Mr.Nuke

Yes... but they only get the RootMetrics results twice a year as far as I know... Publicly anyway. Maybe there's non-public data they receive more frequently.

It depends what type of analysis you are seeking. I responded to jreuschl's post saying Sprint should be drive testing large markets to "test network performance and recommend improvements." If that is the goal, Root's biannual testing is likely sufficient for both purposes. There is going to be a huge diminishing return in doing it more often than that. And if for some reason you want data in between those 6 month windows you can either do it internally or contract RootMetrics to retest. 

Using the Direct 2 You Cars (containing measurement gear) to augment this testing would be a smart play. The cars are already on the road, and the testing gear is essentially automated.

This was brought up months ago here and I thought it was a good idea, but it is also a heck of a lot more complicated than this. Who is going to analyze the data?  Is it going to give them anything more meaningful than what their NV equipment diagnostics or customer feedback be it sprint zone, twitter, phone, and chat is already giving them?

Frankly I think Sprint should have at least one person per area (More in bigger markets) that their primary job is to drive around and test network performance and recommend improvements.

 

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I have a strong suspicion they already get what you are proposing twice a year from RootMetrics.

If this were to happen. Hypothetically, how long of a process would that be given both parties where willing to do it?

It would still take a while. First, as it stands right now it has been about 3 months since any progress has been observed in Iowa or Nebraska. Second,  you'd  have to go through the entire process that comes with any site work i.e. permitting, scheduling crews, potentially upgrading backhaul, budgeting, etc.

but does Sprint have enough spectrum to add a second B25 carrier? Or even just filling out the current coverage there- it is abysmal.

The PCS B block is split with Verizon there so they shouldn't. That said bretton88 has posted a 2nd carrier shot he said was from Iowa City. There was also a similar sighting in Western Iowa of what appeared to be a second carrier from somewhere that theoretically shouldn't have it. It is hard to say if it is a signal check error or if some spectrum was refarmed without seeing engineering screens.

Also lets not go overboard with things like "abysmal." Site spacing in Iowa City is fairly standard.

Also, is there any word about densification?

No and other than being a college town Iowa City would be pretty low on the list.

[emoji34] Implementation of third carrier was likely delayed. Competition did not stop.

There is no evidence of that...

So cedar rapids is possibly the worst spectrum market for Sprint in the country.

Pretty much as far as I know...

Is cedar rapids even able to have a second band 25 carrier? I find it odd it's been deployed everywhere else in Iowa but here.

No. The PCS B spectrum is split in Linn County with AT&T.

Someone put together a comprehensive list of the SpeedConnect BRS/EBS holdings in the Quad Cities.  For BRS, Sprint holds the BRS 2 6 MHz TDD block.  Is it contiguous with SpeedConnect BRS spectrum?  If so, Sprint probably could flip the license to SpeedConnect in exchange for Sprint to get more contiguous EBS spectrum that would allow Sprint to deploy 20 MHz TDD, rather than 15 MHz TDD after the WiMAX sunset.

 

AJ

That was me. SpeedConnect literally has everything but the BRS 2 and EBS G blocks. Hypothetically something could be worked out i.e. BRS 2 for BRS H3 or the EBS for BRS spectrum next to BRS 2.

How much 2.5 does sprint have?

See the post 8 posts up from Tim.

Tim only did a BRS search. There is a 15 Mhz contiguous channel of leased EBS spectrum when Wimax shuts down in the Quad Cities as well. This is one of a few  markets where a local WISP got to BRS/EBS instead of Clearwire.  Still substandard spectrum for a standard Band 41 carrier though.

Yeah. It is brutal and don't see a light at the end of the tunnel since they don't much if any band 41 here. Which is sad since we have 500,000 people around here

What do you want them to do? They've already added a 2nd band 25 carrier on multiple sites, something many markets aren't capable of having. Other than a potential 15 Mhz band 41 carrier (which is questionable if it makes financial sense, and likely not possible until Wimax is shutdown) they can't do anything more. And we've been over that last sentence multiple times now...

From what I read in the Reddit thread, these are IL call centers, aka, most of us. The CL call centers, aka business or Corporate Liable, are still staying open. Playing favorites with business customers is not a smart move, especially when a large majority of customers are most likely individuals. I sure hope this announcement of the closing call centers doesn't make investors mad come morning, prompting a large sell off like we just started getting out of.

Business customers on average are going to have more lines on an account and spend more than your average retail consumer customer. Even a small business that has people in the field may have 10+ lines. It absolutely makes sense to cater to them.

The market obviously isn't open today, but for a company in Sprint's current position that needs to cut costs (and management has said they'll cut $2.5 billion in costs) things like this are going to be acknowledged favorably by investors and analysts.

 Why would they offer a feature that is only randomly available?

Because when you think of chat you think of instantaneous or near instantaneous communication. If they have a certain number of people already waiting to chat, and it is clear they cannot offer that near instantaneous experience,  from a customer service stand point it makes a lot more sense not to present the option to further people until queues decline (and preventing people from getting in line is a very effective way of doing that).

Looks like the advanced earnings call sparked investor confidence.

Which shows you how fickle the selloff was.

Sprint is not collapsing because of that silly recode article, but because of its weight of high yield debt.

Long-term perhaps. But it isn't like it all of the sudden became known that Sprint has high yielding debt with a chunk of it nearing maturity. This has been known for years and is public record through Sprint's SEC fillings. Short-term, the stock this week absolutely was about the re-code article which appears to be sketchy on accuracy at best and several analysts downgrading earnings estimates.

does anyone know, or can point me in the right direction to find out, what they are using for frequency and channel width for their LTE?

They're trying to deploy 10x10 using 1700 (4) and 1900 (2). Their spectrum holdings vary a bit depending on the part of Iowa so it isn't going to be universally standard.

maybe even most newer sprint phones would work on their network assuming they allowed that?

Band 2 is a subset of band 25 so in the theoretical sense, Sprint could roam on that. In reality, I don't see it happening. T-Mobile still owns 50% of iWireless. 1) It is still unclear whether even their own customers can access iWireless 2) They have no incentive to help Sprint 3) Us Cellular other than extreme Northwestern Iowa already provides Sprint LTE roaming in virtually the entire state.

USCC thinks they are AT&T or Verizon and so they are way too expensive and don't have an unlimited option.

Like AJ said, maybe because they are. Excluding Omaha, Lincoln and Des Moines and even if you lived in one of those cities and regularly traveled to rural areas; in Iowa you'd want to be on Verizon or US Cellular (maybe iWireless if you are in the East part of the state). In Nebraska you'd want to be on US Cellular, Verizon, or Viaero. Those carriers have ridiculous rural buildouts.

Nextel and Clearwire on the same site, how likely will Sprint convert that?

It depends where it is relation to current Sprint sites.

I don't think it'll be any different than Sprint's usual hosted Earnings Calls with analysts on the phone asking questions.

 

Lots of info seemed to come from the session with T-Mobile yesterday: Reddit Link

Hence the intent of my disclaimer. People get excited about the earning calls as well. The slight difference here over an earnings call is that in an earnings call an analyst typically gets to ask 1 or 2 questions at the most. Here one analyst gets to ask multiple questions and follow up, etc. Sometimes these situations lend themselves to equipment and deployment strategy updates, but often they do not. Given the importance of NGN, I wouldn't be surprised to see it come up. That said, I'd expect a lot more focus on cost-cutting measures and details on the leasing vehicles they've been setting up. 

And just a word of caution. This is an investment bank sponsored forum moderated by an investment bank analyst. Sometimes good information comes out of these. Often it does not.

Sprint did fairly well, but I am curious how Sprint got 2nd in network speed when T-Mobile has a higher speed (if you added down+upload).  Our previous findings is that Sprint often had higher download speeds but slower uploads, and T-Mobile would often win.  Maybe they weigh that on average speeds, instead of median?

"Higher speed"  as defined here is largely irrelevant. On Down + Up T-Mobile would've technically been ahead of Verizon in this test too.  Data usage is asymmetrical and as such most people would want higher download speeds. It wouldn't be unreasonable to have some weighting there. That doesn't explain something like Topeka this round of testing though. It is hard to tell what Root is doing without access to their data sets.

I was curious what the Sprint experience is like in SD and ND? I'm in NC and service is pretty good but I'll be out that way in May. 

Where in SD and ND? Both are fairly large states with highly varying levels of coverage depending on location.

Surely the band isn't limited to just a chunk of 14Mhz?

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-90-fcc-ready-to-give-sprint-official-go-ahead-on-smr-800-mhz-wideband-operation/

I dont care about the streaming video, my previous job I traveled a lot into roaming areas. I would come close to the 300 all the time,

And that type of situation is what the last sentence in my post was directed towards. Here in Omaha we are in a great situation to benefit from the US Cellular Roaming deal (look at the coverage map for why). However, I don't and still wouldn't recommend Sprint to friends or family that regularly travel to smaller cities for work. If you find yourself hitting or coming close to hitting the roaming cap "all the time" to me that is a sign you need a different carrier.

 and that was on 3G. I can only imagine, how fast it would go with lte. 

Echoing AJ, 300 MB is 300 MB. I tried showed how much "regular" stuff you could do with 300 MB in a week assuming vacation usage. LTE just lets you accomplish those tasks quicker.

I have no problems uscc being lte roaming, I would like a higher cap then 100/300 mbs on the roaming though

Personally I don't know... 100 may be on the stingy side on the newer plans, but I fail to see how 300 isn't enough. A fairly common roaming situation is someone on vacation for a week or someone going back to visit family for a week in a non-native coverage area. 300 MB still allows you to send 400 emails, visit 200 we pages, and upload 200 pictures to social media. It isn't going to allow you to slingbox back to your TV at home or stream Netflix, but nor should it for that matter. If people find themselves needing more than 300 MB in roaming on a regular (or even somewhat infrequent basis) a different carrier may be needed for them.

Its not against the law to use slang. Unless you absolutely have no clue what the other person it shouldn't be a issue.

 

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While you are correct that it isn't against the law to use slang, you are horribly mistaken in assuming the "laws" or legal standard apply to moderation of a message board. I'm not a spelling or grammar Nazi by any means (and Lord knows I make plenty of mistakes on both on message boards); that said, if 99% of the board can conjure some semblance of the English language through spelling out words fully and making complete sentences, then avoiding "slang" as you put it, isn't an unrealistic expectation.

Its not against the law to use slang. Unless you absolutely have no clue what the other person it shouldn't be a issue.

 

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I don't have a clue what the "unless the other person it" is supposed to mean.