Sprint Brand Goes Away August 2nd
Network & Phone Compatibility
If the Sprint brand goes away, I'm assuming the network ID for Sprint phones would also swap over to T-Mobile. That said, how will this affect coverage and network access? Currently, many Sprint customers still have older flip phones that are CDMA only. Moreover, the backbone of Sprint's voice and messaging network is 1X.
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TMO will not be able to sunset CDMA until a plan is developed to migrate those customers over to VoLTE capable devices...they will start will bill inserts, then text message campaign, and finally, TMO will have to purchase devices for those affected customers. It will not be a cheap program, thats for true!
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My son’s LG V30 has that capability, plus the T-Mobile LTE radios. However, my wife, mother-in-law, and I all own older iPhones without either. I hope they offer some discounted phones when that time comes.
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This is true but most customers have a smartphone capable of VoLTE. I think anything newer than a Samsung s7 and iPhone 6 will offer VoLTE. I would say most that have a non-VoLTE device need to upgrade anyway
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What's happening now is just about branding and marketing, mostly for new customers.
The device/network transition will necessarily take much longer. I'm sure T-Mobile is eager to phase out "legacy" Sprint network elements quickly, including all of CDMA. But that type of transition takes time. Two years is about as fast as it's ever been done, and that was when T-Mobile bought MetroPCS, which also had a legacy CDMA network. T-Mobile closed its acquisition of Metro in May 2013, and shut down the legacy CDMA network in June 2015:
https://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=16002 »
The device/network transition will necessarily take much longer. I'm sure T-Mobile is eager to phase out "legacy" Sprint network elements quickly, including all of CDMA. But that type of transition takes time. Two years is about as fast as it's ever been done, and that was when T-Mobile bought MetroPCS, which also had a legacy CDMA network. T-Mobile closed its acquisition of Metro in May 2013, and shut down the legacy CDMA network in June 2015:
https://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=16002 »
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True, and the iDEN shutdown and transition to PTT over VOIP (rarely used now) took about seven years, when Sprint and Nextel merged. Your two-year timeframe sounds about right. MAYBE they’ll have some sweet deals when the zero hour approaches. My family and I did get the Kyocera DuraXT’s back in 2012 for 99¢ each when iDEN went away.
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Rich, same thing happened when AT&T bought Leap (CRICKET), who also had a legacy CDMA network. I agree with you 100%
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Exactly right and this will still take time but potentially less because the vast majority of sprints customers have LTE phones. T-Mo could in fact make the transition on an account by account basis. My Sprint account has only newer VoLTE compatible devices and I could be transitioned with no ill effects.
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