WiWavelength

The public bestows upon AT&T certain rights and privileges -- sanctioned monopoly, spectrum licenses, right of way, etc. As as result, AT&T has a responsibility to serve the public good, something that it does to a bare minimum. Furthermore, telecom and broadband have become de facto necessary services. None of the aforementioned applies to your example of Apple. Nope, not me. I am not the sociopath that many CEOs are. And Randall Stephenson makes about as much money in one month as I will likely make in my entire lifetime. So, if I were somehow appointed CEO of AT&T, I would not let shortsighted shareholder greed influence my leadership one iota. I would do what is right for the public good first, the employees second, the shareholders last. The board could fire me, and I would not care a whit. AJ

AJ

If others do not step up to sponsor the clock, I can return several times as the sponsor. It will be like Robert is George Steinbrenner, and I am Billy Martin. AJ

Uh oh... AJ

Regarding AT&T, I will believe it when I see it. Dividend obsessed AT&T is CAPEX averse. AT&T views its real customers as its shareholders. Subscribers, on the other hand, are just an inconvenient means to an end. As such, AT&T would rather buy existing revenue producing assets than build out its own network. Furthermore, the claim of "10,000 new macrocells" seems like quite a stretch. Prima facie, that would increase AT&T's macrocell count by something like 20 percent. So, I see some potential inflating of the stats here. One, AT&T could count deployment of new AWS, PCS, Cellular, or WCS panels for LTE on existing sites but separate racks as new macrocells. Two, the timeframe mentioned is for LTE footprint expansion; no timeframe is included for the deployment of these supposed new macrocells. Thus, we could be talking about something that will not be fully realized until 2020. Color me skeptical. AT&T is a jerk of a corporation that is highly representative of what is terribly wrong with telecom and broadband in this country. In the end, AT&T needs to show me something before I give it the benefit of goodwill. AJ

Nope. No first world operator in its right mind would switch to GSM at this stage in the game. Even AT&T née Cingular was arguably foolish for doing so about 10 years ago. And, for the record, GSM does not mean W-CDMA nor LTE. Heck, at this point, newly deploying W-CDMA would even be a crazy, conformist move. AJ

In November, Robert smokes turkeys. And Ergen is a turkey. Watch out, Charlie. AJ

Do you know what you are? You are what you is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc2mmqiO8mk AJ

Clearwire's BRS/EBS 2600 MHz spectrum is not the "worst" for mobile video. In many ways, it is the best spectrum for mobile video -- especially, if we are talking time shifting, on demand mobile video. That takes massive capacity, hence massive bandwidth. And only BRS/EBS offers that kind of available bandwidth. As for T-Mobile, its racks are typically rather full with three panels right now. So, T-Mobile does not look to be in good position to host another operator. Honestly, I wonder if Ergen is making all ruckus in an attempt to twist Sprint's arm into a hosting agreement for Dish's existing spectrum, letting Dish take a minority position in Clearwire and use its excess spectrum. Then, Charlie calls off the dogs. AJ

The iPhone 5 physical variants are actually A1428 and A1429. AJ

Nope. USCC does not hold any TDD spectrum. Besides, USCC has a footprint in just a few corners of the country. Not that much... AJ

Not sure. But around the turn of the century, AT&TWS was supposedly very close to migrating to CDMA2000. However, an investment from NTT DoCoMo was reportedly predicated on a switch to GSM because it would lead to W-CDMA. And AT&TWS was the first domestic operator to deploy W-CDMA in a few markets. AJ

Yes! That's awesome! You're crazy, man. You're crazy. AJ

You can call me AJ-Wan. AJ

Why? MetroPCS is highly limited in its market presence -- the Bay Area is hardly the end all, be all for Sprint. But debt issuance required to absorb MetroPCS could have been the end of Sprint. AJ

I know that. I am being facetiously hyperbolic. But you are showing your age -- or lack thereof -- by buying into smartphone camera specsmanship. As a long time photographer and film major, I have more knowledge of photography in my little finger than most of you do altogether. Current smartphone camera specs matter very little. The cameras are good for casual shots, not much else. And that is not going to change much with the typical smartphone form factor. AJ

Folks, you need to learn that, under the current system, sales and customer service positions are almost entirely entry level suckage jobs. That has not always been the case, but it certainly is the case now, as "Walmart" consumers have come to expect very low prices and cost cutting capitalists have come to expect egregious profits. Few in those entry level suckage jobs have the education, training, or wherewithal to share accurate info instead of corporate propaganda or even wishful thinking. If you have a problem with that, then start educating yourself before making decisions and stop supporting the current system that basically serves to prop up asshat capitalists. AJ

You mean back to 2005 when you were five years old? AJ

This is just typical, under informed whining and complaining. Sprint, via its integral partnership with Clearwire WiMAX, actually started upgrading its network to 4G standards in the East Bay before any of the other operators did. WiMAX deployment in the entire Bay Area is quite substantial. The striking exception is Berkeley. I really like Berkeley. But the "People's Republic of Berkeley" is highly resistant to new wireless deployments or complete overhauls of existing deployments. If you know otherwise, show some evidence, or shut up. In the end, you likely lost out due to your own lack of knowledge. As a long time Sprint sub in the Bay Area, why did you choose an LTE handset instead of a WiMAX handset? You have been a member here for over a year -- ah, but you have not given a dime to become a sponsor. So, you kept yourself ignorant of Sprint LTE deployment progression. Well, adios, muchacho.... AJ

And this has been a persistent issue for the GSM focused operators and their oversized W-CDMA carrier channels. It has caused them years of deployment and spectrum problems. I have been harping on this for a good decade now. The US operators chose poorly when they let the Eurasians dictate a standard that was not well suited for existing US spectrum. AJ

As a counter, why run all sprinklers and overwater areas of your yard that do not need it? That just leads to overgrowth. I am not a fan of overuse of unlimited data, so I do not have a problem with Sprint's selective deployment of additional bandwidth where it is actually needed. AJ

No matter. My prediction: we will all have hoverboards and holodecks by the time that Robert's home VZW site gets AWS. AJ

It will be interesting to watch how the truth plays out. VZW has tens of millions of Droid DNAs, iPhone 5s, and other handsets over the past two years that will have no idea the AWS overlay even exists. So, having their data traffic excluded could be a definite advantage. On the other hand, the advantage gained by the Galaxy S4, Lumia 928, and future band 4 devices will be limited to the density and briskness with which VZW rolls out the AWS overlay. And I am guessing that VZW will cherry pick high traffic sites and take several years to deploy AWS to any great degree. AJ

And in some markets -- New York, Chicago, Boston, etc. -- VZW had existing AWS 2100+1700 MHz spectrum, then was able to acquire SpectrumCo-Cox and swap some AWS with T-Mobile to arrange a final tally of 40 MHz contiguous AWS. Thus, in those markets, VZW can be the first operator to deploy 20 MHz FDD, double the bandwidth of VZW's current 10 MHz FDD in Upper 700 MHz spectrum. Last summer, I detailed the top 25 markets before/after the VZW-T-Mobile swap in following spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArY31Mr219-ydFVpWGJJNlFtQlk4M3h5R1c4eklJamc&usp=sharing AJ

Have you ensured in all cases that, under Settings, the domestic roaming settings are enabled? Many new handsets seem to have roaming disabled by default. AJ