Develop Bugs

Future WiMax coverage?

This is likely a dumb question, buts its worth a shot, do any of you Sprint insiders have any info on some future WiMax cities? I have used 4G going through Nashville and Atlanta, but I would really love it have it here in Louisville.
Its just frustrating that a city with a metro population of 1.4 Million doesn't have 4G, yet smaller towns like Lansing, MI and Wichita Falls, TX do.

It has to do with the way Clear does business. They will go into small cities because there is less competition. Grand Rapids, Mi, for example, gave Clear tax incentives to build their network there. They are in a lot of larger and mid-sized cities, but they are going to go where there is less competition, or some other type of incentive to go there. Sprint is going to have a good amount of say in where Clear builds out since they own a majority of Clear, but Clear still needs to be profitable (which they are not), or at least try.
Sent from my Epic 4G with midNIGHT 3.3 ROM

Sprint is switching to LTE in the near future so WiMax is going away
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giantmidget said:
Sprint is switching to LTE in the near future so WiMax is going away
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Where's your source on this?

obiwrx_3zero3 said:
Where's your source on this?
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Excellent question. Would give you thanks but apparently I'm limited to 5 a day.

I work at a Sprint service & got to listen in on a conference call with the sprint engineers. I shouldn't have said near future cause ETA is 2012 for it.
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obiwrx_3zero3 said:
Where's your source on this?
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There's a topic on Engadget about it. http://m.engadget.com/default/artic...ur-to-six-months/&category=classic&postPage=1
Sent from my Epic 4G

Sooo...if sprint did decide to switch to LTE...would that make us obsolete? I'm assuming I wouldn't get "4g" since my phone is wimax right? If that's the case, there would be some serious hell to pay since 4g and sprints pricing is the only reason I got rid of my 4 year old xv6800 and switched from verizon.
Sent from my baked and emotionless SPH-D700

squshy 7 said:
Sooo...if sprint did decide to switch to LTE...would that make us obsolete? I'm assuming I wouldn't get "4g" since my phone is wimax right? If that's the case, there would be some serious hell to pay since 4g and sprints pricing is the only reason I got rid of my 4 year old xv6800 and switched from verizon.
Sent from my baked and emotionless SPH-D700
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Thats a good question? anyone want to answer this?

davidrules7778 said:
Thats a good question? anyone want to answer this?
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My best guess would be that the current 4G hardware would be fine. Clear is where Sprint gets their WiMax and Clear has a lot of customers using WiMax for home internet with a lot of equipment and I don't see it being cost effective to try and get everyone on LTE at the same time. Sprint and Clear would probably shift everyone over to LTE at some point, but that would be years down the road after LTE comes out. Kind of like the way the cell providers handled the switch from analog to digital. Just a guess, but when LTE comes out, there will be overlap while they sell out of their WiMax equipment as cheaper phones and sell new LTE equipment as their premium phones and they will support WiMax for 3-5 years longer. This is all conjecture, but I think this is the way it will happen.
Sent from my Epic 4G with midNIGHT 3.3 ROM

Yeah, and lets be honest with ourselves too...by the time this would actually happen across their entire current 3G spectrum, most people would already be on new phones by then anyway, regardless of how happy or not they are on their current one anyway.

giantmidget said:
I work at a Sprint service & got to listen in on a conference call with the sprint engineers. I shouldn't have said near future cause ETA is 2012 for it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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I call BS.
While Sprint can/will be able to flick a switch and enable LTE, there is no good reason to do it unless they want to BYOD Verizon phones. Which might be a reason to do it.
WiMAX has done better than LTE across the board. WiMAX comes from an IT background, with it's endless dev cycle and fierce price competition. LTE comes from a telco background, with it's bloat and ponderous plodding.
This means LTE deployments are very slow but work well. WiMax customers are going to suffer through bugs but they will be patched and reved through quickly.
Sprint has never has GSM phones, tho they are more common. Why Sprint would give up there mufti year head start to switch tech is beyond me.

LargePrime said:
I call BS.
While Sprint can/will be able to flick a switch and enable LTE, there is no good reason to do it unless they want to BYOD Verizon phones. Which might be a reason to do it.
WiMAX has done better than LTE across the board. WiMAX comes from an IT background, with it's endless dev cycle and fierce price competition. LTE comes from a telco background, with it's bloat and ponderous plodding.
This means LTE deployments are very slow but work well. WiMax customers are going to suffer through bugs but they will be patched and reved through quickly.
Sprint has never has GSM phones, tho they are more common. Why Sprint would give up there mufti year head start to switch tech is beyond me.
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Not to knock anything you're saying but in my opinion, Wi-max isn't really good.
Sure, it has great range. Building penetration however, sucks. 2.5 ghz spectrum is not good IMO. Right now Verizon is testing VOLTE, voWIMAX on phones will be awful. It works well on Clear because most people put their modems in one spot and that's it. For phones, it would call for frequent disconnects.
I love Sprint, but after the froyo debacle, and me playing around with LTE 4G.
I believe LTE is the way to go

WiMAX is an open spec and does not have a frequency requirement. LTE is worse at building penetration then WiMAX, but that is not important. It is about frequency.
Sprint could run WiMax over 800 MHZ just fine. Poof no more reason for LTE.
But penetration, I understand, is not going to be a problem when we get around to 802.16m.
LTE is a closed, expensive, protocol. It is not network centric, it's Telco centric.

Anywhere in louisiana Please

ryno502 said:
Its just frustrating that a city with a metro population of 1.4 Million doesn't have 4G, yet smaller towns like Lansing, MI and Wichita Falls, TX do.
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Oh that frustrates you?
How about this, Sebring, a city about 60 miles west of me has 4G via Clear. It is only Sebring, not bleed over from a neighboring city or anything like that.
Their population is around 10,000.
Suck on that for a while.

giantmidget said:
Sprint is switching to LTE in the near future so WiMax is going away
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+1 I met a guy that works for ERICSSON which that company maintains Sprint towers here in Austin Texas.
He told me that LTE is more reliable/cheaper than clear-wire 4g. And not to expect anything till 2013/2014.
And he also told me that clear-wire 4g is not making profit.
If this is true ..I really don't know
Personally I think 4g sucks..unreliable

Why you do not want LTE
The thread is long and through. I think I'ma sig it.

Epic No G touch.

So, I went with sprint because of the truly unlimited data plan, and this phone. I love my phone, I love the great development community we have, great ROMs. Everything about the phone is great. But I am extremely annoyed with Sprints data service. When I bought the phone I was aware there wasn't 4G in my area worth mentioning, I figured 3G would be fine. Well its not. Average speed test scores of 56 kbps. Abysmal. I had also assumed at some point, slowly the 4G would improve as they added towers. Now Sprint has decided to roll with LTE instead. Probably a smart choice but I feel like I have been screwed over. metro Detroit has some of the slowest 3G there is. So of sprint rolls out LYE this year are we gonna have to riot in the streets or do you think they plan to work with people contracted into WiMax phones?
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cknuth said:
So, I went with sprint because of the truly unlimited data plan, and this phone. I love my phone, I love the great development community we have, great ROMs. Everything about the phone is great. But I am extremely annoyed with Sprints data service. When I bought the phone I was aware there wasn't 4G in my area worth mentioning, I figured 3G would be fine. Well its not. Average speed test scores of 56 kbps. Abysmal. I had also assumed at some point, slowly the 4G would improve as they added towers. Now Sprint has decided to roll with LTE instead. Probably a smart choice but I feel like I have been screwed over. metro Detroit has some of the slowest 3G there is. So of sprint rolls out LYE this year are we gonna have to riot in the streets or do you think they plan to work with people contracted into WiMax phones?
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Detroit did suck for 3g speeds while I was there over xmas. However Sprint going LTE could also help 3G users since the towers in general are being upgraded the 3G data speeds should also get better.

saw a few ppl in detroit today with increased speeds.. nv is coming.

I was going to mention the same thing. As the towers get upgrades to LTE they also should be getting capacity upgrades to help 3G as well.
One thing to remember is that this will take time. WiMax will not go away over night. Im sure they will support WiMax for 2-4 years from now. GIving everyone time to outgrow their current WiMax device and upgrade to a LTE device.

Well in Reno Nevada we've been waiting on 4g for months and my 3g is worse. Through out most of the city I get maybe 5-10 kbs. At one point I had about 30 but still that's ridiculous Ive also tried very close to several towers and still same speeds sprint sucks with their 3g and 4g. Verizon has it out here but unwanted true unlimited. We should riot in the streets
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my data speeds were crazy slow too, until i installed the FB series modems...1.5m down and 2 up!

OP give a corporate PRL and Roam Control a go.

Believe WiMax will be supported till 2015 if I remember the press release correctly.

I had this same complaint. But most people these days do not expect much (past two months) from tech companies anymore so don't expect any sympathy. look for my old thread.
I think we should be offered if not a return, at least an early upgrade to an lte phone.
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1-1.5mb in royal oak
my 3g actually works better than wifi in the back of the house

Ralphie1 said:
Believe WiMax will be supported till 2015 if I remember the press release correctly.
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I think this is correct because they have to allow for those who still buy wimax phones their 2 years of coverage
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ludrose said:
I think this is correct because they have to allow for those who still buy wimax phones their 2 years of coverage
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that doesnt mean there gonna add wimax coverage

i also made a thread about this, sprints data service sucks all together I had verizon before and since my wife decided to switch us i hate my phone experience not because of the phone but the service

(Q) Sprint - When will 4g/LTE finally be available

So i've been paying an additional $10 a month per line on my phones with 4G capabilities. Initally I had the OG EVO, 3D, and now Epic Touch. Its been well over a year probably close to two and I still dont have 4G not that this is something I need but it is something ive been paying for.
I dont live in some rural area (San Diego) so I dont see why they are lagging. Maybe this whole transition from 4G to LTE but that change was fairly recent.
Of couse when you call sprint they are not going to give you any time frame.
So I guess im stuck still paying the additional $10 on each line for a service I cannot access where I live and havent since day one.
Oh well, hopefully once LTE gets going SD will be one of the first to run it.
Anyone with some inside info care to provide some good news?

Sprint now defines that $10 as a smartphone surcharge and applies it to anything that runs iOS, Android, Bby, or WinMo 4g or not, although I don't think sprint has any current smartphones that aren't 4g.
You would've been better off to fight the 4g battle when the evo came out IMO.

TerryMathews said:
Sprint now defines that $10 as a smartphone surcharge and applies it to anything that runs iOS, Android, Bby, or WinMo 4g or not, although I don't think sprint has any current smartphones that aren't 4g.
You would've been better off to fight the 4g battle when the evo came out IMO.
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True..
At the time when the EVO came out I believe was the only 4G phone they carried so I guess was under the impression the charge was for 4G but I do see it has changed to a general charge for smart phones.
So I guess at this point its just a waiting game.

Techincally the evo was out first, but idunno where you lived, but the Epic was available first here due to false demand scams by HTC... either that or they made them one at a time. Seriously didnt you get enough of this topic in the evo forums?? I know we got sick of it in the Epic forums...

http://s4gru.com/ I found this site online, not sure how accurate their information is, but good to read through.

Al major markets se supposed to have LTE by the end of 2014 but we've all been hearing these ETAs for years with 4G so I wouldn't count on either. I'm in Milwaukee WI and have head we will have 4G by 2011.. never happened lol
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Sprint confirms LTE phones will feature unlimited data.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/sprint-lte-unlimited-data-everything-plan/
Also, see the link in my signature.

tylerjames09 said:
Al major markets se supposed to have LTE by the end of 2014 but we've all been hearing these ETAs for years with 4G so I wouldn't count on either. I'm in Milwaukee WI and have head we will have 4G by 2011.. never happened lol
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I live by eau claire wi..... I have no hope for lte....
Got AOKP?

I'm in SD too and we're supposedly in the second list for the rollout which should start sometime soon...
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Bear gri11z said:
I live by eau claire wi..... I have no hope for lte....
Got AOKP?
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im near Milwaukee and I have less hope than you. I know Clear has been putting 4G towers in milwaukee and madison, but I have yet to pick up a 4G signal.
4G LTE...not happening.

Keep in mind, Sprint's 4G LTE is their own, with their own network, own buildout, and own spectrum.

I have read in several places Q3 for L.A. and Orange County and Q4 for San Diego so its safe to say before Christmas you will be rocking LTE
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Best answer to sprint lte is 3 years before most places fully see it. Hell I have been in a wimax test arear for over 2 years and at a sprint store I heard a salesman tell a customer there was no 4g at all but when it gets here it will be awesome. When sprints own staff has no idea 4g is even in their own service area how can I even trust them to put towers up.
Good for you people in great big luscious data driven cities, sucks every where else

I have had several sprint employees tell me that here in Virginia it should be within 2 years.
I have a question of my own. I have had a few people tell me that when LTE comes around we will have to have new phones because the hardware like in the Epic Touch will not work on LTE. Any truth to this?

dohchp said:
I have had several sprint employees tell me that here in Virginia it should be within 2 years.
I have a question of my own. I have had a few people tell me that when LTE comes around we will have to have new phones because the hardware like in the Epic Touch will not work on LTE. Any truth to this?
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Yes if you want lte you will have to get a lte capable phone..... Ie sgs3 HTC evo4g lte , etc .... The hardware in this phone will not work on lte . But until you get lte if you have 4g now there is no reason to change unless you're a phone junkie like me
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This summer I am guessing since that is when they are releasing the Evo Lte, Galaxy Nexus etc. Boston market looks like lte will cover almost the entire state, and if it's anything like how when the original htc evo launch, lte will most likely be already on in boston market.

What happens to WiMax phones now there's LTE?

I was wondering since LTE is rolling out (at least here in Dallas it is), what happens to ppl with WiMax phones? I'm sure we'll still be able to use it, but shouldn't we be able to enjoy the network also? I'm not saying give everybody free phones, but at least make it possible for everybody to get a LTE phone, especially those who have suffered thru these horrible "4G" years. We spend our money on "Data plans" every month, but who actually enjoys their coverage? I know its alot of ppl who agree with me cause i see it all the time in these forums. Anybody have an idea as to whats up with this?

mrbsb said:
I was wondering since LTE is rolling out (at least here in Dallas it is), what happens to ppl with WiMax phones? I'm sure we'll still be able to use it, but shouldn't we be able to enjoy the network also? I'm not saying give everybody free phones, but at least make it possible for everybody to get a LTE phone, especially those who have suffered thru these horrible "4G" years. We spend our money on "Data plans" every month, but who actually enjoys their coverage? I know its alot of ppl who agree with me cause i see it all the time in these forums. Anybody have an idea as to whats up with this?
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You're fortunate you actually have 4g... I've been paying for 4g for 3 years, and the closes tower to me is 90 miles away. I have yet to hop on 4g on my epic 4G Touch.
I do agree with you, though.... They should give some sort of upgrade option.
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I was told at the sprint store Wimax will be used for the pre paid services like boost mobile so they too can jump on the 4g band wagon. While the rest of us like yourself who have been waiting for a larger 4g coverage are now forced into a different 4g network. Although LTE is much better by far.
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Reply for past threads~
Blitz117 said:
I was told at the sprint store Wimax will be used for the pre paid services like boost mobile so they too can jump on the 4g band wagon. While the rest of us like yourself who have been waiting for a larger 4g coverage are now forced into a different 4g network. Although LTE is much better by far.
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mrbsb said:
I was wondering since LTE is rolling out (at least here in Dallas it is), what happens to ppl with WiMax phones? I'm sure we'll still be able to use it, but shouldn't we be able to enjoy the network also? I'm not saying give everybody free phones, but at least make it possible for everybody to get a LTE phone, especially those who have suffered thru these horrible "4G" years. We spend our money on "Data plans" every month, but who actually enjoys their coverage? I know its alot of ppl who agree with me cause i see it all the time in these forums. Anybody have an idea as to whats up with this?
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Wiskid15 said:
You're fortunate you actually have 4g... I've been paying for 4g for 3 years, and the closes tower to me is 90 miles away. I have yet to hop on 4g on my epic 4G Touch.
I do agree with you, though.... They should give some sort of upgrade option.
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To sum this all up for you as a Sprint Representative that I am.....
-LTE is another ADD-ON of 4G that Sprint is rolling out with called "Network Vision". The addon/change is expected to be completely completed by the END of 2013. All future smartphones will only be LTE compatible. All CURRENT smartphone with WiMax will not be compatible on LTE 4G networks. Along with this, there is to be increased 3G as well (call quality and data speeds and fewer dropped calls and increased coverage overall).
-When 4G first came out there was a $10 charge (before most carriers even had limited data packages) now that other carriers have Limited packages the $10 premium is only required for SMARTPHONES ONLY. Whether or not you have "4G" or not for your Sprint smartphone. You can even have a "non-smartphone" on a data plan and NOT pay the $10 premium as it applys to ONLY smartphones.
-WiMax WILL continue to be with sprint ONLY at this current time. There is NO talk of Boost, Virgin Mobile, etc "other carriers" signing with "Clear-Wire" (WiMax) for their network. They will remain on Sprint's 3G network.
Hope that clears the air about some pondering questions.. Anything else just let me know..

Lately wimax is the only reason I have not hurled bricks through the windows of my local Sprint stores. Thankfully I get a good 4g signal at home and work because 3g has been unusable more often than not the last 6 months. Also in Sept I'm moving to a city (of over a million ppl) that is not on the first or 2nd round of LTE rollout so a phone with LTE would be worthless to me. I will probably be rocking my E4GT for the full duration of my contract.

re
someguyatx said:
Lately wimax is the only reason I have not hurled bricks through the windows of my local Sprint stores. Thankfully I get a good 4g signal at home and work because 3g has been unusable more often than not the last 6 months. Also in Sept I'm moving to a city (of over a million ppl) that is not on the first or 2nd round of LTE rollout so a phone with LTE would be worthless to me. I will probably be rocking my E4GT for the full duration of my contract.
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I understand that.. I currently have the Epic 4G Touch. Cause to me having like an EVO 4G LTE or the Galaxy SIII is pointless if I cant use 4G yet sense I'm not in an LTE area yet and the recently released smartphones and future smartphones dont have WiMax capabilities..
Along with that by the time I get LTE there'll be better newer phones..

[Q] Difference between WiMax, 4G, and WiFi on Evo?

Simple question..
I'm a bit confused about WiMax and whether or not it is (strictly) a cellular communications technology embedded in the Evo 4G, such as 3G and 4G Mobile Data Speeds, and how this relates to the Evo's normal wifi connection.
Is there any crossover between WiMax and WiFi?
Or is WiMax simply a mobile data technology not related to the onboard wifi network card?
Thanks

I think the wimax is part of the 4g service...
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WiMax is a type of 4G, with LTE being another type (of 4G)
And yes, neither of those have anything to do with the wifi and there is no crossover involved
Sent from my PG06100

CNexus said:
WiMax is a type of 4G, with LTE being another type (of 4G)
And yes, neither of those have anything to do with the wifi and there is no crossover involved
Sent from my PG06100
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^This. Older Sprint phones like the EVO 4G, EVO 3D and Samsung Galaxy S2 E4GT (among others) use Wimax, which was Sprint's original offering for 4G service. Sprint has since gone to LTE (Long Term Evolution) for their 4G service, although Wimax still works in areas where it's already active. Phones on Sprint utilizing LTE include the EVO 4G LTE and Samsung Galaxy S3. Wifi has nothing to do with either Wimax or LTE, as previously stated. A Wimax-enabled phone cannot utilize LTE, and vice-versa, as they are two completely different 4G standards and operate on different frequencies.
The advice is free....the bandwidth, not so much

It really grinds my gears that there aren't new phones available supporting either Wimax or LTE or Wimax AND LTE. I am stuck in Ohio where the Wimax roll out was thorough, and now there is no info on if/when LTE will come here. Eventually people in ohio will all have upgraded to LTE phones due to attrition and we are paying for data plans that we can't take advantage of. I really want a new phone, maybe the new One that is coming out soon, but the drawback is no 4G in Ohio. Sprint really dropped the ball on this one. I'd take a phone that was a little thicker so they could fit both chipsets in there no questions asked.

thebbbrain said:
It really grinds my gears that there aren't new phones available supporting either Wimax or LTE or Wimax AND LTE. I am stuck in Ohio where the Wimax roll out was thorough, and now there is no info on if/when LTE will come here. Eventually people in ohio will all have upgraded to LTE phones due to attrition and we are paying for data plans that we can't take advantage of. I really want a new phone, maybe the new One that is coming out soon, but the drawback is no 4G in Ohio. Sprint really dropped the ball on this one. I'd take a phone that was a little thicker so they could fit both chipsets in there no questions asked.
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Thats very true. I think it proabably has to do with the extra work of getting the two to play nice while both being available in one phone, and the extra drivers and hardware required to have both
Definitely what you said though, I'd have no problem with a bit thicker phone that features both but since other competitors are moving towards slimmer and sleeker phones, while at the same time having monstrously powerful processors, it probably wouldnt be a smart move on Sprint part

I was trolling the new HTC One forum yesterday, and did notice that the One might be coming with an LTE radio supporting 800mhz and 1900mhz. This is promising as I believe the 800mhz is what sprint rus the Direct Connect system on. That system is avail in my area so maybe they will use it for LTE? #wantLTE
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2158662

thebbbrain said:
I was trolling the new HTC One forum yesterday, and did notice that the One might be coming with an LTE radio supporting 800mhz and 1900mhz. This is promising as I believe the 800mhz is what sprint rus the Direct Connect system on. That system is avail in my area so maybe they will use it for LTE? #wantLTE
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2158662
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I remember hearing or reading something sometime back from sprint that eventually they were going to convert the old Nextel iden network over to 4g lte because of the bandwidth it runs on. I also remember that person telling me that this new lte on this frequency would penatrate 2-3x better meaning better 4g lte signals indoors. It may have been a sprint tech who told me on one of the many phone calls I have made to them over the years.
Sent from my ever-changing OG Evo...

Everything you say is true, just replace the word "bandwidth" with "spectrum". iDen was using lower frequencies which penetrate better. You get slightly lower theoretical max speeds, but the connection is more reliable, and people generally agree that's what's important.
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