by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Monday, November 11, 2013 - 11:55 PM MST
S4GRU Staff and Members have been anxiously waiting for over a year for smartphones that would support all three of Sprint’s LTE bands. Since April 2012, Sprint LTE devices have been limited to only one band. Band 25 (1900MHz in the PCS Band). Subsequently, Sprint closed down the Nextel network and picked up another LTE band (Band 26). Also, Sprint purchased Clearwire and picked up another LTE band that they
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Monday, October 21, 2013 - 3:55 PM MDT
Clarification: Many readers seem to be confusing the previously authorized and officially announced tri band Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini with this tri band Galaxy S4 reboot, which is full size. The two have quite different model numbers -- the Mini is SPH-L520, while as stated below, the tri band Galaxy S4 is SPH-L720T. Sprint has not yet formally acknowledged the latter, but it has passed FCC
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Monday, September 30, 2013 - 4:41 PM MDT
Phew, what a September it has been for discovery/announcement of new devices likely headed to Sprint! S4GRU staff has been busy keeping a watchful eye on the FCC OET. And in an egalitarian way, we have covered nearly the gamut of mobile operating systems: Android, iOS, and now, the latest OS version for BlackBerry.
Yes, ahead of a potential government shutdown tomorrow that
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Friday, September 13, 2013 - 3:15 PM MDT
The teaser articles continue. But this is a big one -- in a quite literal way.
The presumed Sprint variant Samsung Galaxy Note 3 passed through the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) on Wednesday this week. We have an article already started on it, so look for that full length rundown soon.
But since that SM-N900P variant hit the FCC OET, the cries ab
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - 2:40 PM MDT
S4GRU has been on a bit of a roll of late. We had an unusually quiet summer here on The Wall, as our writing staff was frequently away on summer vacation. But we have come back with a vengeance.
Earlier this month, we got the next Nexus handset scoop on the rest of the tech press with our discovery of the reappearance of the LG D820 authorization docs at the FCC OET (Offi
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Tuesday, September 10, 2013 - 1:10 PM MDT
To cut right to the chase, Apple announced at its live event today two new iPhone models: high end iPhone 5S and mid range iPhone 5C. Both are coming to Sprint and both support Sprint LTE -- but only dual band Sprint LTE. The new crop of iPhone models for the next year will not be tri band LTE handsets on Sprint.
The LTE bands supported by iPhone 5S (A1453) and iPhone 5C (A
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 5:33 PM MDT
About a month ago, our FCC OET reporter, Josh McDaniel, noted that a mystery handset, the LG D820, came and went from the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology). Its authorizations were uploaded, then quickly rescinded, citing confidentiality reasons.
Well, today, the LG D820 authorization documents are back. And we are looking at a 3GPP/3GPP2 handset that runs near
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - 11:35 AM MDT
Welcome back from summer vacation. The S4GRU writing staff, too, has returned and is ready to catch up on some of the developments from over the last two or three months.
In late July, Sprint released two tri band LTE mobile hotspots and one tri band LTE USB dongle. Meanwhile, Clearwire had lit up band 41 TD-LTE 2600 on numerous sites in several markets around the country.
by Josh McDaniel Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Sunday, August 25, 2013 - 2:30 AM MDT
On August 21, Samsung received approval from the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) for a Sprint variant of the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0, model number SM-T217S (Wi-Fi versions of the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 are SM-T210 & SM-T211). According to the FCC authorization docs, the Galaxy Tab has a dual core 1.7 GHz processor and may come in a 16 GB storage size if the picture on the FCC label page is accurate.
by Travis Griggs Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Monday, May 20, 2013 - 10:15 AM MDT
In Part 1 of the "What is a PRL?" series we covered the the initial basics and building blocks of the PRL which covered the 1X portion of the wireless connection. I encourage you to read the article if you have not already done so.
You may have seen the various claims of receiving faster or even slower speeds with the mysterious PRL update procedure that seems to randomly happen to our devices. In rea
by Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Friday, May 10, 2013 - 12:35 PM MDT
Welcome back to S4GRU's continuing series focused on understanding many of the signal metrics displayed on your devices' engineering screens. If you missed part one a few weeks ago, that is a good place to start for background info.
Last time out, we covered 3GPP2 band class 1 PCS 1900 MHz, in which Sprint has long operated its CDMA2000 network, and 3GPP band 25 PCS 1900 MHz, in which Sprint is c
by Josh McDaniel Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Thursday, May 2, 2013 - 9:35 AM MDT
Last year, LG released a mid-range device that made its way from one CDMA carrier to another. This year appears to be no exception. The LG LG870 recently passed through the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) with Sprint LTE and band 10 CDMA2000 on board.
If the LG Viper (LS840) last year is any indication, it was released as the Connect (MS840) on MetroPCS, and then as the Lucid (VS840) on
by Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Friday, April 26, 2013 - 6:29 AM MDT
A significant piece of S4GRU's educational mission is helping our readers understand what goes on behind the scenes and underneath the hood in the operation of a wireless network. This often requires getting readers to access internal engineering (or debug) screens on their handsets to view numbers and metrics, such as PN offset, Ec/Io, cell identity, etc., as we track the progress of Sprint's Networ
by Josh McDaniel Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Monday, April 8, 2013 - 1:19 PM MDT
On April 5, the mysterious Samsung SPH-L500 passed thru the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology), indicating that it is now authorized for use in the US on the Sprint network. S4GRU can report only the details that are currently available, but we will update the article as more info emerges.
The phone measures roughly 5.24 inches tall by 2.68 inches wide, making it slightly smaller than the
by Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Thursday, March 28, 2013 - 10:10 AM MDT
Update: The Samsung review embargo has been lifted overnight, and Galaxy S4 reviews are being published around the Web today. Thanks to one of our favorite, highly thorough reviewers, Brian Klug at AnandTech, we can confirm that the Galaxy S4 follows the recent HTC One in providing a removable micro-SIM. So, while two data points do not necessarily a trend make, the One and Galaxy S4 do suggest th
by Andrew J. Shepherd
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Friday, February 22, 2013 - 2:55 PM MST
Update: Many hands on reviews of the HTC One are emerging this week. Courtesy of Engadget, we can report that the Sprint variant is one of the very first Sprint LTE handsets to include a removable micro-SIM. Removable SIM cards have long been part of the Network Vision roadmap for 2013, so it looks like that time may have arrived.
S4GRU welcomes you to the first major Sprint handset announcement
by Christina Herron
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Thursday, February 14, 2013 - 3:10 AM MST
Travel back with me a few weeks ago. It’s a cold Saturday afternoon, and I am standing and staring into a gated area near a cell phone tower. My date for this outing is frantically taking pictures and discussing the exciting upgrades to the equipment which have occurred since our last visit. I have no idea what he is talking about, all the mechanical stuff looks exactly like it did a few weeks a
by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - 1:13 AM MST
Often you may see us refer to a GMO site around S4GRU. But, what is a GMO site? GMO stands for Ground Mount Option. Or sometimes, it will be referred to as a GMR (Ground Mount RRU) site. In this article we will explain many points about the Ground Mount Option.
In the most basic explanation, a Ground Mount site is one where they are doing a partial Network Vision conversion instead of a full bu
by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 10:33 AM MST
Today we feature text from internal correspondence that was distributed to Sprint employees regarding the state of the Network Vision deployment and addresses key points that employees often encounter with the public. It is from a Q&A session with Chad Elliott, Sprint's Director of Strategic Technology Programs.
Although there aren't really points in the memo that will be surprises for S4GRU
by Travis Griggs Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - 10:00 AM MST
A PRL file is a Preferred Roaming List. In simple terms, it tells the device how to scan for various wireless cell systems, which ones are native, and which priority to use them in. If there isn't a native Sprint signal available, the PRL defines which roaming partners to scan for, which ones should be used, and in what order of preference to scan for them in. Contrary to belief and what some Sprint rep
by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 10:20 AM MST
In the latest news from Sprint, they have added another 36 additional communities that they anticipate having at least a prelaunch amount of service available to use by its LTE customers in the "coming months." We were not able to confirm any dates for these cities with any of our sources this morning, but I would imagine there will be a usable amount of service in these areas by the end of March.
by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, November 21, 2012 - 12:55 PM MST
The Regional Affiliate Shentel that provides Sprint service from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley up into Central Pennsylvania is preparing to launch Network Vision improvements and LTE service in a significant portion of its coverage area on Black Friday. Many sites have quietly gone online over the past few months in these areas. However, a source close to the Shentel deployment has now provided S4GR
by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Tuesday, November 12, 2012 - 12:39 AM MDT
In the latest news from Sprint, they have added another nine additional communities that they anticipate having at least a prelaunch amount of service available to use by its LTE customers in the next few months. Based on a source, these are expected to have usable service by the end of January, barring any unforseen conditions.
What's exciting in this list, is it includes not only areas
Normally the licenses with the overlapping geographic service areas "split the football" by straight line of the intersection area of the two radius circle areas for just the shared frequencies. However private deals between the parties are also possible, and have been encouraged by the FCC in some situations when the service areas overlap by more than 50%. The special conditions section on the admin page of the NW Spectrum leases can be said to support this: "This spectrum lease does not incl
My only question is what happens when EBS licenses overlap? Do we know how it's determined who uses what and where? For example in NYC, NW Spectrum (NextWave) has two leases that apply to 2624-2640.5MHz covering all of NYC but T-Mobile also leases that same slice of EBS from someone else that covers most of NYC, but not all.
Check it out here:
NW Spectrum: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/leaseMap.jsp?licKey=4113406&parentKey=null
NW Spectrum: https://wireless2.fc
Have you seen any good speeds on b13 last time I tested it it was super slow only b25 and b41 got some speed and I wasn't in a urban area so it shouldn't be as congested but each time I connected to b13 the speedtest wouldn't run
Normally the licenses with the overlapping geographic service areas "split the football" by straight line of the intersection area of the two radius circle areas for just the shared frequencies. However private deals between the parties are also possible, and have been encouraged by the FCC in some situations when the service areas overlap by more than 50%. The special conditions section on the admin page of the NW Spectrum leases can be said to support this: "This spectrum lease does not incl
In Montgomery, AL and the channels here and surrounding areas are really thin (40mhz). This'll change everything
Happy, need more than 40mhz!
