from the maybe-other-carriers-should-try-and-treat-their-customers-right dept.
Who would have thought that providing good service at a reasonable price could be good for business?
T-Mobile continues to rack up customers:
As T-Mobile waits to hear whether it'll be able to consummate its marriage with Sprint, the company is still racking up new customers. T-Mobile also beat analysts' expectations for revenue and profit when it reported quarterly earnings Thursday.
The third-largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers said it added 1 million new postpaid customers, or customers who pay their bills at the end of the month. Such customers are considered valuable in the wireless industry. The figure was in line with estimates from research firm FactSet.
[...] T-Mobile's strong growth is in stark contrast to that of Sprint, which has been limping along, losing customers and generating less revenue than analysts had expected. During the fourth quarter, Sprint reported it had [lost] 115,000 postpaid phone subscribers.
T-Mobile's subscriber growth in the fourth quarter is also outpacing that of rivals AT&T and Verizon. Last week, AT&T said it had added 229,000 postpaid mobile phone subscribers during the fourth quarter. Verizon added 790,000 new postpaid phone subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Related Stories
Judge approves $26 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint:
Shares of Sprint soared Tuesday after a U.S. District judge ruled in favor of its $26 billion deal to merge with T-Mobile.
The stock was up 75% Tuesday morning. It had risen after hours Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported the judge was expected to rule in favor of the deal. Shares of T-Mobile were up 10%.
The ruling clears one of the final hurdles for the deal, which still can't close until the California Public Utilities Commission approves the transaction. Tuesday's ruling also culminates a years-long courtship between Sprint and T-Mobile, which have made multiple attempts over the years to merge, only to abandon their plans fearing regulatory scrutiny.
Attorneys general from New York, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and D.C. originally brought the lawsuit to block the deal following approval from the Justice Department of Federal Communications Commission. The states had argued that combining the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. carriers would limit competition and result in higher prices for consumers. The companies had argued their merger would help them compete against top players AT&T and Verizon and advance efforts to build a nationwide 5G network.
In his decision filed Tuesday, Judge Victor Marrero wrote, "The resulting stalemate leaves the Court lacking sufficiently impartial and objective ground on which to rely in basing a sound forecast of the likely competitive effects of a merger."
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday February 10 2020, @10:18AM (1 child)
How many of these customers subscribe because they have no choice of carrier? I'm mostly thinking of Verizon here really, because if anyone actually wants to becomes a Verizon customer, there's something not quite right with them...
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Tuesday February 11 2020, @03:36AM
I've needed Verizon support once. Took a long time to drill down to the cause of the problem (flipphone was too fast for voicemail's login) but their guy kept plugging til we nailed it down and fixed it. I was amazed.
Especially since I was once trapped in a GTE protected landline area, along with GTE's high rates and shit service, and GTE is the corporate ancestor of Verizon.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by Quicksilver on Monday February 10 2020, @01:55PM (5 children)
I wonder how many people will bail on T-Mobile if it gets gobbled up by Sprint?
Sprint's deceptive practices have put them on my lifetime "do not buy" list.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 10 2020, @02:28PM
And go where? AT&T and Verizon aren't exactly good companies to get service from.
The correct answer remains to break up the bigger 2 into manageable sized companies.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Subsentient on Monday February 10 2020, @02:36PM (1 child)
Actually, looks like T-Mobile will be eating Sprint, which can only improve Sprint's quality.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by KilroySmith on Monday February 10 2020, @10:48PM
>>> Actually, looks like T-Mobile will be eating Sprint, which can only improve Sprint's quality.
Like Boeing ate McDonnell-Douglas, and it all turned out OK?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 10 2020, @04:23PM
I have had horrific customer service experiences with all of the carriers. The reason I avoid Sprint is that within 50 miles of my house (in Pennsylvania) they have the worst signal reception. So if I want to do something crazy like send and receive calls and texts when I'm anywhere near home, Sprint is not an option.
Of the other three, T-Mobile is the cheapest. I'm using Ting.com, a MVNO that allows customers to use either the T-Mobile or Sprint networks. I started on Ting/Sprint and switched to Ting/T-Mobile. I'm thinking of switching to Mint Mobile, which also uses the T-Mobile network but is cheaper than Ting if you use anything other than a very tiny amount of mobile data.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday February 10 2020, @04:35PM
Sprint is the one in the death spiral, not T-Mobile. T-Mobile would be acquiring Sprint, not the other way around.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday February 10 2020, @03:28PM
This is a time honored way of doing business.
Have "net neutrality" by default, the way it was, which incidentally was how the internet was able to explosively grow.
No need for the ISP / telecom to:
* spy on customers
* s(m)ell their data
* try to inject ads into their traffic
* discriminate based on protocol rather than volume
* (eg, it's okay to do network management to protect everyone's quality of service)
* have fake DNS that fraudulently returns the IP address of an ad server for domains that aren't registered
Just be big dumb pipes. Route traffic efficiently. The very thing that is their job. Be the best big dump pipes there ever was. At a reasonable price where you can afford to build and maintain your network and make a reasonable profit. Imagine that. Successful businesses have done that long before technology.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.