WiWavelength

Columbus is fine. It is a PCS A-F block 30 MHz total market. A few years back, Sprint was limited to 20 MHz in Columbus but acquired a PCS C5 block 10 MHz disaggregation to supplement its holdings. AJ

Oh, I agree. This confirmation does not preclude other high end HTC Android handsets. It does not even rule out another Sprint EVO handset, though I still think that highly unlikely. And, presumably, VZW will get some sort of replacement for its HTC Droid DNA before the year is up. But some have thought the HTC One naming scheme a bit of a joke because of all the fragmentation last year. Obviously, HTC has taken that to heart, and this news today indicates that the HTC One we see now will be the "one" and only this year. AJ

Are we talking actual spare carriers? Or are we talking spare spectrum that could be used for additional carriers? In the case of the latter, Sprint has 10-20 MHz of spare spectrum on many, many sites that could be used for additional carriers. AJ

Reports are out today confirming that the HTC One will be HTC's only smartphone under the "One" moniker this year. So, unlike last year's varied lineup, that rationalizes the singular HTC One name. AJ

Are you saying that Ergen has gynecomastia? AJ

Has anyone checked to see if Charlie Ergen is made of liquid metal? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0JMVal0cdY AJ

No, both MetroPCS and Cricket operate their own CDMA2000/LTE hybrid networks in Philadelphia. AJ

I guess Google Now has lost interest in your "package." AJ

Boombox on the shoulder, huh? Enjoy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xut__-uXG8U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poqvg2Ri448 AJ

Hey, there is still more to come. I will have that for you in the morning. Now, back to David with weather... AJ

You do have "3G" roaming. You mean EV-DO roaming. AJ

So, all other factors equal -- frequency, power, modulation, coding -- could we agree that, say, an isolated ~8 kbps W-CDMA voice channel has a potential spreading gain advantage over an isolated ~8 kbps CDMA1X voice channel? AJ

No other handsets. Of course, a few iPad models do. And most recently, a Sierra Wireless hotspot is the trailblazer, covering all currently active US LTE bands. Off the top of my head, I do not have the model number, but I started a thread about its FCC OET authorization docs back in December, if I recall correctly. AJ

I am not sure whether you are being sarcastic -- my detector is not always accurate -- but your answer is spot on. Low bit rate, high bandwidth spreading gain. To varying extent, the same holds true for both CDMA1X voice and W-CDMA voice. And just to be clear, I respect your expertise. I believe that you have at least one engineering degree, while my higher education is mostly in the liberal arts. Any math, science, or engineering that I bring to the table is basically self taught and should be taken with a grain of salt. So, I did not pose a question to bust your chops. I mostly wanted to break up what could become a long lecture into some smaller, more manageable, interactive questions that would be easier for all interested members to follow. Now, maybe I am reading far too much into this. My empathy response is not that accurate, either. I might be a Replicant... AJ

Okay, I am back and have an exercise for Ian... I would make the argument or even assertion that -- all other factors equal -- W-CDMA voice can provide broader coverage and deeper building penetration than can CDMA1X voice or GSM voice. Why? The hint is GPS. How can I still get a GPS lock even through the roof of a structure when the satellites are fully 12,000 miles overhead? AJ

Hmm, good idea, I could use a teaser clip. Get David Koeller on that, pronto. AJ

A W-CDMA carrier channel does utilize a 3.84 Mcps chipping rate, but the 95 percent power bandwidth is greater than 3.84 MHz because W-CDMA uses a more relaxed filter. So, 4.5 MHz is a good estimate. Below is a fairly clean RF sweep (besides the multipath fading) that I captured of a T-Mobile AWS W-CDMA carrier. You can see the more rounded shape and wider skirts on the edges, extending roughly 4.5 MHz from noise floor at the low end to noise floor at the high end. I will offer a few more thoughts later today... AJ

Nope, signal strength and efficiency are two different things. AJ

Happy to be here... AJ

Ascertion, your post contains a couple of errors and misconceptions. First, RSSI of "-85 to -90dBm" is not weak for CDMA2000, not for CDMA1X nor EV-DO. Second, 1700 MHz has nothing to do with T-Mobile received signal strength because the AWS-1 band is 2100 MHz downlink, 1700 MHz uplink. Also, W-CDMA may tend to measure higher RSSI than CDMA2000 simply because the bandwidth is roughly three times greater, and that corresponds to a 5 dB difference. AJ

Making a handset out of seamless aluminum is more difficult and restrictive than making one out of cheap pieces of plastic that are glued together. AJ

Agreed, waiting a few months may not be a bad idea. Your options will only expand, not contract. That said, I would not exactly hold out hope for a Google Nexus handset. A CDMA2000/LTE version -- especially a Sprint LTE version -- may not be an option. Much to the delight of 3GPP fanboys, the Nexus trend going forward may omit any CDMA2000 capability. AJ

You are going about this all wrong. Sprint does not owe you native coverage, and unless you are not telling the whole story, you went into this situation with eyes open. Furthermore, Sprint does not offer unlimited roaming data, so your roaming data usage may violate your contract. You want Sprint to be something that it is not in your market, but that is not how the system works. You really should find another carrier that better suits your needs. AJ

Yep, as the saying goes, "timing is everything." And the way it goes right now, HTC and Samsung introduce their flagship handsets in the late winter, early spring around the time of Mobile World Congress, which is happening as we speak. So, if LTE 800 and TD-LTE 2600 were not an option right now due to timing, would those who are disappointed rather have had Sprint pass on the HTC One, thus not likely carry an HTC flagship this year? AJ

Could be. However, past performance does not guarantee future results. For an alternative, consider this possibility. Who knows what costs were associated with ensuring band class 10 CDMA1X 800 capability in all of those handsets? And the reality is that a large percentage of those handsets will have already been replaced by the time that CDMA1X 800 reaches most markets. So, maybe Sprint has learned from that experience and decided not to endure additional costs before the time comes because those costs may have very limited benefits. AJ