Sprint Quickly Pulls Video Ad Calling T-Mobile 'Ghetto' (fiercewireless.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Sprint has pulled an ad in which it was calling its competitor, T-Mobile, "ghetto." The ad featured company's CEO Marcelo Claure. "I'm going to tell you a carrier name and I want you to basically tell me what comes to your mind," Claure said in the ad. "T-Mobile. When I say T-Mobile to you, just a couple of words?" Which is when a white woman chimes in, "Oh my god the first word that came to my head was ... ghetto." "That sounds, like, terrible," she says. "I don't know't know. There's always, like, three carriers; there's AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. And people who have T-Mobile are just, like... Why do you have T-Mobile?""We're sharing real comments from real customers," Claure wrote in the aftermath of criticism. "Maybe not the best choice of words by the customer. Not meant to offend anyone."

Comments

Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

Ghetto Blaster. Seems funny now.

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[cayenne8]

And the word Ghetto is NOW on the list of words you can't use????

Geez, I for the days of NOT that long ago, when the only words you couldn't use on TV were the George Carlin Famous 7.

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is "ghetto" non-pc now?

Oh forget it, who gives a fuck.

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[Bob the Super Hamste]

I believe that a good number of George Carlin's 7 you can now say on TV.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not that you can't use the word, it's just not a smart thing to call people when you want their business.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[cayenne8]

It's not that you can't use the word, it's just not a smart thing to call people when you want their business.

But the person on the ad was not calling anyone "Ghetto"...she said the word to describe T-Mobile, a competitor, was Ghetto.

Thinking of the broad definition of the word, things like:

the poorest part of a city...

a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity....

I'd think it would be somewhat of a appropriate word. It isn't even remotely referring to the people that live there, but to the area itself.

But no...everyone has to attach a racist tag to it.

Funny....where is the uproar over the NY Mayor and Clinton's skit the other night, where the mayor said he was late because he was on CP time?

I saw a little blurb about it on the new...and I didn't even know what CP time was...apparently it is "Colored People" time.

It isn't offensive to me...but God help us if a couple of conservative type folks did the exact same thing, there'd be howls in the media for their heads.

But, I digress.

People, just get over it...pretty soon, NOTHING will be able to be said.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

> People, just get over it...pretty soon, NOTHING will be able to be said.

Oh, please. There is no never-expanding-list of things you can't say. It's merely an matter of respect. This article is a perfect illustration of that. The word itself isn't the issue, it's the interpretation of what the person meant. To most it is doubtful that that person pored over a dictionary trying to find the best most accurate word to use. Instead they probably thought the person had a particular picture in their head, one they found unflattering. They could have said "trailer park", not even a remotely racial term, and the same would have happened.

People don't like being judged for something they didn't do. That's it, that's the whole story. There are lots of terms that do just that, and you already know what they are, it's not some new thing that just came along. What is changing is that the scope of people you meet in your life is broadening. In my own case I gave up using the R-word very fast after doing some volunteer work for the Special Olympics. I'm in a position where I could really darken the day of someone who doesn't deserve it. Nobody has ever actually gotten on my case before for using that term, I didn't have to find out it was on a "bad list" by using the term in front of one of the athletes. All I needed to know was what the word meant. It isn't too much to ask to know what words mean.

You don't actually have to live in fear of accidentally using the wrong term, especially if you're not already an asshole.

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

You use a word, there can be consequences to it. Because words have meaning to many people, and sometimes those meanings even change.

You can even do it without intending, or even being aware of it.

My mother once said she didn't like blacks when she was talking about something, and she didn't realize that it kinda came across as racist. She was talking about furniture, but the person she said it to looked a little squicky at her.

Of course, it doesn't help that I know she IS a little bit racist. Every time she thinks that she is in the "ghetto" she's like "roll up the windows and lock the doors" as if she was going to be attacked or assaulted. And some of the other things she believes, well...she has blathered on about the KKK in a positive vein at times, and has made a few marks about Jews that make me roll my eyes.

That isn't even getting how she tends to say she knows something when she merely believes it.

I love her, but honestly, she could be a little more self-conscious.

And in this case, so could Sprint.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[TWX]

But the person on the ad was not calling anyone "Ghetto"...she said the word to describe T-Mobile, a competitor, was Ghetto.

I'm trying to figure out how they thought it would be beneficial to them to say this in the first place.

Cellular companies are just service providers. If a cheaper service provider meets the customer's needs then why would the customer spend more money than necessary?

Insulting another company through pejoratives that don't have a technical meaning probably does more to galvanize that company's subscribers against the person making the statement than it does to solicit those subscribers, as it is basically an insult to the customers too.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

You didn't correct her so YOU are racist. You are racist!!!!!

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[AK Marc]

People, just get over it...pretty soon, NOTHING will be able to be said.

Simply not true. Things drop off the list as other things area added. And "colored" was on the list long before CP Time was said by a white person for a laugh.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[rus.tech.studio]

Finally someone with some sense on Slashdot. How insecure are people posting here that they have to cry every time a story comes up that references changing social etiquette norms, especially in public circumstances? The exercise was word association. The woman associated T-mobile with "ghetto", and the implication was clearly that it was meant to be derogatory, in the sense that it's bad to be associated with a ghetto. Many people are forced to live in what have traditionally been called ghettos, this does not reflect who they are as people but the association with "ghetto" impacts their life in negative ways, from financial and social hardship to just feeling shitty. Commercials like this normalize this association in our culture and imply that the effect is neglible. This further hurts the people already affected by the association because it basically says that their negative experience with the association doesn't matter. Now, you can be an asshole all you want in private, that's fine if that's what it takes to make you feel better about yourself. But in the public domain, when your thoughts may be heard by anyone, have a little consideration about the actual effects of what your dumb ass wants to say. I swear reading all these comments on Slashdot complaining about PC culture, I feel like you all are a second away from killing yourselves because you can't handle the notion that social norms can be hurtful to others. tl;dr thank you, poster above me, for having some damn sense

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Obfuscant]

Why not? Dish, I think it is, is busy calling the cable subscribers they want to woo "settlers" and portraying them as ignorant and simple.

The goal is to make people realize that they don't want to be "ghetto dwellers" or "settlers" or whatever, and that they can solve all their social and technological problems by simply buying the service or product being advertised. That's called "advertising."

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll say it - GHETTO.
Now PopeRatzo and the rest of the SJW imbeciles can rage at me all they want. Fuck them.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[thinkwaitfast]

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I'm basically settling land and have established a self sufficient high tech farm using solar and skills of ~30 years space experience (not exactly ignorant or simple). No one around me, closest neighbor over 1km away, no services except for dsl and dirt road. To be fair, most of the people around me are rather, well stoned and former Woodstock attendees. Should I be offended?

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[amiga3D]

Only people in the ghetto can use the word ghetto. Just say "the G word" instead.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

She technically did not say that T-Mobile customers were ghetto, but she was thinking it loudly.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[painandgreed]

But no...everyone has to attach a racist tag to it.

Well, that is sort of the origin of the word: a segregated neighborhood of the city. Usually jews, but more recently for black neighborhoods in the US. They don't even have to be all impoverished but generally are as groups that have economic power usually aren't force to live someplace. To somebody that's never been told where they have to live, it might have a more generally meaning, but as that red-lining is still going on, it might have different meaning to those who actually have to live there.

Re:Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

As an Italian-American, I object to your use of "the g-word" instead of saying "ginny" or "goomba".

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[jcr]

There is no never-expanding-list of things you can't say.

There's no list of words I can't say, but there sure as hell is a list of words that will get knee-jerking SJW's bitching at you, and it expands all the time.

-jcr

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Master Moose]

If there is anything the latest series of the x-files has taught me, it is that words can have weight.

http://geekdad.com/2016/02/the...

If there is another thing I have learned from news and social commentary - it is that the western world is getting heavier. perhaps this is what is happening to our words also :)

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

> ... but there sure as hell is a list of words that will get knee-jerking SJW's bitching at you, and it expands all the time.

No, there isn't. You're trying to conjure this group of people into existence because crying about mythical SJWs is easier than being knowledgeable enough of what you're talking about to hold down a debate. It turns out crying 'HYPOCRITE!!!' all the time isn't sufficient, especially when that person isn't behaving worse than you.

If you really were cheesing off "SJWs" on a daily basis based on using terminology that'd set them off you'd also have a hard time keeping and job and you'd probably be beat up a lot. People arguing with you on the internet wouldn't be high on your list.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice weird correlation between your clearly racist mother and sprint.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm surprised nobody has complained about the music duo The Black Keys. That's awfully close to The Blackeys.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[afgam28]

The broad definition of the word isn't "the poorest part of a city" - it actually means the area of a city that is set aside for a minority, and carries some connotations of that place being poor. People aren't just attaching a racist tag to it; the very definition of the word is inseparable from race. The fact that you think "ghetto" simply means a "poor area" suggests that you've been exposed to a lot of casual racism in your life, and you haven't noticed.

For example, during the Nazi era, the Jews were gathered into ghettoes. They weren't called ghettoes because they were poor, they were called that because they were areas that were set aside for Jews.

When I was in high school, a lot of kids would say "that's gay" to refer to anything they didn't like in general - imagine if the woman in the ad had called T-Mobile "gay"! It's similarly offensive to people who actually live in ghettoes, or are part of races that have historically been forced into ghettoes.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[jcr]

Ever heard the saying "fish don't know they're wet"?

-jcr

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

You might want to look up slippery slope fallacy sometime

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

The fact that you think "ghetto" simply means a "poor area" suggests that you've been exposed to a lot of casual racism in your life, and you haven't noticed.

Or it indicates that the meaning of the word is evolving. And if that racism is so subtle that one didn't notice, just how racist is it actually?

For those of us who don't immediately think Jews in parts of Europe in the '30s and during WWII, it does conjure up images of poor parts of cities which may have a preponderance of minorities, but the emphasis is on poverty and also crime.

And I've lived in areas with a preponderance of minorities.

Gosh, I hope nobody thinks I'm racist. Meh, think what you want....these days anything can be construed as racist. How Clinton's CPT "joke" didn't create more of a fuss is interesting. I too had never heard of CPT and yet a former First Lady, Senator and Sec'y of State is so familiar with the term that she thinks it appropriate to use as a joke on the campaign trail.

What does she and her colleagues talk about that this is apparently a common term?

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[K. S. Kyosuke]

"Sort of"? Segregating a religious group has hardly anything to do with racism. Jews were not prohibited from converting to Christianity. In fact, at times, they were very much encouraged to do so, especially in Spain. Being a Jew wasn't an immutable trait of theirs.

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

"Sort of"? Segregating a religious group has hardly anything to do with racism. Jews were not prohibited from converting to Christianity. In fact, at times, they were very much encouraged to do so, especially in Spain. Being a Jew wasn't an immutable trait of theirs.

*facepalmofdeath*

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

So why not do away with ghettoes? Or is it in the political, social and economic interest of some to always have ghettoes?

Re: Ghetto Blaster

[Anonymous Coward]

Generally, I agree with what I think you're saying; however, I have to ask: Do you know that "Jew" is not a race? "Ghetto" is very much separable from race.

What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile is by far the best carrier for the money. I don't frequently espouse that opinion because I consider them the "best kept secret" and don't want other people over-subscribing the network.

Maybe racism is just an elaborate ruse by wealthy white people to keep Jazz music to themselves?

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

Shit! He's on to us!
https://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/11/18/116-black-music-that-black-people-dont-listen-to-anymore/

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

Dammit! Do I have to give up the fried chicken too?

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Gavagai80]

If you live in a big city, t-mobile is great. If you live in a smaller town... well, I lose signal when I go for a walk in the wrong direction. Still better than coverage than sprint though.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

Black people didn't invent jazz.

There are talented black jazz musicians, but there were no negroes in the Hot Club in Paris playing with Stepane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt and their crazy gypsy buddies.

Almost all jazz (and modern music) is based on the I-VI-II-V progression from "I've got rhythm", by George Gerswin - who notable for not being black. The rhythm and syncopation largely came out of ragtime music (shorthand for ragged time). None of this came from africa.

Later on Jazz merged with samba and gave us Bossa Nova - something that has nothing to do with blacks.

There was a whole parallel calypso scene going on, and musicians love to trade licks and sounds. So everything gets mixed up and you can't assign any one culture to modern music. Most rock music is built on a root-fifth power chord, harmonizing in fifths like that is really an asian thing, though its so common now people can't understand that modern rock came as much from Indian music as it did the blues.

The truth about black american culture is there isn't any. Multiculturalism destroys art. Melting pots create it.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[TechyImmigrant]

>Almost all jazz (and modern music) is based on the I-VI-II-V progression from "I've got rhythm", by George Gerswin

No it isn't.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile is by far the best carrier for the money.

Agreed.

And, oddly enough, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "Sprint" is "white trash".

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Grishnakh]

I disagree. I live in a small town, and T-mo was basically unusable, whereas Sprint is almost OK, but still very problematic.

But it's a lot better than Verizon because I don't have to trade my car in for a beater and move into a shack to pay the phone bill.

Re: What a stupid bitch

[Type44Q]

...but there were no negroes in the Hot Club in Paris playing with Stepane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt and their crazy gypsy buddies.

Nor would there have been, considering the club opened in '34 and jazz originated decades earlier in New Orleans... but thanks for playing. ;)

Re:What a stupid bitch

[PopeRatzo]

Black people didn't invent jazz.

There are talented black jazz musicians, but there were no negroes in the Hot Club in Paris playing with Stepane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt and their crazy gypsy buddies.

The Hot Club in Paris was founded in 1931. Django didn't even start playing guitar until 1928. King Oliver was playing jazz in New Orleans in the mid-1910s. But Buddy Bolden had already been playing jazz in New Orleans as early as 1905. That was before the term "jazz" was even invented, and before Stephane Grapelli or Django Reinhardt had even been born.

Buddy Bolden is considered by jazz musicians, historians and musicologists as having started the first band that played improvised music of the type later known as "jazz".

Now, don't you feel a little bit stupid?

Re:What a stupid bitch

[supremebob]

I used to have T-Mobile, and I found that my data coverage basically disappeared when I was more than 5 miles away from a major highway.

It seemed to be faster than AT&T when I was in an urban area, though.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[WarJolt]

Some folks think that because some white guy defined what an octave means that all music was invented by Europeans. It's very close minded. Jazz is a combination of European and African music.

Re: What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

When I hear At&T I think financial domination fetish.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[cyberchondriac]

Yes, they did. It was an outgrowth of Blues, much like Rock was. Jazz started in New Orleans, long before Stepane Grapelli or Django, who started playing jazz in the 1930s. Same with Rock, it's an outgrowth of Blues.

Re: What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

Depends on the infrastructure, Towers and such, where you live. If you value privacy -- a little less Fascism -- you'll choose T-mobile or one of the Mexican brands.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[pr0fessor]

Power chord is 3 notes a 5th and an octave from the chord tone such as C,G,C this is common in rock guitar because the fingering pattern is simple and is the first three notes of a bar chord finger pattern but it is not the only fingering pattern to omit the 3rd interval of a chord that's common in rock guitar a 4th is also very common because it is even simpler than the power chord and only uses one finger {check out some Randy Rhoads}. When the guitar plays a 4th such as G, C another guitar, bass, or possibly other instrument will likely play the associated 3rd and chord tone giving you C,E,G,C across multiple octaves so that the result can have a major or minor sound. A good two part guitar piece would include passing tones, suspensions, escape tones, etc... all common to classical music.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[istartedi]

Awesome improvisational trolling. Biddly-bap-troll-a-bop-BOOM-BANG!

Blacks invented trolling. When the master's wife was on the rag, they'd hide under bridges.

They'd jam under there. Oppression doesn't stifle Slashdot. It enhances it.

Troll-a-boom ding,Ding,DING boom-diddly-bop-BANG!

Re:What a stupid bitch

[ArmoredDragon]

And, oddly enough, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "Sprint" is "white trash".

What's odd about that? Sprint is NASCAR's biggest sponsor.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[TechyImmigrant]

I don't presume to know any good accounting for any national origin of aspects of music today. I do know that the diatonic scale and its modes appeared independently in different places and so did the pentatonic scales. Jazz is a broad thing. It's easy to identify tributaries from multiples genres in multiple places. The harmonic minor was common in European classical music, is rampant in Middle Eastern music and pops up all over the place.

Trying to claim some musical style or scale or chord progression is the property of a skin color is silly.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[PRMan]

My first trip with T-Mobile data was this year, and I was driving up toward Tahoe from LA. I was WAY into the desert before it stopped working. I would be shocked if anything worked way out there (to their credit, my friend's AT&T still worked, but he pays double for 3 lines what I pay for 4).

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile wifi calling means I usually don't care about reception. At work I have wifi and at home I have wifi. When I'm out and about I'm in the city so I always have reception. Definitely matters which phone you have though. My girlfriends iPhone 6 gets way worse reception than my Galaxy Note Edge. We'll be side by side in a parking lot and she won't be able to browse the web while I can do Google maps no problem.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[amicusNYCL]

God, I hate advertisers.

"T-Mobile. When I say T-Mobile to you, just a couple of words?"

Which is when a white woman chimes in,
"Oh my god the first word that came to my head was ... ghetto."
"That sounds, like, terrible," she says.
"I don't know. There's always, like, three carriers; there's AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. And people who have T-Mobile are just, like... Why do you have T-Mobile?"

That woman is, like, stupid. When I see a huge company like Sprint take something like that and show it to other people, this is what it sounds like to me:

At Sprint, our customers are idiots. Are you an idiot too, like this customer? Then you should come to Sprint.

Just like the idiotic Toyota commercials which play on both radio and TV. "Hi, this is Pat! I can't answer the phone, because I'm a fucking idiot without a cell phone who changes the message on his answering machine every time he leaves the house. I like Toyotas!" Yeah, I really want to give my money to a company yelling about how stupid their customers are.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[supremebob]

See, that's the thing with T-Mobile. When you're near a major highway, the reception usually fine even in rural areas. You get away from the highway and get into the boondocks, though... no coverage.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

I honestly love the history of music lesson and telling a bigoted cretin to shove it, but I came here to learn more about what's wrong with T-Mobile.

But once I realized what was going on, I have to say the only way they could have done worst is record the commercial in Yiddish and air it in central Europe.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

The phrase you are attempting to use in your sig is "for all intents and purposes". Fix it and quit looking like a moron.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[rubycodez]

but what Bolden was playing, "jass", was just a new orleans style of ragtime, really. rag was of course invented by blacks in the later 19th century.

song by one of rags big founders, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

which I link just to piss off you SJW psychological marshmallow types

Re: What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

Regardless of the origin, all my favorite jazz musicians are black. I'm trying to think of any white musicians on the Blue Note label and I'm drawing a blank.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[PopeRatzo]

but what Bolden was playing, "jass", was just a new orleans style of ragtime

No, there are other, qualitative differences between ragtime and what Bolden was playing. They have the syncopation in common, but that's about where the similarity ends. Bolden added the harmonic substitutions, the iconic progressions and most important, the improvised solo voices that make jazz jazz.

I realize that your post was just an excuse to post a racist image, but I don't want erroneous information to go unchallenged.

Also, did you know that most ragtime music was written by white women? Yes, the originators were black, but it was quickly taken up as parlor music by white women, who penned most of the published ragtime.

Re: What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

THE Mexican phone company (owned by a dude named Slim, I think) gets the same coverage as Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile because it uses their networks. They buy bulk amounts of network time and resell it. A CDMA phone from them is usually on Verizon's network and a GSM from them is on T-Mobile's.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

David Quantick might not mean much to those outside the UK (writer, comedian) but I'll refer you to his assessment of the origin of popular music.

"All music is black music. Except some of Abba."

Re:What a stupid bitch

[KGIII]

You know... In the 1980s, I stopped watching much in the way of television. Things like this? They make me feel good about that. I do kind of miss Nova and I've seen some Independent Lens stuff that was good. So, I'm mostly happy with that and, besides, the 'net has scads of documentaries uploaded.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[Anonymous Coward]

I see what you are doing here.

Are you trying to start a feminist VS. black empowerment war, my good friend?

Re:What a stupid bitch

[AlterEager]

Wooooosh.

Re: What a stupid bitch

[Grishnakh]

What company is this?

I'm using Ting, which is a similar company that uses Sprint and T-Mo (but not Verizon). I like it; it's pretty cheap and their customer service is good. I guess they can afford lower prices since they don't have to support thousands of retail shops...

And yes, Carlos Slim is a telecom billionaire in Mexico, one of the richest men in the world IIRC.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[PopeRatzo]

Are you trying to start a feminist VS. black empowerment war, my good friend?

No, I'm trying to show that cultural appropriation is one of the best things that humans do, when it's done respectfully. And when it's not done respectfully, it's usually a disaster.

To take it one step further, did you know that at the turn of the 20th century, there was a phenomenon of black people imitating white people imitating black people? Early popular black musicians copied the over-the-top behavior of the racist black-face minstrel shows who were copying the actual black minstrel performers. It was an interesting cultural jujitsu. Similar in a way that the black Amos & Andy show took the original "black-face" radio Amos & Andy and created something that was popular with blacks and led in a (slow) way to empowerment to black performers who incrementally became more acceptable to white audiences.

Jazz is a very interesting case study in the way ideas mix and permeate cultures. It flies in the faces of the stormfronter "borders/language/culture" people who believe there is such a thing as pure, enduring culture. Such a thing just doesn't exist and has never existed.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[istartedi]

Woosh-diddly-oh-bop-a-dop, Yeeeeah! All you hep cats.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[mgcarley]

You say *was*... but considering they've about doubled their coverage since EOY2014... have you tried them a bit more recently, especially with a band 12 device?

My area only got TM band 2 LTE in September 2015 which - as a VAR - I'm loving because around here Walmart, Best Buy etc no longer stock TM.

Re:What a stupid bitch

[mgcarley]

Not so much anymore.

When I first came to America in 2013, the only carrier that covered my SOs parents place (rural MI) was Verizon, but last time I was there I got better signal from TMO than I did from either Verizon or AT&T - and was able to watch Netflix (thanks, BingeOn) without issues.

Anecdotally speaking, these days get better reception from TM in most places I go that I've pretty much stopped taking my Verizon device to most places - the only place I currently have issues with TM coverage is certain spots of eastern Illinois.

Band 12

[blackomegax]

Once you go band 12 of t-mobile, they're a 1st class carrier. Anything else though, it's just utter shit.

Re:Band 12

[Anonymous Coward]

Sprint's customer service is ghetto.

Ting and FI are brilliant.

Re:Band 12

[cdrudge]

Anything else though, it's just utter shit.

For you maybe. For my family's 4 lines, it's far more than adequate for our usage, where we use it, and for the price we pay.

Re:Band 12

[tbuddy]

Ting has great customer service, but their price on data is a no go for me these days. They did send me a Ting hoodie and socks that are super comfortable. Easily the best phone customer service I have ever seen.

Re: Band 12

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to agree. Sprint's less sophisticated about customer problem-solving. My theory is, they're so focused on tracking customers, it's harder to hone in on the business of just making money and providing a service.

Re:Band 12

[PRMan]

I have a Galaxy S5 and it works great all over SoCal. Very fast internet connection all the time.

T-Mobile isn't ghetto

[Anonymous Coward]

Cricket on the other hand... That's ghetto.

Re:T-Mobile isn't ghetto

[Anonymous Coward]

Cricket, Metro PCS, and Boost.

Generally speaking, the more of these stores I see, the worse the neighborhood is. It's like a warning to turn the fuck around.

Throwing your customers under the bus...

[RobinH]

Throwing your customers under the bus is always a good PR move. Way to go.

Re:Throwing your customers under the bus...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, my first reaction was "did this lady know her latent racism-- and to me it came off like a very guilt-ridden confession that "I know this is a terrible association I have, but you asked, so fuck the world, I'm just going to share my shallow, cultural elitist-tinged impressions..."-- would end up in a commercial for all to see?

Sure, I'm sure she signed something that said this video may be used for promotional purposes, but I wouldn't think she could have reasonably imagined Sprint would use something like this to embarrass their own customers. Those round-table focus groups are usually meant to find underlying emotional buttons that might motivate sales, so I think going deep into subconscious associations of a brand is a legit thing, and she was doing what was asked of her, even if it was embarrassing.

In other words, marking is all about finding emotional levers- "I need this product because I'm fat", "I need this product because it will make me popular", "this product makes me feel successful", "I will be hip if I have this product", etc. She was honestly saying what a competitor's brand associated for her, and what thought poppe dinto her head. And, yes, it's totally grounded in a kind of classism and elitism.

For me, the lesson here is don't open up to marketers, ever. Don't help them. Not only because they will fuck you up by putting you in a commercial when you are openly being a racist, but because, well, they are advertisers, right? The $20 they're giving you really isn't worth selling your soul.

Full disclosure: T-Mobile customer for a decade. Possibly ghetto.

Re:Throwing your customers under the bus...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh no, Sprint makes a bad choice of advertising approaches, and people chose to express their offense at it!

My word. Next people will expect TRUTH in advertising.

Seriously, what hoops did they have to jump through? It's not exactly hard to find another set of remarks to use if they want to say something negative about their competitors, tasteless though I think that is.

But hey, maybe we can call in the anti-PC police! That'll teach people to give feedback about something they don't like!

Re:Throwing your customers under the bus...

[khasim]

Not to mention that the video shows HIM nodding and saying "yes" when she says that.

HE chose to go ahead with that video.

HE chose to include that scene in the commercial.

HIS company's logo is on that commercial.

No. It was not that woman. HE chose all of that. He could have left it out.

Now he's trying to blame her. Fuck him.

Re: Throwing your customers under the bus...

[Anonymous Coward]

... how is it racist and WHOM is it racist towards ?

Re: Throwing your customers under the bus...

[Anonymous Coward]

Kind of like hillary ? It was HIS (prepared) skit !

Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[Anonymous Coward]

As the only major carrier that told the Feds to get a warrant before they would provide access to all of your private data, Hero comes to mind before ghetto.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[ganjadude]

well obviously, because they know that snitches get stitches!

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[PRMan]

How is this not a 5?

This is a brilliant comeback, one of the top 5 I have ever seen in 20 years of Slashdot.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[AK Marc]

Perhaps because they are the only non-US carrier in the US, being a Deutsche Telekom company. Giving out the data without a warrant is illegal in most states as well. Though the customer protection laws aren't strictly enforced when the enquiring party is law enforcement.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[mgcarley]

Isn't Sprint majority owned by Softbank (Japan)? I believe Masayoshi Son even owns a house next to Marcelo Claure so they could be neighbours and have their talks when he (Son) is in the US.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[AK Marc]

Sprint is a US company that relatively recently had controlling interest bought by a holding company. Most holding companies aren't very hands-on, and I have no idea what's happened with the diretors, but it's unlikey that the board was wiped and replaced in a couple years, so it's still a US company (headquartered and run). T-mobile was formed in 2001 after DT bought VoiceStream, and they quickly made major changes. But I haven't followed Sprint in a while, but based on the comments I read here, they don't seem to be any different since 2012.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[mgcarley]

T-Mobile's history is pretty complicated (as is everyone elses FWIW) but it was my understanding the Marcelo was kind of groomed in to the CEO position by Son-sama of Softbank (a Japanese company, which, through it's holdings ultimately controls Sprint) after some other business deal was completed between some other company that Marcelo had run before.

Essentially then, even though Sprint and T-Mobile are both US companies headquartered in the US (Sprint in Kansas City and T-Mobile in Bellevue), they are (ultimately) controlled by or have significant ownership by foreign entities, rather than simply being basic subsidiaries of foreign companies as was implied by the GP.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[AK Marc]

T-Mobile isn't a US company. T-Mobile US is, though owned and controlled by T-Mobile (a subsidiary of DT), so I consider T-Mobile a foreign company. The last time I looked, the board and executives were chosen by Germans, even if they chose Americans to keep the local look of the company.

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[mgcarley]

You're right, although I think in saying simply "T-Mobile" when talking about the US market, we could have safely inferred that I was talking about the company with John Legere at the helm, and what I was trying to say is that Sprint is similarly structured as a subsidi-filiat-any (whatever it is) of Softbank.

Even Verizon [Wireless] was 45% owned by Vodafone up until fairly recently, which strictly speaking would have made it part "British" (as far as companies that are "headquartered" in tax havens go, anyway) at the time the feds were noseying around in everybody's business without the general public knowing [pre-Snowden, if you will].

Re:Ghetto = Didn't bend you over for the Feds

[AK Marc]

Having worked for Vodafone in more than one country, I think of Vodafone as a true-multinational. The HQ doesn't get involved in local matters (often, even when they should). But with the global economy, it's more a blur. Is your Toyota made in Mississippi more or less American than your GM from Mexico?

T-Mobile

[bobstreo]

Isn't that bad. I've been with them for a while (7 years), and prices/wifi calling and so on are pretty good.

The only issues I've had is coverage in remote areas (places that A&T/Sprint/Verizon didn't work well either) and inside buildings. Their new LTE
network is supposed to fix the inside building thing, and I've just used wifi inside.

  I think some of the pay as you go (burner) phones are way more ghetto.

Re:T-Mobile

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. T-Mobile has the best deal on a no-data prepaid plan for low-volume users like me.

I work on an internet-connected computer all day, and have internet at home through a hard line, so I have no need at all for a data plan.

I guess my needs are "ghetto." That's why T-Mobile is perfect.

Re:T-Mobile

[JoeMerchant]

So, we used to be hillbillies, and Verizon was the only carrier that worked worth a damn anywhere near our house.

Now that we've moved into the big city, we can get equal coverage from T-Mobile for a much lower price. Sure, when we go back out to the sticks T-Mobile still doesn't work out there as well as Verizon, but there's more than a few reasons why we left that life and we certainly don't go back and visit often.

Re:T-Mobile

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been on tmobile for over 10 years. Why would I want tmobile? Maybe because some of us don't yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-yap all day long on our phone. I use my phone about 1-2 minute a day on average. Up until the last couple years I just had their prepaid plan and paid about $3-5/month for my service. Good luck with that with the other carriers. The closest the others had (at least at the time) was the same cost per minute but also an additional $1 per day used. So at that rate I'd pay about $23-$25 per month instead. Yeah, no thanks. I've got better things I can do with $240/year

Now the last few years I've added data service, but I still barely use any minutes. So now I'm on their $30 unlimited data/100 minutes plan. Again, way cheaper than anything the other carriers offer, and it works perfectly fine for me.

Re:T-Mobile

[boristdog]

We put a booster and antenna on our house out in the sticks (we don't even get TV reception) and now our T-mobile works great. $30 for unlimited data.

Re:T-Mobile

[JoeMerchant]

You know those coverage maps that show strong, moderate, etc. For T-Mobile, we were in the "you're 5 miles from the interstate and 10 miles from downtown SOL" zone.

only three uses for my phone

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Texting
2. Looking at random articles while on the pooper
3. The occasional phone interview

Couldn't care less about my phone or which carrier I have.

Re: only three uses for my phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait, does that mean you are pooping right now? Gross! Close the door and please courtesy flush.

Re:only three uses for my phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Why can't you take you laptop with you while pooping? Just don't get mixed up and wipe with it.

Re: only three uses for my phone

[Anonymous Coward]

My fetish is to shit while talking on the cellphone. I time my flushes to be about 2 seconds before hanging up.

Also, if I hear someone talk on the phone in a public bathroom, I make sure to flush many times just for laughs.

Smart

[Anonymous Coward]

How about "smart"? T-mobile has some features that Sprint doesn't...
1. The biggest being Binge On (Free streaming of YouTube, Netflix, Slingbox, Amazon Video, etc). Yes, this is controversial.
2. Free ASUS Wi-Fi Cellspot router (I get good reception & use it as my wifi router)
3. Free 2016 MLB.TV subscription (this saved me $84.99 to follow my favorite team....the Washington Nationals)

rest of her comment...

[s1d3track3D]

“I don't know't know. There's always, like, three carriers; there's AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. And people who have T-Mobile are just, like... well, you know, they’re like black and minorities and poor and stuff, and those people, like, live in, like, you know, the ghetto...”

Re:rest of her comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, racism is still very much alive in corporate Sprint for ever considering posting this customer's comments.

Re:rest of her comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

Source: Your asshole.

Re:rest of her comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

She's not wrong, she just didn't use the PC term for ghetto which is "urban area".

T-Mobile gains traction in urban areas

And now Elvis Presley everybody
elvis presley - in the ghetto

In the ghettooo...

Re:rest of her comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

You might find that the roots of racism, in its more general form of fallacious bigotry, are basically sown wholesale by such large corporations in what is currently a golden age for such societal pathologies.

Re:rest of her comment...

[spoot]

Gil Scott-Heron - The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues

https://youtu.be/j33VsAn0VtU

Re:rest of her comment...

[Krishnoid]

I thought T-mobile originated in Germany, where ghettoes are where all the Jews lived. For black and minorities and poor and stuff, y'all be talking Boost and MetroPCS, dawg.

Gratuitous low-grade racism aside, I do notice that MetroPCS ads seem to feature more Hispanics. Anyone familiar with the relative performance and target markets of the secondary carriers (Boost, MetroPCS, Cricket, others ?)

Re:rest of her comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think that is racism, you don't know what racism is.

Re:rest of her comment...

[Anonymous Coward]

"They're barely a step above Obamaphones"?

Re:rest of her comment...

[StikyPad]

Dunno about their target market, but I'm a "single working professional" switching to a secondary carrier (Cricket) now that AT&T is doing away with subsidies in future contracts, and letting me out of my existing contract by increasing the unlimited data fee.

Sprint has growing up to do

[Anonymous Coward]

MD here and my whole family happily uses T-Mo.

What so wrong with ghetto?

[Anonymous Coward]

Elvis did a famous song called In the Ghetto. Ghetto Blaster? Ever heard one? What's so wrong with ghetto? Heard they got lots of projects in the ghetto. What's wrong with having lots of projects? And ghetto starts with GH. How many words can say that? Ghastly? Ghostly? Ghana? Ghetto.

Re:What so wrong with ghetto?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ghey.

According to my friend at Sprint...

[__aaclcg7560]

Sprint doesn't offer enough bling to bring in the money.

Sounds like T-Mobiles Ad Campaign Worked

[Anonymous Coward]

Where you at dawg? Whole city behind you dawg!

East side west side ya dawg what up my nigga WHERE YOU AT DAWG!

What do you mean you associate this brand with the ghetto? Dats racist dawg! Where you at dawg! Yo yo yo my nigga! RACIST!

Re:Sounds like T-Mobiles Ad Campaign Worked

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile nigga!

What?!

Re:Sounds like T-Mobiles Ad Campaign Worked

[ewhac]

Where you at dawg?

You're thinking of Boost Mobile.

Re:Sounds like T-Mobiles Ad Campaign Worked

[AntronArgaiv]

Where you at dawg?

You're thinking of Boost Mobile.

My first thought.

Boost Mobile: "Whea you at?"

Hey, it's a market, can't fault them for going after it.

From a ghetto country myself

[Anonymous Coward]

So, Marcelo, who was born in a ghetto country, grew up in ghetto countries, went on to build a successful business selling to those who lived in the ghettos, is now snobbying the same people who made him a billionaire? Rather rich...

Double Standard

[Anonymous Coward]

"Don't do crack, it's a ghetto drug" -- Jesse Jackson

(and of course, not a single peep from anyone).

Re:Double Standard

[Required Snark]

How stupid are you? Were you born that dumb, or did your parents pound you on he head with a brick because you were not as idiotic as they were?

Jesse Jackson is not a head of a publicly traded US corporation. Jesse Jackson was not advertising a product in that statement. He was saying that people shouldn't take drugs. Do you think that people should take drugs, is that your point? Are you an addict? Are you a wanna be drug dealer? What the fuck do you mean?

You are just another fucking KKK member on Slashdot. Get the fuck out of here and go masturbate to you picture of Trump or Hitler or whatever. You are such a rotten excuse for a human being that I can smell the stench through the screen.

Re:Double Standard

[KGIII]

Wait, what? You mean we can't buy, sell, or trade black people any more?

So does that mean I have to unchain those three fellers in the back yard or do I get to grandfather 'em in?

(I'm part black, by the way.)

Re:Double Standard

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn dude. Count to 10, it will all be better then.

Not 100% Wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile did buy Metro PCS, which has long had the nickname Ghetto PCS.

I saw this

[Anonymous Coward]

And knew in 2016 they were headed for trouble.

Equal opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

t-mobile - ghetto
sprint - barrio
at&t - slum
verizon - yeah, they're just a-holes.

Sprint customers must be inarticulate

[Y2K is bogus]

So Sprint must be for self-absorbed inarticulate people, if you use their marketing example as benchmark.

Re:Sprint customers must be inarticulate

[LWATCDR]

Actually I was on Sprint for over 10 years and moved to T-Mobile.
Sprint's network was useless. I had data rates that made a dialup modem look fast. I waited years for Sprint to fix the issues and left for T-Mobile.
I now have good LTE service in most places.

Re:Sprint customers must be inarticulate

[Anonymous Coward]

So, you're disagreeing and saying that T-Mo is for self-absorbed inarticulate people?

Re:Sprint customers must be inarticulate

[PRMan]

This is my experience as well, almost exactly.

Re:Sprint customers must be inarticulate

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been a technically-a-Sprint-customer twice.

The first time, I had a Nextel when Sprint bought them out. I kept the Sprint service until I could get an iPhone (the original one!) and jumped to AT&T.

Later, I was with US Cellular (because AT&T is almost as terrible as Sprint) and they sold some of their midwestern markets to Sprint. I stuck with Sprint until the network switch-over killed their coverage and made their service useless. I then switched to T-Mobile. I won't go back.

Re:Sprint customers must be inarticulate

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll also second this. That and I'm paying about the same for four lines as I did for two on Sprint with better coverage in town and orders of magnitude faster data since I moved before Sprint had rolled out LTE.

T-Mobile is great if you have kids. Go over on your data? Who cares! it still works (slower) and doesn't cost a thing.

It is increasingly harder to go over on your data due to all the things T-Mobile doesn't count as data (Youtube, Netflix, Pandora, etc)

My only issue is when on road trips the data falls off when you're in the middle of no-where. Voice usually works just fine.

there are good reasons. just not many.

[nimbius]

Why do you have T-Mobile?

The question is best asked, "why do you subscribe to cellular phone service?" among the providers listed most are indiscernable from one another outside their limited branding. each network has a coverage determined by the wavelength and spectrum allotted the towers by the FCC. each network has a set of plans, terms, conditions, contractual obligtations, fees and fines associated with their services. And finally, each network of cellular systems is susceptible to outages or failures due to interference, underprovisioning, and "act of god." The cellular service must therefore be defined in terms of the lifestyle it offers, not the service.

the question is why or how do these services differentiate themselves in the consumer mind at all from one another? What the CEO was doing was a simple market identity and brand association test performed every single day by hundreds of corporate focus groups from proctor and gamble to general electric. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint collectively spend multiple billions of dollars each year to promote their product in different ways. AT&T's advertisements may focus on connectivity and family, while Verizon may focus on selling their customers on the perception of advanced or modern living through a superior network and handsets. It doesnt matter the theme, however assuming the target of the question is being genuine and not a paid actress, its a telling statement. Perhaps T-Mobile has spent too much advertising focus on low-cost plans. another common problem, one that marketing and advertisers are keenly aware of, is demographic. Too much diversity in your advertisements and many middle income white suburban consumers will subconsciously associate your product with the negative minority stereotypes utilised by other marketing teams to sell things like music, movies, and clothing. The question the CEO asked to the participant elicited a tacit admission that the participant felt either alienated or confused by the networks product as she hadn't been properly exposed to the correct advertisement for her demographic which, depending on your marketing alignment, can be a sign of trouble.

full disclosure: I work in marketing.

Three is, like, four.

[fahrbot-bot]

There's always, like, three carriers; there's AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. And people who have T-Mobile are just, like... Why do you have T-Mobile?"

'Cause "like, three carriers" can actually mean four carriers - dumb ass.

[ I use Ting which uses Sprint (and Verizon) for CDMA and T-Mobile for GSM. ]

Re:Three is, like, four.

[sims 2]

Whatever happened to the big five?

You know att, verizon, alltel, sprint, tmobile.
I know verizon ate alltel but that was years ago what ever happend to this won't harm competition?

Wasn't some other company supposed to step up and be the new number five?

Re:Three is, like, four.

[mgcarley]

Alltel was swallowed up by mainly by Verizon but also by AT&T in some areas.

US Cellular is currently #5. I've seen signs for them on I55, if I recall rightly.

Ironically, around here...

[Anonymous Coward]

Boost Mobile, the MVNO that targets the urban youth demographic, runs on Sprint's network.

Re: Ironically, around here...

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. I don't care about snob appeal.
One gamer / trucker said his Boost throwaway was the only phone that worked during an -- I forget which -- emergency.

YouTube link

[GameboyRMH]

This should've been linked in TFA/TFS somewhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:YouTube link

[amiga3D]

Thanks for the link. That was pretty funny how right after she said it she was embarrassed. The actual video wasn't as bad as the picture I had from the article above.

Re:YouTube link

[tripleevenfall]

Yeah, to me the word in common parlance just means something that's shoddy or low-quality. There have been all kinds of ghettos in history, some identified with a single race or ethnic group and some not. I know in our hyper-offense-sensitive culture people love to throw a fit when they think it will get them something, but this ad just falls under the 'stupid' category. (as with many or most of Sprint's ads)

Sprint is fucking up hard

[Anonymous Coward]

Their latest promotion... Amazon Prime for $10.99 a month on your bill. I'll let you do the math in your head real quick. Sprint has totally lost their minds.

Re:Sprint is fucking up hard

[acoustix]

Their latest promotion... Amazon Prime for $10.99 a month on your bill. I'll let you do the math in your head real quick. Sprint has totally lost their minds.

Unfortunately, most Americans will find that preferable than paying for it all up front. Especially when they see that $10.99 $99. It's our public education at it's finest!

Happy customer

[codepigeon]

I have used t-mobile for about 5 or 6 years. I have never had a problem with the service. Contrary to what that airhead customer thinks, I don't live in a ghetto.

I love to see the look on the faces of my ATT friends when I tell them I only pay $50/month for unlimited text/calls/data (up to 2GB at 4g then throttled back after that). I also have rollover data, so what I don't use gets put on the next month's "allowance". They just sent me a text the other day showing I have about 6GB of 4g-speed data to use. :)

And recently they mentioned something about certain kinds of streaming traffic not counting towards your monthly allotment. I haven't really looked into it yet.

On a personal note, the attitude of that customer makes me sick. I have friends and family of different races. I know people who live "in the ghetto". They are not subhumans you can look down your nose at...what a bitch.

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

"I know people who live "in the ghetto". They are not subhumans you can look down your nose at"

Nah, they pretty much are.

Re:Happy customer

[WallyL]

T-mobile user here. I just used a pre-paid, cumulative, declining-balance account. I just use google voice on wifi (90% of everywhere I go) and my little t-mobile phone otherwise. Seems okay to me.

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

You are part of the problem by continuing to refer to a plan that does NOT have unlimited data as "unlimited". Hint: If there is rollover data, your plan is not unlimited.

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

What shocks me when I visit the states is how expensive mobile plans are. The top flight plan for my carrier in the UK is ~$35 per month unlimited everything, month to month (no contract).

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

The data is unlimited, it's the 4G that's limited and what the rollover applies to. Reading comprehension fail on your part.

Re:Happy customer

[PRMan]

Same. I pay $100 a month for 4 lines of 2.5 GB of data (which is virtually unlimited because audio and video don't count). The 4 phones are bought on time so they add another $90 a month, which ends in about 11 months. After that, we can see who needs an upgrade or whether we can save money.

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

My ATT rate is about the same, and the look on my face is the one you get when my phone is the only one that can make calls and the Verizon guys get to wait for me to finish before they call their wives from the race track... :)

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

You can stream all the rap and hip-hop you want and it doesn't count towards your monthly allotment. Another ghetto extra from the good niggaz at T-Mobile.

Re: Happy customer

[ljw1004]

I'm on tmobile paying $40/month for the same plan as yours, except I get 3gb/month high speed data to your 2mb, and mine doesn't roll over.

Just checking that you're aware of this cheaper plan?

Re:Happy customer

[radarskiy]

I've seen UK plans that I wish I could sign up for that would give be a better deal roaming all the time in the US than a domestic US plan.

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

I have AT&T and what sounds like an identical plan--unlimited text/calls/data (up to 2 GB at 4G then throttled back after that). I also have rollover data.

It costs me $40 a month ($45 with $5 dollars off for using autopay).

Oh, and if I pay what you are paying ($60... well, actually $55 so I'd be paying $5 less) I'd get 5GB data (with rollover) and unlimited calls and texts to and from Mexico and Canada. I've been tempted to do this since I live close to Canada, but honestly I can't justify the expense-- I never overrun data with the rollover.

Anyway, good to hear you are paying $20 dollars more for the same service with less coverage through T-mobile. Though now that I said it, it sounds pretty ghetto if you ask me...

Linky for when you want to save money (https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone-plans.html).

Re:Happy customer

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe his reading comprehension plan is also not unlimited (and he'd used all of his rollover comprehension)?

Depends on where you are.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the Midwest U.S, the best coverage is provided by U.S. Cellular and Verizon (where Verizon bought Airtouch, which bought CommNet).

People who use Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile are left sitting beside the Interstates if they want coverage, so I guess you could call them "roadies" or "interstate huggers".

Real Comments = REALLY NEED to be checked

[gurps_npc]

They do understand that neo-nazis, rascists, anti-semitics, bigots, etc are real actual people, not fiction.

Did they think they just existed in the movies? That liberals were just lying when they claimed we needed civil rights?

The fact that you found and interviewed a real slime bag, does not excuse you for sending their views out into the world.

That was her second answer

[hyades1]

The first time they asked, she said, "Walmart!" ;-)

Funnier still

[Sycraft-fu]

Sprint is now the smallest carrier in the US. T-Mobile overtook them some time ago.

I've been with T-Mobile since the beginning

[jgotts]

I am one of T-Mobile's earlier customers. I signed up with them shortly after they formed in 1999 because they were the only carrier in Metro Detroit that offered GSM, and I thought it would be useful to be able to use my phone in Europe where I worked for a week or two once a year. Indeed, I used my phone in Europe sparingly. Thanks to number portability, I've had the same phone number for the entire 17 year period.

We've had our ups and downs, but for most of those 17 years T-Mobile was the cheapest option, sometimes by a large margin. Their data service is fast, but only if you get a 4G or 4G LTE signal. You don't want to be stuck on their Edge network for longer than brief periods. Edge is not much better than 1999-era GSM.

I haven't gotten a 3G signal in many years, except where T-Mobile has a roaming agreement with another carrier. In these roaming areas, they give you a tiny monthly allocation of data which I normally exhaust in a few hours. You can still make calls and send text messages as normal. This leads me to conclude that while other carriers have wider deployments, T-Mobile has done a great job at providing coverage where their customers actually live and work. Unfortunately, when you go camping and you have roaming coverage instead of Edge coverage, you will quickly not be able to use the Internet at all, rather than have to settle for slower speeds.

I live, work, and mostly travel where T-Mobile 4G LTE coverage is good. Programs like Waze are much better now at dealing with networks like T-Mobile where speeds can go from 4G LTE to no coverage within ten miles by behaving like you would expect. I used to have problems with apps thinking that everywhere the app is being used the bandwidth will be the same, or the developer naively assuming that their offices in Silicon Valley have similar coverage to places like rural Illinois.

To summarize, if you are a rural user, do not use T-Mobile. If you are a(n) (sub)urban and cost sensitive user like me, go with T-Mobile. You won't always get good coverage in rural areas, but you can at least store your pictures and videos and immediately crush the first 4G LTE tower you encounter once you get within range on your way home.

Re:I've been with T-Mobile since the beginning

[Anonymous Coward]

The beginning was VoiceStream PCS. First available for service in ~1995. At the time, they didn't have licenses for the major metro areas. The few licenses they did have were a step below the premier MMAs, one could even say they were the ghetto MMAs.

Re:I've been with T-Mobile since the beginning

[Anonymous Coward]

I am one of T-Mobile's earlier customers. I signed up with them shortly after they formed in 1999 because they were the only carrier in Metro Detroit

For many people throughout the US, "Metro Detroit" is pretty close to the definition "ghetto".

opposite

[supernova87a]

That's funny. I would've said something almost exactly the opposite in terms of brand image:

"Sprint -- oh, you mean you still live with your parents?"

T-mobile has some of the better international roaming-included and no-contract cancellation policies around. And they are significantly cheaper than ATT and Verizon.

That said, I'm also one step away from moving over to Google Fi.

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[Anonymous Coward]

AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint collectively spend multiple billions of dollars each year to promote their product in different ways.

How about spending some of that money to improve customer service?

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[PRMan]

I guess I am not a racist, but I like T-Mobile's ads and prices.

Good intentions, gone awry

[Mondorescue]

Oy, the Goyim. ;) Perhaps she should have said something less offensive, such as "T-Mobile sucks the sweat off my grandpa's balls." Then everyone would be happy (especially her grandpa).

The ad reads as T-Mobile is for

[Anonymous Coward]

Niggers.

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[AK Marc]

T-Mobile had international-supported GSM before anyone else. AT&T added it soon after, when they were losing business from the multi-nationals, but only on locked phones that weren't international. With T-Mobile, there was about 5-10 years where they were the only one that you could buy an unlocked GSM phone that worked on international frequencies. Tokyo to NYC to Paris with the same phone. Just swap SIMs if you like for local rates/numbers, or keep your SIM and pay insane international roaming rates for the convenience. AT&T eventually caught up, but not without having been behind for years. I haven't followed with recent moves who's international compatible.

Sony's ghetto

[Dusthead Jr.]

I remember about 10 years ago when Sony announced the PSP the claimed that they were going to "will elevate portable entertainment out of the handheld gaming ghetto." No one raised a stink over Sony back then. The only thing people questioned was that idea that the Gameboy Advance, at the time, was a "ghetto."

Re:Sony's ghetto

[Anonymous Coward]

Two different uses of "ghetto" here. Sony used (figuratively) the noun "ghetto" with its proper meaning: a segregated area containing a class of people or video games. Sprint got in trouble for using the adjective "ghetto" to describe their competitor, T-mobile. In this context, adjective "ghetto" means something like "of or pertaining to cultural affectations of poor African-Americans in the United States."

Re:Sony's ghetto

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because the two usages are different. This one is more like "ew, only ghetto people use that", which looks to me like an insult toward poor and thrifty customers with racist undertones, as in "don't be shortchanged because you can't spend more like the people in the ghetto".

Re:Sony's ghetto

[cbhacking]

To be fair, that wasn't a comment made about a *specific* product or competitor, even if in practice there was only one meaningful competitor. But yes people have become more concerned with not just casually writing off large groups of people as lesser than everybody else. I'm very OK with this...

Trying to shift blame

[Dcnjoe60]

"We're sharing real comments from real customers," Claure wrote in the aftermath of criticism. "Maybe not the best choice of words by the customer. Not meant to offend anyone."

It doesn't matter if it wasn't the best choice of words by the customer. Somebody at Sprint or their ad agency thought it was okay to run it. The real story isn't that some customer said that, but that Sprint thought it was acceptable to air it.

I just checked...

[jcr]

I'm getting 90 megabits LTE service at the moment from my "ghetto" T-Mobile unlimited data service which costs me $30 less per month than I was paying AT&T on my original grandfathered data plan.

So, how can Verizon win me as a customer? By insulting all of T-Mobile's customers? Yeah, not happening.

-jcr

Other carriers can call T-Mobile whatever the want

[Anonymous Coward]

At the end of the day, whatever strange foreign country I land in I get this sweet text message informing me that while roaming overseas I have free unlimited texts, free unlimited (3G or 2G) Internet and that all my calls will be at a fixed rate of $0.20 per minute.

Besides which when back in the US I can also use my mobile phone as a wireless modem to tether my laptop to it, and quite a few other ingenious things like being able to get calls over third-party wi-fi networks while roaming anywhere.

Last I checked, as far as I know none of the other three carriers mentioned offer anything remotely as convenient and reasonably-priced as this for international travelers who roam a lot and live in major urban centers. Some of this might explain recent statistics pointing to the fact that T-Mobile has been accruing customers and poaching them from competing networks at a faster rate than anyone else. Coincidentally, they're starting to bite on the heels of the one ranked #3 (what a surprise!) Sprint!

Of course Sprint will be mad and start the mud-slinging. Is anyone surprised? Corporations are people too (in the US, according the the SCOTUS) and have feelings too, yano?

Similar tactic to Trump saying something really gross to make his point to the base, and then later retracting it. I'd wager there's a lot of customers responding regardless, and what better way to reinforce stereotypes than to use language like this?

We will get better, in a few hundred years

[Master Moose]

Abraham Lincoln: [interrupting] What a charming negress. Oh, forgive me, my dear. I know that in my time some use that term as a description of property.

Uhura: But why should I object to that term, sir? You see, in our century, we've learned not to fear words.

Re:We will get better, in a few hundred years

[Dahamma]

Uh, you do realize your entire quotation is just the opinion/agenda of a random (and I guarantee you WHITE) TV writer in the 60's?

Irrelevant to today's situation (or even the situation back then). Not sure how "in the future blacks won't care when they are insulted" is in fact progress...

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[boondaburrah]

Well, maybe not Tokyo. They're CDMA. (though they use GSM/WCDMA for 3g if you got a 2100MHz 3G phone, there's no GSM to fall back to, only CDMA). Also it was only in the last couple of years you were able to buy/use an unlocked phone there. It sucked. While their tech is great, they're somehow more behind on the mobile sphere than we are. (except in payments, where they kick our ass)

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[cbhacking]

Speaking as somebody who frequently travels (both on business trips and pleasure ones) T-Mobile's free international roaming is a huge deal for me. Until another carrier offers that, or offers sufficiently-cheaper service to make up for the difference of adding that, I will most likely stick to TMo. Being able to get off the plane anywhere in the world and immediately have my phone work is just magical, as is being able to text my girlfriend without even needing to buy a new SIM and tell her the new number.

The unlimited music streaming is also very nice. I stream about 6GB of music per month over cellular data, and it doesn't count against my high-speed data / tethering limit.

You blame public education

[Anonymous Coward]

But it's really the funding, religiosity, etc. you should be paying attention to. Private or public, schools suck in the U.S. when in the same area, whatever area that is, and given the same level of funding.

Because they won't be insulted...

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure how you didn't get that.

Consider when a 3-year-old calls another 3-year-old "doo doo head". That other 3-year-old gets pissed.

Now consider when a 3-year-old calls you a "doo doo head". Do you really feel insulted?

At some point it loses its power. If "ghetto" hasn't lost its power by the 2200s, all is fucked.

Re:Because they won't be insulted...

[Dahamma]

That makes no sense. If a 40 year old or a 3 year old called me "doo doo head", obviously I wouldn't be insulted since those words have no meaning behind them other than "things 3 year olds say".

If a 40 year old or a 3 year old called me a "goddamn piece of shit" then, well in the first case, yeah, I'd be insulted, and the second, I'd question what the fuck the kid's parents have been teaching.

Words matter. But that's not even the point. My point is quoting a writer from the 60's really says nothing. I'm sure the JJ Abrams version of Uhura would have put the beat down on Lincoln. Which also doesn't matter, since it's still a random white guy writing a piece of FICTION.

The ghetto carrier calls T-Mobile ghetto

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't use that word, but I do think of Sprint as a lower class of carrier than AT&T or Verizon.

I'm not passing judgment on their customers. I really don't care who someone's carrier is and the subject rarely comes up in conversations I have with people. Many people have probably sworn off at least one of the big 4 carriers for some reason or another. I will NEVER be an AT&T customer again due to a bad experience and billing dispute many years ago. The other carriers have not managed to piss me off, but I've heard other people rant about all 4 major carriers while plenty of others say they're happy with AT&T.

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[Anonymous Coward]

full disclosure: I work in marketing.

The entire body of text gave me this eerie feeling as I kept hitting buzz words and skipped ahead further. Before I knew it, I had reached the end of the post and had yet to actually find any content. You have clearly mastered the time honored skill of saying absolutely nothing with as many words as possible. I am both amazed and horrified.

Only 1 group is allowed to say that word

[Anonymous Coward]

Right? because nobody else has ever lived in a ghetto.

Next on Chappelle Show...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sprint: When "Keeping it Real" goes really really WRONG...

Re:there are good reasons. just not many.

[Anonymous Coward]

It is comments like this that make me glad the first commercial my daughter ever saw was at the age of 12. She tolerated the first one, had a funny expression on her face for the second, and by the third asked me if this was going to keep happening throughout the show. She had a similar reaction to the first web page she saw without an ad blocker installed.

Now advertising in all its forms sickens her. Made me feel like I had succeeded in at least one aspect of parenting.

What's wrong with the word ghetto?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not only black people live in the ghetto so it's not racist...

Ironic

[thechemic]

The advertisement is a little ironic considering that T-Mobile has more subscribers than AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Not only is the advertisement unprofessional, but the connotation that T-Mobile is ghetto is completely incorrect.

Shameless

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch the one black guy at table's head drop when she says that.