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Comments on news posted 2014-01-15 12:34:47: While Sprint was acquired by SoftBank last year, it wasn't a landmark year for company performance despite the promise of additional overseas funding. ..

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n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY

n2jtx

Member

Ha Ha Ha

Anyone who has been with Sprint has been hearing this for years; "20xx will be their year". Honestly, I really do not care. Their network has sucked for me since I wound up on their network in October 2011 with an iPhone 4S. I would jump ship but Sprint has a corporate policy of NEVER UNLOCKING a phone regardless of the fact that you paid it off and fully own it. Their policy is they still have rights to it and have no plans to change the policy any time soon (earliest possible date reported is March 2015).

Frankly, anybody who signs up with Sprint, buys a device and then has complaints deserves what they get. It is simple enough to do Google searches and see how bad Sprint is. It isn't as if all of this is taking place in a vacuum. At the moment, my tie to Sprint is through my employers plan. I am pushing to get them to switch all our lines to T-Mobile and give Sprint a multi-year timeout. Until then I will continue to be a disgruntled subscriber.

HoldBreath
@comcast.net

1 recommendation

HoldBreath

Anon

I won't hold my breath for Sprint "Network Vision" success

I wouldn't hold my breath for Sprint "Network Vision" success to be accomplished. Their delivery on promises made is pathetic.



MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ

MovieLover76

Member

Lol, sprint is such a laughably bad carrier, especially for smartphones.
They say this every new year and nothing ever changes. They are still the only carrier that doesn't offer LTE where I live.

antonio010
join:2002-11-24

antonio010

Member

Sprint Promises That 2014 Will Be Their Year Of Better Excuses,Longer Delays

I think my comment from the last Sprint thread still applies.

Sprint - "Endlessly Promising Tomorrow...tomorrow."

grydlok
join:2004-01-06
Richmond, VA

grydlok

Member

yeah right

They fed me that same line when I was cancelling my service and moved to T-Mobile back in 2008

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH

1 recommendation

buzz_4_20

Member

They Really need to expand their Network

So I can switch to Republic Wireless...
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch to grydlok

Member

to grydlok

Re: yeah right

2008? Ha! I heard the same thing when I canceled in 2002.

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

2 recommendations

w0g

Member

sprint..

i believe in sprint, cause they have 200MHz or so total spectrum when totaled up.

they got more capacity than any other carrier, and they have tended to have some of the best deployment or technologies earlier than other carriers, although it didn't always pan out. I mean they were pushing EVDO rev.a before Verizon, and for a time back in 2007/2008 had the fastest 3G available, and they were the only carrier still offering "unlimited" without caps on their addon data cards. then they pushed WiMAX, which was bringing people 10-16Mbps connections 2-3 years before other carriers had any form of 4G. WiMAX deployment sort of stalled and sucked after that, .. but now Sprint is back, cleaned out the Nextel spectrum, has a ton of cash thanks to the purchase by Softbank Corp, and they own all of the spectrum from their Clear acquistion. I say to people, that there's nothing wrong with Sprint, and we should expect good things from their Spark network.

Sprint has the ability to overcome both Verizon and AT&T if they make it. already, Sprint costs $50 bucks less per month on average and offers people more for their money than the big two, and if they push the envolope on Spark, there's no reason Sprint couldn't be king. Sprint also has waay better coverage than T-Mobile at similar price point, .. I cannot even get EDGE "2.5G" data with T-Mobile that is supposed to be available outside of big cities because it's overloaded, where as Sprint has at least 3G or 4G in the same areas (T-Mob has no 3G or 4G outside of large cities, at all).
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

1 recommendation

nonymous (banned) to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx

Re: Ha Ha Ha

Son/ Softbank will finish what they say. Son is not going to be hands off much longer. Already proven by some of his public announcements. I have the feeling there is more going on behind the scenes that the public is not privy to.
Rakeesh
join:2011-10-30
Phoenix, AZ

1 recommendation

Rakeesh to w0g

Member

to w0g

Re: sprint..

Last year I ditched sprint for tmobile. Much better service on tmobile; coverage is better and I actually get 4g with them (sprint STILL doesn't offer 4g in the 6th largest city in the US.) Not only that, but with Sprint my bill was about $300 a month for 5 lines and only 1500 minutes. With tmobile it's $114 a month for 5 lines and unlimited everything.

Plus with tmobile I don't have that annoying problem sprint has where your phone doesn't actually start ringing until a while after somebody has called you, so you only get one or two actual rings before their call hits voicemail. That annoyed me so badly with sprint. That and sprint doesn't offer HD Voice, where tmobile does. Tmobile also has options you can set so that your bill will NEVER see an overage for any reason; sprint charges you money for these same options and they don't even offer all of them (for example, it's impossible to block premium text services on sprint.)
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to n2jtx

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to n2jtx

Re: Ha Ha Ha

You can use it at other Sprint MVNOs.
alancats
join:2000-09-20
New York, NY

2 edits

alancats

Member

We'll See...

I wish Sprint the best, as I favor competition and more consumer choice, but, Sprint is lagging far behind AT&T and Verizon with respect to 4G coverage. I was a Sprint customer for 2 years, from Fall 2011 until Fall 2013, and I jumped ship to AT&T precisely because the company's inexcusable, glacially slow 4G rollout has seen zero 4G coverage installed in the Washington, D.C. area. I couldn't justify continuing to pay for 3G service when 4G is undeniably the standard. It feels like you're not getting full value for your dollar with Sprint, if you have a 4G smartphone that can only be used on a 3G network. Unlimited texting and data are nice, but, I'd rather have decent speeds.

The company has made some monumental missteps -- the Nextel acquisition was a total disaster, with a $26 billion write-off of Nextel's goodwill occurring a few years after that failed integration; the hubristic pursuit and promotion of WiMax when it was clear that LTE was going to be the emerging 4G standard was similarly idiotic, costly and time-wasting. I don't know how many more boneheaded strategic moves Sprint can survive, even with new ownership.

"Spark" seems like a total gimmick to me, an attempt to create some buzz and to make amends to customers for the company's paltry 4G coverage. It requires new phones and doesn't appear to me to be a substantive offering.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to w0g

Member

to w0g

Re: sprint..

They sold the WiMax network before it was even out of 2 maybe 3 cities to Clear and all the spectrum and became an MVNO with no 4G network.

And if Sprint thinks they're going to become as big as they were before- they seriously need to change their name. Their brand is what is going to kill them. And bringing back Nextel's brand isn't going to help them one bit. Nextel= horrible change over and PTT which everyone hated except for businesses that used them.

Also TMO is a carrier for cities. Sprint always was a rural carrier before any city. Remember "built from the ground up"- and they haven't expanded since.
TBBroadband

TBBroadband to Rakeesh

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to Rakeesh
TMO is truly the "un-carrier"

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat to alancats

Member

to alancats

Re: We'll See...

said by alancats:

"Spark" seems like a total gimmick to me

It's a marketing term for using more spectrum that they have. Not a gimmick.

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

graycorgi to TBBroadband

Premium Member

to TBBroadband

Re: sprint..

They're the only one here without LTE coverage. I guess that makes them an un-carrier, in the sense that they're un-competitive here.

Anon928354
@sbcglobal.net

1 recommendation

Anon928354 to w0g

Anon

to w0g
said by w0g:

already, Sprint costs $50 bucks less per month on average and offers people more for their money than the big two

I'm not calling you a liar, but you are REALLY gonna need to prove how you came up with that statement. I sell phones for AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint (authorized retailer kiosk) and my experience is actually the complete opposite. I don't have my "price comparison cheat sheet" or any of the pricing brochures with me at the moment, so we'll have to go with anecdotal evidence of what I see on a daily basis.

Let's take a typical 2-liner, husband and wife, brand new customers to any cell service. They'll average 1.5 GB of data each per month, a reasonable estimate. When you compare the three carriers, you're looking at $150 per month across the board -- $150 flat on all three carriers, assuming the Share Everything 4 GB package on Verizon, 4 GB Mobile Share Value on AT&T, and Unlimited My Way on Sprint with unlimited data for both lines. So there's no price advantage with Sprint there, and the only real value is the unlimited data, which most people honestly don't care about. You can go cheaper by choosing the 1 GB package, but what's the point in using Sprint to begin with then?

Let's add a third family member, the family's child, same 1.5 GB/month assumption. We'd have to bump up AT&T and Verizon to the 6 GB package. Total price per month is now $200 on Verizon, $195 on AT&T, and $210 on Sprint! On the older 1500-minute plans, Sprint WOULD HAVE BEEN the better value in this scenario since that third line would only cost $30 to add on rather than $60. But since those plans are no longer available, Sprint ends up actually being MORE EXPENSIVE for a vastly inferior network.

But here's the kicker: in the end, NOBODY gets the sale because $200 a month for 3 phones is absolutely ridiculous, and that family of 3 just goes with Straight Talk instead. With all the major carriers, people are sick and tired of hearing about how they're getting so much more "bang for their buck" nowadays, and honestly they just want to stop spending so much money on phones to begin with. Nobody is switching carriers anymore because they're grandfathered into their much-more-reasonably-priced plans that new customers cannot get.

Basically, once Sprint forced the change to Unlimited My Way several months ago, any competitive advantage Sprint had disappeared, and we've noticed the number of new Sprint activations at our kiosk plummet coinciding with that change. That's my anecdotal evidence, take it or leave it.

Like you, I think Sprint has a lot of promise if it can get its act together. It certainly has the spectrum and money now that the mergers and acquisitions are completed. But the bottom dollar is key for customers, and Sprint cannot charge the same OR MORE than Verizon and AT&T without having the network to support it.

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g to Rakeesh

Member

to Rakeesh
Sprint's 4G deployment kind of has been lagging only because they were relying on Clear, which Sprint owned, to build out their WiMAX network. Now they are deploying their LTE network, which I think is where Sprint is going to get back on track with finally having a competitive data service again. If you're in an area with Spark, Sprint is viable. But if not, you might not like it so much.

I compared Sprint WiMAX 4G to T-Mobile last year. The WiMAX was hardly working where I was, and 3G was slow but still faster than T-Mobile EDGE, while T-Mobile 4G was blazing. Like 10Mbps+ consistently. Now I pull 30Mbps down and do 16Mbps up on T-Mobile LTE, but only in the city. If I leave to the freeway or any local but smaller community, I got EDGE and it doesn't even let me load webpages 90% of the time or receive any data.

Once Sprint Spark gets built, I am sure they'll have T-Mobile quality service but everywhere, even out in the middle of the small towns. Hopefully at least. *fingers crossed*

Sprint did get fucked with their plan to deploy WiMAX and have Clear do their 4G stuff. It is apparently taking them a year or two to recover from that...
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon to graycorgi

Member

to graycorgi
Looks like they have started LTE in Johnson City according to user reports.
»sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· N%2C+USA

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour to Anon928354

Member

to Anon928354
said by Anon928354 :

said by w0g:

already, Sprint costs $50 bucks less per month on average and offers people more for their money than the big two

I'm not calling you a liar, but you are REALLY gonna need to prove how you came up with that statement.

Indeed.

I see people all the time claiming "Carrier X" is no more, or not much more expensive than T-Mobile. I go to the relevant sites and look it up all over again, and find they were wrong. Again.

Sprint included.

Jim

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g to Anon928354

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to Anon928354
Just priced this.

Sprint, unlimited talk / text / data: $80 bucks. For single line.
Verizon: Share Everything, Unlimited talk/text, 2GB data. $100.

Family sharing?
Sprint: 2 lines, unlimited data. $150...
Verizon: 2 lines, 4GB shared data. $150.

The difference will come in data usage. So if you're on Verizon, you are gunna get fucked trying to use data. I tend to be a big user of data, so I cannot touch Verizon and their limits. I would literally be paying for every damn byte. Typical month I might do 10GB or 20GB easy w/ video uploads and other shit. Misc website updates and stuff that I do..

I can technically knock another $10 off of Sprint signing up for their Sprint Employee Referral Offer. For the single line, that is. I am not checking their plans for shared right now..

Not Fooled
@verizon.net

Not Fooled

Anon

welcome to the new bs network

Sprint is now having all of their reps only offer the new Framily plan deals and they are discouraged from offering 2 year contracts. It's easy to see what Sprint wants this. They are no longer subsidizing the phone cost. Even if you are on a 7+ lines plan your cost is $25 unlimited talk and text then $20 unlimited data then the monthly cost on your phone. About $30 a month for a high end device. Oh and you had better carry the insurance at $11 a month bc you are responsible for the full retail cost of the phone. No "contract" but being held responsible for a $650 - $850 phone sure does feel like a contract. same carp rebranded. Customers will figure out that they are getting no deal here.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec to alancats

Premium Member

to alancats

Re: We'll See...

said by alancats:

the company's inexcusable, glacially slow 4G rollout has seen zero 4G coverage installed in the Washington, D.C. area.

The many users who have mapped LTE in Washington DC would disagree with you. »sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· C%2C+USA

What may have been true last year, or 6 months ago or even 1 month ago can change overnight with how this network upgrade progress operates.

For example, I was sitting in my house about 10:30 this past Saturday night and my phone alerted me that it had just connected to 1x800SMR. They flipped the switch at that point and I now had coverage in my house for the first time ever....my Airave was disconnected within 5 minutes.
swintec

1 recommendation

swintec to Rakeesh

Premium Member

to Rakeesh

Re: sprint..

said by Rakeesh:

(sprint STILL doesn't offer 4g in the 6th largest city in the US.)

Sure they do. It's all around you. »sensorly.com/map/4G/US/U ··· Z%2C+USA

What was true last year isnt the same as now.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

not off to a good start..

where are the lower prices and increased coverage & better quality service?

sprint fails on all three across ALL their brands & partners

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g

Member

Long gone are the SERO/Sprint Employee Referral Offer days, when 500 minutes and unlimited data/text were $30/mo.. Even for Smartphones. Plus perks like unlimited nights/weekends starting at 7pm or 6pm. And they'd pay your ETF at other carriers.

Anon928354
@sbcglobal.net

Anon928354 to w0g

Anon

to w0g

Re: sprint..

True, for a single line with average use, Sprint is better. And for the type of usage of people like us who read this site and actually DO use tons of data, the advantage is definitely with Sprint. But you have to understand that for the vast majority of people out there, the unlimited data Sprint offers just isn't enough incentive for them to switch away from their larger Verizon/AT&T networks. The other incentive used to be price, but as I explained earlier that has gone away for the most part.

Then again, I work inside a high-end retailer whose customers average $100k a year in income, so 90% of the time I'm dealing with high middle-class family plans and not individual plans. That may have biased my experiences a bit.
Anon928354

Anon928354 to w0g

Anon

to w0g
said by w0g:

I can technically knock another $10 off of Sprint signing up for their Sprint Employee Referral Offer.

I figured you had to be a Sprint employee from the way you were speaking.

Anyway if you're interested, here's my "cheat sheet" which tries to break down the various plan options between the carriers. It assumes that you're using only the plans available to brand new customers (no grandfathered plans) and assumes that all phones are smartphones. When I first made it, it was mainly to figure out where AT&T's new Mobile Share Value plans were better or worse than their existing Mobile Share plans, and how both of them compared to Verizon's equivalent offerings. Then in the corner is Sprint for comparison, showing just how much of a ripoff its new plans are compared to the old ones.

I squeezed it all onto a single page for easy printing. Enjoy. »dl.dropboxusercontent.co ··· ons.xlsx
mingkee27
join:2013-06-21
Brooklyn, NY

mingkee27

Member

Spark can be battery killer

To achieve Spark performance, three radios have to operate altogether and you can expect how will battery work.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

1 edit

xenophon to Anon928354

Member

to Anon928354

Re: sprint..

Are those VZW/ATT plans shared data with unlimited voice/text? If so, a 10GB VZW/ATT shared plan is really avg 3.3GB for 3 users, so you'd have to compare VZW/ATT 10GB plan to Sprint's 1GB plan for 3-4 users (3-4GB for all users).

I have a 3 line Sprint 1500 plan for about $180 with unlimited data/text for all users. We use about 15GB-30GB/month total for all three, no throttling and in mostly completed LTE market. VZW/ATT would be around same price for 10GB shared for 3 lines and hefty prices if going over 10GB. The downside to Sprint's new plan is that we never even come close to using 1500 voice minutes total so paying more for unlimited voice isn't needed, but still less than ATT/VZW with as much data as we use.

Was recently visiting a rural area of FL for two weeks that had Sprint LTE (no wired broadband available) and used over 30GB alone on one phone in 2 weeks, with at least 6Mbps - plenty for streaming video from TV attached to phone. How much is ATT/VZW for 30GB?
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