Sprint Marketing Updates 4G LTE City List where work is under way and adds 28 more communities including Michigan and Arizona!

[Dkoellerwx]

Sprint sent out a press release this morning adding 28 more communities to the list of cities where NV work is underway, and LTE is coming soon.

 

This includes the first cities in Michigan, Arizona, Washington and Alabama!

 

Remember, this list is in addition the the lists that have previously been published. You can find copies of those lists on this site.

 

Here is the list of cities released today:

• Albany, GA
  
• Anderson, SC
  
• Bay City, MI
  
• Branson, MO
  
• Bremerton/Silverdale, WA
  
• Columbus, GA
  
• Columbus, MS
  
• Decatur, AL
  
• Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL
  
• Gadsden, AL
  
• Gaffney, SC
  
• Gettysburg, PA
  
• Glasgow, KY
  
• Homosassa Springs, FL
  
• Hot Springs, AR
  
• Lake City, FL
  
• Lake Havasu City/Kingman, AZ
  
• Midland, MI
  
• Nacogdoches, TX
  
• Opelousas/Eunice, LA
  
• Oxford, MS
  
• Paris, TX
  
• Pittsfield, MA
  
• Saginaw, MI
  
• Spartanburg, SC
  
• The Villages, FL
  
• Waycross, GA
  
• Winona, MN
  

And the full press release:

 

Sprint Adding 4G LTE to 28 Additional Cities in Coming Months

 

Power data users in several cities will soon enjoy a 4G LTE experience with the only truly unlimited 4G LTE plans from a national carrier

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), January 16, 2013 - Continuing its push to deliver an enhanced top-tier network experience for customers, Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today that its 4G LTE network build is progressing in 28 additional cities within its nationwide 3G footprint. The deployment is part of Sprint’s Network Vision strategy, a plan to consolidate multiple network technologies into one new, seamless network with the goal of increasing efficiency and enhancing network coverage, call quality and data speeds for customers across the United States.

Work has begun on the 4G LTE network in the following additional areas:

 

[...]

 

“We’re committed to providing improved 3G and 4G LTE as quickly as possible, and keeping our customers informed as to when and where they can experience the new network’s superior performance and speed,” said Bob Azzi, senior vice president-Network, Sprint. “Our customers depend on their mobile devices as their primary source of communication, business connectivity and entertainment. We’re delivering all of that functionality at a very competitive price.”

 

During the pre-launch phase, Sprint customers with capable devices may begin to see 4G LTE coverage in these areas and are welcome to use the network even before it officially launches. Through Network Vision, voice quality is enhanced and Sprint customers in upgraded areas are seeing better performance on their smartphones, mobile broadband connection cards and mobile hotspots when using the Sprint 4G LTE and 3G networks. Customers can expect to experience the following performance improvements once the 4G LTE and 3G upgrades come to their areas:

• Faster data speeds that enable instant Web access for news updates, HD viewing and game-playing, quicker video downloads and clear video chats.
  
• Better signal strength when making a call or using the Web.
  
• Fewer dropped calls for peace of mind when talking to friends, family or colleagues.
  
• Improved voice quality and less static or background noise when making phone calls.
  

Sprint plans to announce commercial availability of 4G LTE in these cities in the coming months, followed by continued enhancements in coverage, performance and reliability. Ultimately, Sprint’s 4G LTE coverage is expected to largely match the existing nationwide 3G footprint.

 

Sprint has announced nearly 200 markets where Sprint 4G LTE is on its way, including Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami; Nashville, Tenn.; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; and Washington, D.C. To find out more about which markets currently have Sprint 4G LTE and which markets are coming next, please visit www.sprint.com/4GLTE.

 

Sprint introduced its all-new 4G LTE network in July 2012 and currently offers service in 49 cities¹. As part of its overall Network Vision strategy, Sprint is also doing a complete overhaul of its 3G infrastructure so that customers can enjoy better wireless signal strength, in-building coverage, and fewer dropped/blocked calls. These enhancements are now available to customers in several markets across the country, with new sites coming online daily. With these enhancements to Sprint’s 3G network, the company’s prepaid customers, on Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile, will also benefit and can expect to see better coverage, improved network reliability and voice quality resulting in up to 20 to 30 percent fewer dropped and blocked calls.

 

Unlimited + Sprint 4G LTE = Game-changing wireless offer for customers

 

In today’s competitive wireless market, the value of unlimited has never been more apparent and Sprint is clearly a leading choice in wireless. Customers with capable devices can combine Sprint’s all-new 3G and 4G LTE networks and enjoy unlimited data while on the Sprint network. Data usage continues to increase and consumers value Truly Unlimited data because it’s simple and straightforward – while on the Sprint network there is no metering, no throttling, and no need to share data, which increases the likelihood of a surprise monthly bill because of overage charges.

Coupled with unbeatable plans and fast devices, Sprint has been working hard to deliver the best customer experience in the past few years. The 2012 American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Sprint No. 1 among all national carriers in customer satisfaction and most improved, across all 47 industries measured, over the last four years. And Sprint has been ranked Highest in Satisfaction with the Purchase Experience among Full-service Wireless Providers three times in a row by J.D. Power and Associates.

 

About Sprint Nextel

 

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served nearly 56 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The American Customer Satisfaction Index rated Sprint No. 1 among all national carriers in customer satisfaction and most improved, across all 47 industries, during the last four years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in both its 2011 and 2012 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

 

¹ Anderson, Ind.; Atlanta; Athens, Ga.; Baltimore; Barnstable/Hyannis/Mid-Cape, Mass.; Calhoun, Ga.; Carrollton, Ga.; Chicago/Naperville/Joliet, Ill.; Clark County, Va./Jefferson County, W.Va.; Dallas; Franklin County, Pa.; Fort Worth, Texas; Gainesville, Ga.; Gary, Ind.; Granbury/Hood County, Texas; Hagerstown, Md./Martinsburg, W.Va.; Harrisburg/Carlisle/Hershey, Pa.; Harrisonburg, Va.; Houston; Huntsville, Texas; Hutchinson, Kan.; Indianapolis/Carmel, Ind.; Kansas City, Kan./Mo.; Kankakee/Bradley/Bourbonnais, Ill.; Lawrence, Kan.; Manhattan/Junction City, Kan.; McPherson, Kan.; Muncie, Ind.; Newnan, Ga.; New Bedford/Fall River, Mass.; Peabody, Mass.; Ponce/Coamo/Guayama, Puerto Rico; Rockford, Ill.; Rome, Ga.; Salina, Kan.; San Antonio; Santa Rosa/Petaluma, Calif.; Sedalia, Mo.; Shenandoah/Page Counties, Va.; South Bend/Mishawaka, Ind.; St. Joseph, Mo.; Topeka, Kan.; Vallejo/Fairfield, Calif.; Waco, Texas; Waukegan/Lake County, Ill.; Wichita, Kan.; Wichita Falls, Texas; Winchester, Va.; and York/Hanover, Pa.

[jefbal99]

ho the hell did you get that to post? I kept getting errors that I couldn't use an image extension. Been fighting it for like 10 mins

[digiblur]

Some are pretty cool to see. But I'm sure this is going to get people stirred up again since they think their area was left off or they should be first.

[kn4ds]

Some are pretty cool to see. But I'm sure this is going to get people stirred up again since they think their area was left off or they should be first.

Good to see some of Jawjuh getting some love - Good for Columbus, Albany and Waycross. Warner Robins and the rest of Houston county will get it eventually, I guess.

[AJC1973]

Kingman??? Ugh.. Good to see...AZ But Kingman?

[Boosted20V]

Some are pretty cool to see. But I'm sure this is going to get people stirred up again since they think their area was left off or they should be first.

 

Kingman??? Ugh.. Good to see...AZ But Kingman?

 

Well that didn't take long!

[WiWavelength]

Kingman??? Ugh.. Good to see...AZ But Kingman?

 

Hey, it could have been Winslow, AZ. So, "take it easy."

 

 

AJ

[AJC1973]

Oh don't take that as a complaint... I'm truly happy that az is seeing love and somebody has to be first.. But ya gotta understand lol. Kingman withthe eexception of an old western film star being from there it's biggest claim to fame and recent tourist "attraction" is you can stay in the hotel room that timothy mcveigh planned okc bombing lol

[lynyrd65]

Great to see more Missouri and Arkansas especially Branson.

[AJC1973]

And it also makes sense going in from Havasu and Kingman you can simultaneously move up into Vegas.. And south to Phoenix. But that shouldn't get in the way of a chance to give our fellow communities a little jealous ribbing lol

[solidorange]

This is the first Sprint 4G in South Carolina. We never got WiMax and this is the first LTE announcement.

 

Are nearby towns usually upgraded along with the ones listed. Specifically, could Clemson, SC be a part of the Anderson, SC upgrade?

[supert0nes]

This is the first Sprint 4G in South Carolina. We never got WiMax and this is the first LTE announcement.

 

Are nearby towns usually upgraded along with the ones listed. Specifically, could Clemson, SC be a part of the Anderson, SC upgrade?

 

That whole area will be in the middle of upgrading when they launch Anderson, so while Clemson wont be necessarily "launched" as early as Anderson, you very well could have LTE towers broadcasting in Clemson around or before that time.

 

Clemson will probably have its own announcement though. Sprint has become very granular with their city announcements because it looks like a bigger win and that's what AT&T and Verizon do as well.

 

Also, an announcement is just that. There is nothing usually separating the day before a launch as far as coverage vs. the day after. It's just letting the public know what's up.

[supert0nes]

And yes, I have just re posted information from Robert and other members of these forums without shame.

[pyroscott]

And it also makes sense going in from Havasu and Kingman you can simultaneously move up into Vegas.. And south to Phoenix. But that shouldn't get in the way of a chance to give our fellow communities a little jealous ribbing lol

 

Go to about the 1:00 mark, the start of the second verse... Then prepare for facepalm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zuhxfrXocw

[Merckle]

Hopefully they will throw Greenville, SC into the mix seeing how they did 2 smaller towns right out side of it!

[JediFusion]

This is good news although I'm still confused as to why portland oregon has not been announced yet as well as seattle.

 

I'm not complaining just not really understanding the method to the rollout ????

[pyroscott]

This is good news although I'm still confused as to why portland oregon has not been announced yet as well as seattle.

 

I'm not complaining just not really understanding the method to the rollout

 

I posted this in the sponsor section, so I will repost in the regular site to hopefully make more sense of the rollout order.

 

Sprint is not doing the work, Sprint's contractors Samsung, Ericsson and ALU are not even doing the work. Local contractors from all over the country are doing the work. That is the reasoning for the "shotgun approach" with sites popping up all over, and it is one reason that the outlying areas seem to get upgraded before the bigger cities.

 

My theory is that in big cities, the contractors that work on cell sites have thousands of sites in their area to work on. This includes all the major carriers and all sorts of other items that are within their realm. They have a lot going on, but they also are larger companies with more employees. Then in the outlying and rural areas, the local contractors are smaller and have less "business" in their area. If they have nothing else to do, they have the equipment and the site is ready... rock and roll! Let's get that work done boys!

 

That is just an educated guess as to why we end up seeing some areas, that have us scratching our head, before others. There is also backhaul availability issues, permitting etc that can hinder work progression in some areas.

[gfurr24]

Its funny how the Myrtle Beach market was one of the first markets in SC to get any type of NV upgrades (3G only for now) but they have yet to have any official Sprint announcements here or anywhere close to here. Im wondering if we have towers that have already been upgraded to LTE and the equipment isn't ready yet or LTE stuff has yet to be installed. Kinda funny how Sprint announces random cities and it just seems to me that they are bouncing around too much. Work here, work there, and nothing really complete here nor there. Maybe its just me, but this rollout is kind of a Cluster F! At least we are seeing good progress though!

[gfurr24]

I posted this in the sponsor section, so I will repost in the regular site to hopefully make more sense of the rollout order.

 

Sprint is not doing the work, Sprint's contractors Samsung, Ericsson and ALU are not even doing the work. Local contractors from all over the country are doing the work. That is the reasoning for the "shotgun approach" with sites popping up all over, and it is one reason that the outlying areas seem to get upgraded before the bigger cities.

 

My theory is that in big cities, the contractors that work on cell sites have thousands of sites in their area to work on. This includes all the major carriers and all sorts of other items that are within their realm. They have a lot going on, but they also are larger companies with more employees. Then in the outlying and rural areas, the local contractors are smaller and have less "business" in their area. If they have nothing else to do, they have the equipment and the site is ready... rock and roll! Let's get that work done boys!

 

That is just an educated guess as to why we end up seeing some areas, that have us scratching our head, before others. There is also backhaul availability issues, permitting etc that can hinder work progression in some areas.

 

I envision the Senior Sprint NV Project Manager sitting at his desk with a blind-fold on, throwing darts at a big USA map and saying to himself, "Yep, lets do this RANDOM city next!"

[pyroscott]

I envision the Senior Sprint NV Project Manager sitting at his desk with a blind-fold on, throwing darts at a big USA map and saying to himself, "Yep, lets do this RANDOM city next!"

 

That would explain the floating cell site in the middle of Lake Michigan...

 

J/K

[RichardXy]

I don't understand how Kingman and Lake Havasu can be announced when there haven't been any accepted sites in either city. These are in Alcatel-Lucent territory and the normal way things work is that the sites get accepted and then 3 or 4 months later the 4G is turned on. So this latest list must be talking about events that will happen in April or May 2013?

[MacinJosh]

I don't understand how Kingman and Lake Havasu can be announced when there haven't been any accepted sites in either city. These are in Alcatel-Lucent territory and the normal way things work is that the sites get accepted and then 3 or 4 months later the 4G is turned on. So this latest list must be talking about events that will happen in April or May 2013?

 

I haven't found any permits for Lake Havasu/Kingman, but that could mean that they don't need permits to do that. The announcement says "In the coming Months", so that could mean in the next 6 months. And it is possible that work has already started down there seeing as how Robert showed on a map that those sites will have Ground Mount RRU's. Ground Mount sites go much faster than regular sites.

[RichardXy]

I haven't found any permits for Lake Havasu/Kingman, but that could mean that they don't need permits to do that. The announcement says "In the coming Months", so that could mean in the next 6 months. And it is possible that work has already started down there seeing as how Robert showed on a map that those sites will have Ground Mount RRU's. Ground Mount sites go much faster than regular sites.

 

If they are announcing 6 months out, i hope they will be announcing another hundred or more cities in the next few days.

[MacinJosh]

If they are announcing 6 months out, i hope they will be announcing another hundred or more cities in the next few days.

 

Hey, I wish they would just say that they plan to be 90% finished by the end of this year, with all miscellaneous sites and oddities to be finished up by the middle of 2014. It is possible the Kingman could take less time with the Ground Mount RRU's, especially because they won't be swapping panels, so no climbing towers down there.

[jeremyandrew]

 

Hey, I wish they would just say that they plan to be 90% finished by the end of this year, with all miscellaneous sites and oddities to be finished up by the middle of 2014. It is possible the Kingman could take less time with the Ground Mount RRU's, especially because they won't be swapping panels, so no climbing towers down there.

 

There are several reasons they could not commit to a date like that. First, if there are supply issues with a vendor, the build could be extended considerably, depending on what isn't available. Second, a natural disaster could put a kink in things, as did Sandy, but it was only a minor link. Third, if the backhaul vendor doesn't meet their forecasted date, there would be no transport.

 

And as far as the ground mounts are concerned, there will probably be more tower climbing taking place then once was thought. I know I have several sites in PA that likely have bullet holes in the hard lines. But they do go in pretty quickly, outdoor sites with easy access to the platform take about 3 to 4 days.