On 7/14/2013 9:40 PM, Jeff Burns wrote:

CDMA is always 2G, so you'll be on EDGE on T-Mobile.  

Well, EDGE or WCDMA (not CDMA,)  WCDMA != CDMA This is not a minor distinction. They are entirely incompatible.

(Sprint and Verizon tried to soup their old CDMA networks up, but its ultimately still 2G at the end of the day and can't support voice and data simultaneously.)

This isn't really accurate or even fair.  The 1XEVDO that Verizon and Sprint added were quite comparable to early WCDMA data in performance, particularly as far as consumers were concerned.

  HSPA+ is in essence a hopped up GSM.   

This is sort of accurate and very misleading.  WCDMA was the next evolutionary step after GSM.  It was a complete change of the air interface. HSDPA, HSPA, and HSPA+ are features of WCDMA.  Saying that HSPA+ is hopped up GSM is like saying that a Telsa roadster is a hopped up 1955 Chevy BelAir.

T-Mobile is cannibalizing their 2G network

Actually their 3G network. And they are starting with an overlay - both services will be available for a long time.  And this is true of all of the operators, not just T-Mobile.  LTE will eventually squeeze out the older standards.

We saw this with analog and US-TDMA.  They did an overlay and when most folks had upgraded they turned the old network off.  Given that the half-life of a phone is around 24 months...

to reallocate more spectrum for LTE.  I think you've got a year, but they've already pulled some of their 2G bandwidth and reallocated it.

I suspect a lot more than a year but there is no question that the end of the road is in sight. 

Interestingly, in order to speed up their LTE network, Verizon is also cannibalizing their CDMA network starting next year and moving to Voice over LTE.

As fast as they can.  Because LTE gives them a lot more capacity and they really need it.  They also aren't getting much new spectrum for LTE.  You'll also see them doing what they can to get folks to turn in old phones. Verizon and AT&T are turning LTE on as fast as they can.  Once they have enough capacity everywhere they will be pushing people off WCDMA and GSM.  I suspect AT&T will keep a little GSM around for a long time.  It's a very universal fallback and it's easy to slip it into cracks they can't use for LTE.  It's not as efficient as LTE, but it can be used in spectrum that LTE can't which isn't generally true of CDMA or WCDMA.

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