ericdabbs

Robert mentioned about a phone hitting the labs on 5/7. If Samsung is saying the SGSIII will hit the US carriers sometime in the June, I wonder if the phone hitting the labs is the SGSIII instead of the Photon Q 4G LTE.

I am hoping one of the phones hitting the labs on 5/7 is the SGSIII or the Photon Q 4G LTE. I just don't know how mature the talks are between Sprint and Motorola about bringing a Photon sequel.

Im reading engadget and I see all these posts that people are saying that they are not impressed with the SGSIII device and will instead opt to get the One X. I personally don't see a problem with the phone and I think it looks nice. Should be a nice competitor to the One X.

This is a great question, that I've never seen anyone ask. In docs I have seen for the Chicago market, they are installing 800 CDMA on every site except the dozen or so where they cannot use RRU's. For some reason ground radio units means no 800 CDMA in Network Vision...at least in Chicago.

 

I assume this is the case in all markets, but I do not have the details for other markets the way I do for Chicago.

 

800 LTE is only being installed on approximately 80% - 85% of sites according to plans now. But those carriers won't start coming online until the second half of next year.

 

Robert - Posted from my E4GT with ICS using Forum Runner

Why do these particular cell sites not have RRU's installed? I hope they still get 1xAdvanced installed on these towers and LTE.

avb

 

So basically you are saying that I might as well get a LTE pnone and hope it comes here faster than it looks like it will.

Yes go with a LTE phone. No point of getting a Wimax phone with its limited Wimax footprint. I don't advise anyone to get a Wimax phone even if they aren't going to get LTE for another year. Keep in mind that when we sign on the dotted line, we are locked into a 2 year contract and not to mention that all the Wimax phones are from 2011 specs which have horrible battery life.

Get a LTE phone like the EVO 4G LTE, Galaxy Nexus, upcoming SGSIII, or the upcoming Photon 4G LTE phone to be future proof.

Wow thanks man. So I take it that the green dots mean that those towers will pretty much be get LTE and the red dots won't get any LTE love? Or does the red dots mean Clearwire plans to add LTE to them if costs permit? I am not too keen on what the green, red and yellow zones mean.

I was able to confirm that Rowland Heights, Whittier, and La Habra are high capacity and are likely to be part of the hot zones. I will try to get a zoomed in image of those cities for you.

Wow really????? Good news to hear. Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing the zoomed in images.

I wouldn't necessarily want to switch my phones or my existing 3G data card. I like Sprint, and data speeds from a phone point of view aren't a concern for me. I'm the only one on my family plan that has a smartphone (for now). It's an HTC Hero and that thing is slower than Sprint's 3G network.

My goodness...you are still rocking the HTC Hero. You need to pick up one of those new LTE phones. The HTC Hero is way outdated. The EVO 4G LTE should be a nice phone to pick up.

And if that's the case, AT&T has 4G now (HSPA+, but still) where I am, so do I even need to really wait for Sprint LTE?

 

I don't know... ruined my day.

Why don't you give AT&T a try for a 1.5 weeks to see if you like it more. It sounds like your main motivation to switch carriers is for the data speeds but I should strongly suggest you test heavily on call quality as well. I think sometimes we all get wrapped up on watching Netflix 30 secs faster that we neglect the fact that the main reason we carry a cell phone is to make calls.

Anyone who follows this site actively knows that its going to be awhile before we see Sprint LTE. Heck even Robert has to wait until 2014 to see LTE. But he has a Verizon phone so I don't feel too bad for him.

Lets calm down here for a sec. I am sure Clearwire does not plan to launch more than two or three 20 MHz carriers at this time. There is no need to deploy all your spectrum when Clearwire does not have enough wholesale customers to support it.

Well, since the iPhone 5 is still vaporware, it's difficult to know what its magical qualities will be. But likely no for roaming at least, since there isn't an international standard for LTE frequencies yet. The problem lies more in the antennas than the chip. The Qualcomm chip can do either TDD-LTE or FDD-LTE, but needs multple antennas for the different bands. I've seen some articles that say the wifi antenna could also be used to also receive Clearwire's 2.5GHz band.

I am pretty sure that the iPhone 5 will NOT have the Clearwire 2.5 GHz LTE bands in them and will just have the 1900 MHz LTE bands. I am the positive that the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6 will have the Clearwire 2.5 GHz LTE bands as well as the 800 MHz LTE bands. When 2013 comes around we should be paying attention to how Sprint plans to add the Clearwire LTE bands in the early to mid 2013 phone models.

Which area are you looking at in the Los Angeles Market?

I am interested in the Hacienda Hts, Rowland Heights, Whittier, La Habra area...but its hard to tell from these pics.

Interesting pic 4G Howard. Thanks for sharing. Its very hard to read the map and tell if my area is considered the high capacity or lower usage area. I would assume that it would be considered lower usage area.

I think 2014-2015 would be a good time for Sprint to look at a total buyout of Clearwire. By then we'll see how Clearwire's LTE network is shaping up and whether their balance sheet is improving. Right now Sprint needs to focus on Network Vision and with the latest delays, they might need to infuse more cash so that the vendor crews can catch up. They just have too many things on their plate right now that any huge cash drain would really hamper Network Vision.

Hi all,

 

So my question is this: Why would anyone buy a current phone when it won't support the full list of bands that Sprint plans to use in the future? Could someone clarify for me?

 

Future Sprint bands:

800 Mhz (IDEN) to be switched over to LTE

1900 Mhz (LTE currently being deployed)

2600 Mhz (Clearwire LTE?)

 

 

If I read correctly current phone offerings only support the 1900 Mhz band and not the 800 Mhz LTE nor the Clearwire bands.

 

 

Also, I currently own an EVO3D which has 3g support for the 800 Mhz band. How will network vision affect me? Will I be able to use 3g on the 800 mhz band or will it be LTE only?

 

 

A little confused.

I'll try to answer your questions

So my question is this: Why would anyone buy a current phone when it won't support the full list of bands that Sprint plans to use in the future? Could someone clarify for me?

Despite the LTE phones in 2012 only supporting 1900 MHz band, lets not forget that the 1900 MHz band is very wide from blocks A-F. Sprint will be deploying its LTE primarily in the 1900 MHz so you don't need to worry about getting slow speeds or lack of support for LTE. Reasons for not including 800 Mhz LTE and Clearwire LTE 2.5 GHz bands are primarily because the FCC hasn't approved it yet. 800 MHz LTE is still awaiting FCC approval and Sprint trying to push iDEN off the spectrum first and for Clearwire they are still working out the details with the TD-LTE GTI group for chipsets, equipment, band classes, etc.

The reasons listed above are for the Sprint nerds and techies that care about all this stuff. Truthfully, the majority of people that will get the 2012 LTE phones because they are tired of their EVO and Epic which is a crawl and Wimax eats up battery. They are ready for new phones with better specs such as screen size (4.7 inch) , processor (S4), storage space (16 or 32 GB) and the whole 800 MHz LTE and clearwire 2.5 GHz LTE is oblivious to the majority of the public.

Also, I currently own an EVO3D which has 3g support for the 800 Mhz band. How will network vision affect me? Will I be able to use 3g on the 800 mhz band or will it be LTE only?

Your EVO 3D will be able to benefit from better voice coverage indoors with Network Vision because of 800 MHz CDMA. Sprint plans to use the 800 MHz spectrum to deploy a 5x5 LTE carrier (where possible if not a 1.4x1.4 or 3x3 LTE carrier will be added) and a 1x Advanced carrier on 800 MHz. 3G at 800 MHz will not be added. This means that you won't be able to take advantage of better 3G speeds indoors with 800 MHz but to be honest who cares since LTE is the future anyways. Unfortunately Sprint barely has enough spectrum to deploy a 5x5 LTE carrier and a 1x Advanced carrier.

Bad news. It looks like the SOAK test is for an updated GB maintenance release. One of the Moto guys clarified the difference between an "update" and "upgrade". The call for a SOAK test was for an "update" so it makes sense. I guess Moto will have another SOAK test in Q3 for the ICS "upgrade". Oh well I wonder what Moto is going to fix in this maintenance release.

posted April 25, 2012 by Remy

ericchan3 said:

"New call for SOAK testers for an upcoming release. Look at the sticky thread for the update posted today. I am hoping its for the ICS update."

This is not going to be an ICS release for a couple of reasons:

1) It does not match up with the timeline posted here on the upgrades page.

2) Terminology; Update = maintenance update, fixes. Upgrade = OS upgrade, ie: ICS.

I hope this helps clear things up.

Thanks,

J

https://forums.motorola.com/posts/25829baf50

I have been able to talk internationally since I got my new admiral three months ago. So I don't know what the big fuss is about...

Over CDMA Direct Connect?

Doubtful. Along the Canadian border, Sprint has to coordinate SMR 800 MHz channel usage with not only Canadian public safety but also Telus Mike iDEN. And Sprint indicates that its available LTE bandwidth in those Canadian border zones will be less than 3 MHz x 3 MHz.

 

AJ

Well that blows for those cities. Hopefully a 1.4 MHz x 1.4 MHz carrier is possible and is better than nothing.

I might also add that Seattle, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo are major markets that may be off the table for LTE 800 deployment (or limited to 1.4 MHz x 1.4 MHz LTE) because of their proximity to Canada and SMR 800 MHz cross border channel coordination requirements. So, those markets, too, may be prime candidates for the capacity offloading provided by TD-LTE 2600 "hot zones."

 

AJ

Hopefully these markets near the Canadian border can launch at least a 3 MHz x 3 MHz LTE 800 carrier just like those on the Mexican border.

I still think that a Dish/Sprint merger makes sense.

I don't know about a Sprint and Dish merger since I don't think the FCC would allow it since that would take out a competitor in the broadband space. I would much rather have a Sprint and Dish network hosting deal of Dish's LTE network and keep the companies separate. If Sprint were to make any acquisitions in the future, I would rather see them buy out Clearwire as well as attempt to buy out MetroPCS or Cricket.

Sprint signed a deal with Clearwire to provide Wimax until 2015. With the prepaid carriers in Virgin and Boost hopping on the Wimax train in June, I don't see them shutting it down anytime soon and I do truly believe that we will see Wimax until 2015. For one thing, Sprint wants to maximize its terms in the contract even if only prepaid users are using it. Sprint will certainly want to delay bringing on prepaid customers to LTE as long as they can until they can obtain enough useful spectrum to serve the postpaid, prepaid and wholesale customers with LTE.

What Sprint really needs to do is to encourage as much capacity offloading (wifi offload, Wimax and LTE offload) as it can off of its 3G network to maintain a reasonable experience.

Sprint announced the expansion of its Sprint Direct Connect service over CDMA internationally to Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru. This is good news for those iDEN customers who are looking for CDMA PTT capability internationally.

http://newsroom.sprint.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=2255

Looks like Motorola is calling for a SOAK test of 1000 Photon users of which hopefully is the ICS upgrade. Sign up if you want to be part of the pre-release testing. I signed up yesterday.

https://forums.motorola.com/posts/d5dbe70261

Clear dodges new orleans again its cool. There's always sprint LTE.

 

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

Clearwire is not dodging New Orleans. New Orleans does not have the existing Wimax footprint and Clearwire has made it clear that they plan to add the LTE overlay on top of its existing Wimax footprint. Also AJ's list of potential LTE markets are not official other than Los Angeles, SF, Chicago, Seattle and New York but the list does look pretty convincing that those markets would be chosen to add a LTE overlay.

I highly doubt Clearwire will put in any more capital to expand Wimax. The only reason why Wimax has any traction is because Clearwire does not currently have a LTE footprint. Once Clearwire starts offering wholesale LTE and especially once it blankets their entire Wimax footprint with LTE, all the wholesale customers will opt for a LTE wholesale agreement and Wimax will cease to exist. Lets not forget that Clearwire still has a lot of debt so any savings that they can have for only operating a single network is very welcomed. Its like same situation with Sprint between CDMA and iDEN. iDEN is a dying technology so Sprint is shutting it down to save operation costs and converting the spectrum to CDMA/LTE.

I guess this means that WiMAX will be around for a long long time.

 

Interesting.

Wimax was going to be here for a while anyways. Sprint signed a wholesale deal with Clearwire to provide Wimax until 2015. Mind as well have prepaid customers on it so that it keeps a steady stream of revenue for Clearwire and helps Sprint offload 3G capacity from its network. This allows Sprint to make use of their Wimax wholesale agreement while they slowly shift postpaid customers to LTE. Hopefully Sprint gets the prepaid customers to cough up the $10 premium data to supplement the Wimax costs.

I assume by end of 2015, Sprint should have enough capacity to bring on the prepaid customers to LTE and Clearwire can shut down the Wimax network and refarm that spectrum for additional LTE carriers.