While T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere has declared himself to be “sick and tired” of takeover talk, that decision is ultimately not up to him. His stern teutonic parents at Deutsche Telekom, which owns 64% of T-Mobile USA, are more than happy to talk to willing, well-heeled suitors for their sassy American subsidiary. [More]
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Sprint, T-Mobile Merger Buzz Starts Up Again After CEO Says He’d “Love To Begin Talks”
By 5.10.17
If the U.S. wireless market were a John Hughes ’80s movie, Verizon would be Jake from Sixteen Candles — rich, expensive car, gets what he wants; AT&T would be Andrew from The Breakfast Club — dumb but popular, brutish, secretly just wanting to be loved; T-Mobile would be Duckie from Pretty In Pink — pugnacious, a flashy dresser, occasionally adorably profane; while Sprint would be Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — always seemingly on the verge of failure, barely tolerated, has parents with a lot of money. And now those rich parents think that teaming up their awkward son with plucky T-Mobile will help them both take on the bigger, more handsome competitors. [More]
Sprint Wants To Install A Magic Box In Your Home Or Office
By 5.3.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Sprint’s current ad campaigns brag about how the carrier is now “within 1%” of its competitors’ network reliability. Today, Big Yellow announced how it plans to close that gap and improve service in urban areas, without having to build new towers. [More]
Sprint Expected To Stop Offering 50% Discount To Customers Who Switch Service
By 4.5.17
Three years ago, Sprint began trying to lure in new customers by promising to slash their existing wireless bill in half (a promise that wasn’t quite as good as advertised). With a renewed industry-wide focus on unlimited plans, Sprint is expected to finally drop this promotion. [More]
Here Is The List Of RadioShack Stores Closing Soon
By 3.10.17 — Updated: 3.17.17
RadioShack is, once again, bankrupt and all of its locations that aren’t being converted to Sprint stores are potentially on the chopping block. A new court filing has finally revealed which of the nearly 200 Shacks will be closing in the immediate future. [More]
RadioShack Goes Bankrupt For Second Time In Two Years; Sprint Will Take Over Some Stores
By 3.8.17
That was quick. Barely two years after filing for its previous bankruptcy, RadioShack has again run out of money and options, resulting in the retail chain’s second Chapter 11 filing since Feb. 2015. [More]
Sprint Reportedly Talking To White House About Possible Merger With Comcast Or T-Mobile
By 3.6.17
In recent weeks, President Trump has repeatedly mentioned promised investments and jobs from Sprint and its parent company Softbank. Now the wireless provider is reportedly hoping to eventually turn that goodwill — and the Trump administration’s light-touch approach to regulation — into a mega merger, possibly with T-Mobile, Comcast, or others. [More]
Company Born From RadioShack’s Ashes May File For Bankruptcy
By 3.3.17 — Updated: 3.4.17
After RadioShack filed for bankruptcy in 2015, a new company — formed by a partnership between Sprint and the Shack’s new owners at Standard General — rose out of the ashes. Now comes news that this company, General Wireless, may also be facing bankruptcy. [More]
AT&T Tweaks Unlimited Data Plan To Better Compete With Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile
By 2.27.17
It’s been two weeks since Verizon’s surprise announcement that it was bringing back unlimited mobile data plans kicked off a huge flurry of activity, with all four national carriers introducing or improving their own offerings. But a point-by-point comparison of all four left many folks wondering: Is AT&T even trying? AT&T apparently wondered that too, and so is tweaking their plan once more. [More]
Confused By All These New Unlimited Mobile Data Plans? Here’s What’s Up
By 2.17.17 — Updated: 2.27.17
It’s amazing what competition can do to a marketplace: In the span of a week, all four national wireless carriers have either introduced, enhanced, or dropped prices or restrictions on unlimited data offerings for mobile customers. But that’s a lot of change all at once — so what does it mean for you, the actual subscriber? [More]
Sprint Buying 33% Of Jay Z’s Tidal Streaming Music Service
By 1.23.17
Sprint is lagging behind T-Mobile and the rest of the U.S. wireless field, while Jay Z’s artist-friendly Tidal streaming service has not been able to catch up to Spotify and other competitors; so why not team up? [More]
Unlocking Mobile Phones Is Theoretically Easier Than It Used To Be
By 11.22.16
It happened: you took advantage of holiday season sales to buy yourself a new smartphone. Now it’s time to sell your old one or hand it down to a relative, but they use a different carrier. How do you make that happen? In some cases, you don’t have to do anything at all. [More]
Boost Mobile Experiments With Not Giving Away Phones, Quickly Retreats
By 11.4.16
Giving new customers an inexpensive phone for free, or a credit toward a pricier phone isn’t a big deal, right? Boost Mobile apparently didn’t realize what kind of effect it would have on their customers when it got rid of free phones. The experiment only lasted for two months. [More]
Best Buy & All Major Wireless Providers Have Stopped Selling Note 7
By 10.10.16
Following last night’s news that Samsung had once again halted production on the Galaxy Note 7, all four of the nation’s major wireless provider, and its biggest electronics retailer, say they have all pulled the Note 7 from sale. [More]
[UPDATE] All 4 Major Carriers Allow Customers Can Trade In Replacement Note 7 Phones For Any Other Model
By 10.7.16
UPDATE : All four major wireless providers say they will allow owners of replacement Note 7 smartphones to exchange them for a new device from any manufacturer after a new, supposedly non-recalled Note 7 caused a Southwest Airlines flight to be evacuated earlier this week. [More]
What’s Going Wrong With Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Exchanges — And What You Can Do
By 9.23.16
Samsung issued an official recall of the defective, flammable, potentially exploding Galaxy Note 7 phone just over a week ago. Since then, consumers who own the defective devices have been trying to get the exchanges they’re due… but it’s not always going so well. [More]
Some Verizon Customers Say They Aren’t Getting Data Overage Alerts Anymore
By 9.23.16
Amid recent reports of Verizon Wireless customers getting dinged on their bills for going over their monthly data allotments, some of these subscribers say they are going over their data limits because Verizon stopped sending them overage alerts. [More]
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Owners Report Phone Exchange Program Not Going So Well
By 9.22.16
Nobody really wants their pocket to explode or their purse to catch fire. That’s bad. So owners of defective Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones, which have a manufacturing defect in the battery that can lead it to catch fire or explode, have been told to exchange theirs. That, however, is proving much easier on paper than in reality. [More]
