Well.. this sucks for EVO 4G owners to be (including me)

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by ppcgpirate

doesn't 2.5ghz bandwidth require a more powerful antenna on the phone? or is the reason why engadget had trouble getting 4g signal in a ground floor cafe? where as at 700mhz, the signal is more easily able to penetrate dwellings.

i'm worried about indoor performance especially the office.

well thats why we get 30 days to try it out and return it, sucks if you're not in Cali, you guys only get 2 weeks.

[jbearamus]

Originally Posted by ppcgpirate

doesn't 2.5ghz bandwidth require a more powerful antenna on the phone? or is the reason why engadget had trouble getting 4g signal in a ground floor cafe? where as at 700mhz, the signal is more easily able to penetrate dwellings.

i'm worried about indoor performance especially the office.

the phone itself wouldn't necessarily need a more powerful antenna however, there would need to be more cell sites to effectively cover the area because as you mentioned, the higher the frequency the harder it is for it to get through buildings, which requires the tower to be closer or else you lose signal strength so 2.5 ghz will need more towers to cover the same area that a 700mhz does, it has nothing to do with wimax vs lte its a matter of which spectrum is the best set to use

Originally Posted by p-slim

well thats why we get 30 days to try it out and return it, sucks if you're not in Cali, you guys only get 2 weeks.

outside of california the only carrier that sticks with 14 days is tmobile, sprint att and vzw all have 30 days

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by jbearamus

the phone itself wouldn't necessarily need a more powerful antenna however, there would need to be more cell sites to effectively cover the area because as you mentioned, the higher the frequency the harder it is for it to get through buildings, which requires the tower to be closer or else you lose signal strength so 2.5 ghz will need more towers to cover the same area that a 700mhz does, it has nothing to do with wimax vs lte its a matter of which spectrum is the best set to use


outside of california the only carrier that sticks with 14 days is tmobile, sprint att and vzw all have 30 days

the phone itself would need a completely different physical antenna. A software upgrade on the device from wimax to lte wouldn't be possible. if the radio built into the evo was a multiple band wimax/lte radio then it would be possible, but the radio put into Evo will only support wimax.

oh ok, that must not apply to cell phones.

[jbearamus]

Originally Posted by p-slim

the phone itself would need a completely different physical antenna. A software upgrade on the device from wimax to lte wouldn't be possible. if the radio built into the evo was a multiple band wimax/lte radio then it would be possible, but the radio put into Evo will only support wimax.

i didn't say it wouldn't need a different antenna i said it wouldn't necessarily need a more powerful one, just closer tower coverage when comparing 2.5ghz to 700 mhz. and yes to switch back and forth you would need a different antenna tuned to the different frequency. however the issue isn't frequency its technology, LTE isn't exclusive to 700 mhz, if sprint/clear want run LTE through 2.5ghz they can, which is where the software update comes in. i have no idea if its true or not but Clear insists that they can move from WiMax to LTE with a software update on the network but i've never heard anyone say anything about updating software on phones. so i wonder if its even possible, and even if it is i doubt sprint would float the idea because if they upgrade everything they can't sell ya a new phone

Originally Posted by p-slim

oh ok, that must not apply to cell phones

were you just talking about returns in general?

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by jbearamus

i didn't say it wouldn't need a different antenna i said it wouldn't necessarily need a more powerful one, just closer tower coverage when comparing 2.5ghz to 700 mhz. and yes to switch back and forth you would need a different antenna tuned to the different frequency. however the issue isn't frequency its technology, LTE isn't exclusive to 700 mhz, if sprint/clear want run LTE through 2.5ghz they can, which is where the software update comes in. i have no idea if its true or not but Clear insists that they can move from WiMax to LTE with a software update on the network but i've never heard anyone say anything about updating software on phones. so i wonder if its even possible, and even if it is i doubt sprint would float the idea because if they upgrade everything they can't sell ya a new phone



were you just talking about returns in general?

i was talking about phones when it came to returns. I didn't know phone service had a different return policy, everything in cali is 30 days, so if you only got 14 days on certain things and 30 days on others i didnt know that.

yeah they will be able to upgrade their network to wimax, but you are correct phones in general will need more then a software update, especially since sprint can sell you another phone like you pointed out.

[jbearamus]

Originally Posted by p-slim

i was talking about phones when it came to returns. I didn't know phone service had a different return policy, everything in cali is 30 days, so if you only got 14 days on certain things and 30 days on others i didnt know that.

probably also depends on the company although when it comes to larger companies they probably just use the same rules across the company to keep things uniform. for example @ radioshack EVERYTHING has 30 day return except tmobile phones and that's just because of how tmobile wants to run their business

[gTen]

Well some states have different rules and enforce 30 day minimums for returns...not sure specifically for California.

As for compatibiity..TD-LTE shares a lot of the things with LTE but at the same time with wimax...it is compatible with FDD-LTE antenna...the main reason why wimax is not compatible with LTE is from the FDD-LTE spec and not the TD-LTE spec so some compatibility is possible...

Also TD-LTE can run in much smaller blocks of spectrum in comparison to FDD-LTE.

[ppcgpirate]

so whats the difference between LTE & Wimax? i know that LTE is rated faster at peak speeds and they run at different frequencies. what else is different?

[raiser1]

Originally Posted by rose1

I'm sure the phone is worth more than the retail of $199. Would you rather pay $399 for the phone and not have the $10 fee?

Um, yes. Absolutely. All plans being equal.
$199 + $240 = $439 i.e. $10/month on 24/mo contract
$399 = $40 cheaper, and that's assuming you you don't continue past your 2 year contract in which case cash up front is an even better deal.

I decided I'm not buying EVO anyway, no matter how bad I want it.
For me the math is even MORE broken.
I would have to buy 2 (wife always upgrades with me).

Forced ED plan +$10 would double my existing 2-phone retention plan from $75 to $150 a month.
$1800 more over two years. No thanks. EVO is not worth that.
Would I pay $399 cash each for 2 EVOs if I could keep my current plan?
Yes, it would save me $1000 over 2 years.

I'm waiting it out until I can provision this phone on my existing account.
I give it less than 6 months. And almost for sure when I am out of contract in December 2010.

[BlackDynamite]

Originally Posted by raiser1

Um, yes. Absolutely. All plans being equal.
$199 + $240 = $439 i.e. $10/month on 24/mo contract
$399 = $40 cheaper, and that's assuming you you don't continue past your 2 year contract in which case cash up front is an even better deal.

I decided I'm not buying EVO anyway, no matter how bad I want it.
For me the math is even MORE broken.
I would have to buy 2 (wife always upgrades with me).

Forced ED plan +$10 would double my existing 2-phone retention plan from $75 to $150 a month.
$1800 more over two years. No thanks. EVO is not worth that.
Would I pay $399 cash each for 2 EVOs if I could keep my current plan?
Yes, it would save me $1000 over 2 years.

I'm waiting it out until I can provision this phone on my existing account.
I give it less than 6 months. And almost for sure when I am out of contract in December 2010.

If you don't have an Everything plan, you will never be able to get this phone on your account. You might as well start looking at other carriers now, because in 6 months it will be the same situation.

You might be able to get it without the $10 fee in 6 months, but you will still need an everything plan.