Sprint Nextel's moves Boost Mobile head to oversee 4G development

James Fisher from Sprint here. A couple of thoughts on your post: You reference "middling growth" so far in 4G. 4G is only in 28 markets right now, and most of those opened just this fall -- in 2010 we expect to expand to about 80 markets and you'll see the 4G push in all we do. In terms of our investment in 4G, remember that we are way out in front -- nobody else has 4G now (thinking back, Sprint also had the first all fiber wireline network, and the first all-digital wireless network) and we are going to make the most of our leadership again. As for speeds, you are missing the point. Yes 4G has downloads up to 10 times faster than 3G, but a 4G hotspot card allows EVERY wi-fi capable device you have to operate at 4G speeds. It also allows the user to transfer much greater amounts of data much more economically. The benefit of 4G is about much more than downloading files to one laptop much faster. And finally, you are right about this: folks should watch us in 2010.

Hey, JWF... Your problems are waaay bigger than your network, and millions of former customers know it.
Before you go looking for more customers, try taking care of the ones you have so they'll give 5 of their friends good reasons to switch, instead of telling everyone they see how bad your customer service is. The service outages are annoying, but usually brief. But the level of customer service provided is ABYSMAL! I guarantee you that is why customers are defecting. A little courtesy goes a long way to persuading people to be a little patient while you upgrade - or to consider returning when you complete your work. You might consider the techniques used by the Boost customer "care" team. They don't have an auto-responder to reply to customers' emails? Sheesh, even my firm has that! Can you get your systems and client accounts straight? It sure doesn't look like it to me. If I were your stockholders, I don't think I'd count on the company being able to market its services well enough to attract more customers than your service chases away. I'm being hard on you, I know. What's wrong with Sprint is what's wrong with American business in general. Puh-leeez wake up!! Take pride in what you do, and do it well. No one is interested in "spin" except your ad agency and your market makers. Customers want the service they were induced to pay for in those slick ads and fancy web sites. If you provided the service you advertise, your customers would do your marketing for you. You've heard how that "word of mouth" technique works, right?