By 
Earlier today we filled you guys in on the status of LightSquared’s LTE network and the challenges they’ve been facing with FCC over alleged GPS interference. It ended with the FCC asking for public approval on the matter but now, Sprint — who plans to use LightSquared to help roll out their upcoming 4G LTE network — is giving LightSquared a new deadline before cutting off ties. In a statement to BGR, LightSquared said they have been given 6 weeks by Sprint to straighten things out with the FCC.
“Sprint and LightSquared have agreed to extend our network agreement through mid March. Sprint continues to support our business plan to bring wireless broadband to more than 260 million Americans and our ongoing efforts to work with regulatory agencies to resolve interference concerns.”
Hopefully by March LightSquared will have this whole mess sorted out. God knows, I would love a speedy LTE rollout on Sprint, but not at the cost of reliable GPS. Samsung devices have it bad enough as it is. (Rim shot)
[Dow Jones Newswires |Via Cnet]
Sprint; we are getting 4g… me; buys a 4g phone… 2 years later still no 4g Sprint: we are getting LTE me fuck you.
Sprint’s WiMax 4G was like 2G.
lol no it wasn’t, sprints 4g was blazing, it just drained battery and had poop poor coverage.
But because WiMax was used on an extremely high frequency even if it had deployed nationwide the coverage inside buildings is abysmal. Poor indoor signal penetration.
I live in indy, one of the most densely populated cities in the u.s. and we were promised 4g 2 years ago. I got an evo 4g and an evo 3d and still no 4g and then they told us lte would roll out first…. wtf sprint…
switching to at&t at the end of my contract to get an htc vivid. at&t runs up to 40 mbps here in indy.
There’s 4G up by the fashion mall. Ask a sprint rep where some are.
Good choice dude! Sprint is a shit network especially here in L.A…we got the hell out of there and went back to the best network (in my opinion) AT&T…unlike shit sprint, my skyrocket get blazing LTE All the time! Why wait on an empty promise when its available NOW!
i thought sprint was rolling out there OWN LTE network? am i mistaken? or is this partnership more on the grounds of we will include your frequencies in our towers if you include ours in yours kinda deal.
cause honestly i don’t care too much for the frequency lightsquared is going to be using, it is going to have enough problems as it at that range. i also thought sprint had purchased a LTE frequency of its own too?
You are correct. Sprint is rolling out their Own LTE network (via Network Vision) on 1900 and 800 mhz.
So why exactly do they need Lightsquared? I don’t see why Sprint would partner with Lightsquared for LTE if they could deploy LTE nationwide on their own. Does Sprint not own 800mhz and 1900mhz nationwide?
Well, it’s because it’s easy money for Sprint. LS is said to be paying Sprint $1B (or close to it) per year if Sprint installs LS equipment on Sprints towers. Sprint is building their own LTE network on 1900mhz (and soon 800mhz), like you said. Sprint was would also get (approx) 4.5B in credit from LS if they needed additional spectrum in the future, but that was just an option.
so why the 1900 initial deployment? if they plan for 800, a superior frequency why wait? is this the old iDen freq and they are waiting to clear it up? will this require new LTE chips in future phones? this whole thing seems very chaotic, i just want it to work this time and have a solid spectrum to build on.
woah, woah, woah. Haven’t you heard of a little thing called Google? :P
To answer some of your questions: The initial 1900 deployment is due to the fact that, at the moment, it’s the only “open” spectrum available to Sprint. The 800 is (or was) being used by iDen, but is in the process of being phased out. I honestly don’t know if new LTE chips will be necessary, but my guess is that Sprint is already integrating functionality so the transition is seamless.
well i cant wait till the final nail is put in iden’s coffin. its too old that it is a joke. and i cant stand when i hear people use the walkie talkie on them.
Yeah, the 800 MHz used by iDen hasn’t been fully decommissioned yet. Once that happens, they will change LTE over to the new spec band.
lightsaured is putting the towers up and handling the service sprint owns the frequency
Other way around. LS owns 1600mhz freq that they are (trying to ) put on Sprints towers.
Sprint is the only company that employs Los Angeles gang bangers! And street hoodlums!
And used car sales men….they lie to you the minute you walk into their stores! Its no joke, I dare anybody who’s reading this thred to visit an L.A. sprint store in the greater Los Angeles area! Orange county is nice!
I don’t think anyone gives a shit about who Sprint employs lol
Not realty, then people wouldn’t complain about bad customer service..
People complain regardless.
Yeah….
I worked for sprint and I’m not a gang banger. The t-mobile store right next to us used to sell drugs out of their store.
I didn’t say ALL..but you get the point. Thoes T-Mobile employees were ex-sprint employees.
dude how do you know!!!!!
I just know…I was undercover, and posed as an employee, once I arrested the guys I was after, I found out that they worked there too!! Its a network of scumbags!
you must have worked there too dude, bcuz you sure do know a lot about other people!!!!!
Is all we care about is getting our fast wireless broadband? We live in a society where we want it all, we want it now, and by any means necessary. I have Sprint and I’d love to get 4G LTE but NOT at the cost of the safety of the military and our national security. We all love our tech, but we need to keep an open mind and not get tunnel vision in favor of it. LightSquared threw money at the Obama administration to get everything pushed through. Is anyone aware that the White House tried to force general William Shelton to LIE to Congress to falsely testify that LightSquared’s system would not interfere? Thankfully the general had the balls to stand up to the Obama administration and tell the truth, and also bring to light that they told him to lie. Why would they want him to lie? Follow the money.
GET the Fork outa here with that bushit! I could care less about national security bring the LTE at all cost. The only threats to my security are domestic. Gangbangers, racists, bigots, police and others who fight with pens that agree to legislation like sopa and pipa; and during the confusion agree to ACTA and not allow a free and open society to view its contents.
You sir should either join the military or redeploy ASAP. Our country needs you NOW!
I don’t know why I’m even beginning to argue with an ignorant and daft tool like yourself. Everything I stated was fact and actually happened, it’s not “bullshit” like you wish it was. You are an idiot and do not deserve to live in this county. People like you are what’s wrong with this country. If it wasn’t for those things you hate, you wouldn’t have mobile broadband, much less a cell phone at all. The freedoms of this country is what lets us have so much fortune and you don’t even realize it. When it’s your ass one day that needs saving or protecting you’re going to wish you weren’t such a bigoted douche bag.
Give it up LightSquared and Sprint, those frequencies are just too likely to cause interference for GPS and it’s a higher priority, best case scenario is that the FCC forces new GPS products to be built to a spec that will allow use of the nearby band, which admittedly they should, and in 5 years or more they’ll let someone use those frequencies for mobile broadband. GPS is simply too big of an industry to fight against.