Qwest Dumps Sprint Nextel For Verizon Wireless
More bad news for beaten-up Sprint Nextel (S), though we've heard rumors about this for a while: Qwest Communications (Q) is formally ditching long-time partner Sprint as its wireless service partner for larger rival Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD).
Qwest customers will have access to all of Verizon's phones, including RIM (RIMM) BlackBerry smartphones. The companies will also work together to build features like a single voicemail box that will work for both a Qwest home phone and a Verizon cellphone. The companies will also bid together for enterprise and government deals.
Qwest's goal: To get more subscribers on bundles of service, which could include a mix of home phone, high-speed Internet, wireless, and TV services from DirecTV (DTV). Bundles keep subscribers more loyal and boosts retention -- important as more telco subscribers are ditching their home phone for wireless-only service or cheap, Internet phone service from cable companies.
Qwest shares are down 5% today after the company reported weak Q1 earnings.
This retention effect is a myth. There is no clear evidence that bundles improve retention. There is a lot of talk about it, but careful analysis is never shared by anyone. By careful, I mean taking into account self-selection (i.e., how do you know that people less likely to churn are not more inclined to bundling to start with?) and the impact of discounts - customers DO like discounts (given through bundling) and discounts do improve retention!
Anyway, Qwest is probably switching to VZW because it is just better than Sprint in terms of value they can offer their customers.
But the retention/churn point is a myth.
We can't sell handsets we want to. We have to sell only what Sprint sells, and then only 6 months after Sprint has sold them. We can't match pricing plans and have to always give deference to Sprint.
As for coverage, I dropped way more calls than my friends with Verizon. Qwest had to charge roaming for anyone not close to major freeways. The Qwest coverage area got increasingly better once Qwest negotiated roaming contracts with other carriers.
Verizon is offering a parity agreement that is a win/win for everyone, including the customer. Our coverage area will improve, our handset offerings improve, price plans are more competitive, and Verizon customer service is parallel to Qwest's JD Powers award winning customer service.
The Qwest/Verizon offering is a parity agreement that is a win/win for everyone, including the customer.
Reference: EFF’s Class-Action Lawsuit Against AT&T for Collaboration with Illegal Domestic Spying Program. The National Security Agency (NSA) approached all the telcomm companies and asked if they could come inside and check out all their customers telecommunications (Cell, landlines, emails, chat, etc.). All telcomm compnies including Verizon and Qwest let it be known that no one was going to enter their domains without a Federal Warrant. AT&T on the other hand invited the devil into the house and even provided the NSA room to set up shop.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.
Accounts have indicated that AT&T had given the NSA direct access to their vast databases of communications records, including information about whom their customers have phoned or emailed with in the past.
The NSA program is scans millions of American’s ordinary phone calls and emails for suspicious patterns, and it's the collaboration of US telecom companies like AT&T that makes it possible.
In the lawsuit, EFF alleges that AT&T, in addition to allowing the NSA direct access to the phone and Internet communications passing over its network, has given the government nearly unlimited access to AT&T’s 300 terabyte database in Daytona, Florida which contains caller information.
EFF alleges that AT&T has violated the privacy of AT&T customers and the people they call and email, as well as broken longstanding communications privacy laws by opening its databases to unlimited spying by the NSA.
EFF, on behalf of AT&T’s customers, is suing to stop this illegal conduct and hold AT&T responsible for its illegal collaboration in the government’s domestic spying program, which had violated the law and damaged the fundamental freedoms of the American public. The lawsuit requests an injunction and damages under the statute. The laws provide that the victims can receive damages of at least $21,000 for each affected person.
Congress has strong laws protecting the privacy of your communications, strictly limiting when telephone and Internet companies can subject your phone calls to government scrutiny.
EFF is representing the class of all AT&T customers nationwide. EFF is seeking an injunction to stop AT&T participation in the illegal NSA program, as well as billions of dollars in damages for violation of federal privacy laws.
I hate to admit it but I used to work for Big Brother, but would never condone this. Good luck to Verizon & Qwest on their partnership.
Unfortunately The Patriot Act of 2001 has takin' away more of our civil rights, liberties, and privacy giving our government access to all of our personal communications at their bidding. Understandably, this is to fight terrorism and not intended to openly spy domestically, however; the line has to be drawn somewhere as our privacy and rights are disappearing more, and more every day.
Something to think about...Big Brother is here!
Here is the way I understand the switch to Verizon is going to work...and if anyone has better info than this, please let us know....
Once the switch takes effect (I have heard mid-July), Qwest customers will have a few options. 1) They can choose to stay with Sprint, in which case you will still be able to use your Qwest branded phone with the Sprint service until the end of 2009, which is when the agreement with Sprint ends. Presumably, you will still be able to stay as a Qwest customer through this period.
2) You can choose to switch to the Verizon service, in which case Qwest will provide free of charge, a Verizon phone COMPARABLE to the Qwest phone you currently have. I do not know whether this also means you can upgrade to a higher end phone with the amount of the comparable phone credited toward that upgrade. You will have the option to continue being billed by Qwest for this Verizon service or just changing over to Verizon entirely.
3) You can opt out of your current contract - no matter how much time left remaining - with no cancellation fee.
Hope this helps
And finally on friday, Aug. 1st, all Qwest customers can upgrade their wireless plans and phones to VZW with all the latest technology.
And finally on friday, Aug. 1st, all Qwest customers can upgrade their wireless plans and phones to VZW with all the latest technology.
I am considering dropping them and switching to Cricket. According to friends of mine who have Cricket, they pay less per month than I do for unlimited minutes while I have to watch mine, they have unlimited texting, which Qwest doesnt.
They have the same if not better reception than I do. I would rather pay $50 per month for unlimited minutes rather than pay $50 per month for just 500 minutes, which go fairly fast.
I am usually having to upgrade to 750 min which costs me even more.
If anyone has any comments about Cricket, I would like to hear them, good or bad.
First, USWest and "post merger" Qwest continue to have volumes of customer dissatisfaction. Part of the reason is that in many of the RBOC regions the outside plant (wire pair trunk bundles) were never "built out" or designed very well.
But, on the other hand, no one could have forseen the growth bubbles in many of the western cities served by USWest and then post merger Qwest.
Second, I think it was the USWest CIO, Dave Laube, that once told my "new hires" group that because telephony user trends to go all wireless, USWest executives felt that the company was "competing against itself" by spending on the development of wireless infrastructure. The 14 state RBOC has always been, and continues to be primarily a wireline services company.
USWest and then post merger Qwest have to maintain a lot telephony copper wire to sparsely populated areas in the 14 state region. This has always been a huge burden on revenues. USWest and post merger Qwest struggle constantly with that burden. In many areas the local phone service has been allowed to go to smaller local services providers.
Lastly, always know the contract offerings when you are looking to by wireless services. You will only know how good the service coverage is in a given area by talking to other wireless users. Customer Services and the salesmen will never honestly tell you how good the coverage is in your area regardless of which company they represent.
The "bundles," as well as the recent announcements of partnering with Verizon are merely marketing efforts designed to make the service offerings appear attractive to prospective customers. Again, "know your contract" obligations.
In closing, I suggest you pay attention to the stock value of the company you consider which provider you will use for contracted services. The higher stock values will reflect higher levels of revenue for supporting operation.
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