After months of will-they-won’t-they talks, this week Sprint finally gave up on trying to buy T-Mobile and wandered off to go try making money in other ways. But Sprint’s sad day could be good news for some other companies with mergers on their minds, it seems. [More]
sprint
Sprint Gives Up Dream Of Wedded Bliss With T-Mobile, Gives CEO Dan Hesse The Boot
By 8.6.14
Ever since Japan-based SoftBank took control of Sprint, the company has been standing outside of T-Mobile’s window with a boom box held over its head, trying to woo the magenta-hued wireless company by claiming that the only way they could both survive is if they were together forever as one. But that all came to an end yesterday, when Sprint’s arms got sore, as the company decided to pack up its boom box and went home alone. [More]
French Company Iliad Wants To Enter U.S. Market With $15B Offer For T-Mobile
By 7.31.14
Three years after T-Mobile USA’s parent company Deutsch Telekom failed to make a lasting match between its magenta-hued wireless provider and AT&T, it’s now receiving requests for T-Mobile’s hand from suitors closer to home, as French communications company Iliad has offered up a meager $15 billion for the company. [More]
Wireless Carriers Are Victims Of Phone Cramming Too, They Just Make Billions Of Dollars Instead Of Losing It
By 7.31.14
Opening your monthly mobile phone bill to find it significantly more expensive than it’s supposed to be can be infuriating. Finding out that it’s more expensive because you were charged for products you never requested is even worse. But wireless cramming is a practice that more and more consumers – and wireless providers (huh?) – are finding themselves victims of. [More]
Virgin Mobile Debuts $12 Single-App Data Plans
By 7.30.14
Do you love having access to social media on your smartphone, but don’t bother to venture outside of Facebook? Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand has introduced the perfect smartphone plan for both 74-year-olds and 14-year-olds: cheap mobile Internet access that limits you to a single service. [More]
Sprint Also Launches Test-Drive Program, Sort Of
By 6.24.14
Last week, T-Mobile was in the news not only because CEO John Legere compared the company’s two biggest competitors to rapists, but because they announced subsidy of data used when customers stream music and a program that lets prospective customers test out the network and an iPhone 5S for 7 days. Now Sprint has announced a similar test-drive program. Kind of. [More]
Sprint Reportedly Offers $32 Billion To Buy T-Mobile
By 6.5.14
Three years after T-Mobile was left at the altar by AT&T, the wireless company looks to have another suitor – Sprint Corp. According to a report by Reuters, company insiders say Sprint has agreed to pay $40 per share, or $32 billion, for T-Mobile. [More]
Letting Sprint Buy T-Mobile Will Fix Broadband Competition, According To Sprint Chairman
By 5.30.14
Yesterday at the Code Conference, Sprint chairman Masayoshi Son spoke about the (terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad) state of internet service in the United States. But there was a distinctly self-serving undercurrent to Son’s speech. [More]
Sprint Changes Tune, Will Start Throttling Data For Heavy Users
By 5.8.14
After years of openly mocking its competition for enacting data caps and throttling heavy users, Sprint has had a change of heart. Starting next month, it will begin slowing the data speeds of its most demanding smartphone users. [More]
T-Mobile Added More New Customers Than AT&T, Verizon Combined
By 5.1.14
Here’s some further evidence that breaking up AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile was the right decision: In the last quarter, the little magenta wireless provider added 1.3 million new subscribers, nearly 200,000 more than AT&T and Verizon combined during the same time period. [More]
Don’t Believe Comcast… Mobile Broadband Is Not Competition For Cable Internet
By 4.24.14
Merger-mad Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have you believe that they are in direct competition with mobile broadband. And Verizon has successfully misled the state of New Jersey into thinking that accessing the web on your phone is the same as having a high-speed data connection to your home. Both of these conceits may someday be accurate, but the reality of the here-and-now is quite different. [More]
Sprint: We’ll Totally Unlock Any Phone You Buy After February 11, 2015
By 4.23.14
In a perfect world, once a customer has completed a mobile phone contract or paid the full unsubsidized cost of their device, they should be able to take that device to any carrier of their choice. While carriers will adopt voluntary standards next year, that’s next year. Sprint wants consumers to know that you won’t be able to unlock any devices you get from them for use on any domestic networks until the standards go into effect on February 11, 2015. [More]
Stories You Might Have Missed Because You Were Too Busy Being Awesome
April 19, 2014
We post a lot of stories during the week, and we know that most of you have jobs, families, lives, hobbies, nagging itches and other more important things to do than read every single thing we write. So for those who might be playing catch-up on the weekend, here are some of the things you might have missed… [More]
Sprint Store Manager Accused Of Mailing $327,000 In Refund Checks To Himself
By 4.16.14
A former manager of a Sprint store in Queens, NY, has been arrested for allegedly helping himself to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rebate checks that should have gone to customers. [More]
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Disabling Samsung Galaxy S5’s “Download Booster” Feature
By 4.11.14
Isn’t it awesome when a smartphone manufacturer comes up with a really interesting feature, only to have it crippled by your wireless provider? That’s what has happened to the Samsung Galaxy S5’s “download booster” functionality that simultaneously pairs available WiFi and LTE service for more rapid downloads. It’s an interesting feature, but one to which AT&T, Verizon and Sprint customers won’t have access, at least at launch. [More]
Sprint Now Offering To Pay Up To $350 In ETFs For People Willing To Switch To One Of Its Framily Thingies
By 4.4.14
Months after AT&T and T-Mobile dueled over subscribers by offering to pay them to get out of their current contracts early, the folks (frolks?) at Sprint are finally (frinally?) getting into the game with a temporary deal that will reimburse up to $350 in early termination fees for people who dump their current plans and switch to one of Sprint’s Framily shared-data plans. [More]
Like To Multitask On Your Smartphone? Sprint’s Spark Service Isn’t For You
By 4.3.14
Sprint calls its new Spark service, which they started implementing last year, a “super-high-speed capability” network. It’s faster than the 4G LTE network that they’re still expanding nationwide, but is a Spark-compatible phone something that you should look into? Well, that depends: how many things do you do on your phone at once? [More]
Sprint Closing Three Call Centers, Shutting Down 55 Stores Across The Country
By 3.21.14
Sprint has been hacking into its workforce this week, confirming that it recently closed 150 service and repair centers across the country, laying off 330 technical consultants. It’s also completely shutting down 55 of its worst-performing stores and closing three call centers — for a loss of 1,550 customer service jobs — and limiting operations at three others in an effort to cut back on costs. [More]
