WiMax Protection Site Operation Confirmation

[jamesinclair]

Woa woa, slow down a minute guys before you bbq me, i am not as you refer trying to stick it to sprint, to the contrary, i do not even have roaming turned on my phone, 95% of my use is data and that is mainly at work since at home i have wifi, and at work i have wimax, i am hardly costing them any extra money, and btw it was not my choice to move here, and the reason i have not closed my account is that i hope to be moved somewhere where they have native coverage in the next 6-8 months.

 

Youre saying you didnt move your entire life to a new city for the sole purpose of sticking it to Sprint by incurring a reasonable amount of roaming, allowed in your contract?

 

A likely story.

[WiWavelength]

Woa woa, slow down a minute guys before you bbq me, i am not as you refer trying to stick it to sprint, to the contrary, i do not even have roaming turned on my phone, 95% of my use is data and that is mainly at work since at home i have wifi, and at work i have wimax, i am hardly costing them any extra money, and btw it was not my choice to move here, and the reason i have not closed my account is that i hope to be moved somewhere where they have native coverage in the next 6-8 months.

 

Well, I wish that you would tell your story straight.  Previously, you said that you were going to use roaming until Sprint kicked you off.  Now, you claim that your roaming setting is actually turned off.  So, those two parts are basically contradictory.

 

In the end, if you use mainly WiMAX and Wi-Fi and keep your roaming to a minimum, then you might be able to fly under the radar.  But I seem to recall that Sprint also includes a majority roaming clause in the Ts and Cs.  So, if you are going to be in Rapid City for six months, your best bet might be to have your Sprint account put on seasonal standby, then go prepaid for the time being.

 

As for the spectrum issue, Sprint does not hold any traditional PCS A-F block spectrum licensed specifically for Rapid City.  Rather, Sprint's Denver MTA PCS A block license comprises portions of six states and includes Rapid City.  As of 2002, Sprint covered 74 percent of the population in the licensed area, more than is necessary to satisfy its FCC buildout requirement.

 

Like it or not, Rapid City is just not a priority market.  Off the top of my head, since Qwest disbanded its wireless network, the only wireless operators that offer native service in Rapid City are VZW and AT&T.  And neither built a network there; both got into the market via acquisition.

 

AJ

[CosmicJeff]

Well, I wish that you would tell your story straight.  Previously, you said that you were going to use roaming until Sprint kicked you off.  Now, you claim that your roaming setting is actually turned off.  So, those two parts are basically contradictory.

 

In the end, if you use mainly WiMAX and Wi-Fi and keep your roaming to a minimum, then you might be able to fly under the radar.  But I seem to recall that Sprint also includes a majority roaming clause in the Ts and Cs.  So, if you are going to be in Rapid City for six months, your best bet might be to have your Sprint account put on seasonal standby, then go prepaid for the time being.

 

As for the spectrum issue, Sprint does not hold any traditional PCS A-F block spectrum licensed specifically for Rapid City.  Rather, Sprint's Denver MTA PCS A block license comprises portions of six states and includes Rapid City.  As of 2002, Sprint covered 74 percent of the population in the licensed area, more than is necessary to satisfy its FCC buildout requirement.

 

Like it or not, Rapid City is just not a priority market.  Off the top of my head, since Qwest disbanded its wireless network, the only wireless operators that offer native service in Rapid City are VZW and AT&T.  And neither built a network there; both got into the market via acquisition.

 

AJ

 

 

 

     In my original post i said i was using WiMax, apologies if i implied otherwise. I would think that changing my address to an area outside their territory would flag my account. I was unaware that there was an option to put your account on standby, that would be preferable to having to cancel it outright. You are correct on the T & C there is a majority use clause i had done some more research the last couple days and ran into that. Thank you for clarifying on the Denver market, i had run across that on the FCC site and was unsure what it meant. Makes since then that they do not have service if we are part of the Denver market, although with 130K in the metro area you would think it would have to be on the list if they consider expanding the network outright when they get done with NV.

-Jeff

Edited June 25, 2013 by CosmicJeff

[WiWavelength]

     In my original post i said i was using WiMax, apologies if i implied otherwise.

 

I am honestly not sure how Sprint and Clearwire view a Sprint sub whose data use is basically 100 percent on a WiMAX protection site.  That is not exactly roaming, but it is not exactly native either -- Sprint does not depict WiMAX protection site coverage on its maps.  Maybe Robert will chime in with some insight, as he has researched WiMAX protection sites extensively.

 

AJ

[S4GRU]

 

 

In my original post i said i was using WiMax, apologies if i implied otherwise.

 

 

I am honestly not sure how Sprint and Clearwire view a Sprint sub whose data use is basically 100 percent on a WiMAX protection site. That is not exactly roaming, but it is not exactly native either -- Sprint does not depict WiMAX protection site coverage on its maps. Maybe Robert will chime in with some insight, as he has researched WiMAX protection sites extensively.

 

AJ

Sprint treats Clearwire WiMax data as completely native with the customer (even Protection Sites) and it counts against your data totals. You will see it appear on your bill as Sprint 4G data usage.

 

So when Sprint figures your data usage roaming, it will put it as a ratio against your native including WiMax data. However, voice usage will be your problem. Sprint will also ratio your voice usage to roaming usage.

 

I think you'll get a letter in 60 days unless you stop using roaming voice. And even if you stop using roaming voice, there is still a good chance they'll send you a letter anyway, as they may see you are never connecting to a native 1x signal.

 

It will be interesting if you're able to fly under the radar. Please keep us posted. This will be useful information no matter how it shakes out.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[CosmicJeff]

I will definitely let you guys know how things play out.

[NightShift]

Sprint treats Clearwire WiMax data as completely native with the customer (even Protection Sites) and it counts against your data totals. You will see it appear on your bill as Sprint 4G data usage.

 

So when Sprint figures your data usage roaming, it will put it as a ratio against your native including WiMax data. However, voice usage will be your problem. Sprint will also ratio your voice usage to roaming usage.

 

I think you'll get a letter in 60 days unless you stop using roaming voice. And even if you stop using roaming voice, there is still a good chance they'll send you a letter anyway, as they may see you are never connecting to a native 1x signal.

 

It will be interesting if you're able to fly under the radar. Please keep us posted. This will be useful information no matter how it shakes out.

 

Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Robert, do you think Sprint would issue him an Airave to get some native voice/3g coverage?

[WiWavelength]

Robert, do you think Sprint would issue him an Airave to get some native voice/3g coverage?

No. Sprint does not allow Airave operation that far removed from the nearest native Sprint site.

 

AJ

[lynyrd65]

You can make it work with some effort though. Go near a Sprint native coverage area (preferrably one with the same PCS license as what Sprint holds in the area you will use it) and turn on the airave while connected to an uninterruptable power supply then leave it on and drive home. So long as the airave stays on it will continue to broadcast on whichever bands it was authorized to broadcast on in the area it acquired its initial GPS signal.

 

After you get home plug the UPS into the wall and move the airave where you need it. You will likely need to purchase the airave off contract too.

[Yuhfhrh]

You can make it work with some effort though. Go near a Sprint native coverage area (preferrably one with the same PCS license as what Sprint holds) and turn on the airave while connected to an uninterruptable power supply then leave it on and drive home. So long as the airave stays on it will continue to broadcast on whichever bands it was authorized to broadcast on in the area it acquired its initial GPS signal.

 

After you get home plug the UPS into the wall and move the airave where you need it. You will likely need to purchase the airave off contract too.

 

I feel like you've done this before 

[lynyrd65]

I feel like you've done this before 

contemplated,

 

but changing circumstances made it unnecessary for my needs.