Trouble building cellular towers...

Another good article from the Boston Globe about the trouble setting up cell tower sites in Massachusetts.

More on Nextel/Sprint

There was a great article in today's Boston Globe about the technical problems that will be presented by the merger between these two wireless companies. The article does a good job going over some of the technical differences between the 'iden' network used by Nextel, and the CDMA technology used by Sprint. Compared to the GSM used by both Cingular and AT&T Wireless, this will be a difficult transition.

It's true! Sprint Nextel is here!

The merger between these two companies will make the combined company the number 3 wireless provider in the US. I was more than a little surprised with the quickness of this deal, especially with the recent Cingular/AT&T Wireless deal, but it really makes sense. My guess is that within the next 6 months, T-Mobile will be merge or be absorbed by another carrier. They will be the little guy on the block, and will have to fight hard, expensive battles for more spectrum and licenses. This means they will have a difficult time competing with the others coverage. So far they have held in there, and held their own. We will see what happens now.

Sprint and Nextel !!

Wow, with all the activity over the last few months with Cingular and AT&T Wireless, who would have guessed that Sprint and Nextel may be next!?!
The merger would have some major benefits to both companies, but there would be some major technology issues to work out.
Sprint uses CDMA technology to carry its signal, while Nextel uses the proprietary iden system from Motorola. The benefit to Nextel is the spectrum and licenses that Sprint owns, while the benefit to Sprint would be the high spending business customers that Nextel is strong with.
Both carriers have weaker networks than the bigger carriers, so the merger would definitely help them out with coverage.
Nextel cell sites tend to be larger, enclosed structures, often with generator backup, while Sprint uses the smaller Lucent cabinet enclosures. These tend to take up far less space, and are probably much cheaper to maintain.
Stay tuned for more info......