bigsnake49

I think eventually, yes, it will, but only if all carriers went to contract free, un-subsidized devices. But then The same manufactureres might become MVNOs and sell device and service as a bundle

While the momentum towards mobile devices is inexorable, the economics of wireless communication prohibit wholesale replacement of fixed/wifi infrastructure by cellular access. Yes, field people will live and die by cellular access but office workers will not.

Is nobody going to be working? Is everybody going to be out in the park? Or driving all the time? Or are going to be a society of leisure in which we are going to be out and about for 16 hours, just going to our houses only to sleep? Never using either the work or home network/wifi?

I don't for a moment belive that you will need 100Mbits/sec on your smartphone except to brag. What the heck are you going to be going that will require that? 20x20 channels will be able to get you 150Mbits/sec/sector. It's not going to be about you but about you and the 15 other people that are in your sector. It's not about replacing your home connection with a wireless connection, it's supplementing it. If the cable guys think that they are losing customers to the wireless guys they will either lower your home internet connection price or jack up the wholesale price to the wireless guys.

After the whole shebang closes, I would like for Sprint to articulate exactly what they're going to do with all that Clearwire spectrum. They won't need it except in very limited places. Now if they change their business model to something else (involving video on demand, OTT video), then I can see them needing all that spectrum, but other than becoming wholesale provider for Dish and DirectTV, I just don't see it.

I don't think that Dish has any intentions of actually winning the auction. They just want to drive the price up for Sprint.

I think the PCS H block will only be bid by Sprint and Dish and Dish will only bid to make it expensive for Sprint.

No, EBS. Sprint can take back their BRS spectrum and then sell the EBS spectrum leases with Clearwire's network.

In the end, unless Sprint wants to do something with the EBS spectrum, they should just take the BRS spectrum and sell Clearwire to Dish. Dish probably does not want the EBS spectrum either.

I could totally see Sprint teaming up with Directv just to spite Dish. The problem with Dish is that they want to build a network on the cheap. Sprint and T-Mobile want them to come up with some money and neither needs Dish's spectrum. Dish wants to pay back with capacity.

Dish Network last week met with FCC officials to discuss potential issues with the proposed Sprint, Softbank and Clearwire deal. According to a regulatory filing, Dish urged the FCC to insist Softbank and Sprint fully divulge their plans for utilizing the spectrum licenses they stand to inherit from Clearwire. In addition, Dish reiterated that the FCC should apply its spectrum screen to Clearwire’s 2.5GHz airwaves. Dish also cited direct concerns with placing a single company in sole control of the spectrum. “This would have significant effects on, among others, international carriers who use the 2.5 GHz band, because Sprint would be their only roaming partner in the U.S. for those frequencies,” Dish wrote in the filing. Finally, Dish expressed concerns with Sprint’s request for the FCC to rule against it having to make an “anti-windfall” payment of $2.8 billion pursuant to the FCC’s 800 MHz and 1990-2025 MHz rebanding orders. “Only $945.6 million of the amount Sprint claims towards the $2.8 billion anti-windfall payment has been subject to an independent third-party review (the TA’s review) and deemed creditable,” Dish added. ...... http://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2013/03/dish-urges-fcc-squeeze-sprint-clearwire-deal Dish is totally being bitches about this. They don't want to stir up the hornet's nest about anti-windfall, because they might end owing about $5B dollars to the Treasury.

Or Splint?

I think thay are much more reasonable than their shared plans. http://gigaom.com/2013/03/18/att-makes-it-cheap-to-connect-tablets-as-long-as-you-dont-also-own-a-phone/

Blame Motorola or blame Google buying Motorola. They made a bad buy and they're still losing money. Taking a license would have cost a lot less. Glad to see that they're not infallible like some people think around here.

I think we have the strategy and technology part down pat. Getting back to the spectrum swap thread, there might be some butthurt feelings on Solinc's part. But, it would definitely be beneficial for both companies. Heck FCC could designate that band as utlility band.

To add some info to this comment, PCCH on Nextel has always been on 800Mhz. I don't know whether it can be set to 900Mhz or not.

Sprint can swap them 900MHz interleaved spectrum for 800MHz.

I hate to disagree, but they will have absolutely no objection. Just as long as everybody else also could sell their handsets on the network. There will be 3 other networks as well. Plenty of choices. They can be also be an MVNO.

It definitely would give them the content licenses they so desire. Short of acquiring content companies themselves, or producing original content, best way to get some licenses. Not to mention the means of delivering said content.

Look up fractal antennas or tree antennas (no, not towers disguised as trees).

Then you have not been looking particularly when it comes to handset antennas.

No need for that. Antenna technology has advanced quite a bit since the yagis of yesteryear.

US Cellular has no problem with DTV channel 51 and Lower 700 MHz A. I'm guessing that they have service in rural areas and there are no Channel 51s in the boondocks. Or they use decent filters or both. The 450MHz band can be be used the same way. If the Lower 700 MHz A band was owned by AT&T or Verizon, how much you want to bet that they would have bought all the stations operating on channel 51 and put them out of business?

We have speculated on that endlessly, on this site. Given that, I don't see DirectTV making any moves, yet!

Verizon will be glad to get rid of CDMA because they will not have to pay Qualcomm a license fee anymore. Their phones will use the same chipsets as the rest of the world and because of competition, those prices will come down. They will have a unified switching architecture. They will tune their network to provide the same coverage. They will fill in their weak spots and holes. Verizon is expensive but they do spend money on their network.