link While Sprint has been ahead of the game on 4G—despite some product constraints—with their WiMax network, CEO Dan Hesse has seemed surprisingly receptive to jumping to LTE instead. Now we may know why: it'd allow a T-Mobile tie-up. A possible merger between the two carriers has been rumored for some time, but Hesse's recent comments to the Financial Times give this puppy some legs: The network is using an alternative 4G wireless technology called WiMAX, but Mr Hesse said Sprint and Clearwire had sufficient radio spectrum to also, deploy an infrastructure involving LTE. "We have the spectrum resources where we could add LTE if we choose to do that, on top of the WiMAX network," he added. "The beauty of having a lot of spectrum is we have a lot of flexibility..." Mr Hesse accepted there was a "logic" to a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile USA if they were both using the same 4G technology, but declined to comment about deal activity. From a sheer competitiveness standpoint, the deal would be a no-brainer for Sprint and T-Mo, both of whom have recently lagged far behind AT&T and Verizon. The only sticking point really is the network; Sprint would have to either abandon WiMax for LTE or operate both simultaneously, while T-Mobile has thus far stuck with their speedy HSPA+ 3G network instead of committing to a 4G technology. We're still a ways off from 4G being pervasive enough that Sprint and T-Mobile could justify a merger based on network commonality. But it's clear that the right people are at least giving it the right amount of thought. I'm hoping for a merger as I'm a T-Mobile customer and I dont think they can survive without 3G/4G service in the near future. I'm very impress with the HTC Evo also currently with Spring only.
I don't want a merger with Sprint to drag T-Mobile down, but it will happen eventually. Hesse's comments about LTE make it almost certain. Sprint has no chance but to go LTE eventually. The longer they put it off, the better. I say that as a customer of both (T-Mobile at home, Sprint at work). I love T-Mobile and their main weakness (IMO) has been poor phone selection.
HTC EVO 4G gets unlimited WiFi hotspot skills, courtesy of root The root, the root, the root is on fire! Well, not quite, but you just got another pretty splendiferous reason to hack your EVO: android-wifi-tether, an app doing exactly what its name suggests, has now been confirmed to support HTC's 4G-capable phone. There were apparently some compatibility issues at first, but those have now been ironed out and superuser-empowered folks have been successfully pairing the free app and supersonic phone since. Might as well jump on board with this one -- Google has already said Froyo's native ability to do this might be circumscribed by carriers, meaning Sprint's likely to package any official firmware upgrades in such a way as to keep you paying for hotspot capabilities. And who wants to do that? What I like about the HCT Evo is that you can turn it into a wifi hotspot for your laptop and get 4G service.
I don't really know much about cellular technology, but I know that Sprint is a CDMA network, while T-mobile is a GSM network. Is that the same thing as HSPA and LTE that they're talking about in the article?
No. HSPA is a 3g technology. LTE is a 4g technology. When it comes down to it, Sprint has to switch to LTE, or else they will face a roaming crisis over the next decade. Here is the reason why this merger is a terrible idea; Every major move by Sprint has been a colossal flop. Since their wireless inception in the mid 90's, they sold off their cream-of-the-crop wireless spectrum for that infamous "PCS - built from the ground up" spectrum. After a decade of struggling to build their network, they went and bought the soon to be extinct Nextel. Once Nextel was deep-sixed, they once again tried to be cutting-edge by being first to market with 4g/WiMax...which in time will reveal to be a big mistake. All of those EVO lovers; About the time those contracts are up in the next 22 months, Verizon will be in full swing with the LTE network and ATT will still be trying to implement LTE, masking their SNAFU's with 'Iphone and covering 97% of the population' ads. So you have a company who has never implemented a successful long term strategy mergine with a company who is almost a half a decade behind the rest of the market ... what could possible go wrong?
I don't think they "have to" switch to LTE.. I actually think they can run both LTE and WiMax.. They have more available Mhz bandwidth than all the other mobile carriers COMBINED... There is a reason why Verizon + ATT are pushing the FCC to sell there 500Mhz Block so they too can have some major bandwidth Pipe.. Remember Sprint/Clearwire now has several re-branded 4g alliance partners.. Comcast, Time-Warner, Best-Buy, Earthlink, and possibly Wal-Mart and more..
Just to clarify: T-Mobile is doing awful...in the U.S. Their European market share is huge, and the company is quite stable. This would be a survival tactic for Sprint, but it would be a power-move to seize market share from AT&T for T-Mobile. Seems to me, T-Mo holds the chips in this deal.
As long as the synergies/savings are passed on to me, i'd be happy...I'd actually prefer to be on the sprint network, my tmobile drops calls all the f'n time and sometimes I just don't have a signal...
Anyone know a way I can trade in my brand new HD2 for a Samsung Vibrant from t-mobile? The HD2 was received from t-mobile by my phone rep so the phone is legit. But our phone rep won't allow us to get anything other than windows mobile phones.
Number of customers: T-Mobile USA: 33.6 mil Sprint: 48.2 mil AT&T Mobility: 90.1 mil Verizon Wireless: 92.8 mil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile_USA (see other company links) The merger would give them the market share they need to compete with the blue and red. Combine the customer service of T-Mobile with the "4G" (not really) of Sprint and they may be formidible. "As of 2010, T-Mobile USA has captured at least 18 J.D. Power Awards in the areas of customer care, call quality, and overall customer satisfaction. In particular, it has dominated the wireless industry in the area of customer care and customer satisfaction, winning all customer care and satisfaction awards for all six surveyed regions for eight years in a row & 20 with two ties." "Sprint is currently rolling out its 4G technology by utilizing WiMAX, which will allow customers to access cable broadband-like speeds wirelessly.[citation needed] The rollout is expected to reach 100 metropolitan areas and 120 million people by the end of 2010. Sprint expects to spend over 3 billion dollars upgrading the existing network to WiMAX technology, called Xohm. Motorola, Nokia and Samsung have expressed interest in developing dual CDMA and WiMAX phones, allowing customers to utilize both networks. More recently, Google and Sprint announced a formal partnership in deploying WiMAX technology, with Google providing search content along with Sprint."
I hate when CEOs of huge companies put themselves in daily ads. its so pretentious except the gieco CEO, he's pretty cool "okay, I think we were talking about motorcycle insurance"
