Sprint gives midyear timetable for LTE decision

[RoboMonkey]

What would they have to gain? Please answer the question, why would sprint brother to go to LTE?

Hmmm I didnt say they would not go LTE. I said they could stop selling WiMax phones and wait out the majority of the contracts so they would not have to give refunds. Then they could just shut down the WiMax network. Just like they're going to do with the Nextel network.

As to why they would go LTE, well to get more customers of course. But I've come to the conclusion that non sim card phones suck. I can't put my EVO on Virgin Mobile because they wont let me (not a technical reason). That's why I'll go back to GSM if I ever leave Virgin MObile.

 

[RiverOfIce]

As to why they would go LTE, well to get more customers of course. But I've come to the conclusion that non sim card phones suck. I can't put my EVO on Virgin Mobile because they wont let me (not a technical reason). That's why I'll go back to GSM if I ever leave Virgin MObile.

You will not be able to use a non-verizon lte phone on verizons network. You will not be able to use a non-att lte phone on att network. You will not be able to use a non-tmobile lte phone on tmobiles network. The only reason they went to sims, is because it is easier to lock pay service ( ie youtube for 10 dollars extra a month) with device and make rooting a lot harder. If you though that you could just take it with you, it will not happen. Verizon LTE Phones Could Still Be Locked | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

 

[RoboMonkey]

You will not be able to use a non-verizon lte phone on verizons network. You will not be able to use a non-att lte phone on att network. You will not be able to use a non-tmobile lte phone on tmobiles network. The only reason they went to sims, is because it is easier to lock pay service ( ie youtube for 10 dollars extra a month) with device and make rooting a lot harder. If you though that you could just take it with you, it will not happen. Verizon LTE Phones Could Still Be Locked | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Not my point. My point is I can buy any unlocked phone and use it with Att or tmobile (non lte) as long as it's a supported MHz. Right now I could give a rip about lte or wimax

 

[ndh777]

^you realize that 'WiMax' is basically a wide area wifi, right? Thats why service is centered around large cities and spotty, at best.

Sprint made the wrong move, they need to go to LTE. Not some stupid LTE and WiMax thing, just LTE.

Stop selling WiMax devices, announce a wimax cut off date like 2014 or something, and only sell LTE devices.

Sprint is becoming a mess of incompatible technologies:

CDMA
IDEN
WIMAX
LTE

LTE is scalable for an entire nation, wimax isn't.

Very true about Sprint choosing outdated/obsolete/garbage ways of providing service to us.

To be truthful, I only understood that WiMax and LTE were 4G and different in some way. I really only understood that they provided the power for 4G, I wasn't sure if they were companies or hardware or what hence "...WiMax or whatever..." Sprint should use LTE as it is becoming more common among the other 3 top carriers in my area that provide/claim 4G service such as Verizon and AT&T's [upcoming?] LTE 4G service. Not sure about T-Mobile using it or not. For T-Mobile customers and AT&T customers, it is important to them to run the same type of 4G so that they can easily switch between the two (coming soon iPhone 4G on T-Mobile and MyTouch 4G on AT&T).

I definitely agree with number 1. Number 2 is going to be a must if sprint wants to keep its customers. With 3, it really depends. I was in best buy one day using my 4G and it was hauling ass downloading videos and getting stuff done. Number 4 cant happen. Which is why I would be pissed that my EVO 4G just became a nice 3G phone. I do use the 4G(when Im in service) and it has been useful for finding songs on youtube when I dont feel like listening to my playlist.

Yeah, 4G SOMETIMES, key word is sometimes here, alot faster. Other times it's "eh". I use 4G in one area and only receive 2 bars on screen and downloads are okay. Good enough to load YouTube videos slightly faster. In another place, I get full bars, on screen, of 4G connection and downloads are faster as well as YouTube videos. I actually used it yesterday to speed up a download when having full 4G coverage for the Gun Bros. app. I tried downloading torrents via tTorrent in the car while on 4G and the signal kept coming in and out forcing the download to go in and out and not completely download and keep saying "Unable to download".

I'm surprised though...as I stated above, are WiMax and LTE companies or hardware or something else? If software, they can easily upload LTE onto WiMax devices. If hardware, it'd be a bit more complicated if it was inside of the phone but if it was at cell sites, it'd be okay because they could upgrade them. And if it was a company, it would probably be via software and the software could be uploaded to other devices.

I suppose that if Sprint did make the switch sometime soon, they alerted HTC, Samsung, etc. about their "Evo", "Epic", and other phones and asked them to make alternate versions and once those versions are available and/or the switch is made, they may allow us to trade in our current devices for brand new phones.

 

[RiverOfIce]

Sprint should use LTE as it is becoming more common among the other 3 top carriers in my area that provide/claim 4G service such as Verizon and AT&T's [upcoming?] LTE 4G service. Not sure about T-Mobile using it or not.

LTE on verizon and att will not be compaitable with sprint. There is some debate if verizon lte will work on att's lte.

For example, att is building out it current network, in the 710 - 716mhz and 740 - 746mhz.

The htc thunderbolt 4g lte will never be able to use at&t's network, because it works at 782mhz. Which means if you are in an at&t area with lte, your thunderbolt will NOT beable to use it.

But hell Verizon got the HTC Incredible S approved yesterday and it looks like a world phone.

 

[ndh777]

LTE on verizon and att will not be compaitable with sprint. There is some debate if verizon lte will work on att's lte.

For example, att is building out it current network, in the 710 - 716mhz and 740 - 746mhz.

The htc thunderbolt 4g lte will never be able to use at&t's network, because it works at 782mhz. Which means if you are in an at&t area with lte, your thunderbolt will NOT beable to use it.

But hell Verizon got the HTC Incredible S approved yesterday and it looks like a world phone.

Ah, thank you for the clarification. As I stated before, I'm not exactly sure what LTE is so my choices aren't perfect.

 

[eieio]

LTE will also not obviously allow for roaming outside of the U.S.

Wimax will and Currently does allow roaming in a few areas outside of the U.S. and I am sure that will expand in the future..

There are also local wimax companies that were in talks to allow roaming in the U.S. on their networks..

 

[busted bones]

Very true about Sprint choosing outdated/obsolete/garbage ways of providing service to us.

snip


I suppose that if Sprint did make the switch sometime soon, they alerted HTC, Samsung, etc. about their "Evo", "Epic", and other phones and asked them to make alternate versions and once those versions are available and/or the switch is made, they may allow us to trade in our current devices for brand new phones.

It does make sense that a change may be coming since they have been so tight lipped about top tier phones since the Epic came out last year. It seems like everyone is getting some ammazing phone this and amazing phone that every day or so but nothing from Sprint in over 3 months.

 

[ndh777]

It does make sense that a change may be coming since they have been so tight lipped about top tier phones since the Epic came out last year. It seems like everyone is getting some ammazing phone this and amazing phone that every day or so but nothing from Sprint in over 3 months.

My guess...the iPhone is coming to Sprint lmao. Remember how silent Verizon was before their launch and even the day of? I read somewhere about Dan Hesse not confirming if the iPhone was NOT coming to Sprint.

But all that aside as this is the ANDROIDforums...

 

[viber]

It does make sense that a change may be coming since they have been so tight lipped about top tier phones since the Epic came out last year. It seems like everyone is getting some ammazing phone this and amazing phone that every day or so but nothing from Sprint in over 3 months.

More likely, Sprint is not looking to cut the throat of the Evo and Epic too early. The Evo brand is very strong among consumers. It's Sprint marquee product, so I would expect it to be pampered a bit while AT&T and Verizon flood the market with everything under the sun.

Also, the majority of Evo's were purchased around X-Mas, and Sprint should not be eager to alienate those users by yanking the rug from under them 2 months later. Everyone knows phones age fast, but better not to rub it in your consumers face.

 

[phantom phenom]

If Sprint going for LTE instead of WinMax, will the LTE coverage same as Verzion's nationwide coverage ?

 

[ndh777]

If Sprint going for LTE instead of WinMax, will the LTE coverage same as Verzion's nationwide coverage ?

AT&T also has LTE and their coverage is NOT the same as Verizon's, so we can assume that it will not be the same coverage.

 

[JunBringer]

It should be decent though, as they can switch the Wimax over to LTE pretty easily I've read.

 

[neurocutie]

There is one really simple problem. At 2.5ghz, you can have base stations sitting on top of each other, with every little problems. At 700mhz, you cant have wireless areas cross more then 400 feet with out getting interference. You need to build out the towers between the two very differently, unless you are using the small foot print towers... If you where going to build just one tower for both uses, you would really have to build it on either 2.5ghz or 700mhz, not both...

So given this, how is Sprint's "Network Vision" going to work, where a single site/unit will provide *all* of 800, 1900, 2500Mhz for CDMA, iDen, EVDO, LTE (WiMax?)... Sprint has never answered this question...

Today, Sprint uses separate equipment to deploy services on 800MHz spectrum, 1.9GHz spectrum and, through its relationship with Clearwire, 2.5GHz spectrum. Under the terms of the new contracts, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Samsung will install new network equipment and software that brings together multiple spectrum bands, or airwaves, on a single, multimode base station.

 

[RiverOfIce]

So given this, how is Sprint's "Network Vision" going to work, where a single site/unit will provide *all* of 800, 1900, 2500Mhz for CDMA, iDen, EVDO, LTE (WiMax?)... Sprint has never answered this question...

The answer is simple. Each part of the spectrum is good a different places. 800 for rural, 1900 for backhauling, 2500 for cities.

 

[Doomstang]

Sprint 'Project Leapfrog' rumors claim LTE network upgrade is underway -- Engadget

According to this "the LTE move is now a done deal, with Sprint signing contracts with infrastructure supplies Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Samsung to roll out service over the course of the next two to three years as it decommissions iDEN on its 800MHz spectrum"

 

[drexappeal]

Sprint 'Project Leapfrog' rumors claim LTE network upgrade is underway -- Engadget

According to this "the LTE move is now a done deal, with Sprint signing contracts with infrastructure supplies Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Samsung to roll out service over the course of the next two to three years as it decommissions iDEN on its 800MHz spectrum"

RiverOfIce is probably going to have to explain this, but if Sprint is going to change iDEN over to CDMA, would that then mean that Sprint would have 4G/LTE phones working through the "new" CDMA network (formerly iDEN) and still have 4G/WiMax phones working through the "current" Sprint CDMA network?

The reason I bring this up is because I recently purchased a Motorola i886 for one of my secondary lines, not realizing that Nextel made phones still work on a completely separate wireless phone signal than Sprint phones. What that led to was my having to return that phone and pick up a LG Optimus for that line as an exchange (luckily, it was selling for free at Best Buy that weekend, so it was perfect timing and ended up saving me some money). That said, maybe Sprint will still keep both WiMax and run LTE phones on the "new" CDMA network that is based on the Nextel iDen spectrum?

I seriously am just talking based on what I'm reading, but have absolutely no clue if it makes any sense at all. Just trying to understand how or if any of this can work.

 

[RiverOfIce]

I have no idea what sprint is doing, and personally never try to guess, they can and will shoot themselves every chance they get.

Project leapfrog is a mystery? Why, because it is already being worked on, it was the idea for wimax. The companies are already building Project leapfrog. All it really does it take CDMA, 3G EV-DO, WiMax, even gsm and lte, and make one small form base station out of it. It is not building out lte or wimax, but it is building out ALL towers.

Project leapfrog will allow 3 things, 1.)Reduce fees assorted with roaming on 3g, cdma, and ev-do. 2.) Increase signal strength and tower coverage. 3.) Increase profit by offering roaming for other carriers.

I never said sprint will not go with lte, in fact lte is need for a full market build out. I only said that lte and wimax are not fighting each other. Both technologies are needed. Wimax offers great coverage for cities and great backhaul. LTE is great in rural areas.

 

[drexappeal]

I have no idea what sprint is doing, and personally never try to guess, they can and will shoot themselves every chance they get.

Project leapfrog is a mystery? Why, because it is already being worked on, it was the idea for wimax. The companies are already building Project leapfrog. All it really does it take CDMA, 3G EV-DO, WiMax, even gsm and lte, and make one small form base station out of it. It is not building out lte or wimax, but it is building out ALL towers.

Project leapfrog will allow 3 things, 1.)Reduce fees assorted with roaming on 3g, cdma, and ev-do. 2.) Increase signal strength and tower coverage. 3.) Increase profit by offering roaming for other carriers.

I never said sprint will not go with lte, in fact lte is need for a full market build out. I only said that lte and wimax are not fighting each other. Both technologies are needed. Wimax offers great coverage for cities and great backhaul. LTE is great in rural areas.

Thanks for explaining. It really is a jumbled mess for me to understand. The moment I think I've grasped the concept, it gets confusing...again...LOL. Thank God I'm not a "tech" expert.

 

[silencer271]

project leapfrog
2 fold plan
part 1 upgrading network to CMDA Revision B
part 2. Changing IDEN to LTE and updating wimax to include LTE

where this is from? sprints INTRANET