At 10 May 2008 07:19:41 -0700 SMS wrote:

> The problem with T-Mobile is not their sales organization, it's their
> network...

> Regardless of the reasons for their coverage issues, they are often
> unusable out here, suffering from excessive dropped calls in their
> dead spots, or the inability to initiate or receive a call at all. That's
> why they have such high churn, despite their good prices, and good sales
> satisfaction.

Can we at least agree that your above stated reason for their churn is
your _opinion_ rather than any independently documented evidence?

T-Mo's rural coverage is lacking (comparitively), but in my 6+ years with
them I find their urban/suburban coverage (even in the Bay Area) ranges
from adequate to excellent, depending on market.

My opinion (note the use of the word "opinion") as to their churn is simply
due to their demographic: value-oriented (including poor-credit!) customers
and young people (including a lot of teens and very young adults), neither
of whom have the "staying power" of business customers or an older
demographic who tend to stick with a service if it works well for them.

Younger folks are far more likely to be distracted by shiny objects and
flit to a service that has the "hottest new gadget," at least in my opinion
(and experience as a former cellular dealer of a decade.)

T-Mo's increased relianced on pre-paid and no-contract monthly plans (Flex-
Pay) also sets them up for higher churn (although their post-paid-only
churn numbers, admittedly, are still higher than AT&T or Verizon's.)

The historical lack of T-Mo coverage at your house and neighborhood should
not be extrapolated as "evidence" that it's the major cause of churn for a
national carrier.


(And, frankly, I thought we put the 1900MHz issue to rest. ;-) Seemingly
it's only a disadvantage when it's not Verizon, at least according to
Consumer Reports, who's survey ranked Verizon's performance in their
1900MHz-only cities as good or better than any other carrier there,
including the 800MHz carriers. CR's survey tends to indicate that coverage
is influenced more by the carrier's deployment rather than the technology
used.)