Sprint expanding to 260 cities 2006, 260m population 2007

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=174907496

Michael · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:13 pm Post subject:

It will be interesting to see which carrier gets to first claim a major city is on EVDO Rev A. I am sure it will get them a lot of press.

Both Verizon & Sprint both play games with coverage. Verizon used to count a major metro area as one market. When Sprint was just deploying, they wanted things to look better, so they would count different cities in a major metro as more than one. So, for the uneducated, it didn't look good for Verizon. Verizon has since changed the way they "count" coverage areas to match how Sprint does. I am sure the coverage games/comparisons will continue with both in the future.
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xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

I counted the reality as of Jan...

Sprint: 110+ actual markets
Verizon: 70+ actual markets

Accuracy within +/-5% of what constitutes a separate market. IE, I called Rockford a separate market from Chicago but Naperville is part of Chicago metro. I considered Hartford CT a separate market from NYC but not southern CT. Also added several more for Verizon not on maps but that have been announced.

Michael · Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:39 pm Post subject:

The other game both play, is putting one EVDO tower in an area and claiming they are "in a market".

Counting the population that "can get" EVDO is another indicator of how broad coverage is. For example, XYZ EVDO is available to 150 million people. However, that isn't the best method either, but it can a good indicator.

So, which is better? Number of markets, population? Actually, it only comes down to one question:

Who has Coverage Where I need it?

There may some areas that Verizon wins, there may be some areas where Sprint wins.

The best way to determine if an area has coverage, is look at the coverage maps from both Verizon & Sprint. Next, look up on EVDOforums, for posts from people who are in areas that are not on the maps, but are getting EVDO coverage.

Another way, is to actually get a card and try it out. Both Verizon & Sprint offer 15 day trial periods, and if it doesn't work, you can cancel, return the equipment and be billed for usage.
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xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

^Valid points. Smile

I didn't count Sprint's single tower towns and still came out over 100.

Anywho, it looks like more expansion is on the way.

lrpena · EVDO User Joined: 20 Apr 2005 Posts: 46

I’ve been doing quite a bit of traveling for past month in Florida, Georga, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. I currently have both services from what I’ve experienced sprint has more Urban areas covered with EVDO but verizon has the larger network especially when you get out into the boonies sprint usually has no service or cant do data roaming but good old trusty Verizon 1xRTT is there. Very Happy

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

^When including domestic roaming, both Sprint/Verizon claim to reach over 290 million population with voice (Verizon says 291m, Sprint says 295m), but Verizon now has data roaming on 1xRTT and Sprint doesn't yet (according to a Sprint rep they soon will).

As of last year, Verizon actually does not have a larger native network. Sprint passed them up as they've been adding more towers, and now more CDMA on existing Nextel sites. Verizon natively covers about 250 million population with voice. Sprint/Nextel will cover 268 million after completing tower rollout on Nextel sites. If you roam with no charges, it's a moot point but Verizon has an edge with slower 1xRTT roaming at the moment while Sprint is in more markets with EVDO.

http://www.evdoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=734

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

Article on 4G (post-EVDO technologies) suggests Sprint to rollout 4G to 100 markets in 2008. Sprint 3G/EVDO said to expand to cover 260 million population in 2007. That is greater than 100% of native voice network today (250m+), suggesting they are indeed expanding coverage on existing Nextel sites and may have 100% network at EVDO.

http://www.xchangemag.com/tdhotnews/61h19121111.html

rickster · EVDO Junkie Joined: 27 Aug 2005 Posts: 216

"The upgrade will boost Sprint’s service by about 100 Kbps from the current 400 to 700 Kbps. "
So if I do the complicated math: 500 to 800 Kbps? Hmm Rev A doesn't seem much of a gain ... I forgot now will this require new equipment for customers to take advantage of the increase?

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

Yeah, some of that article was off the mark. He must have confused that 1xRTT is 100Kbps and that the upgrade was to EVDO Rev 0, 700Kpbs avg. EVDO Rev A downlink is spec'd 1Mbps faster to 3Mbps and more importantly, uplink will be about 1Mbps instead of 100Kbps up.

But the first article is small potatoes compared the previous post about 260m population EVDO coverage in 2007. More interesting is that the source is the COO of Sprint.