Sprint posts Q3 net loss of $326 million, sees 1.3 million subs leave
By Darren Murph 
posted November 7th 2008 10:45AM
posted November 7th 2008 10:45AM
[Via The New York Times]
posted November 7th 2008 10:45AM
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Wow, and I thought the Instinct was going to save them.
Yea I know, with all those ads showing it is superior to an iPhone and iPhone 3G...
moo ha ha!
I remember doing a facepalm when Sprint spent all those millions on their ad campaign which touted their GPS, only to have Steve Jobs release the news about the iPhone 3G only a few days later. Just when you think a company has Apple by the balls, they get the rug yanked out from under them.
Oh well, maybe Android can make a dent. The G1 has a headphone jack right?
the only division that's saving them is the Nextel division.
sprint sells subs?
i hate sprint, i bailed on my contract and told them im not paying the cancellation fee. never heard from them again, that was a year ago.
and they didn't screw your credit report?
You won't hear from Sprint. You'll hear from the collection agency.
April's going to be shitty for you.
Dude they're going to screw up your credit, i know i went throw the same thing, but the good thing is that you get to negotiate the balance with the collection agency and only end up paying 1/2 of what you owe and they will delete everything like it never happen, in other words is better not to pay them directly, i save over $500 that way
Actually, I kind of did the same thing. I called in 5 days in a row, (thought it would take at least 22) saying I wanted to cancel without paying ETF. Once I told them I'd put in a BBB complaint every day until my contract renewed, (3 more months) they took me seriously. They said it would be waived.
Don't get me wrong, the cell reception was great, data speeds fantastic, and coverage fabulous. The customer service, however, was EXTREMELY unbearable. I never paid late, and I never got my 2 yr contract rebate for my phone, so I don't feel badly about leaving them.
I am loving the G1 now. Tmobile's reception so far is even better than Sprint's.
@Snitch
That actually messes your credit up even worse. The part you did not pay will show as uncollected and it will be there until it falls off after 7 years. Always pay your debt in full when it is called in. If it happens to slip to a collection agency, always pay them in full. Do not negotiate.
The collection agency will take your money and then sell the same debt to someone else. A few years later the $50 is now $3000 with fake lawyer fees and fake interest. Then the court will had them a civil judgment on you for the $3000 without any fuss. (true story)
[ rubs two fingers together ] "Here's the world's smallest violin playing a sad little tune for Sprint...and their crappy locked handsets, atrocious service and general disdain for us, the long suffering end user. 1.3 million people switch to AT&T and got iPhones? Good."
you have at&t.
.............no theres no punchline.
Locked how? I can put whatever I want on my Sprint handset. I've flashed many different ROMS on it and I tether just fine. Also, the NSA doesn't tap all of my phone calls and my carrier charges 1/2 what yours does for a faster data plan. I see no reason for your gloating.
Locked? In what way?
While Sprint might have once been a shoddy phone company, they're very competitive nowadays and I can't really think of any provider I'd rather be on right now. Especially for people who got in on SERO, it's basically impossible for another provider to beat Sprint. I'm getting 3G data, unlimited texting, nights (from 7PM) and weekends, sprint to sprint, 500 regular minutes, and cheap overage for $30 a month. Oh, and free roaming to other networks (although they now cap the max roaming minutes since it cost them too much money). The free roaming is extra cool since my phone allows me to force roaming, which is useful if Sprint reception isn't good somewhere.
Seriously I can't imagine another phone company being able to beat this and Sprint usually grandfathers in old plan pricing (I remember years ago I had a plan $10 cheaper than their lowest priced new plan and it had more minutes due to retention bonuses). Also, they're usually very generous with customer retentions (for obvious reasons), so if you have some particular reason for wanting to leave they can make it pretty awesome to stay.
Either way I'm happy, and I'll probably stay with Sprint for quite a while even if it does suck not to be on GSM (due to the phones for GSM), but hopefully in the future everyone will use more similar 4G networks and the phone issue will go away.
They are going through a churn period. A success WiMax deployment and catering to business users to switch from ATT or Verizon is there only hope.
Their botching of Nextel and it's push-to-talk style network really hurt them. Plus, the push-to-talk technology is not available on ATT and Verizon.
I'd say getting a good Android handset out the door (I'm thinking HTC Touch - Winmo + Android = Success) is their only chance of salvation.
Their Customer Service ratings are up - I'm impressed with the speed of their network, some of their pricing plans are pretty good; the only thing missing are good handsets.
Deploying WiMax is a dopey move since it wont be globally compatible (same as them clinging to that silly CDMA). Businesses want global compatibility. They need to get wise like Verizon (the other CDMA hold out) and move to LTE (which is where everyone is going for 4G).
As far as PTT, even though its not as seasoned, AT&T and Verizon both have PTT that’s “good enough”. Besides, hearing one side of some schmuck’s speaker phone conversation is excruciating enough. Let’s hope PTT goes away, quickly. Just sayin...
Sprint has worked on their customer service issues and they are doing much better now. But Sprint needs to get some decent handsets in the door. Has anyone gone into a store selling AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint handsets? Sprint's line up of phones looks dated. I agree Android and perhaps their version of the Storm (if they get it eventually), would help them. Problem is, they are not aggressively going after the first release of handsets and Sprint's customers have to wait a year to get an already older handset.
Actually, Verizon now has PTT that is as good as the IDEN network with regard to speed and quality. They run it over the EVDO network. They just need to add it to more devices.
On this incessant issue of Sprint’s lack of first dibs on first class handsets, the problem is that most handset manufactures want an instant global audience with which to pedal their wares and CDMA just won’t cut it! The only reason Verizon manages this dilemma (getting decent CDMA handsets) is “shier weight” brought to bear by them and Vodafone (45% stake and a big azz global operator). Sprint is an island and has no such powerful partner with this type of pull. There only savior is a quick move to the LTE brand of 4G (for this and the previously stated reasons above)...
It's because they patched the SERO plan sign-up holes. :p
"not many other mega-corps out there are doing tremendously better."
Nor any worse... Sprint was lurking that crap of a technology comp. known as Nextel that has no standing in the cell market today with its ancient-like phones. Once its dropped and start offering ACTUAL good deals on plans and etc then maybe, juuuust maybe, it can break even.
"Another issue for Sprint is the belief that the cellphone market will slow dramatically next year. Late Thursday, Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) slashed its earnings and revenue forecasts for the fiscal year ending in September because of an expected downturn in the industry in the coming quarters." -Taken from Source
Ha, think like that and you will definitely be left behind. The g1, HTC Touch Pro, the iPhone, the xperia x1, and much more have only recently been revealed. You can bet each phones maker will improve on them in the next step. The Cell market has just gotten interesting would've been a much better saying.
You are paying attention right? They already released the Touch Pro and Diamond ahead of AT&T and VZW.
I am very aware of that, I never said they didnt. I'm merely saying that to say the cellphone market is going to slow down is idiotic with so many new and intuitive phones coming out you can bet the next models will be sure to duke it out for top spot as well.
After they dumped the SERO plan (450 minutes plus unlimited everything else for $30/month) they almost doubled the price of all their plans. It's no wonder people are leaving. $50/month for just a basic voice/text plan. Phew!
Do people even pay attention at all? They're still cheaper than AT&T and VZW. The success of VZW over other carriers should stand as a symbol that Americans are really really stupid. Pay more for less, Verizon!!!
Maybe if they didn't they paid attention to consumers instead of executives (http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/25/dan-hesse-sez-android-not-yet-good-enough-for-sprint-brand/) they wouldn't see so many customers leaving for AT&T (iPhone) or T-Mobile (Android). Additionally, as a Sprint customer, their customer service is hit or miss, and their contract cancellation policy (http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/29/sprint-loses-early-termination-lawsuit-ordered-to-pay-73m-b/) leaves a lot to be desired.
What exactly is the turn around plan? Does spinning off WiMax actually count? I am still a Sprint subscriber because I have an old plan (with corporate discount) with two phones with unlimited data and 550 shared minutes for $56 per month... but I do wonder about how the company expects to stop the bleeding. I suspect most of the people still on Sprint probably have legacy plans (like SERO) that are simply too good to leave behind.
aww man, I have sprint, and they have yet to done anything to screw me over. I enjoy their service. I hope they don't go under.
To Sprint: Quit trying to lock your phones down so tight that people have to go through you to add ringtones, wallpapers, and apps! You'll never win as long as this crappy tactic is employed.
Obviously you never used Sprint services because Sprint phones do not lock you from being able to install 3rd party ringtones and software. That's VZW buddy.
You know you're in a financial crisis WHEN ....
... $326 million dollars seems like change
SERO plan is the only reason I have Sprint. I hate the idea of paying $60+ for a phone with data. The second SERO is gone, so am I.
I'm a Sprint guy myself... and I can't find this plan you speak of. Maybe it's because they hate where I live (common thing I have to deal with, living in Wyoming)... I'd love to find that kind of a data plan. What else do you get with that plan (texts, etc.)?
Hey Brent, hate to break it to ya, but SERO (in the form you have it) *is* gone. The awesome $30/month voice/data/text/kitchen-sink plan was dumped. However, as long as you don't get a new contract, you will still be charged the old rates.
SERO has been replaced with something called "Everything Plus", which isn't nearly as good. The cheapest offering (with data) is $59.99, which gets you 500 minutes and pretty much unlimited everything (text, data, GPS, etc). And here's the kicker, to get these plans, you need a Sprint employee's email address and the last 3 digits of their employee ID number.
@ web2.oh
...and if you Google SERO, you'll find that information on almost every link on the first page of results.
I jumped on the SERO bandwagon, getting the $30/month 500 minute plan, about a month before they eliminated the program. Previously, I was paying Verizon $50 for the same number of minutes without any of the SERO perks. I've never looked back.
Although they no longer offer the plans to new users, many people--including myself--HAVE been able to add additional lines to their accounts at the old rates. Got my wife an HTC Touch for $50 after rebate on the old SERO 500 F&F plan just last week.
If they made the cheapest Everything Plus plan ($59) available to the general public, or even lowered the price a little, that would definitely stop some of the bleeding. The cheapest you can get a similar plan from T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon is $72, $75 and $80, respectively. Without Everything Plus, the cheapest comparable Sprint plan is $70. Given its piss poor reputation, Sprint needs to be undercutting its competition by more than just $2-10.
As a Sprint customer, I can safely say that I don't mind hearing this. A year ago, when I was able to replace my on-death-throes PPC-6700 (which I had purchased no warranty for) with a brand new one, out-of-plan, for $35... I was pretty impressed. Now that PPC-6700 is starting to have some issues (the charging port doesn't work anymore, WinMo is generally very slow, etc.)... I went in to my local Sprint store to see if they could do anything for me.
I could replace the phone for $120, I was told. The old policy of "being nice" and "treating your customers well" and other such bullshit seems to have vanished from Sprint. Sadly, my only other options here are Alltel (about to be consumed by Verizon), Verizon (fuck that), T-Mobile (maybe... you have Android, so maybe...) and... Sprint (good phones, generally good service).
*sigh*
I hate being an American when I'm shopping for cellphones/cellular plans. We have garbage for telcos here.
Don't move to Canada then. Data at low low prices of 5 cents a kilobyte on 3G.
stop signing those stupid phones from those korean companies, htc touch hd rules.
Yeah it does. I wish HTC would make it happen for the US. Why the hell would they think Americans wouldn't want a phone that badass?
I agree actually... a lot of the subsidized Korean phones are really bad. I bought my wife and LG Chocolate because of its fantastic looks (at the time) and great pricing. Little did I know it was by far the worst phone that I've ever used in terms of battery, signal and usability. High end Korean phones are good...but no way I'd ever buy a subsidized one again.
When recently comparing blackberry plans, sprint tied everyone on phone price, and beat everyone on data/voice/messaging.
But they need to return to the SERO plan that was like 30 bucks for minutes+text or whatever. That was boss.
Comparing ATT to Sprint is ludicrous at best. Even Sprint haters will admit that Sprint has better plans and coverage than ATT. ATT has a fraction of the broadband coverage Sprint has. ATT RAPES subscribers with plan costs.
ATT is one of the worst features of the iPhone. My best friend has a G1 and he's got 3G coverage more than my friend with his super sexy iPhone - and T-Mobile 3G has been up for what, a month? He benchmarks faster and his 3G is more reliable as well.
I just switched to Sprint for a Touch Pro after years on TMo and ATT and I was dreading the horrible Sprint customer service. After speaking to a few reps and receiving a courtesy call for joining, I'm highly impressed with Sprint. The most i"ve had to wait on hold has got to be less than 1 min. I've only been with them a few weeks, but I am honestly impressed. The next test is billing statements...
Now that you mention it, it seems to have finally clicked. People keep mentioning how VZW and AT&T charge the most yet they're also the largest carriers in the US. Maybe, then, they are the better carriers and you are getting what you pay for.
Also, you're courtesy call from Sprint was only possible now because of all the free time they have now, losing 1.3M subscribers and all. Soon they'll be inviting you over for a spot of tea.
my SERO plan is still good.
With a $1.2 Billion class action suit pending for wrongful early termination fees and a history of poor customer service...and the CEO compensating himself millions...Sprint has over 5 million customers and is bleeding this much red ink...ARE YOU WATCHING THIS CLEARWIRE? Clearwire's earnings conference call is on Monday. They only have 450,000 customers yet they are losing over $1 Billion this year and their executives pay themselves millions led by their CEO with $8.9 Million. And not Sprint will own 51% of the new Clearwire. It sounds like Sprint and Clearwire is spawning off another irresponsible company and perhaps the problem is with the management. Sometimes it is best to simply flush the toilet in upper management and get some real talent to run the company.