S4GRU

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It is not possible for LTE to start turning on Oklahoma within three months. Sprint is just completing RF design now for this market. To be mobilized and working in three months is virtually impossible. The earliest they could start is likely late Fall or early Winter. But I would guess more like early 2013. As for a WiMax phone exchange, that doesn't seem likely. But I won't say it's impossible. An early upgrade could be a good solution for many customers, though. Robert

I cannot believe Apple made a statement like this: The Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy S-III LOOK ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE ANY IPHONE PRODUCTS EVER. The only similiarities they have aesthetically is that they both are smartphones. ICS and TouchWiz ICS is nothing like iOS, except they are both user interfaces. These kind of quotes just make the whole thing a joke, and really not even material to their complaint. I don't know why they even make such stupid comments. Robert

It's possible that they were not able to renew the lease on the other nearby site. It's tough to say at this point. Robert

Thank you.

Clearwire intentionally selecting ghettos is absurd. I still fail to see the motive for doing this? Less people using the network? That's stupid. Besides, if you ask the average AT&T and Verizon customer, they would say that all of us Sprint customers are "Ghetto." And doesn't Boost Mobile have a reputation of being "ghetto?" If I were to guess, Sprint probably has a higher share of customers in "ghetto" areas than other carriers. Although, I cannot believe I am trying to rationally discuss this. Robert

I tried to go without using a launcher. But I despise having my app drawer on the right hand side. And I also don't like my dock bar to not have any separation from the main field of icons. I am using Go Launcher with their 3.0 UI Theme, using ICS icon pack. I like the very faint and fading separation with dock bar with this theme. Very clean and stylin, IMO. I am using HD Widgets for my Clock/Weather. The TouchWiz clock was driving me nuts. I didn't like the colors. It was clashing with every background I selected. If I can't have Vanilla Android, then I like the look of many of the Go Launcher themes. Robert

dust storm More than I can count. I have lived in New Mexico and Nevada combined almost 20 years.

This is correct. Clearwire makes no additional money from Sprint WiMax devices whether they connect to the network or not. However, LTE will be a different story. LTE will be paid to Clearwire on a usage basis. Robert

Oklahoma and South Bend did not get 4G WiMax deployments, whereas Pittsburgh and Denver did. Robert

This may be hard to believe, but I have never really thought about the difference in frequency when considering the difference in build out requirements. This makes a lot of sense. Robert

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Per my sources, Clearwire paid approximately $30,000 per Protection Site on average...all costs. This is chump change to maintain licenses. It doesn't really make any sense to let any of the licenses go at this point. Also, there really is no demand for these licenses. Especially in rural areas. Clearwire is not an investment company sitting on spectrum. They are a real company that ran into financial problems. They are using EBS/BRS spectrum in almost 100 markets (when you include Expedience markets). This is not a fly by night company. If there is a legitimate company that wants Clearwire's unused spectrum in rural areas, I bet Clearwire will be more than happy to part with it at a fair price. But there really isn't anyone out there who wants it at this point. I do believe that in 2 years, Clearwire spectrum will be a much hotter commodity. Forfeiting a license that didn't meet FCC Minimum Coverage Requirements is not a minor thing. It is a violation by the FCC and could hinder their ability to bid in future auctions. When the FCC takes your license back because you did not meet build out requirements is a punitive/disciplinary action. Not only would Clearwire lose that license, but they would NEVER be allowed to regain it in the future. At $30,000 per site, it's a no brainer to do the Protection Sites. The entire Protection Site operation was approximately $20M. But it is protecting over a $1B in spectrum assets and keeps Clearwire from running afoul with the FCC. I think the only criticism I have in all this is that the FCC Minimum Coverage Standards were too low on this spectrum. I think even they realized it, because the build out requirements on 700MHz is tougher. Robert

Yes. It just posted. Robert

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Friday, June 29, 2012 - 12:28 PM MDT The next market in our Network Vision/LTE deployment schedule update series is ...Tampa. The Tampa Bay area has yet to be announced by Sprint, but is expected to be announced in the near future. Perhaps around the time of the first market launches. The Sprint Tampa market encompasses all of the Sprint native coverage in the Tampa Bay area, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties. This includes Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Seminole, Largo, Dunedin, Brandon, Plant City, Riverview, Palm Harbor, New Port Richey, Tarpon Springs, Zephyrhills, Spring Hill and Brooksville. Sprint's Network Vision OEM Ericsson is scheduled to begin mobilizing with its subcontractors in August. Completed Network Vision sites should start coming online around the first of Septemeber. Tampa Market Launch It was Sprint's original plan to launch markets when they reached 50% of sites converted to Network Vision. However, it has now been determined that Sprint will move up launches sooner than 50% completion in several markets. This is likely to maintain a Mid 2012 launch in markets that have already been announced. However, in an unannounced market like Tampa, we don't know if they will resume pushing back market launches to 50%, or if they will now settle on a 40% completion to be the new normal for market launches. It doesn't much matter in this market if Sprint launches at 40% or 50% completion. Ericsson is scheduled to hit both the 40% and 50% milestones in the month of December (should they stay on schedule). It may seem that 40% - 50% site completion is not enough to launch LTE service, but it would provide pretty good coverage. Even Verizon doesn't launch on all sites in a market initially. Usually less than 50%, then filling in with more and more sites every few months. Anticipated Sites Complete at Market Launch. According to the Network Vision schedules that S4GRU has reviewed, if Sprint launched the market in December, these are the anticipated sites that would likely have LTE complete at that time. This would provide fairly good LTE coverage over many parts of the market. Schedule details and the bottom line We currently do not have a date that Sprint will formally "launch" LTE service around the Tampa Bay. It is difficult to try to pick a date now this far out, but we will take a stab at it. In looking at the schedule as of today, it would indicate a December market launch (going on a 40% - 50% completion for launch). But there is no way to know if Ericsson and their subcontractors will actually hit their schedule dates this early in the deployment for this market. We will be able to gauge better after a few months of production. Ericsson will only need to hit a production rate of 45 sites per month to stay on schedule. This appears to us to be an achievable rate. If properly prepared and equipped and if backhaul is ready timely, this market shouldn't have problems staying on time. But this is easy to say before they get started. S4GRU has examined the schedule in great detail in this market and sees that most of the sites will be complete by March 2013. However, there may be a few sporadic sites that will linger past the completion. Photo of Tampa skyline provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. NOTE: S4GRU Sponsor Members can track regular updates of Network Vision sites completed nationwide. Completed sites are shown in an interactive Google Maps interface. Information about sponsorship can be found here: S4GRU Sponsorship

We will have a Network Vision/LTE update on the Philadelphia market some time this weekend. It is true that work was scheduled to start in the Philly market this month, and it's possible the very first site could be on-air by July 22nd. However, it will be a while out until market launch. The details will be in the article. Robert Robert

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Yes, just like that!!!

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They had two Body Glove cases in Santa Fe. One that was completely hard sided in a silver and blue, and a rubberized case in black with ride ribs on the back. The hard sided one was sharp and went really well with the device, but I don't like hard cases much. I was hoping for something rubberized in a pebble blue color. Robert

I'm waiting on a Viper I bought from a member to come in. I want to try to do all the testing at the same time to give a more consistent and fair shake. However, the cells I am going to be doing testing in are all very low use rural cells. So it probably doesn't make any difference at what time of day I do testing. In these cells, they always perform at max speed. The only variable is the radio connection and quality of device. The speed results that I offer in the test is mostly just anecdotal. It's the signal performance that is the main point of the test. I'm hoping to do the testing next week. So far, through casual observation, the GS-III is doing very well in my edge of service areas. Much better than the Galaxy Nexus I replaced it with. Robert

I went to buy a new case at the Sprint store in Santa Fe yesterday. They didn't even have any out on the floor yet. I was the first person to bring the S-III in to the store so far. Surprisingly, they had six cases already in stock in the back and brought them all out for me to try. Even though they had some really nice Body Glove cases, and they had a really durable Ballistic case, I decided to go with the one below. It comes in both pebble blue and marble white to match the highly stylised GS-III. It comes with a new back for the flap to connect to. So if I drop it and it gets scratched up too badly, I can either buy another case, or I can put the original back in its place. We will see how well this works. I've also now got my home screen the way I want it: