New Sprint CEO says plan price drops come first, then network improvements

By Andrew Martonik
published

Sprint's new CEO Marcelo Claure has only been on the job four days now, but has already called an all-hands meeting to lay out his first initiatives at the head of the carrier. The new Chief Executive, who was previously on the Sprint board and running his company Brightstar (which is also owned by SoftBank), laid out a pretty stark and clear path for where he sees Sprint moving in the coming months.

His first plan of action is to simplify and lower plan costs across the board at Sprint, recognizing that its "Framily" plans haven't been popular and are tough to sell to consumers. He also understands that the carrier is charging too much considering the quality of its network. "We're going to change our plans to make sure they are simple and attractive and make sure every customer in America thinks twice about signing up to a competitor," said Claure, indicating that price changes are coming as soon as next week. (Could that be the upcoming Sprint 'Take the Edge Off' event?)

The next plan of action for Claure is to improve Sprint's network, which has had a rocky path to improvement as it transitioned from 3G to WiMax and now onto LTE, dumping iDEN in the process. He said that the network improvements have taken too long, and he recognizes that popular opinion of Sprint's network is not positive. He hopes to leverage Sprint's large spectrum holdings, which is something it only recently started to do with its new Spark LTE technology.

The third pillar of Claure's plan is to start cutting costs around Sprint. While it isn't necessarily a fun topic to address your employees about, Claure expressed that job cuts will be a necessary part of pulling Sprint out of the red eventually. He reiterated that he thinks that Sprint has some of the best employees around, and with the incoming changes they'll have even better tools to work with to make Sprint a better carrier all around.

It's going to be a long road to recovery for Sprint, and changes that Claure begins to put into motion now may take several months or years to move the carrier in the right direction. He's certainly saying the right things right now, but executing those ideas is the tough part.

Source: Light Reading

Andrew Martonik
Andrew Martonik

Andrew was an Executive Editor, U.S. at Android Central between 2012 and 2020.

222 Comments
  • They have the coverage. Now to get the speeds up to par. While mine our fine, others aren't. Which is a stark contrast to TMo. They have the good speeds, but their coverage is severely lacking.
  • Its funny how Verizon has truly great coverage, but their LTE speeds suck (in my market) compared to AT&T, about 1/3 of what AT&T can offer. Just embarrassing.
  • what the heck city do u live in I get 40mbps consistently on Verizon Posted via Android Central App
  • I agree with raptor. I have Verizon and the speeds I get range so widely that I never know what I will get from one moment to the next. Usually its around 3mbs but sometimes I get 20mbs. Its inconsistency that hurts Verizon. Also they are not cheap. T-Mobile in SW Florida is great by the way...
  • Sprint in Houston Texas keeps me happy. But this guy knows his stuff.
    The only reason I'd leave Sprint is for a cheaper plan on T-Mobile.
    And since Sprint is going to do some serious price cuts and plan reorganizations, I'm in love again. Posted from my "KNOX-FREE" 4.3 Sprint GS3 Maxx...!!! (PREPAID)
  • You must have missed the apology to the people of New York. Verizon has some known and admitted problems with traffic on their network in certain congested areas. Look it up. It's been posted here. Posted via Android Central App
  • Carriers are area dependent and some areas for Verizon are saturated and have very slow LTE speeds.
  • I always had great coverage with att. Verizon is too expensive, I guess they have lte in my area now. Sprint has lte too. Tmobile has 2g.... Well once tmobile finishes lte rollout, there should be lte in my area. Posted via Android Central App
  • You do realize that Verizon and AT&T plans are almost the same right? In most cases you may save about $5 with AT&T. Posted via Android Central App
  • LOL 5$ difference in price from Verizon to Att Posted via the Android Central App
  • My previous job I had Verizon and between bouncing in and out of 4G all day and dropping calls I was never really that impressed. Speeds were usually around 5-14mbps. I'm using Sprint as my personal phone and I consistently get 30mbps on LTE, and my work phone is now AT&T, which surprisingly has less 4G coverage than my Sprint phone. I use the OpenSignal app on both to compare. AT&T is only connected to 4G less than 50 percent of the time compared to my Sprint phone connected to 4G around 80 percent of the time.
  • I live in Austin, TX. I work from home and my employer provides me with a hot spot, in case my internet ever goes down. Unfortunately, it's a Sprint hot spot, which means I have to put it in a certain spot in my home office (which took me quite awhile to find) before it even gets reception, and even then, it constantly bounces back and forth between 300kbps and 15mbps. And my company refuses to use anyone other than Sprint :(
  • Can't help but laugh at Sprint and their plight. Say goodbye to Sprint they are a typical farce in the carrier game today. It's pretty much plain and simple nothing beats Tmobile period they are the carrier game today nothing else matters. From my Galaxy Note 3 on T-Mobile via Android Central App
  • Um no. Coverage matters and T-Mobile doesn't have it for large parts of the country and in many places they are still EDGE. Posted via Android Central App
  • Says the guy who said Sprint could do no wrong before he jumped bandwagons.
  • Here I was thinking I was the only one who remembered haha
  • Yep
  • I don't say Sprint can do no wrong, but still say TMobile doesn't have the coverage
  • Unless, richardyarrell, you care about network coverage and voice quality.
  • I actually had worse call quality with Verizon. I left T-Mobile and tried them out .. many times people told me I sounded like a robot .. so back to T-Mobile I went.
  • T-Mobile is fine if you get coverage. They are not good for a huge portion of the country though.
  • So when are you getting that T-Mobile tattoo. Posted via Android Central App
  • Him and Jon Legere have matching ones.
  • What is "carrier game"? That sounds so stupid.
  • +1 AC every day
  • Oh yeah. That's the game where the carriers fill their pockets and the consumers get screwed. Why anyone rallies behind these corporations is beyond me. ಠ益ಠ
  • TMobile amazing--WOW? How did it feel when Dish wanted to buy someone and tried to get Sprint first. Then considers a partnership and says an agreement with Sprint would be preferred......and after all that considers hooking up with TMobile. TMobile is so great but it is the person you ask to the prom after you get turned down by someone else. It must feeling amazing.
  • says the flip flopper Posted via the Android Central App
  • This guy (Marcelo Claure) is just doing what every new manager/ceo etc has done since time started. Coming in fresh and saying, "Some things gonna change around here, and I have some great ideas." Then in the end nothing really happens. The only thing that will change public opinion is an actual better network data wise. (voice has always been good) Paying less for crappy network just makes sense and wont really woo customers since competition between carriers is virtually non existent price wise.
  • Jon Legere said the same thing and he made big changes so let's give Sprint's new ceo a chance. Posted via HTC One on Sprint
  • They got the best Airave coverage in my house. Posted from my LG LS970 via "The Force"
  • Exactly opposite in my area, Phoenix AZ. We have excellent coverage, speed,and building penetration with tmobile ,where as Sprint had holes in it'd coverage like swiss cheese and lousy building penetration. Overall I think T-Mobile has easily surpassed sprint in city coverage, but T-Mobile is best by sprint only in rural coverage. Posted via the Android Central App
  • how about network first, price drops second. (coming from a resident of the 4th biggest city in Minnesota with a metro pop of 279,711 who has LTE on every other carrier.) Posted via the Android Central App
  • He can snap his fingers and the plans pricing will drop. The same can't be said about the network. It takes time. If your carrier isn't meeting your needs right now you should probably look elsewhere.
  • Aye, but it is hard to improve the network without funds. BUT, if customers aren't coming in you don't have money anyway. Crap situation, but a deserved one. 
  • I live in Fridley mn and travel to Hopkins for work daily. I'm on LTE 95% of the time. Maybe you should have someone take a look at your phone. I'm very pleased with the LTE coverage today compared to 5 months ago. I am using the M8
  • What some people don't understand is some areas have great coverage and some have lousy. Where I live none of the carriers have good coverage and its just a few block radius too. So before you tell people to have their phones looked at because YOU get good coverage in YOUR area, remember his area is different from yours.
  • Wow... The comment wasn't negative. He was simply offering a suggestion. Sometimes the phone can be to blame for bad reception.
  • Duluth isn't the same story, AT&T has HSPA+ and LTE, same with T-Mobile, and Verizon has had LTE for years and now XLTE. Sprint is still on EV-DO. Posted via the Android Central App
  • When did we get LTE on T-Mobile? That must be pretty new as this is the first I've heard of it. Where I live (on the hill by the mall) I got EDGE the last I checked. Have they fixed any of the coverage holes yet? Of course Sprint didn't work here at all the last I checked. Posted via Android Central App
  • I have patches of LTE all over the place, it seems to be popping up near the intersection of west tischer & arnold road pretty often. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Good point! My Galaxy S3 and LG G3 were not set up for LTE when I got them. I was getting crappy speeds and finally called Sprint, boom I got LTE. It was the network settings. You would think that it would be LTE ready from the get go! I live across the river from you in Brooklyn Center and I agree with that Sprint is better now.
  • In Chicagoland you can get unlimted days for only $50 on a single line on Sprint. My guess is it was a test for what's to come. That maybe enticing for some, but I jumped ship for T Mobile as my work pays my bill and I don't care how much they pay. Posted via Android Central App
  • You should care how much they pay. As long as you get a pay check that is all that matters. Right? Posted via Android Central App
  • You'd be terribly upset to see how many more clients and colleagues show up to events they know the company is paying for. I fly or ride 1st class/business class and go to the fanciest restaurants I can whenever I travel for business. Come off of it already :) Stick it to the man! Now if you work for a small business that's another story.
  • What I want too know is will this include existing subscriber plans, or new subscribers? Posted via Android Central App
  • All i know is nobody in the company except the very top of the food chain knows anything at this point. But from what I can tell it will be across the board, to reduce churn. Because of the severe subscriber loss of Q2 they're going to fix plans for everyone.
  • That's the way the story reads. But should be interesting to see what happens. Posted via Android Central App
  • Yea, carriers have a bad habit of rewarding new subscribers only and do nothing to keep loyal customers from switching. It's almost like they want you to bounce around, as that is the only way to get a deal.
  • Personally, I disagree. I am on Sprint, but have been wanting to find something cheaper since my family's cell phone bill is one of the most expensive bills we have. Not to mention that although I get decent LTE service in most parts of my city, I barely get any data signal inside the building I work in. If the prices were lowered, I would be more likely to deal with not having signal at work for a little while until they get the network upgraded. Otherwise, I have been seriously considering trying to find something cheaper. Cell companies charge WAY too much as it is and people are flocking to T-Mobile now that they are cheaper. That is why Sprint needs to do the same. People can use any extra pocket change they can get.
  • Sprint will do anything to avoid upgrading their network, now they are paying their customers to stay.
  • You don't read much do you? Unless you've been living under a rock they are in progress with a complete network revamp. Why is it so hard for people to understand that replacing the entire legacy equipment at 39k+ sites nationwide with new backhaul, radios, antennas, base stations, etc takes time?
  • Actions speak louder than words. People will believe it when they see actual results. Until then Network Vision is just a marketing term. Posted via Android Central App
  • Except in the several hundred areas which have been upgrades already. Try actually getting some facts before you post.
  • ^^^this^^^
    In Vegas we had shit fot lte 8 months ago. Now you can look at the coverage maps and see it saturated. I'm no sprint fanboi and on many an occasion I have wanted to throw my phone at the wall because I couldn't stream something. But they have made some decent upgrades and I'm gonna give em' a few more months to come through. Posted via Android Central App
  • Well I have network vision all around me, so I guess its real.
  • I saw actual results so I believe it. It's time consuming and expensive. "Network Vision" is almost as retarded as "Framily" as far as marketing buzzwords go but it doesn't change the fact that the upgrades are happening and you can actually share plans and split bills.
  • At least Duke Nukem Forever was released after being vaporware for over a decade. What's Sprints excuse in my area? I've been on Airave ever since they kicked me off Nextel. At least my old armoured Nextel phone that I had for over ten years had a signal here. Posted from my LG LS970 via "The Force"
  • Yep! Exactly! Posted via the Android Central App
  • While the fact that they have a massive network upgrade to do does explain why the upgrades are going so slow. It does not excuse it. Their upgrades are slow because they didn't prepare for upgrades down the road.
    Look at how fast T-mobile deployed LTE to almost all of it's urban footprint. They could do it because they were prepared for it. I'm not loyal to any company in the long run, I stick with what works and is a good deal at the time, because I know any of the carriers would screw me over for a dollar.
    What I say is T-mobile is doing the best for me now, that's what matters. I know the coverage doesn't work for everyone, but I virtually never leave their LTE footprint and the slowest speed I get is like 8mbps and I've seen up to 65mbps, I won't hang onto any carrier for promised network upgrades I go where the best service and price combo currently is and right now that's T-mobile by a longshot.
    I don't see that changing anytime soon
    Btw I'm strictly prepaid partly because of this logic, I don't want to be locked into any of these carriers.
  • "Takes time"? Hmm...how many YEARS has Sprint been working on this "network vision"? And how many YEARS did it take to finally shut down the Nextel network to free up the spectrum? T-Mobile shut down MetroPCS quite swiftly, not in the scope of many YEARS! Posted via the Android Central App
  • I left Sprint after 15 years, not because the pricing was an issue, but because they could not fix major issues with text messaging on their network. Combined with very, very poor 3G speeds and a miserably slow and painful LTE rollout, there was just no reason to stay anymore. Switched to TMobile and paying less even with no special discounts and speeds are amazing. 3G coverage on TMobile is not as good as Sprint, but 1/2G is... and data was usually so unreliable and slow on Sprint that it felt like 1/2G anyway... so have I really lost anything? Sprint had great customer service, great selection of phones, reliable voice coverage, reasonable pricing.. it was ultimately the network that ruined it for me. Rather than getting better each year, it got progressively worse and worse. Even after LTE FINALLY came here, within months it was slow and unreliable and simple text messaging was still a mess. The ONLY thing I dislike about TMobile is them spamming me with text messages from "456" which I have asked repeatedly to stop and even mailed a physical letter. Still will not stop. I don't need to be "reminded" when to pay my bill or when a payment is posted- I do not need to be treated like an irresponsible person (I have a near perfect credit rating) nor an idiot. OTHERWISE, their customer service has been great and I love having no contract and not being penalized for it. For me, TMobile + a Nexus 5 is a hard combination to beat.
  • Too long didn't read Posted via Android Central App
  • Sprint didn't work for him after 15 years, went to t-mo, doing ok except T-mo thinks he has a problem keeping track of his bills and spams him with texts messages.
  • LoL thanks for that. Posted via Android Central App
  • Sprint sucks. End of story. Posted via Android Central App
  • HAHA thanks i really didn't want to read either
  • Lol ! Me too! Posted via Android Central App
  • (Amir) Too stupid, don't care.
  • I read the whole thing man. Delivered by the Nexus 5 or the mighty Surface Pro 3
  • Dedication. I like it.
  • I'm on Cricket, and they have the sam stupid issue with text messages. Yes, assholes, I know that my bill is due in a few days, and you know that I know, because I'm on auto pay and have been since I signed up. Also, I think if I were on T-Mobile, I'd ditch my N5 for a carrier phone. Wifi calling is a big deal, and they can't offer that on a Nexus device. Posted from my Nexus 5, behind seven proxies
  • Well, they probably COULD offer it on a Nexus device, but they choose not to. I personally don't care about WiFi calling, though.
  • People that want Wi-Fi Calling, get Grove IP and Google Voice #. Posted from my "KNOX-FREE" 4.3 Sprint GS3 Maxx...!!! (PREPAID)
  • That's on Google isn't it? They do all the software for Nexus Posted via Android Central App
  • Your story is the same as mine, although I still have not canceled my Sprint line yet. I love T-Mobile in the city; however, as many have stated, their rural service is much to be desired. Great story. I had downloaded my new insurance prescription cards as PDF and was next in line at the pharmacy. I went to open them and noticed my Nexus 5 did not have a PDF viewer on. I downloaded Adobe from the Google Play store in seconds and had it up just as I was called in line. If this was Sprint, it would respectfully have to go to the back of the line because it would take too long to download. Downside, I noticed that T-Mobiles signal will go from full bars LTE or HSPA+ or even Edge to no bars very quickly. With Sprint I had a good idea I was going out of a cell in a rural area. But there seems to be more of a cutoff with GSM.
  • Network improvement should come first, and come along with network improvement. That is going to lure in more customers than just dropping the prices. That is why TMO has been so successful. They combine lower prices and network expansion, it can't just be one and then the other, they need to both occur close to one another.
  • There is no denying that their current pricing and their network quality do not match. As a Sprint customer, I would much rather have my plan rates lowered drastically to compensate, at least a little, for the poor management up to that point, and as a gesture of goodwill that things actually can and will be changed. Add a transparent, definitive rollout plan with clear milestones and they will likely recover faster than T-Mobile did relatively speaking. Honestly, their coverage isn't a problem, they just need to accelerate their speed boosts and they will easily eclipse T-Mobile's network.
  • As has already been said, there's no way to instantly upgrade the network. It is possible to instantly reduce prices. Yes, they should try to speed the deployment, but it will still take time. A for T-Mobile, their network is still greatly lacking in many locations. It's taking them time to roll out the upgrades, too.
  • The CEO did not say we will lower prices and then fix the network... or did I miss something? It's a poor title and you are commenting on a bad premise. Do you really think they are putting the network upgrade on hold, WOW IT WOULD ONLY BE A FEW DAYS, until they change pricing. Really? I'm asking, did I miss something?
  • At this point it's too late. Sprint has been promising more coverage/better speeds for years. I guess their strategy is just to keep people hanging on. "We'll lower prices, p-please stay with us!" And then change from Wi-Max to LTE to Spark to something else and have 4 different technologies in the same places while most of the U.S. is still on 3G. It shouldn't even be called 3G it should be called 1G, or mostly no Gs. Or even bits per hours. I switched and couldn't be happier. But I'm sure people in their LTE coverage are doing a lot better than the vast majority without.
  • They aren't changing from LTE to spark, they're adding spark to LTE.
  • Doesn't matter, he knows not of what he speaks
  • IMo He knows exactly of what he speaks. I pay $80 per month for speeds of, at best, .8 mbps. Yeh, that's point eight. I am so sick of Sprint I will leave ASAP. I am tired of "By the end of the summer. By the end of the year." There is no TM here so it will be Verizon. My friend sits there and gets 24 mbps and I sit fifteen feet away and get point two. I figure Sprint owes me money.
  • Then you should switch then. If a company is not working for you, you should switch. Posted via Android Central App
  • Get off it then, like I did, then come back when it's good. Like I did.
  • Pay my ETF for me and I will gladly leave.
  • pretty sure that if you were so anxious to go, there have been several opportunities for you to do so. T-slow has put it out there at least once this year (I am not sure if it is still an option) that they would pay your ETF
  • I am speaking of his technology spiel. Woman was necessary, LTE is spark, and we all know what is next Posted via Android Central App
  • Lol 'woman was necessary' autocorrect you devious bitch you.
  • Well at least it was right in most cases...lol Obviously that was WIMAX lol
  • Spark IS LTE.
  • And Sprint IS providing better coverage / speeds. I get LTE almost everywhere, even though my area isn't officially rolled out, and I haven't hit a dead spot in coverage in years. I just love how all these people who don't use Sprint think they know what the network is like. Ignorance apparently makes life very simple.
  • I've been with them for over a decade. I plan on leaving this Sep/Oct. I'll take a hit for early cancellation, but I am so tired of their crappy network.
  • i'd wait for Nexus 6 and combine it with BYOD prepaid AT&T GoPhone. prob end of October. never sign another contract again.
  • as much as i hate sprint ... i dont want sprint to go away the more competition the better for the consumer i kinda have to agree they need network upgrades to keep people but on the other hand i can see why he wants to low prices to help keep people around
  • Sprint brings no competition. neither does blackberry. let them both die and let a new player come in and compete.
  • Hey man, Sprint pays my bills, let them live a little longer til I move up a little bit more then transfer to some other company haha.
  • They couldn't buy T-Mobile in order to be competitive, so they had to do what T-Mobile did: actually compete.
  • Dan Hesse really drove this company into the ground even further than it was when he took over. Hesse and Peter Chou of HTC share the top spot of my CEO Hall of Shame.
  • some serious truth here !!
  • Gary Forsee before Dan Hesse. I've never seen CEO's make repeatedly disastrous decisions like that pair. The new CEO is right. Get your pricing right for the product you are selling NOW. Make a better product then get your prices back up. If you come to KC, I can drive you to two locations within 1 mile of the Sprint Campus where you'll drop calls. Everytime.
  • Dan Hesse really did screw things up. He got the iphone on the network but paid over 20 billion to do it which apple really reamed him. He should have used that money to upgrade the network and later gotten the iphone. It didn't do what he hoped, they're still loosing customers like crazy. He went WiMax instead of going straight to LTE which cost a lot of money. I'm glad he's gone and hope the new CEO can clean things up.
  • Hesse did what we call "shit the bed."
  • The reason Sprint went for WiMax is because they were gonna lose that spectrum so it was use it or loose it. Thanks to that WiMax Spectrum we have 2.5 LTE (Spark).
  • It's odd seeing people parroting dead wrong 'facts' as if they were right. Wimax was the result of sprint having spectrum that the FCC demanded that they utilize or forfeit. At that time LTE was not finalized, but wimax was. That is the reason sprint went with wimax, not because they didn't want to use LTE. Posted via Android Central App
  • Ha - Sprint spectrum that doesn't penetrate a building worth a shit and not sure that's useful they should have bought low band spectrum that's why now they are deploying spark to fix their coverage holes.
  • Glad you admit they are being fixed.
  • Don't forget Yankowski and Rubinstein!
  • Stephen Elop, formerly of Nokia, should be on that list.
  • I <3 Sprint. I don't have a Spark phone yet though. Just did this during dinner time hour near a bunch of restaurants and not 1 hiccup. http://i.imgur.com/8fA3H1D.jpg
  • Sprint is really unpopular here, they have iffy but widespread 3G coverage and no 4G, T-Mobile has 4G with strength in the whole city but 2G outside it, so most people tend toward MetroPCS. Sprint's prices are a sliver under the top two, and there's really no justification for it at all.
  • In Los Angeles and surrounding areas T-Mobile and Metro PCS really suck, I looked into it. I really wish T-Mobile was good here. So there is Sprint which I have no issues with except in my area, but I go anywhere else and I'm fine and they're phone selection sucks (they're Windows Phone selection anyway).
  • Really? I was in LA and Orange County a few weeks ago with a T-Mobile "test drive" iPhone, and the service was pretty fast and reliable. Posted from my Nexus 5, behind seven proxies
  • Perhaps you should check again...here in San Francisco where just like in Los Angeles, T-MOBILE has vastly improved Its 3g/4G/4G LTE, the connection is excellent, especially the 4G LTE...
  • I go to LA. all the time and have fantastic coverage. Posted via Android Central App
  • They may make "every customer in America thinks twice about signing up to a competitor" but in the end nearly all will :) I understand cutting plan prices as a stop gap but that is not a winning move longer term. However, I am very pleased with the direction and plan price reductions will put further pressure on Verizon to, at least, hold their plans where they are.
  • Between T-Mobile and Sprint hopefully this will put pressure on Verizon and AT&T to reduce their plans. The thing is if AT&T and Verizon do reduce their plans then more people will leave Sprint. lol
  • One of the few intelligent comments in this entire thread. AT&T and Verizon can easily afford to match any price cuts Sprint makes.But it's not clear they will Both companies are extremely greedy.
  • I've had Sprint for 5+ years now and T-Mobile for 2 years, there's a reason I have the 2 carriers. I have never in all of my travels in the USA been without phone and data service on Sprint, ever. I can't say the data speeds were great in the hinterlands of the USA, but I at least had coverage. T-Mobile has also been great, but as many already know, the moment I left the big cities the coverage dropped to nothing. I used both carriers at a time when I was still under a Sprint phone that could only connect to WiMax and 3G and lived in a city on the border with bad coverage, I've since upgraded to a Nexus 5 and also moved to San Antonio where I experience outstanding Sprint LTE coverage.I don't keep the prepaid T-Mobile account active every month, but only when I know I'll be traveling and not sure about coverage in another city. Example visited Oklahoma City last year and was shocked there was no LTE on Sprint, popped out my T-mobile phone with great HSPA. I do think lowering the plan costs may help, especially in areas where Sprint customers still have no LTE and very weak 3G or Wimax, many don't want to pay Verizon's outrageous prices and, like me strongly dislike AT&T. I liked the line about ( that the carrier is charging too much considering the quality of its network), he knows the network has serious issues and not hiding behind a lie. I'm wishing well for my carrier, my complaints are low, and I personally have no issue with the plan costs as my family pays very little for service.
  • Too long won't read Posted via Android Central App
  • in summary, T-Mobile is good in cities but nowhere else, and sprint is good for everywhere he travels even if the data isn't necessarily fast. Posted via the Android Central App
  • To stupid, I'll ignore (Amir)
  • Thought I joined a technology site, not a book club. Gah I could have finished Game of Thrones collection by now.
  • That's a shame - it was a good post. Well thought out. I'd vote it up if I could. 
  • Get off the internet and get back to your coloring books!
  • I wish sprint would make the newer business plans available for consumer accounts. $65/line for unlimited talk/text/data and 3gb of hotspot, or $45 if you byod. Even less if you do pooled data options. That's prepaid prices right there, and consumers would jump on it fast.
  • Shit I would have paid Sprint more money for better network. Switching back and forth between 3g and LTE took forever. Posted via Android Central App
  • " He reiterated that he thinks that Sprint has some of the best employees around, and with the incoming changes they'll have even better tools to work with to make Sprint a better carrier all around." That's a joke. I've was having an issue with my air rave for some time and it took 10 months for someone to figure out what was wrong and it was Sprints fault. In the end they only gave me 20% for 3 months. If I wasn't in a family plan I would have ran a long time ago. Now today my air rave totally went out and they're sending me a power cable. I'm getting pretty fed up and trying to talk my family into going to AT&T. If I were him I'd either retrain everyone or fire everyone and hire more competent people.
  • Did the Airave die for sure? The power supply on those things were prone to failure... The voltage regulators fail and makes it look like the Airave has a fault (orange status lights). The replacement power supplies are a better design and may well fix your issue. It fixed mine. (won't help the network issues, just commenting on the power cord possibly being a legit fix for your Airave issue). Posted via Android Central App
  • Well right now my air rave has no power so I'm hoping the new power cord will fix it, if not I told the rep I'd be calling and complaining to get a new air rave. From what you said and what the rep said it should work and I'm hoping it will. The only sad thing is I won't get it until Monday or Tuesday. :(
  • So because you met some incompetent people that worked for a company all the tens of thousands of their employees should be fired and are all imcompetent and need retraining? I've worked for them for years and will challenge that statement. Pull your head out of your ass.
  • With comments like that, your going to be first on his personal hit list... Lol Posted via Android Central App
  • Nobody's gonna pay for slow data
  • You'd be surprised lol. Quite a ton do.
  • If the price is cheap enough, sure they will. This is why Boost and Virgin still have millions of subscribers.
  • ^ This. How many people really need 40 down? Price something $15-$20 lower than the other guy and set the expectation that the customer can only expect 5Mbps. Most people don't even need unlimited - they just want it because it is worry-free. Remember Hesse's "Simply Everything" plans? They were a hit because they offered a $30(!) price difference per month and while a customer sacrificed quality they knew exactly what they were getting. 
  • People still pay for AOL dial up service Posted via Android Central App
  • Only my sprint LTE isn't that slow. So yeah, I'll pay for it and better coverage than T-Mobile
  • What's this guy's business degree in Business Administration for lemonade stands? He's the new head if a sinking ship and is plan is to lower already low prices?? How about FIX YOUR PRODUCT (the shitty network) first so people will see value and continue using it. His plan is to basically minimize profit and forget about the only thing that makes his company money? What a clown... goodbye Sprint Posted via Android Central App
  • You do realize that improving a cell network takes a bit of time, right?
  • Exactly! and that should be Sprint's priority. Not masking their terrible network by lowering prices. Posted via Android Central App
  • It's already being worked on so while we wait he lowers the price he making moves Tmobile network sucks and in certain places it's good just like any other carriers Posted via Android Central App
  • And lowering prices is a way to, perhaps, convince customers to stay while the network is upgraded. One doesn't preclude the other. Did you read ANYTHING that says they're going to stop, or even slow, the network upgrade?
  • Besides Sprint sucking in my area, the thing that keeps me from trying them 1 single phone out of all the phones they have can be used on other US carriers (Without rooting for domesting unlock) that are not Sprint MVNOs.
  • I mean how much slower can they possibly go with network upgrades. They already announced a year ago that Spark would be in only 100 markets by 2016... Posted via Android Central App
  • T-Mobile has done well so far with that Posted via Android Central App
  • LTE SPARK does not do **** about making or receiving calls. You would think it does, but it don't.
  • So? I have no problem making or receiving calls on Sprint. In fact, I find the call quality far superior to T-Mobile and AT&T.
  • A few of my friends have had problems receiving calls on Sprint from other carriers... something is definitely up there. CDMA is supposed to be superior to regular GSM voice quality. T-mobile to T-mobile HD Voice or their VoLTE are amazingly clear though. I noticed a huge difference when I moved from AT&T to T-mobile with less bars but still better call quality.
  • I find it the opposite. I have tried AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon and T-Mobile has been the best so far with AT&T a close second. Sprint wasn't bad .. but wasn't super .. and Verizon was crap.     Note --- This was for my area .. I am not speaking for everywhere since no one can do that :).
  • Sounds identical to my area except att has no 4G here at all. Posted via Android Central App
  • Actually I wouldn't think that. Since data =/= calls.
  • Get rid of CDMA crap first. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Yea!! "Hey guys let's just stop all the work we've done on our network for the past 10 years and blow it all up and change over to GSM instead of CDMA even though we're working towards LTEA where it doesn't even matter" Do you even understand cell networks?
  • No Posted via Android Central App
  • Hey lower the plans save me money Posted via Android Central App
  • So they have even less money to complete Network Vision lol Posted via Android Central App
  • Network vision is already fully funded genius.
  • I'll believe it when I see it. All talk, no action. I've experienced unbelievably slow connections.
  • Funded does not mean the work is done Posted via Android Central App
  • What's really also bad is when you walk in a sprint store you get a good signal (they will have a signal booster in the store hidden) as soon as you leave outside your signal dives.... Posted via Android Central App
  • All carriers don't his. Posted via Android Central App
  • *do Posted via Android Central App
  • Actually at the local Verizon store I get roughly 2 bars inside. The second I leave it jumps up. I've always complained to them that they need a signal booster inside. Posted via Android Central App
  • Yeah I get shit coverage at the sprint stores in the mall. I call bs on the signal booster thing. Good speeds at AT&T store 15/5, really good speeds at T-Mobile store 25/10. Never stepped in a vzw store cuz they're evil. Posted via Android Central App
  • I prefer Speed increase first, then look at better priced plans.
  • Good God, man, think! Do you honestly think Sprint can just overnight finish the network upgrade?
  • Sprint has had the longest upgrade path ever. All they ever told me was 3g will get better with LTE. I still see the complaints about the horrible 3g speeds all the time. I left Sprint over a year ago and it's the same Damn issue. Price isn't really their problem, they're competitive (although cheaper is better) but they somehow need to get these towers upgraded faster than they are. Posted via Android Central App w/G2
  • 15 yrs with Sprint and very happy. Always lower bills than my friends and I've been lucky to live in a great coverage area (North ATL suburbs). But I've traveled the country and understand sprint limitations. Hope that they can rally. Posted via Android Central App
  • Sprint is the BlackBerry of the carrier world ( no BlackBerry hate here, rooting for them to turn around ) Posted via Android Central App
  • Better do something quick the provider I have my eyes on.... Pays ETF'S. $254.00 a month for 4 phones is way too much for slow speeds Posted via Android Central App
  • This is so wrong, if they reduce prices first, then customer base will rise, which causes network congestion and ultimately a service no one wants to pay for. Their plan should be the opposite, get a better network that's able to sustain a high demand and afterwards reduce prices to increase activation figures. Posted via Android Central App
  • I know. The stupid stuff that comes out of these overpaid executives is unbelievable. Nextel, wimax, wanting to buy a GSM provider, and now this. Idiots Posted via Android Central App
  • It's even worse here in Canada, believe me, cellphone plans are terribly overpriced. Posted via Android Central App
  • And your early upgrade fees are ridiculous. Phone of a friend broke. They said it would be $900 or so on Rogers to downgrade their broken Galaxy Note 3 to a Lumia 520 cause of contract.
  • Unlimited, unthrottled data. 'nuff said.
  • Unlimited unthrottled excruciatingly slow data connections. 'nuff said.
  • I have that as well with T-Mobile :).
  • "Unlimited and unusable" 
  • Time for sprint to make another bad decision. So much for revamping sprint. Sigh.. Oh well at least I get lte where I'm at even if it's 1-2 bars. Posted via Android Central App
  • You know bars are for voice and not data. Posted via Android Central App
  • Yea, a lot of people don't realize that. Where I work, I can have full bars and the 4G symbol, but still get "Page cannot be displayed" on my browser.
  • Forget spark, they need to focus on bringing lte to everywhere first. Posted via Android Central App
  • Time to think about bringing 1Gbps speeds to America and blow the competitions away! Posted via the Android Central App
  • phones doesn't even have the radios to supports the speeds, nor does sprint ever do anything quick enough to pull off a stunt like that. Posted via the Android Central App
  • Who cares about LTE even. If Sprint's 3G could keep up in the 2Mbps range the network would be fine for all but the most data hungry people who carriers and the general public don't want on their carrier anyway.
  • Um, that's exactly what Spark is, using the spectrum they own to bring LTE to more places. Posted via Android Central App
  • Spark was deployed to places that already had LTE Posted via Android Central App
  • Spark is being deployed along with LTE. Its not a separate build out.
  • How about salary cuts at the high end go straight into network improvement first. No reason why Dan Hesse deserves 50 million salary plus 40 million severance.
  • It's because it could have been way worse with a cheaper exec. Count your blessings.
  • I still don't understand why they wouldn't let you add the Nexus 5 on their network using a prepaid plan. Posted via the Android Central App
  • I think he's going about that backwards. The last thing a company hemorrhaging money and customers needs to do is lower prices first. Less revenue means less money to get their network competitive. A lower price on crap doesn't change the fact it's still crap. Sprint's reputation precedes it, and no amount of discounts or lower prices will be able to make up whatever money they would otherwise make. Get the network running as well as or at least close to what the others are, then wait for the customers to flock to better speeds and lower prices.
  • You nailed it. If they cut my price in half I won't stay with them when my contract is up next May. They only thing that will keep me with them is to add towers in my area. Their coverage maps are a joke. It shows full LTE coverage where I live and all around me. I'm in between two towers that are no more that two or three miles from me on both sides. They are live with LTE and my coverage is crap. Two towers doesn't do it Sprint!!!
  • Interesting because T-mobile is gaining customers because of prices first, coverage second.
  • That is debatable. Their prices aren't that far off the mark once you factor in phone payments. T-Mobile just did a really good job marketing themselves, shuffling money around, and improving service in populated areas. 
  • Sprint is for suckers. Posted via Android Central App
  • Sprint in BFE silverdale WA I get great LTE speeds. Keep the rest of the network coming guys! Posted via my Nexus 5
  • Poorly worded article title. Sprint is not going to stop working on their network until they lower prices. "Quick everyone STOP WORKING, I need it quiet while I'm lowering prices! LOL
  • Haha, I thought the meaning of the title was "plan price drops come first then network improvements will drop after". In Hawaii, Sprint has abysmal speed with no LTE. It's the laughing stock here specially since all of the networks' coverage is roughly the same. Their network is just painfully slow, it's only good for web browsing, slow web browsing at that.
  • I'll be leaving Sprint next month since being on it forever for Sprint, Virgin Mobile style. From my Note 2 to you
  • Start by killing off the idiot sub-licensees like Swiftel in South Dakota. They stand in the way of progress while milking profits as long as they can.
  • I feel lucky, in our area we get great Spark speeds and HD calls, plus a 19% discount on an unlimited plan. I was in a job recently where my Sprint phone was the only one that had a connection among all the Verizon ones, I had to chuckle.
  • I've been with Sprint for a long time. I can not wait to get out of my current contract with how bad they have been over the last 16 months. The new CEO will have a tough time righting this ship. Start with customer service, get rid of contracts, one price for everything with unlimited data, and stop dropping calls. Please, if you are a Sprint representative do not ask me where the cross streets are that I have dropped my call. It's 20% of them when I leave my front door in the morning. You can see it all in your system so asking me just makes me angry.
  • +1 Posted via Android Central App
  • I was with them for near a decade... It's been unusable for around 16 months, like you say. Maybe longer. I couldn't even send MMS half the time. My battery died so fast searching for signal...
  • After almost a decade with Sprint, I finally said "Good-bye" this week. Their network is a mess and their coverage maps are more a PR stunt than accurate. After a recent trip to the beach where their map claims the strongest coverage, yada, yada and not being able to send a simple text message, I snapped. After 2 hrs. I was able to get all 3 ETF's waived and signed up with Verizon two days later. Never been happier. Their 4G here is like a Lamborghini after being on Sprint's generic 3G. Farewell Sprint.
  • A week too late, sprint... I'd never go back, either.
  • One thing Sprint has got to realize is that their estimates for the area covered by their upgraded towers isn't anywhere close to the actual coverage. They upgraded the towers in my area and now their map shows full coverage all over the town and sister town where I live in NC. However, they didn't add any towers and so now I get crappy, spotty 4G instead of crappy, spotty 3G. Wake up Sprint. I've hung with you for a long time listening to the upgrade stories but you only have until next Spring to convince me to stay and talk won't do it this time.
  • Sprint was based in Northern Virginia once upon a time and they still haven't figured out 4G here. I guess all the pizzas I delivered to their old HQ in college were accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol.
  • Sprint in San Antonio Texas = sucks! (from every single person that I have met personally) They are stuck on 3G 80% of the time, even inside the city!
  • Location, location, location..
    I had T-Mobile for more than a year. They have a better data speed compared to Sprint in the city.
    Sprint have the coverage everywhere I go, T-Mobile not so: no voice no data
    The cost for me is about the same with both. All I want, is to be able to get data/voice even if it's slow. That is why I cancelled my T-Mobile line and using Sprint
    Right now I am looking into AT&T as my next option
  • I don't understand Claure's priorities. Nobody comes here and complains about Sprint's prices.It's always the coverage and data speeds. It seems fixing & upgrading their network should be Job 1#. Marcelo was given quite the mess to clean up after a lot of questionable decisions made by Hesse. Sad that,as always, it will be the employees who suffer in the end.
  • Sprint still hasn't figured out that improving their network should be job one before anything else.
  • They simply MUST simplify plans. When in my local Sprint store I'm amazed with how long the sales people spend with each customer signing them up for a plan. It is RIDICULOUS for them to need over an hour to explain everything and get it done. This one thing is costing them huge money in staff and customer satisfaction. People walking out having never been helped is a big loss to the company.
  • Seems pretty simple: Lower prices and improve network quality, then you'll get more customers. The how is not so simple, I suppose. The CEO alluded to job cuts. I wonder where they're going to cut jobs? Customer Service? They seem to be pretty thin as it is in that area (at least when I was with them.)
  • Hesse got a raw deal out of the disastrous Nextel merger. The fact that Sprint is still even around is thanks to Hesse and his long term decisions. For instance, the Spark spectrum would not be Sprint's right now if they didn't deploy WiMax when they did. The "rip and replace" attitude Sprint took towards its network the last year or so has been incredibly painful but should sow the seeds for a much improved network in the future. Other carriers did incremental upgrades to keep chugging along and for many reasons (that some will disagree with) Sprint is doing everything at once.  Cutting plan costs will help shore up customers just like Dan Hesse's "Simply Everything" plans did six years ago. But the real heart of the plan problem will be simplifying the structure. Framily has been another disastrous diversion for Sprint on its sales and customer service front lines. Softbank's first foray in to the American wireless market fell flat on its face. Just after the Softbank buyout Hesse and co. said that as the network improved we could expect Sprint to keep unlimited but to switch its pricing structure to something more premium to reflect increased service. Unfortunately, the trigger was pulled too soon on the My Way and Framily plans (which were effectively price increases no matter which way you cut them) and the network couldn't match the price being charged. Not when customers could go to the other guys and get better/simpler service for less money. Come on, who really wants to do Sprint's work for them and refer customers to get a better rate? Next week should be interesting for Sprint. 
  • I would say it's a pretty safe bet that Sprint's title sponsorship of NASCAR will go bye-bye.
  • Good. More money for the network. They should've abandoned that a long time ago
  • Go CEO Marcelo Claure, do yo thing and get Sprint right! Posted via Android Central App
  • I think Sprint's new CEO is lying through his teeth. These new plans are ridiculous. I pay less now for unlimited data than I would pay on these new plans with a subsidized device. More marketing BS from a CEO. Who can be surprised?