Expansion. Is there any?

[Kevster1321]

does anyone know if VZ is putting LTE on every site. If not then wouldn't sprint have the better signal after NV is complete because there doing 80% with 800mhz LTE.

[Kevster1321]

CT?

Connecticut

[S4GRU]

does anyone know if VZ is putting LTE on every site. If not then wouldn't sprint have the better signal after NV is complete because there doing 80% with 800mhz LTE.

 

VZW is not planning LTE 700 on every site in their current deployment strategy, but they are planning on LTE coverage over their entire 3G footprint. However, it is only a matter of time when they will get to every site. They are planning to be the first carrier with a full migration to LTE.

 

Robert

[Kevster1321]

I hope that when sprint upgrades a tower they will just turn on LTE (i'm talkiing about when LTE is announced) not wait for the whole market. i say this cuz VZ has put up 2 towers in my tower but they aren't turned on yet.

[S4GRU]

I hope that when sprint upgrades a tower they will just turn on LTE (i'm talkiing about when LTE is announced) not wait for the whole market. i say this cuz VZ has put up 2 towers in my tower but they aren't turned on yet.

 

I know what you mean. VZW completed LTE panels here in Los Alamos, New Mexico months ago, and they just sit there with no live LTE signal. But there is no VZW version of S4GRU to blab to everyone how they are just sitting there.

 

Robert

[JohnHovah]

Boooooooooomer...

 

 

AJ

 

is this a 3km tower? lol i was thinking it had to be a photoshop stitch

[david279]

Wow that pic totally lagged chrome for some reason....

[Fraydog]

 

That's hella good coverage for 1900.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Fraydog

[Fraydog]

 

Direct Connect over the same area.

[WiWavelength]

 

Direct Connect over the same area.

 

Ryan is looking up Sprint coverage on a VZW iPhone. Sacrilege! Look out, everybody, that thing is apt to burst into flame any minute.

 

AJ

[pyroscott]

Ryan is looking up Sprint coverage on a VZW iPhone. Sacrilege! Look out, everybody, that thing is apt to burst into flame any minute.

 

AJ

 

Um, no comment?

[WiWavelength]

Um, no comment?

 

Does your Galaxy Nexus ever get very warm while you are browsing S4GRU? It may be trying to burn this into your hand.

 

 

AJ

[pyroscott]

Does your Galaxy Nexus ever get very warm while you are browsing S4GRU? It may be trying to burn this into your hand.

 

 

AJ

 

That's what happened. I was wondering how that got there.

[WiWavelength]

That's what happened. I was wondering how that got there.

 

Yep. That is the mark. I mean, why else do you think that the letters VZW type out 666 on a standard cellphone keypad? You just cannot make this stuff up.

 

AJ

[digiblur]

 

Yep. That is the mark. I mean, why else do you think that the letters VZW type out 666 on a standard cellphone keypad? You just cannot make this stuff up.

 

AJ

 

Dial MOM and see what numbers come up.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

[Fraydog]

AJ,

 

 

That's why. I live in the beige.

 

AT&T and T-Mobile are EDGE here and Alltel...ugh don't get me started there.

 

That's why almost everyone here has VZW. Alltel probably comes closest on coverage but it's hard for them to sell here when they didn't leave any stores open here in Randolph County after they bought out First Cellular. Sad thing is, Alltel 3G isn't that bad speed wise but they won't even have LTE anywhere in their footprint if Michael Prior's comments in the Alltel Conference Call for Q1 2012 ring true. Even still they have no iPhone for Mom and no high end Android phones. So no go there.

 

Backhaul is a bad thing here too. VZW has cited backhaul as the reason for an LTE delay into 2013 here as they are putting their own fiber optic lines in here. They don't want to use anything left for Frontier. AT&T's site is HSPA+ ready right now but not backhauled, and the same goes for T-Mobile. Sprint probably balked at putting a site in here because of backhaul.

 

IBOP grants are building out fiber here but I don't think it will be ready soon.

 

It's a really bad situation.

Edited June 9, 2012 by Fraydog

[WiWavelength]

Dial MOM and see what numbers come up.

 

Exactly. Ma Bell is a she-devil.

 

AJ

[pyroscott]

 

 

Yep. That is the mark. I mean, why else do you think that the letters VZW type out 666 on a standard cellphone keypad? You just cannot make this stuff up.

 

AJ

It came up with 899... What kind of keypad do you have?

[WiWavelength]

It came up with 899... What kind of keypad do you have?

 

Ah, but I got you to try it. My work here is done.

 

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

Well, the Mobilenation people are not moving any further north. I just saw an FCC filing where SI Wireless, d/b/a Mobilenation terminated their license subleases in all of Illinois, and most of Missouri with Sprint. Sprint is back to 40 MHz they squat on here in most of Randolph County, in a region where there is no mobile competition to speak of. They acquired the spectrum they leased from Sprint in Western Kentucky and Western Tennessee. This explains why new towers got added in Martin and Union City. That area was not part of the sublease, nor is it part of the spectrum Sprint sold to Mobilenation. With native roaming it made sense to add to their coverage at those sites.

 

I still believe that adding NV sites in 2013 at Sparta and Chester would be a net positive. Through the rest of Southern Illinois they can rely on where they have 3G roaming. Maybe they can strike a deal with a local telecom here to resell service. The problem Sprint has here is the large amount of 1x roaming where customers traveling though get stuck on. AAV, which was not always accessible here, is finally proliferating. That's the good news. IBOP Southern will be signing up consumers here very soon.

 

Sprint also needs a reseller here. I think the local RadioShack and Wal-Mart could fill in. With online ordering, I see that model becoming more of a dinosaur. Our VZW Premium Retailer sucks here, most of their phones are display phones and as a result I have to drive to Fairview Heights or Carbondale just to try new phones.

 

Anyway all of our other options are sucky here, as Alltel won't add LTE until 2013, AT&T has the tower HSPA+ ready but doesn't have an affordable backhaul option, and T-Mobile might be able to add a microwave to their cell but they don't want to use the IBOP Southern backbone, Frontier, or the local cable company.

[WiWavelength]

Well, the Mobilenation people are not moving any further north. I just saw an FCC filing where SI Wireless, d/b/a Mobilenation terminated their license subleases in all of Illinois, and most of Missouri with Sprint. Sprint is back to 40 MHz they squat on here in most of Randolph County...

 

That is a bit disingenuous to say that Sprint is "squatting" on spectrum in Randolph County. Sprint has never acquired any spectrum license specifically for Randolph County. Rather, Sprint holds MTA and BEA based licenses that happen to include Randolph County in their licensed areas.

 

For example, Sprint acquired the MTA019 St. Louis PCS B block 30 MHz license because it includes metro St. Louis, Columbia, Jefferson City, and Springfield (MO). That Randolph County came along for the ride is/was inconsequential. And Sprint has long since more than satisfied all of the FCC build out requirements for the license. So, that is not really "spectrum squatting." Sprint's plans, like it or not, just did not include your rural area.

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

 

That is a bit disingenuous to say that Sprint is "squatting" on spectrum in Randolph County. Sprint has never acquired any spectrum license specifically for Randolph County. Rather, Sprint holds MTA and BEA based licenses that happen to include Randolph County in their licensed areas.

 

For example, Sprint acquired the MTA019 St. Louis PCS B block 30 MHz license because it includes metro St. Louis, Columbia, Jefferson City, and Springfield (MO). That Randolph County came along for the ride is/was inconsequential. And Sprint has long since more than satisfied all of the FCC build out requirements for the license. So, that is not really "spectrum squatting." Sprint's plans, like it or not, just did not include your rural area.

 

AJ

 

Maybe that was a bit much, OK. I'll give you that. Sprint still has an opportunity from everyone else falling on their face. Verizon won't even have LTE here until 2013. Alltel may never go LTE here. AT&T can build out elsewhere in the CMA and meet their buildout requirements. I wish you would look at that aspect of it, as well as the fatally flawed decision of the FCC to approve the ATNI buyout of Alltel. I wish Alltel had gone back to a local partner, or got swallowed by a provider with a better reputation than ATNI like USCC for example.

 

I honestly think you're looking at the spectrum situation and thinking I am in a competitive market. If it were a competitive market, Verizon would have less than 95% of the consumers in my town.

 

Chester has issues because of location. I get that. It's not like Sprint has to reinvent the wheel here. Most of the factors aligned against their past expansion have reversed in their favor.

[WiWavelength]

Maybe that was a bit much, OK. I'll give you that. Sprint still has an opportunity from everyone else falling on their face.

 

My response was not intended as much a defense of Sprint as it was a clarification of "spectrum squatting." Anyone who knows my philosophies on wireless understands that I am anti consolidation in the industry, that I am like a hawk when it comes to spectrum licensing/utilization, and that I view wireless communications as a 21st century commons that should be readily accessible to all citizens. So, even though this is a Sprint focused forum, I try not to let any of my own partisan sentiment toward Sprint escape my philosophical principles.

 

That said, however, I do not honestly think that we can say that PCS A/B block 30 MHz MTA based license holders, such as Sprint, are "spectrum squatters" simply because they have met their FCC mandated build out requirements but have not constructed their licenses in many rural areas. We have to understand why the FCC licensed the initial PCS 1900 MHz licenses the way it did in 1994. That was a wise decision -- it paved the way for truly new entrant competition that flourished very quickly.

 

It is an interesting topic. I will try to elaborate more later...

 

AJ

[Fraydog]

I sensed your reply was based on something relating to how PCS licenses were awarded. I also sense that Sprint would not have been wise to put up service here before 2013. I think factors are different this time around. The decision to deploy 800 in LTE is a big part in how rural markets could be better this time around.

 

So in that regard, my post was not meant as a slam against Sprint either.

[pyroscott]

I am curious as to how many lines of service are required to make a new tower profitable. I have to think that after all the building costs, then the leases, backhaul, and power expenses, it would be around 100 lines. Saved roaming expenses could bring this number down, but I don't know if they would make much money from other customers roaming on their tower.

 

Sent from my CM9 Toro