Conan Kudo

That was specifically asked at the event. Legere said that they aren't doing it because of the security issues regarding it, which is partly why there's so much backlash at Comcast for doing it (the other part being that Comcast is doing it without asking subscribers for permission first). He said that if T-Mobile can figure out a way to securely offer such capability, they may do it. But for now, they won't.

Band 4 over the new AWS-1+3 band wouldn't cause any significant change. The new band class would be specified by the end of the first quarter of 2015. As a superset of band 4, supporting both will not require more parts that what is already required to support band 4, just an expanded duplexer and wider range PA to support both band classes. And AWS-3 spectrum would have been very useful, no matter what. It lines up nicely with Sprint's current site layout, and it would have provided a nice capacity boost with next-generation multi-band phones.

It did have this. The new thing is that seamless cellular/Wi-Fi handover is being re-introduced (using a mix of GAN and IMS technology). Over the next few weeks, most (if not all) T-Mobile Android and Windows Phones will receive updates to support the new version of Wi-Fi calling technology. The iPhone is gaining that feature as part of its implementation of Wi-Fi calling in iOS 8, too. BGR is kind of stupid...

Well, I originally activated with the old baseband. I bought my Nexus 5 and activated it on Sprint long before 4.4.3 and 4.4.4 came out.

I wonder if this might help fix some of the random issues I have accessing the Sprint CDMA network on my Nexus 5 as well. I'll have to try that...

Actually, your calls would hand back up to LTE once you leave Wi-Fi. It's not one-way, it's two-way. And after the upgrade, you don't have the keep JUMP! In fact, you can remove it after your upgrade is complete (you just lose the ability to JUMP! again the same way in 12 months). Given that most people want a new iPhone every year, the likelihood of people removing JUMP! after completing an upgrade is very low.

Since Apple is using a mix of GAN and IMS technology (which is how it's supporting seamlessness), it makes sense that only T-Mobile and EE are capable. T-Mobile USA helped invent the technology along with Orange UK. Orange UK is now part of EE, so they are equipped to support it. Both Orange and Deutsche Telekom are huge proponents of GAN+IMS technology, and they've been working on rolling it out throughout their footprint. I expect to see Telefónica in the future. It's unlikely that Sprint's brand of Wi-Fi Calling will be supported on iPhones anytime soon. It uses a slightly different protocol, different codecs, and some other mechanisms that are alien to the version used by other operators around the world.

Err, Sprint hasn't confirmed this, nor has Apple. In fact, they've said that T-Mobile and EE are the only carriers with it, even now. They did it for GSM/UMTS/LTE networks. T-Mobile US and EE are the first. Orange and Deutsche Telekom are huge supporters of the technology. I expect Telefónica to be next, as they would hugely benefit from it in Latin America. The proprietary technology is likely to do with the patents they hold on adaptive traffic shaping for specialized services over non-controlled networks. I'll say, though. This event was kind of weak. Wi-Fi enhancements are cool, and eSRVCC enhancements to add Wi-Fi radio continuity are nice. The Gogo partnership is good too. But it still wasn't much. Nothing like the earlier events...

Workplace accident

It's unpaired. Because it is low-band, some of the issues with TDD are amplified, so it can't be used for that. As such, it is specified as a supplementary downlink FDD band, meaning it's always the SCC in carrier aggregation. You also can't use TDD as a primary band for FDD+TDD CA (it's too ugly and messy for coordination, even though in theory it would be simpler because FDD has dedicated frequencies for downlink).

Because Lower 700MHz D and E blocks can never be used as the PCC (primary component carrier) for any carrier aggregation, only the SCC (secondary component carrier). There's a big difference when it comes to the way carrier aggregation is done now (DL only). The PCC is the one that handles uplink, downlink, and network signaling. The SCC only handles supplemental downlink capacity as requested. If you use a low-band FDD PCC with a mid-band or high-band SCC, then you're basically providing "spots" of additional capacity with no loss of coverage. If you move out of an SCC coverage zone, you don't lose coverage. However, if the PCC is mid-band and the SCC is low-band, then you get no benefits in terms of coverage. Because of the nearness of frequency and the issues with UE radio design, you cannot generally do low band PCC+low band SCC. You also have the same problem in certain circumstances where mid-band PCC is being aggregated with another mid-band that's nearby (such as IMT [2.1GHz] and PCS [1.9GHz] in Brazil). In general, the preferred carrier aggregation scenario is mid-band PCC with high-band SCC on the same technology type. That is, FDD mid-band with FDD high-band (such as CA {1,2,4}+7), as it provides coverage, additional hotspot capacity, lots of capacity on the PCC and isn't technically challenging to coordinate (like FDD+TDD CA is). Also, FDD+FDD CA (or TDD+TDD CA) lets you aggregate both uplink and downlink, should you want to. Mixed technology aggregation makes this difficult.

Are they using both blocks where you are yet? Do they have all cell sites running AWS?

Verizon already has AWS E and F blocks in Pennington, SD, so your capacity drops are due to backhaul, not spectrum. While the popular consensus is that AWS-3 will be all about AT&T, I think AT&T itself doesn't care so much anymore, since it has reconstructed so much of its AWS footprint through acquisitions. Of course, AWS-3 would enable AT&T to roll out 15MHz or 20MHz channels, so that is an incentive. But AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile don't have strong incentives to bid nationally on AWS-3. AT&T might if it's easy, but another company could come in and bid nationally fairly easily. Those are AWS-1 blocks. AWS-3 paired blocks are: G Block: 1755-1760 and 2155-2160 (10 MHz) - issued by CMAs H Block: 1760-1765 and 2160-2165 (10 MHz) - issued by EAs I Block: 1765-1770 and 2165-2170 (10 MHz) - issued by EAs J Block: 1770-1780 and 2170-2180 (20 MHz) - issued by EAs The FCC mandated full AWS-1 and AWS-3 interop, so existing 3GPP band 10 isn't allowed to be used. A new band is being studied now, and should be defined and declared by the end of Q1 2015. The 3GPP study item is supposed to be complete by the end of this year.