Boosted20V

Great write up!

Then to further add to the confusion when comparing the Note2 and S3 side by side with debug screens on, I found the Note2 to acquire and hang on to a usable LTE signal longer than the S3 would. Case in point I can stand in one location with the S3 and Note2 on the table and cycle airplane mode on both phones the Note2 would pick up LTE and use it when the S3 would only EVDO. The difference was minimal but yet noticeable if you were looking.

I'd think the key here is that we're looking at RF output, not RF reception in these numbers.

No, Pittsburgh is a separate market. The Western Pennsylvania market does include Erie and State College, but it really extends more into the central part of the state, even into far western Maryland.See our Sprint market map:http://s4gru.com/ind...map-is-here-r31AJ

Ah thanks AJ. I should have looked at that closer. The Central/Western monikers are definitely confusing given where they cover. At the end of the day, the fact of the matter is Sprint only has so many resources to work with and had to do the most with what they had.

The site in Central PA I reference is in a Shentel market, not the Central PA market. Additionally, the Central PA market is not 100% GMO's. Sites in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Lancaster areas are full build. But the Central PA market does have a lot of GMO's.The Western PA market is the only one I know of that is all GMO's.Robert

ALL of western PA is GMO's!?!?! So Pittsburgh (at least initially) will have no 800mhz service? Wow.

I get what most of you are saying .. cut Sprint some slack but when you have been a customer for as long as I have been and bought a wimax phone with the promise of wimax coming. (Which it never did) Then buying a LTE phone with the promise of that coming leaves me alitlle skeptical. I do believe it will happen sometime but if it doesn't happen by the end of this contrac I will be switching carriers. My co-worker has AT&T LTE phone and they were supposed to be the last to upgrade this area and guess what he now gets over 45Mbps all the time. I can not even get 780Kbps in Norfolk Va where updates have started or so they say.

Or so they say? Go look at Sensorly... LTE sites are already live in Norfolk.

EDIT - just looked again, there is quite a bit of LTE in Norfolk... how can you even say this?

This actually is not my guess. This is a reiteration of the dates supplied on the Network Deployment list on this site. So if anyone is guessing, it wasn't me. Some second and third round markets are showing completion dates of late 2014. I would say that I'm more negative than positive but a pessimist. Never.

That is based on current rate of completion which has been ramping. It seems humans can only think linearly.

This would certainly seem to give some validation to the thought of the EVO LTE update being needed prior to go-live. Amazing it took HTC so long, isn't it?

But can't you understand Robert why I am frustrated with Sprint? Imagine buying a new 4G phone with Sprint (new customer with OG EVO) and being told 4G WiMAX will be releasing in my area "soon". Then it releases but misses my area and is very spotty in general. Then after I called and complained many times they would always say they are expanding WiMAX but that it would take time to do it. Flash forward two years later and nothing! I still can't get 4G even if I stand outside on the highest building in my neighborhood. I've used 4G a total of three times in two years! Then comes 4G LTE and Sprint says again coming soon. Well, I'm really the only idiot because I believed them again as everyone was telling me they really are trying to get their act together and I fell for it. What is that old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". Man a truer word could not be said in a jest.

If you're so unhappy with Sprint, why don't you pay your ETF and leave? I'm sick of reading your complaints.

EDIT - Also, you're not happy that your location is one of the early launches, you're somehow upset just that the sites directly around where you live won't be completed by market launch? You do realize that those are just the sites estimated to be completed by launch... right? I feel like you're reading into the map that those are the only sites being updated, period. If you were in a 3rd round location, your head might explode!

Sprint will be happy when this market is finished. That includes the loop. It's going to be funny/sad frustrating when they "launch" LTE in Chicago and the closer you get to the city, the worse your 4g/3g will be.

Robert, do you have any idea why they have neglected to do any upgrades in the center of the city so far?

I guess I can see why someone could draw that conclusion. However, when Dan Hesse announced the first six markets, he did so off a schematic schedule. The final detailed site by site schedule was not available at that time. So compared to a verbal announcement of the preliminary schematic schedule, someone could deduct they are behind schedule. However, I am holding Sprint to the initial detailed baseline schedule to monitor progress. That didn't finish up until February for the first and second round markets...after the Hesse market announcements. And using that data, in some markets they are on schedule, some they are slightly behind schedule...and in Chicago they look like they are on track to getting ahead of schedule. In these schedule update articles, we are judging them against their detailed site schedules to determine how they are doing.A market launch is very subjective. Whether it is 50%, 40% or 60%, it doesn't much matter. A launch is just a PR blitz saying, come on in, the water is fine. Go swimming. Robert

I see, I wasn't intending to sound negative, just an observation. I guess I didn't realize what a short time all these plans came together in and how recently things were finalized. Sprint definitely did have to play some serious catch-up from the end of last year to be where they are now.

So I'm seeing a pattern with all of these markets. Essentially Sprint initially planned on launching mid-2012 with 50% of the market completed. Instead, they're now going to end up launching short of that 50%, I assume this implies they're behind schedule?