ChadBroChillz

An LTE next-gen iPhone with unlimited data could potentially "save" Sprint imo. People are finally seeing what data caps do to LTE with the new iPad, and they'll want more data. The biggest knock on Sprint as to why people won't switch to them even though they have unlimited data and it's cheaper, is because of the horrid data speeds (can't blame them.) LTE solves that. Suddenly Sprint is just as fast as the other guys, or close enough, and cheaper and unlimited. That's a huge draw. I've already talked to a lot of people about the potential of an unlimited LTE iPhone on Sprint and what it would mean, and a lot of people that dislike Sprint are now saying that if they have a chance to switch over, they're going to strongly consider it. I just hope NV keeps going really well and Sprint has a large portion of markets done or almost completed by October and things should be gravy.

I was initially planning on switching to sprint( am on ATT now), but the horror stories of sub 200kbps data speeds turned me off. Also the fact that they force you to sign a two year agreement when you want to bring your own phone. Once the LTE iphone comes out, I will gladly sell my iphone and pay my ETF to leave. And I am not the only one who would be happy to switch for some unlimited data goodness as long as speeds are decent.

It does not seem like anything special. Not the same way Sprint's loyalty program gave you yearly upgrades. I think upgrade fees are complete BS, so waiving them, to me, is righting a wrong.

I hope this happens, because having an extra player in the game always helps the consumer. If the FCC could do this, then why didn't/don't they just reassign sprint's ESMR to cellular 850?

This is awesome news. Congrats S4GRU crew.

They just got 65 million back from 290 million they paid sprint upfront at the beginning of their deal.

Also I do not believe sprint would want them messing with Clearwire. I think Sprint is trying to keep Clear on a leash until it is ready to swallow them back in.

I am not sure how much spectrum they are using for Nextel or in what configuration, but I believe a smart plan would be to make room and turn on 1xA on their 800mhz now for Direct Connect, so current iDEN users will not see a drop in building penetration, while seeing an increase in coverage area. I believe that will get a ton of people to move over to CDMA PPT devices.

 

 

I never recall ever seeing that New York and LA were going to be in the first round deployments...from Sprint or S4GRU.com. And even if they were, they are so large, they wouldn't be ready by mid year anyway.

 

- Robert

Thanks for clearing it up. I must have had a brain fart and just assumed with them being larger markets that they were 1st round markets.

I noticed that NY/LA are now round two networks, it that on accident? I thought I remember them being considered round 1 markets.

I know sprint said 10 markets by mid year, but I assumed that they were keeping expectations low, so they could wow when they released more markets than expected.

That is a great article. Good find. After reading that article, it almost looks like DT decided it wants to either compete in the US market or set itself up to sell to an entity that is not currently in the wireless game. The graphic on device interoperability is scary to Sprint. They could be the only major wireless carrier who requires special devices...

Tmobile would still require HSPA+ on their AWS band. Also with new chips being able to handle every technology under the the sun, I do not see it as a major problem. They might not have the same ability to get international devices like tmobile or att, but manufactures will still create devices for them. The main problem could be the iphone, but with their 15 billion dollar deal, I am sure they included that provision, plus Europe is suppose to be using the 800mhz( not sure if its similar to 800mhz cellular or ESMR) for LTE and China mobile, who apple supposedly promised the iphone to, is using TD-LTE at 2500mhz.

I wish someone would tell AT&T that. It's the reason I am dumping them as my home ISP since 150GB is a laughable amount to cap monthly data usage at (as are $10 overages for every 50GB you go over 150GB).

I wish I had that option. its either Uverse with a 250gb soft cap and 10 dollar overages OR Comcast's hard cap, where I go over 250 twice and they cut my service.

I think this was in Sprint's plan. Before they made the deal with Clear, even before clear planned on going to LTE, Clear's 2500mhz was apart of Sprint's NV plan, but their actions made it seem like they wanted nothing to do with clear. I would not be surprised if sprint's plan was to have clear build out their TD-LTE network as much as possible, then before it got turned on and clear value was still rock bottom, buy out all the other investors and swallow clear back into itself.

I agree, seems like a lot designed to voice. 1xA has the ability to handle 4x the capacity, so having three 1xA channels is like having 12 1x channels. according to the article on the wall a while back, sprint uses 3 1x channels to handle its voice needs right now, and I have not heard anything negative about their voice network. From what I understand , the 1900mhz is the main band for sprint, with 2500 being used for overcapacity of LTE and 800 used for better coverage and building penetration. If that is true, I believe we will see the use of configuration 1; and they will use the 1xA configuration that increases coverage by 70% with the same capacity.

I believe on 1900mhz we will see two 1xA channels instead of three, and both will be using the 4x capacity configuration. That should be enough to handle their voice needs until VoLTE comes out.

I believe 1xAdvanced is strictly voice.

I think they will keep it for at least a few more years. I am sure they believe that with competitive prices, fast network, and unlimited data, people will come running to their network.( I know they have me as soon as the LTE iPhone comes out). Also with ATT capping unlimited data users to only 2GB per month, a lot of them will be looking to switch once their contract is over. Verizon will probably also do something similar, so some of their customers will probably want to leave. I believe most will leave for sprint vs tmobile, especially if Sprint's LTE network is well received.