NV/LTE in Non-Sprint operated areas?

[cdiao]

My experience was a bit more variable. Up in the mountains in Blacksburg, nTelos was decent outside but if you got inside one of those Hokie Stone buildings on the VT campus you might as well be in a Faraday cage. My apartment was half-underground and 3G signal was usually in the -95 to -110 dBm range on my OG Evo, occasionally getting kicked onto 1X (which was horrid).

 

If I had to guess on what happens regarding nTelos, it probably involves a Sprint buyout in 2014 or so, or at the very least getting subsumed into an affiliate relationship like Shentel; I could also see Shentel taking them over with Sprint's blessing. They have some nice chunks of 15+15 PCS that could be useful for LTE expansion once customers are moved onto Sprint's overlapping PCS holdings, even without touching the AWS they have (which could probably be dumped off onto T-Mobile or someone else).

In those rural geographies, Ntelos could really use some of Sprint's 800mhz SMR frequencies to dramatically improve network coverage... The Strategic Network Alliance Agreement between Sprint and Ntelos currently is schedueld to end in July 2015 but according to company, the exclusivity terms require Sprint to give 18 month notice before it can begin construction of an alternative CDMA network. In the past, they've reworked the agreement and extended it (generally a couple yrs before expiration) so we are about due soon for some resolution. Presumably LTE is part of that agenda and current discussions. I agree with you that at some point Sprint must evaluate the "own vs. rent" decision as the two companies are inextricably tied together --- the company also split itself into 2 last year: Ntelos and Lumos Networks, separating wireline from wireless with the stated strategy of having more flexibility to pursue strategic opportunities (presumably with different suiters) once separated. You can think of this as a "network sharing deal" in that Sprint/Virgin/Assurance/Boost and Ntelos/Frawg brands all share the same network and Ntelos is the network operator in those market territories.

[frankt3]

Looks like nTelos will start its LTE in the second half of 2013 and finishing sometime in 2014.

 

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20121012/carriers/ntelos-track-second-half-2013-lte-launch/

[JDP121]

BTW just fyi I just happen to look today after taking a few days off from searching stuff on nTelo's 4g LTE and came accross something interesting.

 

Just looked at the nTelos website to see if they had added any new phones that will supposedly work on their 4g LTE. They have three new phones added and they are the HTC Desire, the Moto X and the LG Optimus 7. It appears their 4g LTE net work will be on the PCS 1900 mhz according to the LTE description on those three phones.