Sprint Nextel Archive

  • Sprint and Virgin Mobile announces Beyond Talk $25 prepaid plan, new prepaid brand

    Sprint and Virgin Mobile announces Beyond Talk $25 prepaid plan, new prepaid brand

    Posted on May 6, 2010 | No Comments
    Sprint Nextel, through its Virgin Mobile brand, has announced a pretty big shift in its business model by offering new prepaid plans that begin at a mind-blowing $25 a month. Starting on May 12, three new Beyond Talk plans will include unlimited messaging, email, data, and web, as well as 300 minutes ($25), 1,200 minutes ($40), or unlimited minutes ($60) of talk time. And that ain't all -- BlackBerry data service can be added for an additional $10. Of course, you'll be paying full price for your phone, but at least the selection is indeed better than the usual pre-paid fare, including the Blackberry Curve 8530 ($300) and LG Rumor Touch ($150). We don't know how the other carriers are going to respond, but this does prompt the question: would you put up with Sprint's handset selection for a plan this cheap? PR after the break.

    Update: The Wall Street Journal has it that Sprint is also fixing to launch an entirely new prepaid brand, and while it declined to share a name for the new branch, it did confess that it "will let customers pay upfront for cell service by the minute rather than signing up for a month at a time." As you may expect, it'll be aimed at "middle-aged Americans who only use cellphones occasionally to make calls," and it'll join Boost Mobile, Assurance Wireless and Virgin Mobile in Sprint's rapidly expanding stable of prepaid sub-brands. Is it difficult to tell these guys love the prepaid and can't quite figure out how to make ends meet on the postpaid side? Nah...

    Continue reading Sprint and Virgin Mobile announces Beyond Talk $25 prepaid plan, new prepaid brand

    Sprint and Virgin Mobile announces Beyond Talk $25 prepaid plan, new prepaid brand originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 May 2010 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Sprint Nextel drops Motorola Brute on unsuspecting public

    Sprint Nextel drops Motorola Brute on unsuspecting public

    Posted on January 11, 2010 | No Comments
    brute_closedOh Nextel. The insults continue. First, your service continues to hemorrhage users, and now you get subjected to phones that look like the Motorola Brute. It's almost enough to make me feel a little sorry for you.

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  • Sprint bails on QChat, goes back to iDEN for all its PTT needs

    Sprint bails on QChat, goes back to iDEN for all its PTT needs

    Posted on December 2, 2009 | No Comments
    We saw the writing on the wall here for a while, but Sprint's now gone ahead and made it official that it'll be phasing out its push-to-talk offerings based on Qualcomm's QChat technology in favor of -- what else? -- good ol' iDEN. For Sprint, the move makes sense; when the EV-DO Rev. A-powered QChat system was introduced last year, a Sprint / Nextel schism was a very real possibility -- but since, the company has ended up pouring money into its Direct Connect network, sprucing it up, and placing a renewed emphasis on its prepaid Boost Mobile brand which shares Nextel's airwaves. There really isn't much use for two incompatible PTT systems on any network, so one had to go -- and yes, QChat is getting the boot. Existing customers will continue to be supported, but Sprint says that it won't be offering new models; good thing iDEN phones just got pretty for the first time.

    Sprint bails on QChat, goes back to iDEN for all its PTT needs originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year

    Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year

    Posted on December 2, 2009 | No Comments
    Privacy advocates and career criminals alike are in a lather over reports that between September 2008 and October 2009, Sprint Nextel ponied up customer location data to various law enforcement agencies more than 8 million times. Speaking at ISS World 2009 (a conference for law enforcement and telecom industry-types responsible for "lawful interception, electronic investigations and network Intelligence gathering"), Sprint Nextel's very own Paul Taylor, Manager of Electronic Surveillance, lamented on the sheer volume of requests the company's received in the past year for precise GPS data for Sprint customers. How did the company meet such high demand? Apparently, his team built a special "web interface" which "has just really caught on fire with law enforcement." We're glad that Sprint's plans to streamline the customer service experience don't stop short of those who serve and protect, but as the EFF points out, plenty of nagging questions remain, including: How many individual customers have been affected? Is Sprint demanding search warrants? How secure is this web interface? Check out an excerpt from Taylor's speech after the break.

    Continue reading Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year

    Sprint handed customer GPS data to law enforcement over 8 million times last year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Sprint finalizes Virgin Mobile USA acquisition, rushes out to snag some cranberry sauce

    Sprint finalizes Virgin Mobile USA acquisition, rushes out to snag some cranberry sauce

    Posted on November 24, 2009 | No Comments
    It's hard to say if these guys were just looking to get this whole thing finalized before the holiday break, but either way, all the requisite i's have been dotted and t's crossed. As of today, Sprint Nextel has acquired Virgin Mobile USA -- a process that began back in late July -- and frankly, there's nothing you can do about it. The move will obviously position Sprint as a bigger player in the prepaid space, but outside of that presumably true assumption, it's tough to say what else the newfound lovers will do together. So, will the Facebook statuses be updated soon as well? Hello?

    Sprint finalizes Virgin Mobile USA acquisition, rushes out to snag some cranberry sauce originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Sprint Nextel continues its buying spree with iPCS acquisition

    Sprint Nextel continues its buying spree with iPCS acquisition

    Posted on October 19, 2009 | No Comments
    According to MarketWatch, Sprint Nextel, the number three US wireless carrier, has agreed to buyout yet another of its affiliates, iPCS. Having just recently finalized a deal to acquire Virgin Mobile USA, Sprint is looking to further shore up its customer base with the addition of iPCS’ 700,000 subscribers. Not to mention, the acquisition will [...]

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  • Sprint and T-Mobile sitting in a (merger) tree?

    Sprint and T-Mobile sitting in a (merger) tree?

    Posted on September 14, 2009 | No Comments
    Paying attention, Verizon and AT&T? You might have a new monster of a mobile company (with lots of Android offerings) to deal with if Deutsche Telekom can successfully navigate a deal to purchase Sprint Nextel via its American arm, T-Mobile USA. After rumors of the German mobile giant’s interest in swallowing up the on again, off [...]

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  • Verizon, T-Mobile, and Alltel are best in the West, says J.D. Power and Associates

    Verizon, T-Mobile, and Alltel are best in the West, says J.D. Power and Associates

    Posted on August 27, 2009 | No Comments
    “The West is the best,” exclaimed The Doors front man, Jim Morrison, many moons ago. Now, according to J.D. Power and Associates (can’t forget the associates!), “the best in the West,” regarding wireless call quality, include Verizon, T-Mobile, and Alltel. Ok, so Jim Morrison and cell phones have about as much to do with one [...]

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  • FTC gives Sprint-Virgin Mobile merger a thumbs up

    FTC gives Sprint-Virgin Mobile merger a thumbs up

    Posted on August 24, 2009 | No Comments
    Earlier today, the FTC announced that Sprint Nextel’s proposed merger with Virgin Mobile USA has received antitrust clearance, i.e. the deal can move ahead. While still too early to tell if this is a good move for the struggling number 3 carrier, at least it looks like Sprint won’t have to deal with any legal [...]

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  • Sprint puts $483 million on the table for Virgin Mobile USA

    Sprint puts $483 million on the table for Virgin Mobile USA

    Posted on July 28, 2009 | No Comments
    In what looks to be shaping up to be another healthy week for M&A activity, Sprint Nextel is putting more of its focus on the prepaid cell phone service market with a $483 million deal to buy out Virgin Mobile USA. The acquisition, which was announced earlier this morning, calls for Sprint to pay $5.50 in stock for each Virgin Mobile share, a 31 percent premium to the MVNO's closing share price Monday of $4.21. The deal is expected to receive approval either in the fall or in early 2010. Sprint Nextel actually already owned 13.1 percent of Virgin Mobile, which uses the carrier's network to offer service to some 5.2 million subscribers. The deal cancels out Virgin's $248 million in outstanding debts and will unite Sprint's Boost service and Virgin Mobile under the same roof. Sprint says it would keep the Virgin Mobile brand and let Virgin Mobile USA's CEO Dan Schulman, run Sprint's entire prepaid business if and when the deal closes late this year or early next.

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  • Sprint set to acquire Virgin Mobile

    Sprint set to acquire Virgin Mobile

    Posted on July 28, 2009 | No Comments
    virginSprint and Virgin Mobile sitting in a tree, m-e-r-g-i-n-g. Well, not merging per se. More like Sprint is acquiring Virgin Mobile. Seems as though this whole "pre-paid, no contract" thing is a hit and Sprint, looking to gain some ground in the mobile arms race, wants in on the action.

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