Trolling for guppies and leaving the big fish to others is less than ideal, but sometimes you have to pick your spots. Unable to keep up with the big boys Verizon and AT&T, Sprint Nextel is becoming more dependent on customers who pay up front. But this is one business in which getting your money later is preferable.

Investors were shocked that Sprint shed nearly 1m of its most lucrative post-paid subscribers during the quarter. Its exclusive launch of Palm’s Pre, meant to go head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone, may slow the exodus. AT&T, with only a few weeks of the new iPhone last quarter, added 1.4m net subscribers, while Verizon gained 1.3m. Sprint partially compensated by adding 777,000 prepaid customers and it will more than double this type of subscriber by buying Virgin Mobile USA.