Sprint

206 'Sprint' stories December 2010 - October 2013

1.4M iPhone sales help Sprint into profitability, but carrier still squeezed in the middle

Ben Lovejoy Oct 30 2013 - 5:52 am PT

Sprint has reported a move into profit, posting a Q3 profit of $383M, contrasting with a $767 loss in the same quarter last year. The carrier reported that it sold 1.4M iPhones, representing 28 percent of its total smartphone sales of 5M.

While its decision to start carrying the iPhone clearly helped it reduce defections to other carriers, it still reported a net loss of 313,000 customers in the quarter. CNET reports that the carrier appears to be finding itself squeezed in the middle, between Verizon and AT&T at the top end and T-Mobile at the bottom.

But as the nation’s third-largest carrier by subscriber, Sprint finds itself in a bind. The company can’t compete with the reach and resources of larger Verizon Wireless and AT&T, which are locking up the high-end, premium customers. But on the low end, T-Mobile has gotten more aggressive with one promotional offer after another and now boasts an LTE network that covers more areas than Sprint.

Full results below the fold …
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J.D. Power continues to find iPhone rates top in smartphone satisfaction

Zac Hall Oct 17 2013 - 11:36 am PT

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J.D. Power released its second Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study for the year and continues to find Apple leading the charts.

While Apple has topped this chart ten consecutive times in the last five years, AT&T has proved it can maintain its lead in overall carrier customer satisfaction we reported earlier this year. Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless trail AT&T in customer satisfaction overall, but among iPhone users specifically Verizon is most prized.

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iPhone 5s takes top slot from Samsung Galaxy S4 at U.S. carriers; good showing by 5c too

Ben Lovejoy Oct 7 2013 - 4:10 am PT

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The iPhone has long been the best-selling phone on AT&T, but the Samsung Galaxy S4 has for some time held that slot at Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, with the iPhone 5 in second place. No more. September sales figures from Canaccord (reported in Fortune) show that the iPhone 5s now has top billing on all four major U.S. carriers, with the iPhone 5c also beating Samsung on AT&T and Sprint. While the news isn’t unexpected, the numbers do seem to put the lie to one rumor …
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Virgin Mobile offers the iPhone 5s for $549, 5c for $449 (both $100 off) unsubsidized

Seth Weintraub Oct 2 2013 - 5:30 am PT

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From 9to5Toys.com:

We knew Virgin Mobile was launching the iPhone 5s and 5c today, but we weren’t expecting a $100-off starting price. That’s what’s on offer today from the Sprint subsidiary (Sprint will also knock off $100 the subsidized plans if you are a new customer – so much for loyalty benefits).

Virgin’s plans are the least expensive out there, especially considering they include unlimited data and start at $30/month.

Another Sprint pre-paid subsidy, Boost mobile is likely going to offer the iPhone in coming days/weeks/months.
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Sprint announces $65/month ‘One Up’ upgrade plan

Jordan Kahn Sep 20 2013 - 8:01 am PT

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Earlier this month we heard reports that Sprint was readying its own upgrade program to combat recent initiatives introduced through the other major carriers including AT&T’s Next, T-Mobile’s Jump, and Verizon’s Edge program. Today Sprint has officially announced the “Sprint One Up” plan and explained exactly how it works:

Sprint One Up, a new upgrade program that gives customers unlimited talk, text and high speed data while on the Sprint Network plus the ability to upgrade their smartphone every 12 months starting at just $65 a month – a $15 per month savings off their Unlimited, My Way standard rate plan and Sprint’s guarantee of unlimited talk, text and data for the life of the line of service. Sprint One Up is also available for smartphones on the My All-in plan as well as on tablets in combination with tablet plans starting at just $5 a month.

Sprint notes that the upgrade every 12 months will require a new 24 month instalment plan with no down payment, while cancelling your service will cost you the remaining balance on the device.

The new Sprint One Up plan becomes available starting today, lining up with retail iPhone launches around the world.

Sprint One Up Along With Sprint Unlimited Guarantee for Life Available to New and Existing Customers on Sept. 20

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), September 20, 2013 – In continuing its commitment to offering customers the best value in wireless, Sprint (NYSE: S) announced today Sprint One UpSM, a new upgrade program that gives customers unlimited talk, text and high speed data while on the Sprint Network plus the ability to upgrade their smartphone every 12 months starting at just $65 a month1. The new program is available Sept. 20 to new and existing customers on Unlimited, My WaySM and My All-inSM plans.

Sprint One Up offers customers an affordable option to upgrade their device more frequently. With Sprint One Up, participating smartphone customers get unlimited talk, text and data for an introductory rate of $65 per month – a $15 per month savings off their Unlimited, My Way standard rate plan and Sprint’s guarantee of unlimited talk, text and data for the life of the line of service2. Sprint One Up is also available for smartphones on the My All-in plan as well as on tablets in combination with tablet plans starting at just $5 a month.

To participate, customers simply purchase an eligible smartphone or tablet and agree to 24 monthly installment payments for the device. For a limited time, customers can enjoy no down payment for the device. After 12 consecutive payments, customers can give back their current device and upgrade to a new smartphone or tablet.

“Sprint One Up is the best value in wireless,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. “The new program gives Sprint customers the ability to upgrade every 12 months and unlimited talk, text and high speed data for just $65. And, unlike other carriers, Sprint guarantees the unlimited talk, text and data for life. No other plan can compare.”

Sprint One Up for Existing Sprint Customers

Existing customers meeting upgrade eligibility requirements also can participate in Sprint One Up. In celebration of this significant launch, Sprint is rewarding current customers with the opportunity to join Sprint One Up through the holidays. Sprint customers who are not yet upgrade eligible, but have had their current phone for 12 months, can give back their current eligible phone and sign up for Sprint One Up, provided they meet the credit qualifications3.

Best Value in Wireless

Sprint continues its commitment to offer the best value in wireless with Sprint One Up and Unlimited, My Way and My All-in plans. Sprint One Up features:

Unlimited talk, text and high speed data on smartphones guaranteed for the life of the line of service starting at $65 a month (excludes surcharges and taxes)
Annual upgrades on smartphones and tablets
0% APR monthly installment payments for the device

Single Line Smartphone Comparisons

Sprint customers also will see significant monthly savings — up to $45 a month – compared to similar plans from AT&T and Verizon4.

4G LTE

Sprint continues to bring a better wireless experience to more customers across the country as it builds out its all-new 3G and 4G LTE network and is projected to provide LTE to 200 million people by the end of 2013. For the most up-to-date details on Sprint 4G LTE, visitwww.sprint.com/network. Customers can also check www.sprint.com/coverage for updated coverage maps.

Availability

Sprint One Up is available in Sprint company-owned stores to new and eligible existing customers on Sept. 20 (program currently not available in Florida and Washington, D.C.). Visitwww.sprint.com/oneup for more information.

iOS 7 How-to: Blocking FaceTime calls, Phone calls, and iMessages

Sarah Guarino Sep 19 2013 - 5:56 am PT

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Before iOS 7 it was rather inconvenient to block a phone number, and there was nothing built into iOS that would allow you do so. If you got phone calls from Telemarketers you can always register your number for free on the National Do Not Call Registry. If you wanted to block specific people, you had to contact your carrier to do so. For example, with AT&T, you can pay $4.99 per month per line to block up to 30 numbers with their Smart Limits. With Verizon Wireless, you are able to block up to five phone numbers per line with no charge. With Sprint you fill out a form on their website and it appears there is no additional fee.

Dealing with your carrier can be a rather tedious, and with the new iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, you no longer have to…

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Sprint reportedly to join monthly phone hardware payments craze on iPhone launch day

Sep 16 2013 - 6:50 am PT

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Sprint is readying its own program that allows customers to roll in the cost of phone hardware in their monthly bill, according to CNET. Sprint’s program is reportedly called One Up, and it works in a similar fashion to the recently launched AT&T Next, T-Mobile Jump, and Verizon Edge initiatives.

All of the carrier programs principally work the same, with a few nuanced differences. Sprint’s One Up lets customers pick up a phone with no money down and pay for the device in 24 monthly installments. A phone that costs $649.99, for instance, will cost $27 a month (with the difference tacked on to the 24th payment). If a customer leaves the service early, that person is on the hook for the balance of the device cost, due the following month.

Unlike with a typical U.S. carrier contract, Sprint’s new program (like those from the other U.S. carriers) will allow customers to upgrade to a new device every year. The (subsidized) cost of the phone will be divided up into 24 installments and added to the customer’s monthly bill. A customer can trade-in that current hardware towards the new phone that they would like to upgrade to.

Notably, the new Sprint One Up program is claimed to launch on September 20th, which just so happens to be the launch date of the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

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Walmart iPhone pre-orders start tomorrow, 5c at $79, 5s at $189

Ben Lovejoy Sep 12 2013 - 5:58 am PT

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Walmart has announced that it will be offering both of the new iPhone models in their 16Gb versions, the 5c at $79 (a $20 saving) and the 5s at $189 (a $10 savings). Walmart offers the phones on Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.

What’s interesting here is that Apple Stores usually do price matching so it might be worth a try after waiting on line on launch day. Best Buy will also price match often, so this could trigger markdowns all over …
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Apple brings iPhone 5s & 5c to Japan’s NTT DOCOMO, consolidates models with more LTE bands

Jordan Kahn Sep 10 2013 - 1:30 pm PT

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As rumored leading up to today’s event, Apple announced today that it has struck a deal with NTT DOCOMO to bring its new iPhone lineup to Japan’s largest carrier when the device launches in multiple countries later this month. On September 20th the iPhone will launch on the carrier for the first time and Apple will also launch a single model of the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s in Japan for KDDI and Softbank. Thanks to an increase to 13 LTE bands with the new iPhone 5s and 5c— which Apple says is more than any other smartphone– it will also be able to consolidate various models of iPhones for multiple carriers in other countries.

More LTE bands means that Apple will now be offering a single iPhone 5s and 5c model for AT&T and Verizon in the US (Sprint will still get its own model), while customers in the UK will be able to use a single iPhone model for EE, Vodafone, and Three’s upcoming LTE network. Apple will also have an TD-LTE compatible version of the new iPhones, but rumors of a deal with the world’s largest telecom, China Mobile, have not yet been confirmed.

Apple does plan to launch the new iPhones in China on September 20th alongside launches in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Singapore, UK, and Japan.

NTT DOCOMO & Apple Team Up to Offer iPhone in Japan on Friday, September 20

TOKYO and CUPERTINO, California—September 10, 2013—NTT DOCOMO and Apple® today announced that iPhone® 5s, the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world, and iPhone 5c, the most colorful iPhone yet, will be available on the DOCOMO network beginning on Friday, September 20. iPhone 5s features an all-new A7 chip, making iPhone 5s the world’s first smartphone with 64-bit desktop-class architecture for blazing fast performance, an all-new 8 megapixel iSight® camera and introduces Touch ID™, an innovative way to simply and securely unlock your iPhone. iPhone 5c features an all-new design, packed with incredible features that people know and love, in five gorgeous colors—blue, green, pink, yellow and white.

“We’re thrilled to offer the incredible new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c to our customers,” said Kaoru Kato, President and CEO of NTT DOCOMO, Inc. “We know our customers will enjoy the amazing experience of iPhone on DOCOMO’s high-quality network.”

“NTT DOCOMO has built an impressive network, the largest in the nation with over 60 million customers,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve enjoyed tremendous success with iPhone in Japan, in fact it’s the top selling smartphone in the country, and we look forward to delivering iPhone into even more customers’ hands through NTT DOCOMO.”

With the launch of the new iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c and iOS 7, Apple is ushering in the next generation of mobile computing, delivering an incredible new hardware and software experience that only Apple could create. iPhone 5s redefines the best smartphone experience in the world with amazing new features all packed into a remarkable thin and light design, including the Apple-designed A7 64-bit chip, all-new 8 megapixel iSight camera with True Tone flash and introducing Touch ID, an innovative way to simply and securely unlock your phone with just the touch of a finger. iPhone 5c features an all new-design, packed with features people know and love like the beautiful 4-inch Retina® display, blazing fast performance of the A6 chip, and the 8 megapixel iSight camera—all while delivering great battery life.¹ iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c both offer more LTE bands² than any other smartphone in the world and include all-new FaceTime® HD cameras.

iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c feature iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, featuring a stunning new user interface, completely redesigned with an elegant color palette, distinct, functional layers and subtle motion that make it feel more alive. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari®, Siri® and introduces iTunes Radio℠, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes.³

Beginning on Friday, September 13, customers can pre-order iPhone 5c at DOCOMO dealers⁴ and the first 30,000 docomo Premier Club Premier Stage⁵ customers can pre-order from DOCOMO’s website.⁶

Sprint brings real-time caption calling service for the hearing impaired to iOS devices

Jordan Kahn Jul 23 2013 - 11:17 am PT

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Sprint announced today that it will now be offering its Wireless CapTel service to iOS device users, enabling the hearing impaired to read “real-time word-for-word captions” of conversations on their iPhone, iPod, or iPad.

Wireless CapTel by Sprint users place a call in the same way they would when using a traditional phone – by dialing the number directly on the device. The revolutionary application then connects callers directly to the CapTel service when the phone is dialed. When the receiving party answers, callers can listen to what the other person is saying and also read captions on the phone’s display screen.

Incoming calls will be routed through the service as well for users with a CapTel by Sprint number, allowing customers to receive the real-time captions for every conversation. Previously, the service was only available on select Android devices, including the LG Optimus G, HTC Evo 4G, and Samsung Galaxy SIII, and a few others.

Sprint is making the functionality available through a free app available on the App Store, and the service available for free to users on an Everything Data plan.

You can get a look at how the service works in the video below:
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Sprint debuts new unlimited plans with lifetime guarantee, ‘My Way’ feature

Mark Gurman Jul 11 2013 - 2:50 pm PT

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Following T-Mobile’s new “Jump” plan announcement, and preceding AT&T’s forthcoming network-related announcement, U.S. carrier Sprint has announced new versions of its unlimited plans. The new service goes into effect tomorrow.

The first element of the new offering is a lifetime guarantee (for the life of your service line) to receive unlimited calling, texting, and data. Sprint has also introduced a new My Way plan, that starts at as little as $80 for unlimited usage, that allows flexibility and additional savings when it comes to multiple lines begin attached to the plan:

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iPhone closes gap on Android during May, grabs 31% of T-Mobile smartphone sales

Jordan Kahn Jul 8 2013 - 6:31 am PT

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Following stats from comScore late last month for smartphone market share by vendor and OS, research firm Kantar Worldpanel is out today with its own numbers for the three month period ending in May. While Kantar puts Android at the same 52% of the market during May as comScore, it has Apple slightly higher at 41.9% of the market (up 3.5% from the same period last year) compared to the 39% comScore reported:

Through the 3 month period ending May 2013, Android continues to lead smartphone sales at 52%. Close behind is iOS with 41.9% of sales.

Kantar notes that Apple’s increase is thanks to T-Mobile picking up the iPhone 5, which is now the best selling smartphone at the carrier despite only being available since mid April. Thanks to iPhone, T-Mobile could soon increase its share of smartphone sales in the US, as Kantar notes all iPhone models counted for 31% of the carrier’s smartphone sales during the quarter. Currently the carrier holds just 10.1% behind Verizon (34.6%), AT&T (29%), and Sprint (12.7%).

The report notes T-Mobile has been attracting a lot of first time smartphone buyers since getting the iPhone with around 53% upgrading from feature phones:
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Walmart reportedly slashing iPhone 5 price indefinitely to $129 beginning Saturday

Zac Hall Jun 21 2013 - 10:48 pm PT

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Walmart is set to dramatically cut iPhone prices starting Saturday, according to Mashable, which points to an impending iPhone hardware refresh in the coming months. Walmart will reportedly slash the already low iPhone 5 cost from $189 to $129 and the iPhone 4S will go from $89 to $39 on contract with AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon (Uncarrier T-Mobile, which Walmart doesn’t support, is not included in the deal).

Walmart isn’t the only retailer jumping on the discounted iPhone wagon. Best Buy will reportedly offer substantial discounts to iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 customers offering in-store credit or credit toward the purchase of a new iPhone. Such promotions tend to hint at upcoming hardware refreshes as retailers look to move out existing inventory.
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AT&T explains its new 61 cent/month administrative fee policy

Seth Weintraub May 23 2013 - 4:00 pm PT

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Thanks reader Kory for screenshot

AT&T started this month charging an administrative fee of $.61/month/user for its mobile customers in addition to its current fees. While the fee may be small, as the Verge notes it adds ‘up to hundreds of millions of dollars’ over 24 month contracts and millions of customers. What gives? An AT&T spokesperson told us:

Consistent with similar fees charged by other carriers, the monthly fee of 61 cents per line will help cover certain expenses, such as interconnection and cell site rents and maintenance

The fee applies to consumer mobility lines as well as IRU lines – the kind of business lines where the employee pays the bill directly.

AT&T isn’t alone in this endeavor. Verizon charges admin fees of $0.91 and Sprint charges $1.99. (Plus more for regulatory fees.) T-Mobile’s combined regulatory programs fee is $1.61. On this basis, AT&T’s is still the lowest of all carriers. It still sucks though. “expenses, such as interconnection and cell site rents and maintenance” seems like it should be part of the current fees and that fee is easier to raise because it isn’t part of the publicized rate plan.

Update: TheTechBlock notes that you may be able to cancel your plan because of this fee. A nice way to slip out of your subsidized plan?
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‘Zact’ launches customizable, no-contract data plans on Sprint, coming to iOS soon

Jordan Kahn May 13 2013 - 8:41 am PT

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Earlier this month we told you that Verizon-backed ItsOn, a company building software for carriers that provides users with dynamic pricing plans on mobile devices, was planning on introducing a new mobile service that takes advantage of its software. Today ItsOn has officially announced Zact, a mobile service that provides flexible, adjustable data plans that allows users to pay for only what they use, customize voice, text, and data plans in real-time at any time, and share data on an unlimited amount of devices:
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Verizon to launch $100 off iPhone 5 deal in next few weeks?

Zac Hall May 6 2013 - 9:19 am PT

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Verizon is set to launch a new promotion taking $100 off the iPhone 5 later this month, according to evleaks.

Upcoming Verizon promotion: $100 off iPhone 5 beginning mid-month.

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 6, 2013

We’re starting to see more competitive pricing between the carriers that that all the major companies and many smaller companies carry the the iPhone.

Sprint currently offers $100 off for new iPhone customers switching from other carriers while T-Mobile offers its iPhone 5 for $99 with a financing option.

FreedomPop announces network expansion for nationwide coverage alongside new 3G/4G ‘Overdrive Pro’ hotspot

Jordan Kahn Apr 24 2013 - 6:27 am PT

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Update: A 9to5Mac reader has chimed in clarifying that the new hotspot only offers the free 500MB plan on the new Sprint-enabled 4G service. For 3G coverage, users will have to pay an additional $3.99 per month:

Although their website and press release say the new Overdrive comes with free data every month, there’s apparently a string. Apparently only the 4G data is free, see my email thread with customer service below. This is wholly inconsistent with what their website or press release indicates… This tactic is as deceptive as when FreedomPop first went live. At that time, they said the devices were “free with deposit” but it now turns out that if you keep the device for 12 months or more, the deposit is forfeited. That forfeiture is buried deep within the TOS, and not likely understood by consumers until it’s time to return their hardware.

Wireless provider FreedomPop, the company providing access to free monthly data plans through a number of hotspot devices and iOS device accessories, today announced it is expanding its 3G coverage through Sprint’s network to provide nationwide coverage to its customers.

“The biggest criticism with our service to date has been the coverage gaps in certain parts of the country,” said Stephen Stokols, FreedomPop’s CEO. “Starting today, FreedomPop users can connect to the Internet across the entire nation leaving no reason to continue paying high monthly Internet bills for Internet from large, expensive carriers.”

In addition to the network expansion, it is also now accepting preorders for its latest hotspot device dubbed “Overdrive Pro” (pictured above):

The FreedomPop Overdrive Pro becomes the company’s first device to run on Sprint’s network. The Overdrive Pro will allow up to five devices to connect to it and get speeds up to 8 mbps down. In addition to FreedomPop’s free 500 MB plan, users can also purchase a 2 GB or 4 GB 4G/3G plan with no contract or annual commitment at rates up to 50 percent less than major carriers.

FreedomPop offers users free data (with the option to purchase more) ranging from 500MB to 2GB per month through devices such as its $99 WiMAX sleeve for iPod touch or the recently announced $89 Burst 4G home wireless router. It also has an iPhone 4/4S case that is awaiting Federal Communication Commission approval and told us in February it plans to roll out LTE service and a new LTE iPad clip later this year.

Verizon bids for spectrum from Clearwire while Dish attempts merger with Sprint

Zac Hall Apr 15 2013 - 8:03 am PT

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Verizon Wireless, which recently teamed up with telecommunications giant Comcast Corporation, is reportedly offering Clearwire Corp $1.5 billion in an effort to lease spectrum from the wireless communications company, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, Dish Network has motioned toward a $25.5 billion bid to merge with Sprint, which is notable as Dish and Sprint both competed toward buying out Clearwire in January.

It seems all three major telecommunications companies are moving toward owning expanded space in mobile broadband as well as home services like cable and voice, much like AT&T’s unified package.

How much does T-Mobile’s contract-free iPhone plan save over two years?

Ben Lovejoy Mar 27 2013 - 6:54 am PT

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Now that T-Mobile offers the iPhone, how do the four national carriers compare in terms of costs? A couple of websites have done the sums.

Our friends over at Zagg did a blog post that suggested three of the four networks come out at exactly the same annual cost when attempting to get as close as possible to like-for-like tariffs, while going with T-Mobile’s contract-free option will save you $580 over two years.

Based on unlimited talk and text, and 4GB of data per month. Sprint offers only ‘unlimited’ data (claiming not to throttle), though is not noted anyway for fast data speeds.

While this is true for individuals, it doesn’t tell the whole story …
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FreedomPop now lets users roll over unused data from one month to the next

Jordan Kahn Mar 14 2013 - 2:37 pm PT

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Ahead of the company’s plans to roll out LTE service and a new iPad clip through Sprint’s network later this year, wireless provider FreedomPop announced today a new rollover data feature that allows users to keep their unused data from one month to the next. As to be expected from FreedomPop, the service will also let users share data with friends as part of its social broadband feature that it enhanced last month.

FreedomPop told us the new rollover data feature is now available to all users. It also said “30 percent of FreedomPop’s users have opted into this value-added service within the first 24 hours it’s been live.”

FreedomPop is a wireless provider offering customers free 500MB to 1GB per month data plans through devices such as its $99 WiMAX sleeve for iPod touch or the recently announced $89 Burst 4G home wireless router. It also has an iPhone 4/4S case that is awaiting Federal Communication Commission approval. Last month, the company announced an extra $4.3 million in Series A1 funding, increased additional data rewarded for referrals from 10MB to 50MB, and it expanded its social broadband sharing platform.

Sprint’s TEP coverage for iPhone available starting Jan. 25

Jordan Kahn Jan 17 2013 - 5:59 am PT

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We’ve been hearing for quite some time that Sprint planned to offer its TEP insurance plans to iPhone users, and now Engadget confirmed the $11 monthly plan will officially become available on Jan. 25. Much like the $99 AppleCare+, you’ll have 30 days from the time you purchase your device to add the TEP coverage. You will also be subject to a non-refundable deductible per claim ranging from $150 to $200. The plan will give you access to all of Sprint’s regular TEP coverage, which is a combination of its Equipment Replacement Program and Equipment Service & Repair Program.

Sprint opens LTE in 11 ‘cities’

Élyse Betters Nov 26 2012 - 7:44 am PT

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Sprint just announced the expansion of its 4G LTE data network to 11 new cities in eight states, but the term “cities” is a little stretched in this instance as each population is either near or well below the 50,000 mark.

Sprint offers the iPhone but does not carry the 4G LTE iPad partly due to its thin LTE spread, although it has steadily tried to thicken 4G LTE data coverage in recent months. The carrier even rolled out 4G LTE data to 100 additional U.S. cities this past fall.

According to Sprint’s the press release:

We continue to make progress with the rollout of our all-new, high-speed data network. Today, Sprint is delivering 4G LTE to 11 new cities and counties. Sprint introduced its all-new 4G LTE network in July 2012 and now offers service in 43 markets[1]. The 4G LTE network build is under way in more than 115 cities within the existing Sprint nationwide 3G footprint, including Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.

The full list of new areas:

Anderson, Ind.
Clarke County, Va./Jefferson County, W.Va.
Harrisburg/Carlisle/Hershey, Pa.
Hagerstown, Md./Martinsburg, W.Va.
Harrisonburg, Va.
Muncie, Ind.
Peabody, Mass.
Salina, Kan.
Shenandoah County, Va.
South Bend/Mishawaka, Ind.
Winchester, Va.

Sprint was the first national wireless carrier to introduce 4G (WiMAX) service in 2008, and it expects to light up the above areas in “the coming weeks and months.” The carrier further revealed upcoming improvements for its 3G customers, including: wireless signal strength, in-building coverage, and fewer dropped/blocked calls.

Sprint previously said it planned to complete the nationwide build out of its 4G network by the end of 2013.

Get the full press release below.

This article is cross-posted on 9to5Google.

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Sprint buys $480M in spectrum/customers from US Cellular, FCC fines AT&T $700K for overbilling

Jordan Kahn Nov 7 2012 - 6:31 am PT

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A couple carriers are making headlines today for different reasons. Sprint, which could soon be scooped up by Softbank, announced today (via Engadget) it is spending $480 million to acquire PCS spectrum and 585,000 customers from U.S. cellular across the Midwest. As always, the deal is subject to approval from government officials in the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, but Sprint could take over the spectrum and customers in “parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio including the Chicago and St. Louis markets” by sometime next year:

Under the terms of the agreement, Sprint will acquire 20 MHz of PCS spectrum in the 1900 MHz band in various Midwest markets including Chicago, South Bend, Ind. and Champaign, Ill. and 10 MHz of PCS spectrum in the St. Louis market.

AT&T is also making the news today with the FCC announcing the carrier will pay a $700,000 fine to put an end to the agency’s investigation into how the carrier handled its transition to mandatory monthly data plans (via BGR). The investigation followed complaints from consumers that AT&T had switched them from grandfathered pay-as-you-go plans to its new monthly plans as far back as 2009. According to the FCC, as part of the settlement, AT&T “has agreed to refund excess charges paid by individual customers, which could be as much as $25 to $30 a month, depending on data use”:
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Sprint to carry fourth-generation iPad and new iPad mini on its 4G network, no release date given

Jake Smith Oct 23 2012 - 12:17 pm PT

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As we highlighted earlier when Apple announced the news, the nation’s third-largest carrier Sprint will add the new fourth-generation iPad and new iPad mini to its list of 4G-enabled devices. Sprint confirmed the news in a press release this afternoon, as seen after the break.

Sprint was left out when the third-generation iPad was announced last spring, due to its 4G network not being available until this summer. The iPhone 5, released in September, was the first 4G device from Apple available on Sprint’s network.

The iPad mini Wi-Fi model will be available for pre-order Oct. 26 and shipping Nov. 2. There has not been any word on the release date of the LTE models, but they’re priced at $459, $559, and $659 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage capacities (respectively). It should only be a few weeks after. Catch up on more iPad Mini news here.

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