Google announces Project Fi: Partners with Sprint and T-Mobile for Network Access (previous title: Google to start it's own Wireless Service; using T-Mobile/Sprint for it's Network Footprint.)

[anthony.spina97]

Could also be what forces sprint to kick into gear with b26 deployments for volte.

You're a premier sponsor, you know how widely deployed band 26 is. I'm not sure what exactly makes you think that Sprint hasn't kicked Band 26 deployments into high gear...

 

-Anthony

[lou99/maximus1987]

You're a premier sponsor, you know how widely deployed band 26 is. I'm not sure what exactly makes you think that Sprint hasn't kicked Band 26 deployments into high gear...

 

-Anthony

Admins have said b26 is doesn't cover 100% current voice footprint. That's what I mean.

[kyle_4thousand]

I hate the ePenis contest for fastest network speeds. I'd trade a 70Mbps+ speed test result 5% of the time for a reliable, low latency consistent 8-10Mbps 95% of the time. I'm on a phone - 8Mbps is more than adequate for nearly all mobile tasks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sprint needs speeds much higher than 8-10 Mbps 95% of the time to beat the other three in root metrics overall network performance scores. Beating out the other three in this regard is still important if Sprint wants to shake their 'slow network' stigma. It's not just an ePenis contest. And unfortunately Sprint is taking their sweet time bringing B41 to its optimal performance level (CA & higher MIMO), so I don't expect consistent speed to be a differentiator for them until Q3 2015 at least.

 

That said, speed in urban areas is what Google will initially get from TMUS. They'll get coverage depth and decent rural coverage from Sprint thanks to 800mhz. Assuming these networks will somehow work side by side on whatever arrangement Google has up their sleeve.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WiWavelength]

Sprint needs speeds much higher than 8-10 Mbps 95% of the time to beat the other three in root metrics overall network performance scores. Beating out the other three in this regard is still important if Sprint wants to shake their 'slow network' stigma. It's not just an ePenis contest.

 

Maybe, maybe not.  That 8-10 Mbps may become the norm.

 

With mobile users consuming so much data -- too much data, in my opinion -- do not count out the other three major operators' LTE average speeds regressing back toward the pack, as VZW's, AT&T's, and T-Mobile's LTE average speeds have already yo yo'd or decreased.  In many cases, they have already fired their big guns for the next few years.  This is especially true of VZW with Upper 700 MHz and AWS-1 and T-Mobile with "wideband" AWS-1.  AT&T has some as of yet untapped potential with its massive PCS holdings in many markets.  Sprint, though, seems best positioned to improve its LTE average speeds in the next year or two, since the PCS G block and SMR were not its big guns.  BRS/EBS is the weapon of choice, and a single carrier is now coming online in many places -- with the potential for multiple carriers soon.

 

AJ

[milan03]

Maybe, maybe not.  That 8-10 Mbps may become the norm.

 

With mobile users consuming so much data -- too much data, in my opinion -- do not count out the other three major operators' LTE average speeds regressing back toward the pack, as VZW's, AT&T's, and T-Mobile's LTE average speeds have already yo yo'd or decreased.  In many cases, they have already fired their big guns for the next few years.  This is especially true of VZW with Upper 700 MHz and AWS-1 and T-Mobile with "wideband" AWS-1.  AT&T has some as of yet untapped potential with its massive PCS holdings in many markets.  Sprint, though, seems best positioned to improve its LTE average speeds in the next year or two, since the PCS G block and SMR were not its big guns.  BRS/EBS is the weapon of choice, and a single carrier is now coming online in many places -- with the potential for multiple carriers soon.

 

AJ

 

I'd just add that both Verizon and T-Mobile's backhaul provisioning still has room to grow. Very rarely their backhaul capacity maxes out their air interface at the cell site. By observing my NYC market, I've concluded that most Verizon sectors are capped at 80-100Mbps backing 40MHz FDD LTE aggregate radio capacity (10MHz B13 + 20MHz AWS +10MHz PCS), while T-Mobile's 15MHz FDD LTE gets either 50Mbps or 80Mbps provisioning per sector depending on the location and traffic.

 

I'm thinking that fronting the bill on the backhaul will be their last resort, but it's there as an option.

[Destroyallcubes]

Admins have said b26 is doesn't cover 100% current voice footprint. That's what I mean.

It may not get all the way out where 1x has dropped calls or terrible call quality duentoo lose signal levels. But those are areas where people would regularly drop calls anyways. Hopefully with Volte it will be able to jump on a roaming partner. But with no Volte right now no need to worry.

[mc_gusto]

 

 

Google has customer service?

Yeah they do, for their hardware/nexus and other things. And they are located in the US. Places like Michigan Utah and Florida. And cali. So yeah they do speak English. Call em up sometime.

[ingenium]

Yeah they do, for their hardware/nexus and other things. And they are located in the US. Places like Michigan Utah and Florida. And cali. So yeah they do speak English. Call em up sometime.

Yeah their Nexus customer support is really good. It's supposedly 24/7 too. The one time I needed support (NFC chip was broken in my Nexus 6), I pressed the "call me" button in their support app and I received a call from a representative within seconds. Very knowledgeable, clearly not reading from a script or anything.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[mc_gusto]

Yeah their Nexus customer support is really good. It's supposedly 24/7 too. The one time I needed support (NFC chip was broken in my Nexus 6), I pressed the "call me" button in their support app and I received a call from a representative within seconds. Very knowledgeable, clearly not reading from a script or anything.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Yeah 24.7 cause they also serve the UK and aussie markets. Or at least used to.

[centermedic]

An att TMO hybrid makes more sense.

Only if they were using voice also. If they are using data only as has been suggested then Sprint/T-Mo makes sense.

[centermedic]

I don't think that per person, that information could make up for someone using 15gb per month on lte for only $50 or $60.

 

Sprint and tmus have an interest in protecting their differentiating asset: unlimited.

You do realize that Google built a business model of giving services away for free and making billions off of the information gained from those services? I'm sure that Google has already worked out how much they can "lose" per customer and still make a profit.

[lou99/maximus1987]

You do realize that Google built a business model of giving services away for free and making billions off of the information gained from those services? I'm sure that Google has already worked out how much they can "lose" per customer and still make a profit.

You didn't read my posts regarding owning infrastructure vs being an mvno

[centermedic]

You didn't read my posts regarding owning infrastructure vs being an mvno

Yes I did. The point still stands. Google has built one of the worlds largest and most profitable business on a model of giving services away. They know how much of a loss they can take on each customer. Keep in mind, that whatever Google believes that it can make in data collection will be used in part to subsidize each customer. Another thing to remember is that Google has also been looking for other avenues to bolster its data collection as it faces more competition in areas such as web browsers.

[lou99/maximus1987]

Yes I did. The point still stands. Google has built one of the worlds largest and most profitable business on a model of giving services away. They know how much of a loss they can take on each customer. Keep in mind, that whatever Google believes that it can make in data collection will be used in part to subsidize each customer. Another thing to remember is that Google has also been looking for other avenues to bolster its data collection as it faces more competition in areas such as web browsers.

They could afford to give things away because their cost per search is low because they own the infrastructure.

[bigsnake49]

I think that it might be a good way for Google, Microsoft, HTC, Motorola whose handsets are not selling that well to prop up their sales by bundling service. Samsung and Apple might follow when their sales slow down sufficiently.

[JossMan]

So any takers on how much money Google will be paying Sprint to use their network?  This could really help out Sprint's Band 41 deployment, future Network Vision upgrades, and money for the 600MHz auction.  

[kojitsari]

So any takers on how much money Google will be paying Sprint to use their network? This could really help out Sprint's Band 41 deployment, future Network Vision upgrades, and money for the 600MHz auction.

Initially or if the safety clause Sprint put in the contract kicks in?

[JossMan]

Initially or if the safety clause Sprint put in the contract kicks in?

Initially.

[Deval]

I hate the ePenis contest for fastest network speeds. I'd trade a 70Mbps+ speed test result 5% of the time for a reliable, low latency consistent 8-10Mbps 95% of the time. I'm on a phone - 8Mbps is more than adequate for nearly all mobile tasks.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

That's my point. Google could work out a traffic shaping agreement so their users get unlimited LTE data, but soft throttled at 8-10mbps.

[Deval]

Admins have said b26 is doesn't cover 100% current voice footprint. That's what I mean.

 

It's physically impossible to cover the entire voice footprint. Also, B26 is LTE only, which inherently is a fragile airlink compared to 1xA on 800mhz. You'll see 1xA in places where B26 will be too weak to transmit data.

[sbolen]

So any takers on how much money Google will be paying Sprint to use their network? This could really help out Sprint's Band 41 deployment, future Network Vision upgrades, and money for the 600MHz auction.

I'd be alright with Google running fiber backhaul if they're feeling particularly charitable.

[lou99/maximus1987]

It's physically impossible to cover the entire voice footprint. Also, B26 is LTE only, which inherently is a fragile airlink compared to 1xA on 800mhz. You'll see 1xA in places where B26 will be too weak to transmit data.

I meant to match the 1x voice footprint as of a certain date with 800lte volte.

[Deval]

Sprint needs speeds much higher than 8-10 Mbps 95% of the time to beat the other three in root metrics overall network performance scores. Beating out the other three in this regard is still important if Sprint wants to shake their 'slow network' stigma. It's not just an ePenis contest. And unfortunately Sprint is taking their sweet time bringing B41 to its optimal performance level (CA & higher MIMO), so I don't expect consistent speed to be a differentiator for them until Q3 2015 at least.

 

That said, speed in urban areas is what Google will initially get from TMUS. They'll get coverage depth and decent rural coverage from Sprint thanks to 800mhz. Assuming these networks will somehow work side by side on whatever arrangement Google has up their sleeve.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I disagree that Sprint **needs** speeds much higher than 8-10mbps. Every carrier advertises well below what the maximum speeds their networks will be support, other than T-Mobile. 

 

Sprint's stigma isn't slow network, it's a non-LTE, dropping calls, etc. network. It's a network where they still don't have LTE in places the competitors do. 

 

Which is something that is being worked on daily. 

 

The fact that a user would consider their carrier based on a speedtest in certain locations is depressing at best. 

[Deval]

I meant to match the 1x voice footprint as of a certain date with 800lte volte.

 

I don't see voTLE being such a huge thing for a while. At some point I'm sure Sprint will deploy it, but if we were to look at the competitors who launched VoLTE, how much adoption and usage is there?

 

How many phones support it? 

Is it nationwide?

What's the value prop?

[Jones]

I disagree that Sprint **needs** speeds much higher than 8-10mbps. Every carrier advertises well below what the maximum speeds their networks will be support, other than T-Mobile. 

 

Sprint's stigma isn't slow network, it's a non-LTE, dropping calls, etc. network. It's a network where they still don't have LTE in places the competitors do. 

 

Which is something that is being worked on daily. 

 

The fact that a user would consider their carrier based on a speedtest in certain locations is depressing at best. 

 

Lots of users dont even know you can test your speed on a cell phone. It's all about that LTE icon at the top of the screen and the ability to load facebook and you tube.