Database Users

is the HTC EVO worldphone like the HTC TP2?

me(US T-MO) and my friend(sprint) wondering if any of u know if the HTC EVO 4G gonna have the worldphone compatability(GSM slot for gsm networks).my friend currently using the TOUCH PRO 2 from sprint and he has the ability to switch the phone to GSM carriers.jus wondering if the EVO gonna have the compatibilty.if yes defenetly dropping my HD2.

The Evo 4G is a CDMA phone it will not work on GSM and never will since it doesnt even come with a slot to insert a sim card.

yea i know that but the ones that u've seen on every website and videos r not the OFFICIAL EVO i think cuz they didnt even announced the official date but if its CDMA im out of luck and wish for a GSM version of the EVO.

GHOST99K said:
if its CDMA im out of luck and wish for a GSM version of the EVO.
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It's 100% CDMA w/no SIM slot. So I guess your out of luck

The big thing about the EVO 4G is the fact that it's a CDMA/Wi-Max. If it had a SIM slot, and you put it on a GSM network like T-Mobile, you wouldn't be able to connect to Sprint's 4G network and lose the one big advantage of this phone. Sure it's got 720p HDMI output and 8MP camera, but other than that and Wi-Max, it's got very similar specs to the HD2.
The other reason could be the fact that they wanted it to run Android, and I have yet to see any CDMA/GSM World Phones running Android natively so they may not have worked out the whole dual mode switching in Android - but I could be wrong about that one.

well.......i guess i have to be patient for something better by HTC on GSM carrier network with ANDROID 2.1.honestly i bought the HD2 and i've flashed custom ROM but still not satisfied at all with WM.i would get me NEXUS ONE but then again better phone will come out by HTC every 3-4 months.as far as 4G its not necessary for me at all.i will patiently wait till end of summer for the better.thanks guys

Look it up. GOOGLE IT ESPECIALLY WITH ANDROID
Sigh why do people get fooled by Sprint's cheap marketing... T-mobile's releasing HSPA+ 3G which is going to be faster than Sprints so called "4G"

Blackman778g said:
Sigh why do people get fooled by Sprint's cheap marketing... T-mobile's releasing HSPA+ 3G which is going to be faster than Sprints so called "4G"
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dude. wimax. shut up.

mountaindont said:
dude. wimax. shut up.
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Sigh... When people don't know the facts.
http://www.cellphonesignal.com/t-mobile-hspa-vs-sprint-wimax-by-pcworld/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2359139,00.asp

Blackman778g said:
Sigh... When people don't know the facts.
http://www.cellphonesignal.com/t-mobile-hspa-vs-sprint-wimax-by-pcworld/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2359139,00.asp
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Dude....Let Sprint and everyone that is on Sprint enjoy the fact that SPRINT will have one (if not the best) of the best phones ever made for a little while until another one comes out. Tmo has the HD2...now is Sprints turn, chill out!
You got HSPA+? Good for you....we'll have 4G! Is that simple.

Blackcircle said:
Dude....Let Sprint and everyone that is on Sprint enjoy the fact that SPRINT will have one (if not the best) of the best phones ever made for a little while until another one comes out. Tmo has the HD2...now is Sprints turn, chill out!
You got HSPA+? Good for you....we'll have 4G! Is that simple.
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Alright I'll settle for that... just trying to make sure people don't fall for the marketing gimmick. I had every carrier and been a loyal customer to them all.... Some people will switch just for a single phone even if they don't have reception in their area. Make a smart move it'll last two full years.

Blackman778g;I had every carrier and been a loyal customer to them all.... [/QUOTE said:
really??
boys and girls.. can we all say "contradiction"?
had to do it to u...
all major carriers will come out with their own "4G" setup, that is to be expected. WHEN will it hit the market; is the real question. Sprint has WiMax and it is being rolled out aggressively.
As they saying goes.."one bird in hand.. is better than two in the bush"
that being said... I live in a WiMax area and have the Overdrive. It is faster than 3G but I can only get 20% signal in areas that I am most in.
I hope they get more towers up in my area!!!!!
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Blackman778g said:
Alright I'll settle for that... just trying to make sure people don't fall for the marketing gimmick. I had every carrier and been a loyal customer to them all.... Some people will switch just for a single phone even if they don't have reception in their area. Make a smart move it'll last two full years.
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So when is this mythical HSPDA+ coming out? WiMax has already been out for over a year where I live, and I've not heard of a single person with WiMax-like speeds on any other carrier. T-Mobile is typically last to the game in that regard, but either way, you guys already have the HD2, which I'd rather have anyways.

WiMax is not certified 4G and will never be. I'm really shocked that Sprint hasn't been called out on this and hasn't had their false adverts of a "4G" network pulled.

march7th said:
WiMax is not certified 4G and will never be. I'm really shocked that Sprint hasn't been called out on this and hasn't had their false adverts of a "4G" network pulled.
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why would it have to be "certified 4G?" also, from what I've read from the beginning, is that WiMax and LTE are SO SIMILAR, that it wouldn't cost much for Clear/Sprint to fully convert. The even planned on having a combination of the two services.
methinks you doth protest too much.

ScrapMaker said:
why would it have to be "certified 4G?" also, from what I've read from the beginning, is that WiMax and LTE are SO SIMILAR, that it wouldn't cost much for Clear/Sprint to fully convert. The even planned on having a combination of the two services.
methinks you doth protest too much.
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wimax and lte use different freqs, converting would not only change the protocol(like software) but the antennas, transponders, receivers and transmitters (hardware)
then all the phones themselves would need new radios (hardware + software) It would be a huge mess, I highly doubt they will convert the technology, hope they just adopt LTE with Wimax and your phone supports both someday. As they already have chipsets that support both technologies at the same time with multiple radios and transceivers. But my money is the conversion of technology will not happen, it will just be integrated into the phones instead of the towers.
Now the wimax/4g thing, wimax has been branded 4g, 4g is a general term...(yes I know it's a stardard and has minimum req's) but the term works for it's purpose; recognition more than a actual "standard". evdo started getting called 3g when the 3g term got popular and was a "feature" and was easier to remember no actual feature was added for them to call it 3g.
The point is the idea gets across, as it is agreed they both generally mean the same thing, you know what it means, they know what it means, and making that kinda correction makes people sound like asses. Much like spelling correctors.

BAM! I knew I read that before.

ScrapMaker said:
BAM! I knew I read that before.
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not everything on you read on the internet is true, but facts are facts.. look
Wimax operates on 2.5Ghz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX#Spectrum_allocation
LTE operates on 700Mhz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
the two operate on two extremely different frequencies, you can't magically change a phone that is built to operate on one freq to start using one that differently. It's just not physically capable of doing it. No amount of software is going to change that.
That article was written in september 09' sprint has moved forward with wimax, they have made their decision, once they put equipment out in customers hands, they will have to cut some customers off by making drastic changes at this point in the game. To jump back at this point would be insanity. The infrastructure is already being built, and in some cases already built.

johnsongrantr said:
not everything on you read on the internet is true, but facts are facts.. look
Wimax operates on 2.5Ghz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX#Spectrum_allocation
LTE operates on 700Mhz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
the two operate on two extremely different frequencies, you can't magically change a phone that is built to operate on one freq to start using one that differently. It's just not physically capable of doing it. No amount of software is going to change that.
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Why is that? Radios can transmit on all sorts of frequencies... you have no idea how they designed their antennae or transmitters. If Clear says, themselves, that the technology is 80% identical, then it's fairly believable. I've been hearing that for years, anyhow.
Hell, just look at AT&T, they have 3G on all sorts of bands, and that didn't stop them people from using them. This argument is pointless. Clear could have hybrid modems in store, or possibly their devices can already use the spectrum to reference. All I'm saying is Sprint/Clear aren't really committing false-advertising. Comparing some mythical unicorn that T-Mobile *might* have in a few markets sometime soon, to WiMax, which has been out for quite some time, doesn't make much sense.
For now, it's 4G... the fastest, and I believe they have the right to call it that. It's Sprint's fourth-generation network. For years, the carriers bounced back and forth as to who had the fastest network, and you didn't see anyone renaming their from 3G.

ScrapMaker said:
Why is that? Radios can transmit on all sorts of frequencies... you have no idea how they designed their antennae or transmitters. If Clear says, themselves, that the technology is 80% identical, then it's fairly believable. I've been hearing that for years, anyhow.
Hell, just look at AT&T, they have 3G on all sorts of bands, and that didn't stop them people from using them. This argument is pointless. Clear could have hybrid modems in store, or possibly their devices can already use the spectrum to reference. All I'm saying is Sprint/Clear aren't really committing false-advertising. Comparing some mythical unicorn that T-Mobile *might* have in a few markets sometime soon, to WiMax, which has been out for quite some time, doesn't make much sense.
For now, it's 4G... the fastest, and I believe they have the right to call it that. It's Sprint's fourth-generation network. For years, the carriers bounced back and forth as to who had the fastest network, and you didn't see anyone renaming their from 3G.
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I have no idea how they designed their transmitter? This is more or less true, I don't know the exact specifics of their radios, but I have a really really good idea. I used to fix radios for the army... I have an good general knowledge of radio technology.
I don't have the exact links but I've posted some to chipset makers in this forum. One is for the evo's chipset, and one for for a future phone's chipset. The future one has radios *note plural* built in that are capable of broadcasting on both the 700 and 2.5 frequencies. The EVO's is not capable of the 700mhz only the 2.5ghz (among others 800 & 1900 but not 700)
The reason you can tune civilian band and police radios to multiple frequencies is because of transistors. But you're talking a very small spectrum. A common span is like 1-50Mhz difference. The Bigger the gap the bigger and more elaborate the electronic circuitry is required. Having to tune amplifiers as well as antennas. I'm not going to give a lesson on radio broadcast technology cause, well I'm just not.
For antennas they have to be cut to exact length based off their wavelength to preform optimally. As the frequency increases the length gets shorter but the principal is still there. It has to be more or less exact, the more you deviate the less clear the signal will be with the higher freqs the more exact it needs to be. Fudging a difference that big will not work for a clear and precise digital signal.
SO... while a cell phone radio might change it's freqs slightly depending on open channels, the range is fairly close, a radio that operates on 700mhz might go as high or low as 725 for example but it will not, and I repeat will NOT do a 1800Mhz difference. Hopefully that sheds some light on this subject.
I can't go into how their backend protocol is worked, because I honestly haven't ever messed with it and would only be speculation on my part. So it might be correct, the software might be easily interchangeable, but the hardware is not, and clear/wimax even stated so in that article. They said they had equipment capable of both or options or something. But a change is needed for sure. The evo is sprint's flagship wimax phone, and it is not capable of the freqs lte currently uses.... end of story.

Sprint Killing Iden and Moving to LTE?

Recently read that sprint will be phasing out the iden network by 2013 and Dan Hesse Admitted Wimax was a failure and is considering the switch to LTE.
Could a switch to LTE ruin our 4Gness on our beloved Evos or would they still work?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/09/clearwire_sprint_wimax/
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sprints-25-Billion-Network-Improvement-Plan-Hints-At-LTE-111703

Im just going out on a limb here but gonna throw my thoughts in on this . The phase out wont be till 2013 . With that being said most of us on the Evo will be well into a new phone by that time . General life span of phones (I said general) seems to be one year maybe two at most before someone jumps ship and gets another phone . I have also read that Wimax is an older technology that has been around for a while and the next logical jump would be LTE much like verizon is pushing . Now if for some reason you still have an Evo by the time the phase out is complete , I would suspect Sprint would either offer their customers an upgrade to work on the new network or atleast reduce the bills of the current evo owners still running an evo at that point . But from what I have seen and said in this post the likelyhood of any of us having the EVO in its current form by that time is very low . Its also possible the next gen of phones being released next year will start incorporating the LTE system (say for the sake of argument EVO2 LTE) to adjust to this change .

Wimax 2............ftw

Current wimax network can be easily switched to LTE via software upgrade that's why the current wimax buildout will continue. Also wimax is backwards compatible with wimax 2. So sprint has a couple ways it could go. And they own a lot of spectrum.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Expect ptt over ip and not in the failed Qchat form. Most likely over 4G(wimax1,2 or LTE) data. Sprint has plenty option. They just have to play it right.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

david279 said:
Current wimax network can be easily switched to LTE via software upgrade that's why the current wimax buildout will continue. Also wimax is backwards compatible with wimax 2. So sprint has a couple ways it could go. And they own a lot of spectrum.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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So wimax and LTE hardware are compatible, interesting.

Sort of. It only takes a firmware update to switch.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

hmmmm...maybe wimax and lte along with cdma and gsm...world wide phone..anywhere. Maybe Sprint quad band phones with quad core cpus in next 5-10yrs? Quad band with quad core.."4x4" on 4G. ok..dream over...
Youd need a 12 volt battery too. lol

I read a while back that sprint chose WiMax as its "4g" provider because the infrastructure was already in place since clear had been launched. And that if LTE deemed a better route that the WiMax network could be patched relatively easily to run LTE. Im not worried about it. If sprint was the first company to have 4g im pretty sure they wont leave their current WiMax customers without high speed service if Wimax is pulled off the market. But remeber as well that the article specifies Iden which is nextel. Thats a conpletely different animal. Only time will tell.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

nebenezer said:
So wimax and LTE hardware are compatible, interesting.
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No. The transmitters use a WiMax card to transmit WiMax signal. All they would have to do on their end is swap the cards in the transmitters for LTE cards and then patch the software to interface with them instead of WiMax cards.
The bad news is that for us Evo and Epic (and Overdrive) owners, we won't get LTE with current hardware. And I know they'll use the "early adopter" excuse. Either way, I love my Evo, 4G or not. I hardly use 4G. I just hope they do the right thing and offer people money back or towards an upgrade. WiMax is fast, but isn't that great to begin with. I'd rather have LTE seeing as how it's becoming an international standard. The only thing I don't like is the cluttered frequency. Verizon and AT&T will both be using 700 MHz.

david279 said:
Current wimax network can be easily switched to LTE via software upgrade that's why the current wimax buildout will continue. Also wimax is backwards compatible with wimax 2. So sprint has a couple ways it could go. And they own a lot of spectrum.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Thats good the two technologies are that compatible, I didn't know they could be used like that. You're right about Sprint having the Spectrum for it too. My guess is they tried getting rid of IDEN a few years back to use that spectrum for 4G but couldn't because of all the people still using it. The higher frequency WiMax is at now is what's holding it back.

They're compatible from the transmitter's end, not the receiver's end (our phones).

Product F(RED) said:
They're compatible from the transmitter's end, not the receiver's end (our phones).
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That's the only problem. If sprint goes with wimax 2 well be alright though. Early adopters always the test dummys.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Yeah, that's true but I still think the Evo is the best Android phone out. Maybe not the most powerful, but the most polished and well-built (software and hardware-wise).

Product F(RED) said:
Yeah, that's true but I still think the Evo is the best Android phone out. Maybe not the most powerful, but the most polished and well-built (software and hardware-wise).
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This is true until the G2 came out. That would be the only phone I would leave sprint for. I think the problem that came about with the Evo was it was rushed out for sprint. They could have cleaned up a bunch of problems before it even hit the street. **off soapbox**
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Product F(RED) said:
They're compatible from the transmitter's end, not the receiver's end (our phones).
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As long as they don't switch frequencies, then they will need to transmitters as well. Although they could probably leave the infrastructure they already have in place and finish the rest of it on the other frequency.

No, what I mean was that LTE and WiMax are not intercompatible in themselves.

Im glad to see that they can switch between wimax and LTE easily. I did not know that. Hopefully all the companies will have a roaming agreement in place. Also, isnt the range of LTE further than Wimax or is it the other way around?

Product F(RED) said:
No. The transmitters use a WiMax card to transmit WiMax signal. All they would have to do on their end is swap the cards in the transmitters for LTE cards and then patch the software to interface with them instead of WiMax cards.
The bad news is that for us Evo and Epic (and Overdrive) owners, we won't get LTE with current hardware. And I know they'll use the "early adopter" excuse. Either way, I love my Evo, 4G or not. I hardly use 4G. I just hope they do the right thing and offer people money back or towards an upgrade. WiMax is fast, but isn't that great to begin with. I'd rather have LTE seeing as how it's becoming an international standard. The only thing I don't like is the cluttered frequency. Verizon and AT&T will both be using 700 MHz.
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By the time any switch happens, both the Evo and Epic will be very outdated. Not to many people will still have them. lol

wimax and lte
My best friend worked for sprint. Now works for AT&T. Wimax is not the problem. LTE is a different technology. What you have to understand is not the sofware but the signal. The Wimax from Sprint is running between 2.0 and 2.5 ghz. The problem with this is the structure penetration. 2.4ghz, if you remember is what older home cordless phones run on. Get to far away and, bam, no signal. Sprint could switch to the LTE format the the carrier frequency in the 2.0 to 2.5ghz spectrum will still not be able to penetrate structures well. My friend says the spectrum needs to be cleared up. vhf uhf tv. WTF. Get rid of them. You need to be at the 650mhz spectrum (his personal choice) so the the wavelength of the carrier wave will be able to penetrate building/structures. And pagers? Are you kidding me all phones double as a pager. Dump them. A doctor is going to get a page and use his cell phone to call in? waste of spectrum. So sprint needs to change the carrier frequency of wimax or lte (if it changes its mind) so that you can get your service indoors. The carrier frequency only is a delivery system(such as a semi truck delivering a tv). If you have a bad truck, tv does not get delivered. Know what I mean. All carriers need some free up of current spectrum so we can get some real penetration and better bars. I hate being a nerd. But WFT. Get a divorce and get an new life.
Cole

Sprint to LTE???

Welp, looks like it's going that way...
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/15/sprint-evaluating-switch-to-lte-over-the-next-four-to-six-months/
...thing is, there hasn't been any new WiMAX phone announced this year, so either they're relying on riding that EVO and Epic wave to get new WiMAX customers, or maybe they do have something up their sleeve.
In any event, I don't see that many new customers signing up for Wimax, so to LTE Sprint will go. Now what do we do with our Evo at that point?

Other than the shifts but if they give me a choice to choose a new phone I'm in
Sent from my gingerbread evo 4g

It's like sprint is playing the "you can't get mad at me, i'm not touching you" while holding hand in front of face game with all these changes that piss everybody off without letting them go etf-free

Oh, they would have to provide us with a LTE phone if they do switch. At least offer us a pretty hefty discount. Otherwise, I see a huge class-action lawsuit headed over their way. I'd love for this switch to happen. WiMax is just not cutting it.

From the user comments of the linked article:
They're still going to roll out WiMax and then just add LTE functionality later on. Again, It's just a baseband card swap and a software upgrade. The phones would probably use a dual-mode WiMax/LTE chip (like the one introduced last year by Beceem). Sprint did a pretty good job of future-proofing their network and WiMax was a better/cheaper choice for "4G"... Verizon was having some major 3G/4G handoff issues in mid-December and there's still no word of that being resolved. That's a major issue for Big Red and could slow or kill LTE adoption (imagine having to either wait about 2 minutes or even having to reboot your phone whenever you go from 4G back to 3G). I'm not even getting into AT&T and Verizon's LTE spectrum limitations.
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m4rk0358 said:
From the user comments of the linked article: They're still going to roll out WiMax and then just add LTE functionality later on. Again, It's just a baseband card swap and a software upgrade. The phones would probably use a dual-mode WiMax/LTE chip (like the one introduced last year by Beceem). Sprint did a pretty good job of future-proofing their network and WiMax was a better/cheaper choice for "4G"... Verizon was having some major 3G/4G handoff issues in mid-December and there's still no word of that being resolved. That's a major issue for Big Red and could slow or kill LTE adoption (imagine having to either wait about 2 minutes or even having to reboot your phone whenever you go from 4G back to 3G). I'm not even getting into AT&T and Verizon's LTE spectrum limitations.
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But they would eventually have to actually flip the switch to LTE.. would they not have to pick one or the other?

As long as I got a huge discount on an LTE phone, I'd be okay with this. I like WiMAX, but for the dev community, LTE is going to be way better.

akarol said:
Oh, they would have to provide us with a LTE phone if they do switch. At least offer us a pretty hefty discount. Otherwise, I see a huge class-action lawsuit headed over their way. I'd love for this switch to happen. WiMax is just not cutting it.
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They're facing this scenario now, if they turn off the iDen network to use LTE. Some speculate that Sprint will lose a lot of money on this, but all they have to do is sell the spectrum that wimax is on now. T-Mobile would buy it...

AbsolutZeroGI said:
As long as I got a huge discount on an LTE phone, I'd be okay with this. I like WiMAX, but for the dev community, LTE is going to be way better.
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I'm also curious about the stuff I've been reading recently regarding how tightly controlled LTE access can be by carrier. Presumably the same restrictions would apply when tethering?

they will have pry my evo from my cold dead hands....
cyanogen/evervol-acies flavored gingerbread

drbadass said:
But they would eventually have to actually flip the switch to LTE.. would they not have to pick one or the other?
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Not really cause Wimaxx is just another channel or frequency. I mean they still have 2G/3G and now 4G, LTE will just be another channel that they will be able to accomidate

I say the only reason why the would make that switch is to keep up or ahead with the other carriers, t-mobile, att, Verizon so why not make the switch everyone gsm and running on sim chips mmm nice different phones on different networks sounds fun
Sent from my PC36100-EVO-using Tapatalk

drbadass said:
I'm also curious about the stuff I've been reading recently regarding how tightly controlled LTE access can be by carrier. Presumably the same restrictions would apply when tethering?
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This is what scares me. I know LTE is faster than wimax. (Job I work at sells both Wimax capable cards and LTE broadband cards now and I have installed both on computers, and speedtest wise, LTE was pulling 15 down and 1.5 up. Wimax in our area usually does 5-7 down, and 1 up.
But I don't want Sprint to be able to decide that what I do with the data access I am provided isn't what they think I should. The fact they can block sites, charge rates for sites, and so forth is very bothersome. It is the same crap certain ISP carries are looking to do.
It is this reason (among data caps) that I decided not to wait for the LTE thunderstorm phone(or w/e its called, im kinda tired ) and go with verizon over sprint.
I just with their Wimax was better in the Cincinnati, OH area than it currently is. Map shows I should have 4G outside everywhere but my backyard. And I barely get it in my front lawn where I should have a perfect signal.

Does anyone have a link to the story of how carriers can control access to the web using LTE. I read it but don't remember where. This is very disturbing that the carriers will have this much power over our web viewing habits

Don't worry fellow evonauts, they (probably) won't block your fetish adult entertainment.
But seriously, better speeds would be awesome, better coverage would be great but the capability to throttle or block what i want to do with my "unlimited" connection is unacceptable.

Here's some things to remember before anyone gets up in arms over this:
1. Between the Sprint, Clear, Comcast, and Time Warner brands there are millions of users on the Clearwire WiMax network, many of whom are in contracts based on WiMax devices or services. They're not going to just flip a switch in a few months and suddenly none of us have 4G anymore. I would not expect to see much further WiMax development beyond what's known about at the time of any LTE announcement, but by the time the WiMax network goes dead anyone posting here will have moved on to a newer phone.
2. There's no reason at all that this would need to be done as an on/off type switch. They install the hardware bits needed for LTE, then switch channels of their available spectrum over as dictated by utilization. AT&T's migration from TDMA to GSM after the Cingular buyout took years to complete.
3. The Evo Shift just came out and the Blackberry Playbook with WiMax has been announced and given a rough street date. Like most of us existing users, these users will likely for the most part be in contracts, meaning if Sprint does anything that significantly impacts the usability of those devices (such as terminating WiMax service) they'll need to either give us cheap/free upgrades to LTE phones or let us out of contract ETF-free.
tl;dr version: LTE is probably coming, since Sprint's rapidly becoming the odd man out in the 4G cell world, but there's no reason for current WiMax users to panic.
edit:
drbadass said:
I'm also curious about the stuff I've been reading recently regarding how tightly controlled LTE access can be by carrier. Presumably the same restrictions would apply when tethering?
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ghodzilla5150 said:
Does anyone have a link to the story of how carriers can control access to the web using LTE. I read it but don't remember where. This is very disturbing that the carriers will have this much power over our web viewing habits
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Any ISP has about the same power. It has nothing to do with the last mile medium and LTE will change nothing about this.
Regarding tethering, there is no way to tell for certain by looking at the data transmitted whether a user is tethering or not when a modern smartphone is involved, since they're capable of doing anything a full PC could do with that data connection. Certain types of data may be suspicious and more likely to have come from a PC, but nothing could be proven to any reasonable standard as long as they have not loaded a "tattler" program in to the OEM ROM to explicitly identify tethering. Assuming a rooted phone, this could be removed and of course would not even be in AOSP-based ROMs.

Good rational post. Thanks.
wolrah said:
Here's some things to remember before anyone gets up in arms over this:
1. Between the Sprint, Clear, Comcast, and Time Warner brands there are millions of users on the Clearwire WiMax network, many of whom are in contracts based on WiMax devices or services. They're not going to just flip a switch in a few months and suddenly none of us have 4G anymore. I would not expect to see much further WiMax development beyond what's known about at the time of any LTE announcement, but by the time the WiMax network goes dead anyone posting here will have moved on to a newer phone.
2. There's no reason at all that this would need to be done as an on/off type switch. They install the hardware bits needed for LTE, then switch channels of their available spectrum over as dictated by utilization. AT&T's migration from TDMA to GSM after the Cingular buyout took years to complete.
3. The Evo Shift just came out and the Blackberry Playbook with WiMax has been announced and given a rough street date. Like most of us existing users, these users will likely for the most part be in contracts, meaning if Sprint does anything that significantly impacts the usability of those devices (such as terminating WiMax service) they'll need to either give us cheap/free upgrades to LTE phones or let us out of contract ETF-free.
tl;dr version: LTE is probably coming, since Sprint's rapidly becoming the odd man out in the 4G cell world, but there's no reason for current WiMax users to panic.
edit:
Any ISP has about the same power. It has nothing to do with the last mile medium and LTE will change nothing about this.
Regarding tethering, there is no way to tell for certain by looking at the data transmitted whether a user is tethering or not when a modern smartphone is involved, since they're capable of doing anything a full PC could do with that data connection. Certain types of data may be suspicious and more likely to have come from a PC, but nothing could be proven to any reasonable standard as long as they have not loaded a "tattler" program in to the OEM ROM to explicitly identify tethering. Assuming a rooted phone, this could be removed and of course would not even be in AOSP-based ROMs.
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Maybe I'm just misunderstanding something but I'm taking this switch from WiMAX to LTE as Sprint just has to change the cards on their ends and send us current WiMAX users a software update and we can use LTE.

rkjg24 said:
Maybe I'm just misunderstanding something but I'm taking this switch from WiMAX to LTE as Sprint just has to change the cards on their ends and send us current WiMAX users a software update and we can use LTE.
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Half right. The Wimax chip in the Evo is straight Wimax...no LTE capability.

Since the wiMax is actually from Clear as far as i know, Sprints choice shouldnt really matter in the long run. WiMax wont disappear so your "old" phone should work, and Sprint actually having its own 4G network means more than likely better battery life and better connection/coverage

Thoughts about Sprint going to LTE

I have some theories about why Sprint might be going to LTE. Qualcomm has integrated LTE into their newer Snapdragon chips.
Meaning:
1) No need for additional wimax chip
2) Possible better integration into OS, particularly if Google adds LTE to Android.
3) Possible seamless transitions to 4G/3G
4) Mfrs. will be making LTE phones for AT&T and Veirzon. Adding Wimax for Sprint will add to design/implementation/testing cost.
5) Verizon is doing the work for Voice (and text) over LTE, may be easier to piggyback off of that than to develop it for WiMax
6) LTE is already specified/tested for the 800 Mhz bandwidth that Sprint wants to deploy 4G on whereas Wimax is not

1, sprint rushed to be the industry first with 4g.
2, Clearwire didn't have a solid financial foundation and wont give up enough control for sprints liking so they wont move forward with clear.
3,Lightsquared might just give up enough rights to there LTE network to make it profitable for sprint to make the transition seamlessly as possible with a simple chip swap in there towers and software update in house to make the transition.
There are some Pro's too this for the end user.
1, cheaper handsets, to the public
2, better pricing from the carriers

umm in a nutshell signal at 800mhz travels further and penetrates better. network infrastructure for LTE and Wimax make it easy to switch. So if you can get similar speeds, with less LTE antennas and better penetration, I cant see any reason why Sprint wouldnt make the jump. Plus Clear aint looking to good lol

good read if you have the time to read everything there and the links shown too.
http://androidforums.com/sprint/272829-lte-vs-wimax-charges-control-data.html

Clear did a piss poor job of building out their 4g network. They were also hell bent on providing retail services to end consumers. Money was spent on providing retail services (retail employees, store front, etc) that could have been better spent on building the network.
My house doesn't get 4g, my subdivision is like an island surrounded by 4g. Just a few blocks away are a couple of apartment complexes, and there used to be a sign from Clear stating '10mb/s tested here' or something to that effect. So it almost seems like they were focused on building out a network in a way so their retail side could make more sales. The focused should have been building solid coverage. Right now 4g is too spotty and I rarely turn it on. It's only useful if you're stationary. This is in Houston, one of the first areas to get 4g.
This is all my opinion of course. I think this is why Sprint wants to build out their own lte network. Sprint wanted Clear to coordinate with Sprint on the buildout, clear wanted to do their own thing and had dreams of having a successful retail side. Now they're broke and wimax build out has slowed to a crawl.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

They'll probably allow the use of WIMAX AND LTE with the Kyocera Echo at the same time. WIMAX on top screen and LTE on the bottom one.

HondaCop said:
They'll probably allow the use of WIMAX AND LTE with the Kyocera Echo at the same time. WIMAX on top screen and LTE on the bottom one.
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Do we need to make another announcement announcing this announcement? Should we get Davd Blaine again or get the big guns? Maybe have Justin Bieber pull a rabbit out of his hair?

cdszoke said:
Do we need to make another announcement announcing this announcement? Should we get Davd Blaine again or get the big guns? Maybe have Justin Bieber pull a rabbit out of his hair?
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That is not where he keeps the rabbits...

sgt. slaughter said:
good read if you have the time to read everything there and the links shown too.
http://androidforums.com/sprint/272829-lte-vs-wimax-charges-control-data.html
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Interesting stuff but no links or docs. Are we just supposed to take his anonymous word for it?
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sgt. slaughter said:
good read if you have the time to read everything there and the links shown too.
http://androidforums.com/sprint/272829-lte-vs-wimax-charges-control-data.html
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This post is 100% B.S. Wimax and LTE are pure-IP networks and either can be controlled on a per-packet level if the operator chooses to do so.

strung said:
This post is 100% B.S. Wimax and LTE are pure-IP networks and either can be controlled on a per-packet level if the operator chooses to do so.
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Yes they "could" be controlled but the point the poster "RiverofIce" was saying is that it isn't allowed to be done with WiMax in the first place.
the third post has the doc links supporting the LTE policy's and how they will manage the traffic.

form that link.. (which i am the OP of)
you can see how the other carriers with lte are planning to make it a toll road of it... this is 100% going to happen on lte.
wimax .. is open.. full access and should not be limited... of course anything can be designed or created to limit it.
i would rather take my chances with a maybe.. than a 100% sure pocket robbery.

sgt. slaughter said:
Yes they "could" be controlled but the point the poster "RiverofIce" was saying is that it isn't allowed to be done with WiMax in the first place.
the third post has the doc links supporting the LTE policy's and how they will manage the traffic.
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What is the source for the claim that WiMax must be a neutral network? Who enforces this?
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LTE in and of itself is open as well. It's just that there are no rules governing putting in toll roads like on WiMAX. It's just like Android is in and of itself open-source, but others (HTC Sense, MIUI, etc) can and do create closed source iterations. Sprint going LTE doesn't preclude that they will put up toll roads.

hmmm net neutrality. Very controversial topic being debated on the hill with millions of dollars of lobbyist money. I'm more worried about where Justin bieber keeps his rabbit. Now thY
at would be an announcement show.

I'm no business genius but I propose a question.
What if Sprint is just letting Clear wither away for a while so it will be cheaper to buy them up and then do whatever the hell they want to with the network?
DISCLAIMER::: Do not take this as a rumor or start an argument over how I posted this without proof. This is just a thought for a discussion.

^^^
i have heard... sprint owns 51% of clear... so the already control it.

Dan330 said:
^^^
i have heard... sprint owns 51% of clear... so the already control it.
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Yeah. It's just that officially, Sprint is a MVDO (equivalent of Cricket to Sprint) to Clear. Never understood how Sprint could be 51% owner, but yet have no direct control.

I think they should focus on making their 3G network a 3G network first, since right now, I'm pretty sure edge would beat what I get for 3G. :|

Hrshycro said:
I think they should focus on making their 3G network a 3G network first, since right now, I'm pretty sure edge would beat what I get for 3G. :|
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+9999999999 for sure.
Just ran a speed test on 3G. 148/381. Wtf.

Project Leapfrog - Sprint is going to LTE...starting now!

http://m.engadget.com/default/artic...rk-upgrade-is-un/&category=classic&postPage=1
Not sure what they're leapfrogging over, but sure.
Maybe the true EVO 2 will have LTE!
Also says something about the planned upgrade to the current CDMA network, and killing off iDEN.
Like Carbon Fiber? EVO.carbonfibermagic.com

They need to fix project ****ty 3g first.

skillzo1 said:
They need to fix project ****ty 3g first.
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That's what I think, too!

If they move to LTE, all us us evo owner's should get a free upgrade to an lte phone, as our phones will be useless for what we bought them for.

If the rest of the post is also correct, they are releasing a wimax version of the blackberry tablet later this year...which indicates they aren't phasing out wimax just yet. so, no...prolly not getting a free upgrade out of this.

tejasrichard said:
If the rest of the post is also correct, they are releasing a wimax version of the blackberry tablet later this year...which indicates they aren't phasing out wimax just yet. so, no...prolly not getting a free upgrade out of this.
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Exactly...2-3 years until they're converted to lte, so wimax as normal.

Old news that I've probably mentioned 6 times since posting in this very section. Project Leapfrog was the codename for Sprint's Network Vision. I'm just patiently waiting for Sprint/Clearwire to officially announce LTE is a go, so I could retire this topic. Sprint's ****ty 3G network will be taken care of by this same project they've mentioned since December.

skillzo1 said:
They need to fix project ****ty 3g first.
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****ing LOL....I about damn near fell off my chair.
but on to other things...yes this is old news

sitlet said:
If they move to LTE, all us us evo owner's should get a free upgrade to an lte phone, as our phones will be useless for what we bought them for.
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By that point you should have a new phone.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

zikronix said:
****ing LOL....I about damn near fell off my chair.
but on to other things...yes this is old news
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Lmfao me too
Sent from my spaceship!

Isn't wimax to LTE as simple as a change in software? I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the wimax chips in our evos could in theory pick up the low frequency signal of LTE. Then again, I have no idea just reposting what I've heard said elsewhere.

ryudosama said:
Isn't wimax to LTE as simple as a change in software? I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the wimax chips in our evos could in theory pick up the low frequency signal of LTE. Then again, I have no idea just reposting what I've heard said elsewhere.
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On the tower side, the hardware used in the base-stations can apparently be updated very readily -- swapping some circuit boards, and doing a software update, to make them LTE ready.
As to our phones, there is some disagreement. The LTE spec allows carriers to use frequencies in the range of those that our phones can already receive. Whether the hardware/software combination exists to let our phones receive LTE data, is up to debate. Many say no, but based on the spec, a Wimax antenna operating in the either the 800Mhz, 1.6Ghz or 2Ghz range can receive the signals (see Uplink and Downlink bands here: http://www.radio-electronics.com/in...ong-term-evolution/lte-frequency-spectrum.php), but can the phone discriminate and use what it receives? Who knows...

Great move if you ask me. And I don't know about anyone else but the places I've lived and traveling the Midwest parts of the south and here in the west coast sprints 3g has been my favorite. I also have an att and T-Mobile phone for business.... now talk about ****ty coverage lol.