Items tagged with Sprint
Amazon as a wireless carrier? It seems like an outrageous idea, but it's a move that could be in the cards according to a new report. T-Mobile and Sprint -- the third- and fourth-place U.S. wireless carriers respectively -- are looking to complete a merger that has seen some pushback from the U.S. Government. As part of the merger agreement, T-Mobile and Sprint have agreed to offload Sprint's Boost prepaid brand; a divestiture that could bring in as much as $3 billion. Boost currently has between 7 to 8 million customers according to recent estimates. According to Reuters, Amazon reportedly wants in on the action and is looking to purchase Boost to grow its empire....
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AT&T and Verizon may have been the first to activate their 5G wireless networks in the United States, but Sprint is looking to have the broadest coverage (to date) available to the largest number of Americans with its initial rollout. Sprint is launching its 5G service in the following major metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Kanas City. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, which have embraced millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum from their 5G rollouts, Sprint is using Ericsson-provided 64T64R (64 transmitters 64 receivers) 5G Massive MIMO radios that support split-mode. Split-mode allows the wireless carrier to deliver both 4G LTE and 5G NR service at the same time, all from...
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Sprint and T-Mobile announced a little over a year ago that they would be merging into one company. However, the United States Department of Justice has a few things to say about this union before the companies can ride off into the sunset. The Department of Justice has reportedly told Sprint and T-Mobile that the government will not allow the deal to be completed as it currently stands. Last spring, Sprint and T-Mobile announced that they would merge together to provide the best 5G network possible. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure noted, “Going from 4G to 5G is like going from black and white to color TV...It’s a seismic shift-- one that only the combined company can unlock nationwide...
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Federal regulators are big on keeping healthy competition in the wireless marketplace and have in the past blocked mergers of major wireless carriers from happening. Last April, T-Mobile and Sprint announced that they intended to merge with T-Mobile CEO John Legere leading the combined companies. The two carriers claim that when combined they would be better able to compete against Verizon and AT&T and accelerate the rollout of 5G. The two companies have attempted twice in the past two join forces. A third attempt likely surprised some considering the previous deals were never successful. Reports claim that even if the Justice Department approves the merger this time around, states...
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AT&T is already embroiled in lawsuits over its “5G Evolution” service, or 5G E, which the company claims enables speeds up to 2x faster than traditional 4G LTE on compatible devices. Competitors, however, have taken AT&T to task over this claim, and allege that 5G E is nothing more than a misleading marketing tactic designed to deceive consumers and gain a leg-up as true, next-generation 5G networks begin rolling out. A study that was just released by Opensignal seems to jibe with what AT&T's competitors have to say. AT&T’s 5G Evolution service is enabled by a handful of key upgrades to the company’s existing 4G LTE network: carrier aggregation, 4x4...
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T-Mobile has been talking up its new 600MHz 5G network that will give coverage using different types of bandwidths around the nation. T-Mobile has stated that its 5G network needs all spectrum bands to provide the best coverage. The company says that its millimeter wave (mmWave) tech is for dense urban areas, mid-band is for metropolitan areas, and the low-band is for nationwide coverage. T-Mobile had hoped that the network would be ready to launch, but announced at MWC 2019 that the full launch won't happen until the second half of 2019. The reason for the second half of 2019 launch isn't that T-Mobile is having an issue with its network or the network hardware; rather, no phones on the market...
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Odds are that most people have multiple devices that need internet connectivity on the go, be it a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. These gadgets represent a significant investment in money and with 5G looming, many might be considering updating their devices to take advantage of the faster connectivity. If all you want is 5G connectivity, HTC has rolled out a new device at MWC 2019 that will bring these faster speeds to all your devices via Wi-Fi. The device is called the HTC 5G Hub. HTC says that this is the first dedicated 5G mobile smart hub on the market and it can share a 5G connection with up to 20 devices via its hot spot feature. The 5G Hub has a 5-inch touchscreen with HD resolution on...
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The war of words between America's top carriers over 5G branding has now devolved into a lawsuit. AT&T started this whole mess then it decided to relabel its LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network as 5G Evolution (5G E). Competing carriers cried foul as 5G E is little more than extension of 4G LTE technology and is in no way true 5G. Sprint, the fourth-place wireless carrier, has now filed a lawsuit against AT&T for its blatantly misleading advertising. "AT&T has sought to gain an unfair advantage in the race to 5G by embarking on a nationwide advertising campaign to deceive consumers into believing that its existing 4G LTE Advanced network is now a 5G network," says Sprint in...
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We have a lot to look forward to with 5G wireless technology, which is the successor to current generation 4G LTE networks deployed by America's four major wireless carriers. Carriers are promising a lot with their 5G rollouts, with AT&T and Verizon jumping the gun with limited 5G network availability in some of the largest U.S. markets. AT&T lit up its first mobile 5G network at the end of the 2018, but it is only available in 12 markets currently (Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, N.C., San Antonio and Waco, Texas). AT&T is using 39 MHz spectrum, with theoretical peak speeds...
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T-Mobile is once again thumping its chest over its accomplishments with the push towards a 5G wireless future. Today, the company announced that it has completed the world's first 5G transmission test using low-frequency 600MHz spectrum -- and of course, the company took the time to needle its competitors in the process. By using 600MHz spectrum, T-Mobile says that it can cover hundreds of square miles with a single tower instead of just a few square miles at best (which is currently possible with millimeter wave technology). T-Mobile achieved this feat with its hardware partner Nokia in Spokane, Washington, and is part of the company's efforts to "provide broad 5G coverage for everyone...
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We’ve already heard straight from Samsung that the Galaxy S10 will not be its first 5G smartphone when it launches early next year. Motorola, on the other hand, will bring 5G functionality to the Moto Z3 courtesy of the 5G Moto Mod in early 2019. Is anyone else willing to step up to the 5G plate when it comes to smartphone? According to a joint press release issued today, LG will be delivering its first 5G smartphone in 2019 with the help of Sprint. The unnamed smartphone will land during the first half of 2019, and it's claimed that it will be the first 5G smartphone available in the United States. We don't know if Sprint will be able to make this claim by actually...
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It seems as though wireless carriers are finding new ways to squeeze out profits and in turn hit customers with further restrictions on their cellular plans. We can credit T-Mobile with causing a resurgence in unlimited data plans, but the term "unlimited" has been butchered recently. The latest carrier to muddy the unlimited data waters is Sprint. The company has announced two new unlimited data plans: Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Basic priced at $70 and $60 per month respectively. Unlimited Plus gives customers unlimited data, talk and text along with 15GB of LTE hotspot. In addition, Unlimited Plus allows you to stream in Full HD and includes free subscriptions to Hulu and TIDAL....
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When it comes to the biggest wireless networks in the United States, we have four major players (ranked by size): Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. While all four wireless carriers offer "nationwide" coverage, the quality and speed of that service really depends on where you live. For those that are looking to choose a wireless carrier -- either after moving to a new part of the country, or if you're just simply looking to make a switch to take advantage of some hot promotions -- PC Magazine has conducted an extensive number of speed tests featuring the four major wireless carriers across 30 of the largest population centers in America. In the 2018 edition of the...
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Even though Sprint is currently in the process of acquired by T-Mobile, that isn't stopping the company from trying another ploy to steal customers from its larger rivals. The company's latest offer is a $15/month unlimited data plan that is quite restrictive, as you might expect with the bargain basement pricing. $15/month gets you unlimited calling, texting and data. However, Sprint admits that video streaming will be limited to DVD quality (480p), music streaming is limited to 500 Kbps, and game streams will be capped at 2 Mbps. You will also be subject to "data deprioritization" during periods where Sprint's cell towers are congested. To qualify for the offer, you have to switch from...
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