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Sprint "together with Nextel?" No, not quite

Note: I orginally posted this last night on BBHub, my BlackBerry blog. But after looking over that post a few times, I thought it would apply here as well.
Written by Russell Shaw, Contributor
sprintnextel.jpg
Note: I orginally posted this last night on BBHub, my BlackBerry blog. But after looking over that post a few times, I thought it would apply here as well.

Had an interesting experience today going into a "Sprint" store and trying to get my notebook updated for EV-DO.

They were out of aircards, but since this wasn't really- despite the livery- a Sprint store but a legacy Nextel store, they couldn't access Sprint's online ordering system to order a refreshed supply. Why? Because the POS (point-of-sale) systems are not yet compatible. They are supposed to be on July 9, I was told, but this was on June 27.

So they sent me about 1,000 feet down the road to an actual, Sprint store- a Sprint store from before last year's merger. They had the card but when they tried to add my EV-DO to my existing BlackBerry account-, well, no can do. Why? About a year after the merger the customer systems are not yet integrated.

So for the forseeable future, I will be getting two bills.

Answer me this- it seems that when these big mergers take place, the financial end of things gets mashed up within days and the marketing message is there almost at the point the two companies combine. But why does it always take a year or more for technology systems compatibility- especially with a merger of equals?

BTW: mad props thus far with my EV-DO. I'll be taking it on the road and putting it to the test. Then I'll let you know if this is just a technoinfatuation. 

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