@jbtaylor on tech

The untold story about the development of 4G in the U.S. is the story about spectrum. Spectrum capacity is essential for any wireless carrier and Clearwire has a strong footprint for 4G, whether they stick with WiMax or switch to LTE.

All –

The Consumer Reports annual cell phone issue, “Best New Cell Phones & Plans” (January 2011) has hit newsstands and Consumer Reports readers rank Sprint as the best wireless carrier in Washington, D.C.

As the magazine does every year, this issue covers the best phones, services & plans, as well as network coverage in 23 cities. The ratings are based on responses from more than 58,000 Consumer Reports subscribers surveyed in September 2010. The survey did not take into account the formal launch of Sprint 4G, which debuted in Washington, D.C, Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland on Nov. 29.

The key results are:

• Sprint’s overall reader score (which reflects readers’ overall satisfaction with their cell phone service including value, voice, data and customer support) improved six points from last year’s issue to 73. This score now puts Sprint in a statistical tie with Verizon (scored a 74) for second place (note that this year U.S. Cellular received the top spot with 82 points (although they were not rated in the majority of the markets.)
• Sprint is the only major carrier to have shown improvement in its reader scores last year and since 2008.
• The lowest ranked carrier is AT&T with a score of 60. AT&T also ranked in last place in every one of the 23 cities surveyed.
• Consumer Reports writes that Sprint and Verizon are the best choices overall for most people. “These are the highest-scoring nationally available carriers for contract service. Verizon has an edge in voice service overall. Sprint scored better in some aspects of customer service, which is a remarkable turnaround from past years when that was a weak point for the company.”
• In the smart phones ratings, Sprint was ranked second (behind Verizon) in terms of user satisfaction. The magazine’s readers ranked the Epic 4G as one of the best smart phones, with the EVO 4G and Intercept placing in 2nd and 3rd place.
• On wireless plans: the magazine considers Sprint’s Everything Data plans the “smart choice.”

Here’s a chart that shows Sprint’s progress in the Consumer Reports survey nationally since 2008.

While we still have more work to do, we see this news as further evidence that our work to improve the customer experience is starting to pay off.

When Verizon issued their list of markets where they plan to roll out 4G, they also included a list of airports which will have the coverage. I just completed a review of that list and realized that there are several markets where Sprint 4G covers the entire city, but Verizon 4G will only cover the airport.

Austin, Texas is an Verizon "Airport Only" city. But Sprint covers the whole city. (Take note if you're heading to SXSW this March -- the crowd in Austin's airport, pictured above, will be huge.)

There are several other cities in this category. Here's a list, in addition to Austin they include:

• Honolulu, HI 
• Newark, NJ 
• Portland, OR 
• Providence, RI 
• Raleigh, NC
• Sacramento, CA 
• Salt Lake City, UT 
• St. Louis, MO 
• Trenton, NJ 
• Wilmington, DE

I may be updating this list after Verizon publishes their coverage maps this Sunday. There are some airports in their press release, such as John Wayne / Orange County, in Santa Ana, Calif., that they may consider part of the Los Angeles market. (Incidentally, Sprint 4G covers all of Santa Ana.) Verizon may also consider Newark part of the New York market. (Sprint doesn't, but some marketers might.)

At any rate, it's smart marketing on Verizon's part to wire up an airport. That's where business customers are, and that's the customer they will target initially. (Remember, Verizon is only offering 4G modems at first -- no phones.)

A little over a year ago, in November 2009, Sprint launched Sprint 4G in North Carolina. We're got 4G in metro Charlotte, including Huntersville, Monroe, Indian Trail, Mint Hill, Matthews, Gastonia, Mt. Holly, Harrisburg, Davidson and Cornelius.

In the Triad, we're in my hometown of Winston-Salem. We're also in Greensboro, High Point, Lexington, Clemmons, Thomasville, Trinity, Asheboro, Archdale, Jamestown, Kernersville, Reidsville, Burlington and Mebane.

In the Triangle, of course, we're in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary. But we're also in Carrboro, Hillsborough, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina (which is my favorite hyphenated place name in N.C. next to my hometown), Wake Forest, Garner, Knightdale and Morrisville.

Yesterday, our friends at Verizon announced plans to begin offering 4G in North Carolina, but their coverage will be limited at first. They will cover metro Charlotte, plus RDU -- the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

We offer the country's largest selection of 4G capable devices -- we have 11 currently for sale -- including two phones: the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G. Verizon, for its part, is following the same path we did in 2008 when we began our formal 4G rollout. (They will only sell modems at first, not phones. The phones will come "later in 2011" we're told.)

So if you live Charlotte, or you work at RDU, Verizon is now giving you a new 4G choice in North Carolina. But if you want a 4G phone and access to 4G coverage in the places where most North Carolinians live and work, Sprint remains a better choice.

I also think the pricing decision Verizon made is worth noting. They will sell you a 5MB a month plan for $50, which sounds great, except most 4G users consume more data than that. Our partners at Clearwire point out that their average customer uses 7MB a month. 7MB a month from Verizon will cost you $70 a month.

Verizon is offering a 10MB a month plan for $80.

At Sprint, we offer a 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Plan for $60 per month. The key difference -- it's UNLIMITED 4G use and 5 GB of 3G use each month.

We also offer a 4G Mobile Broadband Plan for $50 per month which includes unlimited 4G use.

While it's clear Verizon has a huge marketing budget to throw at their 4G offering, they will have to expand their network and device portfolio, and match our pricing offer to compete with us in North Carolina.

Meanwhile, people of the Triad and Triangle, if you're a Verizon customer, head to Charlotte for a Panthers game or drive to RDU for a flight if you want to use 4G. Or switch to Sprint.

It's official. Sprint has begun offering Sprint 4G in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia.

We announced it with a midnight news release a few minutes ago. We also launched Sprint 4G in Los Angeles, South Florida (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach), Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio. Plus, we announced that we will begin offering Sprint 4G in San Francisco on Dec. 28.

Locally you can get a Sprint 4G signal as far south as Ft. Belvoir & Newington, as far east as Annapolis, as far west as Manassas & Leesburg, and as far north as Germantown & Columbia. Sprint 4G is found in all parts of D.C., including neighborhoods like Georgetown, Anacostia, Logan Circle, Dupont, Adams-Morgan, Southwest, Downtown, Capitol Hill, Cleveland Park, Brookland, Petworth and Columbia Heights.

Areas inside the Beltway (like Annandale, Alexandria, Arlington, Shirlington, Falls Church and Bethesda and Silver Spring are covered) but so are communities outside the Beltway (like Reston, Herndon, Lanham, Gaithersburg, Tysons Corner, National Harbor and Largo.)

Over the coming months, you will see more areas covered as new 4G cell sites come on line in the metro area. 

For coverage maps visit Sprint.com. You may also want to visit Sprint.com/4G for more details about our offering.