S4GRU

They are getting bought out. They don't have to have it out by June. It would be stupid to spend a lot of money trying to hurry up and deploy on Clearwire's dead end network which will just have to be decommissioned again in a couple. It makes more sense to scrap that plan and incorporate the TD-LTE on Sprint Network Vision sites. Even if it means a 2-3 month delay on the start. Because deploying on existing NV sites will be cheaper and likely faster and the work done will not be on a dead end network but rather one designed for the next 10-20 years. Sprint needs to do the smart thing here. Not the fastest one. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

I think the whole deployment plan for TD-LTE is up in the air. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

Yes. You are correct on both points. Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

If like other AlcaLu markets, the very first LTE sites will come from within these 3G complete sites. And most of the LTE sites will come from then pool of complete 3G sites. It is rare for an AlcaLu site to go from nothing straight to LTE. Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

I'm pretty certain that Sprint's plans for extra capacity is much larger than what the Clearwire network can currently support. But to what extent Sprint will end up deploying LTE 2600 is still unknown. Robert

Don't assume that because 3G is accepted as complete first, that they have completely left and have to come back and visit a site. First, Alcatel Lucent typically installs 3G and 4G hardware at the same time. However, they don't fire up the LTE in the beginning of their deployment. It's just the way they deploy. Second, when they work on a site, it's not like 5 guys show up on a site and stay there until they are done and leave. And then they would have to come back later and do the LTE. There are different people with different companies doing different things. The backhaul folks are different from the electricians who are different than the tower climbers who are different that those who configure cabinets and who are different from the tech who provision it all. They come and go. Each may be working on several or dozens of sites at once. It's a flurry of activity. They may have done all the work except for provisioning of LTE. I know that at Shentel sites, there is one guy that goes around and fires up all the LTE. So the 3G upgrades go live immediately, but there is more work for LTE to go live in AlcaLu markets. Samsung and Ericsson do things differently. Robert

It's my understanding that sites deployed since the beginning of 2010, they do not need to do any work with panels. They are ready to receive LTE upgrades. However, older sites prior to 2010 need to have everything replaced or run an new overlay. They will need to install side by side base stations, radios and panels on older sites, where WiMax and LTE are completely separate. Otherwise, they can replace the old WiMax equipment with new equipment that will run both. As a result, the oldest Clearwire markets would likely be the last upgraded to LTE. However, I think Clearwire's deployment strategy could completely change now with the Sprint buyout. And may even be on hold. If the deal with Sprint/Softbanks closes without issue, it makes more sense for Sprint to deploy TD-LTE 2600 on Network Vision sites, and not on Clearwire sites at all. Then Sprint can work on mothballing WiMax as soon as feasible and just completely decommissioning all those Clearwire WiMax sites and save a lot of money. Robert

The Samsung layout of the data is completely different than Ericsson and AlcaLu. Either there are no Indy market sites with Ground Mount RRU's, or I am not able to figure out if I have that data. Robert

You can upload them to your own server, or any third party that hosts images. Please post it in the market thread here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2182-network-visionlte-riversidesan-bernardino-market-inland-empire/page__st__40 Thanks! Robert

Also, most of the sites in Napa, Sonoma, Solano and Marin Counties have already completed their 3G Network Vision upgrades. Robert

I want to reiterate though that the site next to my house has been labeled "Ground Mount no 800" for a long time. Since I received my very first info about the ABQ market a year ago. So it's not really a new development. And may be much ado abouit nothing. Fortunately the site next door is one of the very first sites being deployed in this category. So we should have a much better idea in the not too distant future. Robert

We have a member review of it in our news section: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-276-sprint-4g-lte-tri-fi-hotspot-review/ Please also note that our Staff members can post in any of our forums, and help run the site. Your comments to our Staff are out of line. Please consult our Staff Directory here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1250-s4gru-staff/ Please consult our Posting Guidelines here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1197-s4gru-posting-guidelines-aka-the-rulez/ Robert

I just looked. There are sites in Kingman that are not on the map above. Robert

They may be. I don't know yet. But I fear this may be the case. These rural sites need 800 service the most, though. I think most of the sites are more about ease of upgrade and cost. They could logistically upgrade most of the sites if they wanted. Robert

In the Sprint documents, they say that these sites with Ground Mount RRU's will not get 800MHz service. They do not address LTE at all. One of my concerns is that they may not replace the panels on these sites also, based on some other things I have seen lately. And if they do not replace the panels at these Ground Mount RRU sites,I'm thinking they may not get LTE either. I want to see some sites that are labelled Ground Mount RRU No 800 go live with LTE until I feel that is not the case. Here are some permit drawings for a site in Florida: http://www.mywakulla...-12/SP12-16.pdf . In my docs it says that this is a "Ground Mount RRU - No 800" site. However, in the permit drawings, they call it "Ground Mount - No Touch". No Touch meaning they reuse the existing panels. And clearly it says in these drawings there is no LTE, just CDMA 1900. Is this the way all Ground Mount No 800 sites will be? I don't know yet. But I'm concerned. There is a Shentel site in Mont Alto, PA that has ground mount RRU's and LTE. But Shentel may be an exception. Robert

. A picture is worth a thousand words: . <iframe frameborder="0" height="650" scrolling="no" src="http://batchgeo.com/map/156625d8a385c40678362b87e1baae86" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);" width="100%"></iframe> 49 sites out of 415.

The round table format ate hairy spiders when drunk. Its towers became bloated after swallowing a mouthful of baby formula. The baby ate his poisoned barbeque chicken ribs without A1 steak sauce. Fix the chair leg before somebody trips and breaks their sister's glass. It peed shards of LTE droppings from bubbly fermented apples. Doctors gouge the helpless when options appear dangerously silly for perpendicular slicing. Around 2pm there was another explosive diarrhea attack that drove Dan to SMS SoftBank, which viciously countered MetroPCS;s audacity to compete. Meanwhile, Mexicans discovered sparkly water of Rio which tasted like rainbows. LightSquared, however, beamed sparkly clusters of spectrum at GPS, causing multitudes of bananas being paranoid about world domination. This exacerbated an enormous flock of pelicans into your mother's house. Then seagulls confronted Darla with weapons manufactured in Korea that annihilated Kim Kardashian. She fell backwards after drinking highly intoxicating tequila shots. Uncoincidentally, she tripped over and fell on her face, then vomited major chunks of beef jerky while passing gas. Afterwards, Kanye parachuted over

milk maid

I hope to see you around. Robert

LTE has a more fragile airlink than 3G EVDO. Sprint 4G LTE on 1900MHz is more fragile at distances than it's 3G is on 1900MHz. Also, Verizon's LTE on 750MHz is more fragile at distances than it's 3G on 850MHz. In the most basic premise, the more data you cram into a slot of spectrum, the less it can handle it. Density of the network is key. However, Sprint LTE is nowhere near fully deployed. In suburban and urban areas with full site density, there is more than sufficient overlapping coverage that there will not be many coverage issues. And where there will be, Sprint is rolling out small cells to fill in the gaps, Robert

I see legacy Nortel cabinets for sure. But I'm not certain I see anything that looks like new Ericsson NV cabinets. Robert

There was a site visit to each site to do a site assessment before design work even started. An Ericsson rep and a Sprint rep did this assessment. They looked at each site and where and how cabinets, RRU's and panels would/could be installed. It was likely during site assessment that it was determined that they needed to go Ground Mount at these sites. Either because logistically it was too difficult to do anything but ground mount, or for structural reasons. But I disagree with a lot of their assessments. Robert

Based on the sites that have gone live to date, we have discovered no patterns. Sometimes they go live in the middle of the night. Sometimes during the day. Sometimes on the weekends. It is inconsistently inconsistent. Initially, when the Contractor completes the site and calls for inspection from Sprint, they turn it on.. If the site fails inspection, it may get turned off. Depending on the reason. If it passes, Sprint typically leaves them on. But occasionally they do take them down for unknown reasons. If they do take it down when they take possession from the OEM, they can typically turn it back on and off remotely. Robert

For some re-engineering? Robert

I just checked the Phoenix and Tucson/Yuma markets. They do not have any Ground Mount RRU's noted. They just have No 800 sites in the International boundary zone. Robert