Mr.Nuke

Nice.  Hopefully this is just the start and we'll see inter-market PCS exchanges between the two companies.

There are additional markets where a similar swap could occur, but ultimately a limit on what you can do at some point. There are only so many markets where a C block holder has extra spectrum adjacent to Sprint's non-g block PCS.

It'd be nice if Sprint trades for more PCS frequencies in markets that could use it (such as Houston) by giving up excess capacity else where.

Where do they have excess capacity?

Awesome article! So I gather the plan is shifting from "get a second 5x5 up where we can" to "swap for C5 and widen the existing 5x5 to a 10x10 where we can"?

I wouldn't necessarily characterize it as that. The priority is still get a 2nd carrier wherever they can, but if it is possible for them to get enough contiguous spectrum for 10x10 they'll do that every time over two 5x5 carriers.

 But Sprint might sell or trade AWS.

For the PCS  "C" block in Omaha

 

Some, though, may be disappointed that the two Samsung devices were not certified for 3x CA like the GSM/WCDMA/LTE model for T-Mobile and AT&T, while the other CDMA carrier variants for Verizon and USCC are only certified for 2x CA as well. So, it is likely Samsung had to switch out the baseband modem for a Qualcomm category 6 one for CDMA compatibility -- whereas Samsung may have opted for its own category 9 modem in the GSM/WCDMA/LTE models.

Plus it seems like the Note series is always the last Samsung device on the "old" technology i.e. tri-band lte, 2X CA, etc.

Can the S5 enable CA?  I'm going to chicago this weekend and would like to do some testing for you all.  Just havn't messed with S5 like I did the S3 i had.

 

thanks,

John

And unless you moved recently I don't think it will be an issue. Check the East Iowa thread for recent discussions on why.

I thought the maximum theorical speeds for a 2×20 is 160/50 instead of 160/17.I guess I was mistaken then.

Yeah like Lilotimz said, carrier aggregation is only for the downlink.

I was excited about this change until I read that Bloomberg article. Only 3-5 cities....by 2016? I thought the previously conceived deployment strategy would have seen the vast majority of Sprint's entire footprint blanketed with 2.5 by that distant date. If anything, I was hoping for even an acceleration to that timeline. I understand targeting dense population centers first, if for no other reason than seeking a proper ROI but that pace does seem surprisingly slow to me and I'm a huge Sprint supporter. It will be interesting to see which cities are selected.

Sprint is going to continue deploying 2.5 across the entire country. The 3-5 cities by 2016 (and I think this is still likely under promise over deliver) will have Tokyo like coverage. This means adding a significant number of sites and new small cell deployments to completely blanket cover a city.

Again though, at the same time they will still be installing 8T8R equipment across the entire network during this time. They are still on track for 100 million POPs covered by the end of this year.

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments on my first article and to Robert for sticking around to clarify questions. I'm swamped this afternoon with work.