WiWavelength

Keep the tablet wars coming. The intense competition benefits everyone, even those codependently attached at the hip to their iPads. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410188,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410214,00.asp AJ

At least, GSM is pronounced like "jizz-um," right? AJ

Wait, wait, wait. You mean it is supposed to be pronounced like "el-tee-eee"? And here all along I have been saying it as "lit-eh." AJ

True, both. But Alltel had very little PCS 1900 MHz spectrum. Jacksonville was its largest PCS market, and by all reports, it was a red headed step child. Alltel had PCS ambitions in Atlanta, Memphis, Kansas City, et al., but sold off those PCS D/E block 10 MHz licenses to VZW circa 2000. The other markets off the top of my head where Alltel held PCS spectrum (Wichita, Amarillo, and Liberal, KS) it inherited through acquisition of WWC or divestment from the Cingular-AT&TWS merger. And only Wichita was a purely PCS market. In short, Alltel was an almost exclusively Cellular 850 MHz carrier. AJ

The original intent was "Pittsburgh" to reflect the coal mining industry in the county, but the "h" was dropped to avoid confusion with that little town in Pennsylvania. Humorous aside, while in Pittsburg some years ago, my little brother asked me, "Where do the Pirates play?". I still tease him about that. AJ

Nope. This is the original GSM band in most countries outside of North America, so I call it the GSM 900 MHz band. It cannot be used in the US because it partly overlaps the Cellular 850 MHz, SMR 900 MHz, and ISM 900 MHz bands. Some of the GSM zealots and unlocked phone addicts would have the US bend over backward and clear spectrum in use to align with the Eurasians, even though our bands predate theirs. But that gets it wrong. The US is still the most important market in the world; the Eurasians need to align with us, not the other way around. To quote the Mooninites, "Point is, we're at the center. Not you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhTqdbBI0XQ AJ

From Indianapolis, about 500 miles west on I-70... AJ

Cool it on the pro- and anti-iPhone arguments, guys. This thread is about thick towers invading small markets. AJ

Of course, California has "the biggest and thickest towers," especially in the San Fernando Valley, where all the porn stars hang out. No one wants to get serviced by short, thin towers. That just does not sell. AJ

Actually, SouthernLINC is quite a bit more spectrum constrained than that. For example, in the Atlanta BEA, which is by far SouthernLINC's largest market, its rebanded SMR 800 MHz spectrum is contiguous but limited to 3.75 MHz x 3.75 MHz. In some of its smaller markets, SouthernLINC does retain up to 4.5 MHz x 4.5 MHz, but what SouthernLINC can do in Atlanta will almost certainly dictate what it does in all markets. So, despite any oddly placed admiration for the Southern Company in this thread, SouthernLINC is in a bit of a pickle. It cannot stick with iDEN long term. Roaming agreements are expiring as Sprint shifts entirely to CDMA2000 and LTE and Nextel International reportedly intends to transition to W-CDMA. Furthermore, iDEN has effectively reached its end of life, such that even maintenance will become a challenge; thus, SouthernLINC cannot simply stay the course with iDEN for its somewhat backwards, simplistic internal/external communications service. On the flip side, SouthernLINC really has relatively little spectrum for a transition to CDMA2000 and LTE or even LTE alone. Such a transition would likely require dual or even tri mode iDEN/CDMA2000/LTE handsets or a flash cut with overnight replacement of devices. Good luck with either one of those approaches. In the end, SouthernLINC is a bit of an annoyance to Sprint in the Southeast region. But SouthernLINC may need a spectrum sharing agreement more than Sprint does. AJ

Watch it, bud. I can pick on you, too. If only you had a 20 Mbps connection, you could keep open 37 browser tabs and reload all of them at the same time. AJ

Yeah, if only you have a 20 Mbps connection, S4GRU is amazing. Robert appears as a 3-D hologram and reads every post to you in 7.1 channel audio. AJ

Maybe actor Kiefer Sutherland said, "You tell them boys we need some LTE down here in Canton." (Now, will anyone at all recognize this obscure reference?) AJ

The EVO LTE is not for everyone. It is the LTE experts' phone. Like a sports car with a stick shift, you gotta know how to drive it. AJ

The carriers hold too much spectrum that is too fragmented as it is. Do we really want to give the carriers control of hundreds of megahertz more spectrum just to satisfy demand for wireless data? If so, do we actually put faith in the carriers to act in the public interest? Or should we take some of the responsibility away from the carriers, hence take some of the market force away them by offloading data, at the very least, in our own homes? AJ

Unfortunately, I will be unable to take part. I do not wear glasses, plus I do not own enough sci-fi themed T-shirts to attend a ___Con event. AJ

...Sylacauga... ...Coosa... ...Weogufka... Can we stay focused on the US, please? Sprint is not an international carrier. AJ

Put on some AC/DC or Metallica. Turn your amp and speakers up really loud. AJ

In all seriousness, there is no such thing as an "LTE amp." Cellular boosters/repeaters work by amplifying raw RF, be that AMPS, EV-DO, LTE, etc. To support Sprint's band 25 LTE deployment, though, a booster/repeater must cover the PCS G block. And if those are on the market yet, they are likely quite rare at this point. AJ

S4GRU does not discriminate. The directional orientation of an LTE amp is no business but its own. AJ

AJ

Courtesy of one of my Twitter followers (@milanmilanovic), I received numerous iPhone 5 Field Test screen caps: AJ

Hmm, is this suburban Yuma or the transistor topology of an ARM processor? AJ

Turned to the dark side, have you? May you have to endure this ringing in your ears for eternity... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn4QwQAQnHc AJ

Keep in mind those "$800 devices" sold for $200 are really more like $300 devices propped up to be "$800 devices." But the carriers and especially the device manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank with the current contract-subsidy model. If it were to go away, then devices would be sold at retail with much smaller profit margins. AJ