03
Oct
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T-Mobile's Acquisition Of MetroPCS Has Been Approved By Both Companies' Boards, Expected To Complete Mid-2013

Posted by in MetroPCS, News, T-Mobile

Previously, we'd heard rumors and whispers that T-Mobile (by way of its parent company Deutsche Telekom) would be acquiring MetroPCS. Today, both companies' boards have approved the merger and, pending regulatory and MetroPCS shareholder approval, the deal should be completed by mid-2013. The two companies will have a combined subscriber base of about 42.5 million customers, which still leaves it in fourth place in the U.S. behind Sprint with 56 million and AT&T/Verizon who each have over 100 million users.

The biggest news is that this will allow T-Mobile the spectrum it needs to rollout a competitive LTE network.  In fact, T-Mo's CEO John Legere hopes to some day be able to "taunt" competitors over their LTE coverage.

16
Aug
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Editorial: The $3.6 Billion Spectrum Sale To Verizon That Was Just Approved Is Kind Of Really Shady

Posted by in Carriers, Editorials, News, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

The US Department of Justice approved a sale of unused wireless spectrum to Verizon today, marking one of the largest spectrum sales to a single corporate entity in history. The unused portion of the AWS spectrum is owned by a number of cable companies (known collectively as "SpectrumCo") that bought it during the FCC AWS auction back in 2008.

Of course, back in the old spectrum heydays of, uh, four very long years ago, those megahertz were a lot cheaper. In fact, $1.3 billion cheaper. The cable company axis of evil consortium purchased the AWS blocks for a comparatively paltry $2.3 billion at the time.

31
Jul
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Verizon Gets $1.25 Million Slap On The Wrist From FCC For Blocking Tethering Apps, Via Block C Spectrum Rules

Posted by in Legal, News, Verizon Wireless

The FCC and Verizon settled out an ongoing dispute about Verizon's removal of tethering apps from the then-Android Market for devices operating on its network, stating that the "Block C" spectrum rules it agreed to when it purchased the frequency bands obligate it to provide its customers open access to software. Those rules, if you haven't seen them before, are essentially:

[Verizon] shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee's C Block network.

The scope of the FCC settlement (meaning Verizon decided it was no longer worth fighting) is quite narrow - Verizon must now allow customers unfettered access to tethering apps, and in return the FCC will end the investigation.

23
Jul
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WSJ: Sprint's Spectrum Holdings May Be Too Sparse To Keep Up In The LTE Arms Race

Posted by in News, Sprint

Just last week, Sprint finally lit up its LTE network. Not before selling a number of LTE-equipped phones, however. If you were worried about Sprint's ability to keep up with the big dogs in the race to expand LTE coverage, the WSJ has some comforting words for you. Wait, did I say "comforting"? I'm sorry, I meant worrying. Very, very worrying.

The long and short of it is, Sprint simply doesn't seem to have enough spectrum to keep up. The initial LTE rollout covered 15 markets, compared to Verizon's 330 and AT&T's 47. Despite the rather distant third-place position, Sprint hopes to have coverage in all areas by the end of 2013.

25
Jun
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Verizon And T-Mobile Strike Agreement To Swap Spectrum, T-Mobile Reiterates Plans For LTE Next Year

Posted by in News, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Verizon and T-Mobile may not regularly make headlines together, but this morning the two companies have announced that they've struck a deal to swap spectrum (and some money) to bolster both companies' LTE networks. Yes, including the one T-Mobile has yet to build. While specifics haven't been disclosed, it sounds like T-Mobile will be the big winner here, walking away with a net gain in spectrum holdings—something the company desperately needs—while paying an undisclosed amount of money to Verizon for the trouble.

The deal isn't solid yet, though. Some of the spectrum that Verizon is offering to T-Mobile technically belongs to SpectrumCo, Cox, and Leap at the moment.

22
Feb
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T-Mobile, Shockingly, Unhappy With Verizon's Spectrum Hoarding, Asks FCC To Block Acquisition Of Cable Companies' Holdings

Posted by in News, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Remember back in December when Verizon announced its plans to buy a truckload of spectrum licenses from several cable companies? T-Mobile does, and they're not happy about it.  The fourth-largest US carrier told the FCC that the deal would allow Verizon to "accumulate even more spectrum on top of an already dominant position."

Verizon fired back with the time-honored legal defense of "Well, why not? Nobody else is using it!" In a response to the filing, Verizon claimed that the deal would make use of spectrum that is currently going unutilized by the cable companies. The FCC currently has the goal of ensuring spectrum is utilized as efficiently as possible, so Verizon's response is appropriately laced with an "Isn't this what you wanted us to do?" tone.

18
Feb
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LG Spectrum Gets Root Access Thanks To Dan Rosenberg

Posted by in Android OS, Development, News, Spectrum
Last Updated: August 27th, 2012

Dan Rosenberg, a security researcher and rooting mastermind, has done it again, this time making quick work of the LG Spectrum. In a post to his blog just moments ago, Rosenberg simply states "Yawn. LG loses, users win," and gives instructions on downloading the scripts he provides for Windows, Linux, and OSX.

Considering all that Rosenberg has done (and continues to do) for the community, I'd highly recommend supporting him by hitting the donate button below. Having already taken that possibility into consideration, Rosenberg has the following to say on the subject of supporting his efforts with money:

I encourage anyone thinking of donating in thanks to direct your donation to the American Red Cross or another reputable charitable organization.

19
Jan
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LG Spectrum Now Available On Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE Network - 4.5-Inch 720p Display And 1.5GHz Dual-Core Processor For $200 On Contract

Posted by in LG, News, Spectrum, Verizon Wireless

Just last week, LG revealed the Spectrum, an impressive new flagship phone for Verizon. A glance at the spec sheet showed some impressive numbers on paper, and we went hands-on during CES and came away impressed. The essential specs:

  • 4.5″ True HD IPS display (1280x720 at 329DPI), protected by Gorilla Glass
  • 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 processor
  • 8MP rear camera, shoots 1080p video, 1.3MP front camera
  • 1GB of RAM
  • 4GB of on-board storage, 16GB micro SD card pre-installed
  • 4G LTE
  • Android 2.3.5 (Android 4.0 update promised)
  • 1830mAh battery (optional 3000mAh extended battery available at launch)
  • Dimensions:  5.33″ x 2.71″ x .41″
  • Weight: 4.99 oz.

25
Oct
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Sprint Plans To Deploy LTE-Advanced In The First Half of 2013, Has Plans For Voice Over LTE, Says Iyad Tarazi

Posted by in 4G, News, Sprint

There's been a lot of buzz over Sprint's LTE plans lately, but the company's vice president of network development and engineering, Iyad Tarazi has just added more fuel to the fire, indicating that Sprint plans to deploy LTE-Advanced in a 10x10 configuration by the first half of 2013, using its 800MHz spectrum, offering download speeds of around 12-15 MB/s.

Meanwhile, Sprint's deployment of LTE on their 1900MHz spectrum is still on track for commercial launch by mid-2012. By the end of 2013, the company plans on having LTE coverage more expansive than their current CDMA network, covering 250-277 million POPs.

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Tarazi also indicated plans to move voice service from CDMA 1x to LTE, launching the first VoLTE devices in the first quarter of 2013.

24
Oct
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PSA: Verizon Locking Bootloaders On LTE Devices Likely Does Not Violate FCC Block C Spectrum Rules

Posted by in Legal, News, Verizon Wireless

It seems there's been some renewed interest in the subject of Block C LTE "no locking" provisions after news that the Motorola RAZR will come equipped with a locked bootloader per Verizon's request. About four months ago, I published an article on this very topic. To summarize: Verizon can basically do almost anything it wants with handsets on its network in the name of reasonable network management - subject to a few limitations and caveats.

But before we get into the reasoning for this, let's talk history.

The Block C Auction Of 2008

Back in 2008, the FCC auctioned off a block of the 700MHz wireless spectrum dubbed "Block C." Verizon was the sole purchaser of the block, having bid $4.7 billion to acquire the chunk of spectrum.

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