ericdabbs

It could also mean that you should pay the ETF on your current plan which at this point with 6 months left to go shouldn't be that much. That is about 25% left of the 2 year contract which with an ETF fee of $350 x 25% = $87.5 maybe even less if Sprint considers that you have 5 more months to go. If you figure even if you pay the ETF now and switch to the new $60 plan to lock in that rate you will make up that $88 within the next year or so. Also not to mention that if you pay the ETF, you get to keep the phone you are currently using which I guess you could then sell it to help recuperate the ETF/Nexus 6P costs. Just throwing some suggestions out there.

so do you plan to pay for both plans until March? You are kinda stuck because wouldn't you want to port your number or would you get a temporary phone number just to lock in the rate. Why not just activate an old smartphone just to get the $60 plan but then the question is would you then ETF out of your $80 plan?

My thoughts on the Note 5 so far from 3 days of using compared to the LG G2 is that signal level has improved between the 2 devices. At work, I have a pretty weak 3G/LTE signal where my offices and with the G2, more often than not, I am usually on 3G. With the Note 5, I am able to get LTE...even though its pretty weak but still useable. Also in general places where I normally only get 3G, I have been able to get LTE. Also battery life on the Note 5 has been better than I expected considering the G2 and Note 5 have the same battery capacity of 3000 maH but the Note 5 is 0.5 inch larger display. I wonder if that is a combination of the 14 nm Exynos chip and the software features such as Power Saving mode. I suggest the Choetech fast wireless charger if you want fast charging. There are not many fast wireless chargers on the market yet. I ordered one on Amazon and should be getting it tomorrow to test out. I'll let you know how it works out. http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Charger-Lighting-Qi-Enabled-Included/dp/B015351VC2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444631489&sr=8-1&keywords=choetech+fast+wireless+charger There are also standard wireless chargers as well but there are just too many to choose from.

Uhhhh NO. You are proposing too drastic of a change to Sprint's current spectrum holdings that is pretty far fetched and not to mention that you are simply ignoring facts and statements that the S4GRU staff have been saying that will not happen: 1) Sprint not participating in the 600 MHz spectrum auction as of now 2) Sprint's 1900 MHz NV equipment installed does not support B25 aggregation. Note: It would cost too much and not feasible to re-do NV again just to simply pay and deploy equipment just to support B25 aggregation. Its better at this point to wait until CDMA/EVDO phase out several years from now and Sprint can deploy 10x10 LTE when enough spectrum is cleared. 3) Even if Sprint were to bid on 600 MHz spectrum they will not win the entire 30 MHz reserve spectrum. That is just crazy talk. The best way to improve the Sprint network is by NGN project with huge NV site densification with macro and small cells. Hopefully that means Sprint is able to retain most of the Nextel tower lease agreements that don't co-locate with Sprint and deploy NV equipment on those. I can identify several iDEN sites that would make perfect NV sites for conversion. Tmobile better have good coverage since Washington is Tmobile's headquarters. Since Seattle is so hilly especially in the downtown areas, I think its going to take some time for Sprint to densify that part of the market. Not to mention that due to Canadian IBEZ they have been unable to deploy B26 LTE which is sorely needed in any market just to provide additional LTE coverage.

Lets just hope all these new plans start to slow down. Since Marcelo has taken over Sprint in Aug 2014 there have been so many plan products introduced (good and bad way) that it must be a nightmare to maintain all the different plan products.

I guess if Sprint plans to run a 2nd set of 20+20+20 at those high capacity sites then I would rather them not do LTE UE Relay at all and just do 2 x 20+20+20 with the 120 MHz.

I understand the range issue but why would Verizon give up any of its PCS spectrum in the first place? What incentive do they have to give up PCS spectrum. The only way I see Verizon biting would be if Sprint offered say 20 MHz of 2.5 GHz for 10 MHz of PCS spectrum. Verizon's towers are too spaced out in most markets for 2.5 GHz deployment so even though they might have said it, I doubt that they would really execute on it.

Currently the LTE rel 10 standard can support CA of up to 100 MHz on up to 5 LTE carriers. I don't think Sprint has to worry about any OEM's ability to support 5xCA in the future because the standard supports it. I am fully confident that it will be done due to optimization and improving antenna technology and will be supported no doubt when the time is appropriate. 2015 year is just the beginning where all the carriers are starting to add CA support for their appropriate LTE bands and I don't see the carriers holding back. With Sprint having such little PCS/ESMR spectrum, I don't want Sprint to get rid of any of its 120 MHz spectrum especially if they are sitting out the 600 MHz spectrum auction. To me the most ideal situation is to eventually deploy 5xCA on B41 and use 20 MHz for wireless backhaul especially in dense urban markets like NYC which are hard enough to run fiber through the top of buildings where the NV sites are at but can also feed backhaul to small cells on the ground. I just don't see opportunities for Sprint in the near term to swap PCS spectrum blocks with other carriers to create wider channels until the other carriers are in the process of vacating that spectrum of CDMA/EVDO/HSPA+/UTMS and going full LTE mode. Even though 2.5 GHz spectrum is supported by B41 and the equipment is out there, I just don't see the other 3 national carriers really that interested in 2.5 GHz spectrum. https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/technologies/lte/lte-carrier-aggregation

Sprint can't easily aggregate its 5x5 PCS LTE carriers on their network currently because Sprint has yet to sell any devices which allow B25-B25 CA. What Sprint really needs to do to begin transition to PCS LTE CA is by starting to sell B25-B25 CA devices in its 2016 flagships so that the phones going forward are able to support this feature even though its not currently configured at the NV site. Even if Sprint had the resources to do this currently on the network they can't since customers will not be able to connect to it. Now this is not to confuse this with markets that currently deploy 10x10 LTE since it uses contiguous spectrum which Sprint has been supporting on its phones for the last 2-3 years which doesn't use CA. I am glad Sprint starting supported B41-B41 CA but they really need to add B25-B25 CA in the future since Sprint eventually will phase out CDMA and it would be nice to aggregate their PCS A-F blocks with the non-contiguous PCS G block to create faster speeds and wider channels.

I can confirm it was Rogers Wireless when I was in Toronto back in July.

Question about Sprint's potential use of 2.5 GHz for interband wireless backhaul. Does anyone know how much spectrum Sprint would want to commit for wireless backhaul? I wonder since Sprint has 120 MHz on average of 2.5 GHz spectrum in many markets that perhaps they can devote 20 MHz to support wireless backhaul. That way that still leaves Sprint 100 MHz to devote to LTE for 5xCA way down the line.

Thanks. Just needed the confirmation. This is great for those that need tethering. Still doesn't match Tmobile's 7 GB of tethering for its unlimited data plan but 3 GB is still fine since its only $70 vs. $80 for Tmobile. Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Where does it say about the 3gb tethering? Even then that would be a YMMV situation. Still good to see sprint trying to match tmobile. Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

That is a very valid point. If you do plan to make the jump to Sprint, I would make your decision by 10/15 (last day to lock in that $60/mo rate) or else the rate will increase to $70/mo beginning 10/16. You won't have time to wait until November to see if your Verizon bill will be increased to $49.99 for unlimited data which I honestly think the majority of the remaining unlimited data Verizon customers will see since they are not under contract.

Oh look...a big Ad!!!! Lets go click on it!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PxjIa4gBg

The $100 BB GC is only valid on Samsung products. So you dno't have to worry about that problem.

It sounds like a lot of spectrum currently but if Sprint wants to use some of that 2.5 GHz spectrum for intraband wireless backhaul it won't be that much especially if Sprint can ramp up to 5xCA at some point . The reason I say 5xCA is because I think I read that LTE can be aggregated up to 100 MHz currently. Didn't know that the Clear equipment is only limited to 2 LTE carriers max. So yeah I think its crucial that Sprint decommission the Wimax network quickly so that a 2nd LTE carrier can be fired up for 2xCA.

I never said anything about US Cellular and C-spire markets giving up their 700 MHz block A licenses and them squatting on their spectrum. They will or have been deploying its 700 MHz block A licenses and are off limits. However if you look at the spectrum map in the link below there are still a ton of 700 MHz block A licenses up for grabs and I don't see US Cellular and C-spire snapping them up since it is not part of their target markets which they provide service. So my point is Tmobile doesn't really feel threatened to need to overpay for the 700 MHz block A licenses from the spectrum squatters at this point. Other than in most of the midwest where US Celluar and C-Spire currently have the 700 MHz block A licenses, if Tmobile can pick up all the remaining 700 MHz block A licenses (in brown color) in the rest of the country, they will be in a good shape especially if they can get that Chicago license from Laser, Inc. http://specmap.sequence-omega.net/

When Sprint did the 800 MHz iDEN shutdown it went down to the very last second. Now with iDEN they had plenty of redundant iDEN sites due to the range of 800 MHz so some of those were shut down earlier but with 2.5 GHz it would be very apparent if your local Clearwire tower went down. So yes I expect Sprint to do the same thing with Wimax as they did with iDEN. Keep in mind that there are Clearwire retail customers that still pay and utilize the Wimax network so they are already getting the brunt end of the stick by having the network shutdown. Last thing they need is to have Wimax shut down prematurely.

Ehhh I think Tmobile will pick and choose the 700 MHz-A licenses to buy when its appropriate. Currently there are no other interested parties in the 700 MHz-A licenses nationwide so Tmobile doesn't feel threatened and can hold out until the squatters run up against the build out requirements of which they would need to sell or lose it. Now the game will change if for some reason some other carrier is interested in buying the remaining 700 MHz-A licenses. Then Tmobile would feel pressured to spend the money to gobble up the major 700 MHz-A licenses it can't afford to lose. I can't really blame Tmobile since Sprint did the same exact thing against its 800 MHz spectrum squatters which included some squatters being taken to court. As long as Tmobile is going full speed on its 700 MHz deployment in the markets that have spectrum they should be fine. Believe me, I want Tmobile to gobble up all the remaining 700 MHz-A licenses as much as you do because I know given Tmobile's track record that they will deploy and make use of the spectrum.

I just called them and they said they had to create an escalated ticket for the Wifi Connect router request since the offer was not currently linked to my account. They said it was no problem to get the Wifi Connect router but instead of the normal 7 business days it would take to receive they said it would take 10 business days because of the need to get a request. That sounds so much longer than the 2 days you quoted. Hopefully it will only take a week to arrive.

OK sweetheart!!! Keep in mind the youtube video posted was back in Oct 2013 and so much as happened with Tmobile since then. This was even prior to Tmobile purchasing 700 MHz A-block licenses and has now deployed the "Extended Range LTE" in several markets. Tmobile continues to do spectrum swaps with Verizon and AT&T to align themselves with bigger contiguous spectrum blocks to deploy wider LTE channels which is awesome. Its a win-win for both companies that is how spectrum IMO should be dispersed based on which carrier can make it the most efficient. It sucks that Sprint is only bounded to PCS spectrum. If they had AWS spectrum as a carrot to tangle then that would have some way to make some trades.

I wish Sprint was able to obtain more PCS spectrum in PCS starved markets. Tmobile is doing spectrum swaps all the time to align themselves to be able to deploy wider LTE channels which to me is efficient. http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/t-mobile-att-agree-swap-pcs-aws-1-airwaves-create-larger-contiguous-spectru/2015-10-08

Thanks. Activated my Note 5 this morning and did a test Wifi calling phone call on my current router and it works fine. Time to order the Wifi Connect router. Do you know how long does it take Sprint to send you the Wifi Connect router?

You won't see any effects at all right away but off the top of my head, here are a few things that help Sprint directly. 1) Reclaim the 2.5 GHz spectrum that Wimax has occupied that can be used for intraband backhaul or adding another 20 MHz TD-LTE carrier for additional CA in the future. This is probably the most important benefit. I am sure NV sites that do not have Wimax network setup have been deploying that 2nd B41 carrier for 2xCA. 2) Reducing OPEX costs (not having to pay anyone to maintain both Wimax and LTE networks). Always better for a wireless carrier to cut any costs where they can. 3) Allows Sprint to eventually begin rip and replace the dual Wimax/LTE RRUs with 8T8R RRUs on its Clearwire sites to support those blazing speeds envisioned in NGN project. I am not sure how many Transmitters and Receivers the current dual Wimax/LTE RRUs have but it certainly is not 8T8R. 4) Not having to deal with the maintainance of Clearwire customer base (sorry for those that rely on it).