Just die and get it over with. I have heard nothing but negative crap about these guys and it is finally catching up with them. They need to just let the two big guns take over the scraps. Buy out buy out. Come one come all see a dying giant fall.
Quote: Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Shares of Sprint Nextel fell almost 20 percent after the company posted heavy wireless subscriber losses that underlined a failed strategy in competing with US iPhone carriers.
Sprint invested heavily to build a faster WiMAX 4G network, promoting the HTC Evo 4G as the first 4G phone in the US last year. However, the results of its spending have not translated into subscribers, particularly in the face of competition from AT&T's iPhone and the addition of Verizon as an iPhone provider earlier this year.
In its latest quarter, Sprint posted a net loss of 101,000 subscribers, far higher than the 15,000 loss analysts had expected it to suffer. In contrast, AT&T added 331,000 subscribers and Verizon added 1.3 million, aided by news sales of 2.3 million iPhones.
Sprint's chief financial officer Joe Euteneuer said the company had made a "conscious decision" to spend more in the second quarter in the hope of avoiding getting "killed with market share," according to a report by Reuters.
"This was a unique quarter because of intense competition," he added.
Clear disappointment
Instead, Sprint's spending has largely just translated into higher costs for the company, driving down its operating profits margin to 16.3 percent, well below the 19 percent anticipated by Wall Street.
The company's profit margins were particularly hit by Sprint's efforts to deliver rebates to counter the Verizon launch of iPhone 4, and the low cost iPhone 3GS being promoted by AT&T.
Sprint warned that its subscriber losses would continue to get worse this quarter, but hoped to report subscriber growth for the entirety of 2011.
Analysts remained skeptical, with Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett noting, "Without post-paid subscriber growth, Sprint has little prospect of generating sustainable revenue growth, nor of generating sustainably rising margins. On those critical dimensions, Sprint's results were a clear disappointment."
Sprint has been a vociferous critic of the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T, which would strengthen the combined carrier's ability to provide nationwide, high speed 4G LTE service, paired with an Apple iPhone capable of tapping the new network.
Combined with Verizon's emerging 4G LTE service, Sprint's own, incompatible 4G WiMAX network developed in partnership with Clear would continue to lose its luster both technically as well as being unable to support an eventual 4G LTE iPhone.
In your various posts -- pick the topic -- you've been the yoda, the tech guru, the software genius, and now a crack telecom analyst who knows financial markets, role of leverage vs. cash, Vodafone's perspectives, 4G, corporate ownership structures, the international carrier landscape..... you never fail to amaze!
I am sure the people around you are absolutely and regularly blown away by both the breadth and depth of your insights!
Again with the anger that I know more than you about this topic, or indeed it seems most any other. It just makes you look silly you know. Instead of getting angry just enjoy the fact that you learnt something new perhaps? You're welcome to this small contribution to your ongoing education.
Ok for the People who think Sprint has crystal clear service. Well how about a friend of mine who signed up for sprint. The rep told him that Sprint was in his area. So he signed up for Sprint service. He got home and found out that his sprint smart phone only made calls when roaming was enabled. So.... He contacted sprint and they suggested he upgrade to the extra roaming package. He did. For the first two years he had good service. But wait. Sprint changed their roaming policies. Oh but wait. Sprint sends an update to my friends phone. Oops, no more roam options. This was after he renewed his contract. Well he found out that sprint had sent a firmware update to disable the roaming mode in his smart phone. He then could not make phone calls. He was in a dead zone. His wife could because she didn't have the same phone. So they both used her phone. Well Sprint sent them a letter saying they are terminating the contract because they used too much roaming. So my friend called sprint and asked them why. He said to them. "I called you and told you that I was in a area where roaming was the only way to make a call. You had me sign up for the extra roaming and you told me it was ok" Sprint rep said "I am sorry sir its out of my control". This is one of many stories I have heard about sprint. So, I think they are getting exactly what they deserve. I would like to see this company go down. Oh wait its happening now. Never mind.
Again with the anger that I know more than you about this topic, or indeed it seems most any other. It just makes you look silly you know. Instead of getting angry just enjoy the fact that you learnt something new perhaps? You're welcome to this small contribution to your ongoing education.
Honestly, how can anybody favor allowing AT&T to buy T-Mobile? You are correct Sprint can't compete. This will get worst if AT&T is allowed to buy T-Mobile. However, ask yourself why Sprint can't compete.
It can't compete because AT&T and Verizon lock consumers into long term deals even whereafter the deal is over consumers are not free to take the handsets they own to another carrier. Sprint is very competitive in terms of quality of its services, and its plans. Certainly, more attractive then AT&T and Verizon. What Sprint doesn't have is access to premium phones like the iPhone. Look at what happened to Verizon when Apple brought the iPhone to its network. It stopped bleeding subscribers to AT&T. Phones make the carriers. Hardware manufactures need access to as many subscribers as possible.
Further ask yourself how allowing AT&T to buy T-Mobile benefits society as a whole. The public owns the airwaves. AT&T doesn't have a right to use those airwaves other then it being granted a license. The government is supposed to lease the airwaves for the public's benefit. Allowing AT&T to buy T-Mobile will harm everybody other then AT&T. It will harm consumers because like after AT&T acquired Cingular, AT&T will quickly dispatch with T-Mobile's cheaper plans.
AT&T will fire thousands of people, and close stores quickly further decimating this already dismal economy. The taxpayer will pay the unemployment benefits essentially subsidizing the sale, while cities will lose the tax base from the stores.
AT&T will have a monopoly on the GSM network. T-Mobile customers will be harmed because they will own expensive GSM based iPhones free and clear but have no place to take them. If they don't like AT&T's polices they will have to spend lots of money to change carriers. Currently, T-Mobile has over a million iPhone users in the US who own their phones free and clear.
There will be less innovation because hardware manufactures are the source of innovation in the wireless market. Carriers have stood in the way of innovation. Think back to before AT&T was desperate to top Verizon and had little hope of doing so on the merits of its service. Instead, it made an unheard of deal with Apple providing Apple complete control over the customer experience in exchange for a long term contract. Prior to that carriers killed certain features, loaded the phone with unwanted software, and made it so you couldn't get rid of the software. Once AT&T becomes the dominate carrier by a wide margin, it will have more leverage against hardware manufacturers to dictate terms of using its network.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lkrupp
Well now we know why Sprint opposes the AT&T T-Mobile merger. They can't compete as it is. How long before the usual suspects here demand that the government intervene and force customers to return to Sprint? Or force Apple to give Sprint the iPhone?
Step 4: Release Apple branded cell phone network with iPhone.
Step 5: Profit.
Hey, do you post on Anandtech?
Also, Apple will never buy a carrier. They don't need to, and the margins suck, Sprint is a mess right now, and that's unlikely to change any time soon.
It has NOTHING to do with not having the iPhone. Nice try, though.
Go to xda and look at the massive amount of people that only get 100 kpbs on 3g... that is why sprint is loosing subs. Plus their texting is horrible, not delivering messages on time, or at all even. Sprint is on the decline.
You do understand people can tell you a story like that about every carrier, but that doesn't mean its the norm. Moreover, there are plenty of people happy on Sprint. Currently, it has been rated the most improved carrier, and gets strong customer service marks. Not sure why'd you want it to close, as opposed to reform itself to give people more options.
I have an AT&T story. I heard AT&T advertise high speed DSL in my area for $19.99 a month for a year. This ad was on the radio. I then saw a commercial advertising the same thing while watching the TV show House. I was interested. So, I go to AT&T's website, and saw the same pricing listed there as a special. So, the website makes you type in your address to verify it is available in your area, which the website based on my address concluded it was and I proceeded to sign myself up for the offer. AT&T send me a confirmation of my order being accepted.
Two days later I received the router. A day or two later, a service guy visits to turn on the service. It doesn't work so, so I call customer service. I was bounced around to numerous people, each time having to re-explain my story. Apparently, AT&T couldn't figure out what department I should be speaking with because it couldn't find confirmation of my order despite being billed, the service guy coming out, and receiving the router.
After figuring out I did in fact place an order and service was turned on, I eventually was put through to the tech guys who couldn't figure out why the Internet wasn't working. The guy I was talking to promised to get back with me, which he never did. A week later I was still without Internet. The second week after my service was supposedly connected, I contacted several customer service representatives who each told me they will get back to me when they figured out the source of the problem.
At the end of the second week, after an hour on the phone, I finally found a customer service person who spend some time searching the records who then tells me the service was cancelled by AT&T the same day it was turned on. I asked why the service was shut off, and why I wasn't told. The representative explained that the $19.99 pricing wasn't available in my area. I directed the representative to the website that clearly established that it was advertised as available in my area, and that AT&T accepted my order. The very nice person told me the advertising was incorrect, and he couldn't honor the advertised price despite it being AT&T's error.
The third week, I made it up to a supervisor who promised me he'd take care of me and compensate me for the error. He promised to give me a free box, which I was originally going to have to pay for. I thought cool. He then told me he credited my account, and he needed to put me through to another person who'd get some basic information from me and turn the service back on. This new person took my information, said the service was scheduled to be turned back on the next day, and the price would be $42 a month. I explained to the lady I was supposed to be signed up for the $19.99 plan, to which she said that wasn't available in my area. At that point, I asked for AT&T's legal department.
I called the legal department and left a message. A few days went by without a response. I then made a complaint to the State's Attorney General's Office alleging AT&T was violating consumer protection laws by not honoring a price it clearly advertised. Meanwhile I called AT&T's legal Department again and managed to get an actual AT&T legal representative on the phone. This was about four week after I ordered the service and was billed. I explain to the lawyer my story and told him that when AT&T advertised the $19.99 offer, and I accepted it, AT&T and I had a contract. By not honoring the price, AT&T was breaching the contract. I explained that I planned on filing a Class Action lawsuit based on this clear attempt to engage in illegal bait and switching. The guy told me AT&T would honor the price and have the service turned on that week.
So after my service was working for a week, I get a call from some other person at AT&T who left me a message saying AT&T received an inquiry from the Attorney General's Office and AT&T wants to address my complaint. I called the person up and left a message explaining the issue was already corrected. That person calls me back and leaves a message saying the plan was changed from a $42 plan to a $26 plan (mind you this was after the AT&T legal representative corrected the matter to reflect the $19.99 offer). A week later, I get AT&T to correct that.
Now you might wonder why I spend so much effort dealing with this horrible company. Well, in my area I have two choices for high speed Internet. Comcast for cable, and AT&T for DSL. I changed to AT&T because I had a dispute with Comcast where it promised to send somebody out to fix my Internet, but the person would never show. This happened three times in a row. Further, I couldn't get Comcast to bury its cables it had wrapped around my trees. I was so upset at Comcast, I had it remove the cable from my property.
I am sure my experience isn't representative of the company as a whole, but that is my point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tylerk36
Ok for the People who think Sprint has crystal clear service. Well how about a friend of mine who signed up for sprint. The rep told him that Sprint was in his area. So he signed up for Sprint service. He got home and found out that his sprint smart phone only made calls when roaming was enabled. So.... He contacted sprint and they suggested he upgrade to the extra roaming package. He did. For the first two years he had good service. But wait. Sprint changed their roaming policies. Oh but wait. Sprint sends an update to my friends phone. Oops, no more roam options. This was after he renewed his contract. Well he found out that sprint had sent a firmware update to disable the roaming mode in his smart phone. He then could not make phone calls. He was in a dead zone. His wife could because she didn't have the same phone. So they both used her phone. Well Sprint sent them a letter saying they are terminating the contract because they used too much roaming. So my friend called sprint and asked them why. He said to them. "I called you and told you that I was in a area where roaming was the only way to make a call. You had me sign up for the extra roaming and you told me it was ok" Sprint rep said "I am sorry sir its out of my control". This is one of many stories I have heard about sprint. So, I think they are getting exactly what they deserve. I would like to see this company go down. Oh wait its happening now. Never mind.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), July 28, 2011 - Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) today reported that during the second quarter of 2011, the company added nearly 1.1 million total net wireless subscribers primarily driven by net prepaid subscriber additions of 674,000, net wholesale and affiliate subscriber additions of 519,000 and net postpaid subscriber additions of 275,000 for the Sprint brand .... Sprint lost approximately 101,000 net postpaid subscribers during the quarter, a net improvement of 127,000, or 56 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2010.
So Sprint lost 101k subscribers (postpaid aka Sprint) and gained 275k subscribers (postpaid). So that means that they are gaining 174k subscribers (postpaid). Where I come from, that means Sprint is still gaining subscribers.
Case in point, this time last year, Sprint added a total of 110k subscribers. Furthermore ...
Quote:
Wireless capital expenditures were $546 million in the second quarter of 2011, compared to $319 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $449 million in the first quarter of 2011.
Meaning Sprint is making more money then they did last year and Q1 2011. Which again, is a good thing. How Apple Insider turned this into a bad thing is beyond me.
Source: Phonedog.com (all from the press release that was quated, no direct quotes from PhoneDog.com writer(s)) and Sprint.com
Nobody can complain about Sprints service as they provide clear and audible service.
Sprints problem is boring hardware and poor Customer relations. Perhaps the CEO needs to get a random focus group together and learn the facts.
An Iphone would definately help .
Quote:
Originally Posted by tylerk36
Ok for the People who think Sprint has crystal clear service. Well how about a friend of mine who signed up for sprint. The rep told him that Sprint was in his area. So he signed up for Sprint service. He got home and found out that his sprint smart phone only made calls when roaming was enabled. So.... He contacted sprint and they suggested he upgrade to the extra roaming package. He did. For the first two years he had good service. But wait. Sprint changed their roaming policies. Oh but wait. Sprint sends an update to my friends phone. Oops, no more roam options. This was after he renewed his contract. Well he found out that sprint had sent a firmware update to disable the roaming mode in his smart phone. He then could not make phone calls. He was in a dead zone. His wife could because she didn't have the same phone. So they both used her phone. Well Sprint sent them a letter saying they are terminating the contract because they used too much roaming. So my friend called sprint and asked them why. He said to them. "I called you and told you that I was in a area where roaming was the only way to make a call. You had me sign up for the extra roaming and you told me it was ok" Sprint rep said "I am sorry sir its out of my control". This is one of many stories I have heard about sprint. So, I think they are getting exactly what they deserve. I would like to see this company go down. Oh wait its happening now. Never mind.
Sprint not being reliable? Every carrier had dead spots and horrible service somewhere in the US. Go out to Walland, TN with your awesome iPhone and get no signal with Verizon or ATT. My Sprint HTC Arrive I not only can make calls but get on the web -- NO ROAMING. And Walland, TN is in the middle of no where. Google "BlackBerry Farm" and you can see some good pictures. However, I know somewhere in the US Sprint has no signal and Verizon or ATT do. That is normal. I can tell you I have trouble getting good signal in brick buildings (well, I did with my dumb phone Samsung Upstage in 2007/2008). And my ATT and Verizon friends, no problem. However I am still a happy Sprint customer because Sprint is mostly reliable in my city I now live, and even in my apartment -- which is all brick too, just like my old dorm room -- and I get great signal. So it's just a matter of where you are. http://www.pcworld.com/article/16739...ife_of_3g.html <-- And PCMag.com backs me up by saying Sprint has an up time of 90% while Verizon 89% and ATT 69%. Sprint is the slowest, but then again I would rather have signal and wait an extra ten seconds then not to have service at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aimbdd
It has NOTHING to do with not having the iPhone. Nice try, though.
Go to xda and look at the massive amount of people that only get 100 kpbs on 3g... that is why sprint is loosing subs. Plus their texting is horrible, not delivering messages on time, or at all even. Sprint is on the decline.
Sprint doesn't really have a problem with texting, in general. However, there was an outage recently where texts would come sporadically from other carriers. However, a quick Google search finds ATT has similar issues (http://forums.att.com/t5/HTC/Texting...s/td-p/1445490) and another Google search finds multiple people complaining of texting issues with Verizon. It happens, the only difference is it has taken a while for Sprint to fix the issue -- because it was not every device, only some. I never had that problem people reported.
Why would a company of the size and credit quality of Verizon have trouble raising $13 billion dollars (plus the premium)? Also, one would imagine that an asset like Sprint would not only bring in tons of new subscribers, but also mitigate Verizon's need for LTE investments?
Sprints ASSETS are not very good. U.S. cellular maybe Verizon would consider, You buy Sprint your buying their debt! Sprints subscriber base has the highest churn for the company as also generally the lowest credit rating to subscribe. Their Wi-max(4g) was to grab attention, Now not expanding. Their proposed LTE is not the standard but using experimental company called light squared which may jack your GPS in the process. This is many years away if it works. The Think it's bad now, try this quarter next year.
They suck!!!! ah hahaha they ssssuuuuuuuukkkkkkkaaaaaaaa!!!!!! Enough said. May your day be pleasant and happy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
You do understand people can tell you a story like that about every carrier, but that doesn't mean its the norm. Moreover, there are plenty of people happy on Sprint. Currently, it has been rated the most improved carrier, and gets strong customer service marks. Not sure why'd you want it to close, as opposed to reform itself to give people more options.
I have an AT&T story. I heard AT&T advertise high speed DSL in my area for $19.99 a month for a year. This ad was on the radio. I then saw a commercial advertising the same thing while watching the TV show House. I was interested. So, I go to AT&T's website, and saw the same pricing listed there as a special. So, the website makes you type in your address to verify it is available in your area, which the website based on my address concluded it was and I proceeded to sign myself up for the offer. AT&T send me a confirmation of my order being accepted.
Two days later I received the router. A day or two later, a service guy visits to turn on the service. It doesn't work so, so I call customer service. I was bounced around to numerous people, each time having to re-explain my story. Apparently, AT&T couldn't figure out what department I should be speaking with because it couldn't find confirmation of my order despite being billed, the service guy coming out, and receiving the router.
After figuring out I did in fact place an order and service was turned on, I eventually was put through to the tech guys who couldn't figure out why the Internet wasn't working. The guy I was talking to promised to get back with me, which he never did. A week later I was still without Internet. The second week after my service was supposedly connected, I contacted several customer service representatives who each told me they will get back to me when they figured out the source of the problem.
At the end of the second week, after an hour on the phone, I finally found a customer service person who spend some time searching the records who then tells me the service was cancelled by AT&T the same day it was turned on. I asked why the service was shut off, and why I wasn't told. The representative explained that the $19.99 pricing wasn't available in my area. I directed the representative to the website that clearly established that it was advertised as available in my area, and that AT&T accepted my order. The very nice person told me the advertising was incorrect, and he couldn't honor the advertised price despite it being AT&T's error.
The third week, I made it up to a supervisor who promised me he'd take care of me and compensate me for the error. He promised to give me a free box, which I was originally going to have to pay for. I thought cool. He then told me he credited my account, and he needed to put me through to another person who'd get some basic information from me and turn the service back on. This new person took my information, said the service was scheduled to be turned back on the next day, and the price would be $42 a month. I explained to the lady I was supposed to be signed up for the $19.99 plan, to which she said that wasn't available in my area. At that point, I asked for AT&T's legal department.
I called the legal department and left a message. A few days went by without a response. I then made a complaint to the State's Attorney General's Office alleging AT&T was violating consumer protection laws by not honoring a price it clearly advertised. Meanwhile I called AT&T's legal Department again and managed to get an actual AT&T legal representative on the phone. This was about four week after I ordered the service and was billed. I explain to the lawyer my story and told him that when AT&T advertised the $19.99 offer, and I accepted it, AT&T and I had a contract. By not honoring the price, AT&T was breaching the contract. I explained that I planned on filing a Class Action lawsuit based on this clear attempt to engage in illegal bait and switching. The guy told me AT&T would honor the price and have the service turned on that week.
So after my service was working for a week, I get a call from some other person at AT&T who left me a message saying AT&T received an inquiry from the Attorney General's Office and AT&T wants to address my complaint. I called the person up and left a message explaining the issue was already corrected. That person calls me back and leaves a message saying the plan was changed from a $42 plan to a $26 plan (mind you this was after the AT&T legal representative corrected the matter to reflect the $19.99 offer). A week later, I get AT&T to correct that.
Now you might wonder why I spend so much effort dealing with this horrible company. Well, in my area I have two choices for high speed Internet. Comcast for cable, and AT&T for DSL. I changed to AT&T because I had a dispute with Comcast where it promised to send somebody out to fix my Internet, but the person would never show. This happened three times in a row. Further, I couldn't get Comcast to bury its cables it had wrapped around my trees. I was so upset at Comcast, I had it remove the cable from my property.
I am sure my experience isn't representative of the company as a whole, but that is my point.
Comments
It's probably a long shot. But I for one hope that it will work. Verizon really is not a group you want leading the charge into the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Shares of Sprint Nextel fell almost 20 percent after the company posted heavy wireless subscriber losses that underlined a failed strategy in competing with US iPhone carriers.
Sprint invested heavily to build a faster WiMAX 4G network, promoting the HTC Evo 4G as the first 4G phone in the US last year. However, the results of its spending have not translated into subscribers, particularly in the face of competition from AT&T's iPhone and the addition of Verizon as an iPhone provider earlier this year.
In its latest quarter, Sprint posted a net loss of 101,000 subscribers, far higher than the 15,000 loss analysts had expected it to suffer. In contrast, AT&T added 331,000 subscribers and Verizon added 1.3 million, aided by news sales of 2.3 million iPhones.
Sprint's chief financial officer Joe Euteneuer said the company had made a "conscious decision" to spend more in the second quarter in the hope of avoiding getting "killed with market share," according to a report by Reuters.
"This was a unique quarter because of intense competition," he added.
Clear disappointment
Instead, Sprint's spending has largely just translated into higher costs for the company, driving down its operating profits margin to 16.3 percent, well below the 19 percent anticipated by Wall Street.
The company's profit margins were particularly hit by Sprint's efforts to deliver rebates to counter the Verizon launch of iPhone 4, and the low cost iPhone 3GS being promoted by AT&T.
Sprint warned that its subscriber losses would continue to get worse this quarter, but hoped to report subscriber growth for the entirety of 2011.
Analysts remained skeptical, with Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett noting, "Without post-paid subscriber growth, Sprint has little prospect of generating sustainable revenue growth, nor of generating sustainably rising margins. On those critical dimensions, Sprint's results were a clear disappointment."
Sprint has been a vociferous critic of the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T, which would strengthen the combined carrier's ability to provide nationwide, high speed 4G LTE service, paired with an Apple iPhone capable of tapping the new network.
Combined with Verizon's emerging 4G LTE service, Sprint's own, incompatible 4G WiMAX network developed in partnership with Clear would continue to lose its luster both technically as well as being unable to support an eventual 4G LTE iPhone.
The salesman stuck one in my hand, I immediately downloaded the FCC speed test app, ran a speed test and bought it. Verizon's LTE is insanely fast.
When there's an iPhone that will take advantage of the LTE network, I'll buy one on launch day.
Step 1: Release iPhone on AT&T and Verizon
step 2: Wait until Sprint loses subscribers
Step 3: Buy Sprint at reduced price
Step 3a: Deal with fallout from AAPL stock crash as a result of hitching a high profit business to a low margin utility.
Step 4: Release Apple branded cell phone network with iPhone.
Step 5: Profit.
No.... very dumb.
In your various posts -- pick the topic -- you've been the yoda, the tech guru, the software genius, and now a crack telecom analyst who knows financial markets, role of leverage vs. cash, Vodafone's perspectives, 4G, corporate ownership structures, the international carrier landscape..... you never fail to amaze!
I am sure the people around you are absolutely and regularly blown away by both the breadth and depth of your insights!
Again with the anger that I know more than you about this topic, or indeed it seems most any other. It just makes you look silly you know. Instead of getting angry just enjoy the fact that you learnt something new perhaps? You're welcome to this small contribution to your ongoing education.
Again with the anger that I know more than you about this topic, or indeed it seems most any other. It just makes you look silly you know. Instead of getting angry just enjoy the fact that you learnt something new perhaps? You're welcome to this small contribution to your ongoing education.
Oh, thank you for the education, sir!
I eagerly await more....
It can't compete because AT&T and Verizon lock consumers into long term deals even whereafter the deal is over consumers are not free to take the handsets they own to another carrier. Sprint is very competitive in terms of quality of its services, and its plans. Certainly, more attractive then AT&T and Verizon. What Sprint doesn't have is access to premium phones like the iPhone. Look at what happened to Verizon when Apple brought the iPhone to its network. It stopped bleeding subscribers to AT&T. Phones make the carriers. Hardware manufactures need access to as many subscribers as possible.
Further ask yourself how allowing AT&T to buy T-Mobile benefits society as a whole. The public owns the airwaves. AT&T doesn't have a right to use those airwaves other then it being granted a license. The government is supposed to lease the airwaves for the public's benefit. Allowing AT&T to buy T-Mobile will harm everybody other then AT&T. It will harm consumers because like after AT&T acquired Cingular, AT&T will quickly dispatch with T-Mobile's cheaper plans.
AT&T will fire thousands of people, and close stores quickly further decimating this already dismal economy. The taxpayer will pay the unemployment benefits essentially subsidizing the sale, while cities will lose the tax base from the stores.
AT&T will have a monopoly on the GSM network. T-Mobile customers will be harmed because they will own expensive GSM based iPhones free and clear but have no place to take them. If they don't like AT&T's polices they will have to spend lots of money to change carriers. Currently, T-Mobile has over a million iPhone users in the US who own their phones free and clear.
There will be less innovation because hardware manufactures are the source of innovation in the wireless market. Carriers have stood in the way of innovation. Think back to before AT&T was desperate to top Verizon and had little hope of doing so on the merits of its service. Instead, it made an unheard of deal with Apple providing Apple complete control over the customer experience in exchange for a long term contract. Prior to that carriers killed certain features, loaded the phone with unwanted software, and made it so you couldn't get rid of the software. Once AT&T becomes the dominate carrier by a wide margin, it will have more leverage against hardware manufacturers to dictate terms of using its network.
Well now we know why Sprint opposes the AT&T T-Mobile merger. They can't compete as it is. How long before the usual suspects here demand that the government intervene and force customers to return to Sprint? Or force Apple to give Sprint the iPhone?
I had an EVO and was in a Verizon store on launch day for the ThunderBolt. (looking for an iPad 2)
The salesman stuck one in my hand, I immediately downloaded the FCC speed test app, ran a speed test and bought it. Verizon's LTE is insanely fast.
When there's an iPhone that will take advantage of the LTE network, I'll buy one on launch day.
Step 1: Release iPhone on AT&T and Verizon
step 2: Wait until Sprint loses subscribers
Step 3: Buy Sprint at reduced price
Step 4: Release Apple branded cell phone network with iPhone.
Step 5: Profit.
Hey, do you post on Anandtech?
Also, Apple will never buy a carrier. They don't need to, and the margins suck, Sprint is a mess right now, and that's unlikely to change any time soon.
It's clear that Android isn't the difference maker the iPhone is for a Telco.
Go to xda and look at the massive amount of people that only get 100 kpbs on 3g... that is why sprint is loosing subs. Plus their texting is horrible, not delivering messages on time, or at all even. Sprint is on the decline.
I have an AT&T story. I heard AT&T advertise high speed DSL in my area for $19.99 a month for a year. This ad was on the radio. I then saw a commercial advertising the same thing while watching the TV show House. I was interested. So, I go to AT&T's website, and saw the same pricing listed there as a special. So, the website makes you type in your address to verify it is available in your area, which the website based on my address concluded it was and I proceeded to sign myself up for the offer. AT&T send me a confirmation of my order being accepted.
Two days later I received the router. A day or two later, a service guy visits to turn on the service. It doesn't work so, so I call customer service. I was bounced around to numerous people, each time having to re-explain my story. Apparently, AT&T couldn't figure out what department I should be speaking with because it couldn't find confirmation of my order despite being billed, the service guy coming out, and receiving the router.
After figuring out I did in fact place an order and service was turned on, I eventually was put through to the tech guys who couldn't figure out why the Internet wasn't working. The guy I was talking to promised to get back with me, which he never did. A week later I was still without Internet. The second week after my service was supposedly connected, I contacted several customer service representatives who each told me they will get back to me when they figured out the source of the problem.
At the end of the second week, after an hour on the phone, I finally found a customer service person who spend some time searching the records who then tells me the service was cancelled by AT&T the same day it was turned on. I asked why the service was shut off, and why I wasn't told. The representative explained that the $19.99 pricing wasn't available in my area. I directed the representative to the website that clearly established that it was advertised as available in my area, and that AT&T accepted my order. The very nice person told me the advertising was incorrect, and he couldn't honor the advertised price despite it being AT&T's error.
The third week, I made it up to a supervisor who promised me he'd take care of me and compensate me for the error. He promised to give me a free box, which I was originally going to have to pay for. I thought cool. He then told me he credited my account, and he needed to put me through to another person who'd get some basic information from me and turn the service back on. This new person took my information, said the service was scheduled to be turned back on the next day, and the price would be $42 a month. I explained to the lady I was supposed to be signed up for the $19.99 plan, to which she said that wasn't available in my area. At that point, I asked for AT&T's legal department.
I called the legal department and left a message. A few days went by without a response. I then made a complaint to the State's Attorney General's Office alleging AT&T was violating consumer protection laws by not honoring a price it clearly advertised. Meanwhile I called AT&T's legal Department again and managed to get an actual AT&T legal representative on the phone. This was about four week after I ordered the service and was billed. I explain to the lawyer my story and told him that when AT&T advertised the $19.99 offer, and I accepted it, AT&T and I had a contract. By not honoring the price, AT&T was breaching the contract. I explained that I planned on filing a Class Action lawsuit based on this clear attempt to engage in illegal bait and switching. The guy told me AT&T would honor the price and have the service turned on that week.
So after my service was working for a week, I get a call from some other person at AT&T who left me a message saying AT&T received an inquiry from the Attorney General's Office and AT&T wants to address my complaint. I called the person up and left a message explaining the issue was already corrected. That person calls me back and leaves a message saying the plan was changed from a $42 plan to a $26 plan (mind you this was after the AT&T legal representative corrected the matter to reflect the $19.99 offer). A week later, I get AT&T to correct that.
Now you might wonder why I spend so much effort dealing with this horrible company. Well, in my area I have two choices for high speed Internet. Comcast for cable, and AT&T for DSL. I changed to AT&T because I had a dispute with Comcast where it promised to send somebody out to fix my Internet, but the person would never show. This happened three times in a row. Further, I couldn't get Comcast to bury its cables it had wrapped around my trees. I was so upset at Comcast, I had it remove the cable from my property.
I am sure my experience isn't representative of the company as a whole, but that is my point.
Ok for the People who think Sprint has crystal clear service. Well how about a friend of mine who signed up for sprint. The rep told him that Sprint was in his area. So he signed up for Sprint service. He got home and found out that his sprint smart phone only made calls when roaming was enabled. So.... He contacted sprint and they suggested he upgrade to the extra roaming package. He did. For the first two years he had good service. But wait. Sprint changed their roaming policies. Oh but wait. Sprint sends an update to my friends phone. Oops, no more roam options. This was after he renewed his contract. Well he found out that sprint had sent a firmware update to disable the roaming mode in his smart phone. He then could not make phone calls. He was in a dead zone. His wife could because she didn't have the same phone. So they both used her phone. Well Sprint sent them a letter saying they are terminating the contract because they used too much roaming. So my friend called sprint and asked them why. He said to them. "I called you and told you that I was in a area where roaming was the only way to make a call. You had me sign up for the extra roaming and you told me it was ok" Sprint rep said "I am sorry sir its out of my control". This is one of many stories I have heard about sprint. So, I think they are getting exactly what they deserve. I would like to see this company go down. Oh wait its happening now. Never mind.
Steve knows a bag of hurt when he sees one.
Blu-Ray is one.
Sprint is another. CAn't see that ever happening.
OTOH, I do hope that the next iPhone is an all-carrier model. I'd buy an unlocked one in a flash.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), July 28, 2011 - Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) today reported that during the second quarter of 2011, the company added nearly 1.1 million total net wireless subscribers primarily driven by net prepaid subscriber additions of 674,000, net wholesale and affiliate subscriber additions of 519,000 and net postpaid subscriber additions of 275,000 for the Sprint brand .... Sprint lost approximately 101,000 net postpaid subscribers during the quarter, a net improvement of 127,000, or 56 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2010.
So Sprint lost 101k subscribers (postpaid aka Sprint) and gained 275k subscribers (postpaid). So that means that they are gaining 174k subscribers (postpaid). Where I come from, that means Sprint is still gaining subscribers.
Case in point, this time last year, Sprint added a total of 110k subscribers. Furthermore ...
Wireless capital expenditures were $546 million in the second quarter of 2011, compared to $319 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $449 million in the first quarter of 2011.
Meaning Sprint is making more money then they did last year and Q1 2011. Which again, is a good thing. How Apple Insider turned this into a bad thing is beyond me.
Source: Phonedog.com (all from the press release that was quated, no direct quotes from PhoneDog.com writer(s)) and Sprint.com
Nobody can complain about Sprints service as they provide clear and audible service.
Sprints problem is boring hardware and poor Customer relations. Perhaps the CEO needs to get a random focus group together and learn the facts.
An Iphone would definately help .
Ok for the People who think Sprint has crystal clear service. Well how about a friend of mine who signed up for sprint. The rep told him that Sprint was in his area. So he signed up for Sprint service. He got home and found out that his sprint smart phone only made calls when roaming was enabled. So.... He contacted sprint and they suggested he upgrade to the extra roaming package. He did. For the first two years he had good service. But wait. Sprint changed their roaming policies. Oh but wait. Sprint sends an update to my friends phone. Oops, no more roam options. This was after he renewed his contract. Well he found out that sprint had sent a firmware update to disable the roaming mode in his smart phone. He then could not make phone calls. He was in a dead zone. His wife could because she didn't have the same phone. So they both used her phone. Well Sprint sent them a letter saying they are terminating the contract because they used too much roaming. So my friend called sprint and asked them why. He said to them. "I called you and told you that I was in a area where roaming was the only way to make a call. You had me sign up for the extra roaming and you told me it was ok" Sprint rep said "I am sorry sir its out of my control". This is one of many stories I have heard about sprint. So, I think they are getting exactly what they deserve. I would like to see this company go down. Oh wait its happening now. Never mind.
Sprint not being reliable? Every carrier had dead spots and horrible service somewhere in the US. Go out to Walland, TN with your awesome iPhone and get no signal with Verizon or ATT. My Sprint HTC Arrive I not only can make calls but get on the web -- NO ROAMING. And Walland, TN is in the middle of no where. Google "BlackBerry Farm" and you can see some good pictures. However, I know somewhere in the US Sprint has no signal and Verizon or ATT do. That is normal. I can tell you I have trouble getting good signal in brick buildings (well, I did with my dumb phone Samsung Upstage in 2007/2008). And my ATT and Verizon friends, no problem. However I am still a happy Sprint customer because Sprint is mostly reliable in my city I now live, and even in my apartment -- which is all brick too, just like my old dorm room -- and I get great signal. So it's just a matter of where you are. http://www.pcworld.com/article/16739...ife_of_3g.html <-- And PCMag.com backs me up by saying Sprint has an up time of 90% while Verizon 89% and ATT 69%. Sprint is the slowest, but then again I would rather have signal and wait an extra ten seconds then not to have service at all.
It has NOTHING to do with not having the iPhone. Nice try, though.
Go to xda and look at the massive amount of people that only get 100 kpbs on 3g... that is why sprint is loosing subs. Plus their texting is horrible, not delivering messages on time, or at all even. Sprint is on the decline.
Sprint doesn't really have a problem with texting, in general. However, there was an outage recently where texts would come sporadically from other carriers. However, a quick Google search finds ATT has similar issues (http://forums.att.com/t5/HTC/Texting...s/td-p/1445490) and another Google search finds multiple people complaining of texting issues with Verizon. It happens, the only difference is it has taken a while for Sprint to fix the issue -- because it was not every device, only some. I never had that problem people reported.
Really? You know this? How? Any cites?
Why would a company of the size and credit quality of Verizon have trouble raising $13 billion dollars (plus the premium)? Also, one would imagine that an asset like Sprint would not only bring in tons of new subscribers, but also mitigate Verizon's need for LTE investments?
Sprints ASSETS are not very good. U.S. cellular maybe Verizon would consider, You buy Sprint your buying their debt! Sprints subscriber base has the highest churn for the company as also generally the lowest credit rating to subscribe. Their Wi-max(4g) was to grab attention, Now not expanding. Their proposed LTE is not the standard but using experimental company called light squared which may jack your GPS in the process. This is many years away if it works. The Think it's bad now, try this quarter next year.
You do understand people can tell you a story like that about every carrier, but that doesn't mean its the norm. Moreover, there are plenty of people happy on Sprint. Currently, it has been rated the most improved carrier, and gets strong customer service marks. Not sure why'd you want it to close, as opposed to reform itself to give people more options.
I have an AT&T story. I heard AT&T advertise high speed DSL in my area for $19.99 a month for a year. This ad was on the radio. I then saw a commercial advertising the same thing while watching the TV show House. I was interested. So, I go to AT&T's website, and saw the same pricing listed there as a special. So, the website makes you type in your address to verify it is available in your area, which the website based on my address concluded it was and I proceeded to sign myself up for the offer. AT&T send me a confirmation of my order being accepted.
Two days later I received the router. A day or two later, a service guy visits to turn on the service. It doesn't work so, so I call customer service. I was bounced around to numerous people, each time having to re-explain my story. Apparently, AT&T couldn't figure out what department I should be speaking with because it couldn't find confirmation of my order despite being billed, the service guy coming out, and receiving the router.
After figuring out I did in fact place an order and service was turned on, I eventually was put through to the tech guys who couldn't figure out why the Internet wasn't working. The guy I was talking to promised to get back with me, which he never did. A week later I was still without Internet. The second week after my service was supposedly connected, I contacted several customer service representatives who each told me they will get back to me when they figured out the source of the problem.
At the end of the second week, after an hour on the phone, I finally found a customer service person who spend some time searching the records who then tells me the service was cancelled by AT&T the same day it was turned on. I asked why the service was shut off, and why I wasn't told. The representative explained that the $19.99 pricing wasn't available in my area. I directed the representative to the website that clearly established that it was advertised as available in my area, and that AT&T accepted my order. The very nice person told me the advertising was incorrect, and he couldn't honor the advertised price despite it being AT&T's error.
The third week, I made it up to a supervisor who promised me he'd take care of me and compensate me for the error. He promised to give me a free box, which I was originally going to have to pay for. I thought cool. He then told me he credited my account, and he needed to put me through to another person who'd get some basic information from me and turn the service back on. This new person took my information, said the service was scheduled to be turned back on the next day, and the price would be $42 a month. I explained to the lady I was supposed to be signed up for the $19.99 plan, to which she said that wasn't available in my area. At that point, I asked for AT&T's legal department.
I called the legal department and left a message. A few days went by without a response. I then made a complaint to the State's Attorney General's Office alleging AT&T was violating consumer protection laws by not honoring a price it clearly advertised. Meanwhile I called AT&T's legal Department again and managed to get an actual AT&T legal representative on the phone. This was about four week after I ordered the service and was billed. I explain to the lawyer my story and told him that when AT&T advertised the $19.99 offer, and I accepted it, AT&T and I had a contract. By not honoring the price, AT&T was breaching the contract. I explained that I planned on filing a Class Action lawsuit based on this clear attempt to engage in illegal bait and switching. The guy told me AT&T would honor the price and have the service turned on that week.
So after my service was working for a week, I get a call from some other person at AT&T who left me a message saying AT&T received an inquiry from the Attorney General's Office and AT&T wants to address my complaint. I called the person up and left a message explaining the issue was already corrected. That person calls me back and leaves a message saying the plan was changed from a $42 plan to a $26 plan (mind you this was after the AT&T legal representative corrected the matter to reflect the $19.99 offer). A week later, I get AT&T to correct that.
Now you might wonder why I spend so much effort dealing with this horrible company. Well, in my area I have two choices for high speed Internet. Comcast for cable, and AT&T for DSL. I changed to AT&T because I had a dispute with Comcast where it promised to send somebody out to fix my Internet, but the person would never show. This happened three times in a row. Further, I couldn't get Comcast to bury its cables it had wrapped around my trees. I was so upset at Comcast, I had it remove the cable from my property.
I am sure my experience isn't representative of the company as a whole, but that is my point.