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PSA: No SVLTE or SVDO on spark Devices

We know what tomorrow will bring and we know what we've gained each day on that path. You have to be willing to invest the time and money in S4GRU.com and when you do there are few things about Sprint that you can't have an understanding about.

I've been a Sprint customer since 1997 and have worked and traveled alongside coworkers that have elected to use our company Verizon contract. I have had a mifi on that contract for years. Believe me, they drop as many conferences calls running down I-80 as I ever have.

No question that Sprint was in a horrible data network position the last couple of years. But we are largely past that. And S4GRU tells you exactly how past that we actually are on a tower by tower basis. The facts are available for those that want to put as much energy into reading them as they do complaining.
 
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Eventually Sprint Spark devices will be SVDO once Sprint starts to deploy VoLTE, problem solved.
Anecdotally, yeah, but technically, no.

When you're on 3G, it's EVDO.

If your handset supported it beginning in 2012, when you were on 3G, it's SVDO.

Unlike VoLTE, SVDO is a 3G technology. Also unlike VoLTE, Sprint doesn't have to change anything at their end - it's a programmable modem enhancement in the handset.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (original, later called the S4 Pro sometimes) included the world modem on board with virtually all features enabled - so phones that got it got SVDO because no one paid extra to remove the stock feature.

Other processors can include the modem on board but due to extremely high demand for the parts and desire for different feature controls, the parts were more popularly supplied with the modem in a separate chip. Sprint didn't click the box for SVDO with any of the manufacturers - probably to wean people off of 3G or for marketing reasons - so we lost the feature.

It's not a cost or transceiver issue - modem features are like choosing from the family meal at a Chinese restaurant and choosing EVDO vs SVDO was about as big a difference as which soup with the family meal.

@jalan94 -

I've followed s4gru nearly from the beginning.

I also worked in the semiconductor industry for R&D supply and support - I've been to every foundry in Asia that has ramped up and made these parts and I've been there through qualifications.

I've also used an SVDO phone after Spark tower upgrades. Naturally, I got better LTE performance with a Spark handset.

Pretty sure I know exactly what I'm talking about. :D
 
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I don't recall challenging your knowledge. Am I incorrect that there is a battery cost to support simultaneous radios? Am I incorrect that the SoC has to support SVDO as well and some of the recent SoCs used in Sprint phones, notably the Snapdragon 8xx series don't have support for it? I am perfectly willing to admit I'm wrong.
 
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SVDO is not a dual radio - it's just a change in the 3G data stream.

If I'm missing the point you'll have to tell me what you mean by dual radio use.

Both phones were HTCs so my battery life was consistently great on both, and dependent more on my use in fringe reception areas for 3G power consumption.

LTE is better for power consumption on the M8, I attribute that to the manufacturing process improvement in the transceiver chip and active antenna technology that the Evo 4G LTE lacked.

The M8's Snapdragon 801 would need do nothing more to support SVDO than it already does supporting data over wifi with a 3G call.

SVDO is a modem change with no power penalty beyond processing more data - same as with the wifi example.

The 8xx phones used by Sprint currently do not include the built-in modem - it's a separate device on the motherboard. Same is also true for the HTC M7, but the M8 is more power efficient overall.

And 3G with wifi data simultaneously is crazy high at power efficiency, as you may know.

Apologies if I misunderstood your point about needing to follow s4gru. :)
 
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When speaking of dual radios I was thinking more of SVLTE not SVDO. While I understand your point that not everyone has Sprint LTE yet, it is clear that the entire focus of Sprint will be to finish the LTE rollout. I can understand why they wouldn't really care that SVDO isn't available since it becomes irrelevant for more and more customers every day. Admittedly I don't understand the technical details behind a phone that could theoretically support SVDO while also sitting on LTE where it is available. Seems like an engineering nightmare.

SVLTE would be dual radios since it would require a simultaneous connection to CDMA for voice and LTE for data. Personally I don't want my phone taking that battery hit.
 
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OK, correct, SVLTE is a dual radio solution unrelated to anything under current discussion but certainly within the purview of the thread.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_(telecommunication)

While VoLTE is attractive, not sure why you think it's going to be more power efficient than the CSFB we have now. It may be.

LTE is usually not as power efficient as CDMA calling.

SVDO and LTE support are the exact same nightmare in every way as this on my M8 today -

1430684459392.jpg

In fact, it's the exact same identical headache already deployed.

But we might as well drop it because I seem to be incapable of explaining that having SVDO vs not having it is about as big a difference as calling your brother vs calling your aunt. :)
 
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