Sources: Comcast To Sever Involvement With Pivot

Do they get the lower price of the traditional Sprint plan, or will they be stuck paying the higher Pivot price?

Lower Sprint price. They're essentially just becoming normal Sprint customers.

That's not a bad deal then. I'm surprised they are not trying to lock them into the higher Pivot price .... at least for the remainder of their contracts.

Why is that surprising? They are talking about Sprint, not VerizonW. If Sprint wanted to REALLY make it a nice deal, Offer SERO plans for those tossed to the wind. They COULD use all the good press they can get since Sprint seems to be the whipping boy of the wireless world right now.

The same Sprint that charged me an ETF to switch from Nextel to Sprint after the merger, but then sent me a refund check weeks later?

The same Sprint who refused to allow me to add another family line, even though my credit is perfect, and I was never late with Nextel nor Sprint?

I was very happy with my Sprint service and I still think my Samsung A900 was the best phone I ever owned, but their customer service policies are rancid.

My gf switched to sprint from Nextel 3 weeks after the merger and they didn't charge her an ETF and her contract was just 6 months old.

They do charge the ETF, but then refund it. You don't ever have to actually pay the ETF (as I later found out), but I went ahead and paid it as I didn't trust them to apply the credits properly.

They expect you to carry the ETF as a final bill with Nextel, until Sprint sends the check to Nextel. I told them to just send the check to me.

after their merger i was allowed to change to Sprint from Nextel with no ETF. The only thing I had to do was wait 9 months on the Nextel side. If i didnt wait the 9months i would have been charged an ETF.

Uhhh, so you had to wait out your contract?

no i only had to be a Nextel customer for 9 months. 9months in after the contract i could transfer to Sprint without any problems. And did so. The only problem i had was with the outsourced service reps on the Sprint side. Which is why i left the company as a whole.

yep.. wanna hear about my Comcast or AT&T billing problems that took a few months to resolve? How about my VoIP provider who "gave away" my phone number to someone else causing me to pull in the FCC and PUC to get it back, 2 months later? We all have tears to shed at the boo hoo party of bad customer service so you or Sprint don't hold the patent on such issues. I just got a email from Sprint saying my kids phone upgrade didn't qualify for a rebate because it was a "business provided discounted" phone (say what?). One call to customer service, they just credited my bill the 50 bucks. Before that, I emailed the rebate department asking WTF? But was going to take 72 hrs for a reply and I wanted answers NOW. So, after the 72hrs, a email stated they are processing my rebate. So, I end up with a free phone. When I told the rebate side of Sprint what happened (doing the right thing), they said that's ok, and they were sorry for my troubles. Enjoy my rebate. Sprint is just fine when I compare them to the other services I have. Credit card companies who keep calling trying to upsale you services to Chrysler calling you 6 months before your car's lease expires trying to get you to buy it, re-lease it, take it to your dealer early to get things fixed before the end of the lease.. blah blah blah. Sorry but have had the issues I've hand with other providers, some people are never happy, they go into the issue feet first without thinking and from I read, are ready to explode on impact before trying to fix it. Go check out some Verizon forums, they are as bad if not worse. Only difference is, VZW charges you more for your pain.. Been there too.

Customers can either migrate to a Sprint Account or Cancel service all together without having to pay an ETF.

Pivot hasn't really been sold since late November...this is old news.

Pivot's biggest issue was the underlying Sprint PCS service could not compete heads-up with the existing cellular services (especially that from VZW or AT&T Mobility). AT&T Mobility has the iPhone (and wins on *cool factor* because of it), while VZW wins on network coverage. Even worse (for Pivot), both AT&T Mobility and VZW have a greater selection of lower-cost handsets (in addition to cheaper rates on services). So *why* would anyone choose Pivot over AT&T Mobility or VZW?

I suppose now the more appropriate question is, why would anyone choose Sprint over AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile...

AT&T has the iPhone "cool" factor.
Verizon has the network.
T-Mobile has amazing customer service.

The only thing that is really keeping Sprint afloat or rather keeping customers from defecting is the fact that they have ways of making you want to stay - discounts, free addons, etc... in combination with a plan that you may be on, it usually ends up being the best deal of the four. Take particular notice of SERO and their unlimited plan, which is inclusive of every service they have to offer - Blackberry, GPS, etc., etc...

Are you suggesting that Pivot would have been successful if only VzW or AT&T Mobility were used instead? Dream on. Pivot was all about converged features, and simply put the converged services offered weren't compelling enough. Changing the carrier underneath it wouldn't have changed a thing.

They just needed to think a little bit more outside the box on the converged services offer. Maybe Unified Communications (premised on the wireless service) to the broadband home and/or to the TV would have been the ticket.

I think the real reason this failed is because they charged a premium ($15 to $20) for bundling in wireless service with your existing cable service. This was a complete disaster for a number of reasons. First, the so called "quad play", offering customers a discounted price on TV, phone, internet, and cell service is a pipe dream, and nobody wants it. Secondly (and the exact opposite), is that charging people MORE money to bundle in their cell service is the stupidest concept ever created.

Pivot could have made an impact if they offered a discount to customers who purchased the service. For instance, they could have offered customers the SERO rate given that they already had the cable services on their account. Unfortunately, they chose to not do this and thats why it failed. People will NEVER pay more money for less service, and this just proved that.

Ding Ding.. You win for best TRUE answer for what the service was..

Fanboys of VZW, AT&T, TM or Sprint needs to see it for what it was. That's also been a selling point for CC and WOW trying to get people to switch phone service. Only when they lowered the price did people start leaving POTS for "PSoIP" (my new term.. Phone service over IP" since CC will all but fight you to the death if you call it VoIP. Just like when people using Femtocells, it's WoIP.. Call it for what it is.

Sprint, VZW, and Alltel almost have the same size network. They're all partnered together for roaming. One's network is not the issue. It was the pricing for the most part.

This had nothing to do with the network, and everything to do with the pricing model.

VZW *has* no roaming charges (and with their network coverage, their customers have little reason to roam). You must mean Sprint and AllTel.

Yeah, that must be what they mean . It also could be the reason why every summer at our boy scout summer camp session, mom's and dad's ask what service works in the areas we go to (between the 2 camps). It's always the same answer. Altel, Sprint and Nextel. If you have TM, AT&T, forget it though TRAC phones work ok. VZW, it's funny to see the boys walking in circles trying to get a signal during our allowed "communications period". At best, some get "roaming on enhanced network". Meanwhile I'm getting EVDO speed weax updates on my phone (Sanyo MM7500). That's why I've stayed with Sprint. Been to some backwoods areas so I'm not convinced that anyone can offer anything better, even at the same price . But if I was REALLY worried and wanted 100% coverage with no price restrictions, I'll just get a satellite phone.

Just because a cell provider doesnt charge roaming doesnt mean it won't. They can eat those. But VZW does roam with Sprint in Alltel. I don't know how you figure they never roam. I can tell you 1 city in MI (adrian) that VZW has on "extended network" better known as roaming. All companies eat roaming. Just some do not eat it in certain areas where they do not have roaming agreements for.

I'm a Comcast customer and never even heard of it. It seems like they did a very poor job of advertising this service.

You're right.. Comcast didn't advertise pivot at all.. TW and bright house are really the only ones that advertise it.. Comcast getting rid of it is probably not much of a loss..

True. There was NO advertising on Pivot here in Portland from Comcast. I was only reminded about it one time when I walked into a Sprint Store. A small display with Pivot brochures. Nothing at Comcast's stores, kiosks, fliers within my bills (when I was a Comcast customer).

And that "overhead" price for the service...wtf?

Cox advertises it pretty heavily here in RI... but yes.. the model is horrific, and the as far as the wireless thing goes providers (at least the CDMA providers) DO have seperate networks, however also DO work together for roaming issues and should network problems occur, the other provider actually will allow others to use their wireless lines for service while the issue gets resolved. Think of it as helpful competition as oppose to healthy competition

actually as i see now everyone except bright house bailed out
»news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2008 ··· _venture

Spokespeople for Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cox Communications Inc. said Wednesday they have stopped marketing the Pivot service and plan in the coming weeks to give their Pivot customers the option of switching to traditional Sprint mobile phone plans.

even better... the svc was kind of a joke anyways.. just a way to >>TRY and break into the wireless market that already has enough provider selections to choose from...