WEST U.S. -- Sprint losing on-network coverage in parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming

So, this looks to be the end of the "it sorta is-but sorta isn't" Sprint coverage out there. This was always very confusing, and it seemed like even Sprint didn't know what was going on out there. They didn't sell service in those markets, but they offered native services, even though you would be roaming on Alltel. It was such a weird agreement. In the end, this really impacts nearly no-one, since they don't even sell services out there.

 

I agree, not as big of deal as what that article might lead you to believe because Sprint didn't have any actual customers in those areas. There's really no serious coverage hole to have to fill because roaming will still work for voice calls/texts at least for those people who travel though there. The other thing worth mentioning is that most people don't realize that Sprint bought 55 towers from Qwest back in 2004 in the largest cities in Montana and Wyoming which I believe they still own and can probably use them to provide their own signal there at some point. Or maybe they just don't want to.

 

If you live in the boonies, I don't think Sprint (or any other 1900MHz only cellular service) would be a good choice in the first place.

 

Only know a couple of my friends & relatives that use Sprint in NoDak - most know better as there never was a good signal in any state that has a smaller population -same as in Iowa.

 

This greatly impacts my cousin and her husband, who are on her husband's brother's Sprint family plan right now. Right now, they get the great service of Alltel. Next month, they get 1X and the risk of being kicked off entirely.

 

Yeah, I could see this affecting more than just a "few" people in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota... well, at least in most of those areas they have local/regional carriers so you are not just stuck with at&t or Verizon! (trying to look at the bright-side of things!)

 

The part of this that I don't like is that I've got family in Montana. The former shared alltel arrangement looked like native service to a Sprint phone in the area, and I can confirm that phone calls were billed as mobile to mobile ( we don't have one of the newer any mobile plans, but we do get free sprint to sprint mobile to mobile ).

So certainly not the end of the world by any means but definitely a big change.

-Dan

PS: I realize Sprint never promised native coverage there, but having it be there, working fine for multiple years still sets some folks expectations (in my opinion anyway). The main thing is that they keep the coverage. Not getting M2M is not a big deal, but losing the coverage would be. (I am assuming we'll still have roaming which is included in our plan).

 

Sprint had a nice agreement with Alltel but they got swallowed up by AT&T, and apparently AT&T (being a non-cdma carrier) didn't want to keep Sprint on that agreement. I don't think they could have done anything differently here to prevent this. But roaming for voice, texts and 2G data will still work.

 

larry, AT&T is honoring the agreement and is required to for a couple of years. That's what's weird. My guess is that, as nice as their roaming agreement was, without reciprocal traffic from Alltel, it was still too expensive to be able to just ignore like they were doing.

It'll be interesting to hear from my cousin what happens come March 1st.

As for RadioRaiders, Sprint could do fine here with 1900MHz. MTPCS (CellularOne) covers the area very well at 1900MHz.

 

Mark, what I mean is that lower frequencies like 850MHz are better suited for rural areas because it travels further than higher frequencies like 1900. I've engineerd a few dual-band GSM networks (900/1800) and in rural areas to provide contiguous coverage, you'll need a GSM 900MHz tower every 12km or so, whereas usingGSM 1800MHz you'll need a tower every 8km or so to cover the identical area. Basically you wind up needing roughly 30-40% more sites with 1800MHz compared to 900MHz.

I'm sure MTPCS provides you with good coverage, but they are swimming upstream. It's costing them alot more, and they'll have more coverage gaps compared to if they had the 850MHz band to use. If I lived in a rural area, I'd be looking at networks that had the 850 band, because I know their coverage will most likely be better due to these reasons.

 

One interesting tidbit here is that many Sprint phones don't automatically update their PRL. I predict that folks for years to come will see what they think is Sprint native coverage (unless the coverage is actually removed or the SID changes ).

Of course, what Verizon did when this happened in my home state -- in the early days of America's Choice where parts of my state (US Cellular) country was added then removed, is just bill you for it as roaming. When you called to complain, they'd note that you've been told and liable for future roaming irrespective of your phones indicator. i.e. you get one "I didn't know" billing cycle for free.

Sprint will certainly lose the customers (I don't expect to be many) that actually live in those regions. Visitors should be OK via roaming.

-Dan

 

RadioRaiders, MTPCS' upper management themselves have told me they need about "twice as many" cell sites as Verizon or Alltel to get the same coverage, and they recognize that as one of their weaknesses. I'm just saying it can be done.