While looking at the LTE supported bands for the 5c/5s, something stuck out for me. There is one phone for all the LTE bands of VZW, AT&T, T-Mobile, as well as the Canadian networks. Sprint, on the other hand, has a phone with LTE frequencies bundled with Japanese carriers. This could be good if you frequently travel to Japan but its more than likely you'd end up in Canada or moving your phone to another US carrier. What gives?
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Sprint treated like a bad stepchild?
- Thread starter DrakeMcEachern
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When the iPhone 4, 4s and 5 came out Sprint only had certain bands. Sprint didn't own Clearwire yet and Sprint wasn't in turn owned by Softbank yet.
The iPhone 5c and 5s were pretty much finalized and in production by the time Softbank completed it's buyout of Sprint (July I think). Sprint on it's own only operates in the 1900 frequency.
I don't pretend to know much about bands, but 800 and 2700 are coming now that Sprint has Clearwire and has shut down iDen (the iDen towers are being repurposed). The first of Sprint's triband devices are already being prepared to sell. But it was too late for the new iPhones. Expect though the iPhone 6 to have Sprint's new bands.
Note that the buyout of Sprint is a cosmic joke on Sprint. Originally they had the 2700 band because they got it from Nextel when they bought them out. Guess who Sprint sold the 2700 frequencies to? Clearwire. All the bazillions of dollars Sprint had to pay to get it back…sheesh!
The iPhone 5c and 5s were pretty much finalized and in production by the time Softbank completed it's buyout of Sprint (July I think). Sprint on it's own only operates in the 1900 frequency.
I don't pretend to know much about bands, but 800 and 2700 are coming now that Sprint has Clearwire and has shut down iDen (the iDen towers are being repurposed). The first of Sprint's triband devices are already being prepared to sell. But it was too late for the new iPhones. Expect though the iPhone 6 to have Sprint's new bands.
Note that the buyout of Sprint is a cosmic joke on Sprint. Originally they had the 2700 band because they got it from Nextel when they bought them out. Guess who Sprint sold the 2700 frequencies to? Clearwire. All the bazillions of dollars Sprint had to pay to get it back…sheesh!
When the iPhone 4, 4s and 5 came out Sprint only had certain bands. Sprint didn't own Clearwire yet and Sprint wasn't in turn owned by Softbank yet.
The iPhone 5c and 5s were pretty much finalized and in production by the time Softbank completed it's buyout of Sprint (July I think). Sprint on it's own only operates in the 1900 frequency.
I don't pretend to know much about bands, but 800 and 2700 are coming now that Sprint has Clearwire and has shut down iDen (the iDen towers are being repurposed). The first of Sprint's triband devices are already being prepared to sell. But it was too late for the new iPhones. Expect though the iPhone 6 to have Sprint's new bands.
Note that the buyout of Sprint is a cosmic joke on Sprint. Originally they had the 2700 band because they got it from Nextel when they bought them out. Guess who Sprint sold the 2700 frequencies to? Clearwire. All the bazillions of dollars Sprint had to pay to get it back sheesh!
^^^^ This. Or sprint is horrible and Apple knows it. In Hawaii our only option is Sprint 3G and the 3G is spotty at best.
Sprint knows it too. The word to CSRs is not to give any incentive to renew for customers whose contracts are up. Sprint is gambling that those customers will return because of Unlimited Data once the LTE rollout is done.
Of course, it's been a few months since Softbank took over and other than two new plans and now this early upgrade program I've not seen much from Softbank. I'm of the opinion that Sprint is Softbank's Nextel.