S4GRU

H Block does not provide any benefit to existing customers. H block will require new handsets. Band 25 doesn't even cover it. It will be a new band still yet to be designated. So if a new handset is required, and it will not help any existing customers, H Block is actually less favorable that the other two bands that Sprint is already deploying in 26 and 41. H block doesn't help anyone, really. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Beat ya! Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

All the equipment was installed at the same time, except the carrier cards. LTE 800 will require a separate roll out to each site to install a carrier card and integrate. The carrier cards were not available from most OEM's until recently. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

LTE 800 isn't about speed, it's about coverage and signal penetration. Band 25 and 26 run at the same speed. The only time 800 will be faster is if the 1900 is more congested and the 800 has a better signal. But you can't force yourself onto Band 26 anyway. If the network decides you better belong on Band 25, that's where you'll be. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

This thread is to discuss the Sprint Framily plan. Not why you think another carrier is better for you. If another carrier is better for you, just go. We don't want to hear about it. Seriously. We are now removing all the posts about how Provider B is cheaper for you or you prefer something else. S4GRU is not a comparison shopping site. Nor is it here for your complaints. You can take the data that we provide to use it to make an informed decision yourself. Do the comparisons on your own scrap piece of paper. Not ours. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

This may be the most vulgar sentence ever posted in S4GRU history. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Event Horizon Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Sprint cannot add EVDO carriers for EVDO-B to run at full speed in the markets where they will be counting on the spectrum for LTE. They need that for an additional Band 25 LTE carrier. Since Sprint has such a high LTE device adoption rate, they really need to be focusing on LTE performance above all. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Tmo is even patchy in Santa Fe. Mid Cerillos is a dead zone. Can't even make a phone call. Tmo is god awful between ABQ and Santa Fe too. Also, indoor coverage can be pretty crappy in ABQ. Where Tmo has zero bars, Sprint usually at least has one or two. But where Tmo is good, it's very good. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

LTE on 800 does indeed go a little farther than EVDO on 1900. But probably more important, LTE 800 penetrates within its coverage better than PCS on 1900. Also, LTE on 800 is important for any VoLTE strategy in the long run. It is smarter for Sprint to have faster and more capacity 5MHz LTE on 800, than to dedicate any SMR spectrum to EVDO. EVDO is a dead end technology. Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

You have been upgraded. Thanks for supporting S4GRU. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Yep, it's possible. But to my trained eye I'm seeing more of the same. NV on auto pilot. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

It is. And it's blurry because it is subjective based on different human beings. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I wish I could like this 100x. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Your post is not constructive. This is the example as the line for everyone else. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Whoa. Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

They can. When I say separate, I mean new additional crews than the ones currently working on deployment. The new crews can do CDMA 800 and LTE 800 at the same time at each site where backhaul is ready. If there is not backhaul, they would install both CDMA/LTE 800, but only the CDMA would go live until the backhaul arrives. Robert

Here is the biggest thing...they are rigid and inflexible. The Network Vision plan was sound. But many problems occurred where Sprint needed to be strong and be willing to make changes. Also, the market changed beneath them. And they did not change. If I felt they were adapting NOW, I would go back into complacency myself. But I am not detecting any urgency or changes now. They just seem keeping to the plan. Stick to plan. Do not deviate from the plan. If the plan slips, if the OEM's slip on equipment, if the city says come back next month, if the backhaul is delayed, if San Francisco stays a giant black hole void of LTE...do not make waves. Just stay the course. It will work out in time. Problems happen. Mistakes happen. Adapt! I think Sprint executive management is so used to having its hands tied by funding that they don't even know how to spend a little extra money to solve their problems. To find a new way...a better way...a faster way. It's foreign to them now. They may be too close to the problem. Masayoshi Son senses this. That is why he shot across their bow recently in a public interview. It's their last shot. Having a huge spectrum arsenal alone will not save Sprint. It just is the asset that keeps investors from losing all their money when the company goes bankrupt. Sprint must turn around in 2014. And it has to feel like it is well on its way by Mid Year. Robert

I can't believe you fell for the bait. The reason why I say that is I have been on lots of 85-130ms ping EVDO with T1 copper backhaul. And I have been on LTE with microwave and AAV backhaul with 40-70ms pings. If it was below 85ms and 40ms pings respectively, I would likely suspect it was on fiber. But it is not impossible to have AAV backhaul that runs at less than 10ms. I do at my home. Runs to Sioux Falls and back in 4ms. Robert

It's what I do for a living. Planning and managing large scale projects. I am available to Sprint for consultation or employment. Robert

It seems so, since he is the head of networks. However, we just don't know what the cause is from the outside looking in. Did he want to do more and make some strategic deployment changes but was shot down by Dan Hesse, the Board, financial reasons? We don't know. So I don't feel comfortable making a specific judgment call like that without more information. I mean, this is a real guy after all. The problem definitely exists at the top. How far down does it go? Who knows from our perch? But even if Bob Azzi is the worst guy in the world to be the head of the Sprint Network, he has a boss. Here is another problem with Sprint...they are all good guys. They are likable guys. Guys that you want to be your neighbors. They are friendly folks. Nobody wants to be the one to kick them in the teeth. But I think SoftBank is preparing to do exactly that. Between now and the beginning of summer, Sprint needs to get the following things done to stop subscriber losses caused by the network: Every site needs to be converted to Network Vision and functioning. If the site cannot be permitted, install it as a GMO temporarily. CSFB needs to be done in 30-45 days over the entire Sprint network. And this is physically possible given how far Samsung is along. Backhaul needs to be expedited to every site. Every single one. Hire a backhaul team for every market that will run down any temporary backhaul solution for each site where the original backhaul is more than 60 days out. There are all kinds of temporary copper, AAV, microwave or other wireless backhaul solutions that can be instituted at each site. Install LTE at every GMO site where you can get temporary upgraded backhaul to. Including the new temporary GMO sites discussed above. Install CDMA 800 and LTE 800 in separate crews at every site where you have the license available and the spectrum cleared. This can be done in 30-45 days if you can get the carrier cards. Which the OEM's should have had ready and waiting six month ago if managed correctly. Speed up the Band 41 deployment on WiMax sites. Get the remaining WiMax network converted in 6 months. Don't tell me it cannot be done, because this is similar to Tmo's scope. Get started on Band 41 deployment on Network Vision sites hard. Hit every Top 100 market with every resource you have. And start with the ones with little to no permitting. You probably could get those banged out in 6 months and they can move on to the ones that need permitting after that. AND THEY NEED TO BE TRANSPARENT ABOUT IT ALL. When and where they are doing what. Be so thorough that it makes S4GRU redundant and puts us out of business! I don't buy where we are at now that these things can't be done. They can. They just cost a lot of money and take a lot of damn effort to expedite and manage. But they have crossed a threshold now. They cannot try to pick up pennies here on the remaining deployment. It's now a war for their survival. Doing the things outlined above will cost a lot more money than just naturally letting the existing NV plans carry out to their eventual conclusion. However, Sprint is losing a lot of money right out the doors with current subscriber losses. It stands to lose a lot more in lost customer revenue and even further diminished brand value. Yes, Sprint may end up buying Tmo. But they cannot put anything on hold or take anything for granted in the interim. They must plan as if they are in a fight for their lives. Their customers want them to fight for them. I'm tired of telling people if Sprint doesn't meet their needs, then go. Because Sprint could meet their needs. Sprint could meet the needs of 90% of Americans. But the network has got to change. No more excuses. This is not a rant. And this is not a breach in the rules to open the floor for complaints. It is constructive criticism directly from the head of S4GRU. Please do not spring board off this post to rant. However, feel free to discuss my points or the merits of my personal cursory plan to save the Sprint network. Robert

A handoff between 800 and 1900 is technically possible if both networks are tied together at the same MSC cohesively. But even in an ideal network set up, it is still a hard handoff and will have a much higher call drop rate than handing off between cells in the same CDMA band class. Up until the 3G network is complete on all sites, both 1900 and 800, I don't think we will see a satisfactory handoff scenario between bands. And this could be a driving factor with Apple. Apple certainly doesn't want the perception that it is their device that is the problem. And it's conceivable if someone moved from a Sprint 1900 only device and purchased a Sprint iPhone and then started dropping all over the place that they may conclude the problem is the iPhone since their previous device worked fine. I don't know for fact, but I really feel Apple is the one that has pushed for iPhone PRL's to push CDMA 800 only as a last resort. If I am right, then a new PRL will come out likely by Mid 2014 that will change the priority for CMDA 800 for iOS devices. Robert

I don't think it's really just a choice by Sprint. In my mind, it is either a device problem and they are working on a software solution for it. Or Apple has requested that 800 be a low priority until 800 is more prevalent. So the user experience is not hindered. It is actually better to be on a cohesive 1900 network than a patchy 800 network. It may change in the future. Robert

I say good riddance. The more subscribers that Sprint loses, the better. Really. Now that Sprint is no longer in danger of going bankrupt, severe subscriber loss numbers will have two benefits. One, they will remove strain on the network. Two, it will cause a severe shakeup at Sprint to solve the existing problems as fast as physically possible. I think Sprint management is content knowing the solution is in place and letting it run its course until completion. Instead of being swift and adept, rolling with the punches and changing as necessary. People are leaving Sprint because of the network. Network Vision just is not delivering on its promises yet. Sprint had two years to solve the problem...the life of one whole contract season. It didn't do that (for 100 valid and invalid reasons). And someone stepped up to make it very attractive for these discontent people to leave. The problem is Sprint Executive Management. If subscriber losses substantially exceed internal estimates for Q1 2014, I expect heads to roll. Mr. Son will start cleaning house. And if that is what the result is going to be anyway, I'd rather he'd do that sooner than later. So I'm kind of hoping the subscriber losses are as big as Sprint can handle. It needs to hurt. Robert

Yes, this pretty much sums it up. An iPhone user will get the benefit of 800 when they go outside of 1900 coverage. However, once an iPhone gets on CDMA 800, it would likely stay there until it loses an 800 signal, the device is rebooted, airplane mode is cycled or the PRL is updated. Robert