WiWavelength

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nope, our article is correct. GSMArena is wrong. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-159-htc-evo-4g-lte-tech-details-revealed-in-fcc-oet-filing/ In fact, GSMArena does not even get the CDMA1X 800/850/1900 specs correct. Then again, are you really going to trust CDMA2000 device specs from a web site called GSMArena? AJ

Beceem? Do you really want a device based on a Beceem LTE/WiMAX modem? Like Qualcomm or not, the top devices use Qualcomm chipsets. And Qualcomm, to my knowledge, does not produce any LTE/WiMAX chipsets. Furthermore, even with a Beceem (or something else of that ilk), a device would also require a CDMA2000 modem and an application processor. Thus, that would necessitate at least two, maybe even three total chipsets. Nope, no sale. Now, compare that to the just released EVO LTE. Just one chipset, the Qualcomm MSM8960, runs the whole show -- CDMA2000, LTE, and the application processor. Not to mention, it is a 28 nm process SoC. All of that adds up to huge power consumption savings. AJ

Which chipsets support both WiMAX and LTE? AJ

Maybe I am grossly mistaken, but Sprint has no control over Best Buy's inventory. Sprint orders devices from HTC, just as Best Buy orders devices from HTC. As such, Best Buy can do whatever it pleases with its allotment from HTC. Your comparison between Best Buy customers who paid $0 and Sprint Store customers who paid $50 is not at all relevant because those are customers of two completely separate point of sale vendors. Do you think that Sprint has the power to take away from Best Buy's shipment so that Sprint can fill more of its own orders? AJ

To use one of my favorite phrases of late, we definitely have a "first world problem" on our hands. The $200 high definition microcomputer phone that some people want to replace their current microcomputer phone has been delayed by a few days, maybe even a few weeks. And do remember that the phone was originally slated for a mid June release, so it is still currently ahead of the original release schedule. But that matters not. Oh, how will those poor souls ever manage the interminable wait? AJ

I am not sure what a "DWL" is other than some sort of waiting list. Did those customers prepay for their devices? If not, no, they are on a list and nothing more. They, too, do not have any really reasonable grounds for complaint. Preorder customers, on the other hand, were billed in advance -- at least, in my case, the ~$200 charge hit my credit card statement even before the customs delay was announced. So, preorder customers deserved to receive the first devices, as they already had bills of sale. AJ

Robert, are you sure about that? I am under the impression -- quite possibly mistaken, though -- that eHRPD resides deeper in the network than the BTS. If so, eHRPD could still connect through non Network Vision backhaul. Unfortunately, I still have some irregularity on my account that prevents me from activating a new device via the online activation tool. So, I cannot yet run any tests on eHRPD, as my EVO LTE sits here powered up but not activated. AJ

I am sorry that you feel left in the dark. But, honestly, if you did not place a preorder, then you really have no standing in the matter, hence no reasonable cause for complaint. As for your experience with Sprint Store worker, you have learned lesson number one. Do not take as gospel any non verified info you receive from salespersons, call center reps, even managers, etc. Many of them know next to nothing about the wireless industry other than what they are told. They are not experts. Like so many working schlubs out there, unfortunately, they are largely just rank and file employees who are just doing their rather unsatisfying jobs. So, if you want solid info, come to S4GRU, where people are passionate and knowledgeable about wireless of their own accord, not because they are getting paid. Those are the best kind of resource people. AJ

By no means is my hypothesis about eHRPD and data speeds automatically correct. But if it is, then it reveals something interesting about Sprint's data network congestion. The slowdown may be due to bottlenecks in the EV-DO core network as much as it is lack of airlink and backhaul capacity. To illustrate, eHRPD uses the same airlink and backhaul as EV-DO but uses the LTE core network instead of the EV-DO core network. If the airlink and backhaul are the same but eHRPD produces significantly higher data speeds than does EV-DO, then the LTE or EV-DO core network is the primary independent variable, hence likely responsible for the observed differences. AJ

The LTE/CDMA setting uses eHRPD (if available), while the CDMA only setting may fall back to traditional EV-DO. If so, that could account for the difference in data speeds. AJ

I stand vindicated in the face of 4ringsnbr's overdone pessimism: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/742-sprint-800-mhz-lte-set-for-launch-in-2014/page__view__findpost__p__12127 AJ

No, some of the antennas are located at the base of the handset. We included the antenna diagram in our article about the EVO LTE's FCC certification last month. http://s4gru.com/ind...fcc-oet-filing/ AJ

Even with handsets side by side, comparisons of reception are not very scientific. This is especially true at 1900 MHz, as wavelengths are only ~6 inches long, hence Rayleigh fading can be highly localized and variable. That said, I have the EVO and EVO LTE side by side at home right now. For CDMA1X, both are idle on the same PN offset and carrier channel (both crucial for any remotely accurate comparison). In Rx power, the EVO beats the EVO LTE, on the average, by 3 dB. And that may be just about as expected, since the EVO's PCS 1900 MHz antenna gain is 1 dBi, while the EVO LTE's PCS 1900 MHz antenna gain is -2 dBi. AJ

How are you determining carrier channel assignments? Unless you do so diligently, you can easily miss one or more carriers, especially on the EV-DO side, as EV-DO channel hashing is more complex than is CDMA1X channel hashing. AJ

I do not quite have the energy tonight to organize this response into a coherent whole, so I will try to string together just a series of bullet points. Due to guard bands, 10 MHz of deployed spectrum allows for only three carriers. Sprint's internal data on deployed spectrum does not bear out your "95%" figure, which seems a gross exaggeration. In the Kansas market, for example, approximately 225 out of 600 sites have four or greater deployed carriers. The smartphone revolution on Sprint started in earnest only two years ago with the release of the EVO 4G. Prior to that, Sprint did not need greater than one or two EV-DO carriers per site. Sprint expected WiMAX to absorb much of the increased smartphone data demand, but Clearwire badly dropped the ball. Sprint has been trying to clean up Clearwire's mess by deploying additional carriers even in advance of Network Vision roll out. If you are watching carrier channel assignments, you will notice carriers added on many sites over the past year. Sprint has ~10 MHz of available PCS A-F block spectrum in many markets and plans to deploy a second 5 MHz x 5 MHz LTE 1900 carrier on high traffic sites by next year. AJ

Hey, Google, go ogle some other web site. AJ

I was udderly disappointed when I found out that she was stuffing her bra. AJ