Sprint's first quarter financials are out

[marioc21]

See here for highlights:

 

http://s4gru.com/ind...dpost__p__14317

[bigsnake49]

One little piece of data from the earnings call:

 

Further, in the 600 network Vision sites currently online, Elfman said Sprint is seeing a doubling of the coverage range compared with legacy sites, which should help reduce roaming costs. Sprint is also able to repurpose 2.5 MHz to 3 MHz of spectrum on its 800 MHz band from Nextel iDEN service to voice, he said.

Read more: Sprint adds 1.5M iPhones in Q1, will bring WiMAX to prepaid brands - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-adds-15m-iphones-q1-will-bring-wimax-prepaid-brands/2012-04-25#ixzz1t3yNQfYN

[marioc21]

One little piece of data from the earnings call:

 

Further, in the 600 network Vision sites currently online, Elfman said Sprint is seeing a doubling of the coverage range compared with legacy sites, which should help reduce roaming costs. Sprint is also able to repurpose 2.5 MHz to 3 MHz of spectrum on its 800 MHz band from Nextel iDEN service to voice, he said.

Read more: Sprint adds 1.5M iPhones in Q1, will bring WiMAX to prepaid brands - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewir...5#ixzz1t3yNQfYN

 

 

I heard that on the conference call but couldn't type it up fast enough. Then they moved on and I couldn't remember exactly what they'd said.

[S4GRU]

This is slightly misleading. They may be seeing a coverage doubling on NV 800 CDMA compared to legacy 1900 CDMA. Since they are not deploying EVDO on 800, this is 1x only.

 

However, they are not seeing those kinds of gains between NV 1900 CDMA and legacy 1900 CDMA. That gain is not 100%, it is approximately 20% gain between the two.

 

Robert - Posted from my E4GT with ICS using Forum Runner

[bigsnake49]

Robert,

I would expect that between the mounting of the radios on the antenna masts and the 1x Advanced up to 70% increase in coverage primarily because of interference cancellation, they might be close to doubling of the coverage area, all other things being equal (downtilt, power, etc). Now if they are not skipping any legacy CDMA sites in their deployment, they probably are turning down the power, thereby cancelling out some of the coverage improvements.

 

For CDMA800 they are using 1x Advanced's up to 3x capacity improvement and not trading off for distance. If they

[S4GRU]

My comments are not based on guesses. They are based on reports from Sprint's FIT's. The gains are approximately 20% in field testing from legacy to NV on 1900 CDMA. And from our members who have used NV sites, this seems to be substantiated. There are no wonderful sudden gains in coverage occurring.

 

Due to downtilt at most sites, the gains will not be in coverage area, but in stronger signal. Only at sites at the periphery of existing coverages (rural areas) can you adjust the downtilit up to try to capture the 20% coverage gain.

 

Robert - Posted from my E4GT with ICS using Forum Runner

[bigsnake49]

There won't be any coverage gains in areas that are already covered well and were you do not adjust downtilt. There will be coverage improvements in cases were you were on the fringe of usuable signal and now you won't be. There will be an expansion of the "usable" coverage area. RF limits are RF limits and propagation is propagation but usable signal is something all-together. Outward facing sectors on the periphery of a coverage area can have the downtilt adjusted and their usable signal area expanded quite a bit. I also consider the thickening of coverage on the interior of a coverage area a tangible benefit, as in the increase of the percentage of the coverage area in which you get "Good" or "Excellent" signal instead of "Fair". I think that maybe that's what he's talking about. That instead of 50% of a heavily suburban area like Atlanta or Dallas being "Light Green" in the signal maps, only 25% is after NV 1900MHz. Add 800MHz NV and only 5% is light green, all this with no additional sites.

[ericdabbs]

Robert,

I would expect that between the mounting of the radios on the antenna masts and the 1x Advanced up to 70% increase in coverage primarily because of interference cancellation, they might be close to doubling of the coverage area, all other things being equal (downtilt, power, etc). Now if they are not skipping any legacy CDMA sites in their deployment, they probably are turning down the power, thereby cancelling out some of the coverage improvements.

 

For CDMA800 they are using 1x Advanced's up to 3x capacity improvement and not trading off for distance. If they

 

I would much rather have Sprint configure the 1x Advanced 1900 MHz carriers to support 4x capacity so they can shut down more 1x carriers. The towers are located to account for 1900 MHz anyways so its better to max out more voice capacity to free up more spectrum for LTE. Now there are placed like in New Orleans were it makes sense to use the 70% coverage since the towers are not strategically located. CDMA800 no doubt does not need the 70% extra coverage and instead needs to max out 4x capacity especially if its going to handle indoor voice calls.

[S4GRU]

There won't be any coverage gains in areas that are already covered well and were you do not adjust downtilt. There will be coverage improvements in cases were you were on the fringe of usuable signal and now you won't be. There will be an expansion of the "usable" coverage area. RF limits are RF limits and propagation is propagation but usable signal is something all-together. Outward facing sectors on the periphery of a coverage area can have the downtilt adjusted and their usable signal area expanded quite a bit. I also consider the thickening of coverage on the interior of a coverage area a tangible benefit, as in the increase of the percentage of the coverage area in which you get "Good" or "Excellent" signal instead of "Fair". I think that maybe that's what he's talking about. That instead of 50% of a heavily suburban area like Atlanta or Dallas being "Light Green" in the signal maps, only 25% is after NV 1900MHz. Add 800MHz NV and only 5% is light green, all this with no additional sites.

 

Thank you for agreeing with me. This is what I said right above your comment. However, my chief point stands that the comment made will mislead many into believing that double the coverage gain comes from 1900 CDMA alone, when in reality that coverage gain stated is the difference between legacy 1900 and NV 800. That's what we do here at S4GRU, clarify and inform. Much better than Sprint does, I might add.

 

Robert

[S4GRU]

I would much rather have Sprint configure the 1x Advanced 1900 MHz carriers to support 4x capacity so they can shut down more 1x carriers. The towers are located to account for 1900 MHz anyways so its better to max out more voice capacity to free up more spectrum for LTE. Now there are placed like in New Orleans were it makes sense to use the 70% coverage since the towers are not strategically located. CDMA800 no doubt does not need the 70% extra coverage and instead needs to max out 4x capacity especially if its going to handle indoor voice calls.

 

I have asked all my sources this question, and most glaze over. However, I did have one Samsung RF Engineer tell me that they are configuring all 1xA carriers differently based on location. Urban sites will be deployed for capacity gains. Rural sites will be deployed for coverage gain. So there will be a lot of variability. We have detailed information about the deployment of every single Sprint site in the country. I wish it also contained 1xA configuration info.

 

Robert

[bigsnake49]

I would much rather have Sprint configure the 1x Advanced 1900 MHz carriers to support 4x capacity so they can shut down more 1x carriers. The towers are located to account for 1900 MHz anyways so its better to max out more voice capacity to free up more spectrum for LTE. Now there are placed like in New Orleans were it makes sense to use the 70% coverage since the towers are not strategically located. CDMA800 no doubt does not need the 70% extra coverage and instead needs to max out 4x capacity especially if its going to handle indoor voice calls.

 

On top of what Robert said, most suburban/exurban sites have 1 to maybe 2 voice channels. The spectrum reclaimed will not be substantial. As Robert already said, Urban sites will be configured for capacity gains. In my hometown I have rarely seen more than one voice channel. They could probably serve us out of one 1x 800MHz channel every other site. That might not be true in other areas that have more Sprint subscribers per square mile, but I do believe it to be true of our area.

[S4GRU]

 

On top of what Robert said' date=' most suburban/exurban sites have 1 to maybe 2 voice channels. The spectrum reclaimed will not be substantial. As Robert already said, Urban sites will be configured for capacity gains. In my hometown I have rarely seen more than one voice channel. They could probably serve us out of one 1x 800MHz channel every other site. That might not be true in other areas that have more Sprint subscribers per square mile, but I do believe it to be true of our area.[/quote']

 

Same here in rural New Mexico.

 

Robert - Posted from my E4GT with ICS using Forum Runner

[digiblur]

Can't wait to get the 800mhz channel here as I firmly believe an 800mhz engineer built the network here for Gulfcoast Wireless before sprint bought them out.