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Comments on news posted 2014-03-11 10:30:14: Sprint Chairman and SoftBank boss Masayoshi Son doesn't seem prepared to take no for an answer. ..

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NYC930
@rr.com

NYC930

Anon

Tmobile can't go it alone

with the recent increase in prices for tmobile unlimited data and reporting losses last quarter despite adding 4m customers, it's a fact that they can't keep dropping prices or they'll price themselves out of the industry and go bankrupt. they need help. what they're doing is great but it can't last forever.

robbyglack
@comcast.net

robbyglack

Anon

tell us the specifics

Son should lay out the specifics. $xx for plan with so much data, or unlimited/no throttle for x $ per month. maybe i would change my opinion in favor of a deal if sprint is truly committed to a 'massive price war' but i would want the pricing written into law so sprint can't back out.

than verizon and at&t would either have to match the price or make sure the quality of their networks is so good people are willing to pay extra.

i am all for a price war as long as sprint can't back outm ideally i would like to see a low price that is locked for a period of time. say 10 years. no more new promo plans, etc. just one low prices locked in, keeping it all very simple.

for example if sprint promised everything unlimited no throttling one plan for any device locked at $30/month for at least the next 10 years, I would say please let the merger through, and let verizon and at&t CEO's start crying.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

I still don't get it

Why would he be going after a company with so much GSM? Sprint is CDMA.
If anything, they should look at buying out the complete disaster that is U.S. Cellular, and a few other smaller carriers - focus on continuing the network fixes / upgrades, keep working on being better, and then look at expanding their own network further.

Maybe they really want the tower assets and think that they can do better with more customers. They could work on getting customers of their own. Many left due to the continual tower work, and other issues. If they could prove themselves worth of coming back to, I'd bet they regain a stronger customer base.

This whole "push" is just weird. Most T-Mobile customers don't really want the trouble, they just want T-Mobile.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

existenz

Member

Newer phone chipsets can do GSM/CDMA in same phone (Nexus 5 and many others). And everyone is going towards VoLTE eventually anyway.

Combined they'd have to maintain both networks for many years but this isn't the same as the iDEN Nextel mess, which didn't have any opportunities for future growth or economies of scale.

Would rather see the Sprint/Tmo survive on their own but my guess is that they will eventually merge.

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

1 recommendation

morbo to amungus

Member

to amungus
said by amungus:

If anything, they should look at buying out the complete disaster that is U.S. Cellular, and a few other smaller carriers - focus on continuing the network fixes / upgrades, keep working on being better, and then look at expanding their own network further.

This is probably their backup plan. Like when AT&T didn't get approval to buy T-Mobile, they gobbled up a few smaller players instead.

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

n2jtx

Member

Um, No!

I still fail to see the benefit to the customers with such a merger. Plus you add in the story reported here (»Sprint's New Owner SoftBank Wants To Change 'Loser' Mentality [52] comments) on Friday about how Son is exasperated with Sprint's "loser" mentality and one has to wonder how he can even contemplate taking over T-Mobile without FIXING SPRINT FIRST! Frankly, adding T-Mobile to the collection seems like the path to destruction for both companies with AT&T and Verizon snickering.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to robbyglack

Premium Member

to robbyglack

Re: tell us the specifics

said by robbyglack :

if sprint is truly committed to a 'massive price war' but i would want the pricing written into law so sprint can't back out.

Neither will ever happen.
Arty50
Premium Member
join:2003-10-04

Arty50

Premium Member

Legere

It's interesting to note that Legere is in favor of the deal also. While I'd normally hate this deal due to the disruption of what T-Mobile is doing right now on the pricing front, I'm actually thinking this could be good. We know that Masayoshi-san wants Sprint's management gone, Legere is pushing for this...it just makes sense that Legere would take over as CEO of the new Sprint/T-Mobile. If they kept up the pressure on the pricing front with Verizon and AT&T, added all of that Spectrum Sprint is sitting on, and built out a world class network...this could actually be a really nice merger.

PhoneBoy
Google "No Agenda"
join:2002-01-02
Gig Harbor, WA

2 recommendations

PhoneBoy

Member

If Mr. Son wants to start a price war, he should just start it.

He doesn't need T-Mobile to do it.

PapaMidnight
join:2009-01-13
Baltimore, MD

PapaMidnight

Member

As a T-Mobile customer...

...ABSOLUTELY NOT.

trparky
Premium Member
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH
·AT&T U-Verse

trparky to PhoneBoy

Premium Member

to PhoneBoy

Re: If Mr. Son wants to start a price war, he should just start it.

The bad part is that it doesn't matter how cheap Sprint gets, unless they have a decent network I couldn't give a damn. Their network is garbage, complete garbage.

What good is a cheap monthly price if you can't use the service you're paying for?
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

I've seen both sides - the crap side, and the side that works as well as Verizon. Supposedly, they've done a lot of tower work... supposedly, it's improved in many areas, and "will be" in others...

It's to the point where I'm still considering Republic Wireless. VZW is still hard for me to give up though. I depend on having dependable service that has little compromise. RW still seems like a compromise in many ways, esp. since the reliability factor is still questionable at times. Personally, I'm not too worried about their Sprint side of things, but the rest gives me some pause (calls being missed / not going through, MMS being weird with some carriers, etc., etc., etc.).

Any case, yeah, they can start their own "price war" any time they want. If Virgin Mobile can be cheap, they can do better than the "framily" scam.

As my SO puts it:

"I don't get it. If it can be $25/mo., why not just make it $25/mo.?"
bshelly
Premium Member
join:2002-02-17
Conover, NC

bshelly to amungus

Premium Member

to amungus

Re: I still don't get it

Because LTE is where everything is going. This is an old argument that no longer is worth anyone wasting their breath on.

TitoXx
Premium Member
join:2003-03-19
Sterling Heights, MI

1 recommendation

TitoXx

Premium Member

Nooo

T-Mobile should take over Sprint....not the other way around.
bshelly
Premium Member
join:2002-02-17
Conover, NC

bshelly to Arty50

Premium Member

to Arty50

Re: Legere

Son likes Hesse, he would not keep Legere around. He knows he is nothing much more than a clown.

coldmoon
Premium Member
join:2002-02-04
Fulton, NY

coldmoon to openbox9

Premium Member

to openbox9

Re: tell us the specifics

said by openbox9:

said by robbyglack :

if sprint is truly committed to a 'massive price war' but i would want the pricing written into law so sprint can't back out.

Neither will ever happen.

Don't be so certain as Masayoshi said in a recent Charlie Rose interview that he would go for a "price war" at some point...
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to NYC930

Member

to NYC930

Re: Tmobile can't go it alone

Letting them be bought up by Sprint still isn't the answer. If Sprint wants to take on T and VZW tell Sprint to LOWER their prices as well. Sprint won't though. They already killed off one program they adopted after TMO started it. They cried over T and TMO-USA- and after that was denied- Sprint ended up raising prepaid costs on VM.

This won't help anyone. If Spent wants more- tell Spent to start building out and EARN their customers back. Getting TMO- won't do anything but cause people to leave.
TBBroadband

TBBroadband to existenz

Member

to existenz

Re: I still don't get it

Spent and TMO-USA doesn't mean they'll merge due to money issues currently. Sprint screwed up their own. And Running 3+ networks costs $$$$. Something Sprint is borrowing from banks under the Softbank name.
TBBroadband

TBBroadband to openbox9

Member

to openbox9

Re: tell us the specifics

Right! Cause if they wanted the price war- Sprint would do it now. Instead they're not. Sprint can't even compete on a network level let alone on anything else.

michieru
Premium Member
join:2009-07-25
Denver, CO

michieru to NYC930

Premium Member

to NYC930

Re: Tmobile can't go it alone

My understanding here is that the only reason they reported a loss was due to the massive ad campaign they launched. I would wait for 2nd quarter for more accurate results. They probably want T-mobile very badly because just on the 3G side alone they go from EVDO Rev. A to HSPA+ at 42Mbps. That will provide a massive jolt to their current infrastructure and can expand on the current LTE deployed in cities for more capacity while adding the LTE coverage that T-mobile lacks in rural areas.

A good business strategy but the politics are completely against it because nobody trusts the cell carriers and they should of known better over how big the opposition is since most users are now happy with T-mobile. If Uncarrier never happened then the resistance they currently face wouldn't be there.

Just my 2 cents.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to bshelly

Member

to bshelly

Re: Legere

Hesse isn't much better- he should have been gone from the start. He didn't do anything to bring back customers. Spent all kinds of money on the iBrand products that didn't really bring in that money customers, but yet didn't have enough money to build out their network- which they should have done to start off with. Hesse also should have killed iDEN well before he did as well- but waited to do that and then charged the customers still on it more just because he could and nothing was said about him and the company- both should have been sued for breach of contract.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9 to coldmoon

Premium Member

to coldmoon

Re: tell us the specifics

Well, if that were actually happening in Japan with his Softbank, then I might be a little more optimistic.
openbox9

openbox9 to TBBroadband

Premium Member

to TBBroadband
Not that I think a price war is coming anytime soon, neither T-mobile nor Sprint are in a position to incite a pricing war. They would both lose to the big two.

delusion ftl
@comcast.net

delusion ftl to michieru

Anon

to michieru

Re: Tmobile can't go it alone

Not only that but they spend a billion a year running legacy metro pcs network. Give it another year and they'll not have that expense anymore.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to openbox9

Member

to openbox9

Re: tell us the specifics

Sprint is in a position to do a price war if Dan would have spent the iProduct money on the network instead of a device that had no LTE or even somewhat 4g speeds. Now they want another network that is rebuilding itself, with a brand that actually has customers signing up only so they can kill both brands and the customer is the one screwed so when Son files bankruptcy in the US he's washed of the debt and just can move on.

he's here now and the USA needs to show him how we work and once we say no we say no. Since he's been the chairman of Sprint nothing has really changed either like him and Dan promised.

darkwish
Free Knight
Premium Member
join:2003-09-12
Fairfax, VA

darkwish to TitoXx

Premium Member

to TitoXx

Re: Nooo

Deutsche Telekom wants to offload T-Mobile, I doubt they want to buy another carrier.

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

graycorgi to TBBroadband

Premium Member

to TBBroadband

Re: Tmobile can't go it alone

They already have better coverage than T-Mobile. They don't need to build out, they need to have more competitive pricing.
graycorgi

graycorgi to trparky

Premium Member

to trparky

Re: If Mr. Son wants to start a price war, he should just start it.

That's the same reason we can't use T-Mobile here. The "4G" network is tiny in our area. It could be $20/mo but it is useless if the data is nonexistent most places we go. Sprint has converted almost all of their 1X sites to have at least EVDO. Where T-Mobile does have coverage here, it is still only has unusable EDGE in Bristol TN/VA and much of Southwest VA.
sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin to NYC930

Member

to NYC930

Re: Tmobile can't go it alone

It was $20 million. That's literally nothing given their revenue. Is amazon another company you think "can't last forever"?
sonicmerlin

sonicmerlin to Arty50

Member

to Arty50

Re: Legere

Are you seriously that fracking gullible? "If they keep up the pricing pressure"? Why would they do that?
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