Sprint customers are not thrilled with their new neighbors — the Apple iPhone 4S crowd that just moved into the network.

In several areas across the country, Sprint customers are howling about network speeds plummeting over the weekend, just as new iPhone owners began activating their phones.

“This is completely unacceptable,” Clive Dearstromm writes Stop the Cap!  “I have been a Sprint customer for five years, and while their network has never been the fastest, what has happened since Friday morning is ridiculous.  I can’t get beyond 210kbps.”

Dearstromm can’t even reliably access his e-mail on Sprint’s 3G network today, and Sprint has denied there is a service outage in Florida.

“Coincidence?  I think not,” he adds.

Other Sprint customers have also noticed, and are not happy.  In South Los Angeles, one customer reports speeds of around 170kbps on Sprint’s network.

“I moved from AT&T to Sprint because of unlimited data, but if this continues I might have to move back,” writes the customer. “I can’t even open a web page without taking a minute or two.”

Sprint denies there is a problem, telling PC Magazine:

“As always, Sprint is carefully monitoring the performance of the 3G network. We are looking into a small number of reports of slow data speeds when using the iPhone 4S, however there are also reports showing that Sprint’s network is the fastest, such as the Gizmodo report that came out earlier today. Speed tests represent a moment in time and are subject to many variables including weather, time of day, device, and proximity to a tower. Sprint will continue to monitor the feedback we are getting from our customers and will investigate and resolve any issues that may arise,” the company said in a statement.

PC Magazine questioned Gizmodo’s test results, suggesting Wi-Fi speed tests might be mucking up the accuracy of the results.  By this morning, it was evident Sprint was in last place, compared with AT&T and Verizon, and because speeds slowed the most during peak usage times, it’s a sure sign of network congestion.

Apple iPhone owners are a demanding crowd, and many of them aren’t happy about their Sprint iPhone experience either.  The new phone’s most important gimmick feature, Siri, does not work well on congested networks.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WNYW New York Siri and iPhone Activations 10-17-11.mp4[/flv]

WNYW-TV in New York found frustration demonstrating Siri, with or without the Sprint network.  It’s also apparent wireless carriers had some early trouble activating the enormous number of new iPhone handsets.  (6 minutes)

Customers want an explanation and an idea of when things will get better.  Thus far, Sprint has asked customers with speed problems to report them to the company for investigation, but some customer service representatives candidly admitted Sprint was unprepared for the massive number of new customer activations since Friday morning.

If things don’t get better soon, some of Sprint’s newest customers may take their business elsewhere.  Sprint accepts returns and penalty-free contract terminations within 14 days of the phone’s activation (not purchase) on Sprint’s network.

[flv width=”360″ height=”290″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WPTZ W Palm Beach New Iphone4 launch the best yet for ATT 10-15-11.mp4[/flv]

Amidst dozens of stories of the iPhone 4S’ arrival, West Palm Beach’s WPTZ caught our attention as local law enforcement had to be called in to manage the inevitable traffic jams wherever the new phone went on sale.  (2 minutes)

Cogeco customers in the Niagara Region watching their neighbors further north in Hamilton and Toronto enjoy faster broadband service can finally obtain faster Internet access from incumbent cable provider Cogeco, who this week unveiled three new faster speed packages in Niagara Falls and St. Catherines.

Cogeco’s Turbo 20, Ultimate 30 and Ultimate 50 High Speed Internet packages are all powered by DOCSIS 3 upgrades, which allow cable operators to bond multiple “channels” together to deliver faster Internet speeds.

Unfortunately, while download speeds of up to 50Mbps can be enticing, Cogeco’s upload speeds, even on their DOCSIS 3 network, are downright stingy.  Thanks to Cogeco’s relentless Internet Overcharging schemes, so are the usage caps.  The Turbo 20 package tops out at 20/1.5Mbps and offers only 80GB of included traffic.  After that, pony up $1.50/GB, up to a maximum of $50 in overlimit penalties.

The Ultimate 30 package includes 30/2Mbps with 175GB of data transfer capacity.  The Ultimate 50 pack delivers 50/2Mbps service with a 250GB cap.  But customers entranced with the extra speed should watch their wallets.  Cogeco’s overlimit fee is $1/GB on these packages with no maximum limit on those charges.

At least Cogeco is satisfied with their newest offer.

“We always strive to offer our customers more flexibility, speed and choices. Today, the whole family can use the Internet at the same time for online banking, video gaming, shopping or for downloading videos or films, and all with the same service. Cogeco’s HSI packages Turbo 20, Ultimate 30 and Ultimate 50 meet those needs perfectly,” said Ron Perrotta, vice president, Marketing and Strategic Planning.

The new Turbo 20 package is currently on promotion and offered for $44.95 per month for 12 months for customers who also subscribe to Cogeco’s Television and/or Home phone services, and for $54.95 per month for 12 months for those who only want to subscribe to the High Speed Internet service. Turbo 20’s regular price is $49.95 if bundled with other Cogeco services and $59.95 on a standalone basis.

For customers who subscribe to more than one Cogeco service, Ultimate 30 is offered for $59.95 per month and Ultimate 50, for $99.95 per month. Ultimate 30 and Ultimate 50 are also available on a standalone basis for $69.95 and $109.95 respectively.

FairPoint Communications, which took control of Verizon landlines in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont in 2009 and then promptly went bankrupt is now appealing to New Hampshire’s regulators and legislature for deregulation.

Teresa Rosenberger, the company’s New Hampshire president, told the Nashua Telegraph that before FairPoint Communications took over Verizon’s northern New England landlines in 2009, that means of communication was the “only game in town.” Now that Verizon’s “monopoly” no longer exists, FairPoint wants the “shackles [removed from] our ankles.”

Setting aside the fact Verizon and FairPoint both faced identical competitors — Comcast and AT&T in parts of the state, the primary difference between the incumbent landline phone company and its cable competition is that the latter enjoys the right to choose its customers.  Landline providers must deliver universal access to basic service, something both FairPoint and Verizon managed for more than a century.

Rosenberger claims that with the rapid decline of landlines, FairPoint should be free from regulatory constraints it argues limits its ability to compete on pricing and service.  Rosenberger uses FairPoint’s biggest failure — its rapid loss of customers — as the core argument for allowing deregulation, which would deliver few checks and balances from state regulators.

FairPoint’s market share in New Hampshire is now down to 49% and dropping.  Its competition — Comcast and wireless mobile providers, now account for the majority of phone lines in the state.  FairPoint’s line losses spiked when the company took over providing service in northern New England from Verizon Communications.  Many FairPoint customers would describe that level of service as poor, with billing and service complaints reaching epic proportions before the company ultimately declared bankruptcy.

Rosenberger points out that the traditional way utility services deal with changing business models is to sell off non-performing or excess assets.  Electric utilities sell excess power, but phone companies like FairPoint have few things other providers want.

In particular, FairPoint is upset it is saddled with a statewide network of telephone poles that “nobody wants.”

“We lose a ton of money on these poles” when work has to be done on them, Rosenberger told the newspaper. “There is the flag rate, the excavation fee, paying for a cop out there – and that’s before taxation and reporting requirements.”

FairPoint notes their competitors gets to use those poles, and are not necessarily contributing their fair share towards their upkeep.

FairPoint isn’t asking to abandon its universal service obligation, something AT&T has lobbied for throughout its territories.  But it does want to do away with pricing regulations and reporting requirements.  If FairPoint offers a business customer a special discount rate, it must file that rate publicly with state regulators, which is public information.  FairPoint says its competitors may be using that information to undercut them in contract negotiations.  But the public price regulations are in place to prevent a phone company from offering dirt cheap service for a select few, effectively subsidized by other ratepayers.

FairPoint also wants quality of service reporting regulations eased, and that comes as a concern to some New Englanders who lived through FairPoint’s messy transition from Verizon service.  Even today, there are ongoing disputes over whether FairPoint is meeting state obligations on everything from how quickly they answer customer calls to whether or not service problems are resolved on a timely basis.

Time Warner Cable has ended the latest round of talks with the National Football League to bring the NFL Network and NFL RedZone to Time Warner cable customers.

Sports Business Daily reports the talks ended with a contentious meeting held last Friday at the cable company’s New York office.  Sources say the talks didn’t end with a dispute over the cost of the network, noted to be among the most expensive sports networks available.  That likely leaves streaming and other ancillary rights issues to be the latest reasons for the talks to end.  Time Warner has gotten aggressive in negotiations for the right to stream cable programming, and also time shift it for subscribers with its “start over” feature.

The NFL has been negotiating with the cable operator more more than seven years without success.

La Schiazza

AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza is in the business of predicting the future of other mobile phone companies.  In an interview with the Journal-Star, La Schiazza said AT&T should be permitted to complete its purchase of T-Mobile, because if they don’t, T-Mobile will never make the investment in 4G upgrades and “whether we buy them or not, (T-Mobile) is going to go away eventually.”

That’s ironic for Mr. La Schiazza to say, considering his employer made a decision not to make substantial investments in 4G upgrades itself, before suggesting it would with the purchase of T-Mobile.

La Schiazza admits AT&T has thrown its landline business under the bus, now considering it antiquated and irrelevant for a growing number of Americans.

“More people, especially young people, are cutting the cord,” he said, referring to customers who drop landline service completely. “We’ve changed our business model to be a mobile/broadband company,” said La Schiazza.

La Schiazza was also willing to call out AT&T itself when he noted wireless companies in Illinois, including his, have put rural areas at a “significant disadvantage.”  That’s because wireless companies ignore rural areas where providing coverage does not make economic sense.  Yet La Schiazza oddly claimed that with the absorption of T-Mobile, 97 percent of Illinois could get enhanced AT&T service.  He did not explain exactly what business formula was used to justify the enhanced proposed coverage maps he brought with him to the interview.

David Kolata, executive director of the Chicago-based Citizens Utility Board, provided the newspaper with a countering viewpoint — rare in newspaper stories featuring interviews with AT&T executives.  Kolata told the newspaper he was less thrilled about a possible T-Mobile-AT&T merger. “The cellphone industry is already pretty concentrated. When one of the biggest players buys another large company, it raises competitive concerns,” he said.

“The fact that the Department of Justice and five or six state attorney generals (including Lisa Madigan in Illinois) across the country oppose the merger as currently proposed is an indication that it could be bad for consumers,” said Kolata.

[Thanks to Stop the Cap! reader Bob for the news tip.]