by Robert Herron

Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 12:28 PM MST

Did you hear? Sprint is claiming that the 3G Network is now enhanced in Atlanta! Does that mean Network Vision upgrades are complete and live on PCS 1900? What are they saying here? Their press release is vague and going to mislead many people!

Sprint is just championing temporary upgrades that have been completed. The band-aid fixes that were shown on network.sprint.com for the past four months. These are additional 3G EVDO carriers and additional T1 backhaul in some select highly burdened sites. These are not the permanent fixes that will be part of Network Vision. I have confirmed this through a confidential source working in the Network Vision program in Atlanta.

Network Vision is alive and well in Atlanta. And cluster deployment is under way and testing is occurring. Some folks in some clusters may experience permanent relief soon. However, the market wide enhancements mentioned in this press release are not Network Vision.

I think this was a mistake for Sprint to release this info this way. I think a lot of people are going to think that the band-aid improvements they received at their local site are what to expect from Network Vision. These band-aid fixes are not sufficient for permanent relief and many customers are going to draw the incorrect conclusion that Network Vision is not what it's cracked up to be.

Are you in Atlanta? Tell us what you see today in the comments below! If anything...

Sprint Enhances 3G Network Coverage in Atlanta

• Springtime in Atlanta should be even sweeter as Sprint lights up the metro area with 222 capacity upgrades
  
• City is on tap to benefit from 4G LTE service by mid-year
  

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), February 29, 2012 - Amid the rainbow of azaleas and dogwoods dotting the streets and neighborhoods of metro Atlanta this spring are 3G capacity enhancements from Sprint (NYSE:S), designed to give customers greater speeds and a richer, seamless voice experience.

 

From the Fountain of Rings at Centennial Olympic Park to the hills of Stone Mountain, Sprint customers in Atlanta should expect faster data speeds, fewer dropped calls and confidence that Sprint is committed to investing in Georgia and keeping pace with the ever-increasing demand for data.

 

Over the past year, the Atlanta area has seen its Sprint 3G capacity increase by more than 17 percent. In the past 90 days, Sprint has implemented 100 network capacity upgrades in the Atlanta metro area, with 122 planned for the next 90 days. Marietta? You’re covered. College Park? We got you. Flowery Branch? Morrow? Done and done. These network upgrades encompass all aspects of a customer’s wireless experience, including voice, data and in-building solutions. These enhancements to the Sprint 3G Network also should serve to bolster performance of the company’s no-contract brands, including devices operating on the Sprint network from Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA.

“Sprint is pleased to offer its customers products and services to enhance their business and personal lives,” said Jeff Bennett, regional vice president, consumer. “Atlanta is a non-stop, first-class city, and Sprint is keeping up with our customers’ lives and data demands with our cutting-edge network plans, including these 3G enhancements and our upcoming 4G LTE service.”

Atlanta, along with five other cities, also is expected to benefit from Sprint 4G LTE by mid-year, which is expected to provide even faster speeds for data applications. All of these plans are part of Sprint’s Network Vision program.

 

Nationwide, Sprint is overhauling its entire network and replacing existing equipment with the newest, most advanced equipment available in the industry through the Network Vision program.

Announced in December 2010, Network Vision is planned to consolidate multiple network technologies into one seamless network with the goal of increasing efficiency and enhancing network coverage, call quality and data speeds for customers. Smartphone penetration is expected to double over the next four years.* With Network Vision, Sprint is making it easier for data to travel so smartphone customers – who average 10 times more data use than feature phone customers* – can use their devices the way they were meant.

 

Network Vision and the recent upgrades reflect Sprint’s commitment to customer service. Sprint is unbeaten among all national carriers and most improved in customer satisfaction, across all 47 industries, over the past three years, according to the 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index. The survey showed Sprint as the most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the past three years.

 

As Sprint adds capacity across the country on the existing network – 28,513 in 2011 – Network Vision work on 38,000 cell sites is underway. For a detailed look at capacity upgrades in different markets, visit www.sprint.com/network.

 

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 55 million customers at the end of 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

 

*Source: Mobile Access 2010, PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT)

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

* This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding network performance, coverage and capabilities, business and network efficiencies, migration of services new technologies, timing of deployment, and products and services, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” intend,” “expect,” “believe,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management’s judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, development and deployment of new technologies; efficiencies and cost savings of multimode technologies; customer and network usage; customer growth and retention; service, coverage and quality; availability of devices; the timing of various events and the economic environment. Sprint Nextel believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. Sprint Nextel is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release. Sprint Nextel provides a detailed discussion of risk factors in periodic SEC filings, including in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011.

 

Source: http://newsroom.spri...article_id=2196