ericdabbs

Tmobile and MetroPCS filed a joint complaint to the FCC about Dish Network not using their spectrum for their LTE network until 2016. Tmobile and MetroPCS want Dish Network to give up half (20 MHz) of its total spectrum (40 MHz) in fear that Verizon or AT&T may swoop in and buy the spectrum in case Dish Network may be bluffing to drive up the price of the spectrum.

It seems like Tmobile is trying to get into too many battles at this point with the opposition to the Verizon cable deal, this Dish Network spectrum complaint as well as executing their Challenger plan deploying LTE and moving HSPA+ to 1900 MHz.

I am still one of those hopefuls that wish for a Sprint/Dish network hosting deal on its 2 GHz spectrum. I would like to see Dish Network hold onto all 40 MHz of its 2 GHz spectrum if a network hosting deal were to happen. I just hope that those discussions are some how on the table next year.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/22/metropcs-and-t-mobile-want-dish-to-give-up-half-of-its-spectrum/#disqus_thread

This has been a very misunderstood story. Sprint will let you upgrade starting at the 22 month mark. Additionally, if you're contract end date is toward the end of the month they will push you're upgrade period to the 1st day of month 22. So they will let you upgrade early. This 14 day thing seemed to be an additional perk that they offered to some customers where they gave them an additional 14 days before they hit the 22 month mark.

 

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

You're correct. Sprint is not ending the 22 month or 20 month early upgrade. The 14 day thing is an additional perk which is not really a big deal.

Verizon will fire back at Sprint for trying to block their AWS Spectrum Deal with SpectrumCo because Sprint will have plenty of BRS and EBS Spectrum from Clearwire.

Problem is that Tmobile is the main opposition for the cable company deal. Verizon should be going after them and trying to appease them to get approval. Sprint is guilty by association since they are part of that group who is against the deal but they have not been attending the meetings to discuss about this issue. Sprint's stance is that the FCC look at the spectrum assets that Verizon to see if they have enough and making the best use of it. Sprint hasn't officially said they oppose the Verizon deal unlike Tmobile. So I think it would not be smart for Verizon to attack Sprint about Clearwire when Sprint does not own them 100%. Until that day where Sprint acquires Clearwire, Verizon has no case.

straw hat

Clearwire at $1.05 right now. I still don't get the huge move downwards recently on Clearwire. I get the market sentiment in general has been negative but stocks like Clearwire have been heavily depressed so 5-10 cents downwards every day is huge.

Do investors have that little confidence in Clearwire despite 1) Lightsquared going bankrupt making Clearwire the major player in wholesale LTE and 2) Clearwire still maintaining revenue on Wimax with Sprint prepaid Virgin and Boost Mobile.

Would they need more spectrum? In the top 100 markets, Clearwire averages 150 by comparison Verizon averages 118 I believe. I believe it will be eons before they need to participate in a spectrum auction. Also they would not have to sit on it, They could start a home internet service with that spectrum. Plenty of people are stuck with slow speeds from their ISPs, and sprint could come in offer better speeds at a competitive price. Or sprint could focus on mobile devices, and offer better data prices compared to the other three, while offering faster speeds. Or a bundle of both, like clearwire does currently. Both of these plans would have more users jumping to sprint, which means the spectrum is making them money.

Clearwire does provide home internet service. The only problem is that Clearwire would need to expand its footprint tremendously in order to serve a huge amount of customers for internet. The problem is not whether Clearwire has enough spectrum to support home internet service but rather the funds needed to have a thorough buildout on 2.5 GHz spectrum which is costly.

http://arstechnica.c...ever-built-out/

 

There must be a good reason to sell prime 700MHz spectrum to exchange for the less useful AWS Verizon wants to buy, but I have no idea what that reason is.

I completely disagree that the AWS spectrum is less useful than the 700 MHz A and B blocks. The 700 MHz A and B blocks are not very attractive especially the A block which is adjacent to TV channels which can interfere with LTE. The 700 MHz A and B blocks are not even nationwide are only in some of the big markets. If Verizon is able to pull this off and offer this as a concession to obtain FCC approval, then Verizon got the better end of the deal did a really good job and fooled the FCC.

I used to think that all higher frequencies were considered "less useful" until I understood the trade offs between building penetration and capacity. The ever so increasing data problem in the future like 5 years out will not be building penetration but rather capacity and I think the AWS spectrum (1700/2100 MHz) is a good balance between building penetration and capacity. The reason why AWS spectrum is more useful IMO is because even though AWS spectrum does not have as good building penetration and requires more towers than 700 MHz spectrum, AWS spectrum is able to handle more users in the same exact amount of area due to the increased amount of towers it will need to cover that area.

ATT does not need to do this. they already limit unlimited data users. If you have a 3g/HSPA+ device, then you get throttled after 3gbs, and 5gbs for LTE devices.

 

I could see a good amount of disgruntled Verizon/ATT customers jumping to Sprint, especially if their LTE speeds are in the 6-8 range.

 

Cmon Sprint press the HyperTurbo button on LTE rollout.

I believe Verizon says that they throtte its LTE customers at 5 GB since they would be considered the highest 5% of the data users. If this is already becoming a problem for Verizon then you know AT&T will follow suit. Hopefully someone can confirm the Verizon part..

People tend to call me when theyre lost so I have to look at a map it would help to have data.

You mind as well put a big sign on your head and call yourself 411 because that is what it sounds like.

It would not be a complete surprise if AT&T were to follow Verizon's lead in this.

Of course not. The CEO still has animosity towards the FCC for the failed Tmobile merger and even claimed that cell phone rates would go higher as a result. AT&T started the trend of tiered data and I wouldn't be surprised if they followed Verizon's lead since they gave them the idea. I just hope customers would be pissed and flock to Sprint and Tmobile.

Eric, the above ("...you could allocate 15 MHz for downlink and 5 MHz uplink (15x5) for TD-LTE...") is incorrect. In TD-LTE, the "TD" stands for "time division." Uplink and downlink are not frequency duplexed; rather, they are time duplexed. In your example, the entire 20 MHz would be used for both uplink and downlink, both alternating in time. This is how WiMAX currently functions and TD-LTE will function.

 

AJ

Ah...you're right. I guess I meant to say that you could allocate more time to the downlink instead of uplink since they don't have to be symmetrical.

Alright you financial gurus out there, I don't know if many of you guys have been paying attention to Clearwire's stock price (ticker: CLWR) but it is quickly heading to $1 (currently trading at $1.11).

If Sprint were to buy out Clearwire if it falls to $1, how much would it have to pay to buyout the remaining 46% stake in Clearwire? Ideally I want to see Clearwire survive on its own for a couple more years until Sprint can lock up some more PCS spectrum (ex: PCS H block) and Sprint's balance sheet to improve until it bought them out. I am curious to find out what Sprint is going to do if Clearwire gets near delisting status. Any financial gurus out there want to chime in on their thoughts?

What if LightSquared partners up with Clearwire?

I really do not want Clearwire going anywhere near Lightsquared. Just let Lightsquared die already. Lightsquared to me is tainted by Mr. Falcone and Clearwire does not need this especially when it is trying to turn its image around. All Clearwire needs to do is focus 110% on bringing LTE to as many towers as it can to alleviate Sprint towers as well to its Wimax overlay so they can start charging its lined up wholesale customers. I think once the network is up, the former Lightsquared customers will flock over.

Are you suggesting we should wait to comment about this concept and article until after it happens?

 

Robert

LOL. Yeah I guess we should hold off our comments until Google finishes producing these multiple Nexus phones on multiple manufacturers first before discussing what our thoughts are.

Does anyone know what the smaller carriers are launching such as Leap Wireless, MetroPCS, and U.S. Cellular?

Not sure about Leap or USCC but I am pretty sure MetroPCS is LTE release 8 since they were the first carrier to launch LTE.

I read somewhere sprint LTE release 9 has advantage over Verizon and ATT as it can be upgraded to 10 with software upgrade whereas Verizon and ATT need hardware changes. Essentially Verizon and ATT will have to rebuild their entire network which is huge advantage for sprint. Also isnt the Sprint LTE on 800 mhz will be out of the box LTE advanced?

If this is true, then this is great news. If only a software upgrade is required on Sprint towers to be LTE release 10 compliant then that is great. I would hate to be Verizon or AT&T that has to come in the truck loads and install new equipment to be LTE release 10 compliant.

I am not sure what you mean by Sprint LTE at 800 MHz will be out of box LTE advanced. I think what Sprint meant by that is by the time 800 MHz LTE is launched, the towers will be upgraded to LTE release 10 and be LTE-Advanced compatible.

I wonder if Clearwire would actually deploy 80 MHz Carries if they happen to be partner up with the Federal Goverment. Will is still be overkill?

Even for the Federal Government 80 MHz carriers are overkill. Lets not forget that Clearwire does not have unlimited spectrum. 160 MHz on avg may seem like a lot but with 80 MHz carriers, its half the amount of spectrum they have. We also have to remember that the Wimax network is already taking up about 30 MHz of spectrum to support it. There is no way Clearwire will deploy past 40 MHz carriers they already said so. I would much rather have two 40 MHz carriers OR four 20 MHz carriers than a single 80 MHz carriers anyday. Lets not forget that in order to achieve those really high speeds, it not only depends on the amount of spectrum in the carrier but also the MIMO configuration. Even if you put a 100 MHz carrier with a 2x2 MIMO configuration it can only go so fast. You need to have a 4x4 or a 8x8 MIMO to help achieve faster speeds.

Well LTE release 10 is the LTE release version that is considered LTE Advanced. One of the biggest advantages about LTE Advanced is carrier aggregation which means you can group a bunch of smaller carriers together and make it like one big fat LTE pipe. I am sure there will be a ton of changes in LTE Release 10 to make it better than Release 8 and 9.

Verizon and AT&T are launching LTE Release 8 and Sprint is releasing LTE Release 9. I don't know the exact specific changes between the two but I have briefly skimmed over LTE Release 9 and it does have some improvements on interference management. Either way LTE Release 8 and 9 are not considered LTE-Advanced and all carriers are eventually moving over to Release 10 to be LTE-Advanced compliant.

In terms of 1 Gbps TD-LTE, you can just forget about that with Clearwire. The Clearwire CTO, John Saw has already come out and said that they did those tests as a proof of concept and is not meant for commercial deployment. To get 1 Gbps speeds would be ridiculous and it would take Clearwire something like one huge 80 MHz carrier along with 8x8 MIMO configuration to do so. John Saw also said that Clearwire will be deploying 20 MHz TD-LTE carriers at launch and eventually will be launching a 40 MHz TD-LTE carrier. There is absolutely no need for anything bigger than a 40 MHz carrier ATM and even a 40 MHz carrier is overkill. All 1 Gbps speeds would do currently is for speedtests and for show and not really useful.

Also TD-LTE and FD-LTE are different technologies. FD-LTE relies on symmetrical channels for the uplink and downlink hence 10 MHz x 10 MHz while TD-LTE is just one huge 20 MHz channel for the uplink and downlink. The benefits of TD-LTE is that you can dynamically allocate the amount of downlink and uplink bandwidth so you can potentially have higher speeds. I can imagine for a 20 MHz channel, you could allocate 15 MHz for downlink and 5 MHz uplink (15x5) for TD-LTE which is faster than a 10x10 for FD-LTE.

It looks like Google wants to take a different approach this year for Android 5.0 with their Nexus device lineup by having multiple Nexus devices this year with different manufacturers. Specific details haven't been established yet but we can guess that more details will come at Google I/O. We could guess that a Nexus device will be coming from Motorola, Samsung, HTC and LG and potential more manufacturers. The other key thing is that the Nexus phone lineup this year will be sold directly by Google. This is big because the last time Google sold a device directly was with the Nexus One on Tmobile and the carriers cannot put their footprint on it.

Part of the motivation behind launching multiple Nexus devices is to increase the adoption rate of the next Android software to lessen fragmentation of which we know is horrendous right now. The adoption rate of ICS is probably still less than 10% of the Android users. Also by launching a Nexus devices for each manufacturer it eliminates the possibility of preferential treatment. This also reduces the huge learning curve by manufacturers to build ROMS of the latest Android software on their existing devices since each manufacturer can use the Nexus device Android software as a baseline to build the necessary drivers and ROMS and reduce the wait time for an upgrade release on existing devices. If this works out this year for Android Jelly Bean, I hope Google continues with this model for future Android versions.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/15/google-planning-multiple-nexus-devices-android-jelly-bean/

LS partner list ClearWire can go by. Some should be crossed out all ready

 

http://www.lightsquared.com/partners/

Yes some partners can be crossed off like Simplexity, Leap, Elevate and FreedomPop that joined Clearwire. However that website shows 33 potential LTE partners and Clearwire has only captured 4 out of 33. I would love to see Clearwire capture between 25-30 of those partners.

When will ClearWire sign LTE wholesale agreement with the following carriers?

 

T-Mobile USA (34 million)

MetroPCS (9 million)

U.S. Cellular (6 million)

C-Spire (1 million)

I think you can cross out Tmobile. I can't see Tmobile teaming up with Clearwire for LTE. I would like to see MetroPCS and US Cellular join the Clearwire LTE bandwagon though. C-spire would be welcomed as well.

Well we all knew this day would eventually come after the FCC denied them the waiver to build a terrestrial LTE network back in February. I am glad Sprint had the cajones to pull out of that deal after the march extension.

What is left to be seen is what the Lightsquared wholesale customers are going to do in reaction of this news. I really hope that Clearwire can capture the majority of Lightsquared wholesale customers for LTE. The more Clearwire does not have to rely solely on Sprint the better.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304192704577404341177350280.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

HA!!! there will be no such thing allowed on these forums =). Great info and good to know.

How much of a donation does it cost to become a sponsor and have access to the build out maps?

There is no official minimum donation in order to become a sponsor. However let me quote Robert by saying "if you donate just a few bucks, you better have some mean sob story =)". In all seriousness, its whatever you feel comfortable donating. As a sponsor, I can tell you that it is so worth the donation to get access to the Network Vision live tower map as it really shows how much effort Robert has put to bring us the latest and greatest information on Network Vision.

Verizon can't shut down the EVDO network until it can move over 98% of their customers to LTE. Also Verizon as well as all carriers would need to create basic dumbphones with LTE voice because NOT everyone wants data and can't afford to get a smartphone. Until these things can happen for any carrier, no carrier can shut down their 3G network completely.