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Why is it a bad idea?

 

Maybe it is extremely profitable for Sprint to wholesale to Freedompop?

 

Sadly, we don't know the financial details/impact to sprint, so outside of widely speculating, we have no idea if it is good/bad.

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What is this? Sounds like a bad idea from Sprint...

 

http://m.prnewswire....-162075745.html

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

Sounds like a great idea to me. Like what Scott said, sprint needs revenues and they need it bad. It's all about cash flow and sprint needs more cash flow than what we the customers can provide without us being nickle and dimed.

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I understand the revenue aspects but 3 different companies riding on the same LTE network and not to forget people that may switch for the Iphone on an unlimited network. I don’t know this, but will fiber be able to handle all that traffic? Oh, Dont forget Boost (4) and Virgin (5) when the switch to LTE in a year or so.

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I understand the revenue aspects but 3 different companies riding on the same LTE network and not to forget people that may switch for the Iphone on an unlimited network. I don’t know this, but will fiber be able to handle all that traffic? Oh, Dont forget Boost (4) and Virgin (5) when the switch to LTE in a year or so.

 

Fiber is not going to be overwhelmed... Sprint has contracted scalable backhaul that can be boosted up faster at their request.

 

Right now, Sprint has half the customers (including all the prepaid and wholesale) of Verizon, and are deploying LTE on half the amount of spectrum as Verizon. Not even including the fact that Sprint will have smaller cells than Verizon and support more customers in a given area, they will not start feeling the crunch until much later than Verizon.

 

Just considering current devices:

Verizon - 10x10 LTE on upper 700MHz devices. No other LTE bands supported, no additional upper 700MHz spectrum to deploy additional LTE.

Sprint - 5x5 LTE on 1900MHz devices. No other LTE bands supported, but most of the top markets have spectrum available for a second 5x5 1900MHz LTE carrier.

 

So, Sprint has the option to deploy as much spectrum as Verizon for LTE, and has half as many customers. Nobody is screaming that Verizon is in trouble for LTE, so why is Sprint in trouble from letting a few hundred thousand freedompop customers use their LTE?

 

Even looking toward the future, if Verizon obtains the AWS spectrum from the cablecos, they will deploy another 10x10 LTE carrier, but Sprint is deploying a 5x5 LTE carrier on SMR with hotspots in high use areas on Clearwire's 2500/2600MHz LTE.

 

It will be a long time before Sprint sees an overload like with EV-DO. Everyone is gunshy about it, which is understandable, but there are multiple places in the forums here where these concerns are debated and dismissed.

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Fiber is not going to be overwhelmed... Sprint has contracted scalable backhaul that can be boosted up faster at their request.

 

Right now, Sprint has half the customers (including all the prepaid and wholesale) of Verizon, and are deploying LTE on half the amount of spectrum as Verizon. Not even including the fact that Sprint will have smaller cells than Verizon and support more customers in a given area, they will not start feeling the crunch until much later than Verizon.

 

Just considering current devices:

Verizon - 10x10 LTE on upper 700MHz devices. No other LTE bands supported, no additional upper 700MHz spectrum to deploy additional LTE.

Sprint - 5x5 LTE on 1900MHz devices. No other LTE bands supported, but most of the top markets have spectrum available for a second 5x5 1900MHz LTE carrier.

 

So, Sprint has the option to deploy as much spectrum as Verizon for LTE, and has half as many customers. Nobody is screaming that Verizon is in trouble for LTE, so why is Sprint in trouble from letting a few hundred thousand freedompop customers use their LTE?

 

Even looking toward the future, if Verizon obtains the AWS spectrum from the cablecos, they will deploy another 10x10 LTE carrier, but Sprint is deploying a 5x5 LTE carrier on SMR with hotspots in high use areas on Clearwire's 2500/2600MHz LTE.

 

It will be a long time before Sprint sees an overload like with EV-DO. Everyone is gunshy about it, which is understandable, but there are multiple places in the forums here where these concerns are debated and dismissed.

 

Now thats an answer to a question.... thanks!

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Regardless (I almost typed irregardless, but Scott would have corrected me) of whether Sprint allows other operators to use its network, Sprint is looking to grow the number of users significantly. Whether organically, contractually or otherwise.

 

The way Sprint is instituting Network Vision, it is designed for future flexibility and growth. And it is designed to be well monitored so it can be maintained.

 

Sprints lack of maintenance in the past was caused by two big things...the first was a lack of a network design that helped them to manage and monitor issues proactively. They were always in reactive mode. The second was Sprint was holding cash burn upgrading systems that soon were going into a dustbin, that would be better used in Network Vision.

 

Sprint has learned some valuable lessons the past 24 months that will help them better manage the new post NV network. And no matter whether they allow more users or not, Sprint is going to have to step up their network management in a post NV world.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

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Regardless (I almost typed irregardless, but Scott would have corrected me) of whether Sprint allows other operators to use its network, Sprint is looking to grow the number of users significantly. Whether organically, contractually or otherwise.

 

The way Sprint is instituting Network Vision, it is designed for future flexibility and growth. And it is designed to be well monitored so it can be maintained.

 

Sprints lack of maintenance in the past was caused by two big things...the first was a lack of a network design that helped them to manage and monitor issues proactively. They were always in reactive mode. The second was Sprint was holding cash burn upgrading systems that soon were going into a dustbin, that would be better used in Network Vision.

 

Sprint has learned some valuable lessons the past 24 months that will help them better manage the new post NV network. And no matter whether they allow more users or not, Sprint is going to have to step up their network management in a post NV world.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

 

This needs to be part of the FAQ and pointed to whenever the MVNO/Capacity/Roaming Partners/etc questions come up

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If I remember correctly from when freedompop incorporated the WiMax network into their offerings, they will offer a USB dongle at cost and offer a couple megs of data per month for free (not sure the amount) and after that it will offer you the option to purchase a plan for additional data. I believe they will also offer a MiFi type device with a service agreement. This is going off memory, and could change with this new deal so don't quote me on it, but it is the general idea... get people hooked in with the 'free' offering, and if they are going to use more, since they already have your equipment, it will be much easier to pay for your service than to find another provider.

As long as it proves to be a positive on the cash flow, I see no problem. But they should be careful not to cannibalize their own internet offerings, as is possible sometimes. Usually a company will offer something better/differentiating for the full postpay service, or throttling the MVNO's speed so their main service looks better. This is usually not appreciated by the MVNO (or their customers), but is the 'price' to pay for the cheaper service. Sprint needs to give a reason to pay for the sprint service, and not just go down to their pre-paid brands. Right now, since LTE is still rolling out, there is still an advantage for sprint. But if they follow the previous moves with wimax phones, the prepaid carriers could see LTE in as little as a year, as the phones are replaced with new flagship devices.

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I don't think that sprints prepaid companies are getting lte till at least 2017 boost and virgin JUST got wimax so when lte gets more mature that's gonna be sprints advantage not to mention cheaper high end phones not to mention true unlimited data

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4g rockin jellybean using Tapatalk 2

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I don't think that sprints prepaid companies are getting lte till at least 2017 boost and virgin JUST got wimax so when lte gets more mature that's gonna be sprints advantage not to mention cheaper high end phones not to mention true unlimited data

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4g rockin jellybean using Tapatalk 2

 

My guess would be LTE on prepaid by 2015. Probably more like 2014. Sprint has set the precedent that they want to offer high end phones on prepaid. The iPhone and all the 1 year old or less wimax phones migrating to prepaid illustrate that. All the new high end offerings will have LTE, so if they want to keep this going, I would expect them to add new models to the boost/virgin lineup in about 18 months. This could be the current crop of phones on sprint.

 

I highly doubt they will get anyone to make more wimax phones, especially with wimax only guaranteed until 2015. They would have to move to LTE by then if they want to maintain the availability of 4G. Also a concern, does sprint want their prepaid sector clogging up the evdo spectrum and stopping them from refarming that to more LTE carriers?

 

Sent with AOSP JB Toro on Forum Runner

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I'm with Kevster1321, though whether people start getting LTE in droves will very much depend on availability of cheaper LTE phone availability, which might take awhile. Probably 12-18 months if Sprint pushes really hard for cheap LTE handsets. Longer if they don't...though maybe in 12 months the Viper will be old enough news that they'll just offer that on prepaid MVNOs for $200-$300.

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I was talkin about the main prepaid companies like boost and virgin mobile but cricket is supposed to get lte by 2013

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4g rockin jellybean using Tapatalk 2

 

Boost and Virgin are owned by sprint, where Leap wireless owns Cricket and uses sprint's network for roaming. So when cricket says they will be deploying LTE, it means that they will be deploying it on their own spectrum, and it might not be compatible with sprint's LTE. Unless they are working with sprint to deploy their LTE in the PCS band, which I thought they were trying to sell to VZW (I hope they do not, as I wish sprint could purchase the spectrum from them). Anyway, I think they will have their prepaid carriers stick with the WiMax network at least until they finish deploying LTE. This allows the phones to go through their product life-cycle and become cheap to produce for pre-paid network and also it makes sure that sprint can tweak the network before they increase the load.

Plus in all seriousness, competition from cricket LTE will not hurt sprint that much. They do not have much capital or spectrum, and no clear plan for the future, so I cannot think that they will have a substantial LTE footprint anytime soon... unless they wholesale it. Anyway, that is just my 2 cents.

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But u do make a good point about crickets money situation which did got me to thinkin cricket isn't a national carrier so I think it helps them deploy lte better seeing as they don't have to cover the whole USA (metropcs) speaking of metro If they and uscc has it I don't c how cricket can't either

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4g rockin jellybean using Tapatalk 2

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Neither MetroPCS nor Cricket are true nationwide carriers. They both offer native coverage in select metropolitan areas and regions and then resell Sprint service everywhere else. To the user, when on Sprint's network, it looks like they are still on the home network. Metro and Cricket have different retail/marketing strategies in the areas they have native coverage and where they do not.

 

I believe MetroPCS also has a roaming agreement with Verizon, but it shows up as roaming to the user, and roaming minutes are not included in their plans. Roaming calls cost $0.19 per minute.

 

Metro and Cricket are probably only deploying LTE in the areas where they already have native coverage.

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Neither MetroPCS nor Cricket are true nationwide carriers. They both offer native coverage in select metropolitan areas and regions and then resell Sprint service everywhere else. To the user, when on Sprint's network, it looks like they are still on the home network. Metro and Cricket have different retail/marketing strategies in the areas they have native coverage and where they do not.

 

I believe MetroPCS also has a roaming agreement with Verizon, but it shows up as roaming to the user, and roaming minutes are not included in their plans. Roaming calls cost $0.19 per minute.

 

Metro and Cricket are probably only deploying LTE in the areas where they already have native coverage.

 

Last I checked, MetroPCS does not sell service outside areas where it has it's own network in place. which, by the way, is now mostly overlaid with LTE. Too bad they're using narrow channel widths (narrower than 5x5 in many places), paired with insufficient back haul, or so I hear.

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I went ahead and ordered one of the freedompop ipod touch, iphone 4G cradles. Still hasn't shipped yet, but they sent me an email a few weeks back that said that they would have LTE in the "fall" and that any owner with a current cradle would get the LTE version for free. for 99$, for free LTE for the device for life was a simple try it once decision.

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