Am I the only one who considers Sprint/Nextel to be a non-factor anymore? I really don't see a "Big 3" at this point... this feels like deck chairs on the Titanic to me. God I love that phrase.

Sprint is a sinking ship. Anybody still on board is advised to flee as millions of customers have done or are in the process of doing.

It's ironic how they tried to stop the bleeding years ago with a Motorola Razr ripoff by Samsung called the A900. After failing, they've once again turned to Samsung for a copycat of the next hot phone with the Instinct.

Isn't that the textbook definition of insanity?

Two losers: Sprint + Motorola!!!! Sinking twice as fast...

Very sad! And that's before the new generation iPhones and Blackberrys appear!

They need a clean slate and just need to get rid of everyone, the Sprint and nextel images are tarnished time for a new image aka name change.

Why not just say f**k the sprint or nextel name and just keep one or label all phones sprint nextel. At least when Aol brought Timewarner they changed somethings to make it atleast look like they were doing good. All the BS before the sprint nextel merger you could atleast have you products take the name of the new company.

I could give a damn about iDEN the last thing i want to here is a bunch aholes chrimping each other if your letting everyone here your conversation why not just put the damn phone on speakerphone

Sprint just pick one iDEN or CDMA and be over with it

@utube2007: meant to put chirping not chrimping

Down with The Chirp, I (have always) say (...ed?).

@mcdonnr: If you love that phrase you should say it correctly, "...like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic..."

@jibbly: Ah, so you're 'THAT guy', who thinks that by going around correcting everyone's small mistakes (even though I, and I'm pretty sure everyone else in the world, knows the full phrase) you'll somehow make a difference somewhere. Well good job, you pissed me off. See the difference?

Fucking grammar nazi.

@mcdonnr: Never heard of the phrase but I still got it. You're right, it's a great phrase, works either way for me.

I'm actually gonna say "it's like straightening deck chairs..." if I have the chance to use it.

Well, I'm glad the point came accross despite my obvious omission. Either way, digression aside... Sprint is wasting its time. I know exactly THREE people who even HAVE Sprint's service, and it's because they're stuck in a contract (I'm working on bringing them over to the Death Star :-)

I just don't think Sprint has anything unique to offer at this stage. I think they tried the whole $99 deal out of desperation, and it backfired terribly for them. They've got nothing left. They missed out horribly on the 700MHz spectrums, and are losing customers in droves... C'mon, AT&T. Swoop in and consume them. Offer their existing customers equipment discounts on GSM devices (since they're all better than Sprint's expensive garbage, anyway), and take on the looming threat that Big Red is becoming.

Antitrust FTW!

Its funny how everyone is trashing Sprint. I live in Philly and Sprint service here is great. Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt Sprint's EVDO service better than Verizon? Sprint just came out with the $99 ALL YOU CAN EAT PLAN. All Sprint has to do is come out with some fresh phones and they are back on track. Nobody is saying that they will eclipse Verizon or AT&T in terms of total subscribers but they will at least challenge the BIG 2.

When you actually look at it, Sprint service is not that bad. You guys like to embellish on that alot!

I think most people are not directly trashing Sprint. The problem is that very niche market of Nextel with its chirping iDen network which creates a divergence from Sprint (a little more) successful business of CDMA.

@pdditty: Sprint isn't the one who has to come out with the phones, manufacturers do. If they see sprint in trouble (it is), then the likelihood of a bevy of cool, new phones is very slim.

And why, at this stage, would someone choose sprint over at&t or VW? It surely isn't coverage, and it surely isn't handset design. The $99 all you can eat plan? Someone choosing sprint for that would just as soon go metro or another regional carrier that has all you can eat for half that.

I see the writing on the wall, sprint, and it's all bad.

Here is a different view of nextel and the reason that sprint is still releasing phones for it. Business. There is stil a huge business market for the "chirp". Since they are bleeding badly in the consumer market they need to keep the customers that they have. Giving businesses a up todate Blackberry will keep businesses from trying other alternatives.

@iPhoneGroupie: I respect that position, but I'm not sure I agree. Here's why:

You're absolutely right on the "chirp" being a critical part of a niche market. The problem with a niche market, GENERALLY SPEAKING, is that it's usually quite small. Because of the advances with normal smartphones, that niche is shirnking rapidly. You saw what happened when VZW and AT&T tried to introduce it... it failed. No one cared. So I think the results here will be similar. It's a reintroduction of something that already has a shrinking userbase... it's like Novell. Sure, it's great if that's what you're used to and it's where the contract is. But when you look around and see everyone going to Exchange (or smartphones, in this case), and you can plainly see that there's big emrit to that change, it's hard to stick with the big N.

Eh?

It's called QChat. It integrates with BOTH iden and CDMA handsets. QChat will have the ability to be programmed into a a CDMA phone and walkie talkie an iden phone. The Sanyo 200 and 700 pro have this capability. Not sure why everyone thinks Sprint is failing.. I just switched a 200 plus business account to Sprint from Verizon. Sprint is still a contender and they have a lot of potential.

Not the first time this company has hit the bottom. They will bounce back. Oh and the instinct is not a knock off of the iphone.. The Voyager is.

Comment on Sprint to Revive Nextel With Wi-Fi BlackBerry and CDMA Phones It's extremely simple to jump on the bandwagon to sink Sprint with malicious rumors. So easy in fact any body can repeat ignorant statements. If you prefer social inequity and one monopolistic company like AT&T then go live in China. They have one phone company serving over 225 million people and no complaints....not one. Their churn is non-existent and their ARPU is very high. Customer service? Every time somebody complains they're gone. Fact is your holding a radio in your hands not a phone. Fact is radios respond to physical laws and have issues depending on frequency like the higher the frequency the broader the pipe and the lower the frequency the greater the RF penetration though solid objects. Fact is all five top American cell companies have all the same problems as one another with these radios. Fact is customer service is an individual experiment and each company dedicates more or less resources to it at any given time. My worst customer experience was with Verizon. Fact is some people are just ignorant enough to believe all the crap they hear and see on TV and parrot it on the Internet. Fact is you have a right to buy and praise what you believe is the best product. Having had products from all three majors in different markets my experience has been worst overall with AT&T. It has been best with Sprint. When you compare the audio quality (bandwidth) in every call they stand head and shoulders above the others, damn they didn't build a tower in my back yard. When you look at their technical prowess and what they have in store for data availability and speed for the future, I'm proud to support that competitive edge that is needed to keep everyone bigger than them honest. AT&T did not want to give us faster land line modem speed than 56 kbps because they did not want to upgrade your last 1/4 mile from copper to fiber....too expensive. You don't get innovation from being big. This country's capitalistic experiment has proven you get innovation from competition. Use your thinking ability....I know you can. Challenge all cell phone providers and cell phone builders to make it better and cheaper. **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)

@BenG9810: "Oh and the instinct is not a knock off of the iphone.. The Voyager is."

Why can't they both be knock-offs? Sure Voyager was marketed more as a knock-off... but that's only because VZW's marketing > Sprint's.

CHIRP!

*shudder*

@BenG9810: QChat is completely untested and being forced out because the federal government wants its iden technology and bandwidth back (which nextel has been using).

QChat is going to fail miserably, just like everything else that sprint has introduced since they bought nextel.

You switched 200 lines to sprint from verizon? Why in god's name would you do that? Hate your users?

I don't know why everybody is ripping on nextel. I have a small business and have all my drivers hooked up with nextel. Not only that but I have contacts in Peru, Mexico, and Argentina, not to mention here in the states,with whom I communicate with on a daily basis and do not have a problem with reception. All your bad comments have me second guessing my decision about buying the new blackberry. Please help with any VALID comments.

sprint needs to reorganize it's use of the nextel/chirp spectrum. Put that towards the regular voice or data badwidths and increace capacity/speed. If the "chirp" is still important to some people, like construction workers or something who use it like walkie talkies, move to using regular 'open' spectrum for it (like whatever spectrum those fun hand held walkie talkies are that get long range like [www.radioshack.com] )

I'd rather have an att phone with built in walkie talkie like that built in. Smaller antenna ok, bring the range in some, but who cares. It would give the same functionality as 'chirp' but not cost the provider anything since once it's in the phone they don't have to have anything to do with it. THAT my friends, is a good idea.

Still used heavily in the construction industry. Blackberry's with the push-to-talk feature are used by management people in that industry.