USCC Q1 results

[freibrauer]

I do not believe that USCC's phones will support roaming on ATT's LTE. They use a Band that is different from USCC's LTE bands. USCC has the first quad Band phone but 700 mhz spectrum is a mess. USCC will have compatibility with Sprint though once Sprints LTE goes online. That said it isn't sure if Sprint or any other providers are willing to sign 4G roaming agreements when they themselves wouldn't have phones capable of roaming on USCC's network.

But their churn was among their highest quarters yet. It is really hard to do well when your current customers are leaving you in droves.

Also, USCC needs to sign some LTE roaming agreements with AT&T pronto, or else they are going to be shooting themselves in the foot. Right now, people sign up with USCC because they have a pretty 3G coverage map with their roaming agreements. When LTE is actually on consumers' radar later this year, having a splotchy LTE map that misses all the large cities is going to be a pretty substantial problem.

[DuckKane]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (Windows Mobile; Opera Mini/5.1.21594/27.1597; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10)

That, and the carriers that get it pay a VERY heavy premium to Apple, USCC being the smaller carrier that they are would probably end up even deeper in the hole.

As evidenced by Dan Hesse's (Sprint's CEO) recent action of taking a voluntary $3.2M pay-cut specifically for that reason.

And yet, every other poster in this forum believes that it would be magically worth it. I do not.
I suppose we know that they make an exta $4 in ARPU. multiply that by lost customers, and you get a sad $120K. for that, they should invest millions and shell out to Apple? makes no sense. Businesses have to make choices. Others can be debated, but this one was the right one for them.

[BodomSlayer]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (Windows Mobile; Opera Mini/5.1.21594/27.1597; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/11.10)



And yet, every other poster in this forum believes that it would be magically worth it. I do not.
I suppose we know that they make an exta $4 in ARPU. multiply that by lost customers, and you get a sad $120K. for that, they should invest millions and shell out to Apple? makes no sense. Businesses have to make choices. Others can be debated, but this one was the right one for them.

Choices...choices...choices. I hate Apple. I hate the iPhone. I wish Apple would go bankrupt. But, the fact of the matter remains:

Offer the most popular devices ever on one of the best networks and at (what were) awesome prices? Hell that would be a no brainer for me. That being said my friends family left for Verizon for the iPhone with 5 lines. We left for the better and, cheaper, phone selection, plus the greater national coverage and 4G are all solid points for us.

[newyork4me]

I do not believe that USCC's phones will support roaming on ATT's LTE. They use a Band that is different from USCC's LTE bands. USCC has the first quad Band phone but 700 mhz spectrum is a mess. USCC will have compatibility with Sprint though once Sprints LTE goes online. That said it isn't sure if Sprint or any other providers are willing to sign 4G roaming agreements when they themselves wouldn't have phones capable of roaming on USCC's network.

Okay, so AT&T is the most compatible LTE roaming partner. AT&T is deploying their network in lower B and C. These two blocks are Band 17, and that is what their devices support.

USCC is using lower A, B, and possibly C. As a result, they are using Band 12 supporting devices (as it support A-C).

Thus, US Cellular devices are 100% compatible with roaming onto AT&T's LTE network. (AT&T's current devices could only roam where USCC has deployed in bands other than A).

And, of course, both USCC and AT&T will use AWS too.

[dsquare86]

We left for the better and, cheaper, phone selection, plus the greater national coverage and 4G are all solid points for us.

I don't understand how cheaper and Verizon come into the same sentence? $350 ETF on a smartphone is insane. I am riding my contracts out saving myself $35 a month in ETF fees until I figure I can break even and run.

[BodomSlayer]

I don't understand how cheaper and Verizon come into the same sentence? $350 ETF on a smartphone is insane. I am riding my contracts out saving myself $35 a month in ETF fees until I figure I can break even and run.

Droid Razr and Stratosphere were each 149.99 with a 50 mail in rebate. Verizon was/is running a promo for an EXTRA 50 mail in rebate.

[pistolpetefan23]

A bit off topic, but USCC confirmed on its Twitter account today that they will be carrying the HTC One V.

[BodomSlayer]

A bit off topic, but USCC confirmed on its Twitter account today that they will be carrying the HTC One V.

I already have the Desire :-p

[freibrauer]

According to the FCC paperwork on the Aviator. It supports Bands 2, 4, 5 and 12. This would be 700 MHZ Lower A,B,C (I believe ATT's Block C is something other than Lower C) 850 MHZ, 1700 MHZ (AWS) and 1900 MHZ (PCS). So the only major carrier developing LTE in their range of support is Sprint who is developing their LTE on 1700 MHZ and thus would be a natural Roaming partner. It will also support other 1700 MHZ (AWS) LTE companies but no one has yet deployed there outside of Sprint who are not yet operational.

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApp...tml?id=1615482

Okay, so AT&T is the most compatible LTE roaming partner. AT&T is deploying their network in lower B and C. These two blocks are Band 17, and that is what their devices support.

USCC is using lower A, B, and possibly C. As a result, they are using Band 12 supporting devices (as it support A-C).

Thus, US Cellular devices are 100% compatible with roaming onto AT&T's LTE network. (AT&T's current devices could only roam where USCC has deployed in bands other than A).

And, of course, both USCC and AT&T will use AWS too.

[newyork4me]

According to the FCC paperwork on the Aviator. It supports Bands 2, 4, 5 and 12. This would be 700 MHZ Lower A,B,C (I believe ATT's Block C is something other than Lower C) 850 MHZ, 1700 MHZ (AWS) and 1900 MHZ (PCS). So the only major carrier developing LTE in their range of support is Sprint who is developing their LTE on 1700 MHZ and thus would be a natural Roaming partner. It will also support other 1700 MHZ (AWS) LTE companies but no one has yet deployed there outside of Sprint who are not yet operational.

https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApp...tml?id=1615482

I agree, the Aviator supports Band 12 (my last post was perhaps a little unclear on this).

However, AT&T's block C is the lower C. Verizon is the one using the upper C block. Band 12 devices 100% support ALL of AT&T's deployment so far. And since it supports AWS too, it will support AT&T's deployment in the future too.

Note, Sprint is NOT deploying over AWS. In fact, they don't have any. They are deploying over the PCS G block, which is not supported in the conventional PCS band. It is extended PCS and is a separate band that needs to be supported (and doesn't appear to be from the listed bands). AT&T is without a doubt the preferred roaming partner.

[jerry 12]

That, and the carriers that get it pay a VERY heavy premium to Apple, USCC being the smaller carrier that they are would probably end up even deeper in the hole.

If uscc would just get some good high end phones in 4G or 3G it would help. Uscc only 4G phone is running a single core CPU and most other 4G phone have duall core CPU and getting ready to come out with quad core CPU's.

[freibrauer]

The Samsung S3 will not be Quad Core on LTE due to chipset issues. It's unlikely that there will be any Quad Core LTE phones in the USA for awhile still, probably second half Q3 or early Q4 according to everything I have heard.

The S3 will be Dual Core on the US providers with LTE. Unless something unexpected occurs.

If uscc would just get some good high end phones in 4G or 3G it would help. Uscc only 4G phone is running a single core CPU and most other 4G phone have duall core CPU and getting ready to come out with quad core CPU's.

[freibrauer]

Everything I had heard and read said ATT had deployed over the D and E block of the 700 mhz so far and thus it was using Bands 13 and 17 and thus not supported.


It's a bit dated but here's a link that mentions those Bands. http://www.lte.tmworld.com/blog/700-mhz-problem

I agree, the Aviator supports Band 12 (my last post was perhaps a little unclear on this).

However, AT&T's block C is the lower C. Verizon is the one using the upper C block. Band 12 devices 100% support ALL of AT&T's deployment so far. And since it supports AWS too, it will support AT&T's deployment in the future too.

Note, Sprint is NOT deploying over AWS. In fact, they don't have any. They are deploying over the PCS G block, which is not supported in the conventional PCS band. It is extended PCS and is a separate band that needs to be supported (and doesn't appear to be from the listed bands). AT&T is without a doubt the preferred roaming partner.

[newyork4me]

Everything I had heard and read said ATT had deployed over the D and E block of the 700 mhz so far and thus it was using Bands 13 and 17 and thus not supported.


It's a bit dated but here's a link that mentions those Bands. http://www.lte.tmworld.com/blog/700-mhz-problem

That article isn't the most clear, but AT&T is using lower B & C. The lower D (and parts of E) is unpaired spectrum that was owned by Qualcomm. Qualcomm recently sold that to AT&T, but that will only be used for supplemental downlink when LTE-Advanced comes about. It is unpaired, so you can't deploy FDD-LTE in it alone--it's only good for carrier bonding (which is a few years off still).

AT&T IS using Band 17 though. Band 17 is lower B and lower C. That's why USCC is compatible with their Band 12 devices--Band 12 support lower A, lower B, and lower C. USCC devices can fully roam on AT&T, but AT&T devices can only roam where USCC uses lower B or C, and not A.

Put another way, Band 17 is like a rectangle and Band 12 is like a square. All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Band 12 supports all of Band 17, but Band 17 doesn't support all of Band 12.

[tearsonurcheek]

Everything I had heard and read said ATT had deployed over the D and E block of the 700 mhz so far and thus it was using Bands 13 and 17 and thus not supported.


It's a bit dated but here's a link that mentions those Bands. http://www.lte.tmworld.com/blog/700-mhz-problem

And even if AT&T LTE was supported, it would still be data only until uscc supports VoLTE, which means that uscc would still likely rely on Verizon/Sprint for roaming agreements for voice/data. I don't know that a phone would be able to do voice on one carrier and data on another at this point.