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So, who has what spectrum in LTE?


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Sprint,

1900 PCS G Block?

800 MHz SMR?

2500/2600 BRS/EBS Clear wire?

 

Verizon,

700 MHz

2100/1700 MHz AWS4

 

AT&T,

700 MHz

 

T-Mobile,

2100/1700 MHz AWS4

1900 MHz PCS

 

Sounds like there's too much aws. Kind of confused on who owns what. Can anyone correct me or enlighten me?

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AWS4 is Dish's spectrum. 

 
Also 2100/1900 is a european band. It is not used in the US, because the 1900 overlaps with our PCS band. the AWS we use is 2100/1700Mhz. 
 
Verizon
750Mhz
2100/1700 Mhz ( phones just recently started supporting this band)
 
ATT 
700Mhz
2100/1700Mhz
New phones on ATT also support LTE on 850Mhz and 1900Mhz. They will probably add support for LTE on 2.3Ghz in the near future as well. Their LTE network is very messy, IMO. 
 
Tmobile
2100/1700Mhz
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AWS4 is Dish's spectrum.

 

Also 2100/1900 is a european band. It is not used in the US, because the 1900 overlaps with our PCS band. the AWS we use is 2100/1700Mhz.

 

Verizon

750Mhz

2100/1700 Mhz ( phones just recently started supporting this band)

 

ATT

700Mhz

2100/1700Mhz

New phones on ATT also support LTE on 850Mhz and 1900Mhz. They will probably add support for LTE on 2.3Ghz in the near future as well. Their LTE network is very messy, IMO.

 

Tmobile

2100/1700Mhz

 

Thank you. Did I get the Sprint bands correct?
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(including future bands)



Sprint



1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS A-F (depends on region)



1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS G block



800 MHz Band 26 ESMR



850 MHz Band 26 Cellular (Roaming)



700 MHz Band 12 Lower 700 A-C (Roaming)



2.5~2.7 GHz Band 41 BRS TD-LTE (Clearwire)



2.5~2.7 GHz Band 41 EBS TD-LTE (Clearwire)



T-Mobile



1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1



700 MHz Band 17 Proprietary AT&T Lower 700 B-C (Roaming)



1900MHz Band 2 PCS A-F (potentially)



850 MHz Band 5 Cellular (Roaming potentially if they haven't already)



Verizon



700 MHz Band 13 Upper 700 MHz



1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1



1900 MHz Band 2 PCS A-F (Future)



850 MHz Band 5 Cellular (Future)



AT&T



700 MHz Band 17 Proprietary Lower 700 B-C



1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1 (not likely to be used much)



1900 MHz Band 2 PCS A-F (Future)



850 MHz Band 5 Cellular 850 (Future)



2300 MHz (Band class still being drafted) WCS (Future)



Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 


US Cellular


 


700 MHz Band 12 Lower 700 A-C


 


1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1


 


800 MHz Band 26 ESMR (Future Roaming)



850 MHz Band 26 Cellular (Currently Band 5 but future handsets will support 26)


 


 


1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS A-F (Currently Band 2 but future handsets will support 25)



1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS G block (Future Roaming)


 

 

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Sprint: SMR 800 (soon) + PCS A-G (G now, A-F soon) + BRS/EBS (soon)

Verizon: 700 upper C (now) + AWS band IV (very soon)

AT&T: 700 lower B+C (now) + AWS band IV (now, few areas) + PCS A-F (soon) + CLR 850 (soon)

T-Mobile: AWS band IV (now)

CricKet & MetroPCS: PCS A-F (now) + AWS band IV (now)

US Cellular: CLR 850 + PCS A-F + AWS + 700 lower A-C? (I think all are being used other than lower A)

 

Yes, AWS is where everyone is going these days, more or less. Maybe not for a primary deployment, but phones will end up supporting the bands at least.

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lynyrd, you made the mess, so you clean it up.

 

;)

 

AJ

OK let's try this again

 

(including future and roaming bands)

 

Sprint

 

1900 MHz PCS A-G (LTE Band 25)

 

800 MHz ESMR (LTE Band 26)

 

 

850 MHz Cellular (LTE Band 26) Roaming

 

700 MHz Lower 700 A-C (LTE Band 12) Roaming

 

2500~2700 MHz BRS/EBS TD-LTE (LTE Band 41) Clearwire

 

T-Mobile

 

1700/2100 MHz AWS-1 (LTE Band 4)

 

 

1900 MHz PCS A-F (LTE Band 2) Possible for the future

 

 

700 MHz Lower 700 B-C (AT&T Proprietary) (LTE Band 17) Roaming on AT&T

 

850 MHz Cellular (LTE Band 5) Roaming (possibly)

 

 
Verizon
 
750 MHz Upper 700Mhz (LTE Band 13)
 
1700/2100 MHz AWS-1 (LTE Band 4)

 

1900 MHz PCS A-F (LTE Band 2) Possible for the future

 

 

850 MHz Cellular (LTE Band 5) Possible for the future

 

AT&T

 

700 MHz Lower 700 B-C (AT&T Proprietary) (LTE Band 17)

 

 

 

1700/2100 MHz AWS-1 (LTE Band 4) Rarely used

 

1900 MHz PCS A-F (LTE Band 2) Possible for the future

 

850 MHz Cellular (LTE Band 5)

 

2300 MHz WCS (LTE Band class still being drafted)

 

US Cellular

 

 

700 MHz Lower 700 A-C (LTE Band 12)

 

1700/2100 MHz AWS-1 (LTE Band 4)

 

850 MHz Cellular (LTE Band 26) band 26 for future devices, currently band 5

 

1900 MHz PCS A-G (LTE Band 25) Future and Roaming, current devices only support PCS A-F in band 2

 

800 MHz ESMR (LTE Band 26) Future Roaming

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Definitely looks like Sprint has the best setup, followed by Verizon. Maybe I don't understand how much spectrum they have in each market but I've heard Clearwire had a TON in the 2.6ghz.

I believe AJ said most markets have at least 40 mhz of BRS but a variable amount of leased EBS spectrum which are fragmented and highly varies region to region so don't count on the fact that clearwire has a lot of spectrum on sheets to be an actual representation of how much clearwire could effectively utilize across the nation.

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Definitely looks like Sprint has the best setup, followed by Verizon. Maybe I don't understand how much spectrum they have in each market but I've heard Clearwire had a TON in the 2.6ghz.

Verizon is actually in a bad place right now. The only band they can expand into is AWS. They would have to cannibalize their fully loaded 3G network to use 1900 and 850.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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AT&T is in an even worse place. To start with, they don't even have room for a 10x10 MHz carrier in many places on their primary LTE band, band 17. Then, they have a smattering of AWS that they will be able to use in a few areas for an extra 5x5 or 10x10 capacity carrier. Their only other "virgin" spectrum is WCS, which will give them room for another extra 5x5 or 10x10 capacity carrier. Their best case spectrum availability is 30x30, and I believe their worst is 5x5. To expand, they will need to cannibalize their current 3G network, which is not renown for its quality.

 

Verizon has a minimum of 20x20 that they can deploy, nationwide, with a lower average frequency than AT&T's spectrum.

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So based on all of this who later down the road from now will be in the best position? I do not want Sprint to fall behind again when they chose to do the WiMax thing.

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They had chosen WiMax because that was the tech which was available at that time. Sprint will have more capacity when they finish obtaining Clearwire.

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AT&T is in an even worse place. To start with, they don't even have room for a 10x10 MHz carrier in many places on their primary LTE band, band 17. Then, they have a smattering of AWS that they will be able to use in a few areas for an extra 5x5 or 10x10 capacity carrier. Their only other "virgin" spectrum is WCS, which will give them room for another extra 5x5 or 10x10 capacity carrier. Their best case spectrum availability is 30x30, and I believe their worst is 5x5. To expand, they will need to cannibalize their current 3G network, which is not renown for its quality.

 

Verizon has a minimum of 20x20 that they can deploy, nationwide, with a lower average frequency than AT&T's spectrum.

 

 

AT&T might not be ideal, but Sprint isn't deploying 10x10 ANYWHERE for LTE.  the G-block is getting 5x5, and 800Mhz is getting 5x5.  It's only if they can get approval to buy Clearwire from the rest of the bitchy shareholders that they'll have a nice position in pretty high frequencies for something to the tune of 20Mhz worth of TDD-LTE.  
 
So while AT&T only has 10Mhz in some places, Sprint has it in zero, with plans for zero more.  Unless they get to buy Clearwire.  Tomorrow.  
 
And to the above WiMAX question (again), Sprint / CLWR went with WiMax for many reasons, not the least of which was a buildout requirement they had to meet.  Hence WiMax protection sites (find a map in the sponsor section) that they put up specifically to try to avoid losing spectrum licenses.  So yeah, it sucks that it didn't work out, but in many ways it accomplished what they needed at the moment to accomplish.
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So based on all of this who later down the road from now will be in the best position? I do not want Sprint to fall behind again when they chose to do the WiMax thing.

 

Sprint has the potential( if Softbank and Clearwire deals go through) to be on top in terms of speed and capacity. Verizon and ATT will be 1and 2 for coverage. Sprint's Network Vision platform will help them prevent falling as low as they were.   If you live in an area with native sprint coverage, the in-building voice and LTE data coverage should be very similar Verizon's. 
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Verizon has a minimum of 20x20 that they can deploy, nationwide, with a lower average frequency than AT&T's spectrum.

 

Close, but not entirely.

 

I assume that you are talking VZW "green field" LTE spectrum in aggregate.  The Upper 700 MHz C block 22 MHz (11 MHz FDD) licenses are nationwide.  But the SpectrumCo-Cox transaction does not give VZW truly nationwide AWS 2100+1700 MHz spectrum.  Several markets are missing, and VZW has since fragmented some of that spectrum depth, due to swaps with T-Mobile.

 

About seven years ago, during the AWS-1 auction, I produced this map of SpectrumCo's winnings:

1t8m05.png

My 5000th post...

 

AJ

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I am still trying to figure out Sprint's reasoning behind choosing to support the 700Mhz A-C block for roaming instead of Verizon's 750Mhz.  Are their any carriers actually building out LTE on the A-block? I assumed all of them joined Verizon's Rural America program. It would be great for Sprint if they could forge a nationwide LTE roaming agreement with these smaller carriers. 

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AT&T might not be ideal, but Sprint isn't deploying 10x10 ANYWHERE for LTE.  the G-block is getting 5x5, and 800Mhz is getting 5x5.  It's only if they can get approval to buy Clearwire from the rest of the bitchy shareholders that they'll have a nice position in pretty high frequencies for something to the tune of 20Mhz worth of TDD-LTE.  
 
So while AT&T only has 10Mhz in some places, Sprint has it in zero, with plans for zero more.  Unless they get to buy Clearwire.  Tomorrow.

 

Seriously, what is the big deal with 10x10 or 10Mhz FDD, besides measuring your phones schlong in a speed test screenshot?  For 99% of smart phone users a 3-5mbs down and 1-3mbs up connection is more than enough for every possible mobile app out there.  Sprint has a great plan with 5Mhz FDD channels and when the Clearwire spectrum comes, they will have huge pipes in the BRS/EBS with TDD LTE.  But TDD won't even be 10x10, it will be a time divided ratio, I think Robert or AJ mentioned a 10:1 d:u guess.  5Mhz FDD G Block, 5Mhz FDD SMR, plus eventual refarming 5Mhz FDD in A-F Block will cover Sprint users very, very well with mobile broadband access.

 

While I agree that long term, the larger data pipes will be needed for mobile applications and services, that is probably 5 years down the road.  Sprint have LTE-A on their map and can look at Carrier Aggregation if they need high throughput in the PCS Spectrum at that time.  I really hope that Sprint gets their wish of TDD banding for 600Mhz and that works out to clear the 70-80Mhz that the FCC wants.  Then Sprint can hopefully get a 20Mhz swath and build out the future network for use around 2018.

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Seriously, what is the big deal with 10x10 or 10Mhz FDD, besides measuring your phones schlong in a speed test screenshot? For 99% of smart phone users a 3-5mbs down and 1-3mbs up connection is more than enough for every possible mobile app out there. Sprint has a great plan with 5Mhz FDD channels and when the Clearwire spectrum comes, they will have huge pipes in the BRS/EBS with TDD LTE. But TDD won't even be 10x10, it will be a time divided ratio, I think Robert or AJ mentioned a 10:1 d:u guess. 5Mhz FDD G Block, 5Mhz FDD SMR, plus eventual refarming 5Mhz FDD in A-F Block will cover Sprint users very, very well with mobile broadband access.

 

While I agree that long term, the larger data pipes will be needed for mobile applications and services, that is probably 5 years down the road. Sprint have LTE-A on their map and can look at Carrier Aggregation if they need high throughput in the PCS Spectrum at that time. I really hope that Sprint gets their wish of TDD banding for 600Mhz and that works out to clear the 70-80Mhz that the FCC wants. Then Sprint can hopefully get a 20Mhz swath and build out the future network for use around 2018.

Clearwire is believed to be deploying TD-LTE in 20MHz TDD channels. Most likely with a 3:2 time slot ratio between Downlink and Uplink. A 20MHz TDD channel deployed in a 3:2 could almost reach 100Mbps in ideal peak situations and the proper backhaul.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

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Clearwire is believed to be deploying TD-LTE in 20MHz TDD channels. Most likely with a 3:2 time slot ratio between Downlink and Uplink. A 20MHz TDD channel deployed in a 3:2 could almost reach 100Mbps in ideal peak situations and the proper backhaul.

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

Between that plan for Highspeed Data and a hopeful 20Mhz TDD in 600Mhz with PCS tower spacing for VoLTE, Sprint would be set for quite awhile, with a very strong network!

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Between that plan for Highspeed Data and a hopeful 20Mhz TDD in 600Mhz with PCS tower spacing for VoLTE, Sprint would be set for quite awhile, with a very strong network!

 

And probably we will see that all come to true in 2023 at the current pace.

Edited by dnwk
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I am still trying to figure out Sprint's reasoning behind choosing to support the 700Mhz A-C block for roaming instead of Verizon's 750Mhz. Are their any carriers actually building out LTE on the A-block? I assumed all of them joined Verizon's Rural America program. It would be great for Sprint if they could forge a nationwide LTE roaming agreement with these smaller carriers.

My other carrier, US Cellular.

 

They have a good amount of coverage in the plains area (tons where I live) and intend to build out to cover most of their footprint with band 12 LTE service.

 

The carriers that use band 12 are among the last holdout regional carriers not to be owned by the big four.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

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I am still trying to figure out Sprint's reasoning behind choosing to support the 700Mhz A-C block for roaming instead of Verizon's 750Mhz.  Are their any carriers actually building out LTE on the A-block? I assumed all of them joined Verizon's Rural America program. It would be great for Sprint if they could forge a nationwide LTE roaming agreement with these smaller carriers. 

 

It takes two to tango. I seem to recall VZW not being terribly keen about offering Sprint (or most anyone else) roaming although I'm sure that it's a great source of revenue for them. AT&T could replace VZW as a main roaming partner for Sprint as their Band 17 spectrum is included in Band 12. Supporting VZW Band 13 would limit Sprint to VZW and its LTEiRA cohorts. Sprint is a member of the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) and I'd bet that a lot of it's members have lower 700 A, B & C spectrum so why not use them as roaming partners and likely get better roaming rates than from VZW

 

Edit: One other implication of them including Band 13 support for roaming on VZW is that their devices would almost certainly be subject to the same rules as native VZW devices. Specifically, they'd have to be totally SIM unlocked meaning that if it had a GSM/UMTS radio in it (which almost all of them do these days) then it could be taken to AT&T or T-Mobile no questions asked which doesn't seem like something that Sprint is too keen on unfortunately.

Edited by Rawvega
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My other carrier, US Cellular.

 

They have a good amount of coverage in the plains area (tons where I live) and intend to build out to cover most of their footprint with band 12 LTE service.

 

The carriers that use band 12 are among the last holdout regional carriers not to be owned by the big four.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

Sadly, this may not be the case anymore. US Cellular is rebuilding LTE on Band 5 this year, with the intent to expand the network on bands 2 and 5 for the remainder of its LTE build out cycles. It appears that Band 12 has become too much of an issue.

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