S4GRU

ill be damned i called got a person the first try... and in 7 minutes had one ordered its one thing i actually need in this townhouse which is built like a kiln... all brick and rebar 1961 design lol i will be happy if it fixes my dropped calls i have here at home...upstairs its not an issue downstairs,,, its a nightmare lol

I'm glad our article helped you!

Chappo, I don't disagree. For millions of customers, your points are right on. But for millions more, it won't matter. Even Verizon only has 5% LTE saturation rate. Meaning only 5% of their total customer count use LTE service regularly. I have a feeling that Sprint's LTE saturation rate will be the same. To many people, they just aren't going to use the LTE much.

There also millions of people who don't care about the latest Android upgrade. Those people aren't like you and me. And they aren't like most of the geeky members of S4GRU. S4GRU members only make up about 40% of the page views of our articles. So we also write articles that appeal to the mainstream.

Also, there are millions of customers who have many lines on their account. Like me. I always upgrade to the newest device. I don't need to wait 2 years. Every 6 months or so, I upgrade to the best flagship device. I then hand my device down to my wife. She hands hers down to my son, etc. With 4 lines, I am getting a new device pretty frequently. People in a position like this can keep up with all the latest and are not fettered by devices not getting upgrades or aging, etc.

I do agree with the point that buying a WiMax device into 2013 starts to not make much sense. Also, since no new WiMax devices are coming to market, by January 2013, the existing WiMax devices on the market will be getting pretty long in the tooth!

There are just many different types of customers out there with many different types of needs. And for some of them, it still makes some sense to buy a WiMax device. Thanks for your comments.

It surprises me a bit they're pushing these towards new customers. It seems they'd want to throw these at people in densely populated areas that are over loaded. Though then again if it could cause interference, it could have a bad effect.

Airaves do cause interference problems in dense areas, like apartment buildings, etc. It seems that even existing customers are not having a problem getting one calling the toll free number. However, only people who actually need them should call.

At least I found the link to the purported page. Maybe I can make my case better by losing the call when I am trying to order ( Not much of a stretch, Normally I will call from a landline in spotty coverage areas) http://now.sprint.co...e/?id16=airrave

Does the link we posted in the article above not work for you?

- Robert

what about using one in an area that is not technically covered by Sprint but is roaming???? I have a family member that is at school where Sprint is not available on campus but is a mile away... Could he setup a FEMO in his dorm room???

Officially, no. Unofficially, yes!

So, If I tether with AT&T 3G then plug this device into the tethered laptop (set up to share the connection) can I create Sprint coverage using AT&T coverage?Cellular Inception :oI think I'll give it a go at my cabin.

Fantastic Lynyrd!!! I'm so glad that we are able to help so many people. Our sources are wonderful folks!

Although I welcome anyone with indoor coverage to call, please do not just get one for grins. If your indoor coverage is good, you will see no benefit and may actually see problems.Just an FYI.(Though I am impressed with Robert's sources! Very timely as I just heard about this today. lol)

My e-mail box is open to anyone who wants to give me info!!!

Additionally, I do want to echo Duffman's points. I live within 250' of a Sprint "tower". So I have no use for one. And S4GRU members should not request one unless they need one. The more Sprint spends unneedlessly shipping Airaves to people who don't need them, the more likely they will have to raise rates in the future!

But there are lots of Sprint customers who will greatly benefit from this program.

I see the Sprint branded space heater in the photos, but where is the Airave? ;)AJ

It does look like a space heater! Or a wall mount A/C unit!

- Robert

The first LTE device, the LG Viper (LS-840) does LTE in 1900 MHz PCS band only. It does support 1xA CDMA & EVDO Rev. A/B in Cellular 850 MHz and PCS 1900 MHz bands. It also does 1xA CDMA in ESMR 800 MHz band. There wasn't room in the device for additional antennas to support EVDO in ESMR 800 or LTE in any other band.

I have seen the channel assignments for SMR in Network Vision specific to carriers. Just one 1xA voice carrier at Channel 476 (in most markets). The rest will be allocated to future LTE carrier. So no need for EVDO capability in SMR. Because Sprint won't be deploying it anywhere, by what I've seen. However, the channel assignment for the 1xA carrier is higher in New Orleans market (526). Blocking the ability to put the 5x5 LTE carrier. I'm still not clear why. Either they will be deploying a smaller LTE carrier in New Orleans, or the channel assignment is temporary due to possible ongoing rebanding.

It's a shame with NV they don't convert more Nextel towers to CDMA. Baton Rouge's iDEN coverage is way better than the Sprint CDMA coverage-- and it's not just the frequency difference-- Nextel goes into more areas with whole towers and cells than Sprint here. I guess they've lost so many subs in this market they'll wait until their financial situation is better before they try to revive this market and expand coverage...

I agree! I was very disappointed to discover that iDEN only sites in non-CDMA coverage areas will not be converted to Network Vision. This is probably the most critical item I have of Sprint in Network Vision. It's a crying shame. Especially in Louisiana.

Di Didn't you just announced New Orleans. Regardless Sprint was just snubbed from the Ipad 3 today, and if they don't get the big markets done by the end of September they might have an Iphone LTE problem. The funny thing is Apple announced that they had to build two separate Ipad for Verizon and AT&T even though they use the same low 700mhz band. From looking at this I think they will do the same thing with the Iphone.

I did just announce New Orleans. I was just stating that I would prefer that ABQ was being deployed at the time Nashville is in the schedule. And thus ABQ and NOLA would be announced together. That is, because, I live in the ABQ market.

Many believe that the reason Apple snubbed Sprint with an LTE iPad that supports their network is because Sprint's LTE network isn't live. It doesn't seem hard to fathom that Apple wouldn't want their new LTE iPad tarnished on the Now Network, because all those LTE capable units wouldn't be able to use LTE. Apple doesn't seem to be the kind of company that would want devices for future networks. There is a lot of risk to your brand doing that. There are still lots of angry Evo customers.

Most likely Apple will allow Sprint to carry an LTE capable version of the new iPad when its LTE network is not only running, but a little more mature. Maybe in the ballpark of active markets that AT&T is now?

I wish I was announcing Albuquerque and New Orleans!

We are talking about two different things. I thought you were saying you wanted me to start listing all speeds in megabytes and not megabits. And I was replying that no one measures wireless speeds in megabytes...which they don't.

But I believe what you are saying is that you think it would be better to use the abbreviation for megabits, over megabytes? Correct? You think using MB in place of Mb in the above article confuses our readers. Correct?

Robert, strongly disagree with your use of MB and your contention that this is how they are often displayed. Not sure where you are getting this. Mb and MB are pretty universally understood to represent megabit and megabyte respectively. You are only confusing your readers.

Please find me references where a wireless company is advertising it's speeds in megabytes. No one does. Not one! They all do in megabits. It makes them sound faster. If one of them broke rank and advertised their speeds in megabytes, they would look slower than their competitors.

It is not me who determines how wireless companies advertise their speeds. The only thing I could do differently is change my posts to say Mb instead of MB. And the only people who know the difference between the two will not be confused.

megabits or megabytes? Mb = megabits, MB = megabytes

All speeds quoted in the wireless world is Mb, or megabits. Megabytes (MB) would be far more accurate, but not used. 8 megabits = 1 megabyte transferred.

Conversion Calculator: http://www.unitconversion.org/data-storage/megabits-to-megabytes-conversion.html

It would probably be best to actually denote Mb when discussing wireless speeds. But virtually everyone uses MB, so I have chosen to follow that faulty philosophy as well.

20 megabits in an empty network that is not good. If their LTE network turns out 6 to 8 megabits that won't be a big difference because I get over 9 and 10 easily here in NYC using Wimax.

You aren't comparing apples to apples. You are comparing WiMax's best, to Sprint's LTE worst. I have used a WiMax protection site with fiber backhaul being the only person on it (completely unburdened) and was getting 14MB - 15MB speeds. I have never, ever gotten 20MB anything ever on WiMax the way it is currently deployed by Clearwire. And most full deloyment markets get 3MB to 5MB typical speed on WiMax. 12MB WiMax speeds are atypical.

However, I suggest you stay on WiMax, and the rest of us will move to LTE. K?

- Robert

I have heard a rumor that work may be starting in the Austin market now. I'm working on verifying that. Stay tuned.

Robert

With the Grand Rapids market stretching all the way to the southern state line how long until South Bend gets it? Or are we to Small for them to worry about! =)

The West Michigan market is out of order, considering it's placement. The Fort Wayne/South Bend market doesn't come as early as West Michigan. But it is a good location for the size of market it is. Stay tuned!

Here is a Work in Progress map of markets in North Carolina and South Carolina. This is much longer and more tedious of a process than I imagined! It took me two hours to do this much!

Tri-Cities is in Nashville market. Shentel begins in Blacksburg, VA area and goes, north, northeast and east from there.

RDU market does border Charlotte to the East. Winston/Salem market borders to the Northeast. I will work on the NC market map, so I can post a graphic showing what I mean.

AFAIK, Sprint OEM's are not splitting markets up. They are doing the whole market in one deployment. They break that market into dozens of clusters. And work on several clusters per month, and over the whole deployment, all the clusters come live. Each market takes between 3 to 10 months to bring up all the clusters. Depending on size.

...but I wonder why Philadelphia hasn't moved up on the list yet.

I think Philly is coming up soon. I can't see Sprint skipping on Philly when it is one of the biggest cities in the east coast let alone in the US. It is the 5th largest city in the US by population.

Philly isn't going to be snubbed. Stay tuned.

I take it that The Raleigh/Durham market that you say boarders the Charlotte one will engulf Greensboro or is Greensboro pretty much in Charlotte's rollout or both? Know which markets are set to be done directly infront of Charlotte? Like before in the NYC article you stated they are likely to get to NYC as soon as they finish up I think Baltimore or Boston.

Greensboro is in the Sprint Winston-Salem market, not RDU. The Winston-Salem market is just the Piedmont Triad area, down to Asheboro. The RDU market is all of Eastern North Carolina. The divider between RDU and Charlotte market is roughly US 220/I-73 corridor, south of Asheboro.

I hope to have a Sprint market map up this week. It is a larger undertaking than I thought it would be!

Three of the 10 largest cities in the US haven't been announced yet: Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego. I don't understand why they would cover huge swaths of the countryside with limited population when if they concentrated on the 10 largest metro areas they'd cover a very large percentage of the total population.

I believe Sprint is selecting markets based on Nextel subscribers. It was suggested to me last week by a S4GRU member, and I believe I'm seeing that trend as I look forward. However, most of the cities you mention above are coming soon. Stay tuned.

You won't be hearing any more Texas for awhile, though.

- Robert

Ericsson is also deploying in clusters in DFW. I think it's pretty universal. The clusters were determined in RF design.