Why covering Wireless Networks just became fun again…

I admit it… I follow Wireless Network Carriers with a passion.  But until this week, following the carriers was getting a little boring.  We knew how the players operated for the most part.  AT&T and Verizon were the biggest fishes in the pond being the two children directly linked with old Ma Bell, Sprint was the disruptive force trying to innovate, and T-Mobile was… well, we couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were trying to do.

Well, over the past year, T-Mobile’s executives tried to change those perceptions with a number of move meant to shake up the other 3 Tier 1 U.S. providers.  First, T-Mobile’s merger with Metro PCS and their subsequent launch of their own LTE network suddenly gave T-Mobile a critical foothold in the 4G battle raging across the country.  Then the new strategy of eliminating 2-year contracts and international roaming charges shook up the industry as T-Mobile sought to re-brand itself as the “Un-Carrier”.  But this week, T-Mobile’s Maverick CEO, John Legere, and CTO, Neville Ray, came out swinging at wireless rivals with a combative presence & presentation at CES2014 in Las Vegas.

First, Legere found a way to crash AT&T’s CES Party just so he could see Macklemore, and got thrown out, making huge headlines.  Then, on the stage at CES, Neville Ray went medieval on Sprint’s Dan Hesse, calling Sprint’s Network Vision’s Upgrade a “Sh!tstorm”, taunting Sprint’s slow LTE speeds, and saying Sprint is unwilling to sell Spark products, calling it a Treasure Hunt.  Then Legere continued the assault on Sprint while turning his attention to the company that threw him out of its party.  Legere claims that T-Mobile’s LTE Network is now the Fastest Network in the US (not AT&T), and that Government tests prove it.  He also took aim at AT&T’s plan to get T-Mobile’s customers to switch to AT&T by promising to pay for all charges customers would incur to break their contracts with the other Big 3 companies, up to $650.  In short, T-Mobile with their presentation, became the big attraction at CES.

Not bad for a company that 3 years ago was almost taken over by AT&T and now faces a possible take-over by Sprint.  Legere seems unconvinced that Sprint is a force, calling it basically spectrum that is waiting to be used.  Those words, and the words of Neville Ray may come back to haunt T-Mobile if Japan’s Softbank works out an agreement with T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, to buy its US affiliate.  But for now, T-Mobile, is flying high, adding customers, and adding valuable spectrum through spectrum swaps with Verizon Wireless.

Can T-Mobile keep up the pace?  It’s not clear, but Legere and the rest of T-Mobile appear to be wanting to be a disruptive force. This could get interesting…

Same-sex marriage & the church collide at the Rose Parade…

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the Tournament of Roses Parade every New Years’ Day in Pasadena, CA.  I had the distinct honor & privilege of decorating floats & attending the Rose Parade 10 years ago.  It just made me appreciate something I grew up watching as a kid.

This year, there was some controversy at the Rose Parade.  For just the third time in Parade History, a Wedding would take place at the Parade.  But, this Wedding was also the first same-sex Wedding that would occur, which is now legal in the state of California.  So, something that was largely considered taboo among society 45 years ago, would take center stage on New Years’ Day morning with millions watching on TV and in person.

As far as I was concerned, I hold a largely neutral position on same-sex marriage.  I don’t believe in it myself, but I will not openly oppose it, either.  As I had stated before, my Snellville friends have helped turned the tide in this argument showing a more positive light on same-sex marriage as opposed to the “I will make you like it” tactics of several of my Valparaiso friends.  So, seeing this happen today was likely to be more of a shrug than anything else… UNTIL I found out who was going to be immediately behind them.  That’s right, the Lutheran Layman's League, a participant of the parade for over 60 years, and something that my family and I have affiliated with since the Walther League days through several retreats up at Camp Arcadia in Michigan was the initial choice to be behind the Same-Sex Wedding Float in the latter stages of the Parade.

You can’t tell me that order choice was random.  The Rose Parade Committee knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they scheduled the two floats back-to-back at the Parade.  The Rose Parade Committee cannot be foolish enough to not know that the LLL is largely supported by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is currently opposed as a denomination to same-sex marriage (while the rival ELCA Lutheran denomination is embracing it fully).  This move had all the subtleness of a jackhammer.

At the same time, the Lutheran Layman's League has supplied the Rose Parade with something that helps several floats get completed in time: person-power.  Up to 5000 volunteers from Lutheran Churches in Southern California and across the country, known as the “Petal Pushers”, have helped decorate the floats for decades.  In exchange, the Float builders at the Phoenix Float Design Company help keep the float cost for the LLL Float at 1980s levels, and they even discount the float cost for every float the Petal Pushers finish in time for judging.  It is the reason the Lutheran Layman's League continues to appear at the Rose Parade every year.

So the stage was set for a potentially explosive situation along the 5.5 mile parade route.  But something happened as both floats appeared to get ready to be sent off.  For one thing, the parade was taking longer than expected.  When the floats were scheduled to go off at 12:45 pm EST (9:45 am Pasadena time), they were 6 units behind.  What happened next is unknown except to parade organizers.  The parade officials may have realized that the same-sex wedding float may not have made it to the starting blocks in time to receive TV attention.  Or they may have gotten some angry Social Media responses from people who realized what they were up to scheduling the two floats in the manner that they did.  Whatever the case, the Parade committee moved the same-sex Wedding float up one unit ahead of a marching band, giving the two floats just enough space.  In addition, the Rose Parade committee awarded the LLL float with the Princess Trophy, a major award for small floats.

And then the kicker happened.  While HGTV and KTLA covered both floats in particular, thanks to their commercial-free coverages, NBC & ABC decided to largely ignore both floats.  NBC covered the same-sex float without mentioning that a wedding was taking place on it.  ABC went to commercial break right before the wedding float appeared.  Neither NBC or ABC covered the LLL float, but that is standard operating procedure many years, so it was not that big of a loss.

At the end of the day, the LLL will return next year with their volunteers.  As for the other float sponsor, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation?  Whether they return next year is unknown and I really don’t care.  But on this day, my Christian denomination was a winner just by witnessing to people who just wanted to see pretty organic-covered floats… just as they have for many years before and hopefully for many years to come.  I’ll still watch the Parade as long as the Lutheran Layman's League continues to participate.