[Epic 4G General] pixlz:
for those who mentioned the nextel stuff. what sprints doing is crazy smart actually. so at the same time as this "decomissioning of a network" they're also planning their "Network Vision Base Station retrofit" for 2013.

and let me first say... decomissioning a network is harsh words. they're transitioning the network then decomissioning the spectrum. at no point do they plan on losing customers. Nextel phones will just be PTT Sprint phones(like qchat was supposed to be).

What Network Vision is, for those not following the story. The Base station upgrade will allow every sprint tower/nextel tower to overlap and produce all the same frequencies. towers that overlap area(like a nextel tower right next to a sprint tower) will be decomissioned for cost savings. currently a Cell Tower needs one base station for every frequency. So 3 giant boxes for 3 signals(iden/cdma/wimax) gets turned into 1 tiny box that can handle generating with better signal range for an unknown amount of multiple spectrums.

so now a single tower can do not just CDMA or IDEN, but CDMA(1900mhz)/IDEN(800mhz)/Clearewire-WiMAX(2.5ghz)/Lightsquared-LTE(1525-1559mhz) all at once. with better signal handling and range.

To upgrade a tower to be able to handle a new spectrum its a simple software upgrade after the Base Station retrofits complete. so if a phone came out with WiMax 2 capable radio or LTE-Advanced(the true 4g's)... one software update later and its active on all towers.

but i digress... all that means is nextel and sprint phones service will get better with these overlapping towers. but why if all towers are going to be sharing are we still wasting a valuable 800 mhz spectrum(iden network)?

so Sprints launching a new PTT service, that'll work over 3g. its starting to launch this year(august?). Since Network Vision is proceeding, Nextel/Sprint service will starting overlapping and getting bigger. it'll make the phones far more functional than the Q-Chat ones ever were.

the full phase out for the IDEN network is slated for 2013-2017. it'll prolly be finished by 2015 honestly.

Remember, Sprint does not own Lightsquared or Clearwires spectrums for these 4G networks. At the same time when they shake Nextel users off that 800mhz spectrum finally, they can host their own 4G network on that spectrum.

the 800mhz range is extremely valuable because it has excellent building penetration and range(its why Verizon with 700mhz LTE has a leg up on this game). the lower the frequency, the further a signal can travel and through more objects(its a longer waveform). This is one reason why WiMax has trouble in cities. 2.5ghz doesn't have the most spectacular apartment building penetration in cities. that makes a buildout require more towers closer together versus longer ranged handoffs.

so the moment the Nextel "spectrum" is decomissioned, as long as phones already have the proper LTE radio installed to jump on a frequency(it could be like an LTE network that doesn't get roamed onto until it switched on)... they could just software upgrade the towers and have an instant 4G voice network.

theres no reason Sprint once they have people hopped over to a new normal 800mhz LTE voice spectrum, they couldn't also... with a simple software upgrade for every tower, switch their CDMA network to an additional LTE network... but one that handles merely data.

The reason why Sprint currently has leeway on these Data Bandwith throttling/caps... is their 4g network is seperate from their voice network. one does not effect the other.

Sprints playing the tower/spectrum game smart. With the Lightsquared deal, Lightsquareds basically going to be footing the bill for this Base Station retrofit. I'm also betting in exchange for massive network expansion to Clearwire, they'll gain free access. In turn it'll allow Sprint themselves to properly utilize their own Spectrums.