Find out what spectrum Sprint owns and where.

[jawknee530]

I have been searching and searching and I am at wits end here. Is there a simple way to find out what spectrum sprint owns in what markets? I would love to know how much is owned up here in Redding but I also just want to know as much as I can about what Sprint owns and where.

[digiblur]

http://reboot.fcc.gov/spectrumdashboard/searchMap.seam

[lynyrd65]

This isn't necessarily 100% accurate but it gives you a good idea.

 

http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

[lilotimz]

Already sent for the almighty spectrum god wiwavelength... he knows everything... literally.

[WiWavelength]

Did someone say my name?

 

 

 

AJ

[halcyoncmdr]

http://reboot.fcc.go.../searchMap.seam

 

That shows nothing for Nextel 800mhz spectrum in Pima County (Tucson, AZ). Why would that be? It lists the 1900mhz spectrum and Clearwire's spectrum just fine.

[jefbal99]

Holy shnikes, Verizon is a bloody spectrum hog...

 

In my area (mid michigan) Verizon has both sides of the Cellular spectrum, a 15x15 Mhz PCS license, and extra 5x5 PCS license in Lansing, the AWS Spectrum from the SpectrumCo deal, plus the 700Mhz upper and Lower licenses. Good god, no wonder others can't complete with the giant.

[digiblur]

Holy shnikes, Verizon is a bloody spectrum hog...

 

In my area (mid michigan) Verizon has both sides of the Cellular spectrum, a 15x15 Mhz PCS license, and extra 5x5 PCS license in Lansing, the AWS Spectrum from the SpectrumCo deal, plus the 700Mhz upper and Lower licenses. Good god, no wonder others can't complete with the giant.

 

Sometimes you do have to read a bit into the spectrum dashboard as it shows both AT&T and Sprint holding the same 15 mhz in my area when actually when you read the FCC docs attached it shows the sale of 5 mhz to AT&T a few years ago.

[jawknee530]

Holy shnikes, Verizon is a bloody spectrum hog...

 

In my area (mid michigan) Verizon has both sides of the Cellular spectrum, a 15x15 Mhz PCS license, and extra 5x5 PCS license in Lansing, the AWS Spectrum from the SpectrumCo deal, plus the 700Mhz upper and Lower licenses. Good god, no wonder others can't complete with the giant.

 

No single provider should be able to hold the licences to more than 50% of a spectrum in an area in my opinion. Holding both sides of the Cellular is just plain wrong. Having that along with ~ 30% of the PCS and all of the 700? And throw in a bit of AWS for good measure, it's just ridiculous. Regulators should never allow something like this.

[WiWavelength]

I have been searching and searching and I am at wits end here. Is there a simple way to find out what spectrum sprint owns in what markets? I would love to know how much is owned up here in Redding but I also just want to know as much as I can about what Sprint owns and where.

 

In Redding, Sprint controls the following spectrum licenses:

 

PCS 1900 MHz A block 20 MHz

PCS 1900 MHz G block 10 MHz

SMR 800 MHz X block 14 MHz

 

Nearly 20 years ago, Sprint acquired at the FCC's first PCS auction the full PCS A block 30 MHz for the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose MTA (which includes Redding), but over the years, Sprint has partitioned and disaggregated (i.e. sold or swapped) some 10 MHz slices to AT&TWS and VZW. In the case of the Redding BTA, Sprint partitioned and disaggregated the PCS A5 10 MHz block to VZW about five years ago.

 

AJ

[jawknee530]

In Redding, Sprint controls the following spectrum licenses:

 

PCS 1900 MHz A block 20 MHz

PCS 1900 MHz G block 10 MHz

SMR 800 MHz X block 14 MHz

 

Nearly 20 years ago, Sprint acquired at the FCC's first PCS auction the full PCS A block 30 MHz for the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose MTA (which includes Redding), but over the years, Sprint has partitioned and disaggregated (i.e. sold or swapped) some 10 MHz slices to AT&TWS and VZW. In the case of the Redding BTA, Sprint partitioned and disaggregated the PCS A5 10 MHz block to VZW about five years ago.

 

AJ

 

So a realistic best case senario up here would be an LTE 5x5 carrier in the G block, an LTE 5x5 in the 800 X block (I know that this wont happen until after NV is already done), a CDMA1x-A in the 800 X block, and six or seven CDMA2000 carriers in the A block which would be a mixture of 1x-A and EVDO?

 

Also I've read about Sprint being the favorite to buy the PCS H block. If this happens would Sprint up their 5x5 to 10x10 in the PCS spectrum?

[strumgewr]

 

 

No single provider should be able to hold the licences to more than 50% of a spectrum in an area in my opinion. Holding both sides of the Cellular is just plain wrong. Having that along with ~ 30% of the PCS and all of the 700? And throw in a bit of AWS for good measure, it's just ridiculous. Regulators should never allow something like this.

 

Comeetely agree with you, where I live, verizon owns 100% of the 850mhz spectrum due to the alltel merge. Regulators simply don't do their job.

[MacPCS]

That shows nothing for Nextel 800mhz spectrum in Pima County (Tucson, AZ). Why would that be? It lists the 1900mhz spectrum and Clearwire's spectrum just fine.

Also doesn't show Nextel here in Tulsa.

[WiWavelength]

So a realistic best case senario up here would be an LTE 5x5 carrier in the G block, an LTE 5x5 in the 800 X block (I know that this wont happen until after NV is already done), a CDMA1x-A in the 800 X block, and six or seven CDMA2000 carriers in the A block which would be a mixture of 1x-A and EVDO?

 

More or less.

 

Because the PCS A block 20 MHz is contiguous, seven CDMA2000 carriers are possible, but a city the size of Redding likely does not require that many. Yep, I just checked one of our internal documents, and all of your sites have just 1-2 CDMA1X 1900 carriers and 1-2 EV-DO 1900 carriers. So, 2-5 CDMA1X/EV-DO 1900 carriers plus one CDMA1X 800 carrier is a more realistic expectation.

 

Also, Sprint is locked in an FCC battle with an SMR 800 MHz spectrum squatter in your area. So, I would not hold out hope for LTE 800 -- not because of the timeline of Network Vision but because of the legal dispute.

 

Also I've read about Sprint being the favorite to buy the PCS H block. If this happens would Sprint up their 5x5 to 10x10 in the PCS spectrum?

 

Who knows when, if ever the AWS-2/PCS H block auction will take place? But Sprint has quite a few Samsung handsets in the field now that do not support 10 MHz FDD LTE. So, no, should the H block come to fruition anytime soon, I would expect it to house another 5 MHz FDD carrier.

 

AJ

[jawknee530]

Because the PCS A block 20 MHz is contiguous, seven CDMA2000 carriers are possible, but a city the size of Redding likely does not require that many. Yep, I just checked one of our internal documents, and all of your sites have just 1-2 CDMA1X 1900 carriers and 1-2 EV-DO 1900 carriers. So, 2-5 CDMA1X/EV-DO 1900 carriers plus one CDMA1X 800 carrier is a more realistic expectation.

 

Also, Sprint is locked in an FCC battle with an SMR 800 MHz spectrum squatter in your area. So, I would not hold out hope for LTE 800 -- not because of the timeline of Network Vision but because of the legal dispute.

 

Man, you're just a fountain of information. I have two (maybe three) more questions then I'll close the site for the day. First, those 1x carriers will be advanced and not RTT right? And is there somewhere that has info on a good comparison of the two 1x carriers? I can't find anything decent in my searchings. And finally, who is the SMR squatter in my area? I will find them and start punching faces if I have to.

[WiWavelength]

That shows nothing for Nextel 800mhz spectrum in Pima County (Tucson, AZ). Why would that be? It lists the 1900mhz spectrum and Clearwire's spectrum just fine.

 

The Tucson BEA is in the IBEZ. It is too close to the border with Mexico for SMR 800 MHz to be rebanded until Nextel Mexico and Mexican public safety (if it exists) reband accordingly. So, Sprint still holds its original, interleaved SMR 800 MHz allocations in Tucson.

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

Also doesn't show Nextel here in Tulsa.

 

I do not consider the Spectrum Dashboard to be a particularly accurate resource. Sprint was waging an FCC fight with a spectrum squatter in the Tulsa BEA. But that fight with TeleBEEPER of New Mexico seems to have been resolved in the last 3-4 months, as the FCC terminated TeleBEEPER's license for failure to meet construction requirements. But I cannot vouch that the Spectrum Dashboard has been updated since that ruling.

 

Here is Sprint's Tulsa BEA rebanded SMR 800 MHz X block license in the FCC ULS:

 

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=8258

 

I gather most/all of my info directly from the FCC ULS database. It is a bit like viewing The Matrix directly...

 

 

 

AJ

[WiWavelength]

First, those 1x carriers will be advanced and not RTT right?

 

All CDMA1X carriers deployed as part of Network Vision should be Advanced capable. But do not expect that to make much difference. Not all handsets seem to be including CDMA1X diversity capability to take advantage of the coverage and/or capacity gains of CDMA1X Advanced. Now, I may be a skewed sample, as I live in a strong coverage area and make relatively few voice calls, but I do not find CDMA1X coverage nor capacity to be a problem.

 

And finally, who is the SMR squatter in my area? I will find them and start punching faces if I have to.

 

About a year ago, Robert and I decided not to write on this particular spectrum squatter, as we did not want to give it any additional publicity. But it does affect multiple markets across the country, though it is not TeleBEEPER, which I previously mentioned regarding Tulsa.

 

AJ

[jawknee530]

All CDMA1X carriers deployed as part of Network Vision should be Advanced capable. But do not expect that to make much difference. Not all handsets seem to be including CDMA1X diversity capability to take advantage of the coverage and/or capacity gains of CDMA1X Advanced. Now, I may be a skewed sample, as I live in a strong coverage area and make relatively few voice calls, but I do not find CDMA1X coverage nor capacity to be a problem.

 

 

 

About a year ago, Robert and I decided not to write on this particular spectrum squatter, as we did not want to give it any additional publicity. But it does affect multiple markets across the country, though it is not TeleBEEPER, which I previously mentioned regarding Tulsa.

 

AJ

 

Oh man you are lucky then. I work for a Sprint reseller and there's a steady stream of customers all day every day complaining that they don't have proper coverage/are roaming too much/ and most commonly that they have to try four or five times to get a call out. I experience the same issues especially attempting to make a call only for it to ring once then give me a busy signal. It takes multiple attempts to get a connection probably 70% of the time I try and make a call. I'm really hoping 1xA helps with that issue.

[WiWavelength]

I experience the same issues especially attempting to make a call only for it to ring once then give me a busy signal.

 

That sounds like a backhaul capacity issue, not an airlink capacity issue. You may have numerous sites in Redding that are T1 limited.

 

AJ

[S4GRU]

 

About a year ago, Robert and I decided not to write on this particular spectrum squatter, as we did not want to give it any additional publicity. But it does affect multiple markets across the country, though it is not TeleBEEPER, which I previously mentioned regarding Tulsa.

 

AJ

 

Yes indeed. Will not utter their names. Any mention of their spectrum holdings only adds value to their spectrum squatting. No way we will advertise their misdeeds here. It may lead to their legitimacy.

 

Robert via LG Optimus G using Tapatalk