Hurricane Sandy Exposed Flaws in Public Safety LTE

Hurricane Sandy exposed flaw in public-safety LTE plan

By Tammy Parker

Comment |  Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Hurricane Sandy's brought down numerous commercial cell sites on the Northeastern seaboard and may have highlighted a glaring flaw in plans for the nationwide public-safety mobile broadband network. In a Sept. 25 presentation, Craig Farrill, First Responder Network Authority board member, advocated for creating a diverse nationwide public-safety LTE network composed of multiple wireless networks, including commercial cellular networks, in order to facilitate widespread coverage quickly. However, those commercial cellular networks are the same ones that failed during Sandy due to a host of issues: downed towers, widespread electrical outages, flooded generators and drained backup batteries. One quarter of all cell sites across 10 states were estimated to have been disabled, at least temporarily, by the storm. "These networks failed when we would have needed them most," said Charles F. Dowd, a deputy chief who oversees the New York Police Department's communications division and is a member of the FirstNet board. "The idea of using commercial networks is a real concern for public safety," he told the New York Times. Other FirstNet board members who visited New York after the hurricane "clearly saw the difference between the performance of commercial and public safety networks," said Dowd. "They knew the new system cannot be built to commercial standards. It has to be at a higher level of redundancy and survivability." But building a nature-proof network would be costly as well as nearly impossible. "To think that you can build a network that can withstand anything and everything that Mother Nature throws at it is a bit unrealistic," said Bill Smith, president of AT&T (NYSE:T) Network Operations, according to the New York Times. "It's not impossible, but it would be incredibly expensive." Meanwhile, millions of dollars in federal grant money are sitting unused while local agencies hold off on plans to build out their own LTE networks at the behest of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which grew concerned in May that the networks those jurisdictions were planning might not be compatible with the future nationwide network. In July, the FCC announced the 21 jurisdictions that received public-safety broadband waivers in May 2010 allowing them to lease 700 MHz spectrum from the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) would see those rights expire on Sept. 2, after which the entities needed to acquire a six-month special temporary authority (STA) from the FCC to continue operating. Only the state of Texas has been awarded an STA to use its PSST spectrum. "You can't expect local governments to just sit there and not use resources for several months while the federal government tries to make a decision on how to proceed," Barry Fraser, interim general manager for the Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority in California, told the New York Times. "I don't know how much longer we can keep all of them on board."

Trouble in the VoLTE World!

This is going to be a serious problem particularly for those in the Public Safety world who think VoLTE is going to replace PTT radio networks.  It will be interesting to see how battery life will be expanded, maybe the VoLTE hand set will look like the old cellphone "bricks"!

1. Study: VoLTE slashes smartphone battery life by 50%

By Tammy Parker

Comment |  Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Operators hoping to engage in widespread deployment of voice over LTE in order to gain spectral efficiencies in their network may face some unhappy customers because one vendor's recent tests showed that VoLTE calls can slash a device's talk-time battery life by half. The study comparing device battery life for calls placed over an LTE network vs. calls placed over a CDMA network was conducted on an unnamed U.S. operator's network in two major markets using a smartphone capable of supporting both CDMA and VoLTE voice calling. "The device's estimated battery life was reduced by 50 percent or about 252 minutes of talk time when voice calls were placed over the LTE network, compared to voice calls placed over the CDMA network," according to the study, authored by Ardeshir Ghanbarzadeh, director, services development, for Metrico Wireless, which was acquired by Spirent Communications in September. "The significant difference in current drain between VoLTE and CDMA technologies for voice calling applications suggests further optimization of devices supporting VoLTE calls are needed in order to give end-users talk-time battery life expectancy levels similar to that of 3G devices," said Ghanbarzadeh in the report, a copy of which was obtained by FierceBroadbandWireless prior to its public release. The smartphone tested had a fully charged, lithium-ion 3.7-volt 1540 mAh battery. View a larger version on the Web. CDMA voice-only calls resulted in an average battery current drain of 183 milliamps (mA), and average power consumption of 680 milliwatts (mW). That was about 50 percent less than the power gobbled up by VoLTE calls, which produced an average current drain of 365 mA and average power consumption of 1358 mW. Interestingly, tests of multi-service simultaneous voice and data calls using just the LTE network revealed 11 percent less current drain than multi-service sessions using CDMA for voice and LTE for data. "This is possibly attributed to the fact that only the LTE radio is in use when using VoLTE/LTE, where as the CDMA radio and the LTE radio are in use when conducting the session in CDMA/LTE," wrote Ghanbarzadeh. Specifically, the average current drain for CDMA voice combined with LTE data was measured at 889 mA, and the average power consumption at 3280 mW. Employing VoLTE for calls along with LTE for data service produced an average current drain of 790 mA, and 2915 mW of power consumption. CDMA operators, such as MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) have led the charge into LTE and VoLTE as they seek to replace their older 3G technology with something more data friendly and spectrally efficient. In addition VoLTE enables carriers to set up a native mobile VoIP solution the can compete with over-the-top calling services such as Skype and incorporate new features, such as video, into traditional voice service. MetroPCS became one of the first mobile operators in the world to deploy VoLTE when it launched service this past summer in the Dallas-Fort Worth market. DespiteFierceBroadbandWireless' inquiries, the operator did not make a representative available to discuss whether MetroPCS' VoLTE users have suffered from the types of battery-life issues described in the Metrico/Spirent study. T-Mobile has said it will continue supporting MetroPCS' VoLTE deployments after the two operators' merger closes, likely in the first half of 2013, but has no intention of expanding the VoLTE service anytime soon. Verizon Wireless CTO Nicola Palmer recently disclosed the operator expects to begin consumer trials of VoLTE in late 2013 with commercial VoLTE service expected in 2014, two years later than initial commercial launch plans. Verizon has indicated a desire to sunset its CDMA networks by 2021. AT&T (NYSE:T), meanwhile, consistently targeted 2013 for its VoLTE launch. The operator intends to shut down its 2G GSM network by 2017 Related articles: Verizon pushes back VoLTE service until 2014 Updated: Verizon Wireless to sunset 2G and 3G CDMA networks by 2021 T-Mobile will support MetroPCS' VoLTE but won't rush to expand it AT&T will shutter its 2G network by 2017 The next generation of voice: VoLTE

Keep your Priorities in Order!

Stress is a Choice An Empty Pickle Jar A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty pickle jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two glasses of chocolate milk from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. The Moral of the Story - The professor waited for the laughter to subside.... "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things...your family, your children, your health, yourfriends, your favorite passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full." "The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your home, your car." "The sand is everything else...The small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are critical to your happiness." "Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house or fix the disposal." "Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities, the rest is just sand."

FirstNet Board Meets, moves forward, Utilities didn't even get an honorable mention!

The FirsNet Board met recently to kick off their new activities to build a nationwide 700 MHz LTE network in the D-Block but despite all the rhetoric floating around the industry about sharing with other critical infrastructure users, such as the nation's utilities, there was not even mention of utilities reported by the trade press at this meeting.

See Urgent Communications article here!

Marc

Is Solar fading into the Sunset?

The article below is indicative of the realities of solar energy, great product in theory but the economics just don't work, at least not yet.

Continuing lowering prices for less effective solar cells make it impossible to make money in the business as a manufacturer.  Reminds me of the story of the Texas Aggie grad selling watermelons, he decided he needed a bigger truck for us his business.  When asked why he said, "well I am losing a dollar on each melon but with this small truck I can't sell enough to even break-even, so I figure if I could just get  a bigger truck I could make up the loss by significantly increasing my volume of sales!"  Rumor has it this Aggie went broke, got into politics and ended up as the Mayor of large Texas City.

Marc

Is the sun setting on solar?

By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Comment |  Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

While low prices for PV technology have led to increasing installations, these prices are also likely to lower quality technology and installations, possibly resulting in a global backlash against solar power, Pike Research contends. Solar technologies, including concentrated solar power, photovoltaic , and concentrated photovoltaic, are going through a significant correction as a seven-year period of capacity building, aggressive pricing, and promises of grid parity driven largely by feed-in tariffs comes to an end, according to Pike. Given high levels of capacity, mounting inventory, and decreasing incentive levels, PV industry growth could be flat to negative for the next couple of years, Pike concludes. "Low prices and generous tariffs have led directly to the expectation of even lower prices, even as manufacturing capacities have increased and new market entrants have flooded the industry, most assuming that the outcome would be high profits," said Paula Mints, Director of Solar Research for Pike. "For technology suppliers, the expectation that prices will consistently decrease has led to painful consolidation and failure. Certainly, selling less and losing less would be in the industry's best interests. Historically, however, the PV industry has behaved in a manner that indicates growth is the desired state, even if this growth is unprofitable." All this aside, solar is not going away and will play an important part in the future energy mix, she added.

FCC PLANS TO ENFORCE UHF/VHF NARROWBANDING MANDATE

Aug 28, 2012 5:26 PM, By Donny Jackson

More From Policy & Law

• PSCR seeks global support for public-safety LTE
• FCC plans to enforce UHF/VHF narrowbanding mandate
• Video: Dowd on FirstNet board appointment
• Gurss: Congress may have to revisit T-Band mandate
• NTIA releases information on planning grant program for 700 MHz LTE

» more

With a little more than four months left until LMR systems operating on frequencies below 512 MHz are required to migrate from 25 kHz channels to 12.5 kHz channels under the FCC’s narrowbanding rules, licensees should be prepared for enforcement consequences if they do not meet their obligations or secure a waiver from the agency, a commission official said last week.

“In the past year, we’ve seen a lot of progress, as many licensees have migrated their systems to narrowband operations—this has been very gratifying,” David Furth, deputy chief of the FCC’s public safety and homeland security bureau, said during a session at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) conference last week. “But we still have thousands of public-safety licensees who are operating in wideband mode, and time is short.

“Let me reiterate what the commission has said all along: We are not moving the narrowbanding deadline. It is, and will be, Jan. 1, 2013.”

Furth said affected licensees have two choices to remain in compliance: make the transition to narrowband technology or get a waiver from the FCC. The commission has detailed the conditions for waiver approval, one of which takes into account when a waiver application is filed, Furth said.

“In order to obtain a waiver, you need to make a timely request—that means now, if you have not filed a waiver,” he said. “I cannot overemphasize that waiver requests that are filed at the 11^th hour before the deadline will be viewed with skepticism and are very likely not to be granted.”

Affected licensees that fail to narrowband and do not obtain a waiver will suffer consequences, Furth said.

“Will the commission enforce its rules? The answer is emphatically, ‘Yes,’” he said. “We are already working with the FCC’s enforcement bureau to prepare for 2013, and the enforcement bureau plans to issue guidance soon, reminding licensees of their narrowbanding obligations and of the commission’s intent to aggressively enforce the narrowband mandate.

“It is important to get the word out to your friends and neighbors to make sure that everyone is taking this obligation seriously. This is serious.”

Harsh words from David Furth to the Public Safety world, but can anyone imagine the FCC actually shutting down a Public Safety Network in January 2013 because they did not narrowband?  I certainly can't. 

If you want an example of an FCC hard deadline in the Public Safety world I will refer you to the 800 MHz Re-Banding Mandate issued in August 2004 to be finished in December 2007, it is now August 2012 and it is still not done and the process has outlived not only Nextel, but the actual iDEN Network which is now being decommissioned. 

It will be an interesting 2013 in the regulatory world!

Marc 

Sprint Crows about its Backhaul, made possible in part by the efforts of L&W's Steve Hill and Shane Dickson

Because of the efforts of L&W's Steve Hill and Shane Dickson, Sprint is telling the world about its backhaul network.  Steve and Shane are of course part of Alcatel Lucent's design team that is planning and helping deliver this network for Sprint.  

L&W has been a part of the Alcatel Lucent team for a couple years now and we are very proud of our team members and their contributions to both Alcatel's and Sprint's success.  Nice work guys!

Marc

Sprint: Ethernet backhaul gives us 20 times more bandwidth

By Sue Marek

Comment |  Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) upgrade of its backhaul network from T1s to Ethernet will create such better efficiency for the company that it will reduce the cost of delivering data, even as consumer demand for data skyrockets. In fact, making the switch to Ethernet backhaul will give Sprint 20 times the bandwidth capacity at a cell site location, said a Sprint executive. Speaking at the Pacific Crest Global Technology Leadership conference earlier this week in Vail, Colo., Sprint Nextel's Vice President of Strategic ProgramsMarty Nevshemal said that one of the goals of the company's Network Vision network modernization plan is to lower the cost of delivering data. As an example, Nevshemal  said that the company might pay $1,500 per month for T1 backhaul at a tower site. That T1 might deliver 4.5 MB of backhaul capacity. When Sprint switches to Ethernet, Nevshemal said that for the same price of $1,500 per month, Sprint will get almost 20 times the backhaul bandwidth at that location. "Your unit cost for that part of the network--the backhaul--is 95 percent cheaper to put a bit of data through that backhaul. That is Network Vision," he said.    When asked whether Sprint can continue to offer its $79 per month unlimited data package, Nevshemal said that it's hard for the company to predict whether it will be able to offer unlimited data to customers indefinitely because it depends on how much data consumers will use--U.S. operators have seen data usage skyrocket as consumers rapidly upgrade to smartphones and those smartphones become more sophisticated in their capabilities. Sprint made headlines last month when an executive said that the company expects to offer unlimited data service for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) LTE-compatible iPhone 5 when it comes out this fall--that is, if the rumored iPhone 5 actually launches and if Sprint gets it. Interestingly, Nevshemal also said that the company will likely accelerate its launch of LTE markets in the fourth quarter. He said the carrier will have around 25 markets equipped with LTE by year-end. In mid-July, Sprint launched LTE in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio. He said that Sprint will begin notifying customers of the impending LTE launch in a market about 30 days in advance of the service being commercially available.

You didn't build that!

Those of you know me, realize that I am never politically correct, nor reserved about my opinions.  Those of you who know me will also already know that I have ZERO respect for President Barack Hussein Obama.  And my lack of respect has nothing to do with his questionable citizenship, it has to do with his attitude that America is somehow the aggressor in the world and that we owe the world an apology for our success.

So it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am livid about the President’s statement at a campaign rally in Roanoke, Va. on July 13^th when he was off teleprompter and in his full class warfare mode and enthusiastically blurted out, “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that! Somebody else made that happen!” 

Here is a man who appeared out of nowhere in 2004 when he made a speech at the Democratic Convention. The only job he has ever had other than that as a paid politico is that of a community organizer, aka an agitator.  He has lived his entire life off of other people’s money.  As best anyone can tell, he has been a ward of the State living off of your and my tax dollars for his entire adult life.  Yet he dares to tell businessmen that we have had nothing to do with building our business and that if it were not for government, American businesses could not survive!

So after he said that I went back and checked to be sure I had not missed something over the last 40 years!   I mean I even went back to my high school yearbook, The Chieftain, to see if it was really me in that SHS Class of 1968 picture.  It looked like me, it had my name under it, but now I question if I really did graduate. 

So I went on to my 1972 Texas A&M yearbook and looked myself up and by gosh, there I was and my degree says I have an Electrical Engineering degree.  But now I don’t know.  Maybe it was someone from the government that stayed up and studied all those nights to get through A&M. 

Then I went back and looked at the bank note’s I signed in 1979 pledging my personal assets and providing my personal guarantee for the money that I borrowed to start my business and provide the paychecks, and yep, that was my signature and I confirmed there were no government grants or government loans.  And I checked to see if the banks really did have a lien on my assets, and sure enough they do!

But I thought hey everyone tells me that Obama is so brilliant that we common folk just can’t understand him, so I decided to check further,  I went back and looked at all the tax returns both personally and for the business that I filed paying our personal and business taxes from the money we had left over from paying our bankers, our license fees, and our employees.  Yep seemed to be my signature on all those documents.

I looked for pictures and other evidence of government employees who were working with me day and night and while I found lots of pictures of my family and our employees who were working hard, I simply can’t find any evidence that my survivability, so far, can be attributed to anyone from the government.  Hell I can’t even find any evidence that anyone from the government was around when I wanted them to help. 

During the downturn of 2009 (that would be after Mr. Obama took office) I did experience new governmental regulations that made it even harder to survive.  Thanks to the Dodd Frank Act, passed by Mr. Obama and his buddies, the banking relationships most business owners had either vanished or changed significantly.   Government regulations have made it increasing hard to get anything done or finance any expansion. 

So Mr. Obama you are just WRONG, businesses do not exist because of government; businesses exist in SPITE of government!

However Mr. Obama did say something else that night in Roanoke, “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.”   And he was right, in my case there were/are great teachers such as Mrs. Welch, Mrs. Brinkman,  Mr. Williford, Mr. Pinkerton, Dr. Linder; great family and friends, Sue Ann my lifelong friend, partner and wife; my parents who made my life easy and convinced me that I could do anything; Jimmy Schoppe who not only let me do everything, he challenged me to do more; Charlie White, a great mentor, friend and partner; Jim & Cindy  Jennings who have been part of my business so long they are now considered family; Walter Hinkle, who came into our business in 2002 when things were really tough and helped me dig my way out; my kids who were always my inspiration and best cheerleaders, and all the wonderful employees who work their butts off everyday to keep our business going.  

So yes Mr. Obama I will give you that, there are always people who have given and continue to give people help along the way, but none of them I know worked for the government!

Marc

Milton Friedman - The Free Lunch Myth

Milton Friedman is a Noble Laureate Economist and fully understands and explains how the capitalist economic system works.

Enjoy and learn.

Marc

Rudder From Leader to Legend

Rudder From Leader to Legend

 by Thomas M. Hatfield

If you like inspiring biographies, if you like military history and even if you have not previously, if you are an American patriot, if you are a proud Texan, if you feel the Aggie Spirit, if you have a passion for education,  and if you believe in Divine guidance, this book is for you.

Previously I knew Earl Rudder as the visionary President of Texas A&M who had a military background and was the guiding force in transitioning Texas A&M from an all male, compulsory military school to a co-educational institution with no military requirement.   The rest of his story is so much larger than life. 

He never planned to go to college, but one event after another in his life kept him moving toward a destiny and place in history even he would not have believed had he not lived it.  He was a very honorable man who made the absolute most of every opportunity that came his way, and in doing so had a rather large impact on the world.

The author, Thomas Hatfield, travels back to Earl Rudders early life in Brady, Texas and writes in such a way, that he involved me in the story and the individual, so that I, who had never read any military history, could not wait to turn each page wading through and learning details of World War II and the D Day Invasion with such rapt interest that, other than falling asleep while holding the book, I did not put it down until I had finished.

I love to read and this is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.  I think this is a book every American should own.  It is much much larger than the story of a former Aggie President.  It is about a man who, in his rather short life of 59 years, left a legacy immensely larger than he ever could have imagined for himself.

Sue Ann Lockard

The Pirate Catcher, The Littoral Combat Ship

This is a very cool ship, one of the newest Navy weapons!

The U.S.S Independence was built by General Dynamics. It's
called a "littoral combat ship" (LCS), and the tri-maran can move its weapons around faster than any other ship in the Navy.
'Littoral' means close-to-shore, and that's where these ships will operate. They're tailor-made for launching helicopters
and lightly-armored vehicles, sweeping mines and firing all
manner of torpedoes, missiles and machine guns. These ships are also relatively inexpensive. This one is a
bargain at $208 million, and the Navy plans to build 55 of them. 

Congressional Medal of Honor Winner Roy P. Benavidez

Memorial to Roy P. Benavidez - Tango Mike Mike - Congressional Medal of Honor for actions on near Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968.

This is a moving story about one of the millions of American's that insure our freedoms.  If you really want to know Roy Benavidez and the American soldier watch and listen to the following.  It will take 25 minutes of your time but I assure you that it will be the most moving 25 minutes of your day.

Roy died November 29, 1999, his spirit and that of all our service men and women lives on forever!

God Bless the United States of America, home of the free, because of the brave!

There is a Spirit that can ne'er be told, It is the Spirit of Aggieland

In case anyone besides me has been wondering whether Texas A&M has lost its soul since the way the school administration botched the firing of head football coach Mike Sherman,  let me assure you that while the Administration and Board of Regents may have lost their way, the student body and the Aggie Alumni continue to demonstrate that the Spirit of Aggieland is in very good hands.  The following article from by Roy Exum from the Chattanoogin, hammers this home.

The most moving quote, from one of the Aggie family concludes the article, "Lt. Col. Steven Ruth, a classmate of Roy Tisdale’s at A&M and a lifelong friend, was so overcome by the emotional outpouring that he even asked one attractive lady wearing a maroon tee shirt – who he thought might be close to his age -- if she had ever known Roy Tisdale. “He’s the son of Aggieland, sir. There are no strangers on this road.”


Rarely does this kind of positive patriotic American loving spirit get any attention in the media!


Gig Em!  And thank God for the US Military and Texas A&M and Roy Exum!


Marc

Time Spent with Adobe

Things I Learned from Watching CSI

The flash mob at Gate 38 of Reagan National Airport

Friends and team members this is what Honor looks like.  There is an interesting article on Mullover.com that will bring tears to your eyes for two reasons; one this group of passengers are honor many of the Greatest Generation who were arriving on an Honor Flight to tour the WWII Memorial in Washington, DC and; two this should give you great faith in America, despite what you hear from America's leaders and those in the Integrity Free Media.

Honor Flight is a very unique and interesting organization.  Honor Flight is a non-profit organization that transports WWII and terminally ill veterans of all wars to Washington DC to allow them to visit the memorials put in place to honor their service.  You might want to consider supporting Honor Flight. Houston is the closet chapter if you are interested.

Enjoy,

Marc

A shining example of the greatness of America

A MARINE'S MARINE

Every now and then, in the middle of the constant barrage of crap that’s just pissing us all off these days,

we come across a story, a feat, an event that just makes us stop in our tracks.

 

Cody Green was a 12-year kid in Indiana who was diagnosed with leukemia at 22 months old. He loved the Marines, and his parents said he drew strength and courage from the Marine Corps. as ...he bravely fought the battle into remission three times. Although he was cancer-free at the time, the chemotherapy had lowered his immune system and he developed a fungus infection that attacked his brain. Two weeks ago, as he struggled to fend off that infection in the hospital, the Marines wanted to show how much they respected his will to live, his strength, honor and courage. They presented Cody with Marine navigator wings and named him an honorary member of the United States Marine Corps. For one Marine, that wasn’t enough ... so that night, before Cody Green passed away, he took it upon himself to stand guard at Cody’s hospital door all night long, 8 hours straight.

Nowhere on the face of this planet is there a country so blessed as we to have men and women such as this. I wish I could personally tell this Marine how proud he makes me to be an American.?? God ... I do so love this country.

Never ever let the ramblings of politicians and the irrational screaming by the media turn you against the Greatest Country in the World.  Visit any college campus, at least in the South, and just sit and watch the young men and women who will be the next generation of leaders and you will know that America is in good hands!  

Marc

God Bless Texas

Take 10 minutes out of your day and watch this video.  If you are not from Texas this ought to inspire you to come.  If you are from Texas and this doesn't make you proud, then you are probably an immigrant from up north, somewhere near Oklahoma or way out west towards Arizona from the east towards Mississippi.

Marc

Sprint to end iDEN service as soon as June 30, 2013

The death of a great technology in North America, although iDEN lives in the international market and few legacy Harmony Systems around the US!


Marc




From FierceWireless today (May 29 2012)

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) said it will shut down service on its 2G iDEN network as early as June 30, 2013. The sunset of Sprint's legacy Nextel network is part of the carrier's Network Vision network modernization plan. It also serves as a period to Sprint's $36 billion acquisition of Nextel in 2005. Sprint said it will send written notices to iDEN business and government customers beginning June 1 regarding the shutdown, and will offer them a "smooth migration" to Sprint's Direct Connect CDMA push-to-talk service. The carrier said it will continue to send notices to its iDEN customers about the planned shutdown over the next year. Sprint said its CDMA voice and data services on its PowerSource devices (dual-mode iDEN and CDMA devices) will still be available. The shutdown of the iDEN network, which Sprint has been discussing since late 2010, is one piece of its Network Vision upgrade, which centers on the deployment of new, multi-mode base stations. As part of the upgrade, Sprint plans to deploy LTE first in its 1900 MHz PCS spectrum and then later on the 800 MHz spectrum currently reserved for iDEN service. Sprint will also be upgrading its 3G network, reducing roaming and energy costs and deploying 1X Advanced voice services on its 800 MHz spectrum. Sprint has already begun the process of decommissioning iDEN cell sites. Sprint expects to take 9,600 iDEN sites offline by the end of the third quarter. The company has said many of these are sites are no longer needed because they were added when Sprint had roughly 20 million total iDEN Nextel customers; Sprint now has fewer than 6 million iDEN customers. The rest of the iDEN sites will be decommissioned in 2013. Last fall Sprint launched its CDMA Direct Connect service, powered by a new solution from Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), as part of its plan to migrate iDEN customers to CDMA. Sprint said its new Direct Connect service, which rides on Sprint's 1900 MHz spectrum, offers improved in-building coverage and will triple the square-mile reach of its current iDEN-based PTT service. Specifically, Sprint said its new PTT offering will cover 2.7 million square miles and a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1XRTT and roaming coverage), up from the iDEN network's 908,370 square miles covering a population of 278 million.  In addition to the iDEN announcement, Sprint also announced it entered into a new $1 billion credit facility with Deutsche Bank and a syndicate of other banks to finance equipment purchases from Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) for Network Vision. Ericsson, which manages Sprint's day-to-day network operations, is one of the carrier's Network Vision vendors, along with Alcatel-Lucent and Samsung. The Network vision project, which Sprint expects to largely complete by the end of 2013, will cost $4 billion to $5 billion in total.

I am snuggled in this weekend watching the AMC War Movie Marathon, I have seen most of these movies before but I had not seen the Battle of Bulge.  This movie is a testament to the incredible spirit of the American Soldier.

Below is just snippet of the story.  If you have any interest in reading further, click here!  

The Battle of the Bulge

Courtesy The United States Army Center of Military History

"Early on the misty winter morning of 16 December 1944, over 200,000 German troops and nearly 1,000 tanks launched Adolf Hitler's last bid to reverse the ebb in his fortunes that had begun when Allied troops landed in France on D-day. Seeking to drive to the English Channel coast and split the Allied armies as they had done in May 1940, the Germans struck in the Ardennes Forest, a seventy-five-mile stretch of the front characterized by dense woods and few roads, held by four inexperienced and battle-worn American divisions stationed there for rest and seasoning.

. . . . . .

"At the critical road junctions of St. Vith and Bastogne, American tankers and paratroopers fought off repeated attacks, and when the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne was summoned by his German adversary to surrender, he simply responded, "Nuts!"

The American General who issued that reply was Anthony Clement "Nuts" McAuliffe.  During the Battle of the Bulge he was the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division, acting for Major General Maxwell Taylor who was in the US at a Commander's conference. 

"Within days (of Genearl McAuliffe's reply to the German's demand for surrender at Bastonge) Patton's Third Army had relieved Bastogne, and to the north, the 2d U.S. Armored Division stopped enemy tanks short of the Meuse on Christmas Day. Through January, American troops, often wading through deep snow drifts, attacked the sides of the shrinking bulge until they had restored the front and set the stage for the final drive to victory."

Thank you God for American service men and their service and dedication!

Marc

Memorial Day - Honoring those who have died in Service to our Nation

Memorial Day (Monday May 28, 2012) is a day for honoring those who died in the service of our country and the best way I know to do that is to also honor and say thanks to our veterans and active duty military.  L&W is blessed to have a host of current and former military members working with us and to them a special thanks from me.

On this Memorial Day when you are barbecuing in the back yard or swimming at the beach, or just relaxing on the couch, take time to remember and to say thanks to someone you know who has served or is serving.  They don't expect it, but they certainly do deserve it because without their service we would not enjoy the freedoms we cherish so much.

For those of you who know or work with the L&W team, please take a special moment this Memorial Day to remember Michael Weger, the son of Greg and Tricia Weger.  Michael gave all that he had to give for America on October 12, 2004 when he and several members of his platoon were killed in action in Iraq.  Greg and Trish no words can ever heal your hurt or thank you enough for Michael's service but please know you and Michael will be in our thoughts this Memorial Day and always.

God Bless the United States of America and the men and women who keep our country free!

This tribute to the American soldier by Lt. Col. Oliver North was done on Veteran's Day, but it is the best expression of honor for our troops I have have ever heard and I share it here for you to watch.  Do me a special favor, watch it this Memorial Day and think about how much we owe these young men and women.

Marc

The Future of Part 22 T-Band Channels

The allocation of the 700 MHz D-Block to Public Safety Agencies has caused quite a stir since it was announced in February and recently signed into law.

We have produced an opinion for one of our clients which they have allowed me to share here.

An Opinion on the future of Part 22

Commercial Wireless Spectrum in the 470-512 MHz Band

(Commonly referred to as T-Band)

Introduction

Significant confusion exists relative to the future of all spectrum in the 470-512 MHz Band (commonly referred to as T-Band Spectrum) because of recent actions by Congress.  In the recently passed Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (the Act), Congress granted 10 MHz of spectrum at 700 MHz (referred to as the D-Block) to Public Safety Agencies nationwide to be used for a broadband network to provide a fully interoperable data and voice nationwide network using LTE technology for all public safety agencies.  The D-Block spectrum has a potential value of $20 billion + had it been auctioned to Commercial Wireless Carriers based on the bids received for the C-Block spectrum in the latest broadband auctions by the Commission in 2008. In addition to the $20 billion dollars worth of spectrum allocated to federal, state and local public safety agencies, Congress also allocated $7 billion in funds to be used for the construction of this new nationwide network.  As part of the requirement for the Congressional allocation of the spectrum and $7 billion in funds, Congress required that all Public Safety agencies currently operating in the 470-512 MHz band must “give back” all spectrum in use in this band.   The Congress has given Public Safety 11 years to clear this band.  The act apparently does not mention any Commercial Wireless Carriers (Part 22 of the rules). 

The implementation of the legislation is left to federal agencies with little or no direction from Congress.  On April 26, 2012 the Federal Communications Commission’s (the Commission) issued a Public Notice “announcing limited suspension of the acceptance and processing of certain applications for Part 22 and 90 services operating in the 470-512 MHz spectrum band (“T-Band”) in order to maintain a stable spectral landscape while the Commission determines how to implement recent spectrum legislation contained in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (“the Act”).  As described below, the suspension implemented by this Public Notice applies only to applications for new or expanded use of T-Band frequencies.”

Current Upheaval and Unknowns

The Act is clearly aimed at Public Safety licensees in the 470-512 MHz band operating under Part 90 of the rules.  While there are a limited number of Public Safety Agencies operating on 470-512 MHz frequencies under Part 22 of the FCC rules, these Agencies due so under rule waivers granted by the Commission.  Trade associations such as EWA, LMCC, UTC and others are filing petitions to obtain clarification as to the specific intent of the proposed rules and L&W believes this will eventually be sorted out but this is an election year and things always move at glacial speed through the halls of Washington and the Federal Bureaucracies.   It is L&W’s opinion that there will be no formal resolution emanating from the Commission until 2013.

However, as issued, the Commission’s “suspension” in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) clearly extends the freeze to non-public safety users utilizing Part 90 and commercial wireless carriers operating in Part 22.

What are the current realities for Part 22 T-Band licensees?

While Part 22 T-Band licensees are mentioned in the NPRM, this ruling has little or no affect on those licensees between now and 2023 or whenever the 700 MHz Public Safety LTE system is operational, whichever is longer. L&W does not envision this network being operational before 2028 if ever!

The reason this ruling has little or no effect on licensees operating under Part 22 is because the licenses are economic area-based with defined coverage contours.   Part 22 economic area licensees do not:

1.     require frequency coordination prior to making system changes;

2.     need to seek FCC permission to move sites or deploy frequencies.

Additionally, Part 22 economic area licensees have never been able to expand their coverage outside their economic area without a wavier. 

What is the likelihood that Part 22 & Part 90 T-Band users will be compensated for their relocation to “other spectrum” and when might this happen?

Significant precedent that exists at the Commission provides insight into how the Commission deals with involuntary relocation of existing licensees.  Typically the Commission will make spectrum available for existing licensees and will typically provide re-location financial assistance to the incumbents.  These precedents were set in the late 1990’s when the 2 GHz microwave band was re-allocated to allow the 1.8 GHz spectrum to be auctioned for Personal Communication Services (PCS).  Congress followed this precedent in providing 700 MHz spectrum and funding to Public Safety users who are being “relocated” out of the 470-512 MHz band. It is L&W’s opinion that for Part 22 licensees this precedent will be followed.

Go Forward Opinions for Users in Urban Markets needing 450 – 512 MHz Spectrum

If you are an existing Part 90 user operating in the T-Band, L&W’s first recommendation is not to panic.  The rules are clearly evolving; if you are currently licensed and do not need to make changes to your current system, you have at least 9 + years (and probably longer) before you have to be re-located.

However, if you are a new user requiring UHF (450 MHz to 512 MHz) spectrum for a new or expanded system then you have a major challenge if you are operating in an urban environment, particularly in any one of America’s top 10 cities, in the next five years.

In theory, additional spectrum will be freed up in 2013 as a result of narrow banding, but in practice, this will likely not be the case.   First, all indications are that many licensees are going to miss the January 1, 2013 deadline, adding significant confusion to the frequency approval and coordination process going forward.   Secondly, the FCC has already granted a number of waivers for users extending the narrow banding process well into 2013.  Finally, even when every user completes the narrow banding process, there are going to be significant challenges facing the coordinators and the Commission in dealing with some users who achieved narrow banding by implementing digital equivalent bandwidths by retaining their existing 25 KHz channels or who have chosen to go directly to 6.25 KHz equivalence through the implementation of Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) on a 12.5KHz channel.    L&W has yet to see a “narrow band” spectrum plan released by the Commission to provide coordinators and system planners, let alone regulators, with reasonable guidelines as to how to effectively manage a new spectrum landscape that is not yet stable.  L&W believes clients can expect an NPRM from the Commission in late 2012 or on January 3, 2013 announcing a freeze on new applications for channels until the landscape of spectrum below 512 MHz is sorted out after narrow banding.  Also, expect the Commission to grant additional narrow banding wavers as the January 1, 2013 narrowband deadline draws near.

The changing landscape of spectrum regulation and the spectrum shortage that exists in all major metropolitan areas leaves users with few if any options.  However this creates a unique opportunity for current Part 22 licensees in major urban areas who have spectrum capacity and are willing to sell or lease to industrial users.   L&W believes the risk associated with the Part 22 T-Band spectrum is minimal in the short-term and manageable in the long-term based on prior precedent established by the Commission to provide users who are required to re-locate with new “equivalent” spectrum. 

Consequently, L&W recommends to its clients seeking UHF spectrum in urban markets to seek out the local Part 22 licensee and work with them to solve their short-term and long-term spectrum needs.