Why would they merge? I have no idea. Their services are incompatible so it would not expand sprint's network (iDEN and CDMA). Nextel got worse after the merger as their phone selection was barely updated. Spring suffered because it lost a lot of Nextel custumers in the merger. It amazes me how companies with vast amounts of employees can even make mistakes, but a mistake as big as this? I honestly cannot think of a single benefit to either of these companies from the merger.
Unrelated to the article, I don't see Sprint and Verizon going anywhere but down. Sprint seems to be dropping out already and pretty soon Verizon will be alone in the CDMA world. Phone companies will not want to make a special CDMA version just for one cellular service provider. This proprietary technology will not last no matter how many arguments you make about how it is better. To the end-user the only difference is not being able to transfer their contact to a new phone using a SIM card. I enjoy not having to turn off my phone at concerts (no dit--dit-dit-dit--dit-dit-dit noise), but other than that there is no difference. If speaker companies shielded their products properly there would be no benefit to CDMA.
I happen to have sprint and as I haven't had another cellular service I have none to compare to, but cellular service companies seem just plain evil here in the US. They don't allow unlocked models for the most part. It is more expensive to buy a SIM card alone than to buy one of those "free phones" and just take the card out. They install proprietary operating systems, restrict bluetooth transfers, make it hard to connect your laptop to the phone and the list goes on and on... It costs me $.30 just to receive a text!! Anyone with an "unlimited" plan could make me broke on a whim.
Why has this happened? I believe it is the contracts that people sign. With these contracts, no matter how bad your cellular service provider is, its not worth the $300 to switch.
If sprint could change all this, they could renew themselves, people would be flooding toward sprint. Or would they? Once again the $300 that it costs just to switch would outweigh the benefits.
If sprint could provide cheap, contractless phones and make their service way better than anyones, they wouldn't need a contract to enctice people to stay. People would stay without contracts and they would get many new customers in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment