Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is now at risk of losing his job over decisions to increase spending to upgrade network performance and capacity.  In the last week, Sprint announced it will likely seek outside financing to accelerate the launch of its new 4G LTE network, while concurrently deciding to stop selling 4G WiMax smartphones that work on the troubled Clearwire network by the end of this year.

Wall Street hates companies spending money to upgrade their networks, particularly when there is little evidence Sprint will enhance profits with price increases or cut costs by limiting customers’ data usage.

For several major investment firms and banks, the last straw was Hesse’s revelation that the company will likely need to borrow money to complete its Network Vision plan, which calls for major upgrades of Sprint’s wireless network to support much faster data speeds for customers.  His earlier commitment to spend up to $20 billion on Sprint’s version of the Apple iPhone did not help matters.

Sprint’s stock price took a beating last week, sliding 26 percent to the lowest level since February 2009 as investors fled.

KSHB in Kansas City reports Sprint intends to stop selling devices that work on the company’s existing 4G/Clearwire WiMax service by the end of this year in favor of Sprint’s forthcoming launch of a new 4G LTE network.  (1 minute)

The Detroit News reports an investor meeting with Sprint executives “grew ugly” after Hesse announced the company needed to spend money to upgrade and refused to show a clear pathway to enhanced profits earned from those upgrades.

Wall Street to Hesse: Don't Get Comfortable

“Hesse is on thin ice now,” Ed Snyder, an analyst with Charter Equity Research, told the newspaper. “One, perhaps two, more big mistakes and he’s probably gone.”

More than a half-dozen Wall Street analysts have slashed their ratings on the wireless company because they believe Sprint’s spending plans will hurt liquidity.

While customers are increasingly rewarding Hesse and Sprint for making customer service improvements and retaining customer friendly unlimited service plans, Wall Street shows no signs of being charitable to Hesse’s management of the Overland Park, Kansas company.

Ben Abramowitz, an analyst with Kaufman Bros., downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy,” excoriating the company for expensive strategic shifts, including network upgrades and the company’s recent commitment to Apple to sell millions of Apple iPhones on Sprint’s network.

“Management credibility is lost with investors,” Abramowitz wrote.

Jonathan Schildkraut from Evercore Partners told CNBC the spending at Sprint may just be getting started.  Millions of customers remain connected to Nextel’s legacy iDEN network, which Sprint intends to decommission.  Schildkraut believes Sprint will have to provide deep discounts or free phones for displaced customers who will need to move to Sprint’s primary network.  He also notes that despite Sprint’s plans to abandon Clearwire’s WiMax network for 4G, the company will likely make further investments to maintain the partnership, and Clearwire’s network, for other purposes.

Sprint’s decision to adopt Apple’s iPhone and upgrade their network may make competitive sense against larger players AT&T and Verizon Wireless, but Schildkraut notes Apple commands top dollar for the popular phone — upwards of $600 on the wholesale level, which carriers in turn subsidize to lure customers to sign two-year contracts.  But Sprint would do well to consider Verizon’s experience with the iPhone, he says.  Most of Verizon’s iPhones were sold to customers who already owned smartphones.  That forced Verizon to subsidize up to $400 for each iPhone with no chance of increasing the average revenue collected from customers.  Investors were hoping the iPhone would instead attract budget handset customers who would upgrade to more expensive smartphone service plans.

Because the iPhone still does not support 4G technology, it seems less likely existing Sprint 4G WiMax smartphone owners would consider the Apple 4S an upgrade, and may hold off waiting for the anticipated iPhone 5.  But as Sprint begins to promote its forthcoming 4G LTE network, those Sprint customers using WiMax phones will be tempted to move to something else.  Either way, phone subsidies could create a significant drag on Sprint’s cash on hand at a time when the company is spending heavily on upgrading its network.

In the telecommunications business, upgraded service helps customers and spurs competition.  But it is nearly always the enemy of Wall Street unless a clear pathway to enhanced profits can be shown.  Investors may ultimately have the last word on those upgrades, and the person responsible for green-lighting them.  Hesse may learn that lesson first hand if the company can’t find a way to boost its stock price, and soon.

Wall Street goes on the attack, unhappy that Sprint is spending their money to upgrade its networks for the benefit of Sprint customers.  CNBC covers all the business angles.  (6 minutes)

Wall Street is pushing back against Justice Department efforts to unwind a merger proposal between AT&T and T-Mobile that will leave America with three national carriers.  Some investment firms even believe three carriers are still “too many” and want mergers and acquisitions to accelerate to allow two dominant national carriers to emerge.

“It’s pretty clear what the end game is in wireless,” said Julie Richardson, managing director at Providence Equity Partners Inc. “LTE, 4G — you have to have those services to compete. One of the most interesting things to watch in telecom will be these players coming together.”

Richardson shares the view among many on Wall Street that carriers forced to build costly 4G services like LTE need less competition and more cash-on-hand to pay for upgrades and to obtain needed spectrum.

Only AT&T and Verizon Communications have the resources to support a national 4G Long Term Evolution network, Richardson said. Sprint, the third-biggest U.S. wireless operator, is struggling to compete against larger rivals and has lost money for 15 consecutive quarters, Bloomberg News reports.

Among smaller players, Richardson believes the future is clear: mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships.  Sprint is moving increasingly closer to the nation’s cable companies, which have sought a cost-efficient way to deliver the ultimate “quad-play” service package that includes wireless, landline, cable-TV, and Internet service, all from the cable company.  But talk of constructing competing cell networks has gone largely nowhere, and cable companies that do offer some type of wireless service typically resell an existing service under their own brand.  Road Runner Mobile, from Time Warner Cable, for example, is really Clearwire under a different name.  Same for Comcast’s wireless Internet service.  Cox is pitching “unbelievably fair” wireless phone service that actually comes from Sprint.

But cable operators currently don’t seem to be interested in outright acquisitions of cell companies like Sprint, preferring to partner with them instead.

Clearwire, which needs financing and better wireless spectrum, may eventually find a friend in Dish Networks, the satellite TV company.  Dish controls wireless frequency spectrum it currently does not use, and has expressed an interest in expanding beyond a traditional satellite television provider.  An acquisition of Sprint or Clearwire could help them accomplish that.

Some of Clearwire’s very first, and most loyal customers in the Pacific Northwest are receiving an unwelcome message of thanks for their years of service with the company: a massive rate increase.

The company is nearly doubling rates for customers who were promised special “lifetime” discounts for agreeing to remain with the wireless 4G broadband service, which has been experiencing financial problems recently.

D.B. in Seattle has been a Clearwire customer for years, even before the company upgraded to WiMax speeds.  In 2009, Clearwire sent him an offer he couldn’t refuse: stay with Clear and pay just $22 a month (plus $5 modem rental fee) for life.

“Of course I accepted immediately,” D.B. writes. “Then Clear [sent me a letter recently] telling me my monthly fee was going up to approximately $47 a month with the modem fee.”

D.B. has been calling and e-mailing Clearwire asking what happened to the $22-for-life promotion he has in writing from the company, but “nobody knows anything.”

Clearwire says they have improved their service recently in Seattle, but D.B. isn’t impressed.

“I’m here to tell the world that is not true,” he says. “Plus the times I’ve had this thing freeze up has greatly increased, and usually I have to unplug the modem for five minutes [to get service back].”

Mireille in Seattle managed to get an even lower “lifetime” rate from Clearwire two years ago.

“They offered me a monthly rate of $19.95 for as long as I maintained uninterrupted Clearwire service. That means forever and ever until I cancel.,” she says.  “Last week they sent me an email letting me know that they were raising my rate to $35.95 a month (that includes a $10 a month ‘long time customer discount’) and since I was such a good customer I was being offered that rate for the life of my uninterrupted Clearwire service. Sound familiar?”

Mireille calls it something else: breach of contract.

“I spoke to three different people and no one had anything to say besides that they were sorry but they were not able offer me that rate anymore.”

Customers in the Portland, Ore. area are getting similar e-mails, and The Oregonian took note:

Clearwire Corp., a wireless Internet provider that operates as Clear, is raising prices for 30,000 customers who signed up for the service soon after its 2009 launch.

The Kirkland, Wash.-based company didn’t provide details of the rate hikes, but e-mails to customers show that monthly rates for some home Internet plans will rise from $35 to $45 beginning in October.

Clearwire said the rate hike affects both home and mobile customers who subscribed when the service was first available, at a time when rates were lower or promotional prices were available.

Clearwire still offers a home Internet plan for $35 a month, but it limits download speeds to 1.5 megabits per second — one-eighth the speed of Comcast’s standard plan. Clear’s standard plan, which now costs $45, promises downloads between 3 and 6 megabits per second.

Sprint is preparing to launch its own 4G LTE network early next year in an undetermined number of markets to increase 4G speeds and compete with AT&T and Verizon.

Sprint’s existing 4G service, based on older WiMax technology that powers the Clearwire network, has not kept up with subscriber demands, and many of Sprint’s “4G”-capable markets have speeds more in common with 3G than Verizon’s LTE or AT&T HSPA+ 4G networks.  As Clearwire continues to struggle through serious financial problems (the service has not expanded into a new market since 2010), lawsuits, and disgruntled customers, Sprint isn’t waiting around for Clearwire’s own planned upgrade to TD-LTE, which would require at least $600 million in financing to undertake.

Instead, Sprint is deploying the same technology used by Verizon for its LTE network.

CNET reports Sprint will initially use its G-block spectrum (1900MHz) for its LTE network, but the most robust coverage will come in 2013 when Sprint retires the Nextel iDEN network which currently resides in the 800MHz band, more suitable for longer range reception.

Sprint says the 4G LTE upgrade is all part of its Network Vision plan, which upgrades virtually the entire Sprint network at a cost of $4-5 billion.  But shareholders aren’t reacting over Sprint’s LTE spending, because it is included in the earlier budget already disclosed to Wall Street.

For consumers, the upgrade will mean the company that first embraced 4G will once again deliver speeds worthy of that label.  Sprint customers across the country have reported network speeds have suffered as more customers have piled on Sprint’s and Clearwire’s network.  Clearwire will remain a Sprint partner, but that wireless provider will increasingly depend on Sprint’s network, a reversal of Sprint’s current dependence on Clearwire WiMax for their existing 4G service.  Clearwire may ultimately be unable to finance its own upgrades.

Sprint also announced it will keep its unlimited smartphone data plans, because they attract customers from AT&T and Verizon who do not want limited-use plans.  But preserving unlimited data comes at a cost.  Sprint has been cutting perks all month:

1. Sprint nearly doubled its early termination fee from $200 to $350 effective Sept. 9.
2. Sprint slashed its satisfaction guarantee program for new customers from 30 to 14 days on Sept. 16.  Sprint’s guarantee allows new customers the opportunity to test Sprint’s network before committing to a two-year contract.  The company also now expects to be paid for whatever airtime charges were incurred during the trial.
3. Sprint has announced it is ending its Premier Program Dec. 31.  Premier gave customers who spend more than $89 a month on an individual cell plan the opportunity to upgrade their phones annually, penalty-free.  Members also received free minutes, discounts on accessories, early buying opportunities for the newest phones, and regular plan reviews.  Instead, customers will be dropped into the same New for You^SM Upgrade Program lower spenders receive.  But Sprint will be changing that program too:

Unlimited data... for now.

On October 2, the following changes to our New for You^SM Upgrade Program will take effect:

• New lines of service and existing customers who upgrade on or after October 2, 2011 will receive future upgrades after 20 months;
• $75 and $25 upgrade discounts will no longer be available for customers signing up for a 1-year agreement or 2-year agreement after 12 months or signing a 1-year agreement after 22 months.

Additional information for existing customers. As of October 2:

• If you’ve already qualified for a full upgrade, nothing changes. When you sign up for a new 2-year agreement and take your device offer, future upgrades will be available after 20 months;
• If you haven’t qualified for your full upgrade yet, to receive a discount you’ll wait until you qualify for your full upgrade at 22 months.

On Oct. 5, Sprint is expected to introduce the Apple iPhone on its network for the first time.  Some analysts predict iPhone will be the catalyst to drive Sprint’s unlimited data plan into the ground, because the phone has a reputation for being a favorite for heavy data users.  iPhone 5 will remain dependent on 3G networks for connectivity outside of Wi-Fi, which could drive data usage higher than any other Sprint phone.  Should that overwhelm Sprint’s 3G network before its 4G service enjoys a widespread rollout (and Apple introduces a phone that works on 4G), Sprint may find itself limiting data usage as well, as least on its 3G network.

Sprint’s promotional video promoting its current 4G WiMax network, powered by Clearwire.  (3 minutes)

In the fall of 2009, South Carolina’s Budget and Control Board approved a fire-sale deal that leased out 95 percent of the state’s public wireless broadband spectrum to two private companies in a 30-year contract valued at $143 million, with the promise South Carolina would enjoy better broadband as a result.

Two years later, South Carolina’s broadband standing has been called “a Corridor of Shame” according to one provider that is trying to expand service while Clearwire and DigitalBridge — the contract winners, sit on their respective hands.

Both companies secured access to the statewide Educational Broadband Service spectrum they get to control with near-exclusivity for less than $5 million annually — around $1 a year for every South Carolinian that could eventually be served with improved broadband.  But nobody is getting service from either provider, indefinitely.

Columbia’s Free-Times notes neither company has concrete plans to bring broadband to anyone in South Carolina.  Clearwire, now in financial trouble, provides no service in the state and DigitalBridge refused to comment for the newspaper’s story.  Free-Times reporter Corey Hutchins could not find anyone able to provide any definitive information about either company’s short or long-term plans to hold up their end of the bargain.

Khush Tata, chief information officer for the S.C. Technical College System suspects one might not even exist.  So long as these two companies maintain a lock on the spectrum, nobody else can deliver the wireless service either.

“I haven’t seen any big cohesive strategy since [the leasing] at all,” Tata told the newspaper. “I think that it’s still based on market and business viability for each provider so they’re sort of on their own. Each provider, they invest based on their return on investment, which is good for their business, but as a state there isn’t any overall planning or approach — and I think the leasing of spectrum provided the largest overall strategy opportunity, which is a pity that it hasn’t panned out yet.”

Don’t tell that to industry-connected Connected Nation, whose South Carolina chapter claims the state is doing better than most providing broadband service.  The group has published maps, based entirely on data provided by the state’s phone and cable companies, that suggest most residents not only get the service, but have a choice in providers.

“That’s just plain bull,” says Stop the Cap! reader Jeff Lodge, who lives outside of Columbia.  Not only does the local cable company pass him by, but there is no DSL either.  He relies on an unlimited wireless data plan from AT&T and does most of his web browsing during breaks at work.

No Plans

“I live in a community of 22,000 people and only those along the main streets in this community have access to broadband,” he says. “The cable company doesn’t go far off the beaten path, and the here-and-there DSL some get is dreadful.”

Even Connect South Carolina acknowledges broadband speeds in the state are often woefully behind others in the region.  Many well-populated census tracts have no wired broadband at all.

With the pervasive lack of broadband, incumbent providers have been heavily lobbying the state to keep others off their spartan turf — pushing for the same type of legislation effectively banning community broadband networks that North Carolina passed earlier this year.

“It’s Time Warner Cable and AT&T… again, that are behind most of this effort, and those two companies treat South Carolina like a forgotten bastard child now,” Lodge says. “Can you imagine the arrogance of big cable and phone companies to keep competition away even when they, themselves, won’t compete?”

No Comment

One company trying to make a difference: GlobalCo and their partner On-Time-Communications.  A review of the under-developed website of the latter suggests neither entity is well-positioned or backed to deliver broadband without significant financial assistance.  But at least they recognize the problem.

“In South Carolina there’s 10 counties that made [the FCC's report on broadband unavailability] and the majority of them come out of what’s commonly referred to as the ‘Corridor of Shame’,” Ronnie Wyche, GlobalCo’s vice president of sales told Free-Times.

None of this comes as a surprise to Brett Bursey, director of the South Carolina Progressive Network, who opposed the spectrum sell-off.

“The bargain basement lease of the nation’s only statewide broadband system was a theft from, and insult to, the taxpayers who built and own the system,” Bursey told the paper. “The system is not being developed by the companies who won the lease and the Legislature is ideologically opposed to public ownership.”

Click to Enlarge

Frontier Communications’ DSL service delivers abysmal results for customers looking for quality time with Netflix.  For the second quarter running, the independent phone company’s ability to keep up with Netflix’s high quality video is about on par with a garden slug in a triathlon — yes, it may eventually reach the finish line, but you’ll be dead before it happens.  Even more embarrassing for Frontier, their service is occasionally beaten by Clearwire, a wireless ISP with a bandwidth throttler that can reduce your online experience to the painful days of dial-up if deemed to be using “too much.”

“Frontier sucks,” writes Stop the Cap! reader Doug in Charleston, W.V. “After they took over where Verizon fled, my ability to watch Netflix online became a source of endless frustration, so now I limit myself to mailing DVD’s back and forth.”

Remarkably, Charter Cable, which does poorly in customer satisfaction surveys, is again the runaway winner, followed by Comcast, the heavily usage-capped Cable One, Time Warner Cable, and Cox.  Verizon and AT&T only deliver middling performance.

In a desperate bid to inflate subscriber numbers, dealer commissions, and attract additional investors, some Clearwire retailers slashed credit standards resulting in widespread approval of customers who would later skip out on paying the bill.  At least one dealer offered to override any failed credit check for even the most credit risky customers, according to a Bloomberg News investigation.

Those charges, made by three former dealers and distributors, bring additional controversy to a wireless venture already facing lawsuits for false advertising and misleading business practices.

From late 2009 until earlier this year, Clearwire dealers were strongly encouraged to sign up new customers for its wireless services, which include a home broadband replacement offering “unlimited wireless broadband” to customers.  In many markets, scores of would-be customers in urban and poor areas failed the company’s credit checks.  One former salesman told Bloomberg as many as 60 percent of his would-be customers couldn’t pass the credit check without a manual override, often done with a copy of a driver’s license and evidence of residence in the area, such as two consecutive utility bills.

Millions of new Clearwire customers were signed up for service during 2010, with dealers and salesmen earning significant sign-up commissions and parent company Clear winning favorable media coverage for its high subscriber growth, used to attract new investment.

One distributor called the lax credit standards “a time bomb,” one that began going off as customers reneged on their contracts, didn’t bother to pay the bills, or simply canceled service while ignoring collection efforts.  But the credit standards remained surprisingly loose for an industry that routinely profiles potential customers before signing them up to service.

By mid-2010, Clearwire dealers were no longer even required to pull a hard credit report with a Social Security number.  Scores of immigrants, many without documentation, could now sign up for Clearwire service showing proof they had managed to make at least one rent payment on time.  Even customers with no credit experience were signed up for service, some who paid exclusively in cash.

One Texas dealer reported as many as 80 percent of his customers were approved with credit overrides.

Much of Clear’s dealer network is independently owned and operated, especially now that the company faces financial challenges.  The company provides dealers with strong financial incentives, including bonuses, for new customer signups.  Several former salespeople report distributors and dealers routinely pressured salespeople to sign up new customers at all costs.

“I always hear from reps ‘I’m not selling because no one can pass credit checks’,” one manager wrote. “The time has come for you to call BS and on your reps (and yourself if needed!) and for the credit excuse to END now! I will personally enter in the credit overrides under your dealer code.”

“PS, you can thank me later for DOUBLING YOUR COMMISSIONS!” the e-mail dated March 2010 read.

Some customers even managed to skip out paying on one Clearwire account while establishing another.  The runaway growth propelled network traffic for Clearwire, leading the company to implement “fair use” policies that restricted the use of the service, despite being pitched as “unlimited.”  In addition to customers who simply refused to pay their bills, some creditworthy customers signing up for service were gone within weeks after finding the service unusable.

Bloomberg notes Clear’s own numbers suggest the company had 688,000 customers at the end of 2009.  As of the end of the first quarter of 2011, that number is now 6.15 million.  But Clear’s numbers show the churn rate — customers coming and going — is high for the wireless industry at 3 percent or higher for the past seven quarters.  Verizon Wireless, in contrast, has a churn rate of 1.33 percent.

A high churn rate is a major problem because it requires Clear to spend more in marketing and sign up promotions to entice a steady supply of new customers replacing those who have left or been shut off.

Most providers who find a would-be customer saddled with sub-prime credit scores ask for a substantial deposit for service, or encourage a prepaid calling plan instead.  But Clear shows no indications of moving in either direction.

The company has managed to protect itself from financial losses from the customer merry-go-round, often at the expense of dealers who over-enthusiastically signed up deadbeat customers.  If a customer leaves or is shut off within the first six months, the dealer commission is forfeited back to Clear.

For some, this has meant the end of their business.  One dealer lost more than $500,000 in “chargebacks,” while others owe tens of thousands in repayments to Clear.

Clear’s business depends on more than just its own Clearwire customers.  Several cable companies, including Time Warner Cable and Comcast, resell Clearwire service under their respective brand names.  So does Best Buy.

Inner city Americans pay substantially more for broadband service than their neighbors in wealthy suburbs, while rural America pays the highest prices of all for broadband service, according to the results of a new study.

The Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University analyzed broadband speeds and service around the nation’s capital to learn how broadband is priced in different neighborhoods and communities.  The study covered the eighth largest metro area, which included over five million residents in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia.

Broadband providers never release specific data about their customers’ broadband service and the prices they pay for it, considering it a closely guarded business secret.  The Workshop went direct to consumers to get around this limitation, combining actual speed test results with the true cost of standalone broadband service reported by study participants.  It’s among only a handful of studies that rely on actual raw performance and pricing data — not company-provided general marketing information about speeds and pricing.

The conclusions expose a dramatic difference in broadband pricing depending on where one lives, what company they do business with, and how well each company’s network performs.

The results?  Broadband pricing was cheapest from Comcast, the region’s dominant cable company and most expensive, by far, from a wireless ISP (WISP) that serves the Culpepper, Virginia area.  Residents in wealthy suburbs in Fairfax County, Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland enjoyed the best bang for their buck, charged nearly half the price-per-megabit that residents inside the urban District of Columbia pay.  Rural residents were stiffed with high prices for comparatively slow speed service.

Verizon, the area’s dominant phone company did poorly in the study, in part because of the substantial number of legacy DSL customers who are paying a lot for little speed.  Although Verizon’s fiber-optic FiOS service is making inroads in some parts of the study area, its high speeds don’t reach enough customers to offset Verizon’s larger base of DSL customers.

Here’s how Comcast and Verizon compared:

• Comcast, according to an average of 1,254 surveys, charged customers $5.76 per Mbps;
• Verizon, according to 1,744 surveys, charged $12.34 per Mbps — more than twice as much as Comcast.
• Verizon charged $50.86 per month on average.
• Comcast charged $52.68.
• The median, or midpoint price, is much lower, at $5.13 per Mbps for Verizon and $2.84 for Comcast.

Cox Communications, a cable company that serves Fairfax County and Fredericksburg in Northern Virginia, charges $6.60 per Mbps, according to 528 surveys. Cox’s monthly average cost was $46.77.

Rounding out the five regional providers, RCN Corp., averaged $11.06 per Mbps, or $48.57 per month, for a median price of $5.77 per Mbps, according to 126 surveys, and Clearwire Corp., according to 172 surveys, averaged $16.19 per Mbps for $42.16 per month and a median price of $12.47 per Mbps.

By far the worst values went to rural customers.  Overall, the study found rural residents pay $30.28 per Mbps (based on 431 surveys) and $53.84 per month for service, a per-megabit rate far higher than the other three regions.

Virginia Broadband LLC, a Culpeper, wireless broadband provider, offered the worst value. According to a summary of 24 surveys, the company charges a whopping $198.13 per Mbps, the most of any company that underwent more than one test. The average monthly bill was $94.07, and the average speed was less than a megabit per second.

Comcast, RCN, and Virginia Broadband did not respond or refused to comment.  Verizon said the results were unfair because it did not distinguish between FiOS fiber to the home customers and their traditional DSL service.

They also criticized the study’s price comparisons, which relied solely on standalone broadband service pricing.  Verizon, like most providers, discounts services to customers who choose to bundle their telecommunications products together.

The study arrives at the same time the federal government has released their own national broadband map, which relies to a large degree on information volunteered by broadband providers.

The study has been criticized for not accurately depicting true broadband speeds and pricing, which can distort the true picture of broadband availability across the United States.

Netflix today released statistics showing Frontier Communications was America’s worst ranked wired Internet Service Provider, ranking at the bottom for quality and speed when using Netflix’s streamed content.

Only Clearwire, a heavily-throttled wireless provider scored worse than Frontier Communications.  This says nothing good about Frontier considering they are a wired provider.

Charter Cable scored highest — a surprise from a company that scores near the bottom in Consumer Reports broadband rankings:

Charter is in the lead for US streams with an impressive 2667 kilobits per second average over the period. Rogers leads in Canada with a whopping 3020 kbps average.

Canada’s higher speed performance comes even as providers claim they need to implement Internet Overcharging schemes to handle congestion on their networks — congestion not apparent from Netflix’s online video performance. Perhaps Canadians have been already grown accustomed to avoiding too much online video.

Netflix promises to release their streaming performance statistics on a monthly basis. Track your ISP from the charts below:

Netflix USA Speed Rankings

Netflix Rankings for Canada

(Our reader Paul sent us a news tip about this story.  You can send yours using the Contact Form linked above.)

Unless you own Sprint’s premiere smartphones — the Evo 4G and the Epic, get out your wallet — Sprint is increasing the price on its unlimited data plan by $10, effective later this month.

Evo and Epic owners already pay the $10 “premium data” fee that will be extended to all smartphone customers Jan. 30 (customers on existing contracts will not be affected).

The reason for the price increase?  Heavy usage on its wireless network, which partly includes Virgin Mobile (ending its unlimited service Feb. 14) and Clearwire, which heavily throttles speeds of customers deemed to be “using too much.”

Chief executive Dan Hesse says Sprint will retain its unlimited service plans, which the company calls the best value in the wireless industry.  But the pricing change will present minor challenges as Sprint markets themselves as the least costly.

Sprint's marketing focuses on its unlimited use offers, some of which are about to get more expensive.

Sprint’s “Everything Data” plan, which also includes unlimited cell-to-cell calls will now cost $79.99 per month.  Comparable plans from T-Mobile are priced at $99.99 for that company’s 4G network and $119.98 on Verizon Wireless’ slower, but more ubiquitous 3G network.

“Sprint has been the price leader in the market,” said Jennifer Fritzsche, a Wells Fargo & Co. analyst in Chicago who has an “outperform” rating on the stock. “Sprint may be more confident in the pricing power it has with customers.”

The Wall Street Journal also shares positive views of the price increase from Wall Street:

Wall Street applauded the move, with many seeing it as a sign of pricing power returning to the wireless industry. “It is more likely that Sprint believes that consumers value unlimited and that they can get away with higher pricing,” said Jonathan Chaplin, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

The price hike also suggests that Sprint has seen stronger smartphone growth over the past three months, he added, noting that the carrier likely wouldn’t have made the change if it were still concerned about stabilizing its base on contract customers.

But some other analysts are less impressed with Sprint, especially because of challenges the company faces with its Clearwire partnership.

Patrick Comack from Zachary Investment Research has downgraded Sprint stock, particularly because of technology issues Clearwire faces.

Comack told CNBC Clearwire is stuck with defective spectrum for much of its wireless broadband service.

“It can’t penetrate walls,” Comack said, noting most Clearwire customers are trying to use wireless broadband in the 2GHz range, which presents plenty of problems from obstacles between the tower and the customer.

Comack also believes Sprint’s network simply cannot compete with Verizon Wireless, which he suspects could pick up a number of Sprint customers once it fully activates its 4G network nationwide.

Verizon Wireless network delivers significantly better coverage than Sprint, which focuses on urban and suburban markets, and the major highways that connect them.

CNBC: Debating Sprint and Clearwire, with Todd Rethemeier, Hudson Square Research and Patrick Comack Zachary Investment Research.  (6 minutes)

(Thanks to Stop the Cap! reader PreventCAPS for sharing the news.)