It has just crossed my mind that sprint is elimi ating its nextel division. And since this is a non-scannble freg range could this be a avenue for fire/law radios in the near future and if so would scanning them still be illegal since they would no longer be telecommunications freq.
NO MORE SPRINT/ NEXTEL
- Thread starter svtyone
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Actually, Sprint is only retiring the iDen technology that has been used in the Nextel fleet. The frequencies (still licensed to Sprint) will continue to be operated by them using a LTE technology (once rebanding is completed and their spectrum holdings are contiguous).
None-scannable? Which band are you thinking of? Post rebanding Sprint gets the upper 800 LMR band [Wiki] which will probably go to LTE. They'll have about 7MHz so that's pretty decent. The 900MHz on the other hand...that could be put up for grabs. Most of the contiguous channels are not wide enough nor would I see the FCC allow any LTE or Cellular tech there.
Even in the rural area where I live you can still find some Nextel sites. They're usually in the denser areas. But for the most part they're cleaning out their shelters or even completely removing them and any hint they were ever there.
I figured since the lte system was supposidly already up the range they operate on for nextel was open . And as far as non-scannable i figured since it was on a cell carrier it was considered to be telecommunications which is illegal to scan. Just a thought that crossed my mind while sittin around
Cell phones have been digital for ages. You can't hear them no matter what the band.
mmckenna
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Nextel was an SMR (Specialized Mobile Radio), and didn't fall under the rules that made it illegal to monitor. Nextel worked for quite a few years using radios that looked more like a standard hand held radio than a cell phone.
It was after cell phones started to get really popular that Nextel started offering telephone service on their system. Originally it was really lousy, they were trying to squeeze down the bandwidth on the phone calls to pack in enough capacity and not affect the PTT side of the business. They didn't do well, it made for neither a reliable PTT system or a good telephone system.
Sprint really wants those 800MHz channels, they work well for covering wide areas. As was said above, they'll stick LTE in there and have a pretty good system, if they do it right.
for years there have been digital scanners avail. but iden was a analog system hence the inability to adapt into the newer digital phones. this is why sprint said they were originally canning the nextel/iden network cause there service wasnt as good cause all the new towers were for digital signal. but i know you can modify a scanner to scann the nextel/cell range but i was speaking in legality. but my question has beens answered thanks for the info i thought my scanning days were numbered lol.
Huh???
iDEN is absolutely digital, in fact the word is right in the name: "Integrated Digital Enhanced Network"
mmckenna
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iDen is, and always was a TDMA digital system. The reason Sprint is getting off iDen is that they don't want to support a completely separate network, they are putting their push to talk service on their CDMA network. This is going to save them a lot of money. Removing the existing Nextel sites is happening because there are existing Sprint CDMA sites already covering the area.
kayn1n32008
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SVTYONE: iDEN is a digital technology that operates(ed) in the LMR band that scanners CAN scan with out modification, the scanners just can not track or decode the iDEN format.
iDEN has ALWAYS been digital technology.
Cellular/PCS/CDMA/CDMA2000/HSPA/UMTS are completly different formats that operate in another part of the 800MHz band and 1.9GHz band that scanners cannot scan or decode or be modified to scan. There are iDEN phones that were capable of using both PCS AND iDEN networks.
The reason Sprint is abandoning iDEN is to replace it with modern technology, iDEN has been around since the 1990's and is very old technology.
SVTYONE: iDEN is a digital technology that operates(ed) in the LMR band that scanners CAN scan with out modification, the scanners just can not track or decode the iDEN format.
iDEN has ALWAYS been digital technology.
Cellular/PCS/CDMA/CDMA2000/HSPA/UMTS are completly different formats that operate in another part of the 800MHz band and 1.9GHz band that scanners cannot scan or decode or be modified to scan. There are iDEN phones that were capable of using both PCS AND iDEN networks.
The reason Sprint is abandoning iDEN is to replace it with modern technology, iDEN has been around since the 1990's and is very old technology.
quarterwave
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Sprint has been getting building permits in my area for a few months at various tower sites, and some of them are listed as antenna upgrades. I know they have been busy adding fiber connections, and Clearwire was helping to replace radios and t-line at sites, with a controller that sits in the shack, and is connected to a radio at the top of the tower, and is fed by fiber going up the tower, then the t-line is really short. I see and hear alot of this stuff as my company built out, and operated about 800 sites for Sprint, then later sold the towers to tower companies, and then the network to Sprint. Much of the work involves adding LTE. We sold some 700Mhz spectrum we owned to AT&T, and they are putting in more data with it as well.
Nextel...the end of an era. Nextel in it's heyday was the only carrier in the black, with the highest retention, ARPU and lowest CPGA in the business...then Sprint got their hands in it....lol.
Nextel...the end of an era. Nextel in it's heyday was the only carrier in the black, with the highest retention, ARPU and lowest CPGA in the business...then Sprint got their hands in it....lol.
according to what ive read here sprint/nextel doesnt even know there own systems then. cause all the info i have refered to has been provided by sprint themselves in explaining why they never came out with a true nextel smart phone. there excuse to me was that its a analog system that the new digital software could not support. that was strieght from a nextel rep. maybe they dont know and are guessing but that was there excuse for not offering a smartphone with true iden nextel. sorry for sounding like a dummy i havnt really read up on the iden network just runnig with what i was told by the reps.i never cared to scan telecom or nextel but thought the system was clearing the way for a new tactic from law enforcement to hide there activitys.
carlt
Member
I am pretty sure I started hearing radio ads this morning for AT&T PTT service! Anyone know if maybe they are buying the service or starting their own?
ecps92
Member
AT&T has been pushing [no puhn intended] their own PTT for sometime now. Verizons was a flop
kayn1n32008
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They did offer a 'smart phone" it was a Black Berry. The version I own (on Telus iDEN) Operates purely on Telus iDEN network.
svtyone said:
They did offer a 'smart phone" it was a Black Berry. The version I own (on Telus iDEN) Operates purely on Telus iDEN network.
That's where you got steered in the wrong direction. Reps have to tell you something. "I don't know" is a four letter word to them. So when they say things like this, or they say they can see how the network is running, or make remarks like "oh, we'll just have the tower reset" they're just feeding you info that typically works for customers. Most carriers have their reps open up a ticket that, hopefully, makes it to the right person in network operations or system performance.
i had the blackberry. even the black berry did not offer as good of features as the non nextel versions. and that was according to sprint cause the analog part of the phone for nextel took up to much room for the good digital accessories. and yeah we tried the verizon ptt and what a usless tool. you still need the phonenumber and it would work maybe 1/2 the time if you were lucky.
mmckenna
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Nextel reps, from my past experience, know precisely zero about how the equipment works. They'll tell you whatever it takes to get a sale, and promise you the moon. They nearly talked our police department into ditching their VHF system for Nextel. For some reason some guy who walks in off the street saying he's from Nextel had more sway than the guy who'd worked with them for 17 years. It took Nextel about 10 minutes to get them to think about ditching the VHF system, and it took me 18 months to get them to change their mind.
kayn1n32008
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There is absolutely no analog when it comes to iDEN, please accept this and stop referring to an 'analog part' iDEN is short for integrated DIGITAL enhanced network
svtyone said:
There is absolutely no analog when it comes to iDEN, please accept this and stop referring to an 'analog part' iDEN is short for integrated DIGITAL enhanced network
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i understand that. i was explaining why this even came up in my head and where i got the fact that iden was analog. read a little deeper you will see i understand its digital. i never doubted what was said here i was explaining that sprint was telling me it was analog. do you get it now?
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