Softbank - New Sprint - Discussion

[irwinshere]

I this is the first time I've seen in writing that Spark is not just Band 41, but all three LTE bands, 25, 26, and 41.

I thought that they have reported it on this website from the very first mention of Spark that it was all 3 bands. At least that is what I seem to remember.

 

Jim, Sent from my Photon 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

 

 

[jefbal99]

I thought that they have reported it on this website from the very first mention of Spark that it was all 3 bands. At least that is what I seem to remember.

 

Jim, Sent from my Photon 4G using Tapatalk 2

I don't get to read every post and PR, but everything I remember from the Spark launch was just B41.

[S4GRU]

I don't recall seeing an estimated number of Clear sites to be shut down before. I wonder if the 6,000 redundant sites are just those that are collocated with existing Sprint sites or if that includes other Clear sites to be shutdown...

 

They have to all be just colocated sites, as roughly 40% of Clearwire's WiMax network (not including Expedience and Protection Sites) were on the same site as Sprint.  Clearwire has approximately 15,500 sites meeting that definition.  40% of that is 6,200 sites.  I would venture a guess they are only decommissioning sites where Clearwire is on the same exact site as Sprint.  At least for the time being.

 

Robert

[cdk]

They have to all be just colocated sites, as roughly 40% of Clearwire's WiMax network (not including Expedience and Protection Sites) were on the same site as Sprint.  Clearwire has approximately 15,500 sites meeting that definition.  40% of that is 6,200 sites.  I would venture a guess they are only decommissioning sites where Clearwire is on the same exact site as Sprint.  At least for the time being.

 

Robert

 

Makes sense.

[CaryTheLabelGuy]

I this is the first time I've seen in writing that Spark is not just Band 41, but all three LTE bands, 25, 26, and 41.

Yeah, Sprint has done a great job of confusing everybody as to what "Spark" really is. Out of one-side of their mouth, it's all the LTE bands. Out of the other, it's just B41. Even in their coverage maps, it's just B41.

 

Jacksonville, for instance, has no B26 anywhere, not even in the whole state of Florida (other than the COW at the Daytona 500), yet the coverage map shows it's a Spark market because it has B41 pretty much everywhere.

 

Their PR dept has done a terrible job of educating the public on what "Spark" really is. Eventually, I guess Spark is all three bands. But today, it's really only B41.

[S4GRU]

Yeah, Sprint has done a great job of confusing everybody as to what "Spark" really is. Out of one-side of their mouth, it's all the LTE bands. Out of the other, it's just B41. Even in their coverage maps, it's just B41.

 

Jacksonville, for instance, has no B26 anywhere in the state currently (other than the COW at the Daytona 500), yet the coverage map shows it's a Spark market because it has B41 pretty much everywhere.

 

Their PR dept has done a terrible job of educating the public on what "Spark" really is. Eventually, I guess Spark is all three bands. But today, it's really only B41.

 

They blew it.  I knew even they were confused the moment they let the Spark icon even signify overloaded B25.  No one feels good about Spark when the icon appears on an overloaded sub 1Mbps B25 LTE signal.  At a minimum, the Spark icon should have just been for B41 connections.  And it would have been even better had they reserved it for B41 sites with upgraded backhaul.

 

Robert

[CaryTheLabelGuy]

They blew it. I knew even they were confused the moment they let the Spark icon even signify overloaded B25. No one feels good about Spark when the icon appears on an overloaded sub 1Mbps B25 LTE signal. At a minimum, the Spark icon should have just been for B41 connections. And it would have been even better had they reserved it for B41 sites with upgraded backhaul.

 

Robert

 

[KD8JBF]

Yeah, Sprint has done a great job of confusing everybody as to what "Spark" really is. Out of one-side of their mouth, it's all the LTE bands. Out of the other, it's just B41. Even in their coverage maps, it's just B41. Jacksonville, for instance, has no B26 anywhere, not even in the whole state of Florida (other than the COW at the Daytona 500), yet the coverage map shows it's a Spark market because it has B41 pretty much everywhere. Their PR dept has done a terrible job of educating the public on what "Spark" really is. Eventually, I guess Spark is all three bands. But today, it's really only B41.

 

See...Only us "Educated" people here at S4GRU know when we're connected to each band....the others out there (Standard Users) Don't have a clue what band they are connected to and they think if they see the "Spark" symbol, they're definately connected to Spark....Guess we all just know better....LOL

[kojitsari]

Is it possible for an update to the spark symbol to modify it to say, rotate clockwise for b25, counter clockwise for b26, and possibly pulse or something for 41? Just a small something so that glancing at it during a data session could/would tell the average consumer which band they're actually on for the moment.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

Is it possible for an update to the spark symbol to modify it to say, rotate clockwise for b25, counter clockwise for b26, and possibly pulse or something for 41? Just a small something so that glancing at it during a data session could/would tell the average consumer which band they're actually on for the moment.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I'd be open for just about any different identifiers between bands. 

 

Robert

[Boosted20V]

I agree the Spark icon is kind of crazy. I like it though!

[WiWavelength]

Is it possible for an update to the spark symbol to modify it to say, rotate clockwise for b25, counter clockwise for b26, and possibly pulse or something for 41?

 

Maybe for band 41, it could pulse as a blue light special.  Oh, wait, that is Kmart, not Walmart.

 

 

AJ

[Boosted20V]

Maybe for band 41, it could pulse as a blue light special.  Oh, wait, that is Kmart, not Walmart.

 

 

AJ

I was quite poor when I was younger and my mom would haul ass to those blue light specials! 

[irwinshere]

Maybe for band 41, it could pulse as a blue light special. Oh, wait, that is Kmart, not Walmart.

 

 

AJ

Who had the blue plate special? Oh never mind, not important ...

 

Jim, Sent from my Photon 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

 

 

[dnicekid]

I find it hard to believe that so many people here can come up reasonable solutions to a lot of Sprint issues. Yet out of all the millions spent on Sprint administration and Execs no one can seem to solve some of these small but important issues. Smh

 

The spark icon should be b41 only for right now until the build out is done.

As mentioned above, people on spark with bad speeds give the network a black eye.

Not the kind of press sprint needs

 

When purchasing a new phone, it should have a sticker on the box that says, "please refer to S4GRU.COM for up to date Sprint LTE info"

[my94rt]

The spark icon should be reserved for band 41 and it's large bandwidth/speed difference. Would have been the easiest way to slow down the bashing from confusion.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[kojitsari]

I have to say that while all of our "solutions" (especially the software/hardware ones) might not be as easy as we all think...I'm personally not an expert in any of the areas I'd need to be to implement any of these. So I can't really say if they're feasible or not. I'm a fan of the unless you can do it better than them don't bash them for doing what they are. Maybe one of our resident specialists could chime in

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Johnner1999]

Or used oh I don't know.... LTE-A ?

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

 

 

[dnicekid]

I have to say that while all of our "solutions" (especially the software/hardware ones) might not be as easy as we all think...I'm personally not an expert in any of the areas I'd need to be to implement any of these. So I can't really say if they're feasible or not. I'm a fan of the unless you can do it better than them don't bash them for doing what they are. Maybe one of our resident specialists could chime in

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I understand. My point was did they not know about backhaul issues and so forth? They couldn't see the confusion it may cause?  Especially with new customers?  It just seems like they jumped the gun. I just see it as a fumble on sprints part that leads to misinformation, and another reason for people bash sprint. 

 

Again, it was something small that could have been done differently. I like the idea but it shouldn't have been announced until spring/summer or just band 41

[kojitsari]

I understand. My point was did they not know about backhaul issues and so forth? They couldn't see the confusion it may cause? Especially with new customers? It just seems lime they jumped the gun. I just see it as a fumble on sprints part that leads to misinformation, and another reason for people bash sprint.

Again, it was something small that could have been done differently. I like the idea but it shouldn't have been announced until spring/summer or just band 41

With regards to the back haul issues and so forth part, by just reading through the threads here it seems like its a lot of political/contractual crap that isn't really Sprint's fault.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[my94rt]

With regards to the back haul issues and so forth part, by just reading through the threads here it seems like its a lot of political/contractual crap that isn't really Sprint's fault.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Much of that was our if thier control. Advertising something nationwide that exists in 2% of thier footprint was. They should have held off the spark adverts until they had widespread spark coverage.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[dnicekid]

With regards to the back haul issues and so forth part, by just reading through the threads here it seems like its a lot of political/contractual crap that isn't really Sprint's fault.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

True very true,  sprint caused confusion and frustration by launching spark, had they just had spark for band 41 it would have been easier for people to understand.  Launching it For the network which still has a long way to go before its finished is what I don't get.

 

But hey when its all done and everything is fine this will be forgotten.

It just aggravates me when sprint people are selling it and think we have been fully updated in my area.. It just adds more to the misinformation...

[kojitsari]

Much of that was our if thier control. Advertising something nationwide that exists in 2% of thier footprint was. They should have held off the spark adverts until they had widespread spark coverage.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

I'm assuming there's fine print stating its not in 100% of their market. Plus shouldn't consumers take all ads with a grain of salt? They're all for the most part a skewed perspective, or a load of crap now days...I mean everything has hidden terms and conditions now.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[kojitsari]

True very true, sprint caused confusion and frustration by launching spark, had they just had spark for band 41 it would have been easier for people to understand. Launching it For the network which still has a long way to go before its finished is what I don't get.

 

But hey when its all done and everything is fine this will be forgotten.

It just aggravates me when sprint people are selling it and think we have been fully updated in my area.. It just adds more to the misinformation...

I can say that I've noticed the sprint stores that aren't corporate in my area seem to have less knowledgeable employees. One of them even told me that the tower closest to my house was in a town 35 minutes away, when I know for a fact there's one less than 10 minutes away(I checked equipment because I'm not a sponsor yet, so no maps). Just goes to show you need to do your own research instead of being a sheep and getting all your info from the person making money by selling you things. 99% of the time you'll get screwed by sales people who are on commission.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[KD8JBF]

I can say that I've noticed the sprint stores that aren't corporate in my area seem to have less knowledgeable employees. One of them even told me that the tower closest to my house was in a town 35 minutes away, when I know for a fact there's one less than 10 minutes away(I checked equipment because I'm not a sponsor yet, so no maps). Just goes to show you need to do your own research instead of being a sheep and getting all your info from the person making money by selling you things. 99% of the time you'll get screwed by sales people who are on commission.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I feel like in this instance that the "Non-Corporate Sprint Store" Is screwing themselves if they're telling people the closest tower is 35 minutes away....