ericdabbs

I thought that was what the 700 Mhz LTE public safety band was used for. I didn't think the H block would be considered as public safety. I really hope not. Besides 1900 Mhz is not that great for public safety given that its propagation characteristics aren't as good as the 700 Mhz band.

Correct. Obviously if there are spectrum restraints in those markets where they don't have the full 14 Mhz of 800 Mhz spectrum, they will have to deploy the next best thing which is a 3x3 configuration. The point is that Sprint plans to deploy a 5x5 LTE carrier at 800 Mhz wherever possible and deploy a 3x3 LTE carrier for those areas that don't have enough spectrum.

I really hope that there is a purpose in the bill and that it has to be used for LTE service. If so then that benefits Sprint since we all know that verizon, ATT and Tmobile dont plan to launch LTE at PCS band. Also it would make sense to give it to Sprint since there will be no interference issues unlike if it were given to Verizon, ATT or Tmobile.

I fully expect that Apple will have LTE support in the PCS band this October. Lets not kid ourselves here. Every single one of the major carriers including the regional carriers have PCS spectrum since it is such a large spectrum band. This is not like Apple would be bending over just to accommodate Sprint only. I don't see why they wouldn't support 700, AWS and PCS bands in this upcoming iPhone. There has been no official plans as of yet for actual deployment of LTE at AWS spectrum this year. There is just a lot of discussion and speculation on Verizon and ATT's part that they plan to use the AWS spectrum band as their next target for LTE deployment. Obviously Verizon and ATT's plan for LTE at AWS spectrum right now is contingent on obtaining more AWS spectrum. AT&T and Verizon both can't currently deploy AWS spectrum nationwide since Verizon's AWS spectrum licenses are only on the east coast and ATT's are only on the west coast and not to mention that ATT gave up a huge chunk to Tmobile as part of the break up fee. As AJ eluded before, ATT might have to resort to even deploying LTE at PCS band next if they can't obtain more AWS spectrum. From the Verizon Q4 CC, only 5% of Verizon customers are on 4G LTE so that tells me that they still have plenty of room in the 700 Mhz 10x10 carrier that needs to be filled up first. For Apple it would only be prudent to support Band Class 25 since that covers PCS blocks A-G which is a huge block of spectrum and not to mention a major customer in Sprint depends on it for its LTE needs.

Man I hope AT&T does not invade the PCS spectrum band for LTE. Sprint really needs that PCS "H" spectrum block for additional spectrum especially in those markets that only have 15-20 Mhz of PCS spectrum currently. Ideally I want Sprint to buy nationwide licenses of the "H" block so that they can aggregate them together to deploy a 10x10 carrier with LTE-Advanced. Id rather have Verizon, Tmobile, AT&T and the smaller regional carriers like MetroPCS and Leap fight for spectrum in the AWS band and leave the PCS band for Sprint for the taking.

Sprint currently in some markets maybe has enough 800 Mhz spectrum available to deploy a single 1xA carrier. Even now only the 817-820 Mhz is available in some markets since most if not all of the 821-824 Mhz is still be rebanded. I think by the time Sprint will be done with rebanding the entire ESMR 800 Mhz band and moving all the customers off of iDEN, they could just deploy LTE. I know it hasn't been approved yet but I would imagine that it wouldn't take that long to get FCC approval. I fully expect to hear a FCC approval before mid 2013. I don't see the point of putting EVDO at 800 Mhz when it will only be used for a very short time. Hesse has clearly said in conferences that they plan to use 10 Mhz out of the 14 Mhz at 800 Mhz for LTE so we know that it will be a 5x5 configuration.

If you listen to analysts all the time, you should not be investing in the stock market. These analysts get things wrong all the time especially when it comes to estimates and stock price projections. Things in business are so dynamic that at any moment it can look better or worse than it really is. I have a coworker that tells me that when analysts are downgrading the stock, most likely they are trying to drive down the demand and cause us retail investors to sell our shares so that their firm and other big boys can go through accumulation of shares. Once they are done with accumulation, the analysts posts an "upgrade" report on the stock based on some fact that we already knew so that us retail investors would start buying back our shares to drive up the price. I am not saying that this is the case with Sprint but just letting you know that if you do you due diligence and yet the analysts post a downgrade or neutral rating, you shouldn't necessarily trust their judgement all the time.

I am not going to listen to this clown analyst about his projections for Sprint. Obviously he doesn't know that Sprint is planning to refarm its 800 Mhz spectrum and place another 5x5 LTE carrier and with carrier aggregation it will be on par with Verizon and ATT. I guess his biggest worry is getting through Network Vision but I believe that Network Vision will do well and that Sprint customers will be very surprised when it hits their markets. Most Sprint customers nowadays have low expectations and most would consider 5-10 Mbps for LTE and 1-2 Mbps on 3G EVDO sufficient enough speeds for everyday use. Sprint should be able to hit that number with LTE.

Can't wait to hear Phoenix. The market map looks so tiny for the Phoenix that I don't understand why they don't just get that done.

Actually what I think you are eluding to is what I proposed in comparing the Tegra 4 vs S4 since by then both chips will be running on A15 processors and be 28 nm. Tegra 4 will be quad core and S4 is dual core. If what you are saying is true in that its all about the entire SOC package, then the S4 should be on par with or if not better than the Tegra 4. That will really show that the S4 architecture is really superb in that it doesn't need a quad core in the Tegra 4 to get the same performance in a dual core. I can bet that if they did a test of the S4 Krait vs an OMAP 4 chip with 45 nm, that the S4 chip will blow it out of the water as well. The OMAP 5 is the chip that should be in comparison and not the OMAP 4. By comparing the Tegra 3 vs S4 there still puts doubt and other variables in whether the huge performance increase is from the lower die size, A15 processors, architecture. From what I have been reading, the S4 seems to have a significant increase in performance to the Tegra 3. What is not to say that Nvidia could come back with the Tegra 4 and blow these guys out of the water. I am loving the results of the S4 and the progress these chips are making with performance. Lets just hope we can get some benchmarks for the OMAP 5 and Tegra 4.

Its not only just that but comparing the Tegra 3 vs S4 is not a fair comparison because not only is the Tegra 3 (40nm) vs S4 (28 nm) but the fact that the Tegra 3 uses ARM-Cortex-A9 processor vs S4 uses ARM-Cortex-A15 processor. To me comparing the # of cores and the die size between the chips doesn't mean much and what I really think makes the difference between the chips is the ARM-Cortex-A15 processor. It goes to show how much the power, improvements and performance the ARM-Cortex-A15 processor has become. I really wish tech enthusiasts would stop comparing the Tegra 3 vs S4 or the OMAP 5 since its not apples to apples. The Tegra 4 coming out later this year will be quad core, 28 nm die size and will be using the ARM-Cortex-A15 processor. Once the Tegra 4 comes out, then I would like to see a comparison between Tegra 4, S4, and OMAP 5.

I don't believe that Qualcomm is set to launch any quad core chips this year since I haven't read any news nor has Qualcomm made any announcements at the big conventions like CES and MWC. I looked on wikipedia and I see a quad core S5 chip set for launch sometime for Q1 2013 but this date is obviously preliminary.

Wow I am really impressed so far with these phone announcements. The HTC One series will be a strong lineup for all carriers this year. Please let there be a Motorola Photon 2 with LTE!!!!! If Robert says "Stay tuned!" for that, I am going to go nuts pressing F5 all day.

Ah this answers my question about the LG Viper. I can't wait until both these devices launch. I will definitely be heading to a Sprint store to test these devices out. Sprint has yet to release any devices since late last year and I hear a lot of customers are getting antsy about new devices and even thinking of switching carriers just to get some of the new devices. Hopefully there are more device launches to come to keep the customers' feet wet.

Sprint just needs to move on from Lightsquared and focus on Network Vision and Clearwire. Sprint needs to put strict tabs on Clearwire and cannot let them delay on their LTE deployment. Its going to be a long year to have just a single 5x5 LTE carrier on Sprint when it could really use the 2.5 Ghz LTE to offload customers when outside in dense urban cities.

I hope Sprint is using sim cards for LTE phones. I don't want to let Verizon's outages be the reason to be different than the rest of the wireless industry like they always seem to do. I am tired of Sprint doing that. I am curious if MetroPCS uses sim cards for their LTE service. If so then Sprint has no reason not to implement sim cards. Sprint cannot afford to experiment with sim cardless LTE service with Network Vision. Robert, any news on the LG Viper? Is that going to be released any time soon?

If you get info like this for the LA Metro market, I would gladly volunteer to drive around and do speedtests.

so you answered your own question... Yes I have heard about the lack of space in the phone for additional antennae.

The reason is simple. 800 LTE and 2500 LTE is not included because its not ready yet. 2500 LTE is not even ready since there are no chipsets out there that can support it hence the China Mobile agreement with Clearwire to establish standards. I don't think any customer really expected phones would support 2500 Mhz in 2012 though. Most expected 800/1900 Mhz support. As for 800 LTE, it was probably tested in the labs and maybe some FIT testing but since the 800 Mhz band isn't completely cleared yet to deploy LTE, why would Sprint include 800 Mhz LTE support. I am totally fine with the 2012 phones not including the 800 Mhz and 2500 Mhz LTE bands. Think of it this way, why hasn't AT&T and Verizon added LTE support in the AWS frequency bands when its obvious that is where they plan to deploy additional LTE carriers. Its simple...its not ready yet.

Honestly I don't see the lack of 800 mhz LTE support as a deterrent for those that EVO or 3G customers from grabbing the Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper phones. Most customers don't even know about the 800 Mhz factor and lets be honest, a 4G LTE phone with 1900 Mhz is going to have faster speeds than any 4G Wimax phone or any 3G phone. They are just going to see LTE and going to relate that to AT&T and Verizon like speeds. I am kinda curious why the LTE band was only tested from 1852.5 - 1912.5 Mhz from the FCC? The PCS G block runs from 1910-1915 Mhz and 1990-1995 Mhz. I would have thought they would have to run testing from 1852.5 - 1915 Mhz to cover the entire PCS G block frequencies? Any insight on this?

I still think an acquisition of Leap Wireless is better than MetroPCS since they have better spectrum assets IMO. Based on Wiwavelength's spectrum chart comparison in the first page, it looks like Leap has more AWS and PCS spectrum holdings in more markets than MetroPCS. Not to mention that I think an acquisition of Leap would be cheaper than MetroPCS.

I don't think C-spire has signed up with Clearwire yet. If you read the article again in the section quoted below, only 2 ex-LS2 customers in MVNE Simplexity and FreedomPop have signed wholesale deals with Clearwire. The article was just mentioning other LS2 customers, C-Spire and SI Wireless, could be of interest to Clearwire. "Still, Clearwire has already announced two agreements with companies that had signed deals with LightSquared: MVNE Simplexity and FreedomPop, which aims to provide mobile broadband on a freemium model. Other companies that signed deals with LightSquared include C Spire Wireless and rural carrier SI Wireless."

Can't wait to see Orange County lit up with LTE and Network Vision.

I got good news for you. Last night Orange County and the Raleigh/Durham markets were announced. Stay tuned for the article later today on the front page. Also if you have a chance, Robert holds chats on Sun, Tues, Thurs and sometimes Fri nights around 9:30 MST in The Lounge to announce the markets you will see in the article on the wall the next day as well as have a nice discussion with fellow community members and of course you can ask Robert all your Network Vision questions. Check the calendar under More->Calendar for the official time of the chats. There is always a nice turnout from about 10-20 people that show up on a consistent basis including myself.

I hope we see some momentum from this for the ex-LS2 customers. I am still very afraid of how Clearwire will fare starting June 2012 to June 2013. That is going to be a huge loss of revenue for Clearwire. I know a lot of EVO customers will jump ship to LTE service and any 3G customer will jump to 4G LTE phones. I know that if I were a EVO customer from 2010, I would jump ship to the LTE phones come June.