Sprint has improved dramatically

Every year around Christmas here, I complain that the shopping area has horrible service with Sprint.  As of the Christmas season 2018, I can complain about it no longer.  We didn't get 100 Mbps service but the service was never unusable as it had been in the past few years since I arrived in 2014.

Further, I had jury duty in Stockton, which has generally had the worst of everything and I had a solid 4 bars downtown, especially on the 7th and 12th floors of the court house, but even on the ground it was exemplary.

I haven't had a lot of praise for Sprint, except for EVDO/3G in 2005 when the others were far behind them, and several years later when WiMAX was delivering data well before LTE was available in even a few places.

I'm pleased to say that the company has done better lately and I'm not sure why but I hope they continue to improve.  I'm almost okay with the T-Mobile merger, as long as we don't end up on GSM.  I hate having a voice conversation with anyone on T-Mobile because of the way it distorts and echoes.

VoLTE (Voice over LTE) should have been implemented already, so that we could rid ourselves of GSM and CDMA.  I expected it would be in place in 2015, even if it wasn't widespread, but it doesn't seem to have gone very far at all.

Update 2019.02.24: Sprint is now advertising that LTE Advanced is in use.  They also have "Calling Plus" for Android-based phones, which appears to be VoLTE, as they mention that you can use the internet while on a call, etc.

Apparently, 5G service will be launched in a few cities in May.  It seems that they've not bothered with Philadelphia or Miami, which is a big change from earlier times.

Don't you love how AT&T/SBC is finally going to LTE Advanced and is calling it 5Ge, as if it's something better than everyone else.  It's similar to when they enhanced their 3G service and called it 4G, even though it wasn't much different from T-Mobile.   By the original definition LTE Advanced is 4G, and we're not quite there yet, as far as a nationwide implementation goes.  I still see 1xRTT on occasion.

Update 2020.02.17: Apparently, 2020 is the year that 5G will penetrate our lives.  According to news, Verizon couldn't cover the Super Bowl stadium with 5G service, so I'm not sure how great it's going to be.  I'm still waiting for 4G/LTE Plus to be everywhere--and for 2G to go away.

Update 2020.04.24: The Sprint/T-Mobile merger happened and the two companies are cooperating on LTE, but will remain two operations otherwise.  I'm glad that they're not getting rid of CDMA.  I wonder if MetroPCS is still using CDMA, as they were prior to their acquisition by T-Mobile.  They were known as the worst carrier, but I'm not certain that they were the worst.

In any case, it should be interesting to see how everyone's service goes.  Hopefully, it's better and Verizon and AT&T sweat some.

DirectAT&T gave me no TV

I am not amused.

Thursday night/Friday morning, the new AT&T/SBC decided to "enhance" my DirecTV experience with their logo.  When I started the receiver the next time, I saw the new logo--and that satellite 1 could not be found.

The dish is in place, the receiver has not otherwise been changed or unplugged, but I now have no TV.

I thanked both companies over Twitter, so other people might see.  They were looking into it on Friday.

So, it's been four nights since the update and three days without DirecTV--how is that for 99% reliability?  Give AT&T a working product and they can damage it.  I had a feeling that this would end up worse, given the various problems I'd had with Cingular/AT&T and why I would never deal with them again.

At this point, what do I do?  I will call them, of course.  The receiver can't be updated because it can't get the signal from the satellite any longer.  I tried to go through setup tonight and it had some lag, so I switched to doing something else and the receiver powered itself off.

As far as I'm concerned, they can take their equipment with them and never bother me again.  Alternatives?  Dish Network is a "hell no", as they used to hang up on my mum and we learned right before her death that they had no clear path and the installer just said that it was okay.  Comcast/Xfinity isn't a good choice.  I've heard so many bad experiences from as far back as when they only serviced the Philadelphia metro area.  Every time my mum talked to them, they told her that the problem was in her set.  They weren't receptive to me, either.  At one point, their box would not change channels for 5 minutes, probably because someone was using the company's internet services in the neighborhood.  They replaced the remote 3 times and the box 2 times.  She canceled and went to Dish Network.

I'd only dealt with two major cable companies: Time-Warner and BrightHouse Networks and both were disgraceful.

Well, I think I'm out of luck this time.

 Update 2016.03.28: I called the service number and I waited a lot.  The first automated message was something about Monday being their busiest day for call volume.  Eventually, someone answered, and I was surprised.  I was treated well and felt that they cared.  This is much different than my experiences with cable companies.

Update 2016.03.29: The DirecTV service person arrived--and naturally, everything was working.  He checked everything and it was all fine but told me to turn off power savings mode.  It had also recorded some programs from Monday night.  Who knows?

Strangely, image quality seems better.

Update 2016.07.20: I'm generally happy with the service but AT&T continues to pull the logo in every nook & cranny that they can find, including all over the iOS app.  Having no bug fixes or performance improvements but having to update the app seems ridiculous.

Update 2016.08.24: Apparently, AT&T thought that it would be a great idea to stop allowing searches without the box being connected to the internet.  This probably has something to do with their desire to integrate customers into their internet services.  I'm not thrilled with heavy-handed tactics because it reminds me of the cable industry.

Checking on my recordings seems to not work well, even though the recordings are held locally in the box.  Often, I get a blank display.  In fact, the Guide also seems to work this way.  Sadly, these "enhancements" have been happening since AT&T officially took over DirecTV.

I'm ready to cancel my service, but I suspect that AT&T will charge me much more than the almost minimal cancellation fees at the end of my 2 year contract.  I suspect when they took over, they decided that they could re-work my contract to start at that point.  To say that I don't trust them would be an understatement.  I hope I'm wrong.

Update 2016.10.04: As of today, I have no TV service.  It's the first time since 1986 that I didn't have cable or satellite-supplied TV service.  As I'm dying, I just wanted to clean up as much as possible ahead of time.

I tried a couple of Apple TV-related apps today and the video was quite good.  If I can afford the video over internet usage, I might be okay for the occasional use.

Update 2016.11:30: I've watched one or two full-length TV shows at the first of the mobile hotspot's month in order to avoid any unforeseeable overages from Verizon.  It's amazing when you have about 500 MB remaining and you have the equipment powered off that it still manages an overage of 1.5 GB.

Quality seems fine through Apple TV, although it doesn't do 4K with the current equipment.

DirecTV/AT&T has announced a streaming service with multiple plans.

Sprint "Cut Your Bill in Half" deal only on plan, not your device. Is that a surprise?

It's apparently not quite the deal you'd expect, and of course, it depends on Verizon Wireless and (the new) AT&T's bad plans.

Re/Code

CrackBerry

Consumerist

 DSL Reports

I'm not sure that there is a real story or not.  I don't expect miracles anyway.  The big two have been working a little bit more to be balance plans with service.  However, if you get great coverage where you are--watch out for fake coverage maps from any of the big 4--Sprint should be a good deal.  Now that Nextel is all but dead and the 800 MHz frequency band is available, there is a huge chance that Sprint could be dominant in certain markets.  There are Spark areas like Milpitas, CA where Sprint is using 800 MHz, 1900 MHz, and 2500 MHz combined.

Verizon has dual frequency bands with their XLTE but who knows what device you need to make it work right now.  I've searched multiple times to see if my current mobile hotspot will take advantage of it but they're not telling apparently.  I'd prefer enhanced throughput.

Update 2014.12.30: I've been a Sprint customer since September 2000.  I've seen great service and weird, poor service.  Lately, it's very good everywhere but home.  While I'm feeling just more than neutral about Sprint, Verizon (my mobile hotspot) doesn't really make me feel better, and the stories about AT&T and T-Mobile keep me away.  YMMV--Your mileage may vary.  Do your research.

Update 2015.11.19: The deal is back, mostly.  There are more conditions, but I suppose it's a good deal, if you happen to have great coverage where you live.

Speaking of which, Sprint also made a big announcement about 77 locations for their LTE Plus service, which seems to be what they were calling Spark last year.  (They were also mentioning LTE Advanced but I'm not sure if they meant that LTE was more advanced than their 3G service or they've actually put the newer technology into place.)  If everything is working well, you can get tremendous speed.  In fact, they had the service in town for a while.  I was seeing 38 Mbps, up from 1-2 Mbps and then, a month later, it was gone and the old service had been restored.  (I believe that they took the equipment back to their city of Overland Park, Kansas to help themselves.)

It was quite a bit better than the 7 Mbps that I normally see on my Verizon mobile hotspot, and Verizon still hasn't announced where they have their enhanced two frequency service--only that it exists.

AT&T buying DirecTV

For me, this is awful.  I'm not even sure whether this is the company I knew as AT&T or the other, SBC, also known as The New AT&T.  The lines have blurred that much.

In any case, there must have been something amazing in the deal for the people at DirecTV to accept it.  I can't imagine what.

Currently, since I'm moving, and don't even have a TV, my DirecTV account has been suspended until the time I call and either cancel or reactivate it.

There are no good alternatives.  If I go with a Cable TV provider, the rates will increase rapidly, and they will likely play games.  I didn't like Time-Warner Cable or BrightHouse Networks as they played games with the truth and my connection, and seeing as how Comcast couldn't fix their own problems, I certainly don't want them.  Dish Network was my mum's provider (after Comcast) and the installer didn't tell her that there would be no clear signal because of trees, so she got a lot of crap.  When she called, they would either tell her that there was no problem or they would hang up on her or both.  That doesn't sound like a company I want to know.

However, depending on where I live, I may not have a choice.  If I rent an apartment not set up for it, they might not allow DirecTV.  Equally, a homeowner renting his/her house, may no appreciate the dish on their house.  I'm sure I'll learn all about it in June.

If SBC is the company buying DirecTV, I'm sure that there will be billing problems.  It wasn't that long ago that they were sending out 3000 page phone bills, operating as though they were still in the 1950s.  In 2012 I ordered a mobile hotspot, and while it was on its 3 day journey, they charged me for data usage.  Besides, this is the company that regularly complains about their smart phone users costing them money.

I saw something earlier about the NFL rights being something special and that it is the main reason for the purchase, and that they've set a clause that says that the merger will cease if DirecTV doesn't continue to have the rights.

I really hope that things DirecTV remain the same, no matter who is in charge.

Update 2015.12.09: The purchase has been finished.  The name is likely to change in January to combine all of the new AT&T's entertainment branches into a combined brand.

The company has been pushing DirecTV customers to go to AT&T Wireless for phones.  Considering their problems with billing, customer service, and that the administration calls their customers a problem far too often, I have no desire to deal with them.

The new AT&T/SBC can't afford to be in business

I find the new AT&T/SBC rather rude, obnoxious, and downright ugly, but other than that, they're wonderful.

Randall Stephenson, the CEO of the new AT&T/SBC, seems unhappy to have customers, especially those with smart phones.  Speaking at a conference, he told the audience how the carriers could no longer afford to give large subsidies.

I fully expect that the company would hold onto Early Termination Fees, which the carriers have been using as a hedge against someone not finishing their contract.  Of course, if you get a US$599.99 phone at US$199.99 and your ETF is only $350, they might be losing something, depending on when you would cancel your contract.  It's more likely that they're gaining money because people will be happy with their phone for several months to a year, and as new models are released, they want to switch to the new one.

Randall Stephenson has a habit of attacking the company's smart phone users.  First with an attack on iPhone users after the company got an exclusive, and they were in no shape to provide 3G data services because their network was far behind the times and didn't even provide decent 2G data services.  Those users who paid $599 for the original iPhone (later refunded part of it when Apple announced a price drop, and people complained loudly), were dragging down the company's profit by requiring an upgrade to their network.

When Android users stepped on board, Mr. Stephenson once again complained about the expenditures.

Surely, if the company doesn't want to be in business, they should stop.  If the stress of his US$22 million per year, or whatever it is currently, is too much for his delicate sensibilities, he should take up basket weaving.

When AT&T Wireless was still in business, they seemed to be on the up-and-up, but SBC/Cingular/The New AT&T seems to deceive wherever possible and doesn't like their customers.

They make fun of their customers in the advertising and complain about them quite often.  They boast network statistics that aren't always accurate or precise.  "More Bars in More Places" comes to mind, or the bit about the most 4G coverage, when they had increased the speed of their 3G services and had no LTE.

I've witnessed their "More Bars in More Places" when I lived in the Orlando, Florida area.  My first phone call was dropped 6 times in 10 minutes with 3 towers visible from my house.  In June of 2012, I went to the trouble of trying a 4G mobile hotspot from AT&T first.  I bought a refurbished model from their web site, and the three days it was in shipment, they charged me for data usage and typical expenses.

When I activated the mobile hotspot, it required an update, which was not free to be downloaded.  How it left the warehouse or refurbishment without the update, I have no idea.  Customer service was pleasant enough about the situation and had some difficulty removing the charges, but they fixed things for me.  Nowhere in my area did they have LTE nor did they have their enhanced HSPA+ and their almost unused 3G data service was about the same speed as my current Sprint service was, even though it was loaded with 3G customers and AT&T wasn't.

I ended up cancelling, returning and running away as quickly as possible.  They continued to charge me various fees after the fact, and I called repeatedly to remind them that I no longer had the device.

So, if the customers are too much for the company to bear, should they charge the customers more--more for their phone (initially), more for their service, more for their ETF?

I suspect T-Mobile (in metropolitan areas) will have more business than they can handle, but they're willing.  Verizon will pick up customers who don't mind the inconvenience of switching between voice and data for the time being.  Sprint might even get some customers looking for unlimited data and a superior LTE experience, once Spark (tri-band LTE) is fully functional.

I must congratulate AT&T on being able to keep customers, while disliking them and abusing them.

At to that, this article on AT&T eliminating a technology, and trying to push up prices to any wholesale customer looking for the internet backend (backhaul) to support their retail internet data services.

It's funny to me that BellSouth (before SBC/the New AT&T absorbed them) was charging me a "recovery" fee for universal access--sharing their lines--when they resisted any sharing of their lines.

I'm thinking that the only thing that BellSouth ever did for me, before they were absorbed by SBC, was to offer me faster DSL service for the same price.  They were charging $37.95 per month for 1.5 Mbps, which was an unlikely speed.  Some time one year later, someone called to get me to buy a higher speed, and during the discussion, they told me that they could lower the price by $5.00, to the new price (which should have occurred automatically, don't you think?) or to double the speed to 3.0 Mbps down.  Of course, I went for the 3.0 Mbps.  Funny though, that in November 2006, I started to tether my Sprint phone and found that tethering was faster than BellSouth's 3.0 Mbps DSL.

I guess the new AT&T is just having a tough time, and they're trying to pass it on to everyone else.

Here's something else: They've been selling phone records to the CIA.