So, who has what spectrum in LTE?

[lynyrd65]

Sadly, this may not be the case anymore. US Cellular is rebuilding LTE on Band 5 this year, with the intent to expand the network on bands 2 and 5 for the remainder of its LTE build out cycles. It appears that Band 12 has become too much of an issue.

It's working great for me

 

The end of Band 12 is news to me.

 

I've heard that USCC was planning to add band 5 to the mix for more coverage and iPhone compatibility but that their current expansion plans have been scrapped is new. Do you have a source?

[Conan Kudo]

It's working great for me

 

The end of Band 12 is news to me.

 

I've heard that USCC was planning to add band 5 to the mix for more coverage and iPhone compatibility but that their current expansion plans have been scrapped is new. Do you have a source?

Band 12 isn't scrapped, mainly because of buildout requirements.

 

But the priority has shifted for US Cellular. Like most operators in the country with Lower 700MHz A block spectrum, they plan to go the license protection route (like Clearwire+Sprint for WiMAX) to ensure they aren't hit with massive fines.

 

Since all US Cellular LTE devices support Band 2 and Band 5 for LTE, it's not a problem to build out LTE on there in place of Band 12.

[WiWavelength]

And USCC should be fine with band 5.  In so many of its rural markets, a Cellular A/B block 25 MHz license is plenty of bandwidth for CDMA1X, EV-DO, and up to 5 MHz FDD LTE.

 

AJ

[rf40928]

 

AT&T might not be ideal, but Sprint isn't deploying 10x10 ANYWHERE for LTE.  the G-block is getting 5x5, and 800Mhz is getting 5x5.  It's only if they can get approval to buy Clearwire from the rest of the bitchy shareholders that they'll have a nice position in pretty high frequencies for something to the tune of 20Mhz worth of TDD-LTE.  

 

So while AT&T only has 10Mhz in some places, Sprint has it in zero, with plans for zero more.  Unless they get to buy Clearwire.  Tomorrow.  

 

-----

Looks like Sprint has some now huh? Clearwire deal went through 3 weeks ago

[MacPCS]

AT&T might not be ideal, but Sprint isn't deploying 10x10 ANYWHERE for LTE. the G-block is getting 5x5, and 800Mhz is getting 5x5. It's only if they can get approval to buy Clearwire from the rest of the bitchy shareholders that they'll have a nice position in pretty high frequencies for something to the tune of 20Mhz worth of TDD-LTE.

 

So while AT&T only has 10Mhz in some places, Sprint has it in zero, with plans for zero more. Unless they get to buy Clearwire. Tomorrow.

 

-----

Looks like Sprint has some now huh? Clearwire deal went through 3 weeks ago

yes, which was far from certain when I wrote that back in May.

 

 

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[rf40928]

 Yes, I know, I followed all the drama.. but sure glad it did.. the Softbank deal pretty much sealed it and was the main factor I decided to suck it up and stay with Sprint.  I think in another year they'll be pretty damn good..

 

yes, which was far from certain when I wrote that back in May.


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[Ascertion]

Sprint: SMR 800 (soon) + PCS A-G (G now, A-F soon) + BRS/EBS (soon)

Verizon: 700 upper C (now) + AWS band IV (very soon)

AT&T: 700 lower B+C (now) + AWS band IV (now, few areas) + PCS A-F (soon) + CLR 850 (soon)

T-Mobile: AWS band IV (now)

CricKet & MetroPCS: PCS A-F (now) + AWS band IV (now)

US Cellular: CLR 850 + PCS A-F + AWS + 700 lower A-C? (I think all are being used other than lower A)

 

Yes, AWS is where everyone is going these days, more or less. Maybe not for a primary deployment, but phones will end up supporting the bands at least.

Is this still the case?  Just checking out of curiosity.  I know the (soon)s are now coming to fruition.

[Nickel]

Is this still the case?  Just checking out of curiosity.  I know the (soon)s are now coming to fruition.

Yes, Although I would add band 30 to AT&T under soon.

[richy]

What else new is coming up? The 600MHz reverse auction hoohaa, a pcs block? Is there much beyond that in the near future? It would be wonderful if someone magically discovered 300 MHz of unused spectrum squished between 699MHz and 700MHz but even with my poor understanding of physics I don't see that occurring. 

Beyond that are we mostly going to see improvements in utilization of existing capacity? i.e. mimo etc, pushing mvno traffic onto lte to free up more spectrum to be switched to lte with its higher spectral efficiency? Your thoughts?

[Nickel]

What else new is coming up? The 600MHz reverse auction hoohaa, a pcs block? Is there much beyond that in the near future? It would be wonderful if someone magically discovered 300 MHz of unused spectrum squished between 699MHz and 700MHz but even with my poor understanding of physics I don't see that occurring. 

Beyond that are we mostly going to see improvements in utilization of existing capacity? i.e. mimo etc, pushing mvno traffic onto lte to free up more spectrum to be switched to lte with its higher spectral efficiency? Your thoughts?

AWS-3 is coming up fairly soon.

[Josh]

So, I haven't been been on in a while, but sprint still owns some of the WCS spectrum that AT&T is planning on using (according to http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/ ) 

I would hope that sprint can negotiate a deal with AT&T to swap for some PCS spectrum or something else that is strategic in the future because it should help both companies. 

 

I also want to get the opinion of AJ or someone else that would know more about this than me, is lobbying for TDD-LTE in the 600MHz future band really a good idea for sprint?  If the band was split into a FDD spectrum setup it would be a less efficient use of the band due to the extra guard bands between the uplink and downlink sides, but if I am to understand anything from a previous post... it would have a more comparative propagation characteristic to 1x on 1900, which is not perfect if sprint were to want to expand more to rural areas (or at least expanding current areas geographic size and indoor signal).  My question is would a sprint actually be better lobbying for the FDD spectrum setup?  This would allow them to use 1x in that band (or maybe even 3G) as well as LTE.  Even though I know that the eventual plan is everything LTE, would it be better to increase coverage and reliability using existing technology, and still over 90% of people would primarily use LTE with the 1x and 3G only as fall back technology and very rural areas when LTE is out of range.  This would lessen the roaming fee's and still provide better service to customers.  

 

Just food for thought, I know that 600MHz LTE would be better propagation and coverage than Verizon's 750MHz LTE, and that it would be cheaper from a device standpoint to be all LTE... but I would imagine that by the time that the spectrum becomes available, and gets built out, the modem chips will advance to the point they would be able to handle anything that is thrown at them.  

[WiWavelength]

I also want to get the opinion of AJ or someone else that would know more about this than me, is lobbying for TDD-LTE in the 600MHz future band really a good idea for sprint?  If the band was split into a FDD spectrum setup it would be a less efficient use of the band due to the extra guard bands between the uplink and downlink sides, but if I am to understand anything from a previous post... it would have a more comparative propagation characteristic to 1x on 1900, which is not perfect if sprint were to want to expand more to rural areas (or at least expanding current areas geographic size and indoor signal).  My question is would a sprint actually be better lobbying for the FDD spectrum setup?  This would allow them to use 1x in that band (or maybe even 3G) as well as LTE.  Even though I know that the eventual plan is everything LTE, would it be better to increase coverage and reliability using existing technology, and still over 90% of people would primarily use LTE with the 1x and 3G only as fall back technology and very rural areas when LTE is out of range.  This would lessen the roaming fee's and still provide better service to customers.  

 

Do not worry about CDMA2000 in 600 MHz.  3GPP2 may not even bother to standardize it.  Even if it does, no operator is going to deploy CDMA2000 in 600 MHz.  CDMA2000 is a legacy technology -- a pretty damn good one for voice -- but it is nearing the end of its lifespan.

 

Furthermore, should the FCC adopt an FDD band plan for 600 MHz, it will almost certainly be licensed in 5/10 MHz FDD blocks.  That fits nicely with established LTE FDD configurations but leaves no really suitable room for LTE + CDMA1X.  So, regardless of FDD, there will be no CDMA1X 600.

 

AJ

[JeremiahMcCurry]

I didn't see it mentioned or explained anywhere. In which markets does Sprint have enough spectrum for a second Band 25 carrier? Chicagoans are the only ones I've seen mention it. 

[WiWavelength]

I didn't see it mentioned or explained anywhere. In which markets does Sprint have enough spectrum for a second Band 25 carrier? Chicagoans are the only ones I've seen mention it. 

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-27-spectrum-analysisdoes-sprint-have-more-options-for-additional-lte-carriers/

 

AJ

[JeremiahMcCurry]

Brilliant! 

[Tajustin95]

What is the difference between ebs and brs?

[WiWavelength]

What is the difference between ebs and brs?

An "e" and an "r."

 

AJ

[caspar347]

So is Verizon deploying a full 20x20 in AWS-1 where they can? What about 15x15s? AT&T? I can't seem to find anything about the duopoly's AWS LTE deployments past 2013. And has anyone seen anything bigger than a 5x5 in CLR or PCS from either of the big two?

[Fraydog]

So is Verizon deploying a full 20x20 in AWS-1 where they can? What about 15x15s? AT&T? I can't seem to find anything about the duopoly's AWS LTE deployments past 2013. And has anyone seen anything bigger than a 5x5 in CLR or PCS from either of the big two?

I can't speak nationally but if AT&T clears out HSPA in the PCS range they can go 20x20 in St. Louis due to spectrum swaps they initiated with Sprint. Verizon is also swapping for 20x20 with T-Mobile in the AWS band.

 

 

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[payturr]

I can't speak nationally but if AT&T clears out HSPA in the PCS range they can go 20x20 in St. Louis due to spectrum swaps they initiated with Sprint. Verizon is also swapping for 20x20 with T-Mobile in the AWS band.

 

 

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The day AT&T deploys wideband is after T-Mo guts them of customers.

[Fraydog]

The day AT&T deploys wideband is after T-Mo guts them of customers.

I don't see it that way at all, if AT&T gets all the voice traffic on VoLTE that means AT&T can go back to providing circuit switched voice and HSPA on 850 MHz.

 

 

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[TheForce627]

So is Verizon deploying a full 20x20 in AWS-1 where they can? What about 15x15s? AT&T? I can't seem to find anything about the duopoly's AWS LTE deployments past 2013. And has anyone seen anything bigger than a 5x5 in CLR or PCS from either of the big two?

AT&T runs 10x10 on PCS in the Washington D.C. area.

[RAvirani]

AT&T runs 10x10 on PCS in the Washington D.C. area.

ATT runs 10x10 B2 (PCS) in Seattle as well. It's on very few towers now tho so I think they've just started the 10x10 PCS deployment - at least here.

[xmx1024]

 

(including future bands)

 

 

 

Sprint

 

 

 

1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS A-F (depends on region)

 

 

 

1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS G block

 

 

 

800 MHz Band 26 ESMR

 

 

 

850 MHz Band 26 Cellular (Roaming)

 

 

 

700 MHz Band 12 Lower 700 A-C (Roaming)

 

 

 

2.5~2.7 GHz Band 41 BRS TD-LTE (Clearwire)

 

 

 

2.5~2.7 GHz Band 41 EBS TD-LTE (Clearwire)

 

 

 

T-Mobile

 

 

 

1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1

 

 

 

700 MHz Band 17 Proprietary AT&T Lower 700 B-C (Roaming)

 

 

 

1900MHz Band 2 PCS A-F (potentially)

 

 

 

850 MHz Band 5 Cellular (Roaming potentially if they haven't already)

 

 

 

Verizon

 

 

 

700 MHz Band 13 Upper 700 MHz

 

 

 

1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1

 

 

 

1900 MHz Band 2 PCS A-F (Future)

 

 

 

850 MHz Band 5 Cellular (Future)

 

 

 

AT&T

 

 

 

700 MHz Band 17 Proprietary Lower 700 B-C

 

 

 

1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1 (not likely to be used much)

 

 

 

1900 MHz Band 2 PCS A-F (Future)

 

 

 

850 MHz Band 5 Cellular 850 (Future)

 

 

 

2300 MHz (Band class still being drafted) WCS (Future)

 

 

 

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US Cellular

 

700 MHz Band 12 Lower 700 A-C

 

1700/2100 MHz Band 4 AWS-1

 

800 MHz Band 26 ESMR (Future Roaming)

 

 

 

850 MHz Band 26 Cellular (Currently Band 5 but future handsets will support 26)

 

 

1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS A-F (Currently Band 2 but future handsets will support 25)

1.9 GHz Band 25 PCS G block (Future Roaming)

 

 

 

 

 

AT&T uses band 4 in areas where it doesn't own any band 17, like in Bremerton, Washington.

[S4GRU]

AT&T also uses B4 for capacity. In my area, AT&T uses B17, B4 & B5. And will likely add B2 and B29 as needed too.

 

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