in the first place due to the very nice value that it presented. I know I am not the only one and I am sure if you took a poll back in 2007 if people would even try Sprint, most would say no due to the horrible service it provided back then. The slickdeals thread about SERO blew up and had many people interested in Sprint service due to being able to get a smartphone and voice/data service for $30. Even if Sprint didn't market the cell phone plan as a traditional plan, nevertheless it was a successful program. Sprint even realized how popular it was and finally put and end to it in Aug 2008. Again Sprint could have forced people to switch over to regular plan at any time but realized how loyal SERO customers. Some people to this day still using the HTC Touch Pro 2 to hang on to the $30 SERO plan to avoid upgrading to SERO Premium. It wasn't until Sept 2010 that Sprint offered the SERO Premium program that allowed SERO customers to purchase and use high end smartphones on the Sprint network. SERO Premium actually increased the ARPU of those SERO customers by 66% (from $30 to $50) which is HUGE increase so it helped them financially.

Back in 2007, Sprint was struggling badly and was losing customers hand over fist. If it wasn't for SERO, Sprint would have been in a much worser shape than it currently was. I know many of us have stuck with Sprint through these tough times because of what the SERO plan provided. As irev210 has stated above, SERO customers probably provide less churn than other customers do and in the long run provide more profit for Sprint than normal Everything Data postpaid customers who are even more tempted to leave because paying $85/month for 100 Kbps 3G speeds is unacceptable.

Also please spare me if you think that SERO customers are the single reason why the Sprint network is in its current horrible shape or why they got into financial trouble. I highly doubt SERO customers today present a dent to the overall number of Sprint customers and certainly is not harming Sprint financially. Also FYI, the SERO Premium plan does not allow employee discounts on it so you are not double dipping...sorry to disappoint you. I have no idea where you came up with the conclusion that the issues with Sprint were related to SERO customers.

I am a happy 5.5 year Sprint SERO Premium customer and have no plans to give up SERO and leave the Sprint network.

This is true. I really do HATE HATE HATE Clearwire. With that being said, it really has opened my eyes to the practices of all the cell phone companies. They basically can hold a community hostage. They milk every last dime they can out of the consumer and don't give a damn about fairly using the public airwaves. Not providing adequate cell coverage can give an entire region an economic disadvantage. What business would want to operate in an area without proper 4G coverage? I doubt I will be any less bitter until Sprint 4G is widespread in San Diego.

Dude calm down man....sprint has bought clearwire and now has the rights to the 2.5 ghz spectrum. Once the deal is finalizes...i expect to see huge ramp up of 2.5 ghz TDD LTE in 2014. I expect sprint to focus on the 1900 mhz and 800 mhz LTE build out in 2013

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Agree. Sprint's pcs voice quality is already the best in the industry. HD voice wouldnt be a vacuum for sprint, competitively.

It sounds like HD voice has great promise for Sprint and would be a leap over Verizon's CDMA voice. The big question is when is Sprint going to make a huge splash and enable HD voice on all of its handsets so that the HD voice handset availability can begin to populate.

My guess is that Sprint wants to wait until they can add more Network Vision markets with 1x Advanced enabled first before they decide to go all in on HD voice. Any leg up they can have on the competition is something that Sprint needs to strive for.

I don't understand Sprint's strategy once VoLTE is more reliable with the bugs worked out if Sprint will start using VoLTE more or still keep HD Voice. I know Sprint's answer is going to be that we use a mix of both but at some point VoLTE will be the dominant preference for voice since it keeps voice and data under the LTE standard vs. CDMA HD which is only voice.

I would have expected that Sprint would start pushing for HD voice in the next year or 2 or its phones while waiting for VoLTE.

Since Sprint has long had removable SIMs next year on the Network Vision roadmap, I am willing to give Sprint the benefit of the doubt. There is a legit reason why Sprint has used embedded SIMs for its early LTE devices. One theory that I have proposed is the iDEN shutdown, since iDEN also uses SIMs.

 

AJ

So the 2013 LTE phones might have removable SIM cards in them?

I would contact Apple customer service, the situation with the 4s might very well be different than the situation with the iPhone 5.

 

Sprint also needs to stop the ridiculous practice of using embedded SIM cards in their Android-based LTE devices. It really ruins the appeal of their phones for people who travel overseas frequently.

Sprint needs to adopt the practice of micro-SIM cards for its LTE phones instead of the crappy embedded SIM cards like it does now. I don't like the fact that Sprint is the only carrier that does that.

Speaking of HD voice, Sprint really needs to start getting on the ball and release all new LTE 2013 devices with HD voice. It doesn't make any sense that only the HTC EVO One X phone in 2012 was capable of HD voice. If Sprint really wants to get customers to transition over to HD voice then they need to start releasing new devices that contain HD voice.

We are not saying that, we are saying that it is a lot more expensive to cover an are with 2600MHz than 1900Mhz. Sprint's bread and butter frequency is 1900MHz, their sites are spaced for it, their network optimized for it. 800Mhz is going to be an overlay and 2600MHz an overlay.

 

From past interviews it is evident that Sprint thinks they will absorb T-Mobile (maybe even the combo with Metro). Even the leadership of T-Mobile thinks it will happen. It's a matter of when, not if. I personally think that it will happen sooner rather than later, since the stock prices of both T-Mobile and Metro are relatively cheap. I think Masayoshi Son is very ambitious man and wants to play with the big boys.

Where did you read that the leadership at Tmobile thinks they will be consolidated into Sprint? I think Tmobile thinks very highly of themselves right now with the Tmobile/MetroPCS merger. They will get significant amount of AWS spectrum which will be very useful to their Challenger plan. Obviously I know that the Tmobile leadership team won't straight up say it but I don't get that sense at all that they feel they will be acquired in the next few years.

All I want for Christmas is for LA metro NV production to ramp up dramatically for a release in Feb/March 2013 release. Also some news on how 800 mhz LTE testing is going would be nice.

Also for the world to not end after today. Very important since I want to experience LTE on sprint

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To be clear, Clearwire does not necessarily hold all 55.5 MHz of "attributable" BRS in every market. Contrary to popular belief, there are other BRS licensees.

 

AJ

This sounds like such a mess AGAIN. Well I hope Sprint can sort out all these EBS/BRS spectrum licenses nationwide so there there is at least 50-55 MHz of nationwide of Sprint's footprint of 2.5 GHz spectrum when all is said and done with the deal closed.

Exactly. Sprint doesn't need another mess, they just need to top up their PCS spectrum - and realistically, T-Mobile will have so much PCS spectrum post-merger that it won't hurt them to do so. In addition, how would it look to regulators if Sprint went after MetroPCS and Clearwire both? It would really make things even more difficult.

 

Tommy

Yeah a MetroPCS and Clearwire would be a huge red flag that regulators would have to look at very carefully. Besides MetroPCS, I think Cricket has some nice PCS spectrum in the C block that would help several 20 MHz markets like Salt Lake City, Houston, San Antonio, Denver, Fresno, Albuquerque, Memphis, Nashville, Tulsa, Raleigh and Cincinnati if it were bought.

I really want to see Sprint get some PCS divestitures from a Tmobile/MetroPCS merger. There are far too many markets that still only have 20 MHz that need some major help in the PCS band since it currently supports CDMA, EVDO and LTE.

Correct, on the latter count, but the 76.5 MHz total BRS bandwidth figure that I posted already excludes those high side EBS licenses. Beyond the 55.5 MHz "attributable" BRS2-H3 blocks of contiguous licenses, the other 21 MHz comes from the BRS1, E4, F4, and K blocks, which are located at the very bottom of BRS/EBS and/or not fully contiguous with the "attributable" 55.5 MHz. So, for TD-LTE deployment, that 55.5 MHz is likely to be the heart and soul.

 

AJ

What is the purpose of the BRS1, BRS2, J and K blocks? It sucks that the FCC had to split the BRS E4 and F4 blocks between the upper and middle band. I am sure Sprint would have loved to have the BRS E4 and F4 blocks on the upper band so that they can just have about 68 MHz (55.5+12) of contiguous 2.5 GHz spectrum. With 68 MHz, Sprint could have done three 20 MHz TD-LTE carriers nationwide.

Also for TD-LTE could a wireless carrier deploy a 6 or 7 MHz carrier or any other odd number besides the 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz deployments like in FDD-LTE?

You are are right! Actually the last 16.5MHz of the 76MHz block is an EBS block and not a BRS block. Which makes my opinion of this deal even less favorable. They could have put their money elsewhere.

Well even if Sprint relinquished all EBS licenses and still has the core 55.5 MHz of 2.5 GHz spectrum nationwide, I think it was good deal. Clearwire was going to be dead in the water in 2013 so Sprint had to do something instead of trying to bail them out with more capital infusion. Then their total spectrum assets would be on par with verizon and AT&T and can easily bid on the full H block nationwide and maybe work a deal out with Dish for its 2 GHz.

These power limitations and the fee that needs to be paid to Sprint seems to make the H block less attractive to other buyers like an AT&T or Tmobile. Maybe Dish wouldn't be interested as well.

I wonder if this means that sprint will now put the 2.5ghz spectrum as first priority for LTE. I hope Sprint deploys with the following for LTE priorty 2.5 ghz -> 1900 mhz -> 800 mhz. 800 mhz bandwidth needs to be preserves for deep indoor use only. Otherwise 1900 mhz and 2.5 ghz should handle the majority of LTE traffic.

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I'm surprised that the deal went through at that price, but I'm also pretty happy about that, since I didn't speculate on CLWR. With the money Sprint saved from buying at $2.97 (and convincing 2/3 of the float to sell at $2.97), they can deal with whatever lawsuits the vocal minority wants to throw at them.

 

I guess the other investors had enough sense to realize that CLWR's value hinges on Sprint's ability to be their primary customer, and if things play out for too long, Sprint could lose interest, sending the stock out of the frying pan and into the fire.

 

As for Ergen, now Sprint has a big bargaining chip with which they can tempt Dish to do a partnership. Sprint can add TD-LTE 2600 to any NV site relatively easily, and they can install S-Band antennas while they're at it. I'm sure Sprint wouldn't mind leasing capacity to Dish for use in a fixed product, as long as that capacity is on 2600, in return for Dish being cordial about PCS H and maybe even working on Sprint jointly to deploy in the S band, such that Sprint phones will end up having access to the S band in addition to PCS, BRS/EBS and SMR for LTE. One can hope...

This is my dream too. I would love to see a phone in 3 years with s band, pcs (a-h), brs/ebs, and smr for LTE. Sprint still has a ton of wheelin and dealing

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So how long before we get some 2.5ghz phones?

hopefully all 2013 lte phone models should support clearwire bands and

800 mhz lte.

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I don't get the whole "Sprint must have 10MHz LTE channels or the sky is falling" mentality. I think deploying several 5MHz carriers for capacity is a better option, all things considered. Customers do not have any use for speeds faster than 10Mbps. Really. And what's going to happen when Clearwire TD-LTE with 60-90Mbps goes live?

 

Robert

I get what you are saying and I personally don't care if its 5 MHz channels or 10 MHz channels but what I do want for Sprint is flexibility. Sure right now Sprint can deploy several 5 MHz channels for LTE but as more and more spectrum gets refarmed or acquired for LTE, I would think Sprint would want to increase its channel sizes to 10 MHz so they don't have to add more RRUs and antennas on its towers since they only have a limited amount of carriers it can support per unit and that is where I feel flexibility is key. This is why their new Network Vision architecture is so crucial since it allows Sprint to adapt more easily to the ever going changes in the wireless industry.

Clearwire boasts about being able to deploy fat pipes of 20 MHz carriers. Obviously the end users don't need to have the speeds of 20 MHz channels LTE speeds for the daily activities. If you base your logic for Sprint LTE deployment for its spectrum on Clearwire then Clearwire should just deploy multiple 10 MHz TDD LTE channels instead of fat 20 MHz TDD LTE channels since they don't need that speed. I would be interested to see what Sprint would do to Clearwire in terms on how big the fat pipes Sprint would be with Clear's 2.5 GHz spectrum if it bought them out right now.

I think that is an overstatement. If Sprint "desperately needs" the PCS/AWS-2 H block, then Sprint is in real trouble because the H block will not be commercially viable for another three years.

 

AJ

If Sprint didn't get the H block spectrum...of course its not the end of the world and Sprint will not go bankrupt but I do think it will still put them at a disadvantage especially in markets that only have 20 MHz. Tmobile, Verizon and AT&T have been bolstering its spectrum assets so Sprint needs to do the same to stay in the game.

I just don't think Sprint will get that much or if any at all from PCS divestitures from the Tmobile/MetroPCS deal to bolster those markets that they have spectrum. If Sprint plans to rely on that route instead of going with the mentality that the H block has to be a very high priority then they are screwed especially when the spectrum fits right next to your current LTE deployment spectrum. I don't care about 2.5 GHz spectrum as much because even if Sprint purchases Clearwire since the idea will still be that spectrum will be deployed in hotspots vs. full deployment. Sprint needs more full market deployment spectrum in all markets. Even with the benefits of spectrum saved from deploying 1x Advanced is not enough.

Still no signs of LTE in the eastern part of LA Metro (san gabriel, arcadia, rowland heights, west covina, etc). I honestly have no idea wat the strategy is since a huge part of LA has shown no signs of any work started. Sprint had better cover this area somewhat befor officially launching this market.

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Sprint should add the 2.5 Ghz LTE band in the 2013 LTE phones. There are no excuses especially since Clearwire plans to launch its TD-LTE service in mid 2013.

Well any of this won't go through till after sprint Softbank is finalized as it uses that money for the deal...

 

Then I worry how this will effect the spectrum auctions sprint has already stated they are interested in coming up...

 

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Exactly what I have been saying. Until the Sprint/Softbank and the US Cellular transactions are finalized next year, Sprint needs to not focus on Clearwire. Sprint needs to stay under the spectrum screen so that they can bid on the PCS H block and possibly work out a deal with Dish Network for the 40 MHz of 2 GHz spectrum. Sprint desperately needs the H block spectrum to expand their 5x5 G block carrier to a 10x10 G+H block carrier.

Clearwire should be the very last deal that Sprint makes (hopefully in 2014) since they already have a controlling interest in the company. Sprint will no doubt have Softbank's blessing since by then the Sprint/Softbank transaction will be finalized. No other company at the moment is interested in Clearwire other than Sprint so the bargaining chip is already in Sprint's favor. Clearwire investors are just playing hardball because they want more and I hope it stays that way. Hopefully this is enough to delay any purchase of Clearwire for the time being. Obtaining more PCS spectrum should be Sprint's number 1 priority especially in many areas of the US where they only have 20 MHz of PCS spectrum in that market. The US Cellular deal is a first step to address Chicago and some other cities but getting PCS divestitures from the MetroPCS/Tmobile deal would be another step.

Yes Sprint should wait as long as it can to buy out Clearwire. There is no need at all to rush a buyout of Clearwire since there are higher priority deals that Sprint needs to make such as bidding on the PCS H block, a spectrum sharing deal with Dish, asking for Tmobile/MetroPCS PCS divestitures, etc. Clearwire shouldn't think about picking up Clearwire until 2014 when Network Vision is complete.

So lets say Sprint aquires the 1900 mhz H block. All the devices today can support that already?

I am not so sure if Sprint can bid on the H block if they buy Clearwire. Sprint would have a ton of spectrum even though its 2.5 GHz and maybe put them over the top. I don't really like the timing of Clearwire deal.