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Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

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Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#221

Post by Aloha »

TallTales wrote: post #208
Benjammer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sprint's goose was most definitely cooked The reason their goose was cooked is because they previously were planning to acquire T Mobile, but SoftBank got back-channel info that it would never be approved by the anti-trust regulators. At the time they had Marcelo Claure running Sprint, basically a corporate "fixer" guy for SoftBank. So he ran the company into the dirt in order to make the merge feasible to regulator…

I'm a former engineer at Sprint and I strongly disagree with this characterization. Sprint's goose was cooked but it was due to debt from selling junk bonds to build Network Vision at the time of the original LTE rollout. Their credit was ruined by that point from 30+ years of absolutely terrible and corrupt c-suite executives. Marcello has a lot of faults but he didn't run Sprint into the ground. He is actually pret…

He finally reduced the fixed costs that should have been done post Nextel merger.

I remember Nextel and iDEN sites co-sited on the adjacent towers.. but with different shelters (sprint was often outdoor cabinets).

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#222

Post by Aloha »

TheAmazingRace wrote: post #25
mchannon wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Sprint bankruptcy may have been inevitable, but Verizon and AT&T would have been forced to steer clear (a failed merger having made that inevitable). The private market would have provided a bounty of suitors for Sprint if it couldn't recover from bankruptcy. It may have emerged in a far weaker fourth place, but it would still be around.

The only other possible dark horse that could have emerged was either in US Cellular or Dish Network. However, I believe there were concerns with issues like market capitalization (in the case of US Cellular) or having different priorities (like Dish) that would have jeopardized a proper fourth option for the US. I'm not suggesting the merger was "good" or anything like that. Just that the other options seemed quite…

US Cellular is actually pretty probably, same tech stack, same hardware, similar customer bases, but they didnt have acres of capital. The issue was the albatross of the debt from the Nextel merger.

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#224

Post by [deleted] »

afavour wrote: post #112
codydh wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a good guide to the prioritization (QCI) of various carriers here: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoContract/comments/oaophe/data_pri...

It feels crazy-making to me that information like this only exists in Reddit threads. Prioritization is, IMO, a totally valid way to price differentiate. But it should be clearly stated when you’re buying in the same way GB data limits are.

[deleted]

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#226

Post by johnnyanmac »

TallTales wrote: post #208
Benjammer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sprint's goose was most definitely cooked The reason their goose was cooked is because they previously were planning to acquire T Mobile, but SoftBank got back-channel info that it would never be approved by the anti-trust regulators. At the time they had Marcelo Claure running Sprint, basically a corporate "fixer" guy for SoftBank. So he ran the company into the dirt in order to make the merge feasible to regulator…

I'm a former engineer at Sprint and I strongly disagree with this characterization. Sprint's goose was cooked but it was due to debt from selling junk bonds to build Network Vision at the time of the original LTE rollout. Their credit was ruined by that point from 30+ years of absolutely terrible and corrupt c-suite executives. Marcello has a lot of faults but he didn't run Sprint into the ground. He is actually pret…

Yeah, I always thought the two primary factors here were the lost bet on WiMax (which probably cost a lot to build infrastructure for) and the Nextel aqui-merger causing a lot more friction than synergy.

I'd be a horrible businessman, because I really can't imagine keeping so much debt and simply being okay with it until its too late. I'd be considered a fool if I managed my personal finances like that, but that's the normal operation when managing millions or especially billions at a time.

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#227

Post by johnnyanmac »

andy800 wrote: post #177
Benjammer wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Sprint's goose was most definitely cooked The reason their goose was cooked is because they previously were planning to acquire T Mobile, but SoftBank got back-channel info that it would never be approved by the anti-trust regulators. At the time they had Marcelo Claure running Sprint, basically a corporate "fixer" guy for SoftBank. So he ran the company into the dirt in order to make the merge feasible to regulator…

Sprint went all-in on WiMax as it's 4G network. I owned an early Sprint 4G smartphone (made by HTC) and the 4G never worked. I would go to the Sprint store and ask to show me a signal with 4G turned on, and they would always blame congestion, or weather, or some other made-up excuse.

in all fairness, the 5G isn't much better these days, at least in my area. T-mobile seem to have inhereted Sprints bad coverage, to the point where they had to send me a booster modem for my own home.

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#228

Post by johnnyanmac »

aiauthoritydev wrote: post #169
HumblyTossed wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We the People should own infrastructure. Want to start a new shipping company to compete with UPS? You don't have to build roads, We the People provide those to you. So, do the same with wireless.

Nothing prevents you from working with liked minded individuals to create your own "infra". The phrase "we the people" sounds cool but in reality what you mean is "your money, my idea". Roads is a very common argument, but none of the roads are build by "we the people". Government takes your money by force irrespective of how you think it should be spent and then a completely unaccountable red tapy system that employ…

>a completely unaccountable red tapy system that employs otherwise unemployable people decides how to spend it.

The "accountability" is people voting in/out politicians. I agree they need more accounability, but in this case the folly falls on the ignorant for not properly researching who will lead and manage their towns.

>There is no need for roads to be public infrastructure. It can be fully privatized and people be asked to pay for its use.

Sounds like an awful idea. Land isn't infinite, so it falls into the same problem we have with housing. Lots of inefficiently crafted roads and a nightmare of tolls to manage based on the route you take. Which finals down to a few big boys either battling for the best roads, or worse, colluding with each other to keep tolls high. Navigation now has to incorporate not only for physical distance, but approximate cost as well.

I fail to see an upside here unless your underlying narrative is to force people onto public transportation. Even then that doesn't mean public transportation imroves for those with bad access (also managed by "unaccountable red tapy system")/

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#229

Post by dmazzoni »

DataDive wrote: post #93

Did it kill price competition? My anecdotal observation is that there are more cheap phone plans now than, say, five years ago.

It seems to have created a two-tier system.

You can get a "real" monthly plan from AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile for $50/month with unlimited data and prioritization.

Or you can get a prepaid plan with data caps and no prioritization for $15 - 25 / month.

Re: Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Killed Wireless Price Competition in U.S.

#230

Post by walterbell »

baby-yoda wrote: post #217
walterbell wrote: post #174

A government condition of the merger was that T-Mobile had to offer low-cost prepaid plans without an MVNO. The program is called T-Mobile Connect, https://clark.com/cell-phones/connect-by-t-mobile/ & https://coveragecritic.com/t-mobile-connect-review/ & https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/connect/phone-plans Monthly price for USA-only unlimited talk/text + 5G/LTE data, is $15/5GB, $25/8GB, $35/12GB + taxes/fees. Outside US…

IIRC, Connect was proposed as a 5 year solution, I fully expect T-Mobile to discontinue Connect as soon as possible.

Merger was in 2020, which implies that Connect ends next year.

If 2024 wireless price competition is lacking, can US regulators extend Connect beyond 2025?

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