Rasta Cheesehead

Sprint Network Chief Steve Elfman confirmed all Sprint devices released in 2014 will have 2.5 LTE. But when was asked by a investor question specifically about the iphone , Elfman said “We can’t confirm anything on the iPhone at this time or anytime. sounds like a slip/accidental confirmation , but quickly tried to fix/cover up/back track.

Really, all devices? Even flip/feature phones? I'd love for that to be true, so that Ev-DO can be shut down that much more quickly and entirely refarmed to LTE, but I don't see that happening until they make a complete switch to VoLTE several years from now.

 

 

Wonderful! I guess you'll have to pick out new colors for those pins quicker than I thought you would have to.

 

 

Hold on. A little while back I asked how many of those 8,000 non-colocated Clearwire sites would be receiving TDD LTE (as full builds or small cells) and/or 800/1900 and the short answer is that it seems likely that most will get 2600 in some form, and a few on the edge of coverage or in protection sites will get the full tri-band treatment. However that is still conjecture (albeit a good guess and one I hope is true). All we know for sure until some more documentation comes in is that all 39k original NV sites (including those colocated with Clearwire) will get 2600, with some unknown quantity of small cells in between, probably in WiMax areas or the top 100 markets- so that all those travelling Japanese businessmen are covered .

 

I don't think the earnings call mentioned the rest of the Clearwire network, and my guess would be between now and when WiMax is shut down Q1 2015, Sprint will look to see if there are any Clearwire sites that prove to be redundant, so it can reduce operating expenses much like when the number of Nextel sites was trimmed.

 

So with adequate backhaul already in place everywhere from NV 1.0 I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the TD-LTE overlay to be completed by the time Wi-Max is shut down (especially if they can find another contractor like Nokia Siemens to help out), but the number and location of the urban small cells will continue to be tweaked for quite a while in response to demand.

all Sprint and ALL Clear sites will get 2.5 LTE and more sites will be added. They are not shutting down any clear sites. they need the density for 2.5 coverage

That's the spirit! Screw everyone who purchased WiMAX phones. I wonder how you'd feel if Sprint "just shut off" YOUR 4G service.

Sprint is offer phones to wimax custmers or a free out of their contract 

This is just my opinion but I really don't believe that every device that Sprint has will eventually be tri band. I expect to see it on the high level and perhaps some of the mid level devices. Additionally, you don't have to have a triband device to passivley benefit from 800 and 2500(offloading).

carriers are pushing customers to smart phones. so even the lowest devices i would think would have their primary LTE connection. it would be like leaving out 1900 support on Sprint phones since we know 16 billion will go into 2500 development .. i could see some 1900/2500 devices with no 800 LTE to make them cheaper. but no 2500 i don't see that as i think they will try to push the majority of traffic to that network

Eh. I am not particularly overjoyed with this development. I am not sure how deploying 2500 where it is not needed is enhancing the customer experience. It does however increase costs. I would rather see a targeted strategic use of 2500 similar to what was originally planned.

with the amount of money being poured into 2500 development and with the requirement that all 2014 devices will support it , i think 2500 will become the main LTE band for Sprint and 1900 and 800 will be fallback when 2500 signal cannot reach customer. 

I don't understand why there is as much focus on 2500 by media and even Sprint, 800 not even mentioned.  Its 800Mhz that will turn Sprint around by significantly improving coverage and building penetration.  2500 is good in long term for capacity as needed but its 800 that is very very important in the next year.  

Is surprising 800 is rarely talked about by even Sprint.  Sprint badly needs it to compete with ATT/VZW, this is their key item over the next year.  2500 will add capacity and maybe more performance if enough backhaul but that is really more of a marketing/bragging rights thing in short term as smartphone apps don't need more than a few Mbps today.  Latency matter more to smartphone apps after a few Mbps.  At least with the 2500 capacity is not an issue but it's 800 that will bring customers back.  

on the call about 800:

question asked by wells fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche address 800 and coverage expansion, question was to the effect will Sprint use  800 MHZ to expand coverage beyond 3G footprint in markets in currently does not have service ….

Elfman response:

Started to use voice and 3G and added capacity with 800, will start in late 3^rd quarter to intro 800 LTE in market. Expand coverage: says  will expand coverage in area where using only one roaming partner(i take that to mean Verizon and on top of Son’s comments that he will match VZW coverage/LTE in 2 years) and where he sees opportunity. for other areas says will continue to use small rural carriers. 

One of those numbers "that don't matter" (according to some people) is TeliaSonera's subscriber count: 160 million subscribers as of FY 2012. Definitively larger than Verizon Wireless, I would think.

 

 

 

Here's a dirty little secret, if you don't already know this: Apple makes everyone do this (except T-Mobile, reportedly, but I'm a little disbelieving). TeliaSonera, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, SoftBank, C Spire, everyone signed agreements toward massive volume commitments. You can be damn sure all of those operators told Apple to support their LTE networks. But they got shortchanged.

its the same thing over and over again, everyone said cause Sprint has LTE on 1900 and not 700, Sprint would not get LTE on the iphone and people said iphone would not support 800 CDMA, but the iphone 5 came and supported Sprint LTE, and 800 CDMA. Apple will support LTE band 41 for Sprint and Softbank.

So TeliaSonera, who has run LTE on Band 7 in some countries since 2009, and had national, well-performing coverage in most of them since 2011, isn't mature enough for Apple? And somehow Verizon, who launches its LTE network at the end of 2010, and doesn't get national coverage until now, is mature enough in early 2012? I call BS.

again follow the money its simple as this Sprint signed a 15 billion dollar contract to make sure the current and future iphones are compatible with its networks. the Clear LTE network has always been apart of that plan. everyone talks about how much Sprint paid for the iphone but no one talks about why , not cause of its is size but the unique devices apple must develop to work on Sprint's networks. if Sprint had the combine power that it has now that contract would not have been as much.  

Are you blind? Vodafone Europe (roughly half of that number) alone sells more iPhones. And Apple does not always support all the technologies of its carrier partners. Otherwise the iPhone 5 would have had Band 7 and Band 20 (Hint: it doesn't!). Nearly all of Apple's European partners had Band 7 and/or Band 20 LTE networks, but neither band is supported on the iPhone 5.

Those networks are in there infancy or non existent, when they become available and more robust. than they will be supported.. and no im not blind , I just follow the money and that's the same thing apple does

 

SoftBank and Sprint combined, which have a subscriber total of ~88M, are dwarfed by the combined strength of Vodafone (450M), Airtel (266M), SingTel (265M), América Móvil (252M), Telefónica (250M), Orange (230M), VimpelCom (215M), TeliaSonera (160M), Telenor (150M), and Deutsche Telekom (130M). All of those operators participate in the GSM/UMTS/LTE ecosystem, and all of them are doing GSM/LTE or GSM/UMTS/LTE with LTE FDD and LTE TDD with Bands 7+38 instead of Band 41 LTE TDD. That is an ecosystem of 2368 million (~2.4 billion) subscribers.

 

Unfortunately enough, SoftBank can participate in this ecosystem and get good pricing on handsets with a swap to Band 41, but Sprint cannot. This is because SoftBank's handsets involve a simple filter swap on GSM/UMTS/LTE devices that support Band 38 to widen to Band 41 (and not include the Band 7 PA, which nearly all Band 38 devices currently do not have anyway). Also, since SoftBank uses bands for UMTS that are the same as the rest of Asia and Europe, there is a higher degree of reuse. This dramatically cuts the cost.

 

Sprint has several counts against it in the ecosystem. While it uses PCS A-F spectrum (which is widely used for UMTS service), it provides CDMA2000 service on that band instead. It also provides CDMA service on ESMR, with plans to provide LTE service on the band soon, too. Additionally, its PCS G block has not yet been auctioned elsewhere because the viability of the ecosystem is considered suspect, so the PCS G LTE network is considered "unusual". While it is true that most power amplifier parts are multi-mode, the procurement of CDMA devices and infrastructure is much more expensive because of the vastly reduced market for it. It doesn't help that Verizon's planned exit of the user device procurement market for CDMA/LTE devices will cause an ecosystem crash (it cuts the size of the CDMA/LTE market by more than half). Sprint will have to spend substantially more per device, which means Sprint has less money to spend on infrastructure.

 

3GPP infrastructure will be much cheaper for Sprint to acquire now, since it can use the combined strength of Sprint and SoftBank, but 3GPP2+3GPP gear will continue to get more expensive. That is why SoftBank wants to convert Sprint to 3GPP-only by 2017. It doesn't want to fund what it considers to be a waste (which it does consider the 3GPP2 gear to be that).

 

 

Apple supports carriers and have contracts with carriers that sell iphones, none of the carriers mentioned move more iphones than Sprint and softbank. Apple also supports the technologies of its carrier partners.  

 

Apple supports carriers and have contracts with carriers that sell iphones, none of the carriers mentioned move more iphones than Sprint and softbank. Apple also supports the technologies of its carrier partners.

SoftBank and Sprint combined, which have a subscriber total of ~88M, are dwarfed by the combined strength of Vodafone (450M), Airtel (266M), SingTel (265M), América Móvil (252M), Telefónica (250M), Orange (230M), VimpelCom (215M), TeliaSonera (160M), Telenor (150M), and Deutsche Telekom (130M). All of those operators participate in the GSM/UMTS/LTE ecosystem, and all of them are doing GSM/LTE or GSM/UMTS/LTE with LTE FDD and LTE TDD with Bands 7+38 instead of Band 41 LTE TDD. That is an ecosystem of 2368 million (~2.4 billion) subscribers.

 

Unfortunately enough, SoftBank can participate in this ecosystem and get good pricing on handsets with a swap to Band 41, but Sprint cannot. This is because SoftBank's handsets involve a simple filter swap on GSM/UMTS/LTE devices that support Band 38 to widen to Band 41 (and not include the Band 7 PA, which nearly all Band 38 devices currently do not have anyway). Also, since SoftBank uses bands for UMTS that are the same as the rest of Asia and Europe, there is a higher degree of reuse. This dramatically cuts the cost.

 

Sprint has several counts against it in the ecosystem. While it uses PCS A-F spectrum (which is widely used for UMTS service), it provides CDMA2000 service on that band instead. It also provides CDMA service on ESMR, with plans to provide LTE service on the band soon, too. Additionally, its PCS G block has not yet been auctioned elsewhere because the viability of the ecosystem is considered suspect, so the PCS G LTE network is considered "unusual". While it is true that most power amplifier parts are multi-mode, the procurement of CDMA devices and infrastructure is much more expensive because of the vastly reduced market for it. It doesn't help that Verizon's planned exit of the user device procurement market for CDMA/LTE devices will cause an ecosystem crash (it cuts the size of the CDMA/LTE market by more than half). Sprint will have to spend substantially more per device, which means Sprint has less money to spend on infrastructure.

 

3GPP infrastructure will be much cheaper for Sprint to acquire now, since it can use the combined strength of Sprint and SoftBank, but 3GPP2+3GPP gear will continue to get more expensive. That is why SoftBank wants to convert Sprint to 3GPP-only by 2017. It doesn't want to fund what it considers to be a waste (which it does consider the 3GPP2 gear to be that).

 

 

Apple supports carriers and have contracts with carriers that sell iphones, none of the carriers mentioned move more iphones than Sprint and softbank. Apple also supports the technologies of its carrier partners.  

Maybe, but it's unlikely. Normally supporting Bands 7+38 automatically makes it impossible to support Band 41 (they are currently mutually exclusive). And Apple will definitely support those bands before Band 41, because they're being used EVERYWHERE except Japan and the US. Even Canada uses Band 7 right now, with Band 38 being auctioned sometime next year.

Are you saying that Apple will most likely never support band 41 and 7+38? What if they make a different model sans 7+38 but include B41?

 

 

Sent from my Sprint iPhone 5, not the old one (using Tapatalk 2).

Apple will support LTE BAND 41 , simple answer is SOFTBANK.. This is what the Sprint/ Softbank merger is all about making it easy to get devices and network gear. 1st and #1 iphone carrier in Japan and the #3 iphone carrier in the US , apple would lose out on a lot of money not supporting one of its largest customer. They are the same company now.

There are no sites in Wausau, Madison, Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee or Waukesha that have been accepted complete yet by Sprint. Although work has started, LTE is not imminent. There have only been two sites accepted in Wisconsin markets...one in Irma (which is a GMO) and one in Sheboygan (full build).

 

There are dozens of sites worked on or being worked on. And there have been many GMO sites worked on, especially. And as each site is inspected, given a correction list, the correction list gets fixed and reinspection occurs and is accepted, these sites will go live. It's not as if they are done and sitting there, just waiting for a switch to be flipped.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

I thought Sprint Launched La Cross, WI or is this market consider some where in MN

Thanks for the suggest. Being that my phone was replaced once already, would'nt the new phone have a new MDN or does my old MDN one rollover to the new one?

You do not get a new MDN, that is your phone number... U can get a new MSID

 

 

Will erriccson equipment be a similar setup

Post 22, 23 and 27 show Ericsson equipment

I guess I am the only one in an area with the population of 212,013 who owns an S3 that is having this problem. My associate and I both use Sprint for our PCS service. Standing right next to him I can have him call me but my phone just stares at me with a blank screen. I then call him, no problem, I can make calls 100% of the time, and his EVO 4G lte lights up after 3 rings. This after Samsung has declared my phone to be 100% functional. I don't know what else to do. I think I'm gonna be sick. It's friday night. I'm gettin hammered. This sucks.

When your friend called your phone did it ring on his end the normal amount of rings 40 seconds for CDMA or did it go straight to voicemail? Are you using a custom ringtone or preload (out the box) tone?

I see you have a stock sg3, is it rooted? Software up to date? Any app like task killer memory managers? Have this phone been factory reset and used in the areas you have issues in without restoring your back up ( test with a clean device)?

Found this about the shutter disabling

http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=3856

 

 

There are other legitimate reasons for rooting/jailbreaking. Enthusiasts who want to get the maximum performance out of hteir devices by over/underclocking the CPU, apps like Titanium Backup for recovery and storage, modifying system files to remove the camera shutter sound, etc.

 

Illegitimate tethering is only one small piece of the pie. Let's not get like Comcast and start blocking/slowing down ALL bittorrent traffic because one use isn't legitimate, or AT&T who just don't care about anything but their bottom line, screw the consumer every time.

Can't remember but I think I read somewhere that in a lot of places disabling the camera shutter is illegal or some one wants to make it illegal , sighting privacy concerns. Anyone that can expand on this.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444433504577650050132680794.html

Some 700 towers affected

New software for EVO LTE ..supposedly improves LTE scanning ..anyone download update and getting better LTE performance/signal/coverage.

here one : http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1879-sprint-is-doing-a-live-tour-of-the-cell-site/

mounted on building, not directly behind panel

AT&T already uses RRU, tmobile is also using(starting) with its new network upgrades. Depending on tower and partner for sprint the RRU can be mounted on the tower structure and not just behind the panel. The RRU purpose is to move radio from ground like older tower setup to the tower itself near antenna. Benefit is less power loss and better/stronger signals

 

 

I have documents that state otherwise.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

I can say that the statement of a lot of microwave back haul in Chicago is an exaggeration

Sprint is doing a lot of microwave backhaul in the Chicago market to fill in gaps. I keep watching for small little dishes on the towers in my town. ;-)

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forum Runner

Sprint is actually using Ethernet