Fraydog

I'm thinking of going to a Sprint Store tomorrow to play around with the Torque. I'm hoping the move to removable SIM's is beginning in earnest.

In other news, I am staying overnight at Gettysberg College. I realize that this is a Shentel area, but the speeds are gorgeous. 4G is everywhere even indoors! I love it!

Even on the PCS G spectrum that Sprint/Shentel has there? Whoa.

 

link not needed. is it in the market?

We don't know the how or why yet, if digiblur has some source or inside dirt I want to hear it.

You never know....

You're preaching to the choir. Even if you subtract anything to do with Sprint out of it, there's no doubt Charlie is an arse.

 

You've peaked my curiosity... Does he have fans?

I'm sure you can tell I was being sarcastic.

Sprint has 9 panels currently that doesn't support that much lol. I know the new ones are multiband but still 3? Seems a little underkill

With multiple band software defined radios, you don't need as many panels. Network Vision is far more efficient in that regard.

 

I can tell you that hardware does exist that can do CDMA (CdmaOne, 1xRTT, EVDO, and SVDO) GSM, EDGE, GPRS, UTMS, iDEN, WiMax and LTE-A as well as non cellular protocols such as SINCGARS, APCO-25, or TETRA. Just don't ever expect to see it in your smartphone unless you're the head of the FCC enforcement agency, or the modern incarnate of Howard Hughes. The technology however is called Software Defined Radio or SDR, and uses a FPGA microprocessor to generate the waveform pattern of whatever signaling protocol(s) is installed via software, instead of the standardized hardware implementation we commonly use today. The only people making or using these things are defense contractors for the US DoD under the JSTARS program and ETUS Laboratories for research/scientific applications.

 

A watered down SDR from ETUS costs around $1500 USD and is limited to 300 milliwatts output. Even die hard Apple iNuts wouldn't pay that for an SDR iPhone, even if it had a GLADDOS style piece of Steeve Jobs soul in it.....

Or you could just say it's in base stations, but too large to move around.

 

Apple decided for you that the app is not worth while.

 

Sent from my little Note2

Do you have a link that proves this is the case? I'd love to read more about this.

 

Four years is a lifetime in the technology industry, its useless to even speculate.

 

And personally, I doubt the expenditure ever makes sense.

It's not speculation it's long-term strategy. Of course I'm speculating. Key here is Dotson didn't go for any band 17 spectrum. Look where T-Mobile is because of that. T-Mobile blew it 4-5 years ago. Now they have to focus on urban areas because that's their only chance. I would much rather them fix STL as a problem market before expanding to the rural areas surrounding there. Tell me with a straight face they should sit out the 600 MHz auction. Also tell me the Bells should raid that band like the others.

 

It makes far more sense to fix their spotty coverage in areas like suburban Boston and on the outskirts of DC in a bid to win customers in areas where millions of people live, than to fund build outs in small towns scattered through Upstate, Midwest, and South.

 

Verizon, AT&T and US Cellular are so far ahead in covering these kinds of areas that you could argue that it would be a mistake for them to try.

You're thinking 2013.

I'm thinking 2016-2017.

In 2013, you're right.

I'm betting I'm right in 2017. That's the difference

Now if T-Mobile US and USCC merged... Mayr you could bump that up to 2015.

 

Why? the rural and frequent traveler demographics are owned by Verizon(and to a much lesser regional extent USC).

 

Even Sprint has a foothold in the rural market through extensive roaming agreements.

 

It would be a huge expenditure for very little gain in the way of paying customers.

Even if we scratch 700 A out of the equation and make this just about the 600 auction upcoming (which T-Mobile is going to bid in), T-Mobile can use VoLTE to serve rural areas. By that time that coverage goes live LTE will be at Release 12 and a lot of the issues that hurt VoLTE as a rural option will be mitigated.

Would it yield few customers? It depends on on the level of customers they can get. Is the urban strategy right in the short term? Yes, but for the mobile market to be really competitive and the Bell duopoly to shatter and have a truly competitive marketplace, you need to get both of the carriers involved in solving the map issue. Again, VZW has the lowest churn because it has the most coverage. That's what customers value, and the fact they willingly put up with the rest of the overcharging, tiered data, and other BS on VZW proves that.

Those are all valid points, however T-Mobile has to come up with a long term solution to rural issues at some point. I would agree that modernizing rural sites right now is dumb. That doesn't mean it isn't smart in the future.

This is a business where to be successful you have to pivot fast. Things change quickly. That's part of the reason why Dotson got canned.

 

That sounds nice, but it's a pipe dream.

 

Everything points to the fact that their plan going forward is to win back subscribers in major metro areas by undercutting the competition and eliminating contracts.

 

Modernizing their 13,000 rural sites, and improving their rural coverage is a low priority.

They have to do that to have a chance to get the capital for further expansion. I don't blame them for their strategy. They have little incentive to do anything in the rural areas. When VoLTE becomes more robust, they can start to move in rural areas. If they don't think of the future and start to get better plans in place, they won't grow. They'll become an aquisition target for SprintBank.

 

They'll never get their hands on a significant chunk of 700mhz spectrum, which is why they (long shot) petitioned the FCC to auction off chunks of 600mhz spectrum.

I wouldn't go that far. There's 700 A they are taking over from Metro and if they would go after USCC, USCC owns a bunch of 700 A. By all indications I can gather T-Mobile is considering changing course on 700 A.

 

If rural coverage is a priority for you, don't sign up with T-mobile.

 

That might be an over-simplification, but everyone should know exactly what they are signing up for.

Well, yes, but 700 MHz coverage in rural areas could change the obvious point you just made.

 

Now, now, Ryan, you know better than to grumble and moan about market order. Some markets necessarily had to come last.

 

AJ

Does the Premier Section have market data? I can recall a set of tables that newyork4me posted on HoFo that stated that STL was one of the larger Sprint markets out there.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1766584-Number-of-VZW-subscribers-(and-other-carriers)-per-market

I can't vouch for how accurate the data is however.

 

Did you see the first NV site accepted in St. Louis the other day? It's starting!

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

About time. STL has a very large Sprint presence and I'm shocked it is a 3rd round market. *cough*San Antonio*cough*

I think T-Mobile missed out having STL not be a launch market. Sprint has a bigger market share there than Phoenix or Las Vegas. Yet, no NV love. I am kind of baffled by this.

T-Mobile could have flown in and started stealing customers here. I think they are impaired in that quest because their entire market there has no corporate locations, as they're all run by Wireless Vision and are almost all universally awful.

I was afraid of that.

Oh well... No reason safety couldn't have made it on 10 MHz.

T-Mobile can fire up a bunch of Flexi's and get really good AWS LTE in the cities. That's not so easy to do in rural areas. They need to get in line for the 5x5 700 Upper D block if/when it gets auctioned up.

The Kyocera Torque is the first non-iDevice from Sprint with a removable SIM. It flies under the radar here because it's Direct Connect, but the phone itself looks kind of impressive. HD Voice, interesting air conductive earpiece, can take a beating, and has fairly good mid-range specs. I wouldn't get one but I know there are some Network Vision crews who might be interested.

Sprint should definitely keep the BRS. The EBS is, IIRC, the spectrum that's a complete mess.

Dog food

I take it there aren't many fans of Charlie Ergen on here.

I wouldn't mind Clearwire spectrum in some cases being up for sale. That spectrum will be quite valuable at some point. Maybe not now but at some point.