From the little that I've read about the deal, T-Mobile will run the show if a merger happens. So the Sprint customers will be the ones that will have to, eventually, upgrade their phones to GSM devices. As long as that's the case and T-Mobile gets more signal nationwide, I would have no reason to change networks.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
I have T-Mobile from Sprint.
Will gladly take Sprints network at T-Mobile price.
Sprint was great in network and customer service. Tmobiles network coverage is not very good in some places but it is silly cheap compared to others.

Indeed. I'd love better coverage. Guess the devil's in the details.

quote:

Originally posted by will347wax:
I don't understand the customer service complaints with cell providers. I mail them a check every month. I have zero interaction with them. The same can be said for the electric, water, and cable providers. We have had an unlimited plan for a really long time so the bill doesn't really change. What are the customer service issues yall are seeing?

They lied to us nonstop for the two years we were under contract. Only place on our property to get a signal was in the front yard. Their solution was to piggyback on my internet connection. Three of their wifi units and months of frustration, bills always wrong, credits not applied unless I spent hours on the phone arguing with them. A friend had a similar experience with them. Once the contract was up we cancelled service, got Straightalk and couldn't be happier.

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:
I'm on ATT right now but have considered TMo for their international capability. If there is a merger and that gets screwed up there are going to be a LOT of unhappy pilots and crew, not to mention travelers who spend a lot of time overseas.

That's the main reason I switched. ATT was a nightmare to deal with, and their international plans all kept changing and they were way to expensive. I'm out of the country for a few weeks at a time, a dozen or so times a year and t mobile has always worked great.

I have two phones, one with T-Mobile and one with Verizon. The Verizon service is very expensive, and where TMO works, it is usually faster than VZW.

AFA customer service goes, they have both been good and bad at times. If you are switching carriers looking for the holy grail of service, you aren't going to find it. The big carriers' business models are too similar to create any significant difference.

I will say this. TMO's coverage is about as good as VZW of just a couple years ago. VZW can dine out on the coverage boast only so long. The other carriers are about there coverage wise.

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:
I'm on ATT right now but have considered TMo for their international capability. If there is a merger and that gets screwed up ...

If they screw that up we're almost certainly gone.

The only question then will be VZW or AT&T.

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
From the little that I've read about the deal, T-Mobile will run the show if a merger happens. So the Sprint customers will be the ones that will have to, eventually, upgrade their phones to GSM devices. As long as that's the case and T-Mobile gets more signal nationwide, I would have no reason to change networks.

Problem with that scenario is TMO's and Sprint's footprints are nearly identical, and, unless I'm mistaken, Sprint won't bring much to TMO's footprint in the way of lower frequencies. (Remember: Sprint started out as "Sprint PCS," which was all high-frequency.)

Furthermore: Sprint is CDMA. TMO is GSM. So no help there, either. Yes: Everything is moving to LTE, but it ain't there yet.

All this is is merely the elimination of competition. Softbank's Masayoshi Son has been unable to achieve his goals in the U.S., despite ploughing massive investment into a very broken Sprint. He perceives T-Mobile is what's blocking his dreams. Solution: Buy the roadblock and destroy it.

That's all AT&T wanted TMO for: To get it out of the way.

Ajit Pai's FCC and the people in Trump's Justice Dept. don't care about consumers or competition. They're out strictly to make their big corporate buddies happy. That means kill competition.

Ive been on Sprint towers for 18 years straight, and have needed to call customer service once, maybe twice. What is this complaint about customer service, and why do folks need a shit ton of customer service? I dont get it.

I've been a Sprint subscriber for over 16 years, did have issues at the beginning but the last 5-7 years the service has been good and got nothing to complain as of today.

PS, the reception at my house was pretty spotty as I do have tons of trees around, they send me a "mini tower" to connect to the internet and is great.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Problem with that scenario is TMO's and Sprint's footprints are nearly identical, and, unless I'm mistaken, Sprint won't bring much to TMO's footprint in the way of lower frequencies. (Remember: Sprint started out as "Sprint PCS," which was all high-frequency.)

Their footprints are almost similar but T-Mobile recently got 600 MHz (most as wide as 20+20 MHz and some as wide as 25+25 MHz of spectrums) so that should be a big relief, coverage wise. Sprint does have 800 MHz band nationwide but unfortunately most of it are very narrow, once you account for the guard sidebands.

quote:

Ajit Pai's FCC and the people in Trump's Justice Dept. don't care about consumers or competition. They're out strictly to make their big corporate buddies happy. That means kill competition.

Ajit's FCC isn't consumer friendly thus far. Hope that will change. As mentioned, one thing the Obama's FCC did right was to let T-Mobile get this huge nationwide swath of low spectrums in order for it to put in an effective challenge to Verizon's coverage game.

quote:

Originally posted by saigonsmuggler:
Ajit's FCC isn't consumer friendly thus far. Hope that will change.

Unlikely, since, rather than acknowledging the unpopularity of the directions he's driving the FCC, he mainly seems to be engaging in trying to prove the popular, wide-spread opposition isn't real.

If the coverage of T-Mobile and Sprint merge, wouldn't the footprint be the same as Google-Fi?

quote:

Originally posted by Paten:
If the coverage of T-Mobile and Sprint merge, wouldn't the footprint be the same as Google-Fi?

That's what I'm thinking, but Google only has certain phones available with the ability to run seamlessly on both networks. I don't know if every phone from both carriers can do that.

It doesn't matter now. If the merger is approved it would take a while to get it done. By that time every phone they would be selling should be able to do it.

Yes, Sprint has the VERY WORSE Customer service in the industry.

Officially Dead:

T-Mobile, Sprint nix merger

Third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers had mulled combining for years.

By Ken Sweet and Tali Arbel ASSOCIATED PRESS


Sprint and its owner, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, have long been looking for adeal. Dreamstime

NEW YORK — Wireless carriers Sprint and T-Mobile called off a potential merger, saying the companies could not come to an agreement that would benefit customers and shareholders.

The two companies have been dancing around a possible merger for years and were again in the news in recent weeks with talks of the two companies coming together after all. But in a joint statement Saturday, Sprint and T-Mobile said they were calling off merger negotiations for the foreseeable future.

“The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior longterm value for T-Mobile’s shareholders compared to our outstanding standalone performance and track record,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile US, in a prepared statement.

T-Mobile and Sprint are the U.S.’ third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, but they are significantly smaller than AT&T and Verizon, who effectively have a duopoly over U.S. wireless service. The two companies have said they hoped to find a way of merging to make the wireless market more competitive.

Sprint and its owner, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, have long been looking for a deal as the company has struggled to compete on its own. But Washington regulators have frowned on a possible merger. D.C. spiked AT&T’s offer to buy T-Mobile in 2011 and signaled in 2014 they would have been against Sprint doing the same thing. But with the new Trump administration, it was thought regulators might be more relaxed about a merger.

Sprint has a lot of debt and has posted a string of annual losses. The company has cut costs and made itself more attractive to customers, BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk says, but it hasn’t invested enough in its network and doesn’t have enough airwave rights for quality service in rural areas.

T-Mobile, meanwhile, has been on a yearslong streak adding customers. After the government nixed AT&T’s attempt to buy it in 2011, T-Mobile led the way in many consumer-friendly changes, such as ditching two-year contracts and bringing back unlimited data plans. Consumers are paying less for cellphone service, thanks to T-Mobile’s influence on the industry and the resultant price wars.

“T-Mobile does not need a merger with Sprint to succeed, but Sprint might need one to survive,” Piecyk wrote in an October research note.

T-Mobile, Sprint nix merger

Third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers had mulled combining for years.

By Ken Sweet and Tali Arbel ASSOCIATED PRESS

I am late to this party, but satisfied with my Sprint plans and service. It was shaky for the first couple of years in terms of reception in my rural area, but improved about 3 years ago

2 lines in my home, and Broadband with Sprint also.

In terms of customer service, I have had very good results from one local Sprint store.

Thank Heavens!

I switched to Sprint back in the days it was still "Sprint PCS." Back then they were an aggressive provider with unique, disruptive offers. About the time they acquired Nextel they morphed into Just Another Wireless Carrier, only without the coverage of VZW or "at&t." They became moribund. Despite all kinds of promises, they're remained moribund after their acquisition by Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank.

After Legere took the helm at T-Mobile, the company began to become what the old SPCS had once been: An aggressive, disruptive force in the wireless arena. (Which was helped along in no small way by "at&t"s failed attempt to absorb them financing much of their improvements.)

All SoftBank's Masayoshi Son wants of TMO is to obtain its frequency holdings and eliminate a competitor. (If you can't beat 'em, buy and destroy 'em.) He is not interested in TMO remaining TMO or the merged company being anything like TMO.

Everybody that has any kind of wireless plan should be celebrating this news. It's been TMO's relentless "Uncarrier" moves that have made wireless way cooler for us all.

VZW and "at&t" are probably sad today

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
Hmmm, sucky company A + sucky company B = A Larger Still Sucks Company.

Doesn't effect me...They are both terrible companies with terrible service and offer deceitful ads upon the population.

I have nothing else to add to this.

“The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it is approving T-Mobile US Inc's $26 billion takeover of rival Sprint Corp, clearing a major hurdle to a deal that would merge the nation's third and fourth largest wireless carriers.

The companies have agreed to divest Sprint's prepaid businesses including Boost Mobile to Dish Network Corp in order to move ahead with the merger, which was announced in April 2018.

But the deal still faces a significant challenge.

A group of U.S. state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York to block the merger on antitrust grounds, arguing that the proposed deal would cost consumers more than $4.5 billion annually…”

https://mol.im/a/7290327

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O3v-PI6TEQ

May.20 -- FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr discusses the regulatory hurdles to T-Mobile Us Inc.'s planned takeover of Sprint Corp. with Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde and Scarlet Fu on "Bloomberg Markets: The Close."