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


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I asked Robert about 800 Mhz earlier and the rollout will start after IDen network is shutdown mid 2013. They are doing testing, but since they need to determine the towers needed, they don't have that info now (It is topography and unrban buildup dependant).

 

So it's not ever tower then? I didn't imagine it would be, but I was optimistic. I hope at the very least, I hope they deploy 800 extensively in more rural areas that operate fewer towers. 800mhz would definitely see it's full potential realized there.

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So it's not ever tower then? I didn't imagine it would be, but I was optimistic. I hope at the very least, I hope they deploy 800 extensively in more rural areas that operate fewer towers. 800mhz would definitely see it's full potential realized there.

 

Sprint is adding CDMA 800 on approximately 95% of sites, and they are targeting LTE 800 on 80% of sites.

 

Robert

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And for PRLs... Only Chicago and Dallas as enabled right now. On most LTE devices the 800smr is higher priority than the PCS side(for now). On non LTE devices that support 800smr such as the EVO 3d, the pcs band is higher priority.

 

The 55xxx series PRLs that the iPhone5 was found with does NOT have any 800smr support enabled. I think the new photon also has this PRL, but I am not 100% sure.

 

I was planning on updating the 56006 PRL to include the LTE enabled for PR, HI, and I believe ND or something close to that state. And also add all of the 800smr SIDs as well. All for testing of course to see if 800smr was turned on or not. I am doing a complete overhaul on my PRL comparison app; adding in Lte comparison and changes, cleaning up the info to make it easier to read, and adding color to the output. It looks so much better! The HTML output engine is just taking a little longer to code than I thought. Went too big with my project and should have done this in phases. Kind of funny that I don't listen to my own preaching. At work I always take people's huge project and break it up into smaller phases that way the vision of the project doesn't get lost and the users get new features earlier.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

 

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The 55xxx series PRLs that the iPhone5 was found with does NOT have any 800smr support enabled. I think the new photon also has this PRL, but I am not 100% sure.

 

Here is my Moto Photon Q screen shot, showing PRL 55008:

 

med_gallery_1_1_39067.jpg

 

Robert

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And for PRLs... Only Chicago and Dallas as enabled right now. On most LTE devices the 800smr is higher priority than the PCS side(for now). On non LTE devices that support 800smr such as the EVO 3d, the pcs band is higher priority.

 

The 55xxx series PRLs that the iPhone5 was found with does NOT have any 800smr support enabled. I think the new photon also has this PRL, but I am not 100% sure.

 

I was planning on updating the 56006 PRL to include the LTE enabled for PR, HI, and I believe ND or something close to that state. And also add all of the 800smr SIDs as well. All for testing of course to see if 800smr was turned on or not. I am doing a complete overhaul on my PRL comparison app; adding in Lte comparison and changes, cleaning up the info to make it easier to read, and adding color to the output. It looks so much better! The HTML output engine is just taking a little longer to code than I thought. Went too big with my project and should have done this in phases. Kind of funny that I don't listen to my own preaching. At work I always take people's huge project and break it up into smaller phases that way the vision of the project doesn't get lost and the users get new features earlier.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

Is there a particular PRL you would recommend to users of phones like the Evo 3D so that they did prefer SMR? I find it odd that the iPhone 5 and the PhotonQ don't support those bands in their PRL's. Wonder what the logic behind that was.

 

Also, whats your PRL comparison app called? Is it on the Android Market?

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Sprint is adding CDMA 800 on approximately 95% of sites, and they are targeting LTE 800 on 80% of sites.

 

Robert

 

Robert, do you happen to know the reason for the 15% disparity between CDMA 800 and LTE 800? Especially given that it's been said that the LTE signal is a bit more fragile than the CDMA signal that seems a bit counterintuitive.

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Robert, do you happen to know the reason for the 15% disparity between CDMA 800 and LTE 800? Especially given that it's been said that the LTE signal is a bit more fragile than the CDMA signal that seems a bit counterintuitive.

 

Lack of spectrum perhaps? I can see Sprint placing a higher importance on 1xA for text and talk then data.

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I don't recall there being one on the Evo3D devices with a high prio. I'll have to go check some of the analysis' to see.

 

DigiPRL. The digi-pearl had a nice ring ;) Not an Android app. Rude and crude Windows app with a ton of debug info on the screen. So much it only fits on my 24 inch screen. Need to cut it down as I really don't need all the info anymore.

 

DIGIPRL.jpg

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I asked Robert about 800 Mhz earlier and the rollout will start after IDen network is shutdown mid 2013. They are doing testing, but since they need to determine the towers needed, they don't have that info now (It is topography and unrban buildup dependant).

 

For LTE, 1xA is already being deployed.

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Robert' date=' do you happen to know the reason for the 15% disparity between CDMA 800 and LTE 800? Especially given that it's been said that the LTE signal is a bit more fragile than the CDMA signal that seems a bit counterintuitive.[/quote']

 

The biggest factor is redundancy. In urban areas with dense 1900 deployments, LTE 800 is problematic with that tight of spacing, so they are skipping a lot of sites. LTE 800 coverage would still be complete in these areas, just not installed on every site.

 

Additionally, another factor (but much less so than redundancy), some rural sites are not getting LTE 800 service. Remote rural sites just don't have a need for two LTE carriers in Sprint's mind. One will be more than sufficient for many years.

 

I know it seems counter intuitive, that if a rural site would only have one LTE carrier, it makes more sense for it to be 800. But the problem is that there are a lot of LTE 1900 only devices, but there will not be any LTE 800 only devices. Also, for some places, LTE will be active for almost two years before LTE 800 arrives.

 

Fortunately in the future, just adding a LTE 800 carrier to a NV site will be a relatively easy thing to do. So more can be added as Sprint thinks it is necessary.

 

In the maps I have seen where the LTE 800 sites were shown, the rural sites that don't get it typically were isolated sites, away from major highways. Most rural sites are slated to get LTE 800 though.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is there any chance of Sprint buying some more 800mhz spectrum in the near future? The lower frequency spectrum is gold, so I am suprised that Sprint doesn't own more.

 

Not much of a surprise really when you look at the anti-competitive manner in which cellular spectrum was passed out a few decades ago.

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Is there any chance of Sprint buying some more 800mhz spectrum in the near future? The lower frequency spectrum is gold' date=' so I am suprised that Sprint doesn't own more.[/quote']

 

Near future? Not really. Maybe a little from Premier in the Mid Atlantic Region. However, I don't see them getting SouthernLinc spectrum. Maybe a shared use agreement, but not a purchase. But mostly the spectrum they can acquire are little regional chunks. And if they can get those, then they may able to get to 14MHz in more places.

 

The biggest parts of 800 SMR are held for Public Safety. That is the big road block for getting more than one LTE carrier (or CDMA). I don't see that coming open anytime soon.

 

There is only 14MHz between Public Safety SMR spectrum and the beginning of Cellular 850. So even if Sprint is able to get all of it nationwide, it still only leaves one LTE carrier and one CDMA carrier. There is just not much SMR spectrum in relation to modern wideband carriers. iDEN carriers are so small compared to CDMA carriers. Or especially LTE carriers.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner

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The biggest parts of 800 SMR are held for Public Safety. That is the big road block for getting more than one LTE carrier (or CDMA). I don't see that coming open anytime soon.

 

There is only 14MHz between Public Safety SMR spectrum and the beginning of Cellular 850.

 

Before the end of the year, I am going to publish on my blog -- which I have sadly neglected since the summer -- a piece on Cellular 850 MHz band reform.

 

As the Cellular 850 MHz band plan stands now, parts of the band (fully 10 MHz out of 50 MHz total) are convoluted and cannot feasibly be used for anything other than AMPS or GSM -- not CDMA1X and only maybe LTE, even if so, just the meager 1.4 MHz FDD configuration. That is not a big problem in the near term as 2G, 3G, and 4G all intermingle in Cellular 850 MHz, but it will become a decided waste of valuable spectrum by 2020 as carriers move exclusively to LTE.

 

302t5c1.jpg

 

Even realigning the Cellular 850 MHz band plan to create two wholly contiguous 12.5 MHz x 12.5 MHz licenses would not fix the problem, since LTE has standardized 10 MHz FDD and 15 MHz FDD configurations, but no 12.5 MHz FDD configuration. So, that would still leave the same amount of spectrum (10 MHz) on the margins underutilized.

 

To address this issue, I am going to advocate that the FCC rejigger the Cellular 850 MHz band, taking the current Cellular A block and B block licenses and creating an additional C block license from the underutilized spectrum. Cellular A block and B block licenses would be 10 MHz x 10 MHz, C block license 5 MHz x 5 MHz.

 

AT&T and VZW, of course, would oppose such a Cellular 850 MHz reconfiguration, since they would rather use spectrum inefficiently than open the door to a third competitor. But Cellular 850 MHz spectrum was not auctioned; it was awarded in a "beauty contest" fashion in the 1980s. Since then, many carriers have become incredibly wealthy just by holding, buying, and selling Cellular 850 MHz spectrum. That is unjust enrichment by way of a public resource. So, it will be high time that the FCC use its authority over public spectrum that many licensees got for free.

 

The upshot for Sprint is that a third Cellular 850 MHz license could be made available in the coming years. Moreover, if the hypothetical Cellular C block license were positioned at the low end of the Cellular 850 MHz band, it would be directly adjacent to and contiguous with Sprint's rebanded ESMR 800 MHz holdings.

 

Mull that over...

 

AJ

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