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The only reason Sprint has any customers is because of their ultra cheap SERO plans, where they basically allowed all their customers to use employee pricing plans.

As they moved forward though, they did not bring most of the smartphones on them, until they created a new add-on for it.

Even though sprint has been way cheaper, they are bleeding customers, and it is only a matter of time before they go away. Sprint may be out of business before the AT&T and T-Mobile deal is finalized.

People talk about needing competition, but AT&T and Verizon did not really consider T-Mobile and Sprint competition. They compete with each other. They give little credence or thought to what T-Mobile or Sprint were doing.

If both disappear, it won't make any major differences in things. AT&T and Verizon set their pricing and plans based on each other, not on anyone else, and that is not going to change any time soon.

The reality is because of the technical issues and the cost issues for deploying a nationwide cellular data network in the US, you can't have that many viable competitors, it is just not possible.

The more competitors means the smaller the piece of pie is for each competitor meaning the less revenue they have to go towards building out and supporting their network. Given the amount of land you have to cover, splitting customers up becomes a huge negative for the entire industry at a very limited number of players.

It is just not a business that can support several players. If worst comes to worst they may have to look at regulating it, but in seriousness, I don't think more than two major players will be able to make it work given the dynamics.
 
Its funny watching clueless 20-somethings (or younger) say bad things about Sprint's complaints about the merger.

Did anyone complain when Sprint bought Nextel? Did anyone complain when Verizon bought Alltel? What about when Cingular bought At&t? The answer to all of them is no. Sprint needs to **** and improve their network. They blew 35 billion when they bought Nextel and how many more billion when they decided to use WiMax as their 4G network? Only to switch to LTE. Their management is a mess.


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 agree and hope this doesn't happen again.


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.

Not necessarily from my understanding wouldn't At&t and T Mobile share the towards? That should improve call quality.
 
The reality is because of the technical issues and the cost issues for deploying a nationwide cellular data network in the US, you can't have that many viable competitors, it is just not possible.

The more competitors means the smaller the piece of pie is for each competitor meaning the less revenue they have to go towards building out and supporting their network. Given the amount of land you have to cover, splitting customers up becomes a huge negative for the entire industry at a very limited number of players.

It is just not a business that can support several players. If worst comes to worst they may have to look at regulating it, but in seriousness, I don't think more than two major players will be able to make it work given the dynamics.

This.

I have said capitalism is great for customers in some businesses. But there are things it is not good for and it is better to just let government regulate it as it is not feasible for several companies to compete (This in response to people bitching in the US about evil socialism that pure capitalism isn't great either. There are some things it's just not as good for). Basically anything that requires a large network to be feasable (like our road system for example... can you imagine privatizing that? Or electricity. A lot of things that we take for granted that are spread out and require a lot of connectivity/networking around are there because the government stepped in and regulated it rather than just let companies compete. Or shoot, our fire departments and police departments. I think at one point we had private fire departments and you were still stuck with paying who was close to you, so no real competition and if you didn't pay and your house burned, oh well. And sucks to be a neighboring house too since they'd just let your house burn which put their house at risk).

Anyways, because the US is so large, it is really hard for a lot of companies to compete because they'd have to be able to cover a large area and still compete with prices. They have to have the money first. Cause no one is going to get a plan if they just try to start small first and not cover much. Would you pay for a plan that only worked in your city?
 
I've been with T-Mobile for nearly seven years because of the cheap contract I had from years ago, which the company allowed me to grandfather into the new contract every 2 years.

I get 400 minutes with unlimited T-to-T calling for $50 for two lines. My wife's family and my family were all on T-Mobile then so we barely used 300 minutes per month.

I'm told that once AT&T takes over, all of that is out the window. I must accept whatever contract T-Mobile currently offers. That's assuming that AT&T doesn't shut down T-Mobile.

My contract is up in November, and I had planned on leaving T-Mobile anyway. The reception here in Idaho is terrible. Static on the lines and dropped calls daily. The family, on both sides, has run to Verizon, so we're more careful with our minutes.

So, what does this mean for me? I don't have a clue. I'm not savvy on all the latest phones and technology. When my contract comes up, I renew with whatever free phone is offered. If lose the phone or break it (or the dog has chewed up two), I buy a cheap sim card and a $20 pre-paid phone from Walmart.

But maybe I'm ready to move on and get a smart phone. I have a 3-year-old iMac and a 2-year-old iPod touch, so an iPhone isn't a stretch as long as I buy the 3GS from AT&T for $50. I can't justify spending $300 on a phone for each of us. That's $600! May not be a lot to you, but it's a lot to me.

It seems to me that the voice plan isn't the concern. No one is competing on the price and service of the voice plan. It's the data plan that will kill me. It's how the phone companies compete these days. Having a voice plan is more like an afterthought.

So, what say you? A cheap iPhone 3GS for $50 from AT&T? Will those still be around later this year?
 
Sprint needs to spend more time improving their service so they lose less customers, and they have boring phones.

Funny because I remember after 911 Nextel got an exclusive airwave deal with the Government for their two way radios, but AT&T and Verizon did not cry about that.

It is not like T-Mobile would survive much longer on their own anyway, it seems most cell users are either going AT&T or Verizon.
 
You people who have never used Sprint do not know what you are talking about, and people who haven't used it in like 10 years don't know what they are talking about.

Sprint actually has the biggest network out of any of the carriers, why?? Sprint phones are allowed to roam on Verizon towers for free...so yeah, Sprint's actual network may be lackluster outside of cities but you will usually always have service no matter where you are, you get Sprint and Verizon for the price of one, and Sprint's plans are the cheapest out as far as major carriers go.

Only reason I switched to AT&T was for the iPhone, if it wasn't for that I would still be on Sprint, which in my experience I never had dropped calls like I do on AT&T, hell I need a AT&T MicrCell in my house to get more than 1-2 bars in my house and to stop it from switching from Edge to 3G all the time, and I live in a major city (but with respect to AT&T it has something to do with my house because as soon as I walk outside or I am near a window I get 5 full 3G bars, it's really awkward)...Syracuse, NY.

Just wish people would get the facts right before they diss Sprint...it's really not a bad network.
 
You people who have never used Sprint do not know what you are talking about, and people who haven't used it in like 10 years don't know what they are talking about.

Sprint actually has the biggest network out of any of the carriers, why?? Sprint phones are allowed to roam on Verizon towers for free...so yeah, Sprint's actual network may be lackluster outside of cities but you will usually always have service no matter where you are, you get Sprint and Verizon for the price of one, and Sprint's plans are the cheapest out as far as major carriers go.

Only reason I switched to AT&T was for the iPhone, if it wasn't for that I would still be on Sprint, which in my experience I never had dropped calls like I do on AT&T, hell I need a AT&T MicrCell in my house to get more than 1-2 bars in my house and to stop it from switching from Edge to 3G all the time, and I live in a major city (but with respect to AT&T it has something to do with my house because as soon as I walk outside or I am near a window I get 5 full 3G bars, it's really awkward)...Syracuse, NY.

Just wish people would get the facts right before they diss Sprint...it's really not a bad network.

Your house may be a Faraday's cage then with respect to wireless signals. A drop that fast as you go inside can only mean that. Or you have lead based walls.
 
You people who have never used Sprint do not know what you are talking about, and people who haven't used it in like 10 years don't know what they are talking about.

Sprint actually has the biggest network out of any of the carriers, why?? Sprint phones are allowed to roam on Verizon towers for free...so yeah, Sprint's actual network may be lackluster outside of cities but you will usually always have service no matter where you are, you get Sprint and Verizon for the price of one, and Sprint's plans are the cheapest out as far as major carriers go.

Only reason I switched to AT&T was for the iPhone, if it wasn't for that I would still be on Sprint, which in my experience I never had dropped calls like I do on AT&T, hell I need a AT&T MicrCell in my house to get more than 1-2 bars in my house and to stop it from switching from Edge to 3G all the time, and I live in a major city (but with respect to AT&T it has something to do with my house because as soon as I walk outside or I am near a window I get 5 full 3G bars, it's really awkward)...Syracuse, NY.

Just wish people would get the facts right before they diss Sprint...it's really not a bad network.


I've had Sprint. Terrible network. My gf and nearly all of her family have Sprint. She is always asking to use my phone because she doesn't get signal inside and it is patchy everywhere else. Where I used to live she never got signal and my iPhone only got Edge.

I remember when I had Sprint I had to go outside for phone calls. Texts went thru but phone calls would have terrible sound quality, nearly all static.


Edit: I do, however, like Sprint's pricing. If they get some decent coverage around my area I would possibly switch.
 
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