S4GRU

You missed something. 800MHz LTE is being held up by iDEN decommissioning, not LTE Advanced. Sprint is deploying all its LTE in Network Vision to be LTE Advanced ready. So it will be easy to implement LTE Advanced when it comes out. And the time line for LTE Advanced is not firm. It's estimated to be the end of 2013 or early 2014 for LTE Advanced to be out there. Sprint is fully deploying 800MHz 1xA and LTE carriers in Network Vision right now. Everything down to the antennas that will propagate 800 are being deployed in Network Vision. However, when the Ericsson, Samsung or A/L trucks drive away from a completed NV site, only 1900 will be broadcast from the NV cell site. However, once iDEN is fully decommissioned in a market, Sprint can remotely turn on the 800 to begin transmitting without even a site visit. So Sprint will likely have places they could start turning on 800 service before the end of 2012. One thing I don't know yet, though, is what will they be turning on using 800 at the end of 2012? They may just turn on 1xA only on 800 initially. For instance, if they do not have devices out there that support LTE on 800, why turn it on? We don't know yet if Sprint will be releasing LTE devices that support 800 this year. So it would make zero sense to run the 800 LTE carriers if there were no devices that could use them. Since it's all remote controlled in NV, they would likely wait to turn on 800 LTE until after devices were being sold that support it. But we still don't when that will be. There will not be a 1900 LTE network, and a separate 800 LTE Advanced network though. LTE Advanced does not increase performance in itself. The big changes coming with LTE Advanced is aggregating carriers and increased MIMO support. When people are talking about faster speeds with LTE Advanced, it's not because it's faster than LTE with all things being equal. A single 5x5 LTE carrier without MIMO will perform the same as a 5x5 LTE Advanced carrier without MIMO. What LTE Advanced does is allow multiple carriers to be aggregated together for faster speeds, and more MIMO antennas installed to allow the device to talk to and send data back and forth to different carriers simultaneously. This is what can cause the break neck theoretical speeds everyone is gushing about with LTE Advanced. However, if you just put LTE Advanced on an existing LTE network, with no other changes, the network will perform the same. To get the 100MB+ speeds with LTE Advanced, FDD-LTE wireless cos are going to need to aggregate 3 10x10 FD-LTE carriers. And currently, no one in America can do that. Even Verizon currently only has one 10x10 carrier. Other than Clearwire, no American wireless co has enough spectrum to try to aggregate really large carriers. So LTE Advanced is going to be a big disappointment for consumers who are expecting their wireless carrier all of a sudden to be faster than their cable modem. That will not happen for a long time, and only if more spectrum gets allocated for wireless broadband. Other than maybe Clearwire. What LTE Advanced is going to do most, is allow wireless companies to aggregate small chunks of spectrum together to be more useful. This is what Sprint is going to do. Sprint is going to deploy two separate 5x5 FD-LTE carriers. One in 1900 and another in 800. When LTE Advanced comes out, Sprint will then aggregate these two carriers together. This will allow their LTE now perform more like Verizon's 10x10 nationwide carrier. This is a big deal. And this is going to be critical for the small and regional wireless companies who have much more limited pockets of spectrum, sometimes in different band classes. So LTE Advanced will allow better performance, but not in the way many people are thinking. In the short term, LTE Advanced is more about maximizing small chunks of spectrum holdings into something more useful. However, LTE Advanced could really mean something big for Clearwire. As they have the big chunks of spectrum available to start aggregating big carriers into a monster of a LTE network. But I'm still not sold that the world wants mobile data faster than 20MB to 30MB. And they definitely don't want it if it comes at a premium cost.

It's highly variable. Most do not run on EBS/BRS like Clearwire. There are many colleges who have WiMax that run on EBS frequencies though. WiMax can be run at 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz. Most of the utility companies that run WiMax do so in the 3GHz range, where it's easier and cheaper to get local spectrum. One of the Pueblos around here are using an Expedience system (like the Clearwire Pre-WiMax system). And they run it at 900MHz. They originally were trying to use inexpensive 3GHz frequencies, but it won't penetrate adobe. So they switched to some 900 frequencies that would. But WiMax hasn't been designed for use on lower frequencies and the WiMax Forum wouldn't help them to try because they are such a small customer with only 500 POP's. So they had to switch to Motorola Expedience that would run on 900. But the max speeds Expedience can handle are much slower. Like around 3MB max.

story line S4GRU is now mobile...posted via Forum Runner

I don't know if its a requirement, per se. I have seen people in forums elude that it is. But I never seen it definitively from a reputable source say that LTE devices must be handled with SIMs. However , I will say every instance of a LTE device I'm familiar with thus far has a SIM card though. Even all of Verizon's CDMA/LTE devices have SIMs. That, of course, doesn't mean it can't be done. But even if it is technically possible to be a SIMless LTE carrier, would Sprint want to do that? S4GRU is now mobile...posted via Forum Runner

WiMax is very popular here in New Mexico with rural governments, especially the Pueblos (Indian Reservations). Up the road here in Taos is a local utility company that offers WiMax to its customers. It is very popular with rural customers who cannot get DSL. Also, the Santa Clara Pueblo and San Illdefonso Pueblo offer WiMax to its tribal members, almost like a wireless DSL utility. In these applications, WiMax is great. You can reach lots of rural customers with a last mile alternative that is much less expensive than traditional DSL. And these customer are ecstatic...getting 8MB to 12MB download speeds. Often faster than people a few miles away who can get DSL from Windstream. But as a Nationwide Wireless network, I think WiMax is dead. I can't see it being in smartphones and tablets again.

I wish the government agency I worked for would do away with Blackberrys. This thing is cramping my style!!!

I think I said this in another thread, but Ericsson will likely have more cities than the other NV partners in the first round. They have been managing Sprint's network for a few years now and know the ins and out of their customer very well now. They also were a big part of the planning of NV early on. So my guess is Ericsson will have double the cities in the first round. However, by the second half of the year, I bet Samsung and A/L get up to speed really quickly and meet Ericsson deployment speeds. In a lot of ways, this going to be a competition. It was a very good move to have three firms handling deployment. Breaking it into 4, would have been even better. But I don't think Sprint could handle Network Vision being deployed any faster than it already is. It would be a major cash flow crunch and very difficult to fund.

I usually find that on a smartphone, it takes aboutt 600k to have decent experience on streaming video. Like Netflix. 1 MB is even better (virtually no buffering). Any faster than 1MB, you don't notice a performance difference. But faster speeds are needed for higher resolution tablets, though.

morning sunrise

I'm a bureaucrat, too. Shhh!

I really like the Mobile site. I can read our articles on that, whereas news articles aren't available on Tapatalk or Forum Runner.

I agree this is an issue. I went through all the settings for the last 20 minutes, and couldn't find anything to change it. It will take some hard code revisions. The site is done in CSS (which I am ignorant in). I only know HTML. So I will keep this on my to do list and will get it changed in the long term. Thanks for suggesting it.

LOL

If I come across this setting on IP Board, I will activate it just for you!

I'm definitely not a government control kind of guy...but I believe when it comes to spectrum, the government needs to set the rules in a way that the big two cannot just sweep in and dominate. It would be devastating to American consumers. In the interest of competitions and fair markets, we need to prevent a big winner takes all scenario. Auctions to the highest bidder is not the right solution, , as it would guarantee the two biggest coffers would win all the spectrum. I think if they do persist with uncontrolled auction scenarios, they then need to make some strong minimum coverage standards, especially with high standards for tertiary and rural markets. Because AT&T is sitting on gobs of unused secondary, tertiary and rural spectrum. They really just want to buy all this spectrum nationwide and deploy it only where and as needed in the Top 100 markets. It's nearly criminal. And I'm getting sick of it. Almost to the point I want to become a lobbyist for our cause!

For people who live in WiMax markets, or happy with their 3G performance and don't care about LTE, then this is a good deal. All things considered.

Great post! Thanks for posting this! I have seen upgrades much cheaper, but since it's only at corporate stores...well that's a bummer for getting a really good discount. I hope they open it up to other Sprint device sellers, like Amazon Wireless and Radio Shack, etc. I think you're right. This is a way to try to clear out old WiMax inventory before LTE hits the streets. I think the big news in all this is now we have a good idea when LTE devices will hit the market. And this is exciting, because this would be ahead of schedule. Originally, LTE devices were slated for mid year. For Sprint to beat a schedule related to LTE and NV would be a great shot in the arm for boosting consumer confidence.

The SIM card aspect is not one I even ever thought about.

It's the million dollar question. I've asked some inside Sprint sources, they all say they don't know either. I find that hard to believe. So I'm left to think the worst. Although, I have two new leads I'm chasing down. I'm hoping that one of them will lead me to the pot of gold!

I'm actively using both Tapatalk and Forum Runner now. To keep track of any issues or bugs. I have a S4GRU app on my to do list. But I don't think I am going to get to it until at least April.

power save S4GRU is now Mobile...sent from Tapatalk App

Ed...thanks for joining the S4GRU page!