Sprint rolls out 30-day trial, expands LTE, Spark, HD Voice

Sprint’s network challenges have been well known for some time as the carrier has struggled through its Network Vision upgrade program and resulting hit to its customer base and network quality.
In an attempt to at least persuade customers to give its network a try, Sprint today rolled out a new 30-day guarantee program that will refund customers all charges related to using the carrier’s service should they not stay with the carrier past the first 30 days. The refunds would include the price of the device and all service and activation fees.
The move follows on the heels of T-Mobile US last week announcing its Test Drive program that allows customers to trial service for one week. These types of offerings are not new, as operators have been dabbling with such “free” trials for years. Verizon Wireless in 2007, for example, rolled out a “test drive” promotion that refunded customer’s “their money for their calls, equipment, activation fee and taxes, as well as release them from their contract without an early termination fee when they return their phone within the test drive period.”
Sprint has been hit with customer defections tied to network quality issues, which it has explained as a “pardon our dust” phase of its Network Vision program. That $5 billion program has seen the carrier basically replace all of its legacy network equipment with new hardware that can support LTE services as well as multiple spectrum bands.
Consumer surveys and independent drive testing has shown Sprint’s network typically falling behind its larger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility in reach and quality and coming in neck-and-neck with that of smaller rival – and potential acquisition target – T-Mobile US.
LTE, Spark expanded
Sprint also said it has expanded its LTE network to 28 new markets, pushing its total nationwide footprint to covering “more than” 225 million potential customers across 471 cities. That expansion appears to be nominal compared with the 225 million pops the carrier said its previous expansion in late April managed to reach, this despite the latest expansion including such populated markets as Seattle; Cleveland; and San Jose, Calif. The carrier did say it remained on track to cover 250 million pops with LTE services by mid-year, which would mean about 25 million more pops covered in the next week.
T-Mobile US claimed last week that its LTE network would hit 230 million pops covered by mid-year on its way to covering 250 million pops by the end of 2014. Verizon Wireless claims its LTE network covers more than 300 million pops, while AT&T Mobility is rapidly approaching the 300-million-pop-covered mark.
Sprint’s network plans have gone through leadership changes in recent months as the carrier promoted former Clearwire CTO John Saw, who was SVP of technical architecture at Sprint, to chief network officer where he will be reporting directly to Sprint’s CTO Stephen Bye. The move followed the departure of Bob Azzi, SVP of networks at Sprint, and Steve Elfman, president of network operations.
Sprint’s multi-band Spark network also received a coverage boost, with the carrier adding three new markets to the list in St. Louis, and Winston-Salem and Greensboro, N.C. The service is now available in 27 cities, with plans still on the table to reach 100 million pops covered by year end. Sprint noted that the Spark service can provide downlink speeds in excess of 50 megabits per second, though customers will more likely see speeds between six and 15 Mbps. Those speeds are just slightly higher than the six- to eight-megabits-per-second downlink speeds Sprint claims for its regular LTE network.
The Spark coverage is also expected to receive support from Sprint’s plans to deploy 8T8R radios at cell sites, which the carrier said boost capacity and speeds of its 2.5 GHz-based service. Those radios are scheduled to begin being deployed this summer.
Looking to expand coverage beyond the 250 million pops it expects to be able to cover with its own spectrum and network, Sprint announced a number of initiatives at the recent Competitive Carriers Association event in San Antonio in an attempt to lure coverage support from rural operators. Those include tapping into Sprint’s Network Vision program, the 700 MHz spectrum resources of rural carriers and a growing device ecosystem able to support Band Class 12. The first fruits of that offering surfaced last week as Sprint announced LTE roaming deals with a dozen rural operators.
Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son also offered up financial assistance to rural operators in order to expand such agreements.
HD Voice goes nationwide
As for the voice side, Sprint said its HD Voice offering was now available across its network, with support available through 28 postpaid and 33 prepaid devices. The carrier noted that approximately 16 million customers were in possession of a compatible handset. The offering is designed to eliminate background noise on voice calls and provide audio quality superior to wireline connections. Customers on both ends of the call must have compatible handsets and be in markets where the service is available to benefit from the offering.
The service is not compatible with voice over LTE, which is what is being deployed by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile US, though both services are similar in that they take advantage of data networks to provide voice services. T-Mobile US last week said it had expanded VoLTE service to 15 markets, while AT&T Mobility has announced coverage in a handful of markets and Verizon Wireless is set for a nationwide launch later this year.
Wi-Fi international
In the coming weeks, Sprint said it planned to launch international Wi-Fi calling that will allow customers to make calls and send text messages via Wi-Fi from 100 countries. The carrier did not announce any pricing for the service, though it’s expected that the service would allow for such calls and messaging services to be performed using a customer’s regular phone number.
Sprint noted earlier this year it was focusing more on voice-over-Wi-Fi services instead of the VoLTE market. Sprint VP of technology Ron Marquardt said that with 80% of network traffic already moving over Wi-Fi networks, voice-over-Wi-Fi was the next logical step.
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