Sprint - add a second PCS 2x5 LTE carrier

[Fraydog]

The major impediment Sprint has for launching VoLTE is cell density.

 

Some Sprint phones already support it, and NV equipment can launch it. The problem is, with LTE's airlink, they need more cells. The 3GPP vendors will be able to launch sooner because they will be able to do eSRVCC which makes handoff go down to 200 ms.

 

Verizon has an even lower cell density than Sprint so they won't be able to launch VoLTE soon either.

[maximus1987/lou99]

The major impediment Sprint has for launching VoLTE is cell density.

 

Some Sprint phones already support it, and NV equipment can launch it. The problem is, with LTE's airlink, they need more cells. The 3GPP vendors will be able to launch sooner because they will be able to do eSRVCC which makes handoff go down to 200 ms.

 

Verizon has an even lower cell density than Sprint so they won't be able to launch VoLTE soon either.

Given current equipment, what's the handoff like for Sprint's VoLTE to 1xA?

[Fraydog]

 

The major impediment Sprint has for launching VoLTE is cell density.

 

 

Some Sprint phones already support it, and NV equipment can launch it. The problem is, with LTE's airlink, they need more cells. The 3GPP vendors will be able to launch sooner because they will be able to do eSRVCC which makes handoff go down to 200 ms.

 

 

Verizon has an even lower cell density than Sprint so they won't be able to launch VoLTE soon either.

 

Given current equipment, what's the handoff like for Sprint's VoLTE to 1xA?

I don't even know if Sprint is going to implement VoLTE to CDMA2000 1X handoff through eSRVCC. No clue. If I had to guess I'd say no.

[Conan Kudo]

I don't even know if Sprint is going to implement VoLTE to CDMA2000 1X handoff through eSRVCC. No clue. If I had to guess I'd say no.

 

eSRVCC is only for 3GPP systems. It would take a lot of jiggery-pokery to get even SRVCC to work with CDMA2000 1X. None of the CDMA/LTE carriers are willing to commit to that.

 

In the case of Verizon Wireless, they are increasing the density the 700MHz deployment to PCS levels to support VoLTE. That's in progress alongside the AWS LTE deployment (which is getting the IMT-E spacing treatment along with small cells).

[Fraydog]

It certainly seems possible to do, according to this Radisys white paper. Of course, they could be trying to sell their VoLTE solution and not have a real clue on how to go about it.

 

http://go.radisys.com/rs/radisys/images/paper-lte-srvcc.pdf

[centermedic]

No, that's incorrect.

 

The first phone to have 1xA was in 2012.

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402598,00.asp

 

Not even the iPhone 5 has 1xA

 

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/sprint-confirms-hd-voice-incompatible-with-iphone-5/

 

So, like digiblur stated, Sprint will have to keep the same number of 1x voice carriers for a long time.

Even after Sprint updates ALL of its 1x voice carriers, PCS+SMR, it's gonna be a while before the phones are upgraded to support it and the increased capacity that 1xA offers.

So, other than the EVOLTE what phones have 1xA?

[maximus1987/lou99]

 

 

No, that's incorrect.

 

The first phone to have 1xA was in 2012.

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402598,00.asp

 

Not even the iPhone 5 has 1xA

 

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/sprint-confirms-hd-voice-incompatible-with-iphone-5/

 

So, like digiblur stated, Sprint will have to keep the same number of 1x voice carriers for a long time.

Even after Sprint updates ALL of its 1x voice carriers, PCS+SMR, it's gonna be a while before the phones are upgraded to support it and the increased capacity that 1xA offers.

 

 

So, other than the EVOLTE what phones have 1xA?

Read back up a few posts: I was wrong about which phones have 1xA and which don't.

 

 

[jefbal99]

So, other than the EVOLTE what phones have 1xA?

Any phone released in the last year has SMR 1xA along with others, check out the FAQ

[maximus1987/lou99]

 

 

So, other than the EVOLTE what phones have 1xA?

 

 

Any phone released in the last year has SMR 1xA along with others, check out the FAQ

Which FAQ?

[njjdnt]

Which FAQ?

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1704-frequently-asked-questions/

[maximus1987/lou99]

Does Sprint need to make another hardware change at all towers to remove CDMA carriers and add LTE carrier?

[Conan Kudo]

It certainly seems possible to do, according to this Radisys white paper. Of course, they could be trying to sell their VoLTE solution and not have a real clue on how to go about it.

 

http://go.radisys.com/rs/radisys/images/paper-lte-srvcc.pdf

 

 

There is a way to hand off voice sessions to an IMS core, but there's no "fast" voice call continuity handover like there is with 3GPP (which is part of eSRVCC). Judging by the specification, it would take too long to hand over unless both ends were using IMS for a 3GPP2 system (i.e. Ev-DO Rev A/B). This makes sense, given that one of the reasons Ev-DO was developed was to offer VoIP service. However, the latency tolerances for IMS Voice make it very difficult to use Ev-DO under normal circumstances.

 

 

Does Sprint need to make another hardware change at all towers to remove CDMA carriers and add LTE carrier?

 

 

Unless Sprint wants to use PCS H block, usually no. According to my documents with Samsung and Ericsson equipment, they are dynamically reprogrammable within the radio design spec.

 

The only one I am uncertain on is Alcatel-Lucent.

 

However, in order to use LTE TDD, all vendors will have to go back and redeploy again.

[JohnnyAwesome]

Does Sprint need to make another hardware change at all towers to remove CDMA carriers and add LTE carrier?

 

 

Eventually at some point down the road, Sprint will decommission CDMA once everything and everyone goes VoLTE CDMA will no longer be needed. It will start with down the road as MORE AND MORE devices are LTE and they see usage on the 3g network dropping and more traffic on LTE they can shift carriers around without any physical change.  But sooner then later you may see them doing a bit of a shift like T-Mobile did take the number of 2G gsm channels down and use them to retune their HSPA network. 

[digiblur]

By the time Sprint is going to kill CDMA off they'll be ready for another round of swapping out every site.

[DaQue]

Does Sprint need to make another hardware change at all towers to remove CDMA carriers and add LTE carrier?

I think it would be a trip to the cabinet at the base of the tower and swapping a card plus updating some settings. 

[Jaggrey]

I'm starting to wonder if something is up in the core of Sprints NV network as my data issues have gotten much worse in the last week.  When I'm at home, the closest tower to me is NV LTE live, probably half a mile away and the data speed/consistency is just all over the board.  I can be on a social network and try a refresh and time out, then 5 seconds later its fine, then 5 seconds later its out.  All the time with 4 bars (CM10.1 so real LTE data) and -80ish dBm from signal check pro.  If I try to do a speed test, sometimes it completes, but a majority will hang and never finish.  At work I'm connecting to a more distant tower, but maintain -95 dBm to -102dBm, which is 1-2 bars.  Just trying to stream an online radio show 9am-11am is constant drops or buffering.  I can't get a youtube clip to load or pictures on my twitter app. 

 

Google Apps and the Play Store appear to be the worst offenders, regardless of connection or location.  They are almost always excruciating slow, can't load up a 1meg jpg from email or update my apps.

 

I'm going to start watching the Status screen on my phone much closer.  I just noticed today that SignalCheck and my bars don't change, but the Signal Strength screen takes me to 0 dBm a couple of times per minute.

 

I'm one of the biggest proponents saying "The network is under construction, need to let it finish, etc" but something just doesn't feel right.  None of the sites in my area are microwave backhaul, they are all AAV from what I remember, so I wouldn't think the issue is there.  I'm just shocked to be looking at a pretty solid signal and not see data flowing or a 64kb radio stream buffering.

 

It's time to play the waiting game and see when more towers are accepted and see if that helps.  It very well could be that with the sparse towers that every LTE device is trying to use the little bit of LTE that is out there and as the rest are activated it will alleviate the strain.

I've been wondering this myself.  A couple of the 4G towers around me max out (when under/across the street from the tower) at about 15 mbps.  One used to be at 30+ mbps.  The other one just launched.

[maximus1987/lou99]

Weakly related to this thread:

 

The H block.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4023-the-h-block/

[z250kid]

Really?  Sure about that?

 

I see this a lot to

[maximus1987/lou99]

Is that Sprint?

[supert0nes]

Hard to judge without lte engineering screen

 

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