Sprint Closures

Alpha8472
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Sprint Closures

Post by Alpha8472 »

Has anyone noticed any Sprint store closures? With the T-Mobile and Sprint merger, it seems as if many Sprint stores have already quietly closed. There was a surge of new Sprint stores opening up in former Radio Shack stores, but those seem to have died out.

I also noticed many Dish mall kiosks that have closed recently. Dish will take over Sprint's Prepaid customers and become the new 4th largest cell phone carrier. T-Mobile said that Dish will take over some of the retail stores that will be vacated due to the merger.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by cjd »

I believe at one time Sprint had a location here in both the mall and at a shopping center, but the mall location has closed some time ago.

Verizon has both a corporate and authorized reseller location, while AT&T does not offer a corporate store here.

Sprint is considered the bottom end of the big three traditional carriers here. They have poor coverage in this area, while Verizon is considered the best (and is also the most expensive). From their commercials it seems Sprint tries to compete by offering a much lower cost vs Verizon.

Last time I got on a contract, I went to Radio Shack. This was a big mistake, because despite me telling them I was definitely going with AT&T, when Radio Shack did a credit check they ran it with all three carriers. They didn't inform me that they were going to do this until they showed me the results. I was not very happy about having it pulled three times on my history.

I have no interest in having a contract phone again and will likely go with a prepaid carrier, as long as they don't use Sprint's infrastructure.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by jamcool »

Dish is not in the best of financial health to buy up Sprint assets, it is losing subscribers and having contract issues with the content providers and broadcasters like Meredith and Viacom. Right now DirecTV has contract fights with Nexstar, who owns TV stations in a number of markets. Those stations are currently blacked out on DirecTV
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by Alpha8472 »

Is Dish too weak to become the 4th largest cell phone carrier? They have to take on the Sprint Prepaid customers and then build their own network in several years time. Dish will have to open up a huge network of Dish stores to sell their cell phone service.

Is this some kind of Haggen situation where Dish will open these cellular service stores and then Dish will go bankrupt? Then the stores will close and we will be left with just 3 main cell phone carriers.

Comcast Xfinity is also getting into the cell phone business. They have their Xfinity Mobile which sells phones and service at very rock bottom prices. Xfinity uses the Verizon network, but sells it at a big discount. Dish simply cannot compete with that and Dish TV service seems dismal compared to what Xfinity offers.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 28th, 2019, 10:37 pm Is Dish too weak to become the 4th largest cell phone carrier? They have to take on the Sprint Prepaid customers and then build their own network in several years time. Dish will have to open up a huge network of Dish stores to sell their cell phone service.

Is this some kind of Haggen situation where Dish will open these cellular service stores and then Dish will go bankrupt? Then the stores will close and we will be left with just 3 main cell phone carriers.

Comcast Xfinity is also getting into the cell phone business. They have their Xfinity Mobile which sells phones and service at very rock bottom prices. Xfinity uses the Verizon network, but sells it at a big discount. Dish simply cannot compete with that and Dish TV service seems dismal compared to what Xfinity offers.
Charter is also getting into wireless and supposedly running on Verizon at a big discount. No clue how the service actually is...
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by Alpha8472 »

Is there really a need for cell phone stores anymore? You can do almost everything online unless you desperately cannot figure out your phone or if you do not want to wait on hold for phone customer service.

Many people are going to prepaid, because it is cheaper. Do you really need a contract plan? Those cable companies offer cheap cell phone service on Verizon's network, but you may be limited. Verizon contract customers will get priority. Most prepaid customers get de-prioritized also.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 4th, 2019, 9:05 am Is there really a need for cell phone stores anymore? You can do almost everything online unless you desperately cannot figure out your phone or if you do not want to wait on hold for phone customer service.

Many people are going to prepaid, because it is cheaper. Do you really need a contract plan? Those cable companies offer cheap cell phone service on Verizon's network, but you may be limited. Verizon contract customers will get priority. Most prepaid customers get de-prioritized also.
When switching from Contract AT&T to Prepaid AT&T (not changing number or phone) I was required to go into the store. It was not something that they could do over the phone or online. Maybe this has changed since then (year or two ago).

I see little use for these cell phone stores anymore. The carriers seem to see an advantage to getting their name out there to customers and the ability for people to get immediate phones in the event of damage is a plus I suppose.

Given the commission structure involved with cell phone stores (either the dealer store paying commission to the carrier, or the corporate owned store paying commission to the employees- those employees are quite well paid for retail sales positions in corporate carrier stores), I would think the carriers could make a lot more money by eliminating these stores and pushing everything online or to phone.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by Alpha8472 »

I see the benefits of eliminating stores in favor of online services. However, people seem to have a need for a physical store where they can talk to people face to face with concerns. It is like the issue with banks. People want a physical bank presence with people that they can go to for help. Money issues are important for people as well as dependable cell service.

Eliminating stores would decrease confidence in a cell phone company. People would feel helpless if they needed help right away. Their phone is their lifeline. They need it to call for help or communicate with loved ones. The same for banks. People cannot live without access to money. They want help right away in urgent times. If cellular service stores or banks get eliminated, people would switch brands to other brands that still have a physical presence.

I believe that cell phone stores need a physical presence to be successful and retain customers.

Sprint was the third largest carrier in 2013. Dish bid $25 billion to buy Sprint that year. Softbank outbid Dish and won. Then Sprint went downhill and T-Mobile became the third largest carrier. If the Sprint Tmobile merger does not go through, Sprint will declare bankruptcy. Verizon and AT&T would buy the assets of Sprint at auction and T-Mobile would be in bad shape as the weakest of the three. Verizon and AT&T would get bigger, and there will only be 2 major carriers and a wannabe.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by BillyGr »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 5th, 2019, 3:12 am However, people seem to have a need for a physical store where they can talk to people face to face with concerns.

Eliminating stores would decrease confidence in a cell phone company. People would feel helpless if they needed help right away. Their phone is their lifeline. They need it to call for help or communicate with loved ones. The same for banks. People cannot live without access to money. They want help right away in urgent times. If cellular service stores or banks get eliminated, people would switch brands to other brands that still have a physical presence.

I believe that cell phone stores need a physical presence to be successful and retain customers.
Also, it makes sense for one other reason.

Since so many people have discontinued having any "regular" phone in their homes and only have a cell phone, they could have trouble getting help for their phone if it is not working correctly, as they would be unable to contact the help source with their non working phone.
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Re: Sprint Closures

Post by Knight »

I wonder if cellular phone service providers have opened too many retail locations that operate on skeleton crews.
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