red_dog007

Must of been a pain being on TMo with video being limited to 1.5Mbps. But I'm sure that would help the networks congestion, largely on the upload.

It was announced by AT&T about two weeks after this promo started that 500k people had signed up under the plan. Includes existing and new customers. That is a lot of potential customers that TMo could have acquired or kept. Im sure the $30 undercutting is there to offset any savings going under a single TV+Cellular provider umbrella.

And that spectrum (say WiFi frequencies) was provided to the people for free to "take off" which it has. You want to start paying for it now that the free spectrum has fulfilled its purpose?

I bet you use and broadcast unlicensed spectrum every day without paying for it. Would you like too? Im sure the FCC takes donations. I doubt you'd like to have to purchase a license just to operate a wireless router. You do realize how much unlicensed and free to use spectrum there is out there?

Combining the two seems very cool. Maybe we will get a treasure trove of data pulled from the crowed sourced data as well instead of just connection type and random speedtests.

There are a lot of apps like it that exist out there and plenty that offer their own unique swiping style. The thing about these kind of apps, is they are great tools to have, until they get incorporated into the OS itself. Acquisitions like these are more just for patents I am sure, plus to make an existing builtin app better. Like I haven't used anything like Swiftkey since it was built into the Android keyboard. But I would love it if Google bought some company that made their keyboard even better. I'd rather not have to download/buy a separate app for a core functionality of an operating system. There are a number of apps I would like for say Google to buy to make some core functionality much better. Some apps are bought/downloaded only because the stock ones just flat out suck, and if it takes the purchase of a 3rd party to make a good built in app, please do. Camera, messenger, and file explorer just to name a few.

Wasn't BRS/EBS basically given away as well back in the day?

So maybe we won't get any 4K potentially. I know that 4K won't require the use of a second channel. CES showcases that 4K can easily get it done in one 6MHz channel. But, I don't know what the bitrate is/was. If 4k is such that broadcasters would need to drop subchannel networks, they may not want to do that. And if they are unwilling to pay for a channel dedicated for 4K. Unless codecs get good enough such that a channel with 4K can handle some 480p subchannels. I know 4K TVs aren't ATSC 3.0. 3.0 isn't even finalized. I was saying that 3.0 should have gotten finalized by the time 4K got super cheap. You can get a 4K TV for just a few hundred bucks now. If Congress won't let the FCC handout whitespace spectrum for 3.0 use, then why would Congress fund a voucher program unless they force the broadcasters to update to 3.0 by law. The only reason why there was a voucher program before is because it was law to change to DTV. You think it will be law to change to ATSC 3.0?

DTV was mandatory though. So a voucher program made sense. I doubt ATSC 3.0 is going to be mandatory? ATSC 3 should have been ready when 4K TVs got cheap. :-(. That way the market could be getting seeded already with built in tuners. 4K sets are so cheap now. And most importantly, will there be enough bandwidth to provide 4K after the loss of 600MHz? If there was enough spectrum out there, only the big network names will be in 4k. They could have duplicate stream on another channel but it be the 4k channel. Wouldn't have to go through any distribution program. But if there isn't enough spectrum to have duplicate dedicated 4k streams, seems like a transitional period would be a lot more complicated than DTV was. As far as 1080p content goes, tell that to satellite and landline providers. :-P

4K was broadcasted for CES this year. ATSC article says LG was show casing 4K with HDR off Channel 18 (KHMP). So at least a 4K over-the-air live demonstration at a major technology convention. :-) Though looks like they did it last year too in 2015. :-/

So, with the 600MHz auction looming, broadcast television is about to lose a big chunk of useable wireless airwaves. VHF-Lo is 30MHz (5 Channels) VHF-Hi is 42MHz (7 Channels) UHF has 228MHz, but with 600MHz auction looming broadcast, seems like about half of that is going to be reallocated for cellular. I'm just wondering what kind of implication this will or might have on the future of 4K over-the-air broadcast television. I imagine that rural markets, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. But in markets that have limited or no white space remaining in the broadcast spectrum range, things might be complicated. And it would be these areas that would be the primary pushers for 4K. Im trying to find information on ATSC 3.0, and 4K OTA, but I'm not really finding much. I'd imagine that the big providers (ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, and maybe PBS) would make the shift. But I'd imagine that they would either need to occupy an additional spectrum channel, or have to remove some subchannel networks completely. Do you think 2016 will be the year of 4K OTA broadcast or might we have to wait a little longer?

If you are just using it as an AP get a cheapy wireless router from Amazon or something.

Wow. I thought Sprint wanted to stop throwing money at VZW. I wonder when the map will update to reflect this change. I guess with CCA rural providers taking over more ground Sprint can afford to turn on VZW 3G. Now Si wireless... I thought they basically had all that stuff enabled already. Guess not. Si expanding?

IMO BingeOn needs to zero rate ALL video or no video at all. They already throttle all video to 1.5Mbps. Just zero rate all of it. No need to have this list at all. If this was Comcast it would be a poo storm, but because it is TMo it is ok. I don't like myself.

It's broadband. Not cellular service. CLOS, 39GHz can go a long ways. Being urban environment, they could be a solid competitor depending what landline company is in the area, services offered and price. I bet for a lot of buildings to tap into this broadband, it would just take only a single receiver to feed the whole building. The range they requested gives them what, 400MHz of bandwidth. Plus maybe that section is light or clear on traffic so they don't have to wiggle around users of other SH and EH frequencies. But being at 39GHz, they'll be sticking to urban environments.

So what is going on in north Florida. I just checked the map and there is a little bit of new updated coverage, and iirc this area is part of it. It was there already, but looks like Sprint added some more going into the panhandle. Maybe that is representing 1x800 coverage?

Isn't it just the Apple iPhone 6s version and the Samsung S6 + Note 5 series?

Who owned the AWS3? Government? If they just of had the idea above from the beginning it wouldnt be as much of an issue. But maybe it was and negotiations failed. They have to release another 30MHz, but can't remember by when. Maybe could have just waited on AWS3 cause some law passed before the auctions, bought Dish's spectrum, and released that 30MHz. I know what is done is done, and can't do this could have should have, but still. It would be nice to see better utilization of this limited resource.

So, looking at it. Why not the FCC do this? Right now AWS4 covers 2000-2020 and 2180 - 2200. AWS3 has 15MHz unpaired uplink from 1695-1710. So why not make that 20MHz, from 1690 -1710 and pair it with upper AWS4 and make this part of AWS3. Then reallocate 20MHz from 1830-1850 (used by government) to pair with lower AWS4 of 2000-2020 and make this part of PCS. It would cause complications with Dish owning half of the paired links in both the new extended PCS and AWS ranges. But for spectrum utilization I think it would have been a solid plan for the long term. Band 66 wouldn't be weird, which still excludes 30MHz of spectrum in lower AWS4 and PCS H-Block.. Could just make a new band that covers all AWS from 1690-1780 / 2110-2200 and all PCS that covers 1830-1920 / 1930-2020. Instead currently lower PCS H-block and lower AWS4 are bandless. And we got 15MHz of unpaired junk in AWS3. Its an extra 25MHz the feds would need to surrender. but they are/were pushing for hundreds of MHz that they haven't reached yet. And it would just be extending PCS and AWS ranges evenly and IMO utilize the spectrum much more efficiently, at least just looking at the numbers. Dish owning it would cause some issues, but it is the feds. I think they could get it done. Either force Dish to partner with someone, or if they can't get anything deployed, they'd eventually have to surrender/sell that spectrum.

A tower I am sure is AT&T had some work done this week. Went from four panels per sector to five. I figure this is B30 antenna. I also figure they would have brought down a panel. Five seems a bit excessive, no? All the antennas look the same but different shades of white/grey.

Is this a $1billioin savings this year, or is that over several years. If it is $1billion this year, that is a lot of changing up of backhaul providers and relocating towers which I hope doesn't make holes in the network. Only makes sense to move a tower to a government owned site if it is right next door. Otherwise, might as well just be a brand new site. Maybe this is part of what Sprint is talking about too? They said they want to add thousands of new sites, so maybe these savings is just coming from picking new sites that are owned/operated by government. Im also sure a lot of the existing sites, prices are being renegotiated as much as possible.

Doesn't TMobile roam on them now free and clear over LTE? Might be better with that? What about USCC, too expensive? But then Sprint roams on USCC there now if your roaming bucket is large enough for your needs.

Found two things. Memphis has Enhanced LTE coverage. There was not there before. NH has a blotch of Enhanced LTE only coverage. No LTE, no 3G. Beginning of VTel LTE agreement kicking in? Some areas that I have noticed, primarily WA so far, that has a lot of Sprint LTE or Enhanced LTE coverage not marked on the map or marked as roaming.

Look at North Florida and South GA. Looks like some new huge exaggeration there.

Hmm... Maybe something Dish might be interested in. Several billion to just start the network buildout. Sprint having it would be cool, but then I see issues with their current coverage area. This will have to addressed and how Sprint is going to pay for it, unless future spectrum auctions will top off FirstNet money wallet and be fully paid for. I think VZW getting it would be ideal. I am sure that can do the fastest deployment which I think would be best for FirstNet. But then I'd expect in populated areas for there to be a lot of traffic, so how much will a carrier benefit from getting to use it?