Expansion. Is there any?

[xcharles718]

Sprint works in many markets. They have a larger 3G coverage area than T-Mobile but smaller than VZW & AT&T.

 

With NV, do you expect(or at least hope) for some coverage in areas that they don't currently cover(outside of zone's that new 800MHz frequency would reach into)?

[S4GRU]

There was one conference call last year where a Sprint exec said that there would be some select expansion in markets where Sprint was holding significant PCS spectrum, but had yet deployed. They said they were evaluating carefully where that would be. However, there has not been one peep since that point.

 

I would like for them to expand, but I fear they will not. Especially given the fall out of LightSquared.

 

Excellent question!

[Fraydog]

I just want them to build a filler cell in Chester Illinois (my home town) on the site T-Mobile built, not far from the middle of town. Right now Sprint has "limited coverage" but it's really 20% of the town. In our case, it would be a realistic alternative to Verizon who holds 95% of the customers in our town. How is one company having that many customers anywhere healthy? It's not. A little NV love (the supplier in my area would be Ericsson, I checked) would be really good.

 

Supposedly there's a Sprint Alliance partner (SI Wireless dba as Mobilenation) in my region but I don't know a whole lot about them. Their FCC license area cuts right through the middle of Chester, but doesn't serve the entire town. I would rather have Sprint, as their established provider, and Mobilenation can hit the more rural areas to the NE.

[S4GRU]

I just want them to build a filler cell in Chester Illinois (my home town) on the site T-Mobile built' date=' not far from the middle of town. Right now Sprint has "limited coverage" but it's really 20% of the town. In our case, it would be a realistic alternative to Verizon who holds 95% of the customers in our town. How is one company having that many customers anywhere healthy? It's not. A little NV love (the supplier in my area would be Ericsson, I checked) would be really good.

 

Supposedly there's a Sprint Alliance partner (SI Wireless dba as Mobilenation) in my region but I don't know a whole lot about them. Their FCC license area cuts right through the middle of Chester, but doesn't serve the entire town. I would rather have Sprint, as their established provider, and Mobilenation can hit the more rural areas to the NE.[/quote']

 

Sounds like even if they don't add another tower, just the addition of 800MHz should be enough to cover the whole town pretty well. And Sprint is deploying LTE and voice on 800MHz.

 

S4GRU is now mobile...posted via Forum Runner

[Fraydog]

The terrain might not allow that, honestly I would be shocked if the 800 MHz ran all the way through. The current Sprint signal hits the river and pretty much stops, the town is on a very tall bluff and signal hits the bluff and stops. Then Chester runs away from the river for 2 miles to the NE.

 

AT&T has a much closer site on the south bluff 7 miles away to the south. It is 4G HSPA+. The HSPA+ only makes it halfway through town, it actually cuts out right through downtown, a mile away from the river. If AT&T's 850 signal can't make it I'm not betting on Sprint's site which is in Saint Mary's, MO, about 10 miles away from town to have SMR make it that far. Of course AT&T doesn't own the CLR B in the CMA we are in, and ATNI dba as Alltel has basically gave up on providing service here and doesn't cover the whole town either. T-Mobile has only had service here since 2010, which is the perfect site for NV because it sits atop the bluffs. T-Mobile actually has the 2nd best coverage to VZW here but is only EDGE for data.

 

Verizon has a natural monopoly here because everyone else blew it, more or less.

 

In other words, it's a nice mess for Sprint to actually come into, the SMR spectrum is the only real beachhead that exists here against Verizon. With the only bridge across the Mississippi between Chester and Cape Girardeau, it's a nice place to cut into and I believe the cutting of roaming costs would pay for the tower in the long run. Right now, Sprint roams on Alltel, but that isn't viable for anyone to buy service here. Sprint will let you order with our zip code but if you didn't live in native coverage you would eventually get the boot, which really disqualifies 80 % of the town.

 

 

[S4GRU]

Thanks for the additional info about Chester. I was assuming the town was flat. That being said, Sprint's ESMR will perform noticeably better than AT&T's Cellular band because NV towers have the RUU's up high on the tower behind antennas. The propagation gain is approx. 20% to 25%. But that may still not be enough in your specific instance. Sounds like a cell site in town is justified.

 

AT&T is also beginning to mount its RUU's up on the towers too. But its rolling this out much slower than Sprint NV. Verizon and Tmo are behind in this regard. Although all things considered, VZW doesn't need it.

[Fraydog]

We will see what happens. I think two things need to occur before we see anything here.

 

1. Mobilenation opens for business here and we see their full deployment. They're already up and running in Tennessee and Kentucky, and the co-ops that founded them are based in Southern Illinois, the same co-ops that ran First Cellular and sold it to Alltel. See the "future regional coverage" on http://mymobilenation.com as an example. The closest tower these guys have is 10 miles away in Steeleville.

2. Network Vision deploys on the St. Mary's site and Sprint evaluates what kind of mileage they can get out of NV on the existing site.

 

I don't know how Mobilenation's build corresponds with Sprint's. I know they also signed a deal with Lightsquared but I imagine that quietly went up in smoke.

[xcharles718]

I can't imagine a good reason not to go after that market since their only main competition is VZW. However, since the area is split in two due to PCS licences, some type of cooperation is needed with the local SRA to get the area covered. Either by letting Mobilenation coming to agreement w/ Sprint to expand coverage with NV tech(like Shentel), or just upgrade the St. Mary site with NV and hopefully the SRA does something in the rest of the city.

 

This is just one of the many places that competition is non-existent and with Sprint entering the area, they can definitely get some subs.

[Fraydog]

I am guessing MobileNation is deploying NV equipment. I have not seen a site setup of theirs to see yet. Sprint left 20 MHz of frequency to themselves in the license partitioning. Therefore, I don't think overlap areas would be that much of an issue if Sprint itself deployed here. Sprint already offers service in 62233 albeit limited so I am pretty sure I could buy Sprint service even if MobileNation set up the tower here and not Sprint. I would rather have Sprint with their better phone options. The cost difference is not that much lower for MobileNation based on what they are selling in Tennessee.

[Fraydog]

I'm bumping this thread as I'm beginning to see what Mobilenation is building out and what Sprint is building out. Apparently the terms of this deal are quite liberal. Sprint itself is building out in Martin, Tennessee, and Mobilenation is building out in some of the other rural areas surrounding Martin. I can tell what is really native by looking at Direct Connect in the map. Mobilenation sites are not CDMA Direct Connect but Sprint sites are. It seems like most of the areas where Mobilenation is are eligible to buy from Sprint as well.

 

This just seems odd for a SRA...or a well placed Trojan for Sprint to boost their coverage where it's mostly weak which it was in Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee.

 

Now if Mobilenation comes north to Southern Illinois remains to be seen. Their original name, oddly enough, was SI Wireless. Looking over their license sublet, apparently Chester and Sparta to the NE were the only towns that were partly in Sprint area and partly in Mobilenation area.

 

Personally I'd prefer Sprint as the one to put up towers on the populated lines of this agreement as I'm sure the Ericsson NV equipment is better than the Huawei base stations used in the Mobilenations deployments.

[S4GRU]

I went through their website but couldn't find much substantial info on their network. When looking at their devices, it says that most of them support CDMA 800 and 1900. Do they have some 800 SMR spectrum, or is that capability just for when roaming on Sprint? Is their network just PCS only?

 

Robert via Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[Rickie546]

I have found some expansion new coverage for Sprint. It's in NW Arkansas, one town is war eagle, and other is west of Gravette.

[bigsnake49]

Sprint needs to hurry up and deploy LTE on 800MHz before it expands in these areas. While 800MHz 1x Advanced will be great, 1900MHz EVDO does not cut it.

[S4GRU]

Sprint needs to hurry up and deploy LTE on 800MHz before it expands in these areas. While 800MHz 1x Advanced will be great, 1900MHz EVDO does not cut it.

 

is Q3 2013 soon enough? I hope so, because that's when they are scheduling to start 800 LTE deployment.

 

Robert

[danielholt]

poor guy.

[bigsnake49]

is Q3 2013 soon enough? I hope so, because that's when they are scheduling to start 800 LTE deployment.

 

Robert

 

I want my rural data and I want it NOW!

[S4GRU]

I want my rural data and I want it NOW!

 

"Mr. Snake? Mr. Wentworth is on line 2 for you. Shall I ask him to call back?"

[bigsnake49]

"Mr. Snake? Mr. Wentworth is on line 2 for you. Shall I ask him to call back?"

 

Tell the SOB never to call me again:).

[Deval]

I'm spoiled by the city life, coverage here rocks, in terms of overall blanketing. With NV, all the little coverage holes should be filled, but I sympathize with the rural area folks, can't imagine not having cell service wherever I go.

[Kevster1321]

so i just looked at the nextel map and they updated for my area if 800mhz is that good on nextel then i will finally be in a sprint coverage area when they turned it on for sprint woot woot. nextel did have coverage in my area but the map now says it has better coverage can't wait.

[S4GRU]

so i just looked at the nextel map and they updated for my area if 800mhz is that good on nextel then i will finally be in a sprint coverage area when they turned it on for sprint woot woot. nextel did have coverage in my area but the map now says it has better coverage can't wait.

 

Sprint will not broadcast 800MHz from Nextel towers, but rather from Sprint towers. But hopefully you will still get coverage from the 800 on the nearest Sprint site.

 

Robert

[Kevster1321]

co located

[jefbal99]

How can I determine where Nextel Towers are at? When viewing the Sprint maps, I can never find towers.

[4GHoward]

Are Transmission Towers better than Monopole Towers?

[4GHoward]

How can I determine where Nextel Towers are at? When viewing the Sprint maps, I can never find towers.

 

It is no longer available. It was once available for viewing at http://nextelnetwork.sprint.com/ until Sprint removed it.