From Consumerist –

Sprint lost 148,000 customers after contract-subscriber defections more than offset prepaid gains. Sprint introduced new phones last year, including an exclusive deal to sell the Palm Pre, to keep more customers.

The company said it expects subscriber losses to slow this year. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse said he will roll out more fourth-generation devices this year, which give customers high-speed wireless Internet access.

Consumerist is even running a poll to figure out why. I’ll save them some trouble. Its the contract. Sprint’s contract has not kept up with the times. Tho they have MTM plans, their post paid contracts are probably the least consumer friendly of any of the major carriers.

I would also suspect that the network is part of the problem as well. Being in the DFW area, its one of Sprints oldest territories. Yet all these years later they still have dead spots around the DFW airport area as well as other areas of the metroplex.

If you are a Sprint customer, follow the link and take their poll.

Linky.

Fourth place US wireless carrier T Mobile was conspicuously absent when the FCC auctioned off spectrum for new wireless broadband services. Left without the bandwidth necessary to provide true broadband to its entire customer base, the company has needed a survival strategy as traditional cellular begins to decline.

There have been abundant rumors about T Mobile’s parent acquiring Sprint, who is the majority owner in Clearwire. That move does make sense, but there may be a better way. If DT were to invest a little less money in Clearwire, it could solve its bandwidth problem and give Clearwire badly needed cash for faster expansion.

Bloomberg News is now reporting that Deutsche Telekom might decide to pay Sprint, Clearwire and/or MetroPCS for access to the their U.S. wireless spectrum. Such a deal would infuse Clearwire with $2 billion in much-needed cash for network upgrades, while giving Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile access to wireless spectrum that would help with T-Mobile’s 4G plans. (DSL Reports)

Apple and AT&T have an agreement in principle that neither party would partake of supporting anything that injuries the other party in any material fashion. AT&T is concerned about users foregoing the voice components on iPhone and using the data component via VoIP. Google then shows up with an application for the iStore to do exactly what AT&T does not want. Is it rejected? Welllll, not exactly, but then you can’t download it either –

AT&T and Apple told the FCC that they did have an agreement that Apple would not help iPhone owners use VOIP calling services like Skype on the iPhone. VOIP calls use the data, rather than the voice plan, and would cut into the companies profits. Thus, Apple and AT&T agreed to cripple the Skype iPhone app so that it would only work when the iPhone used a WiFi connection.

The companies say they also agree not to let apps that stream live television, which AT&T says would strain its network.

As for Google and its app store?

Its FCC filing emphasizes that Android phone users can get apps from outside the store — unlike iPhone users. (Users can “jailbreak” their iPhones to do so, but this invalidates the warranty.)

It says only one percent of apps in its online marketplace have been rejected, mostly due to copyright or obscenity reasons.

Google did not, however, mention that it too crippled mobile apps at the request of a telecom.

T-Mobile asked Google to remove apps that let customers use their phone as a modem for a laptop, a practice known as tethering, and Google complied. T-Mobile, like all of the U.S.’s largest carriers, charges customers extra for that service. Google later re-allowed the app, but not for T-Mobile customers.

Is Google the unvarnished victim in this? The maiden for her prince to open the gates? Well not exactly either. Google is doing the same thing for T-Mobile on Android platforms. Google you can pucker up, but wash your shoes first, they reek of BS.

All this jockeying and “where’s the pea” is going for naught too. Wimax is continuing to rollout. The following cities are targeted this year — Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle. Wimax is already in Atlanta, NYC, Los Angeles and the outskirt of WashDC. So many of the mass market areas are in coverage. The upshot is the Wimax providers are not freaking out that VoIP will traverse their network. Fact some providers are offering bundles that include VoIP. So the cat’s already out of the bag. Fact some are considering using a “netbook-as-phone”.

By the way Who if on first and What is on second and Google is in the outfield. Google still has not understood how damaging their lack of 700mhz ownership means to them over the long haul.

Linky.

Outside of AT&T and Verizon who are still in denial, mobile carriers are discovering that voice has peaked and 3G service is soon to follow. Battered #3, Sprint, bet big on low cost prepaid wireless leading the pack with its Boost wireless division’s $50 unlimited offering - the first of its kind with national coverage. The only thing wrong with he plan is that it is on the old IDEN network and customers are stuck with pricey unattractive handsets from Motorola as their only options.

While it probably hasn’t made any money, Virgin Mobile has amassed a significant group of subscribers and resold access on Sprints CDMA network, arguably the best or second best in terms of coverage and signal quality. Virgin polished marketing, trendy website, and most of all attractive handsets as fair prices contrast sharply against the current offerings from other prepaid providers. While it could get enormous benefit from the marketing savvy, It looks to me like Sprint is buying subscribers. For the sake of it’s shareholders, it couldn’t hurt to try hanging onto Virgin’s marketing and customer care people who consistently do a better job that it’s own group has.

On Tuesday morning, Sprint, the No. 3 nationwide U.S. wireless operator, announced plans to buy Virgin Mobile USA in a deal that is valued at around $483 million. At first it might seem strange for Sprint, which went into a tailspin after its last big acquisition of wireless competitor Nextel in 2005, to buy another wireless operator. But with a strong cash position and a management team determined to turn the company around, it looks like Sprint sees a big enough opportunity in the prepaid market to risk the pains of consuming another operator.

The strategy shift comes at a time when Sprint is still losing high value “postpaid” customers, who typically sign lengthy contracts and pay for service on a monthly basis. During the first quarter of 2009, Sprint lost nearly 1.25 million of these postpaid subscribers. Sprint reports its second quarter earnings on Wednesday, which should provide a clearer picture on where the company currently stands in terms of subscriber gains or losses. (Cnet)

I’ve long predicted that wireless would largely become a month to month prepaid business. the industry itself is to blame. It’s long standing tradition has been to serve its customers one gotcha after the next, while a contract rather than good service holds the customer in place.  It could be Sprint is the first of the big 4 to understand that no one really trusts them to offer a fair contract.  On a month to month, basis if the handset is cheap or can be used on another network, it’s OK to make a bad choice, and carriers will have to become much more service oriented. As prepaid catches on, we’re going to see open handsets everywhere. I’m predicting it will be nearly impossible to sell a locked phone within two years.

OK this isn’t big news, but it does introduce some interesting possibilities. As part owner of the Clear service build that began as a partnership between Clearwire and Sprint, Comcast could add quite a bit of muscle to the marketing push for the new service.It’s beginning to look like a service that will be sold under many brands. One service with many brands, outlets and potentially different service levels is something we haven;t seen before in the wireless or broadband space

The so-called fourth-generation (4G) wireless service, is the first execution of a partnership between Comcast, Clearwire Corp and other companies that use the emerging WiMax high-speed mobile technology.

Many consumers already update their blogs and watch videos using their mobile phones. Cable companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc do not want to become irrelevant by restricting subscriber access to the home.

The new service, called “Comcast High-Speed 2go,” is expected to deliver data to laptops, netbooks and other devices over a wireless network at faster speeds than has been commonly available to date.

Comcast said it will offer download speeds of up to 4 megabits per second. Existing 3G wireless networks typically offer download speeds between 1 and 1.5 megabits a second. (Reuters)

We had alluded to the fact that third party VoIP modules on smart phones won’t last long, here. Well it looks like it is just about there. The folks at Google and Microsoft have blinked. Don’t discount the Telcos they have the best legal talent that phone call money can buy. –

surrender_itsgregIf you think Google, Microsoft and Apple are bad-ass, cutthroat, take-no-prisoner companies, you should meet the nation’s wireless carriers, who have collectively convinced those intensively competitive software giants to cripple their products.

Need any more proof that the nation’s four largest wireless carriers - AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile - have too much control over the airwaves, what phones you can use and what applications you can run on them?

Look no further than Microsoft’s release this week of its 12 commandments for developers (.pdf) working on apps for the upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and for its Windows Mobile Marketplace — it’s upcoming iPhone app store competitor. Number 4 rule? Don’t make apps that let users make phone calls using the mobile phone carrier’s data connection.

That restriction joins Microsoft to Google and Apple, all of which now all block true VOIP apps in their online marketplaces where users can quickly buy trusted apps from third-party developers. That means no Skype, or at least only Skype when your iPhone has a WiFi connection, or only Skype-Lite which uses your phone’s minute plans.

This was to be expected from the commercial side of the IT industry. I hope at this point Google fully understands exactly WHY they needed that 700mhz spectrum now. You can rest assured that the smaller smartphone development houses won’t take up this cause. They don’t have the financial-legal wherewithal to go into protracted court combat.

Nope the challenge will come, if at all, from overseas. Some Indian dude will whip up an app for Android that will use the data channel for voice traffic. It will leak out and take hold for a certain segment of the population. The problem will only be resolved if such a piece of software were to come on like gangbusters. Like it started on 500 smartphones today, its on 5,000,000 by the end of a month.

So much for open competition.

Linky.

4G handsets are already available in other parts of the world, so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to have one for sale in the US.  Last week Sprint made it clear they’re ready to offer such a device. The devil’s always in the details of how devices and networks are actually implemented, but I’m optimistic that this could jump start the 4G market. If it does, it just may provide more “stimulus” than all of the alleged broadband stimulus that Congress funded with the future earnings of our children last week.

The actual form factor is “still being finalized,” said Scott Lane, director of marketing and sales for Sprint’s 4G unit, in an interview today.

Lane called the coming device a “trimode handset,” meaning it would function in three wireless modes. Including WiMax and CDMA, the third mode will most likely be Wi-Fi, although that piece has not been confirmed. “It will more than likely have Wi-Fi,” he added.

The WiMax portion could make the device the first stand-alone handset with WiMax capability. It will work over Clearwire Corp.’s Clear WiMax network, which Sprint helped create last year in an ambitious joint venture with Clearwire, Intel Corp., Google Inc. and three cable companies.

Is Boost’s management a schizophrenic? First they make a great move putting coast to coast CDMA based service on the market at a hard to beat month to month price and change the wireless landscape.  For the follow up they resurrect the white elephant Nextel iDEN network and push all of their new customers onto it?

After launching a trial of an unlimited offering on Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network to compete with the likes of Leap Wireless International Inc. and Metro PCS Communications Inc., Boost last month unveiled a $50 per month all-you-can-eat plan that will operate on the iDEN network, where Boost originated its service. Further, Boost noted that no new customers would be added to the CDMA network.

“The CDMA trial was always a trial,” said Justin Brennan, director of prepaid services for Boost Mobile. “The same opportunity could have been present with CDMA, but iDEN was a better fit for our demographic.”

So, the moment of brillaince has been dulled by a move that’s only going to continue to limit the growth of Boost just to attempt to add value to a very limited technology. This kills the ability to pull customers from Verizon with a bring your handset promo and and takes away the ability sell commodity handsets. Looks to me like the parent company  Sprint is eating it’s young.

Consumerist, a consumer advocacy blog that has more teeth than the BBB has struck again. This time by fostering the close of a contact center that has been exposed as shall we say less than stellar? –

Sprint is closing a call center we posted ex-employee accounts about that alleged on-the-scene drug use, sex, and theft of customer credit card numbers, among other infractions.

According to an inside source, these posts about the Teleperformance USA call center in Fishers, Indiana got sent up the company ladder. When they hit the Senior VP level, there was much teeth grinding. A Sprint vendor manager was hauled in on his ass to explain himself. Guess it wasn’t very convincing. Then again, it could just be the economy. Whichever the case, no matter, all roads lead to Rome.

The Telecom industry has enough problems with image on its own. It does not have to contract for more. Which of course leads me to my old saw — Anytime you relinquish control of your brand to another without sufficeint control, you lose control of the brand. These days a damaged brand is a very expensive thing to recover from.

Consumerist.

If you were a Sprint customer a few years back and got bit by the ETF Troll you got some money due back to you. Its not a lot but every little bit helps right??

A proposed settlement has been reached in the class action lawsuit against Sprint over early termination fees (ETF). It seems to basically apply to anyone who has had a time-based contact with Sprint that had an etf clause it i.e. most Sprint wireless customers. You get $90 if you were charged an ETF and can provide proof, and $35 if you didn’t cancel a contract for fear of getting charged an ETF.

The link to the web site is here.

Linky.