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A cactus cell tower

At 12:01am Usa/EDT yesterday, Sprint turned off the iDEN network nationally. With the iDEN network shut downwardly, the adjacent step for Sprint is to reuse the iDEN spectrum for 3G/4G services.

Sprint's shutdown of iDEN service ends the eight-year period of Sprint owning and running Nextel's iDEN network in the United States. The catamenia began with mismanagement, civilization clashes between Nextel and Sprint, and divestitures of international operations that helped iDEN grow in the Americas. It was complicated by Sprint's work to decide its 3G upgrade path (which it wound up choosing CDMA2000 1X EvDO) and its efforts to consolidate and get out of the DSL concern (which became Embarq, now part of CenturyLink).

Past the end of 2022, Sprint'southward reputation was in tatters, and it vowed to evangelize on its promises of shutting down iDEN and using the spectrum for 3G and 4G service. Now, it can begin the fulfill that promise through its Network Vision program.

Network Vision spectrum chart

With the iDEN network being turned off, Sprint is now free to fully utilize the ESMR 800 spectrum for CDMA 1X and LTE service, which it gained approval for last year. Consequently, Sprint will become the third national operator with the ability to offering widespread rural 4G service. In most of Dart's current footprint, Sprint volition be able to offer CDMA 1X and 5MHz LTE.

Nonetheless, there are some complications with that. Because the United States is bordered by Canada and Mexico, Sprint has to be careful about interference Mike past Telus at the Canadian edge and Nextel Mexico at the Mexican edge.

Some of the directly border areas (like at the Great Lakes and Northwest Washington) will not allow more than than CDMA 1X and 1.4MHz LTE to operate there. For the fourth dimension being, I suspect these areas volition only accept CDMA 1X, since they are urban areas where Sprint's PCS G cake covers them with LTE quite well. Other border areas (like the Southwest edge, stretching from California to Texas) will allow CDMA 1X and 3MHz LTE.

Borders are non the only problem areas, though. Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia are limited to 3MHz LTE considering the ESMR band is farther divided between Sprint and SouthernLinc (owned by Southern Visitor, an electric ability utility company). SouthernLinc recently began offering 3G service through an indirect wholesale agreement with T-Mobile, and information technology is expected that it will transition iDEN to LTE in the future, though no plans take been announced notwithstanding.

Regardless of these issues, Sprint has been quietly working to prepare for the activation of CDMA 1X and LTE on ESMR. Virtually every Sprint subscriber using a phone released past Dart in the last three years will support at least CDMA 1X on ESMR. New devices supporting LTE on ESMR are coming in a few months.

It's time, Sprint. Work swiftly on the path to domination.