WiWavelength

USCC is not that large. Acquisition would affect your general area and mine. But for most Sprint subs, it would be little different from Network Vision completion in some market on the other side of the country. They do not care because it does not help them. AJ

And now you get your ears boxed for quoting the entirety of Robert's lengthy post just to add a one phrase reply. AJ

Not the spelling and grammar industry, e.g. "loosing" and "must of." AJ

I do not think Sprint, T-Mobile, or Sprint-T-Mobile will ever be able to compete with VZW and AT&T on a total native footprint basis. Remember, the duopoly largely did not build their rural coverage. Rather, they acquired scads of already constructed Cellular 850 MHz properties over the past decade. And those Cellular 850 MHz properties had already been constructed and optimized over the previous decade or two. So, even if Sprint, T-Mobile, or Sprint-T-Mobile were to acquire substantial nationwide 600 MHz spectrum, the time needed to deploy to match the duopoly would probably be another decade. And even then, that would not guarantee a return on investment, since buildout, unlike acquisition, would not include any subs in the transaction. That is why Sprint-T-Mobile is not necessarily a bad idea. It would allow the combination to destroy the duopoly with speed and capacity in cities and along highway corridors. Wireless users might then actually have to choose between better service in cities and along highways from Sprint-T-Mobile or better service in rural areas from VZW or AT&T. Right now, with the duopoly, people can have their cake and eat it, too. And that just puts Sprint and T-Mobile in terrible positions. AJ

In overall footprint, she correctly gives the nod to Sprint over T-Mobile... AJ

You can cry your crocodile tears, but that does not mean those whom you perceive as rich do not suffer distress over job loss. Someone who is making $500,000 per year likely has much greater financial commitments than someone making $50,000 per year. He may have a $5000 per month mortgage payment. He may have a child (or two) at an Ivy League school or Stanford or Duke that runs $50,000 per year. Even if he can continue to afford those financial liabilities, he may still have to sell the house, pack up, and move to another city if he wishes to continue to work in the industry. AJ

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57620021-94/why-sprints-push-for-a-t-mobile-merger-will-likely-be-in-vain/ Discuss... AJ

Yeah, John Saw is going to be working hard, doing all of those site installs himself. You guys are getting giddy over next to nothing. First, two people lost their jobs. That may have negative effects on them and their families. Second, Elfman and Azzi were not the problems -- they were just the figureheads who fell on their swords as part of an overall systemic shakeup. AJ

http://gigaom.com/2014/03/06/atts-new-souped-up-lte-network-is-live-in-chicago-but-youll-have-to-wait-to-use-it/ I find this somewhat hard to believe, but it does come directly from the mouth of a well known AT&T network VP. I was not even aware that AT&T was finally using its long fallow AWS license in Chicago. But it is reportedly now using carrier aggregation between its 10 MHz FDD carrier in band 12 LTE 700 and a 5 MHz FDD carrier in band 4 LTE 2100+1700. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to prove this on a spectrum analyzer. Engineering screen readout is the only way. So, proof will require an AT&T device that supports carrier aggregation and has the necessary engineering screen readout. AJ

Elfman and Azzi got the "Saw." AJ

You are new to S4GRU, so welcome. But you also need to understand the rules. S4GRU does not host Sprint complaints. Rampant negativity just drags down the site, as it has done to other Sprint sites. If you want to ask questions, fire away. If you want to educate yourself as a sponsor, S4GRU is the place to be. But if you want to declare that service is "completely unacceptable," you need to do it elsewhere. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1197-s4gru-posting-guidelines-aka-the-rulez/ AJ

Embarrassed at what "fiasco"? Network Vision deployment is an ongoing. It will be largely complete later this year, and that was the plan. If you cannot be patient, find another provider. Also, tone it down. S4GRU does not host Sprint complaints. Read the rules: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1197-s4gru-posting-guidelines-aka-the-rulez/ AJ

To be clear, band 8 is GSM 900 MHz -- so called because it was the original GSM band in Europe. It has since been refarmed to some extent to W-CDMA. More importantly, though, we do not have that band in the US. ISM 900 MHz is considerably different, as it is unpaired. AJ

Not to harp on the semantics of "3G," which includes CDMA1X, but the Nex-Tech and United Wireless coverage that was Sprint Rural Alliance and is now roaming still includes EV-DO in the PRL. AJ

Uh, sorry to burst any bubble, but we have known about that spectrum map site for years. AJ

To the student body, I pose this question: what country is the analog for the US in terms of population size, geographic area, and wireless coverage extent? I contend there is none. The US stands alone. AJ

If the Nexus 5 band 26 figures are for conducted power -- and I recall that they are, though I would have to double check -- then they cannot be readily compared to the radiated power figures for the HTC M8. Conducted power does not take into account antenna gain. And antenna gain for <1 GHz in these small handsets is almost always negative. For example, the band 26 antenna gain in the HTC M8 is -2.5 dBi. AJ

Those countries are also the geographic size of single states in the US. And the four operators all have been apportioned sub 1 GHz spectrum -- unlike in the US, where the duopoly holds current and historic sway over sub 1 GHz. So, that parallel is not apt. AJ

Yes, we must remember that, in free space, 800 MHz has about a 7 dB path loss advantage over 1900 MHz. That means add 7 dB to the band 26 figure or subtract 7 dB from the band 25 figure -- but not both. In doing so, band 26 pulls ahead of band 25. And in the real world, the path loss disparity tends to be much greater, more on the order of 10-15 dB, in which case band 26 is way out in front. AJ

Meh, how am I going to use the fingerprint scanner when I am flipping through engineering screens, changing LTE band priorities, and sending SMS, all while driving? AJ

The HTC EVO LTE and Nexus 5 are two quite different handsets in several regards. The EVO LTE supports SVDO/SVLTE, so it can simultaneously maintain CDMA1X and eHRPD/EV-DO or LTE connections. As long as it has a CDMA1X connection, incoming calls and SMS should be unaffected. The Nexus 5 is a single radio path e/CSFB handset. It does not support SVDO nor SVLTE. If camped on LTE, notifications for incoming calls and SMS are tunneled through LTE. If the LTE signal is weak, that can cause missed notifications. At your present signal levels, LTE will be borderline to unusable. However, that is based on your EVO LTE testing. The Nexus 5 would offer a considerable improvement, probably on the order of 10 dB. Yes, CDMA2000 effectively predates W-CDMA, which is based on the former. Both are subject to cell breathing. AJ

The article always takes longer than expected, but it is now up on The Wall: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-362-teaser-how-does-htc-m8-rf-performance-stack-up/ AJ

We do not even know the final name for this handset, let alone the model number. The only thing we know is the FCC ID number. AJ

Actually, the "urgent and horrifying news" is that the HTC M8 does not support SVLTE. Oh, how are we ever going to manage?! AJ

by Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Monday, March 3, 2014 - 5:37 PM MST No one is publicly sure what the codenamed HTC M8 will finally be called. HTC One 2, HTC One More, or maybe pull an Apple move and just call it yet again the HTC One. Regardless, all of the big four domestic variants were added to the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) database today. The last to have its authorizations appear online this afternoon was none other than NM80P6B700 -- the tri band LTE variant undeniably headed to Sprint. As has been our trend over the past six months, we will still call this a teaser article -- albeit make it more extensive than usual. And we may not do a full RF breakdown in the future. Now that tri band LTE and 802.11ac, for example, are de facto standards among top of the line handsets, while SVDO and SVLTE have been laid to rest, there is less news to report on the RF side. But we do want to run a brief RF ERP/EIRP numbers comparison among the high end HTC handsets that have graced the Sprint lineup over the past two years because, well, HTC has developed a bit of a reputation among S4GRU members for losing its lead in the RF performance department. Despite its moniker, the HTC EVO LTE was downright poor on LTE, and the follow up Sprint variant HTC One and HTC One max were average at best. Numbers wise, the HTC M8 looks like a step in the right direction. Per the customary caveats, the available test bench measurements represent only maximum uplink ERP/EIRP, so they do not necessarily reflect the full two way RF performance equation. However, they can provide a decent advance peek inside at the RF proficiency of a handset. In that regard, the HTC M8 offers some improvements over its predecessors. See the table snapshot below (or link to it on Google Docs): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArY31Mr219-ydHh0c2xsUWFmbE1udW5vSnlSMjA3TFE&usp=sharing More and more, OEMs are hiding behind the shroud of confidentiality and not allowing public inspection of the antenna diagrams in their FCC OET filings. HTC now appears to have jumped on that bandwagon. Fortunately, the Sprint variant HTC M8 docs do reveal some antenna gain figures, and those numbers are not always divulged, diagrams or not. Of note are unity 0 dBi or positive 1 dBi antenna gains for >1 GHz bands. Compare these to the -3.5 dBi antenna gain for PCS 1900 MHz in the HTC EVO LTE. Additionally, though this is not apparent in the table because it lists only maximum figures, the ranges of max and min ERP/EIRP within the various frequencies in each CDMA2000 band class and within the various carrier bandwidths in each LTE band are more tightly clustered, more consistent than usual. This, likewise, could indicate enhanced antenna engineering. And, finally, the single radio path handsets that have arrived in conjunction with Sprint tri band LTE so far have generally been better RF performers. Will the HTC M8 -- or whatever it gets called -- follow suit? Early returns indicate so, but once S4GRU membership gets its hands on a few samples, field testing in the coming weeks will tell the full story. Source: FCC Thread: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5008-htc-m8new-flagship/