Sprint

Sprint LTE phones arriving in the second half of 2012, likely in Q3

posted by Victor H.

Dec 06, 2011, 3:49 AM

Sprint LTE phones arriving in the second half of 2012, likely in Q3

Sprint was the first to the 4G race with its WiMAX network, but while others adopted LTE, the Now Network decided to switch technologies and is now actually behind the curve. The first Sprint LTE phones however are on track to arrival in the second half of 2012, with all likelihood that they will hit shelves in the third quarter of next year, according to Sprint CFO Joseph Euteneuer. Interestingly, this means that the plan is for "a number of different models."

The chief financial officer also promised that Sprint’s network will be "very competitive to what's out in the marketplace" in terms of speed. Verizon and AT&T have set the standard with speeds ranging between 5Mbps and 12Mbps on the downlink.

The carrier is committed to supporting WiMAX until 2015, but it’s clear that LTE is the future and the new technology will be aggressively rolled out, so that the transition for most users will happen much earlier.

Sprint announced its Network Vision program recently and is expected to launch its LTE network by mid-2012. Initially, the network will ride 1900MHz spectrum waves with later expansion to the 800MHz band. Euteneuer added that Sprint has just recently rolled out its first multi-mode base station supporting both LTE and CDMA. Hit the source link below for the full interview.

source: Joe Euteneuer via FierceWireless

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12 Comments

11. Jyakotu

Posts: 868; Member since: Dec 12, 2008

I'm curious about something though: How come Sprint just didn't upgrade to WiMax 2.?

posted on Dec 06, 2011, 6:29 PM 0

8. stjcripes

Posts: 27; Member since: Mar 31, 2010

I wonder if they'll roll down WiMax phones to Boost and Virgin.

posted on Dec 06, 2011, 11:38 AM 1

6. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

hope they can do it. they are taking on a ton of debt to try to change around the network (plus buy huge iphone contracts) and other things. Too much debt will sink your ship no matter what direction you are going. I hope it all goes well for them.

posted on Dec 06, 2011, 6:45 AM 1

7. arcq12

Posts: 733; Member since: Oct 13, 2011

debt leads to death..

posted on Dec 06, 2011, 6:54 AM 0

4. dvancleave

Posts: 32; Member since: Jul 19, 2010

It all sounds good. But they had better follow through this time on their "aggressive rollout" with LTE coverage. I jumped ship from Verizon to Sprint back in August 2010 for cheaper data plans. At the time Indianapolis was supposed to be getting 4G WiMax coverage "soon". That never happened/ And the 3G speeds here aren't all that great these days either. Those took a nosedive about the time Sprint started selling the iPhone. The old saying "put up or shut up" seems to apply. I am really trying to be patient and pull for Sprint. But they are the only ones without 4G coverage here. And their voice signal needs work too. There are way too many dead spots and they aren't even in remote areas.

posted on Dec 06, 2011, 6:30 AM 1

10. Cwebb

Posts: 501; Member since: Oct 05, 2011

I totally agree, I was there this weekend for B1G championship expecting 4g, to find extremely slow 3g. The funniest part of all of it was that for most of the event I used Verizon wifi

posted on Dec 06, 2011, 1:30 PM 0

3. arcq12

I do believe that this Network Vision thing will definitely enhance the coverage and data speeds however, when Sprint reaches the level where VZW and AT&T is, they are likely to abolish unlimited data but surely they will come up with better tierred data plans..