Potential Sprint rural buildout by 2016

[stormchaser68]

WiWavelength, Wasn't there iDEN towers in MT like Great Falls, Billings, Butte, Missoula, and Helena areas? Whatever happened to those iDEN sites in those area? I thought there was a Airtel Montana wireless company out there that ran just that area. Can Sprint gain access to those areas or the 800MHz FIT that was talked about going to fill in those areas cause I know a good amount of people up there that would surely like to get Sprint service up there and dump their overpriced VZW & Deathstar service for Sprint.

 

Thanks

[larryt510]

And Sprint currently has no native footprint anywhere in Montana.

 

Whatever happened to the Montana towers that Sprint purchased from Qwest back in 2004? The last time I checked Sprint was still the registered owner of those.

[NGeorge]

 

Whatever happened to the Montana towers that Sprint purchased from Qwest back in 2004? The last time I checked Sprint was still the registered owner of those.

 

Yeah I'm curious about these as well... I also looked them up, and Sprint still owns them--even renewed them recently.

 

I was last in MT right around the time of the Alltel native switchoff, and at that point I had 2 phones with me--one with the "native Alltel" Sprint PRL, one with the "Roaming" PRL...

 

What was funny was that inside the city of Billings, the "Roaming" one showed CLR 850 service on Alltel's SID, while the "Native" one showed native service on 1900 on channel 575, which is a Sprint channel but Alltel's SID... but it flipped back to CLR 850 native once we left what would have been the old Qwest coverage area...

 

Maybe Alltel was managing Sprint's network there, and AT&T didnt want to take it over? Would they just let the equipment sit? Maybe they are waiting for just something like this:::

[larryt510]

If Sprint still has control over those towers (assuming they are all still there) it should make it easy to get up some quick native coverage in Montana.

[maximus1987/lou99]

No. This has to do with Substantial Service Requirements for their licenses. Sprint already has a roaming agreement with Verizon. The FCC will not allow VZW to block Sprint from reasonable cost access to roam on their network.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

 

I always wondered what Verizon charges Sprint for roaming; do you know?

Both for voice and data i.e. $/minute and $/MB

[maximus1987/lou99]

A frequent point of contention here at S4GRU is Sprint rural buildout. Some argue that Sprint needs to add more rural coverage to compete with the VZW and AT&T duopoly. Others counter that doing so would not pass the cost benefit analysis test. Well, an impending regulatory issue may partly satisfy both camps.

 

I am not sure why this did not occur to me until just the other day, but as a side effect of its acquisition of Nextel, Sprint will have to deploy, at a bare minimum, some additional "license protection" footprint within the next three years.

 

 

AJ

 

Is a "license protection" site different from a regular cell site?

I get that it's meant to satisfy an FCC requirement so license isn't lost.

[S4GRU]

 

I always wondered what Verizon charges Sprint for roaming; do you know?

Both for voice and data i.e. $/minute and $/MB

 

I have no idea.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

[jefbal99]

Is a "license protection" site different from a regular cell site?

I get that it's meant to satisfy an FCC requirement so license isn't lost.

 

I don't believe it is any different except that there are not any neighboring sites to connect to when you reach the edge of service.

[maximus1987/lou99]

Is the 250 million coverage target with or without 800 MHz?

[WiWavelength]

I don't believe it is any different except that there are not any neighboring sites to connect to when you reach the edge of service.

 

Actually, that could describe quite a few sites in the Sprint native footprint. "License protection" sites may be singular if one will suffice or plural if more than one is required. But the primary purpose of "license protection" sites is to retain licenses that have otherwise not been constructed or licenses that have been constructed but have not yet reached their buildout requirement.

 

AJ

[Nickel]

I hate to bump another old thread but if Sprint is going to meet the buildout requirements then won't they need to get started on those areas pretty soon? That's assuming that they have to get a new site and can't poach an old Clearwire or iDEN site.

[Fraydog]

I hate to bump another old thread but if Sprint is going to meet the buildout requirements then won't they need to get started on those areas pretty soon? That's assuming that they have to get a new site and can't poach an old Clearwire or iDEN site.

A lot of that will be satisfied by RRRP and SMART. That said, I'd rather see Sprint expand out of Metro areas over building islands of coverage in the middle of BFE Egypt.

[WiWavelength]

I hate to bump another old thread but if Sprint is going to meet the buildout requirements...

 

You can bump this thread all you want.  It has a top notch opening post that really should have been an article on The Wall.

 

 

AJ

[Nickel]

A lot of that will be satisfied by RRRP and SMART. That said, I'd rather see Sprint expand out of Metro areas over building islands of coverage in the middle of BFE Egypt.

BFE? second to last entry? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFE

 

You can bump this thread all you want.  It has a top notch opening post that really should have been an article on The Wall.

 

 

AJ

Did I miss where you made this a wall post?

[Fraydog]

LOL Nickel, yes, that was inspired by Southern Illinois and the extreme rural isolation of this area, another name for this region is Little Egypt.

[WiWavelength]

Did I miss where you made this a wall post?

 

No.  The idea spontaneously occurred to me one morning a year ago, and I wrote the opening post in the style that I would write an article on The Wall.  We thought of adapting and expanding the post into a full article, but it never happened.  Maybe it will now that the Sprint RRPP cat is out of the bag.

 

AJ

[bretton88]

Did anyone ever find out where the FIT area was?

[S4GRU]

Did anyone ever find out where the FIT area was?

Nope. We probably won't know until they open up that network for usage and someone spots it in the wild in Montana.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[dnwk]

Application Status I - Inactive  

 

 

looks like there is a transfer associated with this block license that you referenced:
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=7197161
what does this do and how does effect what you are discussing?

Thanks!

[WiWavelength]

Application Status I - Inactive  

 

Uh, we addressed that a year ago.  I am not sure why you felt it necessary to respond.

 

AJ

[Josh]

No.  The idea spontaneously occurred to me one morning a year ago, and I wrote the opening post in the style that I would write an article on The Wall.  We thought of adapting and expanding the post into a full article, but it never happened.  Maybe it will now that the Sprint RRPP cat is out of the bag.

 

AJ

 

So, sprint will not even try to add protection sites to these areas, and instead are going to try and get other companies to deploy and use their spectrum with sprint getting to call the area 'native coverage' on a map...  Not going to lie, its not a bad idea because it costs sprint very little and solves a major problem, but I would like to eventually see sprint buy these companies and have one cohesive network.   

[Nickel]

So, sprint will not even try to add protection sites to these areas, and instead are going to try and get other companies to deploy and use their spectrum with sprint getting to call the area 'native coverage' on a map...  Not going to lie, its not a bad idea because it costs sprint very little and solves a major problem, but I would like to eventually see sprint buy these companies and have one cohesive network.   

Trying to convince AJ that Sprint buying smaller operators would be a good thing is like trying to sell an Android phone to Steve Jobs.

[Josh]

Trying to convince AJ that Sprint buying smaller operators would be a good thing is like trying to sell an Android phone to Steve Jobs.

 

And with sprint's balance sheet, I can see why he feels that way.  A company must be profitable first before it can take on more debt and extend itself further, especially if the return on investment is very low.  As I remember telling some customers when I worked for best buy, the coverage is good here and how often, if ever, are you in Montana?  The point being, they can have their larger red map, if your never going to use it, why pay the extra? And if you do go there on vacation, you can still roam on their network and make calls.  Sprint does not have to offer service everywhere to be a good business, but it would help to better compete with the big 2.  

 

The reason I am saying that they should eventually take some of the smaller companies over is that they are sucking some of your potential profits from you by using your network and assets. Customers will see coverage on the map and assume that they can purchase a sprint plan, but I assume that they will not be able to in those areas.  I am also thinking of people that move to those areas from current sprint markets. Although this will be mutually beneficial at first, I think M.Son is a shrewd business man and will want as much profit as possible, and competing on a national scale with coverage is necessary.  

[Nickel]

And with sprint's balance sheet, I can see why he feels that way.  A company must be profitable first before it can take on more debt and extend itself further, especially if the return on investment is very low.  As I remember telling some customers when I worked for best buy, the coverage is good here and how often, if ever, are you in Montana?  The point being, they can have their larger red map, if your never going to use it, why pay the extra? And if you do go there on vacation, you can still roam on their network and make calls.  Sprint does not have to offer service everywhere to be a good business, but it would help to better compete with the big 2.  

 

The reason I am saying that they should eventually take some of the smaller companies over is that they are sucking some of your potential profits from you by using your network and assets. Customers will see coverage on the map and assume that they can purchase a sprint plan, but I assume that they will not be able to in those areas.  I am also thinking of people that move to those areas from current sprint markets. Although this will be mutually beneficial at first, I think M.Son is a shrewd business man and will want as much profit as possible, and competing on a national scale with coverage is necessary.  

While you bring up good points, that isn't why feels that way. He wants there to be lots of small regional operators. One's that don't get bought out by AT&T/VZW. But, that's enough of me speaking for him, if he wants to say something, the floor is yours Mr. Shepherd.

[Josh]

While you bring up good points, that isn't why feels that way. He wants there to be lots of small regional operators. One's that don't get bought out by AT&T/VZW. But, that's enough of me speaking for him, if he wants to say something, the floor is yours Mr. Shepherd.

Its late at night, I'm sure he has better things to do... I should too, I just cant sleep and I am catching up on my s4gru reading, lol.