S4GRU

There are 82 sites live in the Houston market as of the last update we received on July 15th. Robert

Deployment will not begin in the Utah market until 2013. Robert

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Guy Fieri says hi. I ate at his restaurant in Santa Rosa, California. Man I'm hungry. It's already after 8 PM and I still haven't eaten. I may pick up the Nexus after I get back from vacation. So long as I do not over spend. Robert

Welcome to S4GRU! Robert

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This is a well written post. It's OK to write a detracting post. It just needs to be rational, well thought out and explained. Good job. Robert

I've actually cleaned up this thread and removed some of the content. I do not mean to piss anyone off or alienate any members, but this thread was linked on Twitter. It's kind of a PSA. I hope you all understand. Robert

The last time I checked the average Home ISP in America has download speeds under 6Mbps. However, some cities are really blessed to have much higher speeds. I agree that people need to keep Sprint LTE performance in perspective. I also live in a market that will not begin deployment until next year. Unless Dan Hesse decides to upgrade the site in El Valle de Arroyo Seco, NM early just for little 'ol me. Robert

I don't see Clearwire ever doing that on a large scale again. It's my opinion that we will not see large scale wireless Home ISP solutions again in urban areas. Clearwire will probably offer a LTE router to customers. But I don't expect it to be very compatible with their Hotspot deployment strategy, especially considering they have dropped their retail component. Robert

I have an iDEN thinning map from my iDEN Thinning Article: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-142-sprint-continues-nextel-iden-site-thinning-measures-at-full-steam-ahead/ But Delaware is not in its own market, so its tough to say. But I bet there were some sites removed there too. Robert

Yes. The LTE carrier will be 5x5 as well. However, it is assumed that Sprint will start employing Carrier Aggregation with LTE Advanced some time in 2014 that will allow two 5x5 carriers to act more like one 10x10. Sprint also has room to add another 5x5 LTE carrier in PCS spectrum in many markets. Also, starting in the second half of 2013, Clearwire will start rolling out its 20MHz TD-LTE carriers that will be available to Sprint customers. Robert

Sprint is not likely ever to offer a full Home ISP solution. It would require too much valuable spectrum. And if they did, they would have to do like Verizon with their home service and have Draconian usage limits. I think the days of wireless home ISP solutions are over for large scale urban deployments. There is, however, enough spectrum to pull this off in a lot of rural areas though. Robert

I too appreciate your site and your work. And I understand your points and definitely considered a lot of that before posting this. I think one of the points I may not have made clearly in my editorial is not so much the whining from people who are ignorant, but those who whine to me. People who follow S4GRU and read what we write. Thanks for your counter point, Artem. It deserves to be heard and seen as well. Robert

I give pessimistic customers slack all the time. But if they will not allow me to explain to them what is going on and listen to any point, then they should go. Really. You can't work with someone like that. People really do have a choice. And no one forces them to stay with Sprint. My tolerance level for these people has been severely reduced the past few days, and I'm not going to take it anymore. Maybe I just need a vacation? Robert

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Planning for base equipment typically happens 6 months in advance of deployment. So it sounds like the market is right around my Projections of Winter. Thanks for this info. Robert

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I have found a way to go into LTE Only mode on the GS3. It requires your MSL code. Go into your phone dialer. Type ##DATA#. Select Edit. Enter your MSL #. Select Others from the Data menu. Select HCR/1x Selection. Select LTE Only Mode. You wont be able to make a phone call or text, but it will allow you to hold on to a LTE signal, even faint, without jumping back to 3G. I realize it's not ideal, but it gives you an opportunity to test for LTE signals (even faint ones) without getting bumped off. To return back to normal, repeat the process and select LTE + CDMA + EVDO Mode. Robert

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 5:01 PM MDT I am taking a moment and breaking from our normal Network Vision news and educational pieces to write an editorial. I try not to bloviate, but I feel like I am at a breaking point here. This weekend was a moment of great joy for many of us Sprint Network Enthusiasts as 4G LTE started going live at hundreds of sites across the country in a few select markets. However, our geek party was frequently interrupted by incessant whining. One of the chief frequent whines I heard around S4GRU was related to LTE coverage. And it still is populating our forum posts, my e-mail box and our social media sites. You folks need to wake up and get a grip. The world is not ending. S4GRU has been out there building expectations among our members and readers from the beginning. We have written hundreds of articles on Network Vision/LTE deployment. Anyone who actually reads our content knows that Sprint is targeting 40% market completion at market launch. 40%. That means 60% of the sites within a market do not have LTE at the time a market is planned to launch. Sprint did not quite even get to 40% with these July 15th markets, but proceeded any way based on demand from customers wanting access. You hypocrites! You know, I find it very interesting that so many people were pushing Sprint to stop blocking LTE connections. There was a large battle cry from most Sprint LTE device holders in active deployment areas for Sprint to stop blocking completed LTE sites. "Let me use my LTE, darn it!" This was heard over and over again. We even were championing for Sprint to open up their LTE network at completed sites for customers to use. Finally, Sprint does exactly that. Instead of rejoicing, there was whining en masse. "I live in the San Antonio market. And the block where I live behind the Piggly Wiggly doesn't have LTE right this very second. Sprint sucks. I'm leaving!" Really? Are people that messed up??? Many of you should be ashamed of your self-centered ridiculous tantrums that you posted, publicly embarrassing yourself. You act as if Sprint actually went through maps and hand picked who would win and who would lose in early deployments. This is far from reality. Early access or comprehensive coverage? Pick one, you can't have both The question I have for you folks is this... Should Sprint have waited until these markets were 100% complete later this year to allow the completed LTE sites to be used, or should they open up the markets now where at least the completed sites can be used? This is a no-brainer! Open them up now and every additional site that goes live every week, as they are complete! These markets that have launched are not done. They are still active deployment zones and additional sites will come live every week until completed. And we will update the progress here at S4GRU. This ridiculous moaning and complaining will just make it more likely that Sprint will not allow other markets to go live early. If all they hear from their customers are the whiny bunch, then they will think their customers don't want LTE until it is completely ready, with no bugs and completely 100% deployed. You may not like it, but the complainers are speaking for all of us. Time to stand up and go on the offensive If you want to continue to have access to the LTE network early, then you need to stand up and start posting out there the counter story. The tech sites, blogs and forums are being inundated with these people speaking on your behalf. Complaining about all the problems of an early launch and early access to LTE. You may even have to go to the Sprint Community Forums and help defend the intelligent decision to open up LTE early. The counter point needs to get out there. It's time for the Wireless Nerds to take our rightful place. We want access to the network early. We would rather live with a few bugs and limited coverage than to not have access to Sprint's LTE network at all. Sprint needs to continue opening up their LTE network even in more places where they can. And they will be afraid to do that in the next markets if we don't take a stand. I know this editorial may be a little over the top for some of you. But I am mad as hell, and I'm not going to let the whiners speak over our voices any more. We are Sprint, not them! Signed, Robert Leader of the Nerds EDIT: Changed the two references to bitching. I violated my own rules.

Yes. It looks like Lakewood will have some LTE coverage at market launch. Long Beach will have a little. It will grow week after week though after launch until the whole market is covered. Robert

This is a good question. I am wondering myself. I have all four LTE smartphones from Sprint. I can tell you that in the Sprint LTE phones to date, there is virtually no difference in battery life in CDMA only versus CDMA/LTE mode when not connected to LTE. However, I do not know if that is still true with an active LTE connection. It may be too soon for our members to comment, but I'd love to hear some feedback. Robert

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Thanks for the post. Appreciate the update. Robert

I wouldn't quite put in those terms. I would say that it appears that the Missouri market may start deployment this Winter, right after 2nd Round markets have all started. The design work is complete in this market. Some work may start early with subcontractors, especially backhaul deployment and base cabinets delivery and install. Some of that work may be under way very soon. If Sprint wanted to, they could probably move up deployment to start a little early in this market, so long as backhaul deployment can keep up with an accelerated schedule. However, I have yet to see one shred of evidence that this is going to occur...yet. I think the absolute earliest deployment start that could happen in Missouri is October/November. And that would be very aggressive if that happened. Robert