WiWavelength

Isn't it possible that Sprint will do expansion for the grant money the FCC is offering to cover rural areas?

Article:

http://www.computerw...ireless+News%29

Map of eligible areas:

http://tiles.mapbox....-Eligible-Areas

I would expect that nearly all of the successful bidders in the FCC Mobility Fund's reverse auction will utilize Cellular 850 MHz spectrum.

The initial Cellular 850 MHz license term is divided into two phases. During Phase 1 (five years, if I recall correctly), a licensee has free rein to construct as much geographic coverage as possible within its respective licensed area. At the start of Phase 2, the extent of geographic coverage that the licensee has constructed becomes the new licensed area, which may be smaller than the originally licensed area.

In other words, if the licensee covers all of its originally licensed area within five years, then the licensed area remains the same. However, if the licensee covers only 75 percent of its originally licensed area, then the new licensed area is fixed at that 75 percent. Furthermore, in Phase 2, the uncovered 25 percent becomes Cellular Unserved area that is available (for free, if I recall this, too, correctly) to other applicants.

By this late date, essentially all Cellular 850 MHz licenses are in Phase 2. So, almost any Cellular Unserved area is up for grabs. As such, I would expect that -- in conjunction with Mobility Fund reverse auction bids -- some bidders will also put in applications to cover Cellular Unserved area, hence be awarded Cellular 850 MHz spectrum for that area. Likely bidders would be remaining rural Cellular 850 MHz licensees (e.g. Plateau Wireless in NM, Union Cellular in WY, etc.) and license "squatters" (of which ATN's Commnet Wireless is far and away the most notable). Maybe VZW and/or AT&T will use the reverse auction to help improve their rural coverage, but I think that $300 million may be too little funding to entice them.

As for Sprint, it could theoretically participate in the reverse auction and use any winnings to deploy LTE 800 in unserved area. That would probably be within the rules of the Mobility Fund, though I am not sure that it should be. Since LTE 800 is effectively proprietary to Sprint, it would not realistically present interconnection opportunities for other carriers and subs.

AJ

A decade ago, I sold home audio part time at Circuit City while I was in college. Since I happened to know a little bit about wireless, I also occasionally sold wireless phones. Many of you may not know that, at the time, Sprint devices were sold cash and carry. Walk in. Pay your $200 for the phone. Go home. Call to activate it. Or use it as a paperweight. Do whatever you want with it. Regardless, Sprint did not require a contract, though you could opt to sign an "Advantage Agreement" that gave you a monthly discount and/or free added features.

I would like to see one or more of the four national wireless carriers return to all or part of this simpler sales model. Wireless carriers do not need to and should not function as de facto brick and mortar electronics retailers. Leave device sales to third party retailers and, if necessary, the carriers' own online stores. I assume (though I could be wrong) that wireless carriers operate corporate brick and mortar stores at significant net cost. And the stories shared in this thread indicate -- at least anecdotally -- that corporate brick and mortar sales do not generally offer superior knowledge nor service.

So, I wonder whether Sprint would ever consider closing all of its corporate storefronts and whether that would result in a notable cost savings.

AJ

Montana is out west, maybe 800 mHz penetrates mountains?

Hey, this is an all ages forum. You keep it clean, mister.

AJ

Sprint is using a new MCC/MNC record though instead of SIDs...

In some of the deeper EVO LTE menus accessible only via MSL, I noted 310-120. Is that the MCC-MNC that Sprint is using?

AJ

100 BILLION DOLLARS

ELEVENTY BILLION DOLLARS > 100 BILLION DOLLARS

AJ

Does this mean they're adding AWS CDMA support to the iPhone, or will Leap just essentially be a Sprint MVNO in AWS only Cricket markets?

The iPhone would have to be modified to support 1700/2100 CDMA. I wonder if Apple did the modifications to do that. They have in the past to make the iPhone work in China, so maybe they did for Cricket too

Early returns indicate that Leap will sell the iPhone only in its markets that have deployed CDMA1X 1900, not in any markets that are exclusively CDMA1X 2100+1700 (i.e. AWS) (e.g. in Tulsa but not in Oklahoma City, etc.).

AJ

Robert, do you know what month or quarter in 2013 we can possibly expect a handset with TD-LTE 2600 support?

Hold on, let Robert go consult Miss Cleo...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyHiV3l3MA

You do know that she is the source of all info on S4GRU, right?

AJ

I have come to the realization that iDEN zealots are a lot like the Gelgamek Catholics...

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/104227/an-attempt-at-reform

Their "needs" are way out there. And what works for them may not work for the rest of us. So, despite their rabble rabble, we may have to just forget about the iDEN zealots for the moment.

AJ

Thank you for your reply, You and I know how much bigger Sprint iDen coverage is over CDMA... I can see the same maps... Just zoom in South of Atlanta, Georgia , or even compare I-16 and I-75,

You are focusing on coverage in one small area of the country. Yet, you are making assertions about coverage footprint nationwide. Moreover, you are dodging my question. What is the source of your 30 percent nationwide areal coverage difference? Back it up. Or retract it.

FCC just doesn't allow merger of wireless companies just to leave any market with less competion, all together....

What merger is this? The Sprint-Nextel merger? The FCC does not consent to a merger, then impose conditions on that merger fully seven years later. So, if you are referring to the Sprint-Nextel merger, that is irrelevant.

Additionally, you obviously fail to understand the FCC licensing scheme for the ESMR portion of the SMR 800 MHz band. Markets are defined by Basic Economic Area (BEA). Sprint is not leaving any BEAs. Yes, Sprint may reduce coverage in some BEAs, but Sprint will remain a competitor in all BEAs in which it currently offers service. See the BEA map:

http://wireless.fcc.gov/auctions/data/maps/ea.pdf

AJ

...they will enjoy 30% LESS coverage nationwide...

You keep repeating this 30 percent areal coverage statistic. Is that just a guess on your part? Or do you have an actual source to corroborate it? If the former, stop it. Your guess appears to be way off. If the latter, please cite a source.

Or just use these sources. But the maps do not seem to bear out your 30 percent assertion. 10 percent difference? Maybe. And the native coverage advantage is highly variable. Yes, in some states, native Nextel iDEN has a definite edge. But, in other states, native Sprint CDMA1X takes the lead.

http://coverage.sprintpcs.com/images/mapvoicenextelUS.gif

http://support.sprint.com/global/images/support/exception_map_v1_en.jpg

So, sorry, your complaint for possibly 50,000 subs on a network of about 50 million subs is going to fall on deaf ears. What is good for the whole is far, far, far more important than what is good for those arguably unprofitable 50,000. And, like it or not, that is just utilitarianism.

AJ

However, the Montana 800 LTE FIT is a very interesting situation.

Take this with a grain of salt, as this is just my conjecture. Since a 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE 800 carrier will occupy nearly all of Sprint's rebanded SMR 800 MHz spectrum, Sprint needed to locate the LTE 800 FIT in an area well away from current Nextel iDEN 800 sites and other ESMR incumbent operations in order to avoid potential interference issues. Most of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana fit the bill (pardon the pun). But another ESMR incumbent across multiple markets in South Dakota and Wyoming limits Sprint to 3 MHz x 3 MHz LTE 800 in those areas and may have made Montana the choice by the process of elimination.

AJ

Cricket is selling an unsubsidized, no contract iPhone 4S 16 GB for $500. Does this reveal anything about the $650 "full retail price" that VZW, AT&T, and Sprint are charging for the same iPhone?

AJ

you guys can have your haugepauge network...

The city on Long Island?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauppauge,_New_York

AJ

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), May 29, 2012 - Sprint today announced plans to transition business and government customers from its iDEN (2G) Nextel National Network onto Sprint® Direct Connect® -- its next-generation, push to talk service, which operates on Sprint’s 3G CDMA network. Sprint also announced that it plans to cease service on the iDEN Nextel National Network as early as June 30, 2013 as part of its Network Vision plan -- a series of network updates designed to offer next generation network capabilities to customers.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2296

AJ

It seems to me that people know that LTE is somehow different than other 4G, and maybe better. But I am asked all the time...what is the difference between 4G and LTE by non-techies. FWIW...

Tell them that LTE stands for "limited edition" and that they better hurry up and get theirs before LTE is sold out.

Seinfeld: I like the names they have for cars. Like, no baron has ever owned a LeBaron. Or the Ford LTD. "LTD." Limited. It's a "limited" edition. What did they make, fifty million of those? "Yes, it's 'limited' to the number we can sell." Or when they try and mangle a positive word into a car name, you know how they'll do that? The "Integra." Oh, integrity? No, Integra. The "Supra." Or the "Impreza." Yeah? Well, I hope it's not a "lemona." Or you'll be hearing from my "lawya."

AJ

im starting to wonder if the gel case was a pre-emptive antennagate fix... just sayin.

That seems unlikely -- at least, in the sense of the iPhone 4 "antennagate." The iPhone 4 has external antennas, such that a user's hand can unintentionally bridge or short the antennas, greatly affecting their RF properties. The EVO LTE, on the other hand, has only internal antennas.

AJ

i had always thought we communicated with puerto rico thru tin cans and string. learn something new everyday.

No, no, no. This is a Puerto Rican phone...

AJ

Do you want your high definition microcomputer phone to be fast, thin, or cool (temperature)?

Now, pick two because you cannot have all three.

AJ

Have you ever heard this old joke?

Patient: My elbow hurts when I do this.

Doctor: Then don't do that.

Catch my drift?

AJ

ARE YOU FING KIDDING ME, NOW I GOT THE 1900MHZ HANDSET, AND I WILL HAVE TO UPGRADE TO ANOTHER HANDSET TO USE 800MHZ

Do not worry about it, Daniel. Since Sprint has to share the reconfigured SMR 800 MHz band with SouthernLINC in Atlanta, there is a good chance that your market will get little, if any LTE 800 anyway. Ha!

AJ

You're right AJ! I bit of wishful thinking on my part. On the other hand I never understood why they did not move PS down to the 700MHz PS band that is right below the 800Mhz PS band.

Absolutely. It makes little sense to 1) reconfigure the SMR 800 MHz band to protect public safety, then 2) while that process is still ongoing, open up the Upper 700 MHz D block + Public Safety 34 MHz license, which includes 12 MHz allotted to narrowband operations (a la those in the SMR 800 MHz band).

Call it a matter of bad timing. Had the Upper 700 MHz band been licensed a few years earlier, then public safety likely could have been relocated entirely out of the SMR 800 MHz band.

AJ

I played with it all day in Santa Fe and could never get it to come up with eHRPD. EVDO-A, all the way.

That included eHRPD on this site: KC60XC007. By the deployment schedule and the site's slower data speeds, that site seems to be still all legacy infrastructure. According to the schedule, most other sites in Lawrence have at least gotten Network Vision backhaul.

AJ

Well, at the very least, I can confirm that the the Preferred network mode toggle does enable/disable eHRPD. See the Field Trial screen caps below:

LTE/CDMA mode:

CDMA only mode:

AJ

I'm hoping that they somehow or another convince the ILM customers in the 800SMR band to move to the 900 Band then move down into the 800MHz guard and expansion band and another 1MHz below that. That way they'll end up with 10+10Mhz in the 800MHz band.

That will never happen -- at least, not anytime soon. Such would displace some public safety users a second time. Not to mention, it would not make a whit of difference in the Southeast, as SouthernLINC occupies the Guard band, Expansion band, and part of the B/ILT non cellular band.

Sprint is just going to have to be satisfied that it finally has any <1 GHz spectrum for CDMA1X and LTE.

AJ

Here are pics of the new complimentary EVO LTE cover I received from Sprint this morning. Electric blue.

Electric blue? Uh, the late 80s called. Debbie Gibson wants her color back.

AJ