halcyoncmdr

Repairing and refurbishing are not the same.

Correct rooting is ok, custom software is not. If you're able to load C00LR0M_1337_H4X_3D1T10N on your phone, you're able to find the stock image and flash it back. Rooting does not directly affect your device negatively but any custom software or hardware changes like overclocking are not supported as they can potentially damage your phone and cause unforeseen issues. Sprint corporate sites also are limited with phone ROM images. While a full service store will have a triage system with phone software images, they don't have everything. Feature phone software will be hit or miss, mostly miss. Field support for image reloads isn't a priority with manufacturers for the "dumb" phones, understandably. Most smart phones have images loaded, but they may not be up to date. It can take anywhere from a week to a few months after release for new software images to be loaded on the triage system (for varying reasons). Sometimes it's for damage control if there is an issue, If a software version has an issue, they can quickly turn off OTA updates, removing the image from all triage systems and reloading old images again takes much longer. Field servicing of handsets is a dance between the cost to produce for the manufacturer and field repair ability. While many parts are replaceable in store, there are many that are not and every single model is different. One phone you may be able to replace just about everything on it, buttons, camera, kickstand, camera flash, housing, screen, charging port, etc. while another one from the same manufacturer you can only change the housing and camera. Every model is different, and many times most of hte components are attached to the board and unable to be replaced. The most repairable phones the techs love. Stores are limited in the number of exchanges they are allowed each month. In addition, the store is required to stay below a 35% exchange rate overall. This includes devices that the store is REQUIRED to exchange regardless of repairability. iPhones cannot be repaired in store, Blackberries within warranty cannot be repaired, The HTC ONE cannot be repaired, and phones with internal batteries are hit or miss due to the potential for a technician to puncture the soft-pack batteries within and cause damage to the device, themselves or their surroundings. (Lithium ION Polymer IS NOT TO BE MESSED WITH) For those interested here's some info about the triage system used in corporate full service locations: 1. The system used is a triage laptop, usually an HP Elitebook. 2. It has both consumer-available software loaded like Blackberry Desktop Software, JL_Cmdr, Zune, iTunes, etc., and also proprietary Sprint/OEM software like Samsung SMART, Samsung's SimpleDL tools, LGnPST, Motorola RSD, some Kyocera/Sanyo tools for specific models, etc. 3. The laptop is loaded with DeepFreeze and is in a perpetual frozen state. Policy requires the laptop to be restarted after every phone serviced. This ensures all CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) is removed from the laptop before another phone is plugged in, potentially cross-contaminating data. 4. In reality, the laptop usually isn't restarted every time due to a number of issues with the system. The laptop takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes to restart, depending on how much information changed that DeepFreeze needs to revert back since the last reboot. In addition, in many cases large software downloads like Blackberry and iOS updates are not loaded on the computer locally and must be downloaded. Samsung SMART also takes about 20 minutes to unzip all of the software files after each reboot. 5. Many stores are still running on "legacy" backhaul just like the network. A few bonded T1 lines to supply the entire store with data connectivity simultaneously, including VoIP phones. The front office terminals used by reps are not full computers, but rather WYSE machines running Windows Embedded with a home server back in Kansas they connect to via remote connection. This particularly causes a delay in all actions if not under ideal network conditions, and the more active users, the slower it is for everyone. Some stores have upgraded AAV connections (my store has a connection from Cox at ~20Mbps, but I have no idea where that is going as I haven't seen a massive increase in speed since it was installed, with the exception of software downloads on the triage system, actual store operations are identically slow, but it may be ping time more than connection speed). 6. The store's repeater, if it has one installed, does not run off of the store's backhaul connection. There is a panel on the roof (looks like a standard PCS panel to me at my store, which I think is weird, but I am not trained on network mechanics) aimed at a nearby tower and that then is brought into the building and run through a rack similar to the one installed at the base station. There is a separate carrier card and equipment for the repeater in the building and several miniature antennae spaced around the server rack to provide service inside the store. It is very low power and does not travel very far outside of the store itself to ensure it does not interfere with the macro network as a whole.

55015 is the Individual-Liable (consumer) PRL. 54015 is the Corporate-Liable(Business) PRL. The CL ones have 3G data roaming enabled, the IL ones are limited to 1x roaming in most areas. If you are a business, you have preferential roaming agreements in addition to the rest of the CL benefits that Sprint has.

Keep in mind speed tests are not 100% scientifically accurate. There are hundreds of different little things that affect the overall speed you receive and the algorithm used to determine it. Packet size, tower load, overall test payload size, the specific server you are connecting to, the sector on the tower you are on, etc. Speed tests are decently accurate to get a general picture, but are not scientifically accurate in any way, there are too many variable that you cannot account for. The above posts are evidence of that. a 5x5MHz LTE carrier is theoretically limited to 37.5Mbps. This is in optimal lab conditions, you likely will almost never get that in the real world. Any tests showing speeds above that are impossible and a glitch in the speed test being performed. The speeds are likely close to what it says, with a margin of error, but any tests you see above 37.5MHz are not possible on either Sprint's 1900MHz or 800MHz LTE networks. Now, if they happened to be connected to a Clearwire 2600MHz site, that's a different story as you're seeing potential speeds up into the 90MBps range, but no phones support that band currently, only mobile broadband hotspots and USB cards. All of that being said, likely if you are getting 4-5Mbps you won't notice a difference from 30Mbps speeds unless you are downloading a large file. The main thing that you will notice however, is ping time. How long it takes from when you click on something until the signal for it actually reaches the server, and then how long it takes to get back after the server processes it. You can have a 50Mbps connection, but if you have a 150mb ping it will feel much slower than a 40ms ping on a 4Mbps connection. For 90% of users, the ping is the major factor in what they perceive as speed on a mobile device when browsing, playing games, etc. True bandwidth throughput is only perceived as speed when they are doing speed tests or downloading a file. Sprint is focusing on ping and consistent speeds with Network Vision. They are not trying to have the fastest overall, they are trying to have the most stable. This is much more likely possible with LTE spread across 3 different frequencies nationwide. The idea is users will connect to the highest frequency available, leaving the lower frequencies for others that aren't in range.

Sponsors have access to the NV Completion map that has info about individual towers updated for 800.

My understanding is the initial carrier the phone is activated on determines the carrier it is locked to on Apple's activation end. Even if you reload the software to the phone, when it connects to Apple's servers to verify activation, the server will send the carrier file for whatever carrier it is "activated" on at Apple's end. Correcting this is virtually impossible from a retail and end-user standpoint. The only group that can remove this activation information is Apple, and they don't really have any incentive to do so unless they are refurbishing the device to send back out potentially to another carrier instead. This is why Sprint stores are required to activate every iPhone sold before it leaves the store per corporate policy. Granted, the activation policy has been in place even before iPhones, probably to allow Sprint to track potentially fraudulent claims and phones if the need arose. It's just the iPhone has a more direct reason for this requirement.

Ideally you want to be as far away from others as possible. So 1 and 11 are the best options if available (you only have people on one side of you in the spectrum range). If those aren't available then as far away as others as you can. Around me I have 4 access points. One at 1, 6, 8, 11... so I set myself up at channel 4 and bumped it up to 40MHz spectrum on my 2.4GHz-only N-router. I know for a fact my router has the highest power output of any of these routers (they are basic consumer grade Linksys, Netgear, and Qwest routers judging by SSIDs and are likely to be using default settings knowing my neighbors, at least they setup security right?). In addition, our houses are far enough apart that while the signal is visible, they aren't really usable from my place. I have aimed my router's two bi-directional antennae down my house (it sits in a corner of the building) to get maximum signal at the other end of my place (200ft, brick and drywall) and still getting 60-80% signal strength depending on the device at the other end. On my neighbor's properties, the signal is visible and usable but would easily be overcome by a router on their property without causing interference where it would realistically be used. In addition, by bumping up to 40MHz spectrum usage I nearly doubled my WiFi speeds on most of my equipment. When you know what you're doing you can optimize pretty well. I've considered going around the neighborhood scanning WiFi and mapping out a rough setup to determine the most spectrum-efficient channeling and seeing if they're interested. Mutual improvement, and they know I do this kind of thing anyway, probably wouldn't be hard to convince people. I just haven't been that bored.

I have a better idea...

Until we get a solar eruption aimed directly at us and it wipes out all life on the planet.

They can also be 3G accepted and still broadcasting on legacy equipment as well for a variety of reasons. In some cases, even less equipment than was there previously if a legacy panel needed to be removed to make room for the new NV panel. This would account for degraded service after the "upgrade".

Planogram is a recognized word in the Oxford English dictionary... it's not really going anywhere any time soon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planogram http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/planogram

Actually, the cost to Sprint for a device (INCLUDING Apple) is very close to the "retail price" advertised. Obviously different phones have a higher margin, talk & text phones have the highest margins. However, when you get to smartphones, Apple doesn't actually do much worse than Samsung or LG when it comes to the wholesale and retail pricing difference. The margin is usually less than $50 on most smartphones. SOURCE: I see the wholesale price every day when I send devices back to the warehouse in returns/exchanges, etc. Now if you want to start talking about profit margin... let's look at accessories...

Yeah, that's standard and the date for the next major Planogram adjustment for the holiday season leading to Christmas. It also does not prevent Sprint from stopping the plan offering or changing it any earlier than that. It's just the expiration date for the advertising period.

I still blame CenturyLink 100% for this. My neighbor used to work for Qwest here before the merger, etc... it's exactly what Qwest used to do, just a different name.

That assumes they are willing to adjust their sales strategies, if they even pay attention to it at all. I agree with you 100%, but the type of reps I am talking about aren't like that, they are the 99% that don't care to adjust or change it up. They are used to what they do now, and won't change unless forced to, and if store management won't make them, then it won't happen.

Bill reprints have had a charge associated with them for some time now (at least a year). In addition, Sprint has obviously been pushing for much greener endeavors in the past several years, enough to get the #3 spot in Newsweek's Greenest Companies in America for 2 years in a row. They have also been dramatically increasing the amount of Self-Service options both on the website and through the Sprint Zone app. With those increased self-service options, they are now starting to charge for the time and labor it takes a rep to do the same thing you could do on your own like changing your phone number and reprinting your bill. The fact is a majority of the country has access to Internet, and most customers are now purchasing smartphones capable of utilizing it, so now that you can do these things yourself, they are decreasing calls into care, reducing the number of reps required to manage these calls, and if you aren't going to do something yourself that you can, they are going to charge you for that service. I'd equate it to self-serve gas stations versus full-service stations (laws permitting of course). The full-service will cost more as they have to pay labor for the employees to do what you can do yourself at a self-service station. Whether this cost is separated out for that specific service, or baked into an overall price increase across the board is up to debate. I'd rather Sprint charge less overall if you can manage your account yourself and charge people who require more personal support to manage their account as it requires employee time and labor. Granted, I say this because I can actually manage my own accounts and don't want to deal with a call center rep at any company if I don't have to knowing the average training regiment at many call centers nationwide.

Just an FYI for those here that don't realize this... Call center reps do not work for Sprint. They work for another company that Sprint contracts with to provide "customer support services". They have very basic training on the systems and how to do the most common things. Uncommon problems are unlikely to be adequately addressed unless you happen to get to someone that has been around for a while and actually wants to help. They are paid minimum or just above minimum wage and get yelled at by ignorant customers all day long for issues many times out of their control. Anything you tell a Care rep about what you want changed with Sprint, likely will go nowhere, they don't really care as they are there for a paycheck and to survive the yelling ordeal they get every day. Retail reps are salesmen. They don't care what you are complaining about, they are not paid to fix your problem, that's what customer care is for.If you are not purchasing something, they want nothing to do with you. They have quotas to meet and every minute they are working with you is time they are not making money. The management likely feels exactly the same way, if you are not in there to buy something, you are a waste of their time that they could otherwise be using to make money. It's the world we live in, America is entirely like the Ferengi from Star Trek, they were modeled on us after all... Service and Repair technicians in store are paid to fix your phone, but if your issue is not with the phone physically, they cannot do much, they can't work magic. 99% of customers do not understand that the issue can't be fixed by replacing their phone, they deserve it after all, right? It doesn't cost them anything to replace that $800 iPhone because data is slow and it has to be the phone even though every rep is telling them otherwise. The issue is however, many of the actually useful S&R tools the techs are not trained on, the company has relied so heavily the last 5 years on just having reps and techs call into National Sales Support and Technical Support when anything out of the ordinary happens that many reps and techs don't know how to do anything themselves, and they probably have no desire to either. The simple fact is the majority of customers that can't grasp concepts are easily fooled into thinking a profile or PRL update will fix their phone every time, and it gets them out of the hair of the rep, and possibly many more for quite a while, it's an easy fix. How do you properly work with someone who either can't or refuses to understand what you're telling them? It all comes down to call center and store management not holding reps accountable for their knowledge and expertise for years and years now. They may not be hiring people that truly fit the bill for the type of position they are filling, I know my entire region fits this perfectly, I can't imagine it's much different elsewhere. It's all bureaucracy above the store manager level as well, even if the front line rep wants to pass something up, it goes through so many chains until it just disappears because one person decides it isn't worth it, or forgets about it. This is the same for 99% of reps in 99% of locations everywhere, no matter which company they represent. I have friends that work in call centers and retail stores assisting Apple, Verizon, Comcast, Walgreens, American Express, etc. customers on a daily basis. It's pretty much the same song and dance day in and day out for all of them. The people that truly do care, look at the call center and retail system and say, "Uh, uh, oh hell no!", because the average American can't seem to tie their own shoe without help nowadays, and they feel that help should be free regardless. Maybe I'm a bit biased working in front line retail and tech support roles the last 6 years, I have no hope for our country to accomplish anything anymore.

Marketing and reality and never the same, for any company. Apple is a perfect example of this. It isn't magic that powers their devices, or even innovation, it's technology other people developed but they incorporated and marketed better. As far as a standard Sprint market is concerned, Morgan City is not. It may be for announcements, but not in reality. The only reason Sprint is announcing LTE this way is because it lines up better with what competitors are announcing. People like numbers, 99 markets doesn't sound like a lot, but that's how Sprint's standard markets nationwide are setup.

Morgan City is not a full Sprint market in and of itself however. I would assume it is part of the New Orleans or Southern LA market based on a cursory Google Search and no knowledge whatsoever of the Sprint market layout in that specific region. One city does not a market make (in most cases).

Corporate stores usually run off repeaters aimed at a macro cell. Once that macro cell is upgraded, the store will have the enhancements as well by virtue of that repeater. LTE on the other hand is a different story, the old repeater equipment obviously doesn't support that and will need a separate install in store if the macro coverage isn't adequate inside.

All internal GLANCE information regarding Network Vision gives 3 months windows for upgrade. 3,6, or TBD are the only notices I've seen. After it's accepted it gives the specific date of acceptance. I also have no idea when that windows is from. It's obviously not from that specific day you look, so I don't know if it is changes on Jan/Apr/Jul/Oct with annual quarters, or some other timeframe like Sprint's fiscal quarters, etc.

Yes, buy while it is low, then sit on it for a while. At this point, it will just go up.

THIS IS FULL OF ACCURATE INFORMATION The Network Vision panels have multiple antenna structures inside that can independently be controlled for downtilt remotely. The main panel can be set for a specific downtilt as the baseline, and then each antenna inside the panel can be adjusted according to what it needs for the desired operation.

The Network Vision equipment is already capable of 800MHz on both 1xRTT for voice and LTE for data. It just needs a separate RRU, which i already part of the NV rollout.