Sprint

Softbank Confirms 70 Percent Acquisition of Sprint

Softbank has officially announced that it is buying a 70 percent stake in US mobile carrier Sprint. The Japanese company is ponying up a total of $20.1 billion for the privilege. https://gizmodo.com/wsj-japanese-carrier-softbank-to-buy-sprint-5950842 Softbank is paying $12.1 billion to buy existing shares in Sprint, and a further $8 billion for new shares that the network is…

WSJ: Japanese Carrier Softbank to Buy Sprint?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Japanese mobile carrier Softbank is in advanced talks to acquire US operator Sprint for a cool $12.8 billion. That’s a hell of a lot of cash, and a big gamble for Softbank itself. Currently Japan’s third biggest provider, it would mark its first attempt to go global…

Yes, Sprint is suffering a pretty big outage in the Pacific Northwest right now. [Techcrunch]

Sprint Now Lets You Replace Your Phone Number With a Horrible Username

Your phone number is just a string of meaningless digits you have to memorize. What a bummer! Wouldn’t it be better if your phone number was a username?! That’s the grand, horrible plan behind Sprint’s new StarStarMe service, and it won’t be long before it goes bad. In a way, the pitch is great. You…

Sprint May Take Away Your Only Shot at a Free, Unlimited Data iPhone (Updated)

As happens every time we get a new iPhone the prices of the older models were slashed. Apple announced that the 8GB iPhone 4 would be free with a two-year contract. Except Sprint doesn’t have the deal. Now a supposedly leaked document reported by 9to5Mac reveals that you might not be able to get a…

Where You Can Actually Get 4G LTE With the iPhone 5

LTE is the best 4G, and the only one that should really be able to call itself “Four Gee.” (Even if none of the 4Gs are real 4G.) But where can you actually get it in America? The answer is… not many places—unless you’re on Verizon. Slow LTE buildout isn’t news. Neither is LTE in…

You Can Pre-Order Your iPhone 5 Tonight at Midnight

If you’re planning on snatching up a new iPhone as soon as humanly possible, Wired says it’s going to be a late night—online pre-orders begin tonight. Apple and Sprint will start selling at 12:01 AM PT (that’s 3 AM for us East Coasters), and Verizon will beat them to the punch by a minute, starting…

In Anticipation of the iPhone 5, Sprint Is Slashing Prices and Waiving Fees on its 4S

With the highly anticipated next generation iPhone—iPhone 5—only a couple more months away, now is a pretty silly time to throw down a few hundred bucks for Apple’s smartphone. No sense in buying something that’s about to be outmoded; if yours was recently broken or snatched, use a burner and wait it out. Then again……

Your Sprint 4G Sucks Because of BIRDS

Sprint’s LTE network has been slow to roll out with only 15 cities up and running so far. On the company’s conference call this morning, it divulged an unusual culprit: Birds! It seems that birds are living all up in Sprint’s LTE towers and hampering your 4G coverage. We’re so glad human incompetence and technical…

These 15 Cities Have Sprint LTE Service Right Now

If you live in Texas, Georgia, or the greater Kansas City metropolitan area, you might have woken up to suddenly zippier wireless data speeds. Sprint has now switched on 4G LTE service in 15 markets. Here’s a complete list of the covered areas from Sprint: Georgia: Atlanta, Athens, Calhoun, Carrollton, Newnan, Rome, Texas: Dallas-Fort Worth,…

Sprint’s Upcoming 4G LTE Network—At Least It’s Faster Than WiMax

The only thing slower than the Sprint 4G WiMax network is the Sprint 3G network. Luckily for subscribers to the third largest American carrier will soon have an more robust LTE option. Though, according to a report by PC Magazine, it’ll be fast—just not super-fast. A team from PCM got to play with the new…

Is Sprint Ditching Google Wallet for Its Own Mobile Payment System?

Google Wallet hasn’t exactly grown into the beast Google probably wanted it to, but it at least had a major carrier—Sprint—in its backpocket. But now, as recent rumors and leaks suggest, Sprint is now working on a NFC-based mobile payment system of its own. Android Central got its hands on some leaked slides which show…

Hey Sprint, You Okay?

It looks like someone at Sprint is either having a seizure, or sat on that fancy new EVO and did some serious butt-tweeting, thanks to a stream of tweets that all read like @Horse ebooks nonsense. Or maybe this is a viral ploy. Maybe this is really is just some @horse_ebooks strategy to get attention…

Better Cell Phone Towers Kill People (Updated)

AT&T’s network sucked in 2008, glutted with iPhones and facing the menace of a 3G rollout. So like its competition, it put together a slapdash operation to build towers at any cost. Even a human cost, ProPublica reports. A joint investigation by ProPublica and PBS’ Frontline dug up a corporate culture of rampant neglect, workplace…

HTC EVO 4G LTE Lightning Review: The Phone That Would Be King (But Isn’t)

HTC’s new line of phones is kinda, like, the best. The One S (on T-Mobile) is good. The One X (on AT&T) is very, very good. The latest addition is the EVO 4G LTE. Can it hang with its brothers? What Is It? Remember the One X we liked so much? It’s basically almost exactly…

Zooey Deschanel Would Ask Siri for Tomato Soup, Dance Barefoot in Her PJs

Fearless leader of quirky girls everywhere Zooey Deschanel is now in her own celebrity Siri commercial for Sprint, and it’s exactly the 30-second I’m-just-a-homebody-who-wears-matching-pajama-sets-and-collects-sheet-music extravaganza you’d expect it to be. C’mon, Zooey. Let loose a little. The best question you could come up with for Siri––who will tell you literally how to get away with…

Sprint’s Galaxy Nexus Will Launch Next Week for $100 Less Than Verizon Model

Sprint announced today that the Galaxy Nexus will arrive on its network next week. Google’s flagship Ice Cream Sandwich device will hit stores on April 22, with preorders starting now. With an upgrade or the addition of a new line, it’s $199, $100 cheaper than the Verizon model. If you activate a Google Wallet account…

Carriers Unite to Track Stolen Phones Nationwide

Cell phone theft is among the fastest-growing crime segments in the US and police commissioners from around the nation are fed up. So the FCC and the Big Four carriers are developing a nation lost/stolen phone registry. The database, which will be maintained by each carrier, will track all phones reported stolen and remotely deny…

What Is HD Voice?

As people increasingly abandon voice calling for texting and emailing, audio quality has been a bit neglected. But Sprint’s debut of the HD voice-compatible Evo 4G LTE signals that carriers are starting to kick the quality up a notch. The jump from your current phone to HD voice is like switching from dialup to DSL—but…

HTC Evo 4G LTE Hands On: One Serious Piece of Slick

When Sprint launched the original HTC Evo 4G, in the spring of 2010, it was arguably the best Android phone money could buy. Flash forward two years, and here comes the HTC Evo 4G LTE. Once again, it might just enter the market as the best Android phone money can buy. https://gizmodo.com/htc-evo-4g-review-a-war-machine-5554198 Remember how excited…