Thai
Elite Member
Hey all,
This is mainly for Sprint customers (or future customers). By the 2nd half of 2013 (rumor), Sprint will be coming out with tri-band LTE phones. My guess is that it is probably towards the end of 2013 that we will see these phones.
Right now, LTE on Sprint covers 1900 Mhz band (band 25). So, iPhone 5, Note 2, Galaxy S3/S4, HTC ONE, etc. all use this band for LTE. These phones are SINGLE band LTE phones.
Sprint currently is working feverishly to upgrade their LTE towers all across the nation. I know this because they are working around the clock near my house. The plan is to deploy LTE 800 Mhz and LTE 2500 Mhz by the end of 2013 and early 2014...to go along with LTE 1900 that is currently being used.
LTE 800 (also known as ESMR, BC10, and band 27) is gold! This is what you want!! The lower the frequency, the better building penetration. (This is why Verizon LTE is so good because i believe that the main Verizon LTE band is 700 Mhz...which is beachfront property in cellular talk!!) Currently, LTE 1900 on Sprint is fairly useless (as many have found out) because it really works only when you're outside without building around you. Inside your work or house, you have no LTE coverage. (And if you do, then it is very weak.)
Why is a lower (numerical) Mhz band better:
*Wider Geographical coverage (better in-building access)
*Greater signal strength (depending on the distance of the tower, and other factors that may influence the signal, and or speed of the network connection.)
*Less prone to weather conditions
How a lower Mhz band can be hurtful:
*The network on the lower band (800Mhz for example) is more prone to interfere with itself due to the distance it travels, and/or other interfearences. (This is where higher bands work better.)
So, with Sprint phasing out iDEN (push-to-talk service), Sprint now has LTE 800 which is fabulous...not as good as Verizon "beachfront property" LTE 700, but it should be much better than what we have now. I do think that Sprint is trying to be aggressive here, given their recent rapid deployment of LTE in cities across America.
Sprint will use LTE 2500 band (band 41 from Clearwire/WiMAX) to offload some of the load on the LTE 800 and 1900 bands if the customer is in range of this higher band. LTE 2500 will also be used for hotspot folks...again, to decrease the load on the lower bands. A decrease load on the lower bands will ensure that everyone gets good LTE speeds.
By 2014, Sprint will have a 3 tiered network which has users on 2500/1900/800 Mhz depending on location and load. Sprint will save money because they are currently operating two very different networks (Sprint and Nextel). With Nextel (and iDEN) shutting down, Sprint now only has to operate one network. The use of 800mhz will also reduce roaming costs incurred (paid by Sprint).
80% of current LTE towers will get LTE 800. The other 20% are largely redundant urban sites in tight spacing where the site already gets an abundant LTE 800 signal from adjacent sites and they are designed to minimize interference. In addition, the issue in border markets (and Puerto Rico) is not lack of 800 MHz spectrum but potential inability to use some of that spectrum without violating international agreements. The exact % is still up in the air since Softbank and Dish (both well funded) are bidding for Sprint. Once Sprint is bought out by either of these entities, the % may change.
What does this all mean? If you're a Sprint customer with an upgrade coming OR if you're a potential customer, then YOU WANT TO WAIT! Do NOT get any of the current phones, including the Galaxy S4 and HTC One. And no, these phones do not support LTE 800 (nor 2500) Mhz at all! So, by next year, these phones will only work on LTE 1900...they will not connect to LTE 800 nor LTE 2500. I would wait for the 2nd half of 2013 phones to come out, such as iPhone 5S and Galaxy Note 3. These phones (if avail on Sprint) should be tri-band LTE phones.
Hope this helps someone. Above is from what i have read on the net...feel free to correct me. Thanks!
This is mainly for Sprint customers (or future customers). By the 2nd half of 2013 (rumor), Sprint will be coming out with tri-band LTE phones. My guess is that it is probably towards the end of 2013 that we will see these phones.
Right now, LTE on Sprint covers 1900 Mhz band (band 25). So, iPhone 5, Note 2, Galaxy S3/S4, HTC ONE, etc. all use this band for LTE. These phones are SINGLE band LTE phones.
Sprint currently is working feverishly to upgrade their LTE towers all across the nation. I know this because they are working around the clock near my house. The plan is to deploy LTE 800 Mhz and LTE 2500 Mhz by the end of 2013 and early 2014...to go along with LTE 1900 that is currently being used.
LTE 800 (also known as ESMR, BC10, and band 27) is gold! This is what you want!! The lower the frequency, the better building penetration. (This is why Verizon LTE is so good because i believe that the main Verizon LTE band is 700 Mhz...which is beachfront property in cellular talk!!) Currently, LTE 1900 on Sprint is fairly useless (as many have found out) because it really works only when you're outside without building around you. Inside your work or house, you have no LTE coverage. (And if you do, then it is very weak.)
Why is a lower (numerical) Mhz band better:
*Wider Geographical coverage (better in-building access)
*Greater signal strength (depending on the distance of the tower, and other factors that may influence the signal, and or speed of the network connection.)
*Less prone to weather conditions
How a lower Mhz band can be hurtful:
*The network on the lower band (800Mhz for example) is more prone to interfere with itself due to the distance it travels, and/or other interfearences. (This is where higher bands work better.)
So, with Sprint phasing out iDEN (push-to-talk service), Sprint now has LTE 800 which is fabulous...not as good as Verizon "beachfront property" LTE 700, but it should be much better than what we have now. I do think that Sprint is trying to be aggressive here, given their recent rapid deployment of LTE in cities across America.
Sprint will use LTE 2500 band (band 41 from Clearwire/WiMAX) to offload some of the load on the LTE 800 and 1900 bands if the customer is in range of this higher band. LTE 2500 will also be used for hotspot folks...again, to decrease the load on the lower bands. A decrease load on the lower bands will ensure that everyone gets good LTE speeds.
By 2014, Sprint will have a 3 tiered network which has users on 2500/1900/800 Mhz depending on location and load. Sprint will save money because they are currently operating two very different networks (Sprint and Nextel). With Nextel (and iDEN) shutting down, Sprint now only has to operate one network. The use of 800mhz will also reduce roaming costs incurred (paid by Sprint).
80% of current LTE towers will get LTE 800. The other 20% are largely redundant urban sites in tight spacing where the site already gets an abundant LTE 800 signal from adjacent sites and they are designed to minimize interference. In addition, the issue in border markets (and Puerto Rico) is not lack of 800 MHz spectrum but potential inability to use some of that spectrum without violating international agreements. The exact % is still up in the air since Softbank and Dish (both well funded) are bidding for Sprint. Once Sprint is bought out by either of these entities, the % may change.
What does this all mean? If you're a Sprint customer with an upgrade coming OR if you're a potential customer, then YOU WANT TO WAIT! Do NOT get any of the current phones, including the Galaxy S4 and HTC One. And no, these phones do not support LTE 800 (nor 2500) Mhz at all! So, by next year, these phones will only work on LTE 1900...they will not connect to LTE 800 nor LTE 2500. I would wait for the 2nd half of 2013 phones to come out, such as iPhone 5S and Galaxy Note 3. These phones (if avail on Sprint) should be tri-band LTE phones.
Hope this helps someone. Above is from what i have read on the net...feel free to correct me. Thanks!
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Very little chance that Sprint will carry it based on the frequency band of the S4 Active. (This has come true since AT&T is now offering S4 Active exclusively!)
