WiWavelength

Perhaps I lack the perspective to assert this, but S4GRU has come out of nowhere and -- in less than six months -- has skyrocketed to become the top Sprint focused forum on the Web. AJ

You are a little late to the party, Deval. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1142-fcc-announces-two-spectrum-sharing-agreements-with-mexico/ As for the Phone Scoop article, it is not very well informed. This new agreement has no effect on Sprint's CDMA1X/EV-DO 1900 network. AJ

What in tarnation are you talking about??? AJ

Someone who lives in St. Cloud, MN making fun of people who live near the Canadian border is like someone with an IQ of 80 calling a person with an IQ of 75 a "dummy." AJ

Yes, easily. Free space path loss for an antenna 50 km away but with a clear LOS (line of sight) above the horizon is ~132 dB (i.e. the signal spreads out and loses intensity by 132 dB). Path loss for a cell site only 1 km away but in an urban area with no clear LOS can be roughly similar to that 132 dB figure. In other words, a floating cell site 50 km distant could provide signal strength similar to that of a ground based cell site only 1 km distant. AJ

For Sprint, the 3 MHz x 3 MHz LTE carrier possibility is relevant only to SMR 800 MHz (bands 18/26), not to PCS 1900 MHz (G block; band 25). Ask Robert to confirm, but I know of no Network Vision sites anywhere that are precluded from LTE 1900 in the G block. AJ

Boooooooooomer... AJ

Or maybe you mean more like this kind of boomer... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KVLY-TV_mast AJ

Baby Boomer... AJ

Boomer Sooner... AJ

Boomer... AJ

Only ESMR. Sprint will be able to deploy a single CDMA1X 800 carrier everywhere, including the international border coordination zones. However, under current guidelines, Sprint may be able to deploy only a 3 MHz x 3 MHz LTE carrier in the Mexican border zone and no LTE at all in certain areas (e.g. Seattle) of the Canadian border zone. The reason for this is that 800 MHz public safety rebanding is a US endeavor, not necessarily conducted in parallel by Canada and Mexico. In short, within a specified distance of the international boundary, Sprint cannot operate broadband LTE across the same frequencies that Canadian or Mexican carriers/agencies operate iDEN or other narrowband airlinks. Otherwise, Sprint LTE could interfere with those narrowband operations. I have no idea what Mexico is doing (if anything at all) with its equivalent to the PCS G block. In the US, the PCS G used to be part of BAS (Broadcast Auxiliary Service), which provides microwave link style spectrum for TV broadcasters' remote pick ups. Sprint had to foot the bill for relocating BAS from ~2000 MHz up to ~2100 MHz as one of its conditions of being granted the PCS G block nationwide. AJ

Depending upon the specifics of the agreement, this new spectrum sharing protocol with Mexico could allow Sprint to deploy the full complement of 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE in near border markets, specifically San Diego, where Sprint is currently limited at best to 3 MHz x 3 MHz LTE. AJ

iDEN does not transceive a "pretty poor signal" as much as it does a more complex signal. Since iDEN uses only 25 kHz channels, it requires 16-QAM to achieve sufficient throughput within such narrowband channelization. The downside is that 16-QAM makes iDEN signals more susceptible to fading, noise, and interference. For a layman's analogy, imagine that someone a block or two away repeatedly holds up a sign with a single letter on it. In one scenario, the letter is one of only four: Q, R, S, or T. In a second scenario, the letter is one of 16: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, or P. In the first scenario, you can likely make out the letter each time the sign goes up because Q, R, S, and T are all quite orthogonal. In other words, even at a distance, their "signals" remain quite distinct. In the second scenario, however, you can likely make the letter sometimes but not other times, as B and E, C and O, F and P, I and L, for example, are not as easily distinguishable at a distance. Now, the first scenario represents QPSK, a four symbol RF modulation scheme that CDMA1X uses, while the second scenario represents 16-QAM, the 16 symbol RF modulation scheme that iDEN uses. Below, you can see how the layman's visual analogy applies, as these are the symbol constellations for QPSK and 16-QAM, respectively: In short, it is more difficult for a receiver to tell apart each of the 16 symbols in the 16-QAM constellation than it is the four symbols in the QPSK constellation. This is especially true as the signal is increasingly degraded by fading, noise, and interference. And that is basically why, despite a much lower frequency, iDEN 800/900 is generally similar to CDMA1X 1900 in site spacing and successful propagation distance. AJ

Probably just a bunch of English majors and some Norwegian bachelor farmers. AJ

...in a van down by the river? AJ

Lake Lanier..."where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." Or maybe that was another Lake... AJ

If I recall correctly, the guy who made the infamous Britney Spears YouTube clip is from Tennessee. I wonder, might there be a special S4GRU fan from Tennessee who could make a similarly impassioned fan video... AJ

And absent tens of thousands of dollars worth of RF test equipment, we will probably never be privy to receiver sensitivity, unfortunately. The FCC requires transmitters be tested (conducted power, radiated power, spurious emissions, etc.) because the FCC has to ensure that authorized devices do not cause undue interference. The FCC does not require receivers be tested, as receivers do not cause interference yet must accept any interference from other transmitters. AJ

The really cool kid among us drives to cell sites and breaks out his RF spectrum analyzer... AJ

Come on, people... AJ

I had considered the same possibility, as the only Nextel iDEN site(s) in the state of Montana is in the Flathead Valley. However, Kalispell is close enough to the border that it is in the SMR 800 MHz channel coordination zone with Canada. As such, Sprint is limited in its ability to employ broadband operations in its SMR 800 MHz spectrum. In a nutshell, Sprint likely cannot deploy 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE in Kalispell. So, unless Sprint plans to use the Montana FIT to practice cross border spectrum coordination, the FIT area will likely be located well away from the Canadian border. AJ

Geez, Ben, how can you come to such a reasoned conclusion that the problem might lie with the installed app and not the device? AJ

Were you using 4G WiMAX with your previous EVO? AJ

Have you read our article on FCC authorization of the Galaxy S3? http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-243-updated-samsung-galaxy-s3-passes-fcc-muster-launch-imminent/ AJ