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This change is huge. These discounts are the only reason a lot of people I personally know are with Sprint. Now, the only thing keeping me is the GV integration. But I can get that by porting my number to GV. Might finally be getting a GSM Nexus now.
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Jul 18, 2012 18:21
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Sprint never upped my discount from 20% to 23% with my current employers so I guess this may be the only way to get them to listen to me.
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Jul 18, 2012 18:27
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Cmdr. Shepard posted:Are you going to get a better deal elsewhere? I was considering jumping to Verizon anyway, but if my bill is going to go up $27/mo. on Sprint, might as well make it $37/mo. and get to bundle it to my Comcast bill for maximum savings.
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Jul 18, 2012 18:40
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Duckman2008 posted:Oh, and apparently we had a bunch of issues with the Epic Touch going to ICS (no surprise), I'm surprised that the FF18 build, which was leaked quite some time ago, ended up being the final OTA. Folks on xda had identified issues with that build like they always do, but more to the point, it's believed that FF18 suffers from a nasty brick bug in the MoviNAND firmware. If you do "wipe data/factory data reset" from stock recovery, that's (believed) to have a high-chance of irreversibly corrupting the eMMC sector translation table. Samsung's past fix for this issue on the GT-I9100 was to remove the MMC_CAP_ERASE capability from the kernel mshci driver, which has not been done on the official E4GT ICS release. We know the E4GT MoviNAND is vulnerable to this brick bug, many folks have been bitten by it. However, Samsung/Sprint claim "it's fixed", which, it might be via another workaround that's OK with stock recovery (but not guaranteed with custom recoveries). The issue is that it's easy to check if the bug is really fixed, but if it's not, it'll sacrifice a device, so nobody wants to check if Samsung/Sprint is right on this. Duckman2008 posted:And honestly, most people who had a Nexus S and got ICS hated it because "it's so different than what I am used to." As it is, this half-assed "we'll release ICS but keep TouchWiz looking like the old version" is the worst of both worlds. Duckman2008 posted:If you have a current discount with Sprint, you will be required to re verify your discount anytime you upgrade after 20 months. If you don't, discount gets removed 30 days after you get an upgrade. I know that, internally, WiMAX plans are distinct from LTE plans, and whenever someone goes from a WiMAX to LTE device, it's a plan change internally, even if it goes by the same customer-facing name. In other words, if someone's on a WiMAX phone now and switches to a used or retail LTE phone in the future, is that going to trigger a discount reauth? Jensen posted:This change is huge. These discounts are the only reason a lot of people I personally know are with Sprint. rock2much posted:Sprint never upped my discount from 20% to 23% with my current employers so I guess this may be the only way to get them to listen to me. I've only tried that with T-Mobile, but it worked easily enough. Edit: Whoops, lopped off the beginning. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 18:49
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My discount that I will be losing in October will be 27%. Considering I have 5 lines of smart phones that will be quite a jump (I bet over $300). I would like to jump Verizon for many reasons. Mainly because they have had LTE in Knoxville for over a year and I bet it will be a year or so before Sprint has LTE here. That said moving 5 lines = a very big deal. I would have to get new phones on all of them. Lord I have to think.ExcessBLarg! posted:Discounts they no longer qualify for? Or just discounts in general? I know it is bullshit on my part some (that I use it but I am no longer qualify), but I look at as my discount for putting up with the awful speeds I get here. nate fisher fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 18:50
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nate fisher posted:I know it is bullshit on my part some (that I use it but I am no longer qualify), but I look at as my discount for putting up with the awful speeds I get here. I guess I just wonder how many folks on Sprint are riding on old discounts they no longer qualify for. I guess it could be a fair number.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:01
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ExcessBLarg! posted:
I've heard a lot of that too. One of my friends the other day mentioned how his coworker was bitching that ICS "ruined her Razr" and wished it could go back to the way it was. Personally, I think she must be crazy as ICS on the Razr is so much better than Gingerbread, but I've heard more normal people bitching about what was done to their phone as a result of an upgrade rather than bitching that they aren't on the latest and greatest.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:06
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ExcessBLarg! posted:You can't roll into a corporate store and ask them to fixup your discount, not leaving until they do? I guess I'll have to. In the past they told me to just email and wait 2 billing cycles but it never shows.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:17
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Sure. I know I'd be long gone from Sprint if $50/mo SERO wasn't the cheapest option for my usage habits. I actually called customer service a couple of weeks ago and talked to a girl about switching to a military discount since I no longer qualified for the Best Buy one. If the military discount was equal to or more than the one I already have then I would have switched but she was cool about it and told me that I should just use the Best Buy discount until Sprint changes its policy (which came sooner than I thought it would). Oh well, Iâm cancelling my line in April for deployment anyway so I guess I'll just hop on the EPRP bandwagon when I get back sometime next year. Hooray Dialysis fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 19:24
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Deathlove posted:I was considering jumping to Verizon anyway, but if my bill is going to go up $27/mo. on Sprint, might as well make it $37/mo. and get to bundle it to my Comcast bill for maximum savings. Knoxville is scheduled for NV/LTE this year, in the August to October timeframe. No idea if that affects your plans but there you go.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:39
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So can I switch from a normal account to EPRP? I'm looking at going from a 23 to 15% discount then. drat.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:39
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nate fisher posted:
I will lose a ~25% discount I've had illegitimately for something like 8 or 9 years. Sprint's data speeds are pretty awful, but I was saving a fair bit of money so it was worth it. If I'm only saving a few bucks a month after I lose the discount - I might as well just get REAL data speeds on another carrier. Luckily I just upgraded my phone so I probably have another year or so until this will affect me. We'll see where NV stands by then.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:43
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TLG James posted:So can I switch from a normal account to EPRP? I've actually ignored all this talk about EPRP because it was always worse than my corporate discount. Now I'm interested in what it is/how it works.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:44
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Duckman2008 posted:It's time for another session of sprint policy change roundup. This one is really simple: Out of curiosity, when does this go into effect? I ask because last night I upgraded from my Evo 4G to the SGS3 at BB and was never asked about my CU discount. I'm still a member there so it's no big deal, I'm just wondering if I should expect to have to re-verify at some point or if I snuck in just before the policy started. ExcessBLarg! posted:I know that, internally, WiMAX plans are distinct from LTE plans, and whenever someone goes from a WiMAX to LTE device, it's a plan change internally, even if it goes by the same customer-facing name. I didn't know this before, but I learned about it last night at BB doing my upgrade. I bought it online using the store pickup option and chose to keep my current plan. That caused issues during activation through BB's system, since it needed to change that plan code for the premium data but couldn't since I'd specified I wanted to keep the same plan. Ended up having to call Sprint to get them to override it from their end.
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Jul 18, 2012 19:45
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Only new subscribers can get EPRP so you'll probably have to eat an ETF to get it immediately, or port the number to GV and back if you're out of contract.
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Jul 18, 2012 20:24
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Ender.uNF posted:Knoxville is scheduled for NV/LTE this year, in the August to October timeframe. No idea if that affects your plans but there you go. I know you meant this for me. I just checked Google and Knoxville goes up the same time as Nashville in Round 2. Considering they never finished WiMax here I am shocked. I guess LTE is a lot different because they are going to cover all of East Tennessee (804 sites).
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Jul 18, 2012 20:29
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TLG James posted:So can I switch from a normal account to EPRP? Of course, if there's another person sharing a family plan with you or something, and you can get that person to register for EPRP in his/her name, then you can port your numbers to GV and back (or just to GV and leave them there). Jensen posted:I've actually ignored all this talk about EPRP because it was always worse than my corporate discount. Now I'm interested in what it is/how it works. The big downside is that you can only do subsidized upgrades through Sprint's website, telesales, or Sprint corporate-owned stores, i.e., AmazonWirelss/Best Buy equipment sales are not possible. The big upside is that anything account related is done through the EPRP number in the OP, who are super-friendly folks that are very competent at helping you, as opposed to the usual *2 roulette. mastershakeman posted:Only new subscribers can get EPRP so you'll probably have to eat an ETF to get it immediately,
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Jul 18, 2012 20:38
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Sprint's new motto should be... Because everyone else just sucks a little bit more.
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Jul 18, 2012 21:42
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Duckman2008 posted:
My mother got a Verizon S3 at launch. On day one she told me she hated the new version of Android. On day three she told me she loved it. If my non-technophile mother can embrace GB->ICS almost overnight what the hell is these people's problem? I played with it for half an hour and even with touchwiz was impressed. The only thing keeping me from rooting my E3D to install ICS is a serious lack of free time to figure out how. Loucks fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Jul 18, 2012 |
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Jul 18, 2012 22:31
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It's really easy, but I didn't notice any real improvements going from GB to ICS. I think on slower phones the speedup was noticable but it really isn't on this.
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Jul 18, 2012 22:40
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nate fisher posted:I know you meant this for me. I just checked Google and Knoxville goes up the same time as Nashville in Round 2. Considering they never finished WiMax here I am shocked. I guess LTE is a lot different because they are going to cover all of East Tennessee (804 sites). Yeah, I want to repeat this for everyone because it is very important and so many people aren't aware, due to Sprint's inept marketing:  Sprint's Network Vision is a complete replacement of their entire cellular network, from the radios on the towers all the way to their core network. Every. Single. Piece. All switches. All cabinets. All backhaul. All cores. The only variable is how soon you get the upgrade... Now for some, 2013 for most, and 2014 for all. The new network can dynamically reconfigure to change the frequency mix for load, so instead of waiting on a truck roll to convert some channels from voice to data or 3G to LTE, Sprint can hit a few keystrokes.In addition, every single one of Sprint's 38,000 3G towers are getting gigabit or better backhaul and LTE. Every. Single. One. They are also backtracking on 100% teardown of iDEN and are scheduled to keep a few towers in areas where they can get good coverage increases. The new backhaul can be bumped in 50Mbps increments or more so any congestion means a few keystrokes, work order hits the AAV vendor, and within a few hours the gigabit pipe is now throttled to 300Mbps instead of 250Mbps. No more waiting four weeks for the telco to provision T1s. At sites with microwave backhaul, the towers with fiber will often have 10gig links. They are also deploying Microwave rings where possible so one outage doesn't bring down a bunch of towers. The mix is 20% microwave, 80% fiber.Almost every person reading these forums that has a phone with "Sprint" in the status bar will have excellent 3G and LTE no latter than end of 2013.
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Jul 18, 2012 23:25
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Wow that is pretty interesting. I am pretty sure that the new iPhone will have LTE and hearing this pulls me back closer to Sprint.
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Jul 18, 2012 23:32
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Jensen posted:I will lose a ~25% discount I've had illegitimately for something like 8 or 9 years. Sprint's data speeds are pretty awful, but I was saving a fair bit of money so it was worth it. If I'm only saving a few bucks a month after I lose the discount - I might as well just get REAL data speeds on another carrier.
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Jul 18, 2012 23:45
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brc64 posted:This change is going to gently caress me so bad... I've got a 4 line share plan with about 25% discount from a company my wife used to work at. It's going to be time to start seriously comparing pricing with Verizon and T-Mobile once this kicks in... But ever since February or so, corporate discounts have only applied to the primary line anyway. So you haven't been getting 25% off all 4 line's recurring monthly chargers for some 5 months now.
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Jul 19, 2012 00:11
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SpelledBackwards posted:But ever since February or so, corporate discounts have only applied to the primary line anyway. So you haven't been getting 25% off all 4 line's recurring monthly chargers for some 5 months now. Right, but I'm still looking at a significant price hike. The discount is on the $110 base rate. So that's going to be another $30 increase. The fact that I have 4 lines just means I pay that much more on top of everything else... I'm going to be looking at close to $250/month moving forward. Need to see how that compares with the competition.
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Jul 19, 2012 00:21
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Ender.uNF posted:Almost every person reading these forums that has a phone with "Sprint" in the status bar will have excellent 3G and LTE no latter than end of 2013. One of the things that sucks is that I regularly travel between three Sprint markets and none of them are officially in the first two deployment rounds, which means 2013 at the earliest. Each of those markets has WiMAX though, and did within six months of the EVO 4G's release. I mean, it's not horrible, Sprint's voice service still works pretty well. But the funny thing is that I've actually had quite good luck with WiMAX, being able to use it in basements even, and here I am on an SGS3 and it took a full minute to pull up Google News this morning because that's how bad their EVDO sucks.
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Jul 19, 2012 01:30
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Oh I agree and they admitted on an investor call today that they wasted too much energy on WiMax to the detriment of their 3G network. What follows is just my uneducated guesswork.... Sprint had a looming deadline on all that 2.5Ghz spectrum they bought; build it or lose it. They also know that the future will require more dense cell sites on higher frequencies in major cities due to traffic. Deploying 700Mhz is terrible somewhere like NYC because of self-interference from nearby towers requires you to greatly downtilt the antennas and reduce power - thus you end up with the same number of towers anyway. So in some sense they saw the writing on the wall. Problem is LTE wasn't ready. So they licensed their spectrum to Clearwire and got a bunch of other companies to kick in money, trying to build what momentum they could off WiMax and foisting much of the cost off themselves in the process. I think they also knew they needed the iPhone and it was going to be expensive. They also knew deploying LTE would be expensive, so they gave up some control but secured cash flow that would otherwise be debt on their books for a useless WiMax network. Now that LTE is ready they can do what they should have done two years ago... Only this time the equipment they are deploying is much cheaper to operate, performs much better, is software-upgradable to LTE Advanced, and can be reconfigured without truck rolls. The other thing is they should have ripped iDEN down two years ago as well. Estimates are they may end up saving half a billion a year just from the thinning they are doing right now. That's money wasted on a crappy 2G network they could have been using to accelerate Network Vision. Anyway in my view, the 100Mhz of Clear spectrum is going to give Sprint the ability to keep unlimited data for a long, long time. I also expect Clear to hold on just until Sprint reaches profitability then to have Sprint buy them out for cheap to bring that spectrum in-house, but not before Sprint tries to needle some more spectrum out of the FCC. If the long game goes well they should be able to put the screws to VZW and ATT. Their wholesaling/MVNO platform also gives them a piece of the prepaid and device pie. The only dumb decision they really made was spinning off Century/Embarq since now they don't own any ILEC lines to use as leverage to get the others to play ball. I expect to see them attempting to stifle Sprint's fiber backhaul in the future. In fact that ILEC division has been deploying fiber and making a ton of money - cash flow that would be helping Sprint a lot right now. Whoever made that decision should be drawn and quartered.
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Jul 19, 2012 04:53
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I only understand half the poo poo you say, but man it's always a good read!
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Jul 19, 2012 05:33
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I don't know why Omaha gets to wait for two years despite being really close to KC. It's like mowing the lawns of everyone in the neighborhood and then going back and mowing your backyard last.
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Jul 19, 2012 05:34
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Fyi for the discount changes it only applies if you sign a new contract ala how Verizon is grandfathering unlimited data. So anyone here with XX discount that can't verify it, you can keep it by buying phones outright. Not that I am saying that is the best option, but a general clarification. Policy goes into place July 29th, so if you can upgrade now do it.
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Jul 19, 2012 05:50
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The Entire Universe posted:I don't know why Omaha gets to wait for two years despite being really close to KC. Omaha's waiting 2 years for LTE??
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Jul 19, 2012 06:10
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ThermoPhysical posted:Omaha's waiting 2 years for LTE?? Pretty sure we aren't on any of the named cities lists, meaning we must be with the "everyone else" category.
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Jul 19, 2012 06:55
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The Entire Universe posted:Pretty sure we aren't on any of the named cities lists, meaning we must be with the "everyone else" category. Well, I can't say I'm too surprised. There's no WiMax here anyway. Still weird though.
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Jul 19, 2012 07:12
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You can't just go by that as the markets are based on Sprint's internal divisions... For example Knoxville is actually part of the "Nashville" market so it is part of the same schedule. Nebraska is part of the Iowa market. No schedule yet so it will probably be late 2013. They are going roughly in population order, starting with the top 10 metro areas, thought for some markets it will proceed slower like NYC due to beauracracy and laziness. I know SF is being held up by NIMBY opposition, anti-RF nutters, and the general amount of fuckery that delays all projects there. Meanwhile Chicago is truckin' like a boss. They turned on 60 sites in the last week.
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Jul 19, 2012 07:52
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Ender.uNF posted:You can't just go by that as the markets are based on Sprint's internal divisions... For example Knoxville is actually part of the "Nashville" market so it is part of the same schedule. Where does Arizona fit in all of this (specifically Flagstaff)?
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Jul 19, 2012 08:28
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ThermoPhysical posted:Well, I can't say I'm too surprised. There's no WiMax here anyway. There was at one point like 2 solid blocks of coverage near the river in downtown Omaha. Pretty much till next spring I'm going to be in and out of the country, my contract is up in early next summer. Looks like I'll have to do some math calculations on price savings of buying a phone outright.
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Jul 19, 2012 13:35
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Duckman2008 posted:Fyi for the discount changes it only applies if you sign a new contract ala how Verizon is grandfathering unlimited data. So anyone here with XX discount that can't verify it, you can keep it by buying phones outright. What's involved in verifying your discount?
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Jul 19, 2012 14:51
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Ender.uNF posted:Meanwhile Chicago is truckin' like a boss. They turned on 60 sites in the last week. Wait, really? Service is horrible throughout Chicago, and everyone I know with Sprint is really frustrated with it. What the hell?
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Jul 19, 2012 15:09
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Evil Crouton posted:What's involved in verifying your discount? Sprint isn't picky, paystub, ID, email, etc all work. Either just respond yes with your work email or submit a form with proof.
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Jul 19, 2012 15:11
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I WANT to believe in Sprint's network vision as I view Sprint as the only way to keep Verizon and AT&T in check. That being said, I don't see how they are going to pull it off. The end result being talked about here is an LTE network nearly the size of Verizon's with backhaul to match in less time than Verizon is taking to get there while simultaneously having a smaller subscriber base and lower margins on service to fund the thing. My Verizon contract expires in September of 2013 and if Pittsburgh has significant LTE coverage by then with the backhaul to match, I could easily see myself jumping ship over costs. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if they manage to deliver.
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Jul 19, 2012 15:16
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