ericdabbs

I am curious to see how well this application works starting with the LG Viper and HTC EVO 4G LTE phones.

A 5x5 MHz LTE and a 1x carrier should be fine for now but I would love to see Sprint obtain the lower part of the 800 MHz spectrum 810-817 MHz used by SouthernLinc and others. With that acquisition of spectrum Sprint would then have a 14x14 configuration which they could use to put a 10x10 LTE carrier and 2 1x carriers. Then as LTE progresses, sprint could turn those 2 1x carriers into a 3x3 LTE carrier.

I think all of us would appreciate an 800 MHz LTE article to clear the air on what Sprint plans to do. I know you mentioned a while ago that you had some 800 MHz LTE info which needed to be dug through. Maybe an update on your observations so far would be much appreciated.

Well it seems like Sprint only has some markets with the C5 block as well but currently no wireless carrier has deployed a 15x15 LTE carrier. Even if Sprint did create a 15x15 LTE carrier, it won't be supported by the HTC EVO 4G LTE anyways since it can only handle 5 MHz and 10 MHz carriers. At this point, I wouldn't want Sprint to play all of its cards even if they could. I want Sprint to start with their 5x5 'G' block deployment and slowly add another 5x5 carrier when the 'G' block carrier is starting to fill up. I would think that Verizon's 10x10 carrier is not completely filled yet so we know that it can handle a lot of capacity. Lets not forget that Clearwire LTE in 2013 will provide the much needed capacity relief that Sprint needs to maintain their unlimited data.

I think Sprint needs to do whatever it takes to get the majority of the H-block spectrum when it comes to auction since it is adjacent to the G-block. With the H-block, Sprint could combine the G and H-block to make a 10x10 LTE configuration.

SVDO and SVLTE is a device capability which is based on the SOC chip in the device which for the HTC EVO 4G LTE supports both in the MSM8960. It is not a network capability that is part of Network Vision.

The Clearwire LTE build out is going to be a joint collaboration effort for the deployment of 2.5 GHz LTE. Sprint is working with Clearwire to select specific Sprint towers sites (not sure if its just limited to Clearwire's own footprint) which it feels has a huge demand of traffic and colocate their LTE equipment there to relieve capacity. I am sure that the current NV towers that are already up do not account for Clearwire's TD-LTE equipment since Clearwire is still working with the TD-LTE coalition on standardizing TD-LTE. I would assume that when Clearwire is ready to start their LTE buildout that they would work together with the Sprint vendors to erect the Network Vision towers together with 800/1900/2500 MHz support. There has not been a single Clearwire inside source to confirm their LTE buildout plans. Robert...feel free to correct me if I am wrong here. In terms of Sprint buying out Clearwire, I think it should be a long term goal but right now is not the best time since Sprint needs to channel all available funding into Network Vision. When Sprint's balance sheet improves and Clearwire's balance sheet starts improving then Sprint should try to scoop in and buy them. Also I don't like the idea of Sprint having such a huge spectrum portfolio (150 MHz Clear + ~50 MHz Sprint = 200 MHz total) since not only would it exceed Verizon or AT&T's current spectrum portfolio by a lot but it will also hurt their chances of obtaining more favorable spectrum (i.e PCS H Block or AWS spectrum). This would make Sprint seem like a hypocrite since they would have enough spectrum equal to the combination of Verizon and AT&T.

I wonder what Sprint is going to do with Boost then. Just shut down the stores and encourage all Boost customers to sign up with Sprint and go postpaid for SDC? If so I am totally fine with that. I wonder if Sprint is planning to charge the $10 premium for the SDC customers..I hope so since it will help Sprint a lot. At the end of the day, I just want Sprint to rid themselves of any remnants of iDEN all together.

test fixture

I would think that Boost Mobile customers should be alerted as well. Maybe there are not as many Boost iDEN customers so they don't need to pull the plug on them yet. Also Sprint will need to provide them some Direct Connect phones for Boost. I am not sure if Sprint plans to offer the same Direct Connect phones to Boost Mobile as they do on Sprint. I am sure Sprint is working together with Boost on this transition and I expect an announcement hopefully by mid year.

According to Mark Hearn from Technobuffalo from a source that Sprint plans to yank all iDEN retail products from its shelves on April 15th. I think this is a good step in the right direction. Now anyone who needs PTT capability will be forced to use the Sprint Direct Connect service and hopefully the Direct Connect CDMA service can start taking off for those iDEN customers. http://www.technobuffalo.com/mobile-devices/phones/sprint-pulling-the-plug-on-iden-retail-products/

Agreed. I almost left for Verizon last year if the Droid Bionic came out in May. But then last July Verizon started doing some things that rubbed me the wrong way with taking away unlimited data and removing the Data plan corporate discount. It used to be that I could get a 20% discount off the data plan which is about 6 bucks off of the $30 data plan which really added to savings on top of the voice plan and together I would have paid about $65 after taxes which is about $10 bucks more than I currently pay. Now with my latest calculation if I were with Verizon I would be paying about $22 more per month and now Im glad that I stayed with Sprint.

Who says that anyone who follows this site is NOT frustrated with network speeds. Just because we follow this site doesn't mean that all of a sudden we are exempt from slow network speeds but rather we gain understanding about why Sprint has slow speeds due to T1 backhaul. No matter where you are in the US, the 3G speeds are slow and the only difference is that certain areas it is slower than others. With this site, we become more informed of Sprint's Network Vision progress. Speaking of the average customer, the average customer does not even know about that network.sprint.com and that site was never advertised as NV rollout upgrades. It was only advertised as some network improvements. I have read tons of forums and threads from Sprint customers and let me tell you that more information can do more harm than less. You talk about the EVO4G customers but ask any of them who live in non-Wimax cities about what Sprint told them about Wimax coming to their city but it never happened and complain in the forums that a Sprint rep told them so by a certain month. Just imagine from your suggestion that Sprint officially flooded their press releases with Wimax updates to Phoenix, New Orleans, Detroit, etc and did NOT come through then I think Sprint's reputation would be much worse than it is now. Technically since Sprint did not announce Wimax in Phoenix, New Orleans, Detroit, etc they are not 100% at fault since it wasn't official. Not only that but when I read Let me tell you, if the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone is not enough to convince those EVO customers to resign with Sprint while Network Vision is rolling out with unlimited data then so be it. At the end of the day every customer's situation is different. I think Sprint has done a lot recently to try to convince people to stay with Sprint with press releases about new LTE phones, keeping current phone prices the same even with LTE and of course the most important thing for data hungry users UNLIMITED DATA. I am confident that Sprint will announce NV markets much faster in 2013 when the smaller markets are being deployed. Like I said in my other post, NV announcements are going to be slow in 2012 just because Sprint is trying to hit the big markets which take a long time to do.

I was with T-Mobile for about 6 years with just a dumb phone. Then I joined Sprint because of the SERO plan in 2007 and I had my first smartphone, the Treo 700wx and have never looked back. I couldn't imagine at the time that you can have unlimited data, text and 500 mins for $30/month.

The fact is that Sprint is simply not ready to make new market announcements yet and I am totally ok with that. You being a sponsor should know from looking at the Network Vision map in the Sponsor section that there are some markets yet announced that are progressing nicely. Sprint likes to wait until special events to announce new NV markets. In Jan 2012 with the Citibank conference they announced the first 4 NV markets with Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta and Dallas. Then during the Q4 2011 CC, Sprint announced Baltimore and Kansas City as upcoming NV markets. I am sure that during the Q1 2012 CC later on this month that Sprint will announce a few more NV markets. I honestly don't think making market announcements just for the sake of needing to make an announcement is going to do much when actual deployment of that market is at least 6 months away. I actually think it will frustrate anxious customers more when they hear their market is due for deployment at any moment only to hear its not live in just a month later. Market announcements in 2012 are going to be super slow because Sprint is trying to hit the big markets first which take a long time due to the enormous amount of cell sites that need an overhaul to be Network Vision proof. In 2013, market announcements will be more frequent so I wouldn't be worried. I think their PR dept is doing great. Forget network vision for a second and look at all the Sprint press they have be getting the last week or so with the rumors of the Galaxy Nexus availability coming soon, announcement of LG Viper availability and last but not least the Sprint/HTC conference to announce the HTC EVO 4G LTE phone with HD voice, LTE, being a HTC One X variant.

sand storm

Wow this thread has evolved from talking about the HTC Evo 4G LTE phone to something else. Based on the last few pages of the thread it seems like there are 3 things to be excited about hopefully in the future and that is: 1) Additional 5x5 LTE carrier in the PCS A-F blocks 2) Removable SIM cards for LTE. 3) LTE at 800 MHz should be deploying before 2014. I look forward to hearing more from Robert and AJ on these 3 topics. On a side note, I am still curious though if the LG Viper and the Galaxy Nexus will be using embedded SIMs or removable SIMs.

I believe you are correct Robert. As far as I know, the LTE agreement with Clearwire would be Sprint's first agreement that is entirely usage base. The Wimax agreements should still be on a monthly per user base even with the extensions to 2015. I really do hope that all out of contract Sprint customers and EVO customers start jumping on Sprint LTE. There is no reason to buy a Wimax phone at this point with its limited coverage.

What Verizon does is that they list cities which they refer to as markets so the number of markets Verizon claims they are supporting are really inflated. Sprint on the other hand based on Robert's maps seems to be bunching a group of cities together and calling that as 1 market. For example in Upper Central Valley in CA...sprint is calling Sacramento, Stockton, Reno, Modesto, Carson City as 1 market while Verizon would call that as 5 markets. Honestly I could care less what Verizon claims as a market but its just all about marketing and they are doing a good job of that since its gotten many people convinced that the LTE market gap is very large between them and the rest of the competition.

Looks like another Sprint MVNO, Elevate, is expanding their deal and adding Wimax to their lineup. This is great news for Clearwire since it adds more customers under their own brand and the key thing is that Elevate was a former customer of Lightsquared who has now defected to Clearwire. Here is to more customers jumping on the Clearwire bandwagon from Lightsquared to help them sustain a long year from the loss of Sprint customers to Sprint LTE. http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2012/04/business-Elevate-Expands-Sprint-MVNO-Deal-Adds-WiMAX/

I am pretty sure that 60 GHz and 80 GHz microwave backhaul is applicable to both WiMax and LTE. Those 2 frequency ranges are common for microwave backhaul.

Just curious if anyone knew if Sprint is planning to deploy microwave backhaul at 60 GHz or 80 GHz during Network Vision? I know that 60 GHz is unlicensed spectrum while 80 GHz is licensed spectrum so I would think that 80 GHz backhaul would be more costly. It appears that 80 GHz backhaul has a few benefits over 60 GHz backhaul in that it can travel farther and has higher overall throughput capacity. Millimeter-wave (60 GHz) E-Band (80 GHz) Range 3 Km 5 Km Throughput 1 Gbps 10 Gbps Frequency 57-64 GHz 71-84 GHz Licensed No Yes http://www.wimax.com/microwave-backhaul/backhaul-for-wimax-top-8-technical-considerations

This is why the faster LTE is lit up in markets and the EVO customers buy LTE phones and can start taking advantage of LTE speeds, the better the Wimax speeds will be for the rest of us and capacity will be relieved.

Yeah it is kinda sad that Sprint will barely have any LTE markets live by June even though they announced they will have 10 LTE markets by mid year. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-will-launch-10-lte-markets-mid-year/2012-01-05

If the Galaxy Nexus is suppose to be released within the next 1-2 weeks, wouldn't Sprint have to issue a press release now to get the buzz going on about that? I know Sprint is trying to milk as much press on the HTC Evo 4G LTE phone but cmon already. There are people out there that are waiting patiently to get their hands on the Galaxy Nexus LTE phone and there is still no official press release from Sprint. It does look like the Galaxy Nexus will now have a 4/22 release date since its so late in the game. I do want to see the Galaxy Nexus released ASAP before it becomes an after thought if not already.