Picture of Sprint's LTE footprint once NV rolled out

[digiblur]

Ahh, I didn't know that Sprint was not using the Nextel towers at all. I thought that the iDEN sites that were being decommissioned were going to be converted to LTE and added into network vision. So what happens to people that are on nextel now but live in an area with little to no sprint service?

 

That's the key right there. I know two companies that have gone to ATT due to this since the sprint cdma footprint was smaller.

[lynyrd65]

Assuming you believed ATT's conservative projections of how they will look when they're "complete" with LTE buildout? I didn't.

 

I honestly think they were only lying a little bit. With regards to AT&T's current plans to deploy LTE ONLY in 700MHz and 1700Mhz AWS bands, they are in big trouble. EDIT: maybe not, their AWS is significant

 

The only national license they hold for either of those bands is 6 mhz in the D-Block (unpaired at that!).

 

Assuming that AT&T would bother deploying in these areas (TDD would be the only way) and LTE has a spectral efficiency of 2mbps/Hz, their LTE wouldn't perform differently from HSPA+ in these areas if they were to roll it out, which I seriously doubt they will. EDIT: maybe not, their AWS is significant

 

AT&T does have significant 700MHz spectrum licenses in urban areas, so these areas will get LTE, fast LTE at that. However, unless AT&T changes it's spectrum strategy (use other bands), rural areas will get left out in the cold just like always. EDIT: maybe not, their AWS is significant

 

I encourage you all to check out my source, it really illustrates who has what spectrum, where, and how much bandwidth of it they have,

 

This is AT&T's 700mhz spectrum map. The dark blue areas have enough spectrum for 10x10 LTE while the light blue areas can do 5x5. The other areas are covered by scattered AWS and an unpaired 6mhz in the 700mhz D-Block.

 

 

Edit: This is most of AT&T's AWS Spectrum. It is a lot more than I previously thought. AT&T may have been lying after all. With this spectrum they should be able to cover most of those other rural areas with at least 5x5 LTE.

 

 

Source for this info: http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

[JeffDTD]

I'm really digging your site.. bookmarked now

[pyroscott]

That is a really cool tool.

[centermedic]

So the nextel merger was a huge financial drain to Sprint as we all know. So let's at least use the infrastructure that we overpaid for in the beginning to thicken coverage and provide a better service to our existing and potential future customers, right? No, we'll just shut it all down. Makes sense.

 

Sorry for the negative post, but this decision really does bother me, especially when I read that Mr. Hesse got a 31% pay increase.

 

Ok, back to being positive.

The way its been explained to me is that when you have towers too close to one another it causes major issues. DO might be able to mitigate the issue but I don't know enough to make that determination. I would question why they are not keeping iden towers that are not too close to a Sprint tower.

[JeffDTD]

To be exact, they're shuttering 60+ miles of highway Iden only coverage in my home state... rural po-po nowhere coverage, but they're shuttering it apparently. I've ranted a little and come to term with it already else where in the forum... Its just a wee bit shocking. In the end, if this is what it takes to survive, I accept it.... Would be interesting to see how many Iden customers will be ineligible for migration due to no CDMA coverage coming within miles and miles of them...

[mirskyc]

Hey everyone, Im new to this site and love it.

 

Wondering if anyone else noticed that it looks the color key has been pasted on and is cutting off part of new york and michigan. if this was a real sprint document why would it have that?

Edited March 30, 2012 by mirskyc

[lynyrd65]

Whoever does powerpoints for sprint sucks at it. I don't doubt the authenticity. Look at this graphic

[S4GRU]

Hey everyone, Im new to this site and love it.

 

Wondering if anyone else noticed that it looks the color key has been pasted on and is cutting off part of new york and michigan. if this was a real sprint document why would it have that?

 

Yeah, it was rather crappy. But the photo was taken live at the RCA Global Expo conference today. It's legit.

 

Robert

[marioc21]

Yeah, it was rather crappy. But the photo was taken live at the RCA Global Expo conference today. It's legit.

 

Robert

 

Speaking of...here's the link to the presentation the Bob Azzi made at the RCA yesterday. It's where the slide was taken from.

 

http://www.livestream.com/rcrtv/video?clipId=pla_b1b6ff3f-81e2-4e20-96d8-173f62be9745&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb

 

No new information if you've been paying attention for the last six months though.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Speaking of...here's the link to the presentation the Bob Azzi made at the RCA yesterday. It's where the slide was taken from.

 

http://www.livestrea...medium=ui-thumb

 

No new information if you've been paying attention for the last six months though.

 

2014 for 800LTE...saw that on the one slide there and he clearly said they were "...were going to LTE 800 out in 2014..."

 

Also in regards to the LTE map it kinda seemed he was referring to it in respect to VoLTE somewhat at least, as thats what he lead up to that slide with. And in that regards, it might make more sense there.

[gr8nuguy]

Speaking of...here's the link to the presentation the Bob Azzi made at the RCA yesterday. It's where the slide was taken from.

 

http://www.livestrea...medium=ui-thumb

 

No new information if you've been paying attention for the last six months though.

Thanks 18min 30 second mark is where the map is

[Kevster1321]

i just looked at the map that was on twitter and they erased some of the map key. wonder what it was.

https://twitter.com/#!/saschasegan/status/185349946453667840/photo/1/large

[Sgt. Slaughter]

i just looked at the map that was on twitter and they erased some of the map key. wonder what it was.

https://twitter.com/...0/photo/1/large

 

???

[Kevster1321]

if you look right under where it has the light green box and says roaming coverage there is a space they whited out. and they cut half of the state of New York

[MacinJosh]

if you look right under where it has the light green box and says roaming coverage there is a space they whited out. and they cut half of the state of New York

 

I just realized that too. I wonder what it was.

[S4GRU]

No new information if you've been paying attention for the last six months though.

 

You mean, like paying attention to our site?

 

i just looked at the map that was on twitter and they erased some of the map key. wonder what it was.

https://twitter.com/...0/photo/1/large

???

if you look right under where it has the light green box and says roaming coverage there is a space they whited out. and they cut half of the state of New York

I just realized that too. I wonder what it was.

 

Just to clarify, it was hastily removed from the slideshow prior to the meeting. Some people are speculating that it was shown in the actual meeting, but removed in the photo. Which is not the case. It probably was discovered at the last minute that, "Oops! We don't want people to see that."

 

I'm guessing it showed in the legend the green area, and defined something like "LTE coverage area with active 800 LTE/1900 LTE." And I don't think Sprint is prepared to discuss 800 LTE at this time.

 

Robert

[MacinJosh]

Just to clarify, it was hastily removed from the slideshow prior to the meeting. Some people are speculating that it was shown in the actual meeting, but removed in the photo. Which is not the case. It probably was discovered at the last minute that, "Oops! We don't want people to see that."

 

I'm guessing it showed in the legend the green area, and defined something like "LTE coverage area with active 800 LTE/1900 LTE." And I don't think Sprint is prepared to discuss 800 LTE at this time.

 

Robert

 

That could be. You just never know when someone will make a mistake and sometimes it isn't caught. Too bad they caught it this time, lol.

[marioc21]

You mean, like paying attention to our site?

...

 

Robert

 

Pretty much.

[ericdabbs]

I honestly think they were only lying a little bit. With regards to AT&T's current plans to deploy LTE ONLY in 700MHz and 1700Mhz AWS bands, they are in big trouble. EDIT: maybe not, their AWS is significant

 

The only national license they hold for either of those bands is 6 mhz in the D-Block (unpaired at that!).

 

Assuming that AT&T would bother deploying in these areas (TDD would be the only way) and LTE has a spectral efficiency of 2mbps/Hz, their LTE wouldn't perform differently from HSPA+ in these areas if they were to roll it out, which I seriously doubt they will. EDIT: maybe not, their AWS is significant

 

AT&T does have significant 700MHz spectrum licenses in urban areas, so these areas will get LTE, fast LTE at that. However, unless AT&T changes it's spectrum strategy (use other bands), rural areas will get left out in the cold just like always. EDIT: maybe not, their AWS is significant

 

I encourage you all to check out my source, it really illustrates who has what spectrum, where, and how much bandwidth of it they have,

 

Source for this info: http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

 

Thanks for the link. I am really digging this site. Now the more I look at the website and where the AWS spectrum licenses lies for both Leap and MetroPCS, I am starting to change my mind and now realize why Sprint went after MetroPCS. Previously I thought that Sprint should go after Leap since I though they would have better spectrum assets due to just looking at AJ's chart comparing MetroPCS and Leap spectrum where it seemed as though Leap covered more markets. Now with the website, I realized that MetroPCS has more AWS spectrum than Leap (20 Mhz for MetroPCS vs. 10 Mhz for Leap) in many of the bigger cities.

 

What MetroPCS needs to do now is to obtain AWS spectrum for the central to east coast markets hopefully in a VZW AWS divestitures for the cable company deal or through bidding on SpectrumCo's AWS spectrum should the VZW cable company deal fall through to have nationwide AWS spectrum assets. This way MetroPCS can be a stronger player in the wireless market. Maybe at some point when Sprint's balance sheet is better that they could revisit a buyout of MetroPCS.

[Deval]

In regards to the Nextel tower shutdown, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that they would decommission sites that were built to enhance network capacity, which for a total user base of 4.1 million, is overkill x100. I'm also assuming the equipment located in those sites is duct-taped together and has to get the hamster spinning the wheel replaced monthly.

[ericdabbs]

In regards to the Nextel tower shutdown, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that they would decommission sites that were built to enhance network capacity, which for a total user base of 4.1 million, is overkill x100. I'm also assuming the equipment located in those sites is duct-taped together and has to get the hamster spinning the wheel replaced monthly.

 

I don't think we know what Sprint plans to do with the base tower equipment in the immediate future of these decommissioned Nextel sites. I would assume that they would have to remove the cabinets from the location at some point.

[S4GRU]

In regards to the Nextel tower shutdown, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that they would decommission sites that were built to enhance network capacity, which for a total user base of 4.1 million, is overkill x100. I'm also assuming the equipment located in those sites is duct-taped together and has to get the hamster spinning the wheel replaced monthly.

 

This is mostly true, and likely the intent. However, there are real coverage impacts that are occurring as a result of the thinning. So it is not completely accurate to conclude that Sprint is only removing iDEN where redundant capacity occurs. However, it is necessary and wise to do it, in my estimation. It also helps get the attention of remaining iDEN customers that they need to start moving on to other pastures.

 

Robert

[avb]

With Network Vision towers having their radios(?) installed up high near the panels instead of on the ground in the cabinets, what does this mean to signal strength? I've read there should be a 20% increase in signal strength, but what exactly does that mean? If I currently get 90 dbm signal reading, what should I expect after Network Vision upgrades are complete?

[4ringsnbr]

With Network Vision towers having their radios(?) installed up high near the panels instead of on the ground in the cabinets, what does this mean to signal strength? I've read there should be a 20% increase in signal strength, but what exactly does that mean? If I currently get 90 dbm signal reading, what should I expect after Network Vision upgrades are complete?

 

A 20% increase would take you from -90 dBm to -89 dBm or so. Every 6 dBm is a doubling (or halving) of signal strength. In other words, a -84 dBm signal would be twice the strength (100% stronger) of a -90 dBm signal. It's a logarithmic scale.