Sprint—No More

I am 48 years old.

I have had a cell phone since the late-1990s.

I made a switch, in 2001, to Sprint with my connection to an employer giving me discounts.

This was in a period of my using a basic phone.

I was a late bloomer; but, finally, in 2015 I decided to move to a smartphone. 

I did my research, read Consumer Reports, and found that it would be necessary for me to switch providers. I was out of contract and, so, it was no problem. The best reviews for regard for overall service were with most favorable with Verizon—and that it is where I moved.

Five years later, and still with Verizon, and now T–Mobile has acquired Sprint. 

On August 2, the Sprint website ended. Try to go to the site, and it will take you to T–Mobile. (If you go to Wikipedia, it writes of Sprint for what it was; not is.)

Whenever an acquisition happens, it tends to be good for one faction—the corporation. Well, maybe the stockholders as well. Not always. An example with that is AT&T having acquired DirecTV in 2014, with the FCC giving approval in 2015, and with it becoming official shortly afterward. Nowadays, the financial experts think AT&T—which also owns HBO and others—fucked up and should get rid of DirecTV.

For some time, the four traditional mobile U.S. carriers were: Verizon, AT&T, T–Mobile, and Sprint. That was the order of their numbers in subscriptions. Sprint fell behind by, frankly, not getting with the times and by not making the right choices in continuing to build. In investing in itself. It became so bad for Sprint that it relinquished its former No. 3 spot to T–Mobile.

My choice with Verizon has to do with overall monthly plan cost. Four people, including myself, are on my account. How we use it. And that the service is good. But, if that changes, I have no problem moving on. And, perhaps, such a move may lead me to try T–Mobile.

It is interesting, especially in recent years, to see well-recognized brands go under. Whether it is in telecommunications or in other industry—like financial or retail—it serves as a reminder that no matter how strong that institution or that corporation had appeared to be, for quite some time, it can still end up with people leading it to its grave.