linhpham2

Hopefully Sprint will have ironed out the eCSFB issues by the time I'm eligible for an upgrade in October. I'm tired of waiting for Sprint to get its act together. Is there any way to map out the eCSFB (or band 26 or band 41, etc.) problem areas? S4GRU has maps for almost everything else.

That's the theory. But there's an entire eCSFB thread about Triband phones not being able to maintain an LTE connection.

As a consumer, I don't really care about Sprint's needs, only mine. Perhaps I'm confusing SVLTE and eCSFB. But they seem interconnected. Bottom line is: if I can't use my phone's LTE connection, then Sprint's "unlimited data" appeal is essentially worthless since their 3g data is even more crippled and hobbled than LTE. Sprint risks losing me as a customer. If it costs Sprint extra $$, let them eat the cost. They probably will anyhow to be competitive and prevent hemorrhaging customers.

Sprint should've kept simultaneous voice and data like it is on the Note 2 for the new Tri-band phones. eCSFB seems like a another headache for Sprint (in addition to the slow network upgrades). If not SV and D, then maybe a solution like on the iphone - intermittently turning off the radio and checking to see if there's any incoming calls.

Light Reading quotes the FCC: "Tom Wheeler said the Commission was imposing the ban on joint negotiations by the largest TV stations in a market to restore "fair and effective competition of retransmission-consent negotiations, to the ultimate benefit of consumers." Although Congress intended that the deals be negotiated on a one-to-one basis, he said, larger stations have increasingly banded together in the negotiations to gain higher carriage fees from pay-TV providers, leading to higher prices for consumers." http://www.lightreading.com/regulation/fcc-tackles-retrans-reforms/d/d-id/708474?

According to CNet, the FCC is making things more difficult for broadcasters. The FCC adopted 2 new orders: "In the first order, the FCC voted unanimously to prevent TV broadcasters from coordinating retransmission-consent negotiations with two or more local TV stations in a market. The commission said it was preventing such practices to ensure broadcasters negotiate in good faith. The second order prohibits TV broadcasters from teaming up to sell advertising, a practice that broadcasters say allows them to share operating costs so that they can invest more in local programming. Wheeler said that ending this practice is closing a loophole that has allowed major media groups to circumvent media ownership rules." http://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-broadcast-rules-could-affect-upcoming-spectrum-auction/

news from fiercewireless: FCC: AWS-3 rules will favor both small and large carriers Read more: FCC: AWS-3 rules will favor both small and large carriers - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-aws-3-rules-will-favor-both-small-and-large-carriers/2014-03-31#ixzz2xZNpOwt6 Subscribe at FierceWireless

That sounds better, I'll keep my "old" phone as a backup in case my new one gets lost, damaged or stolen.

If get a subsidized phone, then I can only upgrade every 20 months. Easy Pay lets me upgrade every year. Also, I want to keep my Everything Data plan because I watch a lot of streaming video and the theoretical 1 Mbps cap is too low. My only question: if I pay off 50% of the phone sooner than 12 months, can I upgrade at that time as well?

News from Fiercewireless: L.A. TV stations show broadcast channel sharing for 600 MHz auction is possible Read more: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/la-tv-stations-show-broadcast-channel-sharing-600-mhz-auction-possible/2014-03-28#ixzz2xH86ENLZ Hopefully, this will encourage broadcasters to free up more 600 Mhz spectrum to auction off.

Just got off the phone with Sprint customer care: They said that when I'm upgrade eligible in October that I can keep my Everything Data plan and get Easy Pay for a new phone. However, if I upgraded my phone now, I'd have to buyout my contract (the ETF fee) and change my plan. Considering that there's no LTE800 or Spark in my area, I can wait...

There was also the other announcement today: Sprint has formed a strategic partnership with the NetAmerica Alliance: From cnet: "Under this new partnership with NetAmerica, Sprint won't be roaming onto rural networks. Instead, it will allow these operators to use its 800MHz and 1900MHz spectrum and leverage its device ecosystem in order to build a 4G LTE wireless network that connects to and operates as an extension of Sprint's own network...The way it will work is that Sprint will provide its unused spectrum in the 800MHz and 1900MHz bands to the rural operators, which can combine that spectrum with their own assets...As for the benefit to Sprint, it gives the carrier access to a much wider 4G LTE footprint without having to spend billions of dollars to build the network. As is the case with many large operators, some of Sprint's spectrum licenses in these bands included rural regions the company never had any intention of building a network for...Through its relationship with the NetAmerica Alliance, Sprint can make that spectrum available to rural operators who will build out the network for them. These operators can combine the spectrum with their own spectrum to provide even more capacity to their customers. And because they are building their networks as extensions of Sprint's network, their customers will also gain access to Sprint's 4G LTE network in urban markets. Another benefit of this tight integration is that the rural carriers will also have access to the Sprint device ecosystem that is supporting both Sprint's frequency bands as well as the 700MHz sliver of spectrum these rural operators are using." http://www.cnet.com/news/sprint-pushes-farther-into-rural-america/

I found the quote: "Combining this with carrier aggregation -- bonding unrelated radio channels for a fatter pipe -- could give Sprint 120MHz of spectrum to play with in the second half of 2015, Hesse said. "That's two big channels of 60MHz," he adds. "We're talking 18 months away." http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/4g-lte/sprints-hesse-hd-voice-goes-nationwide-in-july-/d/d-id/708372?_mc=sm_lr

"Sprint will rely on its CDMA network and HD Voice technology for voice calling services for the foreseeable future, said Sprint Chief Network Officer John Saw. Saw said Sprint is investing in Voice over LTE technology, but doesn't have a timeline for deploying the service. "I think there's a lot of talk about VoLTE, but not very many people have rolled it out in a scale that you would need to sustain a good voice service," Saw said. "I think we continue to explore the opportunities of VoLTE, and I need to make sure that I have a big enough footprint with LTE before we can even roll it out. But we have been doing some tests and working with our vendors to explore the capabilities of VoLTE. So we are investing in it, but we really don't have a timeline for rollout." Read more: Sprint's network chief isn't rushing to deploy VoLTE - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-network-chief-isnt-rushing-deploy-volte/2014-03-25#ixzz2x55gAtpJ Subscribe at FierceWireless

According to the FCC's report in Dec. 2012, Using the techniques pioneered by White Space receivers, devices will be able to share the frequencies with the government if they incorporate geographic location information and interrogate data bases before they transmit: http://www.fcc.gov/document/enabling-innovative-small-cell-use-35-ghz-band-nprm-order More info at dailywireless: http://www.dailywireless.org/2012/12/12/fcc-paves-way-for-3-5ghz-band-nationwide/

More info from Alcatel-Lucent: "By using 8 receiver paths instead of 2, cell range is increased by a factor of 1.5 – and this difference is emphasized by the fact that the number of sites needed is reduced by nearly 50 per cent. Furthermore, using the beamforming approach in transmission mode generates a specific beam per user which improves the quality of the signal received by the end-user’s device, or user equipment (UE). In fact, steering the radiated energy in a specific direction can reduce interference and improves the radio link, helping enable a better throughput. The orientation of the beam is decided by shifting the phases of the Tx paths based on signal feedback from the UE. This approach can deliver double the cell edge downlink throughput and can increase global average throughput by 65 per cent." - See more at: http://www2.alcatel-lucent.com/techzine/8t8r-radio-modules-transform-lte-tdd-deployments/#sthash.J9uDzS8R.dpuf More detailed info from dailywireless.org: http://www.dailywireless.org/2013/10/30/sprint-spark-50-60-mbps/

Found it: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sprint-Broadband-Direct-Goes-Offline-July-31-94556

What kind of backhaul would Sprint need to provide at each site in order to provide 2 or 3 channel carrier aggregation?

You could easily find 10 people to join your framily by asking friends or co-workers...

IIRC, 3.5 Ghz might be useful/shareable with the military if used with small cells to provide extra capacity.

According to Dslreports.com, Sprint shut down a fixed wireless broadband in 2008.

Here's some analysis from Fiercewireless about Sprint's partnership with Dish and options for fixed wireless broadband: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analysis-sprint-dish-could-broaden-partnership-it-would-be-complicated/2014-03-25

Some more Spark news: Sprint "plans to expand its tri-band LTE Spark service to a two-carrier configuration toward the end of this year, which he said will result in peak download speeds of 120 Mbps. Then, by the end of 2015, Sprint plans to add another carrier to the configuration of its 2.5 GHz LTE network, which will result in three-carrier peak speeds of 180 Mbps." Read more: Sprint's Saw: Spark to hit 120 Mbps peaks at end of 2014, 180 Mbps peaks at end of 2015 - FierceWireless http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-saw-spark-hit-120-mbps-peaks-end-2014-180-mbps-peaks-end-2015/2014-03-24#ixzz2x06tGDXa Subscribe at FierceWireless

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fccs-wheeler-lays-out-vision-35-ghz-band-incentive-auctions/2014-03-25 http://cdn.arstechnica.net//wp-content/uploads/2012/07/spectrum-chart.png

Masa is really cleaning house at Sprint (hopefully for the better)! Another exec is gone, effective immediately: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-iyad-tarazi-leaves-company-network-team-restructuring/2014-03-25