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I'm growing tired of reminding people of this: the chip's support of the bands is not an issue. The present Qualcomm MDM9600 modem (in the HTC Thunderbolt & Rezound along with numerous AT&T devices and the upcoming iPad3) used for LTE does Verizon 700, AT&T 700, and will work in PCS, AWS, and all defined LTE bands. The problem is the RF electronics (preamps, diplexers, filters) and antennas. There is not physical room to support more than 1 or 2 LTE bands on a phone that will fit into your pocket. The only phones approved with more than a single LTE band class are the upcoming AT&T phones approved for 700 and AWS, and the reason they're approved is because they only have to support 2 bands of GSM/GPRS/HSPA. So 4 bands total.

It did have a large part of the backbone but now runs on CenturyLink (the old Embarq company that Sprint foolishly spun off). CenturyLink now supplies most of Sprint's backhaul and is making money hand-over-fist... it was a very bad idea to spin off the entire landline business. The long distance resell / local landline business would've been fine to dump, but they shouldn't have dumped the internet mainline backbone portion of the company along with it. Embarq was the consumer landline company that Sprint rightly didn't want AND the backbone company that they desperately need today. CenturyLInk has been making more money than Sprint has been losing lately!

It's Sunday morning man-- everyone is in church!

It's interesting to see how some licenses were split up. I think Sprint traded part of the A block in New Orleans, but Baton Rouge (which is part of the same market) still has the whole A block on Sprint AFAIK. I think VZW picked up some of the A block in NOLA-- they must've needed it at one time (maybe pre-Alltel).

In bad, bad markets (Memphis, Atlanta, Houston), they have the "D" block I think (channels 325, 350, & 375 only). You can imagine how bad their service would be; however, in most of these markets (that Sprint cares about), they've added a few neighboring channel blocks like A5 (so they can use channels 275 and 300) or B1 (so they can use channels 400 and 425). Some markets, however, only have 3 available channels. E block is 725, 750, & 775. F block is 825, 850, & 875. C block is 925, 950, 975, 1000, 1025, 1050, 1075, 1100, 1125, 1150, & 1175. The inbetween channels are only valid if the licensee holds the channels on the other side (300, 400, 700, 800, 900, & 1200) require you to have the channels in the next block (or at least the first (or last) channel in that block.

I can make the G block scan native-- I just thought the flashing roam would be a nice "feature" for people to see. All I have to do is change the Roam Indicator field from 228 to 1 for all my "new" records (ACQ indices 32 & 34). But if the firmware doesn't support BC 14, it won't matter either way.

Yes-- PCS A block is 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, & 275. It is always one of these 11 channels. That's what Sprint has here in Baton Rouge too.

Yeah-- the EVO has the hardware to do it, but it's likely the Radio ROM (baseband firmware) doesn't allow it. It's a software not a hardware problem. The phone was probably only tested and FCC approved for band class 0 & 1, so all other bands are probably blocked out via firmware. Obviously the extra 5 MHz in BC 14 shouldn't be an interference issue or anything, but if FCC doesn't approve it, the phone won't be allowed to do it. It's likely the testers' phones are using a custom firmware for the testing and likely operate under an FCC temporary facilities / testing waiver. It was worth a shot-- and there may be other phones in service whose firmware may not have been so restricted.

No-- the Ec/Io ratio is just for the channel you're on whatever channel that is. The only way I know of to find out which channel you're on is the EPST (built-in) field test (##DEBUG#) screen. You should see the channel scanning on the 1x engineering screen when your phone is in idle slotted mode.

I'd have to look up the teardown of each one and then check the RF gear in question. Everything is available out there if you google it. As far as the E4GT (that name is too long!), its Avago AFCM-7325 Quadplexer is designed for band classes 0,1,10, & 14. Again, I'm not sure what the baseband firmware (radio ROM) will accept.

I added a 4139 SID G block search as the 1st geo scanned in the PRL-- if it cannot find one, then it will jump to process the PRL normally as before (stock 60683 Sprint PRL). I can create a blank PRL with only BC 14 scanning if you like-- but if you use it, your phone won't work at all unless it finds a G block channel; you'll have to load a stock PRL to use your phone and I don't know if you could even do a PRL update with it (for non-rooted phones) since it would essentially be stuck in a scan loop. The way this PRL work is that it will look for the G block stuff first then proceeds to run normally. Toggling airplane mode should make it rescan. Let me know if you'd like to be a guinea pig for a blank (G block ONLY) PRL-- I'll be happy to make one for you.

It's the ratio of the power received from the carrier channel you're presently synced to for EVDO data versus the overall power received (it gives you an idea of the signal-to-noise ratio, but includes carrier pollution from other carriers with different PN offsets). Yours on that test is pretty good, but -2500 would be optimal; the EV channel you're on probably has neighbors (with different PN offsets of course) that you're getting some signal from or you've got a few competing users on the channel transmitting at the same time-- probably both.

That's a sure sign of insufficient backhaul-- if Sprint weren't so cheap and stingy with it, you'd have d/l speeds of about 750 - 850 kbps with that kind of SINR and Ec/Io. Just look at your u/l speed-- the carrier channel isn't overloaded-- just the backhaul from the internet to the tower. Sprint needs to provide 9.3 mbps download capacity per channel/carrier (for a 3 sector tower). I would imagine being in DFW, your tower is probably running 5-6 EV carriers in all three sectors, which means they have installed 46.5 - 55.8 mbps of air interface capacity on the tower and I bet they're not pulling even 25% of this much backhaul to the tower.

That's not bad for Baton Rouge! I'm glad I got on big red while they still have anymobile anytime and unlimited texting plans in our area!

If in doubt, always check the teardown. I never buy a phone without knowing all the chips and gear inside it to know its capabilities. In the case of the OG EVO 4G, it should have no issue with BC 14. Its RTR 6500 transceiver supports BC 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, & 14. I don't know if the baseband firmware (radio ROM) is programmed to accept BC 14, but if the phone runs with this PRL, it must. The Triquint duplexer used for PCS bands in this handset was specified only for BC 0 frequencies, but should also work in BC 14-- it's only 5 extra MHz on each side and analog ICs aren't an exact science. What you should see if there is no active 1x or EV carrier on channels 1225, 1250, 1275 (standard G block channels) in your area is normal behavior with the stock 60683 PRL-- including 3G "native" roaming in Pioneer areas that was removed in 60685. If, however, your phone finds an active carrier on one of those channels, the roaming indicator will flash like international roaming and you should see a 1x and/or Ev channel in the G block active on your field test. Please note that if you do not have CDMA and data roaming enabled, the phone won't link to the G block carriers-- I set the roaming flag to alert you that you're not in Kansas anymore.

I had a VIC 20 with only a tape drive (I think it was a 1531 model). I learned 6502 machine language before I even learned PASCAL, C, or FORTRAN.

There will be a new version coming out soon that will have all S4GRU announced markets (1st AND 2nd round) included. Remember that it should NOT be used unless you're certain your phone supports band class 14 and there's no guarantee it will work-- as mentioned above, Sprint may be using odd channels or SIDs for their testing-- we're only guessing here. Also, since I no longer have a phone that can be PRL-modified, I cannot test these so I'm relying on feedback! The new version will be 60684.

This is kinda old news now. The attached PDF waiver letter was submitted with all the handsets tested for EVDO use in ESMR. I doubt they'll run more than a single 1xAdvanced carrier in ESMR (assuming it is truly has 4x the capacity of a 1xRTT carrier). Running 2 1xA carriers would be like running 8 1xRTT carriers-- not even Verizon does this with all their subs. I would expect a couple EVDO carriers in ESMR as they make room (by slowly phasing out iDEN channels). This will give great relief in many markets since there are already a number of handsets operating today that will support the EV carriers here. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B3sIg9NfNZx3MDdWVVc0c0lUSmlHUk04dnpiTFBOUQ

I should've put a YET qualifier in there-- I'm sure I'll figure out a way to load a PRL of my own construction! The thing is though, that necessity is the mother of invention-- I had to learn PRL modification living in BR on Sprint to survive. With VZW, I really don't have any need to change a PRL-- so far.

Please let me know if it acts funny-- I can tweak it further-- if you can't catch a G block carrier, your phone SHOULDN'T behave any differently that it did on 60683 from Sprint. Since I can't load it on my phone to test-- the drawback of the SIM carded VZW LTE phones is that the PRL lives on the SIM and I can't access it (it updates itself)-- I'm counting on you guys to let me know how it works. If I get more time, I can add the same functionality for the Atlanta and NJ markets-- they're just further down the GEO list in the file.

I've modified the 60683 stock Sprint PRL and added records for it to look for G-block carriers in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Kansas CIty, Chicago, and BR/NOLA. It will try to hook onto 1x carriers first then look for Ev carriers even if you're on your native 1x carrier. The roaming triangle will flash when you're connected to a G-block carrier. The PRL should ONLY be used if you're sure your phone supports BC 14 CDMA (most do). If it cannot find a G-block 1x carrier, it will look for your normal carrier, so you should be able to use this PRL all the time.

I would put the G block scan first-- inserted into the stock Sprint PRL, so that if your phone didn't find it, it would proceed processing the rest of the PRL (working as normal). I can even get it to turn on the flashing roaming triangle (international roaming) to alert you that you did link to a G block carrier so you wouldn't have to go into the field test menu to look for your channel assignment. The non-standard center channel assignment, however, would be a problem as you mentioned. There are 75 potential channel numbers that could be used (1225-1300) with no issue if Sprint wanted. One positive thing has come out of my horrid data experience over the past 2 years here in Louisiana: I've had to learn how to tweak a PRL. If Sprint needs PRL authors in the future, the best will probably come from this market-- we learned it on the streets!

They have tested all their existing ESMR handsets for EVDO there and they specifically retested and had an FCC permissive change for the SPH-D710 in December, so they must be planning something (or at least keeping their options open). The reason for the 526 channel assignment on the 1xA is so they can run an EVDO channel at 476, 576, and 626. This wouldn't be a smart move, however, since when they decide to do Rev. B and setup a 3 carrier multilink, it's best that the three carriers be side-by-side. I really think it was a bad deal that carriers didn't implement 3xEVDO back when EVDO came out rather than 1xEVDO-- the 3.69 MHz carriers would have the capacity to match HSPA W-CDMA carriers and we'd not be having as many capacity issues today. Consider the logic behind this: Sprint has about 10 handsets existing in the field that do EVDO in ESMR. The new LG LS-696 will also (and doesn't have LTE or 4G at all). The FCC has approved EVDO in ESMR. LTE is not approved here, and I'd be willing to bet that the FCC will require a new band class established (817-824 uplink only) rather than use BC 18, which might allow them to (accidentally) bump down into public safety channels-- look at what they made them do with BC 12 vs. 17! The other issue is the enormous difficulty (right now) of making a dual band LTE device-- it may be quite some time before this is overcome, and I'd bet that you'll have to lose a CDMA band to gain an additional LTE band. Remember that 1xA requires Rx diversity (2 Rx antennas) just like EVDO and LTE do; 1xRTT didn't require that.

The first LTE device, the LG Viper (LS-840) does LTE in 1900 MHz PCS band only. It does support 1xA CDMA & EVDO Rev. A/B in Cellular 850 MHz and PCS 1900 MHz bands. It also does 1xA CDMA in ESMR 800 MHz band. There wasn't room in the device for additional antennas to support EVDO in ESMR 800 or LTE in any other band.

Adding the acquisition records is easy: 1 added record would be type CDMA Generic with Band Class 14 selected for each of 3 channels: 1225, 1250, & 1275. The 2nd added record would be type HDR Generic with the same band classes and channels. The hard part in making a functional PRL is knowing what SID they're using for testing. They could be using 4139 (Sprint's home SID) or the native SID for that area (in Chicago's case, 4384). The EVDO subnet is likely the same one they use nationwide, but the CDMA (1x) system table would need to have the correct SID to match their test setup. The NID could be 65535, which would grab everything in the SID. Also, you have to add the 1x and associated EV records in the system table for each market or geography in question. I can modify the PRL, but to modify it for EVERY market would take quite a while, especially if you're trying the native and Sprint home SIDs because you're uncertain what they're using. It would be easiest to simply look for an EV carrier only by adding an EV (HDR) record associated with the local 1x record in the actual PRL-- just make the new record come before the Sprint EV record (it has to be inserted above it-- PRLs are processed sequentially). (Incidentally, this is exactly where we insert the VZW and Alltel EV records in our PRLs in the red stick for functional phones!) Then your phone would catch its normal 1x carrier but would first look for a PCS "G" block Ev carrier before looking for your native block carriers. This would only add a single EV record to every Geo-- but wouldn't check for 1x carriers being tested since we don't know the SID. This weekend I can play around with the 60683 Sprint PRL-- it's the last one I have since I no longer have a Sprint phone.