RedSpark

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

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/ Model A1662 LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29) CDMA EV‑DO Rev. A (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+/DC‑HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) Model A1723 LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28) TD‑LTE (Bands 38, 39, 40, 41) TD‑SCDMA 1900 (F), 2000 (A) CDMA EV‑DO Rev. A (800, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+/DC‑HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) All models 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi‑Fi Bluetooth 4.2 wireless technology NFC 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.

That's interesting. Why was iOS treated differently? It wasn't subject to the same restrictions as Legacy Android devices? Under the definition, Galaxy S6 would be considered Legacy but the iPhone 5s/5c/6/6 are not.

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

Sprint's WiFi Calling Page recently got an update (3/8/2016). Can I send text messages over Wi-Fi? Android phones: Both SMS (text) and MMS (pictures) messaging is supported in Wi-Fi Calling mode. Note: Samsung GS7, GS7 Edge, and LG G5 will support Messaging over Wi-Fi later in 2016. iOS phones: iMessage on iOS is supported over Wi-Fi. SMS and MMS messaging is still handled by the Nationwide Sprint Network. If you do not have coverage then messaging services are not supported. This functionality is expected to be supported over Wi-Fi in the future. Does Wi-Fi Calling work while the phone is in Airplane Mode? Legacy Android Phones (launched prior to 2016): No, Wi-Fi Calling is not available in Airplane Mode. Current Android Phones (launching in 2016): Yes, Wi-Fi Calling is available in Airplane Mode iOS Phones: Yes, Wi-Fi Calling is available in Airplane Mode. Are there any restrictions to where Wi-Fi Calling can be used in the United States? For Android phones launched in 2016 and all iOS devices there are no restrictions. For Legacy Android phones launched prior to 2016, outbound calls over Wi-Fi Calling may not be available outside Nationwide Sprint Network coverage areas, but inbound calls and other messaging services may still be available. ----- That's an interesting delineation between 2016 devices and "Legacy" devices. Perhaps something is in the works on the back end.

What's the likelihood of a Permissive Change Filing or Refresh at this point? I hope Apple still plans to do a 3xCA iPhone 7... and not leave it for the "S" model...

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?

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

Thanks. I'll take a look.

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.

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

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

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.

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

See this Article: Inside the Plan to Pull Sprint Out of Its Death Spiral I wonder if this is still going on in some respect... I hope so.

Is this the same approach that US Cellular took with King Street Wireless, which is its Spectrum Bidding Partner (for 700 MHz)? http://www.kingstreetwireless.com

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.

Good point. Sprint says this: 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.

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

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.

Sprint has to account for where people are most of the time and how many people will benefit when it prioritizes network improvements. There's only so much funding and it has to maximize ROI on its build. I agree, having continuous LTE between Los Angeles to Las Vegas makes sense to have. However, the number of people who will actually benefit is greater if Sprint prioritizes investing in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I think that's Marcelo's thinking on this. The build between Los Angeles and Las Vegas will come in time. Finally, as far as Network Metrics go, RootMetrics tests metropolitan markets, not the highways between them. If Sprint wants to show progress on these numbers/awards, it has to focus investments in the metro markets themselves, not on the highways between them.

If I had to guess, not all 800 MHz is turned up yet. Or perhaps there's continued evaluation being made re ROI for optimizing deployment. Others can offer much more on this than I can, but that's my best guess.