Everything 800mhz (1xA, LTE, coverage, timeline, etc)

[chamb]

But that's the thing, they were talking about where sprint is spectrum lacking, so the resources aren't already in place coverage wise. So I was wonderin if sprints plan in those areas is to just flip on smr lte and leave some voice traffic on roaming. Because like mentioned above no one talks on the phone anymore lol.

No, not likely at all.  Sprint owns adequate spectrum everywhere. They just have chosen to not provide coverage in some areas. If they activate any coverage at all in a previously unserved area, you will see a complete NV cell site setup. (with the exception of areas near the Canadian or Mexican border areas.)

[eljayyy91]

No, not likely at all.  Sprint owns adequate spectrum everywhere. They just have chosen to not provide coverage in some areas. If they activate any coverage at all in a previously unserved area, you will see a complete NV cell site setup. (with the exception of areas near the Canadian or Mexican border areas.)

I thought that in some areas sprint didn't have all smr... which would mean either 3x3 lte and 1 1x carrier or just a 5x5 lte network. which people said perviously sprint has chosen to use it all for lte. Which I could see with all the voice roaming sprint already has in place. I could see in the short term, sprint only doing lte because we already have voice in many areas where its only 1x data cuz of roaming.

[chamb]

I thought that in some areas sprint didn't have all smr... which would mean either 3x3 lte and 1 1x carrier or just a 5x5 lte network. which people said perviously sprint has chosen to use it all for lte. Which I could see with all the voice roaming sprint already has in place. I could see in the short term, sprint only doing lte because we already have voice in many areas where its only 1x data cuz of roaming.

In a previously roaming area, if sprint activates LTE, that would be a major expense to acquire a site and get back-haul established.

If they feel that they need to spend big bucks to establish any LTE presence, they surely will add the CDMA 1X voice & EVDO  too.

[eljayyy91]

In a previously roaming area, if sprint activates LTE, that would be a major expense to acquire a site and get back-haul established.

If they feel that they need to spend big bucks to establish any LTE presence, they surely will add the CDMA 1X voice & EVDO  too.

Your just not picking up what I'm putting down. 800 lte is said to have a little of an advantage over 1900 evdo. I mean in fringe areas where sprint is lacking spectrum for 5x5 lte and 1x. Put up 800 lte so we can have a little more data in fringe areas where we couldn't use data before because 1x sucks. But still make voice calls fine on roaming. Now you get it?

[chamb]

Your just not picking up what I'm putting down. 800 lte is said to have a little of an advantage over 1900 evdo. I mean in fringe areas where sprint is lacking spectrum for 5x5 lte and 1x. Put up 800 lte so we can have a little more data in fringe areas where we couldn't use data before because 1x sucks. But still make voice calls fine on roaming. Now you get it?

Yeh, I get it.  Leave me word it differently. Sprint will not spend any money in your area to give you 800 LTE without fixing the 1X problem too. Roaming on 1X is not a good thing for Sprint or you. Sprint is using the same configuration almost everywhere and is not likely to change how they do things for some small area. You will either see the complete NV upgrade in your area and it will fix all your issues or if you are still too far away from what they upgrade, you will need to find another carrier that serves you well.

Every current cell site and any future ones will see the same upgrades.

[ericdabbs]

Your just not picking up what I'm putting down. 800 lte is said to have a little of an advantage over 1900 evdo. I mean in fringe areas where sprint is lacking spectrum for 5x5 lte and 1x. Put up 800 lte so we can have a little more data in fringe areas where we couldn't use data before because 1x sucks. But still make voice calls fine on roaming. Now you get it?

 

CDMA 800 and LTE 800 are going to be deployed nationwide where ever it can be installed.  Sprint is not trying to rely on roaming agreements anymore and this was made publicly by the Sprint network executive at their Q2 CC.  Even Sprint's 1x roaming agreement with Alltel (now Verizon) ends in July 2016 so Sprint has to prepare as if Verizon is not going to renew their roaming contract with Sprint in 2016 and needs to have the groundwork in place and deployed now to help bridge the gap of the lost roaming coverage.  Besides Sprint is trying to curb the amount of roaming charges it has to pay to Verizon.  Roaming with Verizon is not to be relied on for the distant future.

 

Also LTE 800 will perform much better than EVDO 1900 and it is not just a little. Don't kid yourself because Verizon and ATT run LTE 700 and I see their coverage expand indoors much more effectively than EVDO 1900 ever could.  LTE 700 vs. LTE 800 is not much difference.

[Dkoellerwx]

Yeh, I get it.  Leave me word it differently. Sprint will not spend any money in your area to give you 800 LTE without fixing the 1X problem too. Roaming on 1X is not a good thing for Sprint or you. Sprint is using the same configuration almost everywhere and is not likely to change how they do things for some small area. You will either see the complete NV upgrade in your area and it will fix all your issues or if you are still too far away from what they upgrade, you will need to find another carrier that serves you well.

Every current cell site and any future ones will see the same upgrades.

 

 

According to info that we received, posted a couple of pages back, Sprint is supposedly focusing on LTE ONLY in areas where spectrum is lacking in the 800 band.  See this post: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2358-everything-800mhz-1xa-lte-coverage-timeline-etc/page-80?p=217587&do=findComment&comment=217587

[tmiw]

Will the government shutdown delay an agreement for the IBEZ at all? 

[Thomas L.]

Will the government shutdown delay an agreement for the IBEZ at all?

I doubt it. It's not like the IBEZ agreement is just around the corner.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[ericdabbs]

Will the government shutdown delay an agreement for the IBEZ at all? 

 

IBEZ reband plan has already been approved between both parties (FCC and Mexican government) and is in progress for the US/Mexico border.  The US/Mexico reband effort will take up to 30 months that began on August 23, 2013 and at latest finish by February 23, 2016.  I would show you the link but the FCC website is down.

[tmiw]

IBEZ reband plan has already been approved between both parties (FCC and Mexican government) and is in progress for the US/Mexico border.  The US/Mexico reband effort will take up to 30 months that began on August 23, 2013 and at latest finish by February 23, 2016.  I would show you the link but the FCC website is down.

 

So it probably won't be until 2017 or so before the IBEZ gets 800Mhz. At least it's progress!

[ericdabbs]

So it probably won't be until 2017 or so before the IBEZ gets 800Mhz. At least it's progress!

 

Hopefully by 2017.  Sprint would have to go back to the IBEZ affected markets (ex: San Diego, Tucson, southeast LA, Orange County) and install 800 MHz RRUs and in some cases they would have to install new panels since the current panels could be the special IBEZ version with only have 4 ports on the bottom which support only 1900 MHz.

 

I haven't heard or seen any word on the US/Canadian IBEZ issue on whether that has been resolved.  Both sides of the border need to be resolved in order to maximize the usage of 800 MHz.  Who knows by 2017, 600 MHz might be available for deployment.

[ericdabbs]

Any idea how much Verizon makes from roaming? If Sprint gets its act together (which I am certain they will) it would stand to reason that Sprint could steal away any other carriers that roam on Verizon right?

No idea. Don't know about the roam part. But if I was a carrier in the rural areas I would go with Verizon because Sprint still has some areas where it lacks sufficient coverage.

 

Sent from my Motorola Photon 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[uh60james]

Is SouthernLINC's native coverage area being excluded from the 800mhz rollout?

 

I understand there may not be enough spectrum for LTE in this area but some 1x would be nice.  Building penetration is absolutely horrible in many buildings in downtown Birmingham and there are a ton of commonly traveled areas throughout Alabama that experience call drops from transferring back and forth to roaming.  I assume Atlanta is in much better shape than us do to the sheer number of towers but surely they have some issues with building penetration too.

[WiWavelength]

I didn't mean now I was more thinking maybe Sprint can get some of the roaming business when they are done deploying their SMR assets and have much better coverage.

 

Somewhat doubtful.  Roaming partners would need to have band class 10 CDMA1X 800 on their devices, and that has not happened.

 

AJ

[estarkey7]

I was just in Sharon, PA this weekend and had excellent 800Mhz service!!! I mean I was getting -65dbM! But guess what, I couldn't get any sort of data! I mean I was dead in the water, I couldn't get anything. I was so ticked I went into an ATT store to see how much my 19% corporate discount would lower my bill! 

 

Anyway, the signal was strong and consistent for all of Sharon, and this area has a pretty hilly topology. I guess this means that the IBEZ stuff has been figured out. Now to just get this type of coverage on 800Mhz LTE.

[utiz4321]

I was just in Sharon, PA this weekend and had excellent 800Mhz service!!! I mean I was getting -65dbM! But guess what, I couldn't get any sort of data! I mean I was dead in the water, I couldn't get anything. I was so ticked I went into an ATT store to see how much my 19% corporate discount would lower my bill!

 

Anyway, the signal was strong and consistent for all of Sharon, and this area has a pretty hilly topology. I guess this means that the IBEZ stuff has been figured out. Now to just get this type of coverage on 800Mhz LTE.

I didn't know PA bordered Canada or Mexico.

[el_schisne]

I was just in Sharon, PA this weekend and had excellent 800Mhz service!!! I mean I was getting -65dbM! But guess what, I couldn't get any sort of data! I mean I was dead in the water, I couldn't get anything. I was so ticked I went into an ATT store to see how much my 19% corporate discount would lower my bill! 

 

Anyway, the signal was strong and consistent for all of Sharon, and this area has a pretty hilly topology. I guess this means that the IBEZ stuff has been figured out. Now to just get this type of coverage on 800Mhz LTE.

I wouldn't say "all this IBEZ stuff." There are three smallish areas called "crop circles" that, despite being within the IBEZ, are less restrictive. They are the circles with a 30 km radius around the centers of Akron, OH, Youngstown, OH, and Syracuse, NY. I believe Sharon, PA falls within the crop circle around Youngstown. My understanding is that Sprint is free to deploy 800 MHz voice and data there regardless of other agreements.

 

In any case, it's cool to hear that Sprint is moving forward with 800 MHz service within the crop circles. I didn't know whether that would be the case.

Edited October 14, 2013 by el_schisne

[azoclark]

I didn't know PA bordered Canada or Mexico.

There is this town that shares a name with one of the great lakes.....what is it, oh yeah, Erie, PA.

 

Not sure of the islands west of Sandusky, but I think PA might be closer to Canada than OH.

[estarkey7]

Yeah, I do remember the IBEZ exceptions. I just I guess expected sprint to get their later than sooner. My SID from SignalCheckPro said 22441. I don't know if that means anything...

[Redx]

Ok so, Signal Check Pro is saying 1x800 is it telling the truth? How would I know for sure. I have a Note 2 with 55015 prl. Mind you I changed from the 2006 prl and it did not have 1x800. I'm in Los Angeles, if that matters.....

[ericdabbs]

Ok so, Signal Check Pro is saying 1x800 is it telling the truth? How would I know for sure. I have a Note 2 with 55015 prl. Mind you I changed from the 2006 prl and it did not have 1x800. I'm in Los Angeles, if that matters.....

 

You have to check the SID for the 1x section at that moment.  If the SID starts in the 22XXX range, then you truly have 1x800 voice.

[Redx]

ok so SID, not BID correct? Ok, I'll take a screenshot once it happens again

[mikejeep]

ok so SID, not BID correct? Ok, I'll take a screenshot once it happens again

Yes, ericdabbs is correct.. a Sprint SID in the 22000's indicates that you are connected on CDMA 800. If you want more confirmation, you can also check your 1X engineering screen and see what channel you are on. Channel 476 indicates 800 SMR.

 

-Mike

[digiblur]

Channel 476 indicates 800 SMR.

 

-Mike

Add 487 and 526 to that list.