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Although Sprint never denied they’d be moving to an LTE network (they didn’t rule the move out, actually), we were victims of a quick scare when they stated their plans going forward would still involve Clearwire; they are maintainers of the WiMax network Sprint uses to deliver 4G speeds to their subscribers.
People seemed to finally write LTE off at that point, but Sprint never said anything about what changes they made, only about who they were making them with. Sources of GizmoFusion and consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group has revealed that Sprint is flipping the switch on a move they’re calling “Project Leapfrog” which will see them taking the first steps to eventually deploy an LTE network.
The network is reportedly going to be constructed with Ericsson, Alcaltel-Lucent, and Samsung providing infrastructure and technology. As for that “moving forward with Clearwire” thing, Sprint is said to continue partnering with them where it makes sense, whatever that means.
If true, we likely won’t hear how any of it is going until late this year or early next as the carrier looks to get the new network rolled out in 2-3 years, according to the sources. The name “Leapfrog” is said to suggest that Sprint will be technologically ahead of its competition once it’s all said and done. [GizmoFusion via Engadget]
Ugh, now there’s no reason to buy their next super phone equipped with WiMax (RIP)
2 to 3 years…a new phone this year will be OLD!!!
@Pedro
Of course there will…any phone they release soon (Evo 2/3D) will be surpassed in another year by something even better and will only just become obsolete technologically by the time their LTE network is ready for prime time. I say now is the perfect time to grab a Sprint phone!
They are taking care of business. I am sure by the time the normal crew of haters arrive to this page we will here the same ASSHOLE JARGON.. @ksizzle9.. @John Clavis.. @MensahWatts.. @sqiddy20.. @tim242.. @kaizzle9.. @NIsme… Man what bunch of wasted space they will take up discussing how sprint sucks. But meanwhile the Htc Evo 3D pimp slapped every android device as of 3- 16- 2011. This day will always be remembered as The day The htc evo 2 upstaged the Thunderdud that overly expensive phone with 2.2 froyo my Evo 4g has that… SPRINT RULES GENTLEMAN.. Can’t wait to hit youtube to see my beautiful Evo 3D and Nexus S 4g.. What a great day it really is…
go sprint you got vote now.
No more trashing sprint data about bein slower than other carriers
Quadcore snapdragon processor will exist in 2012 mid 2nd quarter and will be in next Evo… Ctia is in May next year
No, this is going to take off in a year or 2. Just enough time for evo 3 lte
Couple of things dick, first of all cock bag, all i ever read is how sprint is the only one with real 4g. Wondering tho, since they want this horrible LTE so so bad, why at they getting it over wimax?????? Answer that tard, and secondly, you htc pyramid benchmarks came out today, and it is likely that the pyramid will be the same rebounded phone as the EVO 3d, and even the year old galaxy s is faster than that, an ALL moto Phones trump it, and it even has dual cores!!! Can’t even beat the galaxy s in gaming?? Weak. I love htc but they don’t even come close when it comes to top notch hardware. And think about this idiot: what the hell is your precious EVO gonna do when they have LTE deployed and you have no 4g service at all, then the EVO is really going to be a top notch phOne, jk may as well throw that thing away lol. Get a job, get Verizon. Oh yeah, and get off of here!
You know what, forget it Richard, I quit calling you out. Just try not hating on everything that isn’t sprint and I won’t flame you. I only make a comment bc all I ever see is the consistent, non stop, never ending, sprint comments. Fuck it, I quit flaming you.
wow, somebody needs a hug…
wimax isn’t just slower than LTE. It is totally useless since you can’t use it inside a building. Hopefully Sprint will get their act together soon but they lost a lot of ground by going with this wimax distraction.
“leapfrog” when they’re just starting to work on LTE and Verizon and AT&T will have it deployed this year? let me guess, we’ll see another brilliant sprint ad where they say “wow! our LTE network is way faster than AT&T’s HSDPA!” when AT&T is already on LTE, same as they did saying “wow! our 3G is faster than AT&T’s EDGE!” when AT&T’s HSDPA was already out.
People act like they will still have their EVO 2 in 2013….
Yeah they should switch over to the true er 4g…LEAD BY THE GRANDADDY OF ALL CARRIERS…VERIZON LOL…
Your right, sprint is going to be behind verizon if this takes 2-3 years…
Bahaha, sprint fails again.
Maybe it’s “leapfrog” means they’re outfitting the 800 mhz sites with equipment they won’t be able to turn on until iden is turned off… instant roll-out so to speak.
Richard, I don’t hate Sprint. I was a customer for 7 years. I had the Evo and loved it. But Verizon, Lte, and the thunderBolt are better. That is fact. I switched because they couldn’t get their 4G act together. Clear is broke. Deployment of their 4G has stalled indefinitely. I still wish Sprint the best though.
Richard they already are behind Verizon…where is yo mind? If it takes 2-3 years they will be …they will be dead last …wait whose bigger Sprint or T-mobile?
Ya know DICK, in all of my comments on this forum, I never said anything about how “sprint sucks” to use your own words. I am a Sprint user for about 9 years. I’m currently on the lowly Samsung Moment now, and am pondering making the jump to 2.2 that the SDX devs have created for it. Except for the occasional screw up on their end, I’ve been fairly happy with Sprint. Nothing really substantial to complain about. Get your facts straight and stop assuming sh*t about people that you can in NO WAY back up. You are not me. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I think or feel. Stop assuming you think you do.
Good job at spelling by the way. My name is “squiddy20” not “sqiddy20”. You fail. Not to mention that your beloved phone is still mostly unconfirmed rumor at this point. Here are the facts: we know virtually nothing of the real specs of the upcoming phone other than SOME of the hardware and the most likely OS version, Sprint hasn’t even officially confirmed it, and everything until they do is all speculation and conjecture. So how can it beat the thunderbolt if NEITHER device has been released yet? At least there are screenshots and advance reviews of the thunderbolt. As far as I know, there are neither for our unconfirmed device.
I really do hope project “leapfrog” is true. From what little I’ve read up on, LTE is generally much faster and more reliable than WiMax. In another 2 or 3 years when the new network has fully rolled out, all of the phones available today won’t really matter. There WILL be better, faster, more advanced phones out there. Always will be. Just way of technology.
Squiddy20: don’t forget his beloved dual core snapdragon surfaced on smartbwnch today, and got smoked by the likes of the galaxy s and even the droid x lol hahahaha. I like you am just simply tired of richie talking smack non stop with insanely biased comments and expecting people to follow him in a Charles Manson esque way about how great the EVO WAS at one point, sounds like cell phone envy. Honestly the EVO is a great phone, that doesn’t cone close to the thunderbolt, and it won’t. So shutup dick.
well, I don’t want this tiered data crap from Verizon and I certainly don’t want AT&T
sprint’s 4g service was a joke from the very beginning. the 4g service is excessively limited to certain cities. the majority of customers that own a 4g phone don’t get 4g service, yet they are forced to pay for 4g service. sound’s crooked to me. now they are switching to LTE? and it’ll take 2-3 years to get up and running??? WOW>… they are way behind the competition. they should cancel the 4g service they have, and put all efforts towards the new LTE to get it up and running ASAP. as for Clearwire, sprint should end all partnership with Clearwire. it’s apparent that they haven’t been doing their jobs. on top of all things, talking with all my friends it seems that sprint’s 4g service is way behind that of tmobile and verizon.
Leap Frog?? Ohh Phandroid lol. Network Vision Project!
Do we get the Leepfrog Tag pen with that? Maybe that is when they will update all their phones with android 2.2. I still have an Epic waiting fort the update. Maybe that is when I will get it.
geez, all this should be taken to jerry springer or something…
lol..
grow up and just comment on what u know & not on what u don’t know.. I’m a t-mobile user & I don’t hate on any other network I’ve never tried, we shouldn’t be fighting like the iOS folks on verizon & at&t..
aint we all with Andy (Android)? and if u aint android, pls dont hate Lil’ Andy just cuz he’s the newest kid in town.. dont be bullies iOS ppl. leave Andy alone or become a programmer and come up with the perfect OS and then we can about perfectness and other bs…
Lol richard, reminds me of myself. Calling out his haters before they even get a chance to speak.
Lol @ Richard.
God you must feel like a total tool right now. Haha so much for sprint the granddaddy of 4g
Once again Sprint does it backwards. I live in the 9th largest metropolitan area in the country and Sprint doesn’t even have wimax here yet. The only carrier to not have 4g in metro Detroit. And now with the ole leapfrog it will probably be at least 2 years before we see Lte here. Sprint can say goodbye to whatever little market share they did have here. Another fail. That’s like their 4th strike already this year, for me. I should just pay the ETF.
ari-free,
Congratulations on demonstrating just how technologically illiterate you are once again. Now I know for sure you are an iLoser.
You clearly have no clue. Wi-Max vs LTE. No clue whatsoever!
If I didn’t have 4g in my city I would have sold my Epic to pay the ETF…very dissapointing
@Richard
I’d call you a retard but then I’d offend retards everywhere. Go hang yourself, douche!
I think sprint is going To keep wimax running where it is already installed and begin putting lte where it isn’t then go back and switch the older towers to lte makes since for now
@Fred, are you seriously saying wimax is better?
Nlsme,
Are you seriously saying you drank the Telco koolaid? There is little difference between WiMAX and LTE other than Licensing. That extra licensing cost is passed on to YOU…the consumer with LTE. That’s pretty much the only reason Telco’s went with LTE. Spec wise there is little difference and many LTE networks will be using WiMAX backhaul networks anyways.
This seems like a good move for the CUSTOMER.
Project Leapfrog?… Sprint will be ahead of the competition?.. Looks like Sprint is gonna “leapfrog” Verizon and GayT&T to LTE Advanced while T-Mobile sits and watches. Sprint will be the first to TRUE 4G.
While GayT&T and Verizon are still rolling out their FauxG LTE networks Sprint will rollout true 4G to make the bigwigs of GayT&T and the Big Red look foolish as the T-Crapple CEO twiddles his thumbs. Dan Hesse is a genius…