dslreports logo
 story category
Sprint Still Bleeding Wireless Customers
Loses 1.3 million net wireless customers on the quarter...
Sprint's third quarter earnings indicate that customers continue to flee from the struggling wireless provider, the company losing 1.3 million net customers -- slightly more than Wall Street analysts expected. The company posted a net loss of $326 million, their churn (or customer turnover) rate jumped from 2 to 2.15%, and the company's quarterly wireless revenues fell to $6.8 billion (total revenues were $8.8 billion), down 3% from last quarter and 13% from last year. Most of these numbers will likely be made worse when Sprint finally gets around to pro-rating their ETF system later this year.
view:
topics flat nest 

NY Tel
Premium Member
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY

NY Tel

Premium Member

Doomed

I think the only thing that might save them is if they "sell to someone else" or there is the perception that it is not Sprint anymore. Change the name...do something.

The market has and provides many alternative choices to customers from companies who will bend over backwards for them.
I just think Sprint has to disappear.......
IMHO

BIGMIKE
Q
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Gainesville, FL

BIGMIKE

Premium Member

Re: 934 KB Casual Data Usage @ $ 03/KB $28.02

Previous Balance $44.17

Payment on Oct 13 -$44.17

New Charges


Charges


Sprint Power Pack - 450 Anytime Minutes Included $39.99
Unlimited Nights&Weekends-7pm $0.00
934 KB Casual Data Usage @ $ 03/KB $28.02
Total Anytime Minutes Used

Sprint Surcharges $2.05
Show DetailsShow Details And Explanation of Charges
Sprint Surcharges are rates we choose to collect from you to help defray costs imposed on us. Surcharges are not taxes or amounts we are required to collect from you by law. Surcharges may include: Federal USF, regulatory charges, administrative charges, gross receipts charges, and other charges incurred to recover costs associated with governmental programs. The amounts, and the components used to calculate Surcharge amounts, are subject to change.
Federal-Univ Serv Assess Non-LD $0.99
California State-PUC User Fee $0.11
Administrative Charge $0.75
Regulatory Charge $0.20
--------------
$2.05
Government Fees & Taxes $2.54
Show DetailsShow Details And Explanation of Charges
Taxes and fees Sprint is required to collect from customers on behalf of the government.
California State-911 Tax $0.16
California State-CA High Cost B & Adv Fund $0.30
California State-CA High Cost Part A $0.08
California State-CA Relay Service Fund $0.12
California State-Tele Fund Charge $0.04
California State-Univ Lifeline Serv Charge $0.54
Westminster City-Utility Tax $1.30
--------------
$2.54

Total Due by November 15 $72.60
hescominsoon
join:2003-02-18
Brunswick, MD

hescominsoon to NY Tel

Member

to NY Tel

Re: Doomed

said by NY Tel:

I think the only thing that might save them is if they "sell to someone else" or there is the perception that it is not Sprint anymore. Change the name...do something.

The market has and provides many alternative choices to customers from companies who will bend over backwards for them.
I just think Sprint has to disappear.......
IMHO
the sprint name has nothing to do with it..it's their abysmal customer service and technicians that don't know anything.
»www.hescominsoon.com/?p=1716

I had to troubleshoot things for them..i'm the one who figure out the issues..it's pathetic..:(
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Correction

Revenue was $8.8B, not $6.8B.

I wonder if there were CDMA losses or if it was just Nextel losses?

sprintover
@verizon.net

sprintover

Anon

Re: Correction

said by xenophon:

Revenue was $8.8B, not $6.8B.

I wonder if there were CDMA losses or if it was just Nextel losses?
losses mostly from nextel iden crap service

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102

Member

Re: Correction

Yeah - my crappy Blackberry 7100i - messages and calls work well (probably nobody left using iDEN in my area), but data is slow, and battery life is poor.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode to xenophon

News Guy

to xenophon
Total revenues were $8.8B, wireless revenues were $6.8B.

ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA

ninjatutle to xenophon

Member

to xenophon
For me, it was an account with a 3G Mobile Broadband Card. Don't know if it was CDMA or Nextel but my smartphone + data package with them is next to go when my term is up in a few months.

I hate Mac's and iPods but the iphone is running circles around everything else. I don't want to be left out in the dust
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP to xenophon

Member

to xenophon
said by xenophon:

Revenue was $8.8B, not $6.8B.

I wonder if there were CDMA losses or if it was just Nextel losses?
100K down on the CDMA side, 100K down on Powersource and 1.1 MILLION down on iDEN. Everybody can draw their own conclusions...
jebba2005
join:2005-01-13
Portland, ME

jebba2005

Member

Dan da man.

I hope they survive. My plan with them is too good.

nightdesigns
Gone missing, back soon
Premium Member
join:2002-05-31
AZ

nightdesigns

Premium Member

Re: Dan da man.

said by jebba2005:

I hope they survive. My plan with them is too good.
Ditto, I'm on a corporate plan, for a company I haven't worked for since 2000. Once you have the discount, you get to keep it. My parents are also part of that discount plan.

evgray
join:2003-05-19
Fort Scott, KS

evgray

Member

Re: Dan da man.

I hope they stay as well. We live in the middle of no where and even though their customer service sucks, they have the cheapest plan and also the best coverage.

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg

Member

Re: Dan da man.

said by evgray:

I hope they stay as well. We live in the middle of no where and even though their customer service sucks, they have the cheapest plan and also the best coverage.
I think customer service sucks for cable, cell phone and land line service providers just as well. I've had Sprint for 10 years. Few bumps on billing a few times but they always took care of it. I just activated a instinct and LG Lotus for 2 of my kids. Instinct was OTA and LG went like a snap. No problems and they were FAST and VERY nice. Improved they have.. GO SPRINT..

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207

Premium Member

Re: Dan da man.

Sprint has really been impressive for me lately.

I think the biggest obstacle for Sprint to overcome will be the lack of innovation with their phones. They just don't have the latest and greatest phones that are available on other carriers, and this likely will not change due to Sprint's infrastructure and the technology they use. While the versions of phones they do provide are late comers, these models are often the best of the bunch. Take the BlackBerry Curve for example. Sprint's version has more memory with more features than the competition's model, although everyone else had it way before Sprint did.

Customers are leaving to grab an iPhone or one of the new BlackBerry's, such as the Bold, the upcoming Storm, and Javelin/Curve.

The plans are great, their customer service is leading the pack, and they have great coverage with the best roaming agreements. Image perception from past disasters and limited phone selections are doing some major damage, but I don't see them completely falling apart as they do not appear to have given up. In other words, they are not just looking to sell to the highest bidder, they are actually taking steps to improve things in a manner which suggests that the company wants to survive and compete at the highest levels.

gball
Master Yoda
Premium Member
join:2000-11-28
South Bend, IN

gball

Premium Member

Re: Dan da man.

They have released the new HTC Touch and Touch Pro well before AT&T, Verizon. Actually I think they are the first US carrier to release both of those phones.

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207

Premium Member

Re: Dan da man.

Windows Mobile devices just don't seem to generate the same level of buzz and excitement. Besides, people on other carriers get these a couple of months or even a few weeks after Sprint. It can be over a year before Sprint sees a phone that was released by other wireless carriers, and these are not carrier-exclusive models either.

gball
Master Yoda
Premium Member
join:2000-11-28
South Bend, IN

gball

Premium Member

Re: Dan da man.

Thats true I don't quite undertstand why windows mobile phones aren't as popular cause I couldn't do without one

jmn1207
Premium Member
join:2000-07-19
Sterling, VA

jmn1207

Premium Member

Re: Dan da man.

said by gball:

Thats true I don't quite undertstand why windows mobile phones aren't as popular cause I couldn't do without one
Just curious, which model do you have? I'm kinda new to the "smart" phones. I like my Curve, but I could really do with Rev. A and WiFi.

Have you had much experience with any others?

tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Gulfport, MS

tc1uscg to gball

Member

to gball
said by gball:

Thats true I don't quite undertstand why windows mobile phones aren't as popular cause I couldn't do without one
I just started using my first "smart phone" the 700p treo from Sprint. Got it from a guy at work who got a instinct then got the Diamon Pro touch. I like it. I've not set up any apps yet but it seems to be working fine and was a snap setting up my gmail, yahoo and work email. It's spoiling me.
tc1uscg

tc1uscg to jmn1207

Member

to jmn1207
said by jmn1207:

Sprint has really been impressive for me lately.

Yes.. and if people can remember that the Big 3 domestic automotive companies were driven down back in the late 70's and early 80's for one thing or another, they still to this day have not fully recovered. Once the press finds a wipping boy (sprint), the don't let up one bit. Guess they like spinning bad press. My proof is this. Sprint and Clearwire have been behind WiMAX for a while. It's deployed. In use and growing more and more. Has much more application use then anything out there right now. LTE is still in the lab for god sake and eveytime you see a write up about LTE, WiMax isn't mentioned. But, whenever WiMAX writes are posted, the wirter (DSLR) goes out of their way to mention LTE and VZ and/or AT&T. Sprint can't get a fair break as long as people keep hanging on the stuff in the past. Their service could be free, all the minutes in the world were free and you get a free phone every year and people would still find something to bitch about. The grass IS NOT greener on the other side of the fence when it comes to CS.

creativedog
Premium Member
join:2000-12-03
Richmond, VA

creativedog to nightdesigns

Premium Member

to nightdesigns
said by nightdesigns:

said by jebba2005:

I hope they survive. My plan with them is too good.
Ditto, I'm on a corporate plan, for a company I haven't worked for since 2000. Once you have the discount, you get to keep it. My parents are also part of that discount plan.
That could be a small part of the problem. Why do you deserve a discount since you don't work for the company that negotiated that discount?

QuakeFrag
Premium Member
join:2003-06-13
NH

1 edit

QuakeFrag to jebba2005

Premium Member

to jebba2005
said by jebba2005:

I hope they survive. My plan with them is too good.
I hope they survive, just so we aren't stuck with 2 major providers: At&t and Verizon (If Alltel disappears. I believe the DOJ needs to approve it still). Competition needs to grow.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose

Member

Re: Dan da man.

doj allready approved and the fcc just approved on nov 4th so
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

Sammer to jebba2005

Member

to jebba2005
said by jebba2005:

I hope they survive. My plan with them is too good.
They will. Technically they lost $233 million but they also reduced their debt by about $300 million and have over $4 Billion in cash and equivalents.
cahiatt
Premium Member
join:2001-03-21
Smyrna, GA

cahiatt

Premium Member

I'd prefer them to stick around also.

I bash them sometimes but I honestly enjoy my service with them. My plan is better than anything I can get from any other carrier. Coverage has been fine and support has always come through when I needed them to.

MrFingers
@dslextreme.com

MrFingers

Anon

Sprint

They're not doomed in any way shape of form, they just posted 8.8B in revenue for the quarter!!!

Wake up people, Ford, GM, LV Sands they have problems
much worse than Sprint.

Their service is good, the plans are cheap and they've put a huge emphasis on customer service and it's been improving every month. They're still making a profit.

One other thing, WiMax is just around the corner and if they don't screw up the rollout it will dominate the wireless internet services for quite awhile while VZ and ATT mess with LTE.

Some of the biggest corp.s in the USA are in bed with Sprint on this and they will succeed.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

echo of the economy, stupids!

if you haven't already noticed, this IS a recession. you may also note that the worst of the worst of cell companies will see an exaggerated loss of customers. most notable reasons why... poor customer retention, and end of service terms of service... which is to say, they try to screw you for as much money as possible when you try to leave them!

i won't be satisfied until sprint is bankrupt.

SpaethCo
Digital Plumber
MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN

1 recommendation

SpaethCo

MVM

Re: echo of the economy, stupids!

said by tmc8080:

i won't be satisfied until sprint is bankrupt.
Prepare yourself for a life of dissatisfaction then.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to tmc8080

Premium Member

to tmc8080
said by tmc8080:

i won't be satisfied until sprint is bankrupt.
Grow up... you want Anti-American? There you go...

The market place will take care of itself. if you do not like the company called sprint, then dump them and move on with your life.

Why do people, ignorantly, have to wish for the end of a company in bankruptcy? or just be gone for good? Sprint is no where near that bad of a company wish them gone.

So, you want them bankrupt huh? So what you're saying is you want to see all those employees out of work and on the public money troff.. you want to see a company file bankruptcy so they can not pay their creditors what they are owed. What you're saying is you want these discharged debts to hurt other businesses to make their prices go up. You want to see less competition in the market place so your service with the remaining companies have less of a reason to keep their rates low.

yea.. you're the one with a vision I want to stand behind.

How in the world is Sprint trying to "screw you" when you try to leave them? What an ignorant statement. You KNEW up front of any ETF that you'd pay. You GLADLY took the discounted cell phone up front, so the way *I* see it, the person doing the screwing is you, the way you put it. you took a discount and agreed to pay an ETF if you break your promise to stay. You want to keep the discount, leave early, and not pay the fee, right?

Seriously, there is so much wrong with your post it's not even funny.

If this is the way you see life, you have some things you need to work on.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

Re: echo of the economy, stupids!

said by fiberguy2:

said by tmc8080:

i won't be satisfied until sprint is bankrupt.
Grow up... you want Anti-American? There you go...

The market place will take care of itself. if you do not like the company called sprint, then dump them and move on with your life.

Why do people, ignorantly, have to wish for the end of a company in bankruptcy? or just be gone for good? Sprint is no where near that bad of a company wish them gone.

So, you want them bankrupt huh? So what you're saying is you want to see all those employees out of work and on the public money troff.. you want to see a company file bankruptcy so they can not pay their creditors what they are owed. What you're saying is you want these discharged debts to hurt other businesses to make their prices go up. You want to see less competition in the market place so your service with the remaining companies have less of a reason to keep their rates low.

yea.. you're the one with a vision I want to stand behind.

How in the world is Sprint trying to "screw you" when you try to leave them? What an ignorant statement. You KNEW up front of any ETF that you'd pay. You GLADLY took the discounted cell phone up front, so the way *I* see it, the person doing the screwing is you, the way you put it. you took a discount and agreed to pay an ETF if you break your promise to stay. You want to keep the discount, leave early, and not pay the fee, right?

Seriously, there is so much wrong with your post it's not even funny.

If this is the way you see life, you have some things you need to work on.
In a word, yes. I want sprint to lay of everyone in the company and they should be going to their unemployment offices, followed by their local departments of social services for assistance!! I did not deal with an ETF but when they did their pathetic attempt at "customer retention" they consistently lied about less expensive plans and would NOT pro-rate a monthy charge for service outside of a contract, even if it's one day into the next month! dare I say these were not explicit in the original contracts generated around 2002-2003. Since I left them over a year ago the point is moot. There are many reasons why they won't be able to collect that money and they can expect many others to follow suit and refuse to pay them when they are unreasonable, lie, and depite escalation to higher ranks of c/s they deserve to go out of business, plain and simple. maybe, they are not as bad as the auto industry today, but one can only hope for this to happen. Companies who refuse to negotiate and be reasonable in especially hard economic times deserves to have their economic ass handed to them.
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

Re: echo of the economy, stupids!

You're plain nuts then. Wow.. lay 'em all off. Again, you have no idea, then, just how tied up the economy is directly to your own check book,... and others like mine too. What ever.

Still, I see nothing wrong done based on the little information you stated. It sounds like you took a retention offer. The way I see it, you were looking for one any way. Unless you were specifically calling in to do away all together with a cellular service, you were fishing for a deal. You were obviously given a deal and it wasn't what you were expecting - fine, I can respect that. HOWEVER, it was your fault for not noticing it when you got your first bill and telling them to put your service back to the old plan, OR, simply turning off your service. There is a cooling off period when you entered a new agreement to cancel the service . Even if you did get hit with an ETF, it would have been the same if you were canceling prior to the contract date anyway.

Either way, it sounds like you didn't do enough to inform yourself and read your terms of service - which is your responsibility.

In regards to companies negotiating. Um, the country isn't a flea market. You get a price in front of you.. either buy it and pay for it, or turn it down and find something else or do with out. Its pretty simple.

you ahve much to learn about the economy.

Enjoy your bad credit. I hope THEY learn a valuable lesson "in this hard economic time"..

Titus
Mr Gradenko
join:2004-06-26

Titus

Member

Tell 'em to get in line ...

... behind the auto execs wanting tax-payer debt to keep them alive.

Corporate socialism is the new warm and fuzzy.
--
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

i like sprint

no roaming great prices and customer is always 50/50 just depends on who answers the phone, i work for another carrier and would suggest sprint to my frinds, especially ones who travel
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

1 edit

88615298 (banned)

Member

Somehow they still have $500 mil to spend

on getting a exclusive deal to show NFL Network. If they think that's going to stop the bleeding they are stupid.

SHABAZZ
join:2008-07-13
Seattle, WA

SHABAZZ

Member

Every thing will change...

If Sprint can Survive for the next two years they will end up on top. If they can get a few hit phones that's Wimax enabled they can change the game. Every other carrier will be playing catch up.

•••••

pbatis
@verizon.net

pbatis

Anon

Sprint Away!

My better half has been a Sprint customer for about 7 years.

We just canceled the cellphone service and EVDO card we had with them.

See she has a Sprint phone that is probably over 5 years old. So Sprint subsidized the cost of the phone by hooking her into a 2 year contract.

She changed her plan at some point to increase the monthly minutes - so they start a new contract for another year. Nice of them. Change your package and you are back in a contract with an early termination fee.

As for their EVDO - it works well in most places we have been. However, that 5GB monthly cap is idiotic. $60+ a month for 5GB of internet is pathetic.

Add to that the internet outage created last week by Sprint depeering/disconnecting Cogent and we thought enough is enough.

So we'll take that $100+ a month and spend it elsewhere. Goodbye Sprint.

RVAguy
Premium Member
join:2006-01-05
Richmond, VA

1 edit

RVAguy

Premium Member

Re: Sprint Away!

"Change your package and you are back in a contract with an early termination fee."

This used to be the case but is no more, so not sure who you are fooling...

As for complaining about price, its the same over at verizon for internet with the same cap.

The Cogent issue was Cogent being themselves. If they owe you money and you don't pay, what is a company supposed to do???