Sprint

The Samsung Instinct just arrived in our offices about an hour ago and we now have our mini-review up. In the past, we saw the Instinct at CTIA, and recently learned more about it during a Sprint webinar, but we’re excited to finally have one of our own. The Instinct comes packaged in a small box that resembles the size of a hardcover book. Inside that box, you’ll find a ton of accessories. Along with the standard charger, the box contains a USB cable, 3.5mm headset, extra battery, a microSD card, a stylus, and a leather carrying sheath. Read the rest of this entry »

When Sprint recently announced that it lost nearly 1.1 million customers in the first quarter, things seemed to go from bad to worse for the No. 3 wireless carrier. Many reasons are cited for Sprint’s troubles, ranging from the botched integration with Nextel (which many believe is a dead technology) and poor customer service to the failed Pivot venture with cable providers and a lackluster handset lineup. But if CEO Dan Hesse is able to execute his turnaround plans, Sprint could be a legitimate threat to both AT&T and Verizon Wireless as the world moves to 4G. We asked Berge Ayvazian, chief strategy office of the Yankee Group, to give us a more clear understanding of what went wrong with Sprint and how he would fix things if he was in charge.

Is losing more than a million customers in a quarter as bad as it sounds?

Dan Hesse has moved the company to stratify their customer base by the desirability for profits, and they are trying to maintain and secure customers that have high value, and they don’t mind losing customers that they believe have low value. I think there are separate issues [with those customers], certainly credit issues, but they were customers that didn’t generate sufficient revenue and profit that didn’t justify the level of service that would be necessary to retain. He’s looking to move the company toward higher-value customers in general.

How can Sprint be fixed?

Almost inherently as a result of the merger, there was a real internal focus on alignment and organizational change. They need to put all that aside and get back to being one company focused on the customer and focused on the marketplace, not on their own internal merger activities. They’re going to go through a process now as they merge with Clearwire. They can’t afford to let that set of changes take their eye off the customers and the marketplace.

Second, they need to fix this [customer] care problem—this retention and churn problem. Read the rest of this entry »

In today’s New York Times, Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint, stated in regard to Sprint’s customer service problems, “The issues haven’t changed.” This statement came on the heels of the news that the carrier lost 1.09 million customers in the first quarter of 2008. Additionally, Bloomberg is reporting the Sprint may sell off some of its assets to make up for its $505 million net loss. However, it’s worth noting that Sprint also invested $236 million in WiMAX in the first quarter.

By comparison, T-Mobile announced last week that, according to a study by J.D. Power and Associates, it ranks highest in wireless retail customer satisfaction in the U.S. With rumors swirling that T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, is interested in buying Sprint, the marriage would most likely improve Sprint’s customer service.

Read the rest of this entry »

Like many other Sprint customers, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of the BlackBerry Curve 8330. Today it finally became available. However, I just purchased a new phone with a two-year contract from Sprint last year, long before the original Curve for AT&T was even released. As a result, I was only eligible for $75 off a new device when I signed up for another two-year contract, which makes the Curve an unattractive $524.

If I was a new Sprint customer, I could purchase it with multiple discounts and rebates for $179.99, but by staying loyal to Sprint for the last eight years, I was screwed. Or was I?

Read the rest of this entry »