ericdabbs

No, Wimax will not be disbanded any sooner than 2015. Too many folks including myself depend on Wimax coverage until the Wimax customers can upgrade to LTE phones. Sprint would need to cover the same area where Wimax coverage is currently with LTE before they can even think about disbanding Wimax. Clearwire has stated that Huawei only constitutes a very small amount (I believe 5%) of their network gear. I don't care what Clearwire says but from what I have been reading on these forums, even a TD-LTE overlay over their Wimax will require deployment of new panels, radios and network gear that support dual Wimax/TD-LTE mode. If that is the case where Clearwire would need to replace new equipment for its current Huawei gear, it makes more sense to do it now since it is being mandated. I would love to see Clearwire replace the Huawei gear with the Samsung dual Wimax/TD-LTE RRH equipment. Someone posted a Samsung dual Wimax/TD-LTE RRH hitting the FCC earlier this year. http://s4gru.com/ind...g-thru-the-fcc/

Verizon does deserve critique for not deploying dual band LTE phones thus far. When the SpectrumCo spectrum deal was approved last August, I would have been expected that that was the green light they needed to begin deploying dual band LTE phones since they would have enough spectrum nationwide to deploy AWS LTE. But it appears Verizon is now turning a new leaf starting to deploy dual band (700 and AWS) LTE support with the S4 and I expect all Verizon LTE devices from here on out to include dual band LTE support. For now I'll give Sprint the benefit of the doubt since they have not deployed 800 or 2500 MHz LTE as of yet. However later on this year, Sprint has announced 800 MHz LTE will begin deploying in Q4 and Sprint should be using Clearwire LTE which is currently in active deployment. If Sprint does not include tri-band LTE phones for its 2H 2013 LTE phones, they should deserve critique for not trying to future proof their LTE devices.

My history with motorola has not been great. Since the announcement of the cancellation of the ICS upgrade on my Photon 4G, I have lost all faith in motorola doing the right thing. Even the photon q 4g LTE phone still has not received the JB update and the moto website just says JB update coming for the photon q 4g lte and its already april. Until motorola can prove to me that they can build a quality device and release android updates as fast as samsung can, i would advise anyone to avoid motorola with a 1000 ft pole. Btw i used to feel this way about samsung which was why i didnt get the gs2. But since then samsung has gone gangbusters and IMO went from worst manufacturer to best for android updates and motorola went from second best to worst manufacturer. Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

Keep in mind that the 20 LTE band support was on the exynos 5 octa core chip and not the qualcomm 600 chip. The qualcomm 600 chip will be used on all USA variants of the S4. Now the qualcomm chip can support the 800 and 2500 mhz band classes but that doesnt mean it has to be added to the device. Sprint and samsung would have to agree on what LTE band classes it wants to support and would need to add the additional antennas needed to support those band classes in the device. Personally..like you i would have expected all 2013 LTE phones to have tri-band LTE support but when i saw the htc one support 1900 mhz LTE only, i had a bad feeling that the S4 was going to have the same fate. Hopefully the iphone 5s, galaxy note 3 or lg optimus g 2 will be the first tri-band LTE phone this year. What i hope for the galaxy note 3 is for sprint and samsung to request testing the LTE in 5 and 10 mhz bandwidths. Samsung is notorious for only testing 5 mhz bandwidths for LTE in the S3, Note 2 and S4 thus far. Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

I am just curious what Sprint and Softbank have in mind for Clearwire. IMO, after the deal gets closed, Softbank/Sprint/Clearwire need to get together and Softbank needs to tell Sprint to deploy 2.5 GHz TD-LTE in ALL major markets including the ones missed out on WiMax (ex: Phoenix, San Diego, Detroit, New Orleans, Milwaukee, OKC, Indianapolis, Albuquerque) in the metro areas on their Network Vision towers even if it means swiss cheese with hotspots. Every major metro market area could use the 2.5 GHz TD-LTE for capacity and needs to be doing so.

I hope the NV running list gets updated with the latest percentages so we can all use it as a barometer to see how much progress has been made in each market. Some markets have really moved up.

According to the latest news in the progress of the Sprint/Softbank/Clearwire merger, the House Intelligence Committee has raised concerns about Clearwire using Huawei network equipment on national security. Sprint/Softbank has agreed to remove Huawei network gear from the Clearwire network to appease the House Intelligence Committee so that the merger process can continue to proceed. I am very glad that Sprint and Softbank are doing whatever it takes to get this merger done. Both Sprint and Softbank know what is at stake if this merger does not go through and potentially losing Clearwire in the process. http://www.engadget....exclude-huawei/

Between both parties Sprint and US Cellular the deal has been reached. However, I don't think he deal has been approved by the FCC yet.

Hopefully the Note 3 fpr this year, the EIRP will have the CDMA/EVDO 1900 be a higher value than the EIRP at CDMA 800 and that the EIRP at LTE 1900 G block to be higher than the A-F blocks.

Yup and the more Clearwire taps into Sprint for financing, the more voting power it should get for the deal from all the shares purchased. I can't wait until May to read a press release saying the Sprint/Softbank/Clearwire merger has been approved by the FCC. It would be such a glorious day. Hopefully shortly after that the US Cellular spectrum deal will be approved by the FCC because Chicago badly needs that extra 20 MHz of PCS spectrum.

There is LTE deployed in many places in Los Angeles. I mean who honestly cares if you see a press release that says LTE in LA is live when it has been live for many months now. Sprint has been lighting up completed Network Vision sites as soon as they are ready and if you go to the LA Metro market thread you will see a ton of ppl reporting LTE sightings. They are not blocking LTE sites until a formal release date. Unfortunately you have to be a sponsor to this site to find out the specific cell site locations. What city do you live in and I can check if there is LTE coverage near you.

From looking at the Sprint press releases from 2012, the last few high end Sprint LTE phones released late last year were the LG Optimus G on 11/11/12 and Galaxy Note 2 on 10/25/12. Hopefully this year these same 2 LTE phones will contain the tri-band LTE support that we are all hoping for with the LG Optimus G 2 and the Galaxy Note 3. I think the chances of the iPhone 5S or 6 with tri-band LTE support is less likely.

I hope you are right in that the next iPhone depending on when it will be released contains 800 and 2500 MHz LTE support. It doesn't seem like Sprint is leaning towards releasing dual band LTE phones at this point and opting to jump straight to tri band LTE phones. Since the iPhone has now been for the last 2 years released in the late sept/early october time frame, it makes sense that it could be the first tri band LTE phone and if it does become the first tri band LTE phone, I will be so happy since that would mean future phones like the Note 3 and LG Optimus G 2 should have tri band LTE support as well. With other carriers like AT&T, MetroPCS and Tmobile releasing LTE phones with multi-band support and in some cases as much as 4 LTE bands, there should be no excuse for Sprint not to start doing the same beginning 2H 2013. In terms of why Apple didn't decide to update the current ATT iPhones to fully support Tmobile, I feel its very obvious. ATT is fully aware that people take their ATT iPhones to Tmobile and use it on their network and ATT knows Tmobile will be deploying their LTE on the AWS band. If ATT provided a firmware update for the ATT iPhone to support AWS LTE, then ATT customers thinking about leaving for Tmobile can easily take their iPhones to Tmobile and pay $70/mo and get LTE service which makes it really attractive. I think it is in ATT's best interest to intentionally leave out AWS LTE support unless ATT plans to fully support it as their next LTE band which I don't think is the case.

Just as I suspected, the Sprint GS4 went through FCC today and it only has 1900 MHz LTE support.

Clearwire is planning to tap another $80 million from Sprint for financing in April. This will be the second time Clearwire has tapped into Sprint for financing. The last time was in late Feb. With another $80 million in financing, I would think this would give Sprint more voting power on the deal. Just need to weed out those pesky Clearwire retail investors to vote for the Sprint deal and get rid of Dish once and for all. http://finance.yahoo...-013726388.html

It sounds like Sprint is ditching dual band LTE phones and jumping straight for tri-band LTE phones. So unless Sprint was ready to add BC41 (2500 MHz) LTE along with BC 26 (800 MHz ESMR) LTE support, Sprint will continue to just release 1900 MHz LTE only phones.

I beat you to it by 2 minutes. Post #124 http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3395-the-galaxy-s4-gets-announced-today-are-you-excited/page__st__120 "Looks like bad news for the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4. The Sprint version went through the FCC today and from looking at the FCC documents, it only contains Band 25 (1900 MHz A-G block) LTE support and supports only 5 MHz bandwidths. I am very sad about the lack of multi-band LTE support but at the same time I am not surprised about this given the HTC One only contains Band 25 (1900 MHz A-G block) LTE support as well. I just really hope the 2H 2013 LTE phones like the LG Optimus G 2, Galaxy Note 3, Moto X (rumored), Nexus 5, etc contain tri-band LTE support. I'll be looking forward to AJ's article for further analysis on the Sprint Galaxy S4 FCC documents. Engadget article about Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 hits FCC. http://www.engadget....d-sprint-forms/ Sprint Galaxy S4 FCC filing https://apps.fcc.gov...c_id=A3LSPHL720 "

Looks like bad news for the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4. The Sprint version went through the FCC today and from looking at the FCC documents, it only contains Band 25 (1900 MHz A-G block) LTE support and supports only 5 MHz bandwidths. I am very sad about the lack of multi-band LTE support but at the same time I am not surprised about this given the HTC One only contains Band 25 (1900 MHz A-G block) LTE support as well. I just really hope the 2H 2013 LTE phones like the LG Optimus G 2, Galaxy Note 3, Moto X (rumored), Nexus 5, etc contain tri-band LTE support. I'll be looking forward to AJ's article for further analysis on the Sprint Galaxy S4 FCC documents. Engadget article about Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 hits FCC. http://www.engadget....d-sprint-forms/ Sprint Galaxy S4 FCC filing https://apps.fcc.gov...c_id=A3LSPHL720

Where did you get that powerpoint slide presentation?

I am not sure what he meant by the SMR support is predicated on TD-LTE statement. Also you are correct in that the SMR 800 MHz LTE will be FDD LTE since it uses paired spectrum (817-824 and 862-869 MHz)

Now I am even more confident that we probably won't see the Galaxy S4 have 800 and/or 2500 MHz LTE support that would make the S4 phone even more of a must have. The Galaxy S4 will still sell well no doubt but us nerds on this forum will be disappointed in that aspect. If Sprint follows their word in that we won't see tri band LTE devices until late 2013, I can see the Note 3 being the first tri band LTE phone since it won't be launched until late October (based on Note 2 launch date) or even early November. The Note 3 will have more than enough phone real estate to add the amount of LTE antennas required for tri band support and would fit the late 2013 time frame. Who knows maybe the LG Optimus G 2 may have tri band LTE support as well.

I think its because Sprint wants to let customers know that there is progress being made in that market. This is why when a NV tower whether it is 3G only improvements or 4G LTE ready, the tower goes live so that customers can take advantage of it right away. Also I assume Sprint wants the site to go live as soon as it can just to see how the NV tower behaves once Sprint customers begin to use it and put some stress on it for performance metrics. Every cell site is different and the cell sites around that area may not have been approved for permitting or completed yet.

Is Sprint still on track to begin using Clearwire LTE sometime in 2013 according to their agreement in Dec 2011? OR do they have wait until the Sprint/Softbank/Clearwire merger transaction is finalized first? There hasn't been much talk about Clearwire LTE progress other than as of Q4 2012 they have around 1,000 sites upgraded to TD-LTE and still on track to have 2,000 sites upgraded to TD-LTE by June 2013. There is still no word as to which markets these 2,000 sites will entail. Hopefully Clearwire can provide more color at their 2013 Q1 CC. Sprint/Clearwire agreement in Dec 2011 http://corporate.clearwire.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=629282

I agree. I don't think Dish cares at all about the H block spectrum only wanting to make it hell for Sprint to obtain it by driving up the price. Sadly I think Sprint needs to spend whatever it takes to buy up the H block spectrum nationwide if possible since the major markets needs it and all the sub 20 MHz markets need it. Once the Sprint/Softbank/Clearwire merger is over, Sprint would need to take a look at purchasing Cricket for its PCS spectrum at some point in the future.

Now that I think about it, you're probably right in that $580 is probably the Apple iPhone wholesale figure Tmobile buys the phone for. If that is true, this just means that Tmobile is willing to forgo any profit on the iPhone just to entice new iPhone customers to switch to Tmobile service. Only time will tell but it seems like a good strategy if it works out especially if there are fanatic iPhone users who are willing to upgrade their iPhone every year if all it takes is to buy the phone outright. Its about time to spread the iPhone data usage disease amongst all the 4 major carriers and I hope a bunch of AT&T and Verizon iPhone customers jump to Tmobile.