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rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| Re: MVNOs said by dadkins  :LOL! Not good to make blanket assumptions... No it's not, but ask Amp'd, Helio, Disney Mobile (or any of the hundred other MVNO) subscribers who their network provider is and see how many say Disney or MTV or give you a strange look and ask what a network provider is 
Just a perk that they run on Sprint, huh? If you actually consider Sprint a perk  | |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
 ·Comcast
| Re: MVNOs Who cares really?
If you go to Verizon... I would imagine even an idiot would be able to say Verizon.
Or AT&T...
Or Sprint...
Or ???
So, some of us decide to get a MVNO... there's a problem with saving money?
I don't have a contract. No ETF. No monthly bill.
Sprint may suck there, but just because it might there doesn't mean it sucks everywhere.
4 bars, always.
Sprint can't match the price I'm paying and yet I still get to use their network?
Sounds like a perk to me!
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Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
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rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| Re: MVNOs said by dadkins :Sprint may suck there, but just because it might there doesn't mean it sucks everywhere. 4 bars, always. I don't look at bars, I look at customer churn. Sprint has consistently had higher churn than AT&T/Cingular and Verizon. In Q1 2007 they had the highest of the big four.
As always your mileage may vary, but churn is a pretty good overall barometer. | |
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cwy1980
Premium
join:2004-08-10
Monmouth Junction, NJ
clubs:
 ·Verizon FIOS
| Re: MVNOs I'm not so sure that churn numbers provide the best rating of a service. I had Sprint for work...LOVED it.lays had signal except the subway (NYC)...then my company switched us to Verizon...no signal at my house at all and I have a heck of a lot more calls that drop when it switches service to another tower as I go down the NJ Turnpike between exits 15W and 16W.
I just want Sprint back with my broadband data card!
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Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy | |
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rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| Re: MVNOs Yes, churn by actual Sprint customers, and arguably some percentage of that churn could be due to customer service and not coverage issues. But when you get into these Ford versus Chevy discussions, bars don't tell the story nor does anecdotal evidence.
That's great that Virgin is working out for you and apparently it's working out for several million other customers as well. YMMV in effect. I just see MVNOs as a troubling fad where marketing is a priority over quality and the goal is to suck more money out of market segments that shouldn't have phones with unnecessary features to begin with. The MVNO is at the mercy of their provider and is unable to make any commitments or improvements to the underlying network. And as we've seen with Amp'd due to their targeting of customers that the big four don't really want, their business model is riskier and less stable. Customer stickiness with a model that relies heavily on prepaid with no contracts is about nil. Arguably the stickiness lies in customer support, coverage, features, and content, though the MVNO really has direct control of only two of these. But I digress.
Of course, I'm old school (I used to work in cellular) and I've found the trend of all of wireless over the past seven or eight years troubling and annoying. | |
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dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast
| Re: MVNOs Coverage, yes! *HERE* I have excellent coverage!
*HERE* I have Virgin Mobile - MVNO with Sprint as the actual network.
You saying that all MVNOs should go away makes no sense.
I'm getting a killer deal and Sprint's network *HERE* works great!
Maybe you should re-evaluate your cell package and look at other services.
I don't have to pay $30-$100 per month for cell service... do you?
Mine works out to under $7.00 per month with current usage trends.
Yeah! This MVNO is sweet! 
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Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
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upstate NY
@rr.com | actually there is cheaper than Virgin Mobile...they are called PagePlus...and they piggy back off the Verizon network | |
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rec9140
Provoice just DO it
join:2003-07-29
Mulberry, FL
| said by rf_engineer :
I don't look at bars, I look at customer churn. Sprint has consistently had higher churn than AT&T/Cingular and Verizon. In Q1 2007 they had the highest of the big four.
As always your mileage may vary, but churn is a pretty good overall barometer.
Of course, I'm old school (I used to work in cellular) and I've found the trend of all of wireless over the past seven or eight years troubling and annoying.
From an RF person this is absurd, coverage and network are all that matters. If I can't make a call when I need to then the provider is useless.
Sprint is a joke of a carrier their native coverage looks like a roadmap for interstate highways.
Their poor coverage is what leads to churn.
Your last point though I will agree with, cellular has went down hill since the StarTAC and the whole stupid flip and thin craze. Along with the feature creep..... Its a phone people, its to make calls!
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rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
| Re: MVNOs said by rec9140 : quote:
said by rf_engineer :
I don't look at bars, I look at customer churn. Sprint has consistently had higher churn than AT&T/Cingular and Verizon. In Q1 2007 they had the highest of the big four.
As always your mileage may vary, but churn is a pretty good overall barometer.
Of course, I'm old school (I used to work in cellular) and I've found the trend of all of wireless over the past seven or eight years troubling and annoying.
From an RF person this is absurd, coverage and network are all that matters. If I can't make a call when I need to then the provider is useless. Sprint is a joke of a carrier their native coverage looks like a roadmap for interstate highways. Their poor coverage is what leads to churn. Your last point though I will agree with, cellular has went down hill since the StarTAC and the whole stupid flip and thin craze. Along with the feature creep..... Its a phone people, its to make calls! You're misinterpreting my "bars" comment. Bars are what people read on phones and talk about X carrier being better than Y. We'd often joke in cellular when a customer called about how many bars they were getting that we would drive out to the cell site and turn it up a bar or two
Coverage is important. But one person saying X carrier is great because they get six bars in Hometown, Nebraska isn't indicative of great coverage. As you mention, maps are what you need to look at. You use test vans equipped with real gear to measure that, not a $50 shiny phone that takes pictures and has a signal meter that varies 15 dB.
For overall health, though, I'm not going to look at just coverage, I'm going to look at churn. If overall coverage is poor, it's probably going to be reflected in churn.
I'm with you on things going downhill. I just want a phone that I can make calls with and send some emails. I don't need music, video, pr0n, IM, and sport scores. Unfortunately subscriber growth is flat as they've gotten every customer they can get. Now it's a battle to entice customers over from other carriers with stupid features. | |
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sprintuserrrrr
@spcsdns.net
| said by rec9140 :Sprint is a joke of a carrier their native coverage looks like a roadmap for interstate highways. Their poor coverage is what leads to churn. Sprint's coverage is about the same as Verizon. Both cover about 260m pops natively. Verizon shows roaming on their maps. Sprint is adding CDMA coverage faster than Verizon on existing Nextel sites. Sprint also has the best roaming agreements of any carrier.
Sprint's high churn is the Nextel side, not the CDMA side. | |
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rec9140
Provoice just DO it
join:2003-07-29
Mulberry, FL
| Re: MVNOs
The Sprint Road Map | 
VZW Coverage | 
The Nexhell Road Map |
said by sprintuserrrrr :
Sprint's coverage is about the same as Verizon. Both cover about 260m pops natively. Verizon shows roaming on their maps.
All the carriers are hiding coverage and who provides it unless you dig. VZW, sprint, all of them ... BUT...
Sprints, NATIVE COVERAGE, what THEY OWN AND BUILT, NOT roaming agreements/partners, is a road map for interstates and major highways.
It doesn't compare to VZW own NATIVE coverage either. VZW builds out their coverage past the narrow corridors of interstates and highways that Sprint doesn't.
I'll take that 2nd map versus the road map above, any day.
said by sprintuserrrrr :
Sprint is adding CDMA coverage faster than Verizon on existing Nextel sites.
I don't have access to that kind of sensitve company data to verify that, but nexhells coverage is another joke in and of its self too. Another carrier who looks like a road map.
said by sprintuserrrrr :
Sprint also has the best roaming agreements of any carrier.
Well, thanks for the laugh.... no way I am buying that statement. I'll take my VZW phone anywhere and be able to make a call, especially rural areas off the Sprint Road Map and make a call. Yes VZW has major areas covered by partners too, but their native coverage far exceeds sprints in a heartbeat, especially off the major highways.
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