dslreports logo
 story category
Sprint's Son Over-Sells Fixed LTE Plans to Get Merger Approved

With regulators very unlikely to sign off on the killing of T-Mobile just at a time they're being disruptive, Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son has an uphill climb in getting a Sprint acquisition of T-Mobile approved. To try and accomplish this anyway, the chairman has been engaged on a whirlwind media and industry tour the last few weeks, declaring that the combined company will somehow revolutionize American broadband.

Sprint's currently struggling to run and improve the LTE network they already own, but Son is insisting that if the deal is approved, they'll be offering a fixed wireless service. Sprint is currently conducting fixed 4G TDD-LTE trials with Dish that may or may not go anywhere, but Son is claiming these trials will eventually evolve into a game changer. Some people seem a bit more eager to buy into this claim than others:

quote:
Some pundits took this as bluster to sway regulators to consider Sprint's possible acquisition of T-Mobile in a broader context, including not just wireless carriers but also cable providers. However, if Son was serious and Sprint can accomplish the feat, it could shift a huge amount of capital from fixed-line broadband providers to wireless broadband providers. It could also fundamentally change the relationship between content distributors, like Netflix, and cable providers. Finally, if the price is right it could bring more subscribers to Sprint.
Sprint has the spectrum, it simply remains unclear that they have the ability. The company's current LTE network, even after several years and several billions in upgrades, still comes in last place in terms of speed, reliability and latency. While Son is promising that acquiring of T-Mobile would make Sprint more competitive, history suggests the elimination of T-Mobile will end with Sprint acting more like AT&T and Verizon, not less.

Meanwhile, ironically, while Son promises that eliminating T-Mobile will result in more wireless competition, Comcast's top lobbyist David Cohen has started claiming that wireless competition will keep a larger, merged Comcast in check. Imagine what we could accomplish if we just let everybody merge with everybody into one giant awesome company?
view:
topics flat nest 
clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

1 recommendation

clone (banned)

Member

I wish Sprint would just die, already.

They're the worst garbage excuse for a service, have the worst draconian customer-hating policies--worse than Verizon or AT&T. And now they want to drag an actual good company down with them. They need to go to hell. I'm no T-Mobile fanboy, but at least where they have a network, it works and it works well. Sprint can't get right. If anything, T-Mobile should buy Sprint.

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

n2jtx

Member

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

Click for full size
iPhone Data Usage
Sadly I have to agree. I have been on Sprint though my employer (they pay the bill) since October 2011 and I have never been happy with the service. I carried two cell phones for about six months before opting to dump my personal T-Mobile service and move my personal number to the Sprint phone (saved me $40/month). About the only thing that has worked consistently well with Sprint these last 2 1/2 years has been the SMS service. Voice calls sometimes drop or have a bad echo. 3G in my area is a joke running more like 1xRTT speeds and even Sprint admits they have yet to do upgrades in my area. In fact, I turned the 3G switch on my phone off in December and have never turned it on this year. The last four Sprint bills show zero bytes of data usage on my account and the attached is screen capture of an iPhone data usage monitoring app. The middle column is my 3G data usage. Frankly, if I were paying for the service, I would have dumped Sprint a long time ago. Not just because of the data but their refusal to unlock my paid off iPhone 4S. They claim it is their policy to never unlock iPhone's for domestic usage.
chris92
join:2008-09-20
Coal Valley, IL

chris92

Member

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

Get rid of that iPhone and embrace 4G! The tower in Glen Head has it!

http://www.speedtest.net/wp/9778462.png

Edit: I would honestly like to see a speed test of that right now on 3G
i2Fuzzy
join:2009-02-25
Garland, TX

i2Fuzzy

Member

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

That's not even bad ping for a speed test on a server 450 miles away.
tuminatr
join:2014-04-04

tuminatr

Member

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

how about this »www.speedtest.net/my-res ··· 78648478
Expand your moderator at work

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey to chris92

Premium Member

to chris92
Even Sprint's "4G" sucks bad:


Expand your moderator at work
tuminatr
join:2014-04-04

tuminatr to mackey

Member

to mackey

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

I have never seen that bad in my area on sprint 4g

and average test


my best

tuminatr

tuminatr to n2jtx

Member

to n2jtx
get a new phone and you will be much happier something that supports LTE Iphone 5 5c 5s

Lost Phone
@173.227.6.x

Lost Phone to n2jtx

Anon

to n2jtx
I have Sprint and I was using an unlocked iPhone 4s 32 gig on sprint network and noticed the same thing with the 3G network you get the 1X speeds. I was told by a Sprint Rep. at the Sprint store. Sprint is working on the antennas and that there replacing them with 4G LTE. So eventually your going to have to upgrade to a newer phone that supports 4G LTE. I live in Vallejo CA and I work in San Francisco CA and the 4G LTE speeds are good. I wish I can post up screen shoots but my Galaxy Note 3 was stolen. Now I have to wait for the replacement very sad even if you pay for insurance your looking at $220. $200 for the replacement phone and $20 for Saturday Deliver. :0 ( - _- _-
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to clone

Member

to clone
Draconian? Wherefore?
clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

clone (banned)

Member

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

Let's see:

1. Require two-year contracts on postpaid lines even when you bring your own equipment or pay full price for it.

2. Won't allow BYOD equipment, even when it's fully compatible with their network. They even tried soldered in internal SIM cards in some LTE devices. Even their prepaid disallows BYOD for most devices and plans.

3. Won't, under any circumstances, unlock the SIM slots of compatible phones that have them. Even when you've fulfilled the terms of your contract or paid full price for handsets. The #1 reason I left them.

4. Terrible roaming policies, they don't warn you, just kick you. I've used hours of airtime and gigs of data on my Verizon line while roaming and never heard a peep. Even AT&T will work with you/warn you to adjust your usage while roaming for a few months before you get the boot.

5. Customer service that is unhelpful, misinformed, and refuses to budge on anything to make up for their incompetence.

I know how much bad press AT&T and Verizon get on this site, and in many cases I agree. But while I might pay a little more to use their services (and the difference really is pretty negligible), I get great customer service, can do anything I want with my phones that are paid for, and can pop my SIM into any compatible device I want, roam as much as I want, and don't want to jump off a bridge while trying to load basic things like emails or web pages while on their native networks.

Sprint used to be pretty great, but today they are a steamer.
tuminatr
join:2014-04-04

2 edits

tuminatr

Member

Re: I wish Sprint would just die, already.

Response to your points

1 true you can do a 2year contract, no contract, or bring your own equipment (the nexus 5 for instance will work even if you buy from the play store) But that's the same as Verizon & ATT, T-mobile has eliminated the contract choice and you can only bring a phone or buy at full price

2 completely not true the Nexus 5 bought from the play store will work on sprint. An unlocked Iphone may work although I have not tried. The American phone landscape is changing and I expect more manufactures to sell direct to the consumer. On a side note even though the Nexus 5 is technically compatible with Verizon's network they restrict it also Verizon recently unrestricted the use of Nexus 7 tablets

3 About half right I have traveled outside of the USA and my last 3 phones came unlocked for use outside the USA Motorola Photon, Note 2 and Note 3. I have been to UK, Austria, and Hungary all with different sim cards no issues. Sprint does however put a permanent restriction so Verizon's, T-Mobiles, and ATT cannot be the home network. If you have your equipment paid for they should however give you some kind of unlock but they way they do it there phones are not capable of being unrestricted. This too in in line with with the other carriers are doing ATT phone should work on Verizon and Sprint but doesn't and T-Mobile should work on Verizon and Sprint but doesn"t. Both for the same reason No CDMA support although the chipsets support this for the most part

4 I do travel for a living and use about ½ of my service out of my home area but probably only 1/8 to ¼ is when I am roaming. When I worked for Verizon I can say they will do it but it's not without warning. And ATT will also but not without warning. I have seen Letters from sprint explain the waved ETF and kicking customers off because of excessive roaming. So if you got something it was probably in writing

5 I can't dispute personal experience only give a testimonial I have been a Sprint customer for about 9 years and I have no negative experiences with customer service.

Sprint is experiencing some growing pains I have seen huge improvements most industry experts say they will be the king of speed in the near because they have the most spectrum. I worked in the industry for years and can tell you all the carriers have issues just find one that works for you
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

tmc8080

Member

failure

this is what a failure of a business plan looks like...
invest lots of money and build a network, fail to execute a business model that nets more customers, then look at other carriers as the salvation and answer through elimination of competition.

the biggest problem is market saturation at current price structures. while Sprint tried and failed to move market share when they introduced unlimited calling & data plans back in the day, the task wasn't as huge as it is today to move markets given that they need 4g/lte investment to compete with AT&T and VERIZON-- not tmobile. getting tmobile doesn't get them closer to a goal of beating the duopoly at their game, since they own the wireless market together. they just have to let minority carriers exist the same way Intel has to let Amd exist selling computer processors.

why60loss
Premium Member
join:2012-09-20

1 recommendation

why60loss

Premium Member

Leave T-mobile alone already

The DOJ needs to just slam the door in there face and get it over already. Sick of this BS.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Re: Leave T-mobile alone already

Quite simply stated, but dead on!!
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Let me get this straight

So let me get this straight... if the merger is approved, Sprint will start offering a service that will make them a lot of money. But if the merger is not approved, they're gonna take their ball and go home and not start a lucrative service? And the money they would spent buying T-Mobile won't take away from their ability to spend money on a Fixed LTE service? What am I missing?
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Let me get this straight

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Sprint stopped offering TD-LTE handsets post-merger. Switch to SMR/PCS/AWS FD-LTE and use PCS+AWS for the "fast lane" service instead of BRS/EBS. Then dedicate BRS/EBS to fixed wireless.

Sprint can't do that plan right now with PCS because they don't have quite enough PCS spectrum to keep CDMA open and go with 10x10 LTE everywhere. "Sprintgenta" would have the requisite spectrum to pull this off.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

Re: Let me get this straight

To put it another way... Sprint is the Radio Shack of the B&M electronics stores. So much inventory but shrinking customers willing to buy what they're selling {at ANY price}.

With the big carriers slamming the door on MVNO (and other minority carrier data) roaming, I foresee some regulations to fix these industry ills and chills on competition (rather conveniently around the time of a Sprint bankruptcy-- or Tmobile.. take your pick whichever happens first). The main way the FCC could fix this is phase out CDMA/GSM and force everyone onto LTE for voice, text & data.. then REQUIRE roaming agreements across geographies not covered by the other as a condition of continuing to operate on the 700-900mh, 1.5 - 3ghz spectrums (99% of what wireless carriers are actively servicing customers on).

Sofar, the FCC hasn't moved mountains to get wireless carriers on 400 - 500mhz spectrum, yet (until they get first responder xcievers off analog).
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: Let me get this straight

Sprint likes mvno and now has netalliance. Corrected from netamerica in my previous posts.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose to tmc8080

Member

to tmc8080
First Responders are not the only ones on that range, Ham Radio is as well, and its a very popular and useful Simplex and Repeater Freq, besides the 140's mhz
sparek
join:2002-06-10
united state

sparek

Member

Sprint should shift focus solely to fixed LTE

LTE as a fixed wireless broadband service is really the only thing that LTE has ever made sense for to me. Maybe because I don't have LTE where I live, or maybe I'm just not cellphone-centric enough. I don't understand why someone needs 4G LTE speeds for a mobile platform. If I'm going to watch a movie through a streaming service, I'm going to do that at home, I'm not going to watch it on my phone when I'm out at some random place.

I think Sprint would do themselves a lot of good if they would start to dissolve their "cellphone" platform and focus solely on fixed wireless LTE. I know the whole "rural vs. big city" broadband discussion gets heated from time to time. But there are tons of people that live in rural areas that don't have any broadband options at all. Fixed wireless LTE, I think, should be marketed as a DSL/Cable alternative for rural areas. I believe there is a market for that.

Sprint is never going to compete with AT&T and Verizon in the cell phone market. But they have an opportunity to really get a head start on adequate, reasonably priced fixed wireless alternatives.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: Sprint should shift focus solely to fixed LTE

Don't confuse Sprint with rural coverage. Sprint will never have rural coverage worth anything so the fixed LTE thing is out the window.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: Sprint should shift focus solely to fixed LTE

said by CaptainRR:

Don't confuse Sprint with rural coverage. Sprint will never have rural coverage worth anything so the fixed LTE thing is out the window.

Netamerica rural carriers may solve rural coverage.

Rosario
@spcsdns.net

Rosario to CaptainRR

Anon

to CaptainRR
I live in a rural area and have perfect 4g lte .

mackey
Premium Member
join:2007-08-20

mackey to sparek

Premium Member

to sparek
said by sparek:

But they have an opportunity to really get a head start on adequate, reasonably priced fixed wireless alternatives.

They had one, it was called Clearwire. They started shutting it down last year, and some people are expecting them to turn off the network come June/July. They had quite a few cities lit up before they started shutting it down and I easily had both 5x the coverage and 20x the speed on it before I switched to their really crappy LTE service.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: Sprint should shift focus solely to fixed LTE

Not to mention all of the rural Nextel coverage Sprint took over and shut it all down. Now they are back to the same coverage they had 10 years ago, coverage for major cities and interstates.
sparek
join:2002-06-10
united state

sparek to mackey

Member

to mackey
But that was when they thought (and I suppose they still do) that they were a cellphone carrier. They need to drop that. Sell their "cellphone" business to someone else (T-Mobile?) and reinvent themselves solely as a fixed-wireless broadband provider.

I admit, I doubt seriously that they would do something like that. But I think that is a better overall plan for them. Sprint is right in that they cannot compete with AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile can't either. It's a duopoly.

If one of T-Mobile or Sprint would leave the field and allow the other party to combine with something else (Dish Network? Google?), that could, in a sense create 3 strong (or strongish) players in the cellphone market. This would also allow the loser (T-Mobile or Sprint) to focus entirely on the fixed-wireless market.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

RadioDoc to mackey

to mackey
said by mackey:

They had one, it was called Clearwire. They started shutting it down last year, and some people are expecting them to turn off the network come June/July

Actually, they have had two of them and screwed them both up. Anyone here besides me remember Sprint Broadband Direct?
AmericanMan
Premium Member
join:2013-12-28
united state

AmericanMan to sparek

Premium Member

to sparek
I agree. I think Sprint should focus on rural coverage, why not? They can't hope to compete with Verizon & AT&T in the big cities, so instead of fighting for scraps in the big city, go out to where a captive market is.

City: "*yawn* $90 a month for 5/5 Unlimited 4G? Pshhhh, forget that mess"
Rural: "ONLY $90 a month for 5/5 Unlimited 4G!?!?! Here take my money!!"

We're rural and Thankfully there's a Sprint tower that services our area nicely, it's 3G only but that's fine since it's unlimited.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: Sprint should shift focus solely to fixed LTE

said by AmericanMan:

I agree. I think Sprint should focus on rural coverage, why not? They can't hope to compete with Verizon & AT&T in the big cities, so instead of fighting for scraps in the big city, go out to where a captive market is.

City: "*yawn* $90 a month for 5/5 Unlimited 4G? Pshhhh, forget that mess"
Rural: "ONLY $90 a month for 5/5 Unlimited 4G!?!?! Here take my money!!"

We're rural and Thankfully there's a Sprint tower that services our area nicely, it's 3G only but that's fine since it's unlimited.

If it is a true Sprint tower and not so remote it can not get backhaul it will get 4g eventually.
Ok true Sprint antenna not roaming they rent towers. Even roaming depending on where may get 4G.
AmericanMan
Premium Member
join:2013-12-28
united state

AmericanMan

Premium Member

Re: Sprint should shift focus solely to fixed LTE

I'm guessing the Sprint tower will eventually get 4G, but I'm in no rush really. Thankfully I'm on grandfathered unlimited 3G, but we'd lose the plan if we upgraded to 4G.
kmcmurtrie
join:2006-04-18
Sunnyvale, CA

kmcmurtrie

Member

Safety net of being one of the last mobile telcos

I think the merger is to make Sprint "too big to fail" so they can get government assistance to cover all of their failures. Fixed wireless? Is that little trickle of data from an overloaded tower to compete with people who think that dialup is too good of a deal? And I'm sure people are lining up to get stuck in another dreadful Sprint contract where all of Sprint's equipment problems are the customer's fault because the customer didn't buy into a "protection plan."

Fail on your own, Sprint. You've earned it.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: Safety net of being one of the last mobile telcos

said by kmcmurtrie:

I think the merger is to make Sprint "too big to fail" so they can get government assistance to cover all of their failures. Fixed wireless? Is that little trickle of data from an overloaded tower to compete with people who think that dialup is too good of a deal? And I'm sure people are lining up to get stuck in another dreadful Sprint contract where all of Sprint's equipment problems are the customer's fault because the customer didn't buy into a "protection plan."

Fail on your own, Sprint. You've earned it.

Not Sprint anymore it is Softbank and things are changing. Netamerica is boring but at least a step towards rural coverage at least for roaming. Maybe not unlimited but bet way more than the very small amount allowed now. If you live rura get Verizon or att or a prepaid using their network.
Spark is rolling out and new handsets for all bands including 700 roaming due first of next year. Manufacturer and fcc approval of course takes time. The netamerica must have been behind the scenes for sometime before announced.
Who knows what will be announced in time that is behind the scenes now.
political_i
join:2013-11-12

political_i

Member

Forget It

Right now with the disruption by T-Mobile, a merger for Sprint and T-Mobile is DOA. I am not sure how a chance in *$%& they can receive approval even with the dollars? If T-Mobile & AT&T got shut down, what makes Son think they will get approval?

bigballer
@205.214.216.x

bigballer

Anon

eff off sprint

Sprint has a huge collection of spectrum. WHy the hell do they need more spectrum?

FCC should attack them for their unused/inefficiently used spectrum and fine the hell out of them.

•••

NYC33
@rr.com

NYC33

Anon

I use verizon and sprint in nyc

I have a gs4 with Verizon new AWS band and a sprint triband device. I did a few tests in the middle of midtown Manhattan at 1 pm .The sprint device pulled over 61 megabits down and 11 up and the verizon aws device running in a 10x10 700mhz and 20x20 aws pulled a merely pathetic 9 megabits down a 6 up. Obviously there are more verizon aws phones especially the iPhone 5s. The point of this is sprint has the capabilities to create a monster TDD LTE network. Sprint TDD is running 8x8 mimo which gives the sane range as 1900mhz pcs. My problem is will sprint build enough TDD LTE towers which I have my doubts. Also they still half way regarding the 1900mhz LTE deployment. Lack of backhaul etc.

Now how in he'll you start a lte network in a 5x5 channel especially with the data demand.
patt2k
join:2009-01-16

patt2k

Member

Re: I use verizon and sprint in nyc

said by NYC33 :

I have a gs4 with Verizon new AWS band and a sprint triband device. I did a few tests in the middle of midtown Manhattan at 1 pm .The sprint device pulled over 61 megabits down and 11 up and the verizon aws device running in a 10x10 700mhz and 20x20 aws pulled a merely pathetic 9 megabits down a 6 up. Obviously there are more verizon aws phones especially the iPhone 5s. The point of this is sprint has the capabilities to create a monster TDD LTE network. Sprint TDD is running 8x8 mimo which gives the sane range as 1900mhz pcs. My problem is will sprint build enough TDD LTE towers which I have my doubts. Also they still half way regarding the 1900mhz LTE deployment. Lack of backhaul etc.

Now how in he'll you start a lte network in a 5x5 channel especially with the data demand.

Not defending VZW because they are greedy and charge to much but I pulled up 83 mbps on LTE.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Re: I use verizon and sprint in nyc

said by patt2k:

said by NYC33 :

I have a gs4 with Verizon new AWS band and a sprint triband device. I did a few tests in the middle of midtown Manhattan at 1 pm .The sprint device pulled over 61 megabits down and 11 up and the verizon aws device running in a 10x10 700mhz and 20x20 aws pulled a merely pathetic 9 megabits down a 6 up. Obviously there are more verizon aws phones especially the iPhone 5s. The point of this is sprint has the capabilities to create a monster TDD LTE network. Sprint TDD is running 8x8 mimo which gives the sane range as 1900mhz pcs. My problem is will sprint build enough TDD LTE towers which I have my doubts. Also they still half way regarding the 1900mhz LTE deployment. Lack of backhaul etc.

Now how in he'll you start a lte network in a 5x5 channel especially with the data demand.

Not defending VZW because they are greedy and charge to much but I pulled up 83 mbps on LTE.

I have Sprint and like them as getting better. More 4g available but still quirks. But as far as top speed if I can occasionally stream say Netflix when I want all good. Speed is not my goal usability is. Once some speed is reached more is not needed on a cell except for bragging rights.

TWC_User
join:2013-07-31
Los Angeles

TWC_User

Member

Why do Sprint wants T-Mobile?

Sprint has more spectrums than every other carriers in the US. I don't understand why they need to own T-Mobile to improve their network. Or is it just to eliminate a competitor...
bcltoys
join:2008-07-21

bcltoys

Member

Re: Why do Sprint wants T-Mobile?

Bingo
cdunnman
join:2014-01-09

cdunnman

Member

Re: Why do Sprint wants T-Mobile?

well hope i get better than this speed if they mergehttp://imgur.com/tpgtRwA

Sprint user
@google.com

Sprint user

Anon

It ain't that bad

Sprint does what I need. Just because you all have had a bad experience with them does not mean we all hate them. Personally I hope the merger goes through. I have the same hatred for Apple users but you don't see me complaining about them. I love Sprint BECAUSE I'm a rural user and reliability comes second to quota. I can deal with a few dropped calls and data disconnects but that's just a rural frame of mind. City dwellers might have that sense of immediacy that most of us lack. But that's just my opinion. If sprint gets the merger think about the chairman now, how yeah record suggests he would make things more competitive. Whatever iterations that may take remains to be seen. So instead of thinking we know what will happen why can't we adopt a wait and see attitude? Does it matter what happens to sprint of you're on Verizon or att ? It wouldn't even affect you. Some places have bad service that's life. That doesn't reflect service as a whole because there's still people like me that get great service in the middle of nowhere. I like their customer service and pricing. However the sales team outsourcing needs to be changed but that's a small part of my experience

Jordan
@spcsdns.net

Jordan

Anon

look at big picture

Most of you talk about the old Sprint. Son has kicked out a ton of the top people because they didn't do their job. Verizon and AT collecting about 70% of the revenue in the wireless market. Yes T-Mobile has changed it up a bit but the CEO said they can't keep doing this. They are losing money along with Sprint. How can Sprint or T-Mobile alone get to that leve of the big twol? To build a network like Verizon cost x amount of dollars a year to operate. Doesn't matter how many people are on the network so the merger should happen so they can build the scale of their network. T-Mobile and Sprint overlap all over the place they could cut a lot of towers and move them out to have more coverage. Sprint nor T-Mobile will never have the revenue to do a build out like Verizon and AT. Son is and will change Sprint. I have a Spark phone in Minnesota and I have the 800mhz (Nextel) Lte and voice and my speeds are fast. They are behind and the reason is Sprint was broke before Softbank. American customers pay the most for cellphone plans. No clue why anyone would want to stop this merger!!! You need about 75-100 million people paying for service in the US to have a network like the top two. A third place without a minimum of 70 million customers will always be behind the big two. Read about Softbank and what they did. It will happen Son does not give up.
FixManTx
Premium Member
join:2005-02-06
Saint Paul, MN

FixManTx

Premium Member

Don't let Sprint take over anything

I've been thinking of switching to T-mobile from Verizon since T has great service in the Minneapolis area. I left Sprint 2 years ago after 11 years because the coverage was terrible compared to the other major carriers. What good is unlimited data etc when it doesn't work more than half the time?

With all that in mind, Sprint taking over T-mobile would be bad. If I can't get my HTC Incredible 4G LTE activated through Straight Talk I'll just do without service until I'm working again.
nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ

nonymous (banned)

Member

Verizon is buying Cincinatti Bells spectrum.

Sprint sucks so they should die but let Verizon wireless get even more powerful one step at a time.