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Sprint lights up 21 new markets with 4G LTE, adds 34 more prospects

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Last week, it was rumored that Sprint would be bringing 4G LTE to 21 new markets. It turns out that rumor was spot on, actually, as the company made the announcement earlier today. The list of new cities include known towns like Charlotte, Bloomington, Los Angeles, Memphis, Mankato, and more. Here’s the full list for your perusal:

  • Albemarle, N.C.
  • Bloomington, Ind.
  • Charlotte, N.C.
  • Contra Costa County, Calif.
  • Denison, Texas
  • Greeneville, Tenn.
  • Joplin, Mo.
  • Kerrville, Texas
  • Lafayette, Ind.
  • Lincolnton, N.C.
  • Los Angeles
  • Mankato/North Mankato, Minn.
  • Memphis, Tenn.
  • Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News, Va.
  • Palm Bay, Fla.
  • Port St. Lucie, Fla.
  • Rochelle, Ill.
  • Salisbury, N.C.
  • Shelby, N.C.
  • Tullahoma, Tenn.
  • West Palm Beach, Fla.

Sprint is also announcing 34 new additional markets to its current list of 170. We’re not sure if all of these are expected to launch by the end of 2013, but Sprint says to expect many of them “in the coming months.” Sprint’s original goal was to get its 4G LTE network deployed to a vast majority of its current 3G coverage area by the end of this year, and expects upgrades to be complete sometime in 2014.

Sprint’s also banking on these upgrades to help fulfill the overall Network Vision project, one that 3G customers desperately need as Sprint’s slow network as of late hasn’t gone undocumented. Let your eyes wander below for the full list of new cities expected to get 4G LTE at some point down the line.

  • Fargo, N.D.
  • Orlando, Fla.
  • Portland, Ore.
  • Spokane, Wash.
  • Tallahassee, Fla.
  • Albertville, Ala.
  • Centralia, Wash.
  • Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
  • Durant, Okla.
  • El Paso, Texas
  • Enid, Okla.
  • Enterprise/Ozark, Ala.
  • Eugene/Springfield, Ore.
  • Faribault/Northfield, Minn.
  • Greenville, Miss.
  • Hattiesburg, Miss.
  • Jacksonville, Texas
  • Kennewick/Pasco/Richland, Wash.
  • LaGrange, Ga.
  • Longview, Texas
  • Longview, Wash.
  • Milledgeville, Ga.
  • Moses Lake, Wash.
  • Paducah, Ky.
  • Picayune, Miss.
  • Poplar Bluff, Mo.
  • Russellville, Ark.
  • Seaford, Del.
  • Sterling, Ill.
  • Talladega/Sylacauga, Ala.
  • Tulsa, Okla.
  • Valdosta, Ga.
  • Wenatchee/East Wenatchee, Wash.
  • Yakima, Wash.
Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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51 Comments

  1. Wow.Still, not even a mention of Michigan. Im not on Sprint, but screw you Sprint.

    Screw. You.

    1. I know. Detroit never even got WiMax! I left Sprint because why should I pay the same price for crappy 3G service than others pay for WiMax and LTE. I switched to T-Mobile. Detroit might not have LTE yet, but their HSPA+ is so good I don’t even notice.

      1. See link above, Detroit and many parts of Michigan already have Sprint LTE, but not full coverage in any market yet.

        1. God bless the people who got 4G in their airport. I can barely even get decent 3G speeds with my 3G/4G wireless card.

      2. Agreed. The wife used to be on Sprint, nI have a few friends still on it. I keep asking then how they are enjoying their 3g.

        I’m guessing Sprint might eventually bring lte to the area, but it’s going to be too little, too late.

      3. WiMax was more of a Clearwire thing. I mean, you can still get mad at Sprint for trusting them though. But just thought you should know.

        I don’t know if I should trust Sprint’s LTE, though because of how horrible WiMax coverage is.

        1. Sprint owns more than half the shares of Clearwire, I am sure Sprint had a lot to say about the rollout of WiMax. The problem I have with Sprint was that their customer service reps for the last several years would tell me that WiMax would be in Detroit soon.

          1. Sprint NOW owns more than half of Clearwire. Back when it was attempting to roll out Wimax, not true.

      4. I know the feeling. I dropped 500$ to cancel my contracts. On sprint i’d average 80-300kbit/sec max was 700kbit at 3am. Tmobile I average 7Mbit/sec and peak at 23Mbit. I notice my speed is more dependent on location rather than time of day. I’m tired of paying premium data fees so people in other states can enjoy the benefits. The BS marketing switch of 4G data to premium data was the greatest insult sprint has done to their customer base. I’ve been with them for 10 years and I realize that I was an idiot for not leaving them sooner.

      1. There is something wrong with that. As in, wrong.

    2. I have been getting 4g on and off all month in the detroit metro area.

      1. Is there a sprint rate plan for on and off coverage? Lol.

        Seriously, tho… People used to get spot coverage of wimax every once in a while too. And if it’s there, why aren’t we on their foreseeable list?

  2. Why is there nothing in Ohio?!..I’m a long time customer but this is starting to change things…

  3. Los Angeles is still super spotty :-P I hate my data coverage when I’m out and about…

    1. Yeah Los Angeles is a HUGE market, they need to narrow down which LA County cities acutally have 4G.

      Example i have 4g in Canyon Country, but not in Santa Clarita.
      If im in downtown in a clearing i get 3g/4g, but next to buildings im lucky to get a text sometimes.

      Also when i do get 4G i get no bars, sup with that?

      1. Sprint is not yet upgrading every single site in an area. They will be rolling out 800Mhz LTE later this year to fill in the gaps.

      2. “Also when i do get 4G i get no bars, sup with that?”
        As I understand it, the signal bars are not indicative of data strength/speed, but voice strength, since Sprint’s voice and data run on separate networks. You can have full bars but crappy speeds (this has happened to me on several occasions).

        1. This answers SO many questions.

  4. There is a lot of Sprint LTE out there not yet announced, but they have a long way to go to complete the rollout. This is coverage reported by users with the Sensorly app, there is more than this…

    http://sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint

    I don’t think solid coverage will happen until they start rolling out 800Mhz LTE later this year. They seem to be focusing on ‘outdoor’ for now across many areas and will focus on indoor/800mhz later this year.

  5. How about some 4g LTE love for us in Wv

  6. Damn it sucks living in Phoenix az!! Hot **s summers, and no freakin love from Sprint!! Counting down to my contract ending in September… and moving on…

    1. It seems like all the carriers are letting Verizon own the state

  7. Im done with Sprint… Im going with Tmobile’s new plans and getting my HTC One

    1. +1 Switched to T-MOBILE unlimited everything this week.The data speeds are fantastic & consistent in my area,not a bad spot in town.

      Coupled w/the eventual roll-out of LTE & the ONE should prove to be an awesome experience.

      I liked SPRINT & their customer support team,but the coverage simply isn’t wide spread or consistent vs. the other 3 major carriers in my area.

      Of course,YMMV & SPRINT could be the best option for many,dependant on who has the best coverage for any given area.

      1. How’s the call-audio on that thing on TMo?

        1. Using an LG G2X at the moment,until I get the ONE,which should be arriving by delivery on April 24-25.

          Call quality on the LG G2X is just fine though & I’d expect it to be quite better on the ONE.

          I’ll drop back in next week for a definitive answer.

          1. Awesome. Thanks.

            Call quality on my GNex on VZW is crap, but on my LG Spec, it’s good. On my wife’s S3, it’s amazing.

            Looking to switch to T-Mo shortly and seriously considering the One….do not want to get bit on call quality again though.

          2. Drop on by the HTC ONE section of ANDROID FORUMS next week for additional user experiences, as the ONE on T-MOBILE will be out by then (April 24).See ya there

      2. I cant wait to switch, im still waiting for my HTC One. I purchased the developer edition so i have an option between T-Mobile and AT&T.
        i checked on my sensorly app and it shows that there’s great coverage where I’m at, so I’m taking an advantage lol
        I also purchased an unlocked Nexus 4 (not sure why i just think the phone is sexy as hell).
        And probably just switch between them when i feel like it ha

        1. I almost did the same,getting the N4 from GOOGLE & get the ONE later.Now,I’ll probably hold off on getting a 2nd phone until the NOTE3 or next NEXUS arrives.

          1. I’m debating on waiting for the next Nexus as well. And the Note 3 is a different story lol too much phone for my skinny jeans pockets :/

    2. I saw an HTC One commercial. The one with the bands playing their backs to you and they turn around.

  8. No Ohio at all. Lol. Sprint is funny

  9. no mention of anything around Milwaukee Wisconsin. I guess I’ll be jumping ship. They promised us WiMAX here. Then they said in 2013 we would have LTE. Looks like a big lie again. Tired of paying for crappy 3G service. I should say more like one or two G service

    1. I rooted my phone and got the 1X mod. So it shows when my phone is on 1X. Stock wise it just stays at 3G regardless. I’ve hit 1X in Houston at times. Shame on Sprint. BTW, 3G speeds on average are like Tmo’s 2G speeds. So what differences does it make if Tmo throttles you. LoL!!

  10. Im already getting 4g from sprint in parts of portland oregon

    1. Sprint’s been making the towers active as soon as they’re done instead of waiting to flip the switch on the whole city at one time. At first it’ll be very spotty but as more towers are done it’ll get better

      1. Which is probably what is leading to all the “spotty” coverage bagging.

        Wonder if they even considered that…

  11. New Orleans has had LTE for a couple months now but its still not in a lot of areas and the 3G is slow as hell. But I’d rather wait for the improvements and keep my unlimited data than switch and have fast ass LTE everywhere and have data caps to worry about

  12. Can’t believe El Paso, TX actually made the “prospect” list. We never got Wimax, but I’ll believe it when I see it happen.

  13. I’m confused. So is the enhanced 3G even out yet, or is that still just talk? Because my 3G still sux and 4G WiMax isn’t that great since it can’t penetrate buildings. And I’m afraid to trust their LTE because of this. I mean I am in Houston, but that doesn’t mean it’s a nice blanket of LTE. I don’t want to upgrade my phone this Summer only to find out I’m in no different case then I’m in now.

  14. Does it really matter where Sprint puts its network its almost always really bad. Left them a while ago..

  15. yes! i live in longview tx! hope to see something soon!

  16. So where in the heck is Omaha? Omaha, NE didn’t get WiMax and isn’t on the list for LTE anytime soon. Yet these small towns in Kansas and Missouri have already gotten it. Sprint better do something fast or they are going to loose the Omaha market big time! I know 10 people who have said they are tired of waiting and moving to another carrier. I have been with Sprint over 10 years and am getting frustrated myself.

  17. unfortunately i was in Chester, PA on the way to the Philly Zoo and i had 4G coverage for the first time ever.. Kind of odd because i dont think they have ever posted having 4G anywhere near there.

  18. Ugh… Their 3G service… San Antonio is spotty with it’s Sprint LTE. I think I’m going back to T-Mobile, at least their 3G service is faster and more reliable than Sprints.

  19. Still no mention of Denver. Bye Sprint.

  20. I just want 3G coverage to work better.

  21. Still no love for St. Louis

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