What led to the decline of Sprint?

[truthteller10]

The Nextel debacle has turned out to be a big plus as the old Nextel towers are also being set up with LTE and Sprint will end up with more towers closer together than the competition resulting in better coverage.

As for the previous comment, Sprint launched LTE in Atlanta with way less than 40% coverage as does Verizon and AT&T with their launch announcements.

The wind is finally behind Sprint's sails!

And when I'm in Lawrenceville I get solid fast 4G LTE.

HTC EVO 4G LTE

This is the problem my friend..As a CEO you have to make certain calls that effect your entire organization and many people within it. IMO the CEO has not done a good job at making these decisions, especially the decision to tout 4g LTE in 5 markets which is just not the case. What Sprint has done here is flat out LIED just to keep up with the new phones that are out so that they diminish the chances of losing customers that won't upgraded technology. As a CEO you CAN NOT approve the launching of markets at 14% complete when you already have a very poor reputation of not living up to network expecations just like they did with WIMAX. Houston is supposed to be one of those "launch" markets, however, myself and many others all around the city have had horrendous experiences with 4g and the supposed "network vision" compeletions. You can't connect to LTE 97% of the time and when your finally do you lose signal if you as much as move the phone 5 feet. What Sprint has simply done ONCE AGAIN is given false promises to its customers as they did with WIMAX.

 

[truthteller10]

Sprint had to do something with their spectrum or it was to be lost due to FCC regulations. Since Clearwire already had "pre-WiMAX"(3G) in place since 2005, they merged their spectrum so Sprint could keep it. In 2008 LTE was years away, WiMAX was here now. Oh and by the way Google, Intel, Comcast, Brighthouse Networks, and others invested 3 billion dollars as well. Without the launch of the EVO 4G (WiMAX) in 2010 I'm not sure Sprint could have started this turn around. Remember the failed Palm Pre?

Moving forward Clearwire's LTE and Release 10 LTE-Advanced network will be a fall back in high capacity large metro markets.

Sprint: Clearwire's LTE will 'pinpoint' high-traffic areas - FierceWireless

Light Reading - 4G/LTE - CTIA 2011: Clearwire Updates on LTE - Telecom Video Document


1/5/2011


Click to view quoted video

Click to view quoted video

They are too late..the should have gone with HSPA+

 

[541rrhse]

This is the problem my friend..As a CEO you have to make certain calls that effect your entire organization and many people within it. IMO the CEO has not done a good job at making these decisions, especially the decision to tout 4g LTE in 5 markets which is just not the case. What Sprint has done here is flat out LIED just to keep up with the new phones that are out so that they diminish the chances of losing customers that won't upgraded technology. As a CEO you CAN NOT approve the launching of markets at 14% complete when you already have a very poor reputation of not living up to network expecations just like they did with WIMAX. Houston is supposed to be one of those "launch" markets, however, myself and many others all around the city have had horrendous experiences with 4g and the supposed "network vision" compeletions. You can't connect to LTE 97% of the time and when your finally do you lose signal if you as much as move the phone 5 feet. What Sprint has simply done ONCE AGAIN is given false promises to its customers as they did with WIMAX.

That's a wrong assumption, there is much to read up on this deployment.

They are too late..the should have gone with HSPA+

Huh? who?

R.I.P. HSPA+

 

[541rrhse]

I have Verizon and prior to July/2010, used a combo of Virgin Mobile and TMobile prepaid.
I've noticed that many have stated honestly that Sprint used to be on top in the beginning and then declined steadily to fall to 3rd or even 4th place among the major carriers.

Since summer of 2010 with the launch of the EVO 4G, Sprint has actually been steadily improving subscriber additions to highest ever, lowest churn rates, and has been #1 in customer service awards. For a comparison T-Mobile who used to be #1 in customer service has declined, as has their subscriber growth.


T-Mobile

January 1st 2011 - 33.7 million total subscribers

March 31st 2012 - 33.4 million total subscribers

-300,000


Sprint

January 1st 2011 - 49.9 million total subscribers

March 31st 2012 - 56.1 million total subscribers

+6,200,000




Comparison of LTE PoPs covered by year's end:

LTE coverage Year end 2012

Verizon 260 million
AT&T 150 million
Sprint 123 million
T-Mobile N/A

Sprint launches LTE, promises average speeds of 6-8 Mbps - FierceWireless

 

[541rrhse]

CNBC's Cramer

I get a kick out of his style like anyone else, today he comments on Sprint's recent turnaround.

Both from today 7/26/12

Video:

Cramer's Mad Dash: Sprint's Turnaround - CNBC

Cramer's Mad Dash: Sprint 'Preferred' - CNBC

 

[bearballz72]

Everything mentioned here led to the decline of Sprint. Old equipment, Nextel, Wimax, Palm Pre, paying too much $ IMO for the Iphone (which they had to do to remian competitive).

Sprint and Hesse are in damage control mode and trying to say all the right things to prevent people from leaving Sprint. Will it work,only time will tell. As others have mentioned the only thing going for Sprint is the unlimited data plan. If and when the LTE deployment is succesfull and if people flock to Sprint, how long until they enact data caps like Verizon and AT&T?

But if this LTE rollout stalls or fails I honestly could see some other telecom (domestic or foreign) buying them out. They are burning through cash with this LTE/NV deployment so I don't know if they have enough in the bank to keep this going. AT&T started their LTE deployment way ahead of Sprint and there is still areas of the country that still don't have it yet.

This is wild speculation on my part. But I could even see one of the big tech companies like Apple or Google making a play for 'em.

 

[541rrhse]

Sprint sizzles - is AT&T and Verizon's greed the reason?


Sprint sizzles ? is AT&T and Verizon?s greed the reason?

By: Tero Kuittinen | Jul 27th, 2012 at 12:05PM

A fallen angel took flight as Sprint (S) soared by 20% on Thursday after an interesting June quarter. The overall net subscriber loss number for postpaid subs was not that great at 240,000, but the 1.5 million iPhone customer adds was about 200,000 above expectations. Even more importantly, the key profitability gauge of EBITDA came in at $1.3 Billion ? half a billion above what many expected.

That combination is fascinating. AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) also had strong profit numbers, but that happened because they were a bit light on iPhone adds. The expensive subsidy support of the iPhone means that operators almost always either beat their iPhone consensus or profit consensus, but never both in the same quarter. Sprint?s combination of strong iPhone sales and a profit pop is what woke up Wall Street on Thursday.

There are three factors boosting Sprint in 2012 after a very rough 2011. First, the nightmare of the Nextel merger is almost over as Sprint winds down the obsolete iDen service and consolidates its subscriber base on its CDMA network. In the process, Sprint is bleeding hundreds of thousands of iDen subs every quarter while it adds hundreds of thousands of CDMA subscribers. That juggling act is finally drawing to an end in 2013.

Second, T-Mobile is a disaster. Sprint used to split the budget mobile market with T-Mobile while Verizon and AT&T competed for U.S. supremacy among consumers who don?t mind paying top dollar. T-Mobile is coming off a spectacular losing streak ? a botched merger attempt with AT&T, an expensive and failed marketing campaign featuring a B-list Welsh actress, a weird attempt to pivot from a deep value brand to a high-tech brand, a CEO transition, and so on.

The current ?No More Mr. Nice Girl? ad push is also a dissonant train wreck. Using a Zeta-Jones lookalike actress after the Zeta-Jones branding effort flopped completely is a classic T-Mobile USA move. So is trying to sell the concept that the former budget carrier is now offering better 4G service than AT&T or Verizon. Whether the claim is true or not, consumers don?t believe it for a second. T-Mobile?s constant stumbling is handing Sprint a shot at dominating the value segment.

Third, and perhaps most important reason for Sprint?s rebound, is the greed exhibited by AT&T and Verizon.

These two behemoths have gone on a giddy binge of consumer-hostile initiatives. The list is long and dismal: removal of cheap texting plans, forced unlimited voice plans, tiered pricing with rapidly escalating data prices, etcetera. When Verizon boosted the price of its cheapest available smartphone plan from $70 to $90 it effectively created a 28% price hike for new subscribers not interested in big data packages. It also brought the price of the cheapest Verizon iPhone plan very close to the price of Sprint?s unlimited plan.

What industry leader in America can raise the price of its cheapest product by 28% overnight? Here is Sprint?s shot at finally making a dent in the emerging mobile duopoly in America. Sprint?s unlimited iPhone plan is a fairly good deal for heavy users, and Sprint brands like Virgin and Boost offer solid deals for budget iPhone segment ? though the upfront payment in those deals is daunting.

The hegemony of Verizon and AT&T seemed invulnerable, but Sprint may now finally have its chance to chip away at it.

Comparison of LTE PoPs covered by year's end:

Year end 2012

Verizon 260 million
AT&T 150 million
Sprint 123 million
T-Mobile 0

Sprint launches LTE, promises average speeds of 6-8 Mbps - FierceWireless

 

[bearballz72]

Hope you're right. Sprint has a lot of work to do, but seems like Investors still like 'em.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/779881-sprint-ready-for-a-turnaround?source=yahoo


Sprint Nextel Corp. (S)
-NYSE 4.27 0.02(Down 0.47%) Aug 3,

AT&T, Inc. (T)
-NYSE 37.58 0.04(Up 0.11%) Aug 3,

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)
-NYSE 44.46 0.16(Down 0.36%) Aug 3

 

[Mercury81]

SPRINT to release HD voice... http://www.pocketables.com/2012/08/...nch-hd-voice-before-the-end-of-this-year.html


sent from Evo4GLTE on AC forums

 

[shelby57]

I left sprint 4 years ago. Actually broke my contract as things were so bad. Service was terrible, where it use to be great. Billing was so bad that my son whose bill was $98.50 a month for 1 phone, became $980.50 with no explanation of the charges and no fix for the bill. This happen to way to many customers. Some were actually threatening the reps in the sprint stores. Customer service ranked at 0% and was out sourced to countries where English wasn't a real part of their language. The nextel merger was a nightmare for many as sprint phones did not work on Nextels network. I was with sprint for 8 years, went to ATT for 2 then back to sprint hoping things had improved. No improvement. So I got the hell away from sprint and moved to Verizon. Have been with Verizon now 4 years. If I have to leave Verizon for similar reasons it will be to prepaid. Unlimited data from sprint wont get me to go back as it wont last for long or service will start to stink after every one runs to them and the network cant handle it. Seems when a company holds the number 1 slot for to long something has to dethrone them even if its their CEO big head Lol. Verizon included. Verizon took a dump also about 10 + years back so its a wait and see game I believe. 3 of my 5 lines will be out of contract by December,so I might be looking at those prepaid plans. .using Tapatalk 2

 

[bearballz72]

I left sprint 4 years ago. Actually broke my contract as things were so bad. Service was terrible, where it use to be great. Billing was so bad that my son whose bill was $98.50 a month for 1 phone, became $980.50 with no explanation of the charges and no fix for the bill. This happen to way to many customers. Some were actually threatening the reps in the sprint stores. Customer service ranked at 0% and was out sourced to countries where English wasn't a real part of their language. The nextel merger was a nightmare for many as sprint phones did not work on Nextels network. I was with sprint for 8 years, went to ATT for 2 then back to sprint hoping things had improved. No improvement. So I got the hell away from sprint and moved to Verizon. Have been with Verizon now 4 years. If I have to leave Verizon for similar reasons it will be to prepaid. Unlimited data from sprint wont get me to go back as it wont last for long or service will start to stink after every one runs to them and the network cant handle it. Seems when a company holds the number 1 slot for to long something has to dethrone them even if its their CEO big head Lol. Verizon included. Verizon took a dump also about 10 + years back so its a wait and see game I believe. 3 of my 5 lines will be out of contract by December,so I might be looking at those prepaid plans. .using Tapatalk 2

Since I've been with Sprint I've had a pretty positive experience with their C/S. Before I jumped to Sprint I heard all the horror stories about their C/S. I think they're #1 in customer satisfaction now or last year?

I do applaud Hesse for that.

 

[TraderGary]

As with all carriers I think it has more to do with location than anything else. I've been with Sprint in Atlanta for 12 years. Service the entire time has been excellent.

HTC EVO 4G LTE

 

[crzycrkr]

Since I've been with Sprint I've had a pretty positive experience with their C/S. Before I jumped to Sprint I heard all the horror stories about their C/S. I think they're #1 in customer satisfaction now or last year?

I do applaud Hesse for that.

Sprints customer service has been getting top marks for the past few years now. Ranked at the top I believe

Sent from my EVO LTE using Tapatalk 2

 

[Topgonzo]

Personally I think that the wimax decision may have cost sprint in the beginning but as far as customer service sprint has always seemed to be at the top of the list. No one can argue the fact that sprint offers there customers payment arrangements up till their acct is pretty much 2 months past due. The commitment to its customers and the 2.2billion dollar investment that they are making into lte is a huge step and by the time that the network vision is completed then sprint will be in the elite as far as speed and dependability as well as the most affordable for data plans. People like to and complain but time will tell if network vision is really what it's slated to be.

Sent from my EVO 4G LTE