Sprint released its Q4 2012 results this morning, and it actually doesn’t look too shabby. Its net revenue rose 5% year over year, its wireless revenue rose nearly 15% and is at the highest it’s ever been, and its postpaid revenue increased 5% over levels in 2011, with postpaid additions up 18% and at the highest they’ve ever been.
But what about Sprint’s ailing network, which seems increasingly overloaded and sluggish lately for so many people?
According to Sprint, live Network Vision cell sites almost doubled in last three months. LTE has now launched (or partially launched) in 58 cities, with almost 170 more cities expected to launch in the next few months. New construction has started in more than 450 cities, over 19,500 sites are now ready for construction, and more than 8,000 sites are live now.
But in spite of these rose-colored numbers, we are seeing lots of people becoming disillusioned with Sprint. It seems that most of Sprint’s postpaid growth is mainly due to the iPhone (more than 6.6 million iPhones were sold on Sprint in 2012, 40% to new customers), and many long-time Sprint customers who have stuck around through the growing pains simply can’t take it anymore. (Come back and look at the comments section of this article in a few days to see what I’m talking about.)
What do you think of Sprint’s results? Are you excited for the future, or already shopping around for a new carrier?
[Sprint]
I actually found some 4G in Raleigh a few miles down the road, I was surprised! 10mbps versus the .3mbps on 3G. If only it was spread a little bit further to reach my apartment. I’m hoping that they’re not done with it here… But who knows with Sprint?
They have some live in Cary too. Decent speeds, but its shaky. I guess they are still building it out.
just got a call back from sprint, no etf but i have to pay 50 bucks to leave, so there is no point fighting it, i am outta here. adios sprint, no thanks.
gilly, what did you have to do to get that sweetheart deal? I need that now!
well i emailed dan the ceo and complained about the atrocious speeds i get at home and my offices. home is midtown manhattan so 200kb/s is just unacceptable. They called me back and asked to run some tests to see if it was my phone, which i know it’s not. then they called back saying they are scheduled to fix it by april but we all know what april means in sprint talk, probably jan 2014. so i said how much for an etf and apparently since i have a few months left on my contract, it’s only 50 and i get to sell my evo lte back for 90 bucks so i actually make money back. your results may vary. if you have a larger etf, i would call back all the time and complain and they will probably let you out, if not, just go heavy on data usage in roaming areas just to drive them mad.
gilly, how did you get Dan’s email address?
gilly, that is precisely what I have done. I have three lines on my account. Two are done in November, but I have 16 months left on the other. I have called executive customer service and they are supposed to be running tests on my account right now. I will do what I have to do to get out though. It’s ridiculous. At my house, I literally get 5-50 kbps down and rarely can I get any upload at all before the speedtest.net app fails. I’m not interested in an Airave device. Been there, done that.
The only thing keeping me on Sprint at this point is the fact that I got in on the original SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) plan, which was an insanely good deal. They have since done a few things to try to dissuade SERO users from continuing on that plan – first by making their best phones ineligible for that plan and then (once they received a ton of complaints about that tactic, I’m sure) backing off of that and instead raising the price for SERO plans by $10 (plus adding the additional $10 data fee that everybody on Sprint with a smartphone has to pay now I guess). Even with that 20 additional dollars per month on my bill, the SERO plan is still a much better deal than I can get anywhere else, so I’ve stuck with it all this time. Once they inevitably raise the price again or do something else to try to get people off of SERO, I’ll probably jump ship. It’s infuriating to see all these locations that are getting LTE when my area STILL doesn’t even have 4G. My local data speeds are pretty atrocious, but I guess I’m willing to accept that for now over paying the additional $40 – $50 I’d be paying per month at Verizon, etc.
Chris, SERO is the only thing keeping me on Sprint. I have no idea why someone who’s paying full price would stay, especially after the WiMAX debacle. Yes, I understand why it takes so long to build out LTE, but there’s no excuse for not upgrading their 3G sites earlier and more aggressively.
What I don’t understand is how they have the worst data experience EVER, anytime something goes wrong with your device they MAKE you take it to a repair center or they wont do anything, AND THEY’RE STILL RATED NUMBER 1 IN CX SERVICE! HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN!?! WHO DOES THIS SURVEY OR RESEARCH SPRINT!?! IM TOTALLY OUT OF SPRINT AFTER THEY KICK ME OFF FOR ROAMING AT MY GRANDPARENTS HOUSE LESS THAN TEN MILES AWAY EAT MY DUST ON BIG RED!
@Cody – I can relate. After getting my most recent phone (Samsung Galaxy SIII) and having more outgoing calls fail than go through (and who knows how many incoming calls failing since I probably never get them), I contacted Sprint support through chat. The rep said “The tool we use is showing issues with the handset. You will need to take the device into a service and repair center and have a tech look at device.” Pretty interesting, since the phone was practically brand new and I had the exact same issue with my previous phone. I never even bothered going to a repair center, I figured I’d end up just getting pissed off further and not get a resolution anyway.
This has to be bunk maybe for stock holders not for people who use Sprint.The LTE network is nowhere small towns and a few major cities.I don’t care how much they are ahead of schedule they are not where I live all we have is weak 3G. It must be Ipone sales they don’t care if LTE does not work,just like to look at shiny toys.
Sprints Lte network is not ahead of schedule. If you look at the project completion dates for most if not all the sites they are almost a year behind schedule. What I dont understand is why is sprint keeps launching new lte sites and spreading themselves so thin. Why dont they concentraten on finishing the existing sites then move on to the next.
IDK something tells me things are changing for the better…I am in NYC and it seems like in the last 36 hours sensorly has exploded with LTE..They seem to be trying to catch up or something cuz im seeing new LTE towers light up like crazy in NYC…On average about 3 to 4 new locations a day! Sprint my be working hard to turn things around…I was ready to quit on them too the boom…one week and purple everywhere all over sensorly…and 3g faster too…2mbs down in upgraded areas…Be patient!
They have been working on NYC since summer it was on every list.Here in the southwest (Vegas) to Cal. we are looking at late 2013 to see anything.By that time my contract will be almost up and it will be time to say goodbye.Oh and then they will kill unlimited data that’s the hint …
Decided to check Sensorly and LTE is FINALLY emerging in my state. It’s only a matter of time! (But hasn’t it always been?)
I actually jumped ship today. Wont be another 8-9 months before sprint even starts building LTE in my area. No mater how you paint it unlimited date at .87megabites was not worth the wait. Sad to say but had to say good but to my evo and hello to my note2 set to run like my evo lol
I have 5 lines and all 2 year commitments will be fulfilled by the end of the year. Living 25 miles from Seattle, we have no LTE (downtown Seattle does not either) and the 3g gets worse by the day. I will take my 5 lines to another carrier if nothing is done in the area in the next 6-8 months.
Can’t wait for my Sprint contract to be up this June, I will be jumping ship quickly. No LTE in my area despite all other carriers having no problem supporting their higher speed flavors. Even 3G service is dismal… and as a frequent business traveler I’ve never seen the Sprint network do all it is supposed to.
Well folks, I’ve finally done it. Terminated my contract and ported my phone number to prepaid Tmo, and ended up saving 60 dollars a month (geico may sue me for that phrasing). My Nexus4 is humming with hspa+ and the tmo lady said there is talk that it will get the support for LTE once it’s available nationwide. We’ll see but HSPA+ is more than what I ever got on Sprint anyway so i’m happy enough for now. No contract means I could always get an LTE phone if I choose. I suggest you all do the same and teach Sprint a lesson on customer care.
Thanks for sharing your experience, gilly. I’m on Sprint SERO and thought I couldn’t get a better deal with TMO, but after I perused its plans, I think I can get a prepaid one for less than $50 — what I’m paying on SERO — that would be a good fit for my usage habits.
Did you have any challenges porting from Sprint to TMO? Any tips for those of us considering the switch? I’m leaning toward the Nexus 4, too, and I’d be interested in how you think it compares to the original EVO, if you had that. I’m particularly interested in the Nexus’ camera quality because I think that the EVO’s is stellar.
Thanks.
The Nexus4 is a very pretty little phone. It runs very smoothly and easy to customize pretty much everything. One thing I forgot on prepaid plans is they don’t support google voice, so if that is important to you, make sure you go with a contract.
As for porting the phone number, you give the new carrier your contract number with sprint and your phone number and they do all the work for you in a minute. If you already have the phone, they will port in about 15 minutes. Sprint will automatically terminate your contract once you port.
Kind of sad that Verizon has their LTE in West Virginia and Sprint does not have LTE in Chicago, New York or Philadelphia, just saying.