Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Sprint afraid of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger
- Thread starter jav6454
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Being able to make a call, outside a major city, on the Sprint network might get them a few more customers as well.
I think the strategy of allowing Google Voice on any of their phones is going to make things interesting, but probably not enough to significantly tips the scales in their favor. They were the first carrier I had, but went to greener pastures about 7 or 8 years ago
The thing is, Sprint is right. If the US government lets the AT&T/T-Mobile merger go through, they're actively reducing competition in the US cellular industry in a big, big way.
Canada has 3 major wireless carriers, and competition is virtually non-existant. Rogers, Bell, and Telus seem to move in lockstep with their pricing plans. I'd love a 4th major wireless company up here... alas. :/
Canada has 3 major wireless carriers, and competition is virtually non-existant. Rogers, Bell, and Telus seem to move in lockstep with their pricing plans. I'd love a 4th major wireless company up here... alas. :/
Sprint mad because the bought Nextel for 35 billion and it was a complete FAIL on their part. Then they use WiMax as there 4G when everyone else is using LTE now their going to use LTE. Sprint has the worst management
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)
I don't feel for Sprint one bit.
I don't feel for Sprint one bit.
Well its kind of a duh moment. Of course they'll denounce the merger as it makes their a competitor much stronger. Instead of having one weak competitor (t-mo) and one strong competitor (att) they'll not have to deal with two juggernauts - att and verizon.
The problem for att is they this WILL affect competition and prices. I wouldn't be surprise if the gov't forces them to slice off a large percentage of customers to another carrier or even that the gov't will block the merger.
The problem for att is they this WILL affect competition and prices. I wouldn't be surprise if the gov't forces them to slice off a large percentage of customers to another carrier or even that the gov't will block the merger.
If Sprint hadn't bought Nextel, my work phone wouldn't even have service at my house. But yeah, it's hilarious that Sprint Nextel is complaining about this.
Clearly Sprint is going to object to becoming even more obsolete. The make poor choices over and over. Wimax? gone, pointless, should have moved to LTE in the first place. As mentioned the purchase of Nextel was a total failure and now the idiots are talking about bringing back a Sprint version of "push to talk", sorry it sucked as Nextel and still sucks. Sprint voice service within 2 miles of their world HQ here in Kansas City is a joke. Their marketing tactic is to basically buy corporate business by offering a HUGE chunk of cash to companies, even though we already signed with VZW for next year. Sprint is so desperate they accepted the terms and have our business for a year fully knowing we are switching in 12 months, yet still offer a huge rebate.
Only a few months in and a total disaster with the phones and data cards. Service sucks, when and if you can get it. Voice mails come in hours/days late, if at all. I'm amazed Sprint is still in business frankly. Is there actually someone in the US that has good service with Sprint? I figured KC, where the 2 Billion dollar HQ resides they would at least build out the local network to be reliable... guess not.
Only a few months in and a total disaster with the phones and data cards. Service sucks, when and if you can get it. Voice mails come in hours/days late, if at all. I'm amazed Sprint is still in business frankly. Is there actually someone in the US that has good service with Sprint? I figured KC, where the 2 Billion dollar HQ resides they would at least build out the local network to be reliable... guess not.
they are basically the most competitive next to t-mobile, dont know what youve been drinking
Make sure you mention everything involved there Jav. MetroPCS offers no subsidy on phones as their business is built on providing you cheap local service with no contract. That means if you want a "high end" smart phone then you are going to pay full price for it. So that $40 unlimited plan turns into about $60 to $70 or more a month when you figure in the cost of a $300 or $400 phone over a one to two year period.
About 5 weeks ago I switched from Sprint to At&t, but prior to that I was a happy Sprint customer for over 8 years. I got great coverage and low prices for the service I received. When my wife lost her job 2 years ago Sprint worked with us to customize our plan and lower the price to a workable solution so that we would not have to sacrifice too much and could keep our service. They included free services and even a large credit to our account to make it work for us. Believe me, with our income taking a huge hit, I looked at all the options (MetroPCS, At&t, Verizon, Pay as you go, etc.) and what Sprint offered was the best deal.
The only reason we made the recent change was because our 6 year old phones were finally dying and my wife really wanted an iPhone. Making this change means my bill is going up on a monthly basis, but it's a choice we are willing to make and thankfully it is financially possible at this time. If Sprint had the iPhone we most likely wouldn't have switched.
I know my story is simply my experience and there are good and bad stories on both sides, but Sprint's opposition to this merger is just a business strategy. Obviously, they are pursuing what they think is best for their company. It's not really that surprising, is it?
Last edited:
Ture, Sprint is going after the better business for them. But what better business than to have two large carriers overcharging and you being the cheaper option? Not only that, but competing on the same level as the other regional carriers. I mean a $50/unlimited plan on Sprint would be better and would spur more competitive prices from the new giant.
Sprint has the right to say something when it could hurt their business and several smaller players. There are anti-trust laws preventing these type of practices, ya know? Competitive laws. You don't want any corporation to be that strong and create a duopoly.
The unlimited WiMax for $45 per month looks intriguing. Too bad 4G are such battery hogs right now. Look at the short battery life of the HTC ThunderBolt on Verizon's LTE. Dead in like 3 hours.
I am sticking to 8-10 hours on WiFi speed instead of dealing with 3G and 4G right now. Battery life just isn't ready for 4G right now and 3G is already worse than WiFi in battery even if it isn't as fast. Most carriers are just tacking on more expenses for things we don't need yet. Like manufacturers jumping from HD era to the 3D era. They need new gimmicks to sell you more expensive things.
The unlimited WiMax for $45 per month looks intriguing. Too bad 4G are such battery hogs right now. Look at the short battery life of the HTC ThunderBolt on Verizon's LTE. Dead in like 3 hours.
I am sticking to 8-10 hours on WiFi speed instead of dealing with 3G and 4G right now. Battery life just isn't ready for 4G right now and 3G is already worse than WiFi in battery even if it isn't as fast. Most carriers are just tacking on more expenses for things we don't need yet. Like manufacturers jumping from HD era to the 3D era. They need new gimmicks to sell you more expensive things.
I had Sprint when I moved to KS for school years ago. It was the only (yes ONLY) option in this tiny town. Charged for roaming and I was always roaming. It was complete crap.
Went back to Cingular after the brutal 2 years.
Now, besides a few, Sprint doesn't have nice phones. Obviously many people think so but I do not. Sprint buying T-Mo would be nice for both of them probably, but as an AT&T user I would like this to go through.
Went back to Cingular after the brutal 2 years.
Now, besides a few, Sprint doesn't have nice phones. Obviously many people think so but I do not. Sprint buying T-Mo would be nice for both of them probably, but as an AT&T user I would like this to go through.
Sprint gave itself a bad name about 9 years ago when you couldn't understand a word anyone said on their network (I wasn't the only one with this experience). This was when they were advertising they had clearer calls than their competitors (anyone remember the ads where some one would call some one and hte other person would totally mis hear them causing a big problem cause the call was not clear enough? I do cause I kept thinking, "But that's my problem with you, Sprint!").
I still don't even consider them because of how horrible I remember it was to talk to people who had Sprint. I've been shocked they still are around (as I said, anyone else I've talked to with Sprint had the same experience and it wasn't all people just in any one state).
I'm on AT&T so this merger doesn't affect me all that much , but a little bit of me doesn't want this merge to be approved by the government just for the sake of the T-Mobile customers and employees out there and want to see more competitive pricing. A duopoly is not the right practice to have in the 3rd most populated country in the world that outlaws anti-competition.
AT&T will price gouge us on data like they did with their Edge speeds that were once unlimited and became only 200 MB (with 3G speed included) at the same price. I rarely use 3G unless for streaming if Edge is slow and WiFi is out of range. And right now, 3G and 4G are OVERRATED and battery hogs. Sad that we pay more for 3G speeds which is slower and sometimes spotty than our much faster and consistent internet connection at home.
LTE will go faster and make other things far worse. Remember, carriers don't mind if phones had shorter battery life. Why? To not clog up their network all day. And people want thin phones anyway. So offering a limited data plan makes sense for them.
We are going to see added fees on our bills and limited LTE plans if this AT&T-Mobile thing does happen. Just wait.
AT&T will price gouge us on data like they did with their Edge speeds that were once unlimited and became only 200 MB (with 3G speed included) at the same price. I rarely use 3G unless for streaming if Edge is slow and WiFi is out of range. And right now, 3G and 4G are OVERRATED and battery hogs. Sad that we pay more for 3G speeds which is slower and sometimes spotty than our much faster and consistent internet connection at home.
LTE will go faster and make other things far worse. Remember, carriers don't mind if phones had shorter battery life. Why? To not clog up their network all day. And people want thin phones anyway. So offering a limited data plan makes sense for them.
We are going to see added fees on our bills and limited LTE plans if this AT&T-Mobile thing does happen. Just wait.
to be honest we'd probably see added fees anyway...rest assured unless something hasn't been disclosed this deal is going through...your friends in the government will see to that...AT&T has a squadron of washington lobbyists that know what pockets to line...and another thing, Tmobile is gonna fail if it's not aquired by a larger carrier...their German masters know this that's why they are complicit...so pick your poison either they are bought out or they go bankrupt in a little more than 52 weeks...I promise this will happen...just wait
Which is too bad. I have never had an issue with Cingular/AT&T but T-mobile always seemed to me to be an option to consider when you are on a budget (when I originally chose plans it was between them and Cingular cause Verizon was too expensive at the time, I mean they were significantly more plus Cingular let me change plans month to month which was a nice bonus, and Sprint was just right out cause of bad experiences with them. Cingular won at the time cause they had a larger coverage map).
Dunno, never used T-mobile but I liked them. They seemed to have a good reputation (customers seemed to like them). The big problem just seemed to be size and that they couldn't seem to get much coverage compared to Cingular/Verizon.
I'd have much preferred to see Sprint fail (if one company had to fail).
Its funny watching clueless 20-somethings (or younger) say bad things about Sprint's complaints about the merger.
Most of you are too young to remember when AT&T had a de facto monopoly on phone service in this country. Among the many garbage fees they charged EVERYONE was a 'phone rental' that was on each monthly bill.
Eventually the government had to step in and force AT&T to break apart to stop them from robbing everyone blind.
There is a very good reason that a lot of people (not just Sprint) do not like the idea of AT&T gobbling up T-mobile. This has happened before and it didn't end well for customers.
I am a T-mobile customer and I am 97% sure that my service will be slower, drop more calls, and be more expensive after they put all of us on AT&T's existing network.
I am very happy with T-mobile's current rates and coverage. I would switch after the takeover but there is NOWHERE to go. Sprint's network is actually worse than T-mobile's (where I live, anyway) and Verizon's prices are too high.
Yeah, its a bad situation.
Most of you are too young to remember when AT&T had a de facto monopoly on phone service in this country. Among the many garbage fees they charged EVERYONE was a 'phone rental' that was on each monthly bill.
Eventually the government had to step in and force AT&T to break apart to stop them from robbing everyone blind.
There is a very good reason that a lot of people (not just Sprint) do not like the idea of AT&T gobbling up T-mobile. This has happened before and it didn't end well for customers.
I am a T-mobile customer and I am 97% sure that my service will be slower, drop more calls, and be more expensive after they put all of us on AT&T's existing network.
I am very happy with T-mobile's current rates and coverage. I would switch after the takeover but there is NOWHERE to go. Sprint's network is actually worse than T-mobile's (where I live, anyway) and Verizon's prices are too high.
Yeah, its a bad situation.
That was back in the land line business where there were no competitors. Here we have Verizon, Sprint themselves and the slew of regional carriers that never shut up on how cheap they are. This is not 1985.
Yes, I do agree it was highway robbery, but that won't be the case again.
Sprint is toast. The will never get the iphone and the demise of both T-Mobile and Sprint will be in part because of not having the iPhone. And yes your phone bill WILL go up. There will be just ATT and Verizon. It will be psuedo-competition like Coke vs. Pepsi. New reality folks. Apple could have avoided this debacle and brought the iphone on all 4 major carriers and let fierce competition bring down phone bills...
I personally don't have a slew of "regional" carriers to use. I suppose MetroPCS and I'm not too fond of their phones or their service. I'm a current Sprint customer and personally don't have any issues with the service they provide me.
Also, you OBVIOUSLY have not looked at recent Sprint plans since they are some of the most competitive in the business(free 7pm N&W, first introduced unlimited calls to any cell in America, truly unlimited data). Short words: You get a lot of bang for your buck with them. You even get to roam on VZW's network for free! I mean, heck, if you need it(which I personally don't since the SF Bay Area is really well covered by Sprint), it's nice to know that you do have "America's Largest Network" to fall back on for free!
And how do you know it won't be highway robbery? Are you controlling their future pricing plans? Basic economics(a class it sounds like you haven't even bothered to take or learn the finer points of) dictates that prices will jump(eventually) up due to the fact more market power will be in the hands of just two carriers. For all we know, AT&T could drop prices to MetroPCS levels, run all the other carriers out of business because those "cheap" regional carriers lost their one advantage and once they've killed off the competition, jump the prices so high I'll need to start financing my cell bill.
Who knows, what I just said may never happen. What bothers me is that fact that you are so IGNORANT to these basic concepts of a free market system, and the consequences of reducing competition in an area that could probably use it the most.
1. You assume AT&T will dip down to bankrupt regional carriers. Highly unlikely. So the ignorant here is you.
2. I do know of Sprint current offerings. However, they can go lower... if Walmart offers their own cheap plans (cheaper than Sprint through T-Mobile), why can't Sprint be more competitive instead of WHINING!
3. They don't control all future prices. They have Verizon and the little ones making noise. Increase prices and watch people flock.