RedSpark

Sprint Waiving Long Distance Calls to Belgium

In the wake of the unspeakable attacks in Brussels today, Sprint is waiving international calls and text usage to Belgium from the U.S., and voice and SMS while internationally roaming in Belgium for all Sprint, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile USA, and Sprint Prepaid customers - effective March 22, 2016 through March 31, 2016.

 
“This is an extremely difficult time for many of our customers who have friends and family in Belgium and need to keep in touch,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. “We want to do what we can to show our support and comfort to Sprint customers.”

 

Is it known whether or not it has 2GB of ram?

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It does: https://twitter.com/panzer/status/712327424659161089

More here.

​​What worries me, is people who get this device on Sprint and then question why the speeds are slower than what they hear of Sprint's great improvements from people they know, the media, etc., then they blame Sprint for it, rather than blaming Apple for the speeds. Not to say its all bad, regular band 41 is quite good, as is PCS in areas Sprint has upgraded to 10x10 or more, but it still isn't the same and I'd hate for Sprint to be blamed for it when they are developing a very powerful  ca-rich network.

I agree with you completely on this.

See: http://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/ and http://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/specs/

The new iPad Pro 9.7" supports LTE Advanced.

 

Supports 23 LTE bands

Up to 300 Mbps via LTE Advanced

It also supports LTE Band 12 and LTE Band 30.

vs.

The iPad Pro 12.9" doesn't support LTE Advanced.

 

Supports 20 LTE bands

Up to 150 Mbps via LTE

It doesn't support LTE Band 12 or LTE Band 30.

Purchase accordingly!

No LTE Plus support is kind of a bummer.

 

But then again the consumers of this device most likely will not know/care what LTE Plus or CA are.

They shouldn't have to care what it is. The performance should just be better.

Don't get me wrong. This is a step up from the iPhone 5s which didn't even have support for Band 41.

However, Apple does it again here by leaving off support for LTE Advanced...

So much for Carrier Interoperability.... See the "Learn more about the SIM-free iPhone' link which is located the iPhone SE Store Page:

The SIM-free iPhone comes without a wireless contract commitment or carrier financing. It doesn’t come with a nano-SIM card for iPhone SE. And because it’s unlocked, it isn’t tied to one carrier, so you can get a nano-SIM from any supported carrier, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the United States. The SIM-free iPhone SE is not compatible with Sprint’s network. To use iPhone SE with Sprint, you need to select Sprint as your carrier when you purchase your iPhone.

Pricing/Specs for the iPhone SE just went live on Apple.com: http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/

Sprint Pricing:

16 GB: $399 Retail Price. Free on Two Year Contract

64 GB: $499 Retail Price. $49 on Two Year Contract

I imagine Lease/Easy Pay will be available.

Order starting March 24. Shipping on March 31.

http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/specs/

iPhone SE

Up to 19 LTE bands

Up to 150 Mbps over LTE (which means no LTE Advanced/LTE Plus support)

Up to 433 Mbps over Wi-Fi (which means no MIMO support)

iPhone 6s

LTE Advanced

Up to 23 LTE bands supported

Up to 300 Mbps over LTE Advanced

Up to 866 Mbps over Wi‑Fi

Still a substantial improvement over the iPhone 5s, which only supported Band 25/26 on Sprint and lacked support for Band 12.

Sprint just kicked off a new sweepstakes:

Sprint Invites Customers to Join ‘Across the Nation Celebration’ Sweepstakes

Visit https://www.sprint.com/sprintnationsweeps to enter.

Interesting they're giving away the same car they use for Direct 2 You.

Here is some good news for Terrell and other in the Orlando area :

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sprint-gets-first-win-network-193043878.html

 

Sprint won in reliability, which is very good!

I'd imagine things will improve further once the remaining WiMAX Network is finally shut down in Orlando (and other cities across the country), the last day of service being 3/31/2016. WiMAX Shutdown Schedule

FL: Daytona Beach, Miami, Orlando, Tampa

If good downlink speeds but poor uplink speeds on band 41, that is not a network problem.  The fault almost certainly lies with the device.  It is power limited.

 

So, maybe that Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is not such a great RF performer like you have been claiming.  Maybe it is weak on band 41 like we have been saying for months.  The tested figures do not lie.  But you just do not want to listen or believe them.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-393-even-more-guardians-of-the-samsung-galaxy/

 

AJ

Doesn't Carrier Aggregation + Advanced Beamforming improve performance at the cell edge to some degree?

I assume the effects apply to both download and upload performance?

Would 3xCA result in greater performance at the cell edge over 2xCA?

Aren't they going to do option 1? Didn't Marcelo say that band 41 will be used for uplink and band 25 for uplink

I recall seeing this here: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-bring-carrier-aggregation-all-its-lte-bands-bid-boost-performance/2015-02-05

 

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said implementing carrier aggregation across all Sprint spectrum bands means Sprint eventually will be able to deploy 1900 MHz FDD-LTE for uplink and 2.5 GHz TD-LTE for downlink, and ultimately improve the coverage of 2.5 GHz LTE to levels that its 1900 MHz spectrum currently achieves. Carrier aggregation, which is the most well-known and widely used technique of the LTE Advanced standard, bonds together disparate bands of spectrum to create wider channels and produce more capacity and faster speeds.

Basic primer you should read up on.

 

http://networks.nokia.com/system/files/document/nsn_td_lte_frame_configuration_wp.pdf

Thanks. I'll take a look.

Why so difficult?

 

We've reportedly stated they sprint has been investigating moving to a more downlink oriented configuration after the wimax shut down.

 

Downlink is predominately what's congested in mobile carriers.

 

Almost no one ever complains about band 25/26 upload being crap but many notice when band 25 or 26 downlink is crap.

When sending an email with attachments (photos, etc), a slow upload speed is definitely frustrating.... and this congestion is more likely to happen as device cameras become higher resolution.

Sprint advertised single carrier B41 at 50-60mbs.. But we have seen quite a bit higher and closer to the actual peak of around 80mbs.

 

The mere fact that they mention over 300mbs, means its technically possible unlike 3xCA would be in its current configuration.

 

Could this be 4x4 MIMO?

See this video: LTE 4x4 MIMO on Snapdragon 820 with X12 LTE

Im curious to know how they end up with over 300mbs. Are they changing the ratio for TDD?

Not sure. However, the post says Real world peak speeds should be 200mbps.

Big news:

Sprint Demonstrates Speeds of More Than 300 Mbps on Samsung Galaxy S7

Sprint prepares for three-channel carrier aggregation in LTE Plus markets across the country

Today Sprint is device testing three-channel carrier aggregation in its lab located in Reston, Virginia, to evaluate overall performance, speed and reliability using the Samsung Galaxy S7. The company expects to test new devices as they become available in preparation for deployment of three-channel carrier aggregation within the super-fast LTE Plus Network.

Yeah, I know those people and their comments all too well.  They are "fanboys."  We just should make a distinction between them and "fans."  Or perhaps "supporters" would be a better term.  Consumers have no real reasons, only cultish reasons to be "fans" of any wireless providers.  Doing so is against their economic self interest.  But stakeholders do have legitimate reasons to be "fans."  Some of those people are employees.  Others, like S4GRU staff, are working toward an educational cause. 

 

AJ

Sprint shareholders are stakeholders... of course, they're working in their own self-interest... but they believe the company's best days are ahead of it, not behind it...

In fact, of all outside stakeholders, they have the greatest faith and may express the most enthusiasm/opinions.... since their money is on the line.

I bet they replaced this with the listening tour.  Marcelo seems to be really taking action in learning the pain points for customers.  I would say they're doing a good job so far, considering 3xCA is now active on some sites.

Speaking of the Listening Tour, check out this article which gives a nice play-by-play for one of his stops: Sprint is trying to fix its biggest problem

I don't mean by urban areas. I mean looking at the obvious coverage gaps all over the country where they cover and fixing those first. We all know where the weak spots are within our local areas. Sprint knows them too. Each weak spot gets ranked with how weak it is and how many people are affected by it. The highest ranked weak spots get the small cells first. Anyway, that's what I'd do.

See this Article: Inside the Plan to Pull Sprint Out of Its Death Spiral

 

Shortly after arriving, Claure began daily meetings about Sprint’s worst-performing cell sites—what the network team called the Top 10 S--- List. With about 20 executives around a table or dialing in, Claure brought up each site responsible for large numbers of dropped calls and asked how it would be fixed within 24 hours.

 

If a site was still on the list the next day, Claure would ask again: Should an antenna be tilted up or down or sideways, so it points toward more customers? Does Sprint need to add antennas, or use antennas with more bandwidth? “It was painful,” says John Saw, Sprint’s chief technology officer. “But it was good for getting the network fixed.”

 

I wonder if this is still going on in some respect... I hope so.

I would have registered even if I wasn't planning to bid just in case I changed my mind closer to the auction. I would think Sprint, or whatever related company they set up for the purpose, would do the same.

 

But yes, the application window has closed.

 

- Trip

http://www.kingstreetwireless.com

Correct. I am mostly in Shentel territory and they occasionally do add a cell site in a weak area.  However, no matter how many they add, we still have areas in business buildings, some homes, basements, and just low valleys where band 26 is the only carrier that works.   Is  is great that we have this band 26.   But, there are enough users on band 26 that a 5X5 carrier just can not handle it.

 

We have the second band 25 carrier and even band 41 in some areas.  Those two bands (25 & 41) just will never reach into some of these questionable locations. Adding wider band 25 or 41 is not going to do much as the signals are just not strong enough to get into some places. Maybe the answer is some small cells in the middle of these questionable low signal areas.  Somehow the band 26 carrier needs to have some of the load lifted off of it.

 

If I see this issue in Shentel territory, where the site density is very good, I have to think this has or will be happening in other areas where the density is not as good.

Shentel provided quite a bit of detail in its Earnings Report on densification.

Link to transcript.

Here's what I could find on how Nielsen works:

http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/measurement/mobile.html

https://mobilepanel.nielsen.com/enroll/howItWorks.do?l=en_us&pid=1

Not much detail on the weighting or methodology.

From my perspective there are two ways to view this. You can call it valid based on the fact that the Nielsen Company is an expert in research methodology. The caveat is that they do not have a demonstrated expertise in wireless technology.

Good point. Sprint says this:

Based on Sprint’s analysis of drive test data supplied by Nielsen in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville between August and November 2015. Your results may vary.

So Nielsen is reporting data... and Sprint is analyzing that dataset for those cities.

Sprint has done the same thing for Jacksonville and Miami.

Seems to be a new trend to augment the RootMetrics reports.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160304005430/en/Sprint-Beats-T-Mobile-Network-Reliability-Chattanooga-Knoxville

 

Not sure if this is new.  I think it is.

 

- Trip

Interesting that this is Nielsen reporting this... Not RootMetrics.

Most of the time ROI does not include goodwill in its calculation. Repairing Sprint's reputation by covering the interstates and major thoroughfares might be such an example.

3G or even slow 4G LTE speeds between cities are still good enough for Maps/Navigation and Audio Streaming. Not many people are streaming video in a moving car driving between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It should be fixed, but Marcelo has made a calculation that the priority should be in cities where the impact will be felt the most and the most people will realize the benefit.