Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

[JeffDTD]

All this merger talk. Blah. Son is a lot of things, but transparent he is not. Whatever he is thinking, its naive to assume its predictable.

 

 

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[RedSpark]

All this merger talk. Blah. Son is a lot of things, but transparent he is not. Whatever he is thinking, its naive to assume its predictable.

 

 

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Mentioned it earlier, but I wonder what he and Marcelo are talking about right now.

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/811486352554463232

[JeffDTD]

Mentioned it earlier, but I wonder what he and Marcelo are talking about right now.

 

https://twitter.com/marceloclaure/status/811486352554463232

Guesses? Debating short term strategy. Marketing strategies and promos. The guess that they want to increase sprints value is a good one. Measured/levered expansion and maintenance of the network is key- there isnt ever going to be a windfall of money for massive expansion. Sprint's strategy will continue to be to do just enough to keep customers happy.

 

And who knows? Son may be dreaming about a true merger at this point of sprint and another company with another investor. I think he will keep his promise to Trump of investment, but im not convinced thats a horizontal buyout

 

 

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[bigsnake49]

Guesses? Debating short term strategy. Marketing strategies and promos. The guess that they want to increase sprints value is a good one. Measured/levered expansion and maintenance of the network is key- there isnt ever going to be a windfall of money for massive expansion. Sprint's strategy will continue to be to do just enough to keep customers happy.

 

And who knows? Son may be dreaming about a true merger at this point of sprint and another company with another investor. I think he will keep his promise to Trump of investment, but im not convinced thats a horizontal buyout

 

 

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The merger is not part of the investment fund of $100B. But you can bet your ass that it is part of the quid pro quo for allowing Trump to claim it. After all it was announced in October for the first time and then re-announced after Trump was elected. I will let you claim the  $100B if you approve the merger shall we decide to go ahead with it. 

If I am the FCC, I'll put in the following conditions:

1. Coverage expansion to match Verizon in square miles covered.

2. Divestment to get under the spectrum screen

3. Negotiate with Dish/Cable networks/Google to sell off one of the networks.

[ericdabbs]

Are there 4T4R mini macros developed at this point?

 

I am curious to see how much HPUE makes a difference in coverage. I understand what HPUE is suppose to do but real world performance is what is key. It will be great if it can be close to 1.9 ghz coverage.

 

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[derrph]

Are there 4T4R mini macros developed at this point?

 

I am curious to see how much HPUE makes a difference in coverage. I understand what HPUE is suppose to do but real world performance is what is key. It will be great if it can be close to 1.9 ghz coverage.

 

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Me too! With all these announcements that Sprint has pushed out concerning the network, 2017 will be a put up or shut up sink or swim year for them.

 

 

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[RedSpark]

Me too! With all these announcements that Sprint has pushed out concerning the network, 2017 will be a put up or shut up sink or swim year for them.

 

 

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I have a feeling it will be a good year for Sprint.

 

3CA updates for additional devices are coming early next year:

 

 

Sprint is selling the High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC) (Taiwan: 2498) Bolt as its first 3CA-capable device. The most recent Apple and Samsung Corp. phones will need a software upgrade to get the most from 3CA.

 

Device VP Sullivan told me that the upgrades will come for Apple, Samsung and a host of other vendors early next year. This will be "well ahead" of the Mobile World Congress show in late February next year, he said.

 

"By the end of 2017 we're forecasting that over half of Sprint customers will have ... compatible phones," said Sullivan during the conference proper.

 

CTO Saw was also keen to stress that all phones on the 2.5GHz network would benefit from the upgrade. "It basically lifts all boats, because everybody will have more capacity.

 

 

We'll also know pretty quickly once the first HPUE-capable device is released/reviewed whether it's really a substantial improvement over existing handsets.

 

According to what Sprint has said:

 

 

Saw and Ottendorfer said HPUE is ready on the network today, but is mainly a device-based technology. They said Sprint has been working with partners throughout the device ecosystem – including chipset and handset vendors – to have the technology embedded in handsets that are expected to come to the market soon. HPUE will debut in devices in early 2017, starting with a “yet to be named Samsung flagship product,” they said.

 

Other smartphone vendors that will be releasing HPUE-enabled devices include ZTE, LG, HTC, Motorola, and Alcatel. Apple was noticeably absent from companies listed in Sprint's slideshow, but Sprint's Vice President of Device Development Ryan Sullivan said “multiple other parties” other than those listed on both the chipset and vendor side are involved with the technology, but timing on those releases is to be determined.

 

 

 

Also, we haven't heard much more about Sprint's selection of Gilat to extend LTE Services since this news release:

 

Gilat’s Satellite-based Cellular Backhaul Solution Selected by Sprint to Extend LTE Services to Metro Edge and Rural Areas in the US [Oct 26, 2016]

 

Perhaps we'll hear more about this in 2017 as well.

[davidtm]

Please permit me a quick rant on experience with customer service just now. All I want to do is the available 2-yr contact upgrade of my daughter's phone. Can't do it in store. (We've lost our corporate store with the nTelos/Shentel change.) Tried online, and got the "This is not a valid credit card" message. Tried to redo several times, and that triggered a fraud alert and Bank of America called. Tried chat, and they told me several stories: technical issues on web site, no problem, transferred me to 4 different agents, and finally tried to walk me through the online process. Again, got the same credit card issue. (The card is good, our credit score is well above 800.) This all took well over an hour.

 

Aaargh! Guess I'll try again tomorrow am

 

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[dnicekid]

64t64r??? That sounds like a huge improvement over 8t8r!! Wow!

Let's see if those actually get deployed in 17!

[red_dog007]

64t64r??? That sounds like a huge improvement over 8t8r!! Wow!

Let's see if those actually get deployed in 17!

They will get deployed, that is for sure, and pay a premium for them.

 

8T8R has been in the field for a long time now comparatively.  

 

Thing is, those 64T64R antenna's will never get fully utilized in terms of their feature set. Most likely 4T4R will be their max deployment, ever, if that.  The current 8T8R gear, we still don't even have a whiff of a rumor when 4T4R will be a thing.  Might be 2018, 2019 at the earliest. 

 

:-P

 

I have zero clue here, but taking a stab at why the 64T64R antennas will even really exist. Im thinking the 64T64R antennas will allow them to deploy all 160MHz (if available) off a single antenna in a max of 8T8R mode for each carrier? Or if they don't have all 160MHz, it can be feasible to deploy any 5, 10 and 15MHz (usable) chunks they may have.

This way they don't need to deploy 3 B41 antenna's per sector to deploy all the usable spectrum. When B41 capacity on current gear is shot, they climb up and replace the antenna with a new one that can use all their spectrum instead of adding more antenna's. 

 

I doubt it would happen, but those 8T8R antenna's could then get recycled on the network, getting deployed in more rural areas where 60MHz will do just fine for a long time to come, like my nearest tower.

[greenbastard]

They will get deployed, that is for sure, and pay a premium for them.

 

8T8R has been in the field for a long time now comparatively.

 

Thing is, those 64T64R antenna's will never get fully utilized in terms of their feature set. Most likely 4T4R will be their max deployment, ever, if that. The current 8T8R gear, we still don't even have a whiff of a rumor when 4T4R will be a thing. Might be 2018, 2019 at the earliest.

 

:-P

It'll be a while before we see new antennas for B41.

[lilotimz]

They will get deployed, that is for sure, and pay a premium for them.

 

8T8R has been in the field for a long time now comparatively.  

 

Thing is, those 64T64R antenna's will never get fully utilized in terms of their feature set. Most likely 4T4R will be their max deployment, ever, if that.  The current 8T8R gear, we still don't even have a whiff of a rumor when 4T4R will be a thing.  Might be 2018, 2019 at the earliest. 

 

:-P

 

I have zero clue here, but taking a stab at why the 64T64R antennas will even really exist. Im thinking the 64T64R antennas will allow them to deploy all 160MHz (if available) off a single antenna in a max of 8T8R mode for each carrier? Or if they don't have all 160MHz, it can be feasible to deploy any 5, 10 and 15MHz (usable) chunks they may have.

This way they don't need to deploy 3 B41 antenna's per sector to deploy all the usable spectrum. When B41 capacity on current gear is shot, they climb up and replace the antenna with a new one that can use all their spectrum instead of adding more antenna's. 

 

I doubt it would happen, but those 8T8R antenna's could then get recycled on the network, getting deployed in more rural areas where 60MHz will do just fine for a long time to come, like my nearest tower.

 

I'm not sure you understand what "64t64r" is or why you're saying 8T8R antennas operate in "4t4r" mode (they do not) but here's a bit of a simple run through. 

 

The industry calls it Massive MIMO (64T64R or even 128T/128R... basically anything with a lot of antennas) and its real world performance is as substantial of a leap as 8T8R was a giant leap over previous 2T2R and 4T4R implementations. 

 

 

See: http://5gwnews.com/index.php/90-r/335-massive-mimo-explained-what-the-heck-is-it

[dnicekid]

So 64t64r is more suited for cities or areas with buildings as towers often down tilt for us on the ground. This signal appears to be more Omni directional?

[Flompholph]

So 64t64r is more suited for cities or areas with buildings as towers often down tilt for us on the ground. This signal appears to be more Omni directional?

3D mimo requires tall buildings because of the design of that mimo. But 64t64r can be used without tall buildings they just need an area with a lot of stuff to bounce off of to add to the complexity of the signal diversity. Massive mimo can be omni directional or set up in sectors like we have now just with a lot more antennas in the panel(s).

 

Below may be confusing so ignore if you don't want to be even more confused.

All they do is add a lot more "spatial streams" for the data.  Right now the 8t8r are capable of 24 "spatial streams" (8x8 3xCA or split for 2 4x4 6xCA). Each users phone uses between 2 to 6 "spatial streams" . (3xCA uses 6 "spatial streams" at 2x2) These massive mimo go from 24 "spatial streams" with the 8t8r to at least 64 "spatial streams" with the 64t64r with only one carrier. If the 64t64r had 3 carriers live that would be 192 "spatial streams". Most rural areas don't need that many "spatial streams"(return on investment) unless a concert is going on like the Jamboree in the Hills then it would be nice to see some cows with massive mimo. Even in an area with low complexity there should be a small improvement. "spatial streams" overlapping each other can be bad and hard for the phone to decode and hard to group many phones together in groups to send the signal out at the same time.

[davidtm]

Please permit me a quick rant on experience with customer service just now. All I want to do is the available 2-yr contact upgrade of my daughter's phone. Can't do it in store. (We've lost our corporate store with the nTelos/Shentel change.) Tried online, and got the "This is not a valid credit card" message. Tried to redo several times, and that triggered a fraud alert and Bank of America called. Tried chat, and they told me several stories: technical issues on web site, no problem, transferred me to 4 different agents, and finally tried to walk me through the online process. Again, got the same credit card issue. (The card is good, our credit score is well above 800.) This all took well over an hour.

 

Aaargh! Guess I'll try again tomorrow am

 

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So, all went well this am online with a different card. What's still frustrating is not knowing what was broken last evening.

 

#lifeonline

 

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[red_dog007]

I'm not sure you understand what "64t64r" is or why you're saying 8T8R antennas operate in "4t4r" mode (they do not) but here's a bit of a simple run through. 

 

The industry calls it Massive MIMO (64T64R or even 128T/128R... basically anything with a lot of antennas) and its real world performance is as substantial of a leap as 8T8R was a giant leap over previous 2T2R and 4T4R implementations. 

 

 

 

See: http://5gwnews.com/index.php/90-r/335-massive-mimo-explained-what-the-heck-is-it

 

Oh, I under stand MIMO.  I mentioned 4T4R max on current B41 gear because as far as I know, it is still in 2T2R mode.  The top paragraph I was just taking a stab at Sprint.  And from what I understand, 3 or 4 carriers can not be deployed in 8T8R mode on the current gear. From what I understand, to deploy 3 or 4 carriers on the 8T8R gear, it needs to stay in 2T2R mode.  So from this limited knowledge, whether incorrect or not, I am applying to these massive MIMO antennas cause this portion is where I lack knowledge in what the technology supports. 

[lilotimz]

Oh, I under stand MIMO.  I mentioned 4T4R max on current B41 gear because as far as I know, it is still in 2T2R mode.  The top paragraph I was just taking a stab at Sprint.  And from what I understand, 3 or 4 carriers can not be deployed in 8T8R mode on the current gear. From what I understand, to deploy 3 or 4 carriers on the 8T8R gear, it needs to stay in 2T2R mode.  So from this limited knowledge, whether incorrect or not, I am applying to these massive MIMO antennas cause this portion is where I lack knowledge in what the technology supports. 

 

Then you're wrong.

 

The antennas are in 8T8R operations and have since been the very beginning. In fact, they've done live field tests of 8T8R vs 2T2R for third party white paper testing to show the performance differences. 

 

You're confused in MIMO schemes. Currently, for some odd reason, 8T8R equipment runs in 2x2 TM8 DL-Beamforming & TM3-OL-MIMO instead of 4x2 or 4x4. 

 

To run more than 3 carriers, they split it to 4T8Rx2 (4x MIMO - 2 chains) where 4 TX ports broadcast 3 LTE carriers on specific frequencies and the other 4 Tx/Rx ports broadcast up to another 3 LTE carriers on other frequencies. 

 

You need to do additional research before applying erroneous statements to something you've not done some reading on. 

[WiWavelength]

Then you're wrong.

 

. . .

 

You need to do additional research before applying erroneous statements to something you've not done some reading on. 

 

The Airing of Grievances.

 

Happy Festivus, everyone.

 

AJ

[dnicekid]

Merry Xmas everyone!

Here is a good read explaining 8t8r and sprints plan dated about a year ago.

http://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2015/06/using-8t8r-antennas-for-td-lte.html?m=1

 

"using 8 receiver paths instead of 2, cell range is increased by a factor of 1.5 – and this difference is emphasized by the fact that the number of sites needed is reduced by nearly 50 per cent. "

 

Maybe this is why the reduction of sites.. besides the ones that were already co-located with 8t8r they figured they would need less sites?

[kct1975]

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

[S4GRU]

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

And Merry Christmas to you too!

 

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[ericdabbs]

Merry Xmas everyone!

Here is a good read explaining 8t8r and sprints plan dated about a year ago.

http://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2015/06/using-8t8r-antennas-for-td-lte.html?m=1

 

"using 8 receiver paths instead of 2, cell range is increased by a factor of 1.5 – and this difference is emphasized by the fact that the number of sites needed is reduced by nearly 50 per cent. "

 

Maybe this is why the reduction of sites.. besides the ones that were already co-located with 8t8r they figured they would need less sites?

I certainly hope sprint doesnt rely on this as a justification for less sites. Of course this will only work if all current sites thst have B41 LTE have 8T8R RRUs installed but we know that is not the case. Former clearwire sites if anything still just have 2T2R dual wimax/LTE RRUs and cannot take advantage of that extra range benefit.

 

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[BlueAngel]

Long story short, I went over my mother's house today for the first time in over a year and what used to be just unusable 3G (sometimes) and mainly 1x800 was solid B26, nothing great by any means but it made my day there today a lot better. Sprint has definitely made some improvements, haven't seen much lately so this is a good sign.

 

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[JimBob]

Long story short, I went over my mother's house today for the first time in over a year and what used to be just unusable 3G (sometimes) and mainly 1x800 was solid B26, nothing great by any means but it made my day there today a lot better. Sprint has definitely made some improvements, haven't seen much lately so this is a good sign.

Are you now going to visit your mother more than just once a year?  

[BlueAngel]

Are you now going to visit your mother more than just once a year?  

Maybe still working things out.