WiWavelength

Nearly, but not always. For example, the Upper 700 MHz C block, which VZW uses for 10 MHz x 10 MHz LTE, has an inverted duplex. Its uplink is 776-787 MHz, its downlink 746-757 MHz. AJ

Sprint has agreed to pay a $120 million break up fee to Clearwire should the acquisition not be completed by October of next year. In return, Clearwire is not allowed to seek a better offer from another buyer. AJ

Sprint-USCC PCS spectrum assignment applications are finally up on the FCC ULS: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=7180849 If the filing contains anything particularly noteworthy, I will update my article on The Wall from a month ago: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-334-sprint-uscc-spectrum-deal-sprint-gets-20-mhz-broader-in-the-city-of-broad-shoulders/ AJ

No, the point of that 5 MHz guard band is to protect the H block downlink from spurious emissions from the Dish AWS-4 uplink. If both adjacent blocks were uplinks or downlinks, then no guard band would be necessary. See the band plan diagram that I posted earlier today. AJ

For those who may be less familiar with the H block and its relationship to the PCS band, here is a band plan diagram (from the FCC proposed rulemaking): AJ

Maybe the bar just needs to play the right music, like Poison's lesser known follow up song, "Talk Nerdy to Me." AJ

Broadcast Auxiliary Service (used by TV stations to transmit remote broadcasts back to the studio) previously occupied both the G and H blocks. As part of its agreement with the FCC, Sprint paid the relocation costs for the entire BAS band so that Sprint could utilize the G block. Now, any other licensee of the H block must reimburse Sprint a prorated share of those relocation costs. AJ

Prior to the smartphone takeover, I was a Samsung feature phone adherent, and any radio configuration change precipitated a reboot. So, it may just be a Samsung thing. AJ

Yeah, me, too. Over the weekend, I tried "quasi asymmetric carrier aggregation" as a pickup line at a bar and did not get anywhere. But your mileage may vary. AJ

Geez, that is a lot of security. "Arch your back...for more security." AJ

Yep, LTE-A switches the uplink, too, to more power hungry OFDMA, which is what WiMAX has used all along. Imagine that. AJ

Here is another interesting point regarding coverage maps from the H block rules: AJ

You are spot on about the downlink, but you are a little bit off about the uplink. Only the downlink uses 15 kHz OFDMA subcarriers. For LTE (not LTE-A), the uplink uses 60 kHz SC-FDMA carriers. Otherwise, yes, quasi asymmetric carrier aggregation may be the way to go with the H block. AJ

No, the FCC has rarely, if ever auctioned a single national license of terrestrial spectrum. The H block will be bid on BEA by BEA. AJ

First, I would question whether your modem reports its uplink channel frequency with the right unit of measurement (e.g. Hz, kHz). Second, wireless spectrum usage is very different from wired spectrum usage because the latter is largely confined to physical cables. AJ

Nope. The iPhone 5 was the first Apple device to support a Sprint specific band, be it SMR 800 MHz or PCS G 1900 MHz. AJ

The first point of note is that PCS/AWS-2 H block mobiles will be relatively power limited. In the H block uplink of 1915-1920 MHz, total power will be limited to ≤30 dBm. More importantly, though, power in the 1917-1920 MHz segment will be limited to ≤6 dBm. This is because the traditional PCS A-F block downlink starts at 1930 MHz, and interference mitigation is paramount. In other words, do not look for any Motorola Photon-esque EIRP from H block devices. The H block looks more like an offload band than anything else. AJ

Speaking of the devil, the PCS/AWS-2 H block service rules were revealed today: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db1217/FCC-12-152A1.pdf Same as the PCS G block, the H block will be licensed on a BEA basis: AJ

Yep, the former is 46 Mb (or 5.75 MB) greater than the latter. AJ

Actually, any of those figures could be a relative bargain. Circa 2004, VZW made a filing with the FCC, preemptively offering $5 billion for what would become the PCS G block 10 MHz nationwide collection of licenses. VZW wanted the block to be auctioned, not allocated to Nextel as compensatory spectrum. AJ

Handsets already use multi band antennas, have done so for a long time. AJ

Five bands? Realistically, that would be too many bands for Sprint to juggle. Not to mention, all devices would be highly proprietary to Sprint -- any chance of using unlocked devices would go out the window. I really do not understand this mentality that Sprint should gobble up any and all spectrum that it can. That mindset reminds me people who have faced famine or poverty, then hoard food or money to the point of irrationality. Have you really felt that starved by Sprint's prior network woes? More and more, T-Mobile's network modernization strategy is looking better because of its standardized simplicity. It focuses on only two bands, PCS 1900 MHz and AWS 2100+1700 MHz, both of which are firmly established. The downsides are that T-Mobile's spectrum holdings are too variable from market to market and include no sub 1 GHz spectrum. Sprint already trumps T-Mobile in those two regards. AJ

I am not aware of anyone who has said that Sprint *will not* bid on PCS/AWS-4 H block spectrum. But many here greatly overstate Sprint's *need* for the H block. Sprint probably will bid on some/all H block licenses because no other carrier can put that spectrum to use more quickly and economically than Sprint can. AJ

AJ

Any competent mobile streaming software should have a multi second buffer. Failure to do so is bad software design, not the fault of any network. AJ