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Sprint Acknowledges Network Upgrades Behind Schedule
Though Company Insists They're Speeding Up

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse this morning confirmed that Sprint's a little further behind on LTE than they had hoped to be at this point. "We are behind our original objectives with Network Vision," stated Hesse on a conference call with press and analysts. On the same call, Sprint President of Network Operations Steve Elfman stated the company's plan to deploy LTE on 800MHz has been bumped up to the fourth quarter of this year. Sprint expects to have 200 million potential customers covered with LTE by year's end.

Tammy Parker over at Fierce Wireless directs my attention to some internal correspondence leaked by Sprint that suggests things should start speeding up soon. Sprint's been adding about 10 new (mostly small) markets a month with their build, but according to an internal Sprint Q&A with Sprint's Chad Elliott posted by S4GRU, Sprint is picking up the pace as they deal with some of the associated headaches of tower upgrades. That alone is not surprising, but the document highlights some of the headaches Sprint has faced:

quote:
Bottom line is that the rollout of Network Vision is not easy; it is a very complex rollout. We have tens of thousands of towers that we need to modify and each one has its own unique characteristics....One example at a site is that the local municipality would not allow the crew to finish repainting a water tower because it was too humid. In cases like this, Sprint doesn’t have control over that, so the crew just had to wait until they got the go ahead to continue.
Sprint currently offers LTE in parts of 58 markets, but has begun deployment in more than 450 cities. About 170 additional markets are arriving in the "coming months," insists Sprint. Sprint's big problem right now (if you're a Sprint user with a shiny LTE device you're incapable of using) is they keep focusing on tiny markets, and promised major league markets like New York keep failing to materialize.

Sprint keeps saying these major markets are arriving in the "coming months," but according to Sprint employees, "coming months" in Sprint's lexicon actually means half a year.
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xenophon
join:2007-09-17

1 edit

xenophon

Member

Nearly $4B upgrades first half of this year

quote:
Sprint Nextel Corp. revealed plans Thursday to rack up $3.8 billion or more in capital expenditures in the first half of 2013 as it builds out an improved 4G network.

Sprint, which is upgrading its nationwide network to 4G LTE technology, overhauled more than 8,000 cell tower sites throughout 2012. A total of 12,000 sites should be on air by {end of March}.
»www.bizjournals.com/kans ··· ses.html

So they were doing well under 1K sites a month last year but well over 1K a month this year.

hamburglar
join:2002-04-29
united state

hamburglar

Member

Surprised?

This is the reason I'll likely leave this summer. Wimax that barely materialized and now the promise of LTE, yet NONE of the Ohio metros are even on the schedule yet. If they had working 3G, it would be a little less painful...

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Surprised?

said by hamburglar:

This is the reason I'll likely leave this summer.

Same here in southern NJ. Contract up this May and they are 9% implemented with Network Vision and a target of 2014 that has been pushed back twice already. Verizon is fully rolled out here. Makes it an easy choice to switch.
dmelling
join:2009-02-26
New Paris, OH

dmelling to hamburglar

Member

to hamburglar
They started pulling permits in Columbus and Dayton so they have started Ohio......
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: Surprised?

Two cities are hardly anything. This just shows that Spent is getting the permits. Are they actually going to get them done on time is another question. Also as far as needing a permit. That is odd since they're not really doing anything as far as "building" that would need such a thing.
Boosted20V
join:2012-11-03

Boosted20V

Member

Re: Surprised?

New electric, cabinets and antennas require permits in most localities.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: Surprised?

As far as the cities listed, CLE, and Columbus do not require such. Only building permit is if you are building a new shelter house or installing one. cabinets and antennas do not.
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP

Member

Re: Surprised?

said by TBBroadband:

As far as the cities listed, CLE, and Columbus do not require such. Only building permit is if you are building a new shelter house or installing one. cabinets and antennas do not.

Really? According to whom? Cite your source for this supposition please.
NiteSn0w
join:2010-12-24

NiteSn0w to TBBroadband

Member

to TBBroadband
Cleveland requires new permits for Electrical and Antennas.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband to hamburglar

Member

to hamburglar
Very true. The areas that Clear did deploy to are rock solid- at least in the CLE area. Clear should have just kept building out. Sprint should have off loaded them a LONG time ago and let them just start rolling things out. but the problem was the cash. But now we get to see Spent pay for the upgrades three times. First was with Xhom then Clear and now with LTE. Great job for them.

They would be better off focusing on being an MVNE than an actual retail brand. Or even a prepaid company. I know a few prepaid companies that actually have better service than Sprint and on a slower network that they built!
DarnellP
join:2004-10-12
Las Vegas, NV

DarnellP

Member

Re: Surprised?

said by TBBroadband:

But now we get to see Spent pay for the upgrades three times. First was with Xhom then Clear and now with LTE. Great job for them.

Jeez, stop over dramatizing. Xohm was deployed in Baltimore; hardly a widespread roll out. Clear wasn't just bankrolled by Sprint. Google, Intel and the Cablecos pitched in as well.

They would be better off focusing on being an MVNE than an actual retail brand. Or even a prepaid company. I know a few prepaid companies that actually have better service than Sprint and on a slower network that they built!

Kyle, NWOhio, hottboiinnc or whatever you're calling yourself this week...different names, same silly recycled idea that has a less than zero chance of coming to fruition.
dmelling
join:2009-02-26
New Paris, OH

dmelling to hamburglar

Member

to hamburglar
Exactly regarding the permits, they had the contractor meeting in Columbus last week, Cincinnati soon and then Cleveland....Ohio is coming along nicely.....
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: Surprised?

Funny you say Cleveland because one of their most used cell site in CLE has yet to have anything done as far as plans. And it needs more than the City of Cleveland's blessing as its located at a major private university and a major nationally known hospital- and no its not CCF/Cleveland Clinic.
kem09030
join:2004-11-29
Rushville, IL

kem09030

Member

Re: Surprised?

I know when I visited case in December I had a heck of a time getting calls to stay connected. They kept dropping even with full signal. I wasn't even moving when the drops occurred.
NiteSn0w
join:2010-12-24

NiteSn0w

Member

Re: Surprised?

I'm lost in how you had any problems. I've had Sprint for the past two years in Cleveland and have never dropped a single call.
m3nphls
join:2012-10-02
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

m3nphls to hamburglar

Member

to hamburglar
They need to learn from VZW about how to build out a network quick and fast.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: Surprised?

said by m3nphls:

They need to learn from VZW about how to build out a network quick and fast.

Have a big foreign company financially backing your fast buildout? They're trying to be like Verizon.
»SoftBank Officially Acquires Sprint [57] comments
m3nphls
join:2012-10-02
Brooklyn, NY

m3nphls

Member

Re: Surprised?

It hasn't been approved yet.
kem09030
join:2004-11-29
Rushville, IL

kem09030 to m3nphls

Member

to m3nphls
Verizon didn't do the complete network rebuild like Sprint is doing.
NiteSn0w
join:2010-12-24

NiteSn0w to hamburglar

Member

to hamburglar
Cleveland is on the schedule and this has been confirmed by permits Sprint has pulled as recently as the fifth of this month (02/05/2013). I would love to be able to access permits for surrounding cities but I'm stuck with very few cities actually having their permits viewable online.

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

So how long is coming months?

"Sprint keeps saying these major markets are arriving in the "coming months," but according to Sprint employees, "coming months" in Sprint's lexicon actually means half a year"

Ok, so in my opinion if I'm doing something in the "coming months" then I do it in 6, I've met my timeframe. Nothing wrong with this in my opinion. Sprint is doing alot of stuff and spending alot of money.
TBBroadband
join:2012-10-26
Fremont, OH

TBBroadband

Member

Re: So how long is coming months?

Sprint is spending a lot of money, I'll give you that, but at the cost of their shareholders now. Sprint is far behind, and still bleeding customers. ROI maybe up but without a solid network that can compete with VZW and AT&T Sprint is going to be out the door very soon. They should have been worrying about this a long time ago and done it under CLEAR or at least build out the Wimax network.

Even TMO's network is faster than Sprint's.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

fix south brooklyn

Sprint towers in South Brooklyn suck!! upgrade them!!

chad_s
@mckesson.com

chad_s

Anon

Re: fix south brooklyn

surprised anyone would use sprint in south brooklyn.

io chico
Premium Member
join:2003-12-30
Marble Falls, TX

io chico

Premium Member

Don't care

I have a Note 2, and I'm just rural enough that I'll never see LTE. I don't care.

I'm so delighted with my unlimited data plan that 2.3 Mbps doesn't bother me at all.

CCNnorthcali
join:2004-03-07
San Francisco, CA

CCNnorthcali

Member

Re: Don't care

I'm pretty sure T-Mobile has HSPA+ up in Chico for the same price (or $70/mo prepaid). It might be worth trying.

io chico
Premium Member
join:2003-12-30
Marble Falls, TX

io chico

Premium Member

Re: Don't care

Thank you for the suggestion, but I tried T-Mobile, no signal here. I'm in one of the canyons.

Grothendieck
Premium Member
join:2002-07-28
Miami, FL

Grothendieck to io chico

Premium Member

to io chico
said by io chico:

I have a Note 2, and I'm just rural enough that I'll never see LTE. I don't care.

I'm so delighted with my unlimited data plan that 2.3 Mbps doesn't bother me at all.

Do you currently have 3G? If so then you will also see LTE as Sprint is upgrading every 3G tower to LTE unlike Verizon and AT&T who cherry-pick.

io chico
Premium Member
join:2003-12-30
Marble Falls, TX

io chico

Premium Member

Re: Don't care

You are kidding me? I do have 3G!!! I love Sprint. Thanks for the info, you have made my day!

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH

CaptainRR to Grothendieck

Premium Member

to Grothendieck
I can't figure out why you say Verizon cherry picks on LTE deployments. I live15 miles from town live on a dirt road and have LTE service. Verizons LTE service has made it's way to many rural places over the last few months.
pkorx8
join:2003-06-19
San Francisco, CA

pkorx8

Member

More importantly, when is 800MHz LTE coming?

And when are the corresponding 800MHz LTE capable phones coming out?

As much as I try to find alternative carriers, including looking at all the MVNO options, Sprint is still the best choice for me, mainly because of the unlimited data. The closest runner up is the Tmo $30 5GB plan. But if you think Sprint 3G is bad, try Tmo 3G in this area!

Of course, I'm in a Wimax area, so really have nothing to complain about.
Sprint LTE will seem to have more coverage than Wimax, so let see what 800Mhz LTE brings.

•••

nightdesigns
Gone missing, back soon
Premium Member
join:2002-05-31
AZ

nightdesigns

Premium Member

Sounds like the wimax rollout

Behind schedule, delays, and then we all know how that turned out.

shimonmor
Premium Member
join:2000-12-30
Sedro Woolley, WA

1 recommendation

shimonmor

Premium Member

Network Vision???

More like Network Blindness.

••••
uteck
join:2009-12-30
Elgin, IL

uteck

Member

I left Sprint, but still suffer

I moved my Sprint phones over to Ting since I rarely used the 4G WiMax anyway. What good is unlimited data when you can hardly use it, and it seems the LTE is about the same. Now I have to pay based on what I use, but that turns out to be about $100 less then I was paying Sprint.

So my Evo is still limited to 3G and spotty 4G, but now I feel better about it since I am paying for what I use, not what is promised.
hescominsoon
join:2003-02-18
Brunswick, MD

hescominsoon

Member

Re: I left Sprint, but still suffer

said by uteck:

I moved my Sprint phones over to Ting since I rarely used the 4G WiMax anyway. What good is unlimited data when you can hardly use it, and it seems the LTE is about the same. Now I have to pay based on what I use, but that turns out to be about $100 less then I was paying Sprint.

So my Evo is still limited to 3G and spotty 4G, but now I feel better about it since I am paying for what I use, not what is promised.

ting=sprint. ting and many other resellers use Sprint's network.
hescominsoon

hescominsoon

Member

Sprint has a leg up on everyone else..

VZ and ATT and others with LTE are only doing Gen 1 LTE. this means they require a CDMA 1x carrier for voice. Sprint is deploying LTE-A which doesn't require the 1x CDMA carrier. ATT and VZ are going to have to build TWICE.. Sprint is only going to be building ONCE. When this is done Sprint is going to actually have a more advanced network then anyone else in the US..period. I'm hanging out with Sprint for a bit longer. The truly unlimited data is their only differentiation right now...if they keep that AND get LTE-A fully deployed then Sprint is going to get a huge leg up on ATT and VZ.

•••••••••••••

BaldFat
@rcn.com

BaldFat

Anon

Still Satying Sprint

Verizon and AT&T are just WAY to expensive! Also I get unlimited bandwidth with 2 teenagers so why would I switch?

disconnected
@snet.net

disconnected

Anon

Not The Best News for us former iDEN Users

I've been with Boost Mobile and formerly Nextel for more than 8 years, and now that iDEN is being shut down in June, I moved to a new phone and ended up back on the awful PCS network. Went from good coverage to no service and I'm not happy about that. None of the carriers have usable signal at the house.. not VZ, not T-Mobile, not AT&T. Ironically, the Nextel tower is 1/4 mile down the road here. But nothing Sprint is on it.
It was necessary to invest in a Wilson DB Pro booster system with high gain directional antenna for external and a panel antenna for indoors, to get a marginal signal. I'm still in the -99dBm range in many parts of the house, except -74dBm right under the panel antenna in the central hallway. But I still get dropped calls, and the handoff from outdoor to indoors is really odd. I go from -98dBm outdoors to -128dBM indoors, and then after a minute, it ramps back up to -88dBm and service is reestablished. Drives me crazy that I spent all this money and cell calls keep dropping and only work if I put the phone on a table, propped up at a certain angle. Even though the phone shows 4 bars of signal with the booster, calls drop at random.
I never had this problem with the 800MHz iDEN system. But the tower next door does not seem to have any PCS antennas aimed my way. I'm in a deep, deep null here. -98 to -105dBm on the rooftop, depending on how the wind is blowing. I'm hitting a tower several miles away in another town for my service with the directional Yagi Wilson antenna. Oddly, aiming at the tower down the street gets no signal at all. Just a couple degrees rotation makes a 20dBm difference in signal. I spent much of Thursday tweaking the direction for strongest signal, but it's still not reliable. Very frustrated and waiting for LTE.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH
·AT&T Wireless Br..

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: Not The Best News for us former iDEN Users

Same happened in my area. Nextel tower a mile down my road and no one else around till a couple of years ago when Verizon built out in my area. The ones that had Nextel had to go to Verizon here because Sprint no longer serves my rural area. Just a shame Sprint killed Nextel the way they did without ever putting PCS on the old Nextel locations. They will never change all Sprint wants is major cities and major interstate coverage. If Nextel was alive today they would rival Verizon and AT&T in rural coverage.

buddyfrench
join:2000-07-17
Brandon, MS

buddyfrench

Member

I gave up Sprint last month.

My experience here was spotty coverage. I had free roaming but some places ,even yards from a tower , no coverage existed.
Last November I received a courtesy call, I assume because I had yet to upgrade/renew. The rep said faster/ better (4G?) was on the way and would be in place here by years end. HA !
My bill ran $126 a month for unlimited usage on one phone. I went to Straight Talk bought one of their LG Android 4.0 phones and have no plans on looking back. 45 bucks a month unlimited on ATT network. Almost one third the cost.