Sprint Q4 2014 earnings report

[lou99/maximus1987]

Ingenious.

[caspar347]

I actually fear for our next rootmetrics test. Most of the 8T8Rs around here are plugging along at 2 Mbps while 1900 is around 8 Mbps. If they get pushed to 2600 during testing speeds might actually go down.

[lou99/maximus1987]

I actually fear for our next rootmetrics test. Most of the 8T8Rs around here are plugging along at 2 Mbps while 1900 is around 8 Mbps. If they get pushed to 2600 during testing speeds might actually go down.

Then sprint can add a second 2.5 card. Line they did at superbowl.

[S4GRU]

I actually fear for our next rootmetrics test. Most of the 8T8Rs around here are plugging along at 2 Mbps while 1900 is around 8 Mbps. If they get pushed to 2600 during testing speeds might actually go down.

According to my favorite Samsung birdie, the biggest cause of slow B41 speeds is backhaul. There is a big push on backhaul increases at B41 sites. He said that in his region 10% have been done and the increases happen immediately. I think we are already seeing some reports of members saying that B41 speeds on some sites just shoot up over night.

 

He said that in his region he only has 10 sectors over airlink capacity on B41. But traffic is growing and more carriers are needed. And more are coming this year in conjunction with CA plans. But Sprint will not waste money adding additional carriers at sites that don't have robust enough backhaul to handle another 20MHz on three sectors. So the backhaul increases are also tied to additional B41 carriers.

[boiker]

Generally over 1Mbps...it's actually pretty darn good nowadays. The more people that move to LTE, the less congested it is!

 

That's great! My 3G is still sub 300kbps and indoors I often fall to 1xRTT only (unusable data), but LTE gets me between 1.5-5 mbps in most circumstances.  There are still significant LTE holes in my metro, but it's been a lot better lately.

[milan03]

So in this scenario, Sprint would deploy B25/B41 CA at sites where both frequencies are deployed. All devices would prefer to use B41 exclusively until the B41 uplink is too weak or non existent then would switch to CA and use B25 uplink. In some ways similar to the CA ATT uses with B29, except B29 is incapable of an uplink at all and must always be paired via CA.

Yeah, that concept has recently been presented in Nokia's Carrier Aggregation White Paper. 

 

[chamb]

Based on an interesting email I just received, Sprint is intending to just use B41 downlink TDD to use B25 uplink only when it cannot communicate back with B41 uplink.

 

The purpose of this new TDD FDD CA is just to extend the range of B41. That's what Sprint is trying to do. They want a cohesive nationwide B41 network.

 

This is easy to achieve increased B41 coverage on the downlink (transmission from the site) because they can simply increase broadcast strength with beamforming to match the same propagation as B25. The problem is the devices on the outer part of B41 coverage in this increased power scenario cannot get their signal back to the site. As devices cannot just increase their broadcast strength to match. So, their solution is to carry the uplink back by another frequency...ala B25.

 

So in this scenario, Sprint would deploy B25/B41 CA at sites where both frequencies are deployed. All devices would prefer to use B41 exclusively until the B41 uplink is too weak or non existent then would switch to CA and use B25 uplink. In some ways similar to the CA ATT uses with B29, except B29 is incapable of an uplink at all and must always be paired via CA.

 

The source said that in the end Sprint may have to pair B41 with B25 all the time with CA on the up and down link. But that is not preferred. They are trying to do the pairing on uplink only when out of range. They have proven the concept as possible, now they just need to arrange lab trials to see if it is both physically possible and economically and commercially viable. Then on to FITs and implementation.

 

Sprint is focusing this to be done as soon as possible. Working toward an FIT before year end. There is no way for devices to start including this capability soon. No guidance docs can be given to OEM's for quite some time.

This makes we wonder if people now on the fringe of band 41 reception and seeing unresponsiveness because the band 41 uplink just can not communicate reliably to the cell site.   Could we be getting locked onto band 41 but be having a bad experience somewhere? Could we have people getting on band 41 and not be able to get off of it while having issues with the uplink.

[S4GRU]

This makes we wonder if people now on the fringe of band 41 reception and seeing unresponsiveness because the band 41 uplink just can not communicate reliably to the cell site. Could we be getting locked onto band 41 but be having a bad experience somewhere? Could we have people getting on band 41 and not be able to get off of it while having issues with the uplink.

That happened to me all the time on WiMax where I had a usable downlink signal but no uplink throughput at all. If you have a weak B41 LTE signal, it's possible it could be weak enough for your device to be out of range to send signal back. And it would get even worse if they increased the site downlink signal further for better coverage.

[shannonbrian]

Band 41 is below 2-4 Mbps in Baltimore nowadays...so hopefully having 2.5Ghz downlink with 1.9Ghz for uplink will help with download speeds.

mostly clear site in baltimore backhaul is poor.

[EvanA]

More info about 2.5GHz in an article just published by FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-bring-carrier-aggregation-all-its-lte-bands-bid-boost-performance/2015-02-05

 

Notably, 

 

Euteneuer [sprint CFO] noted that in the fourth quarter Sprint actually did wind up deploying on its network 2x20 MHz carrier aggregation in just the 2.5 GHz band.

[EvanA]

https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/563412486888517632

https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/563412506836602880

 

Legere's just trying to spin the results any way he can, completely ignoring the fact that $2.1 million of the losses were non-cash impairment.

[lou99/maximus1987]

https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/563412486888517632

https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/563412506836602880

 

Legere's just trying to spin the results any way he can, completely ignoring the fact that $2.1 million of the losses were non-cash impairment.

There's no spinning in the first tweet: TMO has 1mil net postpaid phones adds while sprint has 205k losses in the same category.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/un-carrier-momentum-continues-customers-continue-choose-t-mobile-over-compe

[IamMrFamous07]

More info about 2.5GHz in an article just published by FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-bring-carrier-aggregation-all-its-lte-bands-bid-boost-performance/2015-02-05

 

Notably,

I wonder which market? Or is it across all the markets with 8t8r sites

[mittenmitten]

fiercewireless is a T-Mobile fanboy rag.

[EvanA]

There's no spinning in the first tweet: TMO has 1mil net postpaid phones adds while sprint has 205k losses in the same category.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/un-carrier-momentum-continues-customers-continue-choose-t-mobile-over-compe

I was only referring to the spin on financials.

[dedub]

Based on an interesting email I just received, Sprint is intending to just use B41 downlink TDD to use B25 uplink only when it cannot communicate back with B41 uplink.

 

 

 

I always wondered why it wasn't designed as such from the git go.

 

I mean really, they had several years of wimax usage to study before they started implementing b41 lte tdd.

 

As you mentioned, wimax reception was less the issue compared to the device being able to transmit back to the tower.

[cletus]

This makes we wonder if people now on the fringe of band 41 reception and seeing unresponsiveness because the band 41 uplink just can not communicate reliably to the cell site.   Could we be getting locked onto band 41 but be having a bad experience somewhere? Could we have people getting on band 41 and not be able to get off of it while having issues with the uplink.

Yes. I believe this to be the case on the very fringes of B41 in S. Austin. My N5 will very stubbornly hold on to B41 unto the point where I get time outs. This on a tower that I KNOW I can get 30+down from a few blocks away.

[Deval]

So will the note edge or g flex 2 will support TD/FDD LTE CA? Or did they give a time frame when these will be out?

 

If this question has been answered already I apologize. Haven't had time to read the whole thread

 

TD/FDD LTE CA is a concept at best right now. Nothing that we will see in any near term product life cycle.

[jroepcke51]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/sprint-chairman-son-may-sell-airwaves-to-help-fund-turnaround?cmpid=yhoo

 

This article says that they have valued the 2.5ghz between 80 to 100 billion

[Deval]

fierce wireless's take on sprints earning report

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-expands-lte-network-270m-pops-slows-postpaid-phone-subscriber-losses/2015-02-05

 

Those comments make me rage quit the internet.

[WiWavelength]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/sprint-chairman-son-may-sell-airwaves-to-help-fund-turnaround?cmpid=yhoo

 

This article says that they have valued the 2.5ghz between 80 to 100 billion

 

Joan Lappin is spinning in her not yet grave.

 

 

AJ

[jroepcke51]

Joan Lappin is spinning in her not yet grave.

 

 

AJ

Did my S4GRU life get a boost as you like my article? I am fulfilled. Personally, if 2.5 CA with 1.9 is realized, selling some might be beneficial to pay for all this.

[Fraydog]

https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/563412486888517632

https://twitter.com/JohnLegere/status/563412506836602880

 

Legere's just trying to spin the results any way he can, completely ignoring the fact that $2.1 million of the losses were non-cash impairment.

Legere's first three quarters at T-Mobile weren't great, if I recall correctly. His "soon" was "wait until we get the iPhone." And it is correct to note the losses, but that backs up my point on rebranding. It has never been clearer. Wanting to move people to VoLTE is a good thing in the long run as well. I just don't know the purpose of Bye communicating anything about TDD-FDD carrier aggregation. It makes me question his judgement. Sprint should keep its network improvement program talk based more on what happens now. Get the backhaul to the 8T8R sites up off the bat. Max it out if Sprint/SoftBank must. Get as many fast results in the system as possible and put some faster samples in Ookla's system to get the e-penis crowd pleased.

 

The second tweet I would call Legere jockeying for position. I wouldn't be shocked if he himself started pushing for SoftBank behind the scenes. Only when he pushes for a merger it will be TMUS doing business as SoftBank in the U.S. He'll just brand SoftBank as the Uncarrier to curry favor with regulators. If this happens... Sprint as we know it will die.

[joshnys8913]

My topic got taken down and I was not notified by who ever took it down, so I guess I could put it here instead of making a new topic and getting it taken down again.... This just popped up on CNET http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-ceo-t-mobile-in-for-a-rude-awakening-in-network-battle/#ftag=YHF65cbda0

 

 

Claure is ready, hope Legree is ready!! 

[EvanA]

My topic got taken down and I was not notified by who ever took it down, so I guess I could put it here instead of making a new topic and getting it taken down again.... This just popped up on CNET http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-ceo-t-mobile-in-for-a-rude-awakening-in-network-battle/#ftag=YHF65cbda0

 

 

Claure is ready, hope Legree is ready!! 

Posted in the "catch all" thread already http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/6319-marcelo-claure-town-hall-meetings-new-family-share-pack-plan-unlimited-individual-plan-discussion-thread/?p=400396