During the 4th quarter earnings conference call Sprint also discussed future WiMax and QChat plans.
For WiMax, Sprint discussed taking advantage of a three year head start on the rest of the industry.
No comment was given on a partnership or source of outside funding, but did say talks were ongoing with companies about both options and should have an update in the near future.
For QChat it was announced that the program is in its beta stage.
This stage involves actual customers using the service to ensure its quality before a commercial launch. Sprint hopes to begin rollouts in the second quarter of the year. The stated goal is to cover 20 of the top markets by the end of 2008.
It is also worth noting that CTIA is scheduled for April 1st-3rd. This is the beginning of the second quarter and would provide a superb stage for announcing such a product. Stay tuned to PhoneNews.com for any announcements as they appear.
I hope los angles is one of the first markets on the roll out…
Does this site work for Sprint? It seems like all articles post Sprint in some favorable light despite the dismal outlook.
When AT&T and VZW posted their unlmited plans, it didn’t make front page here this fast.
The roots of this site are in the former Sprint PCS Info page and most of our long-time readership and forum membership reflects this as well.
No wonder.
I would like to clear up a few mis-conceptions that may have come from this line of questioning.
We are not biased to Sprint. Not in the slightest. When we analyze Sprint, half the time we’re accused of being too critical, the other half we’re accused of being too easy on Sprint. It’s a no win situation… but we realize the vast majority of readers think we’re giving Sprint a fair, balanced depiction, free from the doom and gloom, and free from the hype.
Sprint PCS Info was one of the sites that merged to form PhoneNews.com, however, we have no bias other than to the consumer. If you look at our past reporting, you’ll see we’ve called Sprint out just as much as we’ve pointed out where they’re better.
I have a comment about how this happened, this is especially relevant as I am the one that took the notes and submitted them.
I submitted info and renamed a thread about verizon beating sprint to the unlim plans as soon as they were announced. I tried to get writers to post the articles but all were out of touch.
I being a Sprint employee had inside knowledge that this was being announced via the conf call so of course I woke up, took notes and had them submitted before the Sprint press release was on the site. It took over 2 hours to get the article up. Long after some of our competitor sites as well.
I choose not to write news as I am clearly biased towards a certain company, but I feel that by posting competitors advantages it makes Sprint respond faster with their own.
Originally this site was called PCSintel.com as in Sprint PCS. So yes this site does tend to inform more on the Sprint Nextel side but in all fairness to now phonenews.com they do also post informing negative information about Sprint Nextel or any other carrier for the record.
I am currently a Sprint Nextel corporate retail employee. I attended the all employee call this morning that was mandatory for all employees. I do have to say that this site was quick to post the inside information that was just released to employees. As soon as the meeting was over I browsed pcsintel.com as I usually do daily and was surpassed to see the headline about the “simply unlimited” plan Sprint just announced.
Actually, PCS Intel got its name from the fact that all carriers use the PCS band… we covered all carriers on PCS Intel. But as we grew, we felt changing the name to PhoneNews.com best represented the coverage we were serving on PCS Intel.
I will say our brand change didn’t cause any multi-billion dollar write-offs… and unlike Sprint Nextel, we’ve gained many, many more new users.
Lets see, go to other sites that are VZW and AT&T fanboys and it’s VZ this, VZ that. They seem to make it seem that it was Verizon who came up with the unlimited plan idea, only to make states “Sprint has not yet stated they would do this…” News Flash. Sprint already had unlimited plans, yep, only in 5 markets, but so what. When VZW started deploying EVDO, it didn’t go nationwide as fast as Sprint did. So bottom line.. I don’t think this site is bias towards Sprint. They call it like they see it. Sprint was the 1st to “suggest” unlimited plans. VZ was just a schoolyard copycat. AT&T, followed, then T-M. Now, that Sprint is out with their plan, others just can’t stand it they are getting raped by VZ and AT&T for what they get vs cost. Sprint gets the credit they deserve. The customer service issue is blown way out of proportion but will die down anyway as they are starting to learn how to lick it’s customers behinds just like VZW has been doing. I’m for the underdog. Go Sprint! And phonenews.. you just keep doing the outstanding job your doing.
Now back to the original topic. I’ve been using the IC902 Nextel phone. Get Sprint coverage at my home but I’m right on the coverage fringe for the Nextel service. Cannot wait for QCHAT to come out — been holding off upgrading my wife phone with one that can have Direct Connect over the CDMA Network. I really like my IC902 so I may hold off upgrading mine for a bit to see what phones come out. Bottom line………. our wait is almost over. You haven’t done the Sprint Speed bit until you hit a button, hear a chirp and get instant gratification….
HA! Getting ready to ROCK and ROLL
Dan, you will like Qchat. It was tested in most markets and works as advertised. I’ve used RL before and used a some hybrids for testing. The Qchat, to me, seems faster then the orig PTT from nextel. Even the phones used (sanyo) were nice too (not being big bulky motorola’s. I think your wil be pleased you waited. 🙂
iDENN PTT is still faster (under 1 second setup). The new phones are nicer, but they are a different PTT experience and slower. With iDENsubscribership down adn Qchatc oming this will hurt iDEN more. So which is it Hesse … “Build iDEN subcibers” or “Nextel is a sub-brand”. With LMR interoperability looming as well the inevitable spin-off of Nextel will leave less than the husk of the company that came into the “merger”. More than likely all of Nextel equipment will be renamed Boost after 2009. Because all of the capacity is built aleady for 22 Million subscribers, we will see Nextel/Boost around for years after the Qchat release.