mrancier

Perhaps the bit about 3G roaming only ? Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

They aren't really promoting this, so I don't think their customers are even aware of it.

Do you have the signal check app ? Would it see the LTE signal even without authentication ?

Does this mean that they are not required or inclined to upgrade ? They have no real advantage over any other carrier. I would imaging that attaching themselves to Sprint has helped them more. Wouldn't that make them a more likely buyout target ?

This seems like a very likely scenario. Would sure be nice if it happened sooner rather than later. Perhaps this is why nTelos is dragging their feet on the NV upgrade.

Thank you for the info. I still thought they were connected somehow.

This might be the reason why a takeover has not occurred. It seems like they're haggling. They have Shentel who is very aggressive in its expansion, and, surely, would be ready and willing to take this territory from nTelos. Maybe they are waiting on a good price point ? I suppose if 50% of my revenue would come from one client a sale would look pretty good. IT is very risky to stick it out on your own with a threat like a Sprint/Shentel overbuild hanging over you. Not really a lot of incentive to invest in upgrades if you can instead hoard as much cash as you can to keep your value up. But what of Lumos and its fiber ? I can't imaging Sprint would want to deal with that, however, Shentel might. They have Cable service and Lumos might be an easier way to expand ?

This is great information. Thank you for sharing.

Most of South Western Virginia is covered by nTelos and Shentel. I think Sprint towers stop somewhere around Harrisonburg VA (The correct info is somewhere in this site). I imagine that not a large percentage of nTelos subs take advantage of the nationwide coverage. In fact, nTelos most popular and cheapest plans ,until recently, were Tristate local only (The offered nationwide as a separate tier). Their Nationwide by default plans are a somewhat recent development. While this region is relatively small, it seems profitable enough that VZW, ATT and even T-Mob, have nearly 100% LTE coverage (Except out in the country, and T-Mobs AWS suckiness). Sprint is pretty much the only carrier that does not have LTE in 2/3 of Virginia and West Virginia. Both VZW and ATT have large local Installations in the Roanoke Valley. None of this probably answers your main question. Sorry.

NTELOS would be relatively cheap. There is also the fact that NTELOS has its own backhaul. Their parent company, now known as Lumos networks has a lot of fiber in the region which more than likely feeds their towers. That may be problematic in the event of a sale. It might be an issue to buy wireless operations only to be tied up with infrastucture. Sprint left the local incumbent carrier market years ago, so they may not want to buy Lumos. Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

It would suck to have our service dependant on a haggling war. Sprint is flush with softbank cash; why not proceed with a buyout sooner rather than later ? Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

This is quite reassuring, thank you, but it is also further troubling. There have been many valid arguments made for a Sprint buyout of nTelos, despite the company's insistence that they want to go at it independently. Compared to their closest Sprint partner (Shentel), nTelos upgrades are going glacially slow. Despite an official announcement something like 9 months ago, they've only managed to get ONE market PARTIALLY deployed. Now this is a bit out there, but this seems like a company maneuvering to hoard as much cash as possible to keep their stock price stable, enabling a favorable buyout offer. To me, it just doesn't make sense to announce you will be deploying LTE in your network (March ?), partnering with a major Tech company, tell your investors you are definitely doing it (last two guidance conference calls), and, 9 months later, you have nothing to show for it. Even in Waynesboro it isn't advertised at all (apparently). It might be another year before nTelos territory gets upgraded to NV, if any of my crazy, baseless, speculation turns out to be close to the truth.

I will say that it does appear that they've done some backhaul work. I am in Roanoke, VA, and, while speeds have not seem a dramatic improvement, they do seem to be significantly better. I am averaging 1.5Mbps down/500kbps up, and latency seems to averaging <150ms, which for Sprint in 3G is not that bad at all.

Wow. Real classy of them. I wonder if they will sequester LTE access for Sprint Users, who are the ones that stand to gain the most from this. Why are they being so secretive ?

Is it available to sprint customers ? Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

It also seems like coverage has been improved. Perhaps a function of the upgrades or maybe they actually added towers. They really do not offer any sort of information. Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

There is 4GLTE in Clifton forge and iron gate (Shentel), tiny towns compared to places like Roanoke, Christiansburg and Lynchburg. I have found eHRPD in Roanoke. It is available when the radio is initializing and then it falls back to evdo . Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

Any sightings or news from sprints hairy asshole aka nTelos. Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

Long time lurker here, from the Roanoke, VA Area. During nTelos second quarter earnings call, they were asked about their LTE plans. They did not want to comment, at the time, but said that they would unveil their road map for LTE very soon, as they are putting their resources into upgrading their mobile backhaul. I know this isn't exactly what we wanted to hear, but at least we know that there is a plan. Here's the link to the transcript : http://ir.ntelos.com/Cache/1500042718.PDF?D=&O=PDF&iid=4110676&Y=&T=&fid=1500042718 There is also the fact that they will be carrying the iPhone 5. Apple tends to be very bullish about what they expect from carriers, so I'm guessing that they had to offer a concrete road map to LTE, in order to get apple to allow them to resell it.