Sprint over the past week has dropped some tidbits on when to expect their innovative Network Vision cell site technology to begin going online, and when to begin expecting LTE-enabled devices.

The embattled carrier created Network Vision as a way of mitigating the five current network platforms that it will power: iDEN, CDMA & EVDO, WiMAX, and LTE. All five have unique spectrum and tuning requirements that have stalled Sprint’s growth over the years. The difference between Sprint CDMA and Nextel iDEN alone cost Sprint millions of consumers, a fact Sprint has begrudgingly admitted, and attempted to correct with three iterations of Direct Connect (iDEN, QChat, and the current “remixed” QChat platform). Adding in Clearwire’s WiMAX, and Sprint’s eventual decision to go to LTE… and Sprint had to create its own solution to this spectrum problem.

Network Vision, as we have covered from the day it was announced, will allow Sprint to toggle resources and spectrum remotely, without accessing towers. This will allow Sprint to dynamically raise and lower spectrum for each of these platforms based on demand, ensuring that customers on legacy CDMA and WiMAX devices can keep using them, and that LTE will operate properly as iDEN is phased out.

The current roadmap that Sprint has announced calls for the deployment of WiMAX and CDMA as soon as possible, rollout has begun in many areas. One thing Sprint is keeping close to the vest however, is how much new WiMAX coverage will become available. It is not clear if WiMAX will immediately be turned on in areas where Sprint has not tapped into the backhaul of Clearwire’s network, or has sufficient resources. WiMAX simply may not be enabled network-wide ever. One thing Sprint is doing, is taking advantage of previously iDEN-only towers, and scrapping iDEN towers that will be redundant in this deployment.

The take-home message for CIOs all the way down to customer is; we’re suggesting you migrate away from that iDEN phone, be it on Boost or Sprint Nextel. iDEN customers clearly will have the most coverage impact that we have seen from source’s maps… and it isn’t a positive improvement at all.

CDMA will benefit, though the ESMR band previously used by iDEN will not be taken advantage of dramatically at first. Keep in mind, Nextel will need the ESMR frequency as long as it is active. For those with non-ESMR phones, and that’s most of you, that means you do not need to throw out your old device to get the best 3G coverage. An ESMR phone will only help in a few areas. Sprint will likely tap most of this bandwidth for LTE, so the primary benefit may lie in the long term; rural areas that see iDEN dismantled, but not WiMAX or LTE until fiber backhaul can arrive.

Sprint, this week, did drop the bombshell that LTE handsets will launch in the second half of 2012. However, this is mostly non-news that other drive-by colleagues in the mobile media simply didn’t realize was already known information. Sprint has said all along that LTE and Network Vision will be in consumers hands long before that date. It remains to be seen if Sprint will do an LTE mobile broadband trial in Q2, but this seems unlikely, as Sprint does not want to overcost hardware with tri-mode CDMA/WiMAX/LTE devices. This means that Sprint will wait until LTE coverage overlaps the vast majority of existing Sprint WiMAX coverage, and then launch CDMA/LTE mobile broadband devices.

In all, we chose to write this article based on information that actually is new, rather than regurgitate the “LTE is coming to Sprint in 2H2012″ that everyone else has reported. We wrote this instead as a primer on what you’ll expect from Sprint over the next year in terms of real-world experience.

The take-home from this is that for most users, the device you have right now will work better in the years to come, be it CDMA or WiMAX. If you buy a WiMAX phone today, you can rest assured it will work better throughout its 2-year contract timeline, and likely well beyond that too. If you have an iDEN device, we suggest getting rid of it… pronto. Sprint may not like that we’re saying that, but we see the coverage drops coming for iDEN. It’s not Sprint’s fault; AT&T did the same thing to their GSM network upon the desperate need to provide 3G/4G coverage to their customers.

Walmart has an exclusive double-data offering on the Virgin Mobile MiFi. MiFi units sold from Walmart.com and Walmart retail stores have a different serial number range, which grants them 1 GB of data for $20/month, in addition to the $50/month unlimited plan. That’s double the data (500 MB) that Virgin Mobile offers on the standard plan.

OfficeMax this week is selling the Virgin Mobile MiFi for $99, down from the suggested retail of $129.

To get the best of both worlds, print out the product page from OfficeMax, and take it to Walmart. Price match down Walmart’s MiFi to $99. Finally, enjoy the 1 GB $20/month data, instead of only having 500 MB.

For more details about the current MiFi offering, and how Walmart fits into it, read more after the break.

The MiFi 2200 is Virgin Mobile’s first MiFi device. As a Wi-Fi hotspot, it supplies EV-DO Rev A. Virgin Mobile recently however began to throttle all mobile broadband plans on unlimited usage, to 2.5 GB per month of full 3G speeds. After that, speeds are throttled to 250kbps, which Virgin Mobile claims is still 3G speed. However, the throttled speed rivals EDGE, a network commonly considered to be sub-3G.

Hence, the 1 GB plan exclusive to Walmart may be the sweet spot. At $20, it’s less than half the unlimited plan, but completely unthrottled. At $40/month for two reloads, you get 2 GB of unthrottled data, which is where it starts to become economical to switch to the unlimited plan.

Virgin Mobile service can be cancelled at any time, but it is not clear how long the 1 GB Walmart plan will remain. The 1 GB plan pre-dates the 500 MB offering on the standard $20 tier, as such, you may want to hold onto the 1 GB plan and not either cancel or go to unlimited. It is quite possible that the 1 GB plan could disappear without notice.

Both Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile have thus far grandfathered prepaid customers into their existing monthly plan tiers, for example, customers on the $25 Beyond Talk plan have not been forced to upgrade to the $35 tier, despite the $25 tier no longer being offered.

The 1 GB plan at Walmart remains an oddball, as Walmart has never touted the plan in any external marketing, and in many stores it’s not even clear that Walmart has an exclusive or enhanced MiFi offering. Virgin Mobile has not documented the plan anywhere online, except during signup, and in the My Account functions of customers who have selected the plan during activation.

Sprint has announced April 17th as the retail launch date for the long-awaited Novatel MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot. Pricing for the updated MiFi is set at $79.99 after instant discount and 2 year agreement. The new Novatel MiFi 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot features the debut of the embedded MiFi OS for developers to deploy new applications specifically for use with the device, Wi-Fi N radio, GPS support, microSD expansion slot and dual-mode EVDO Rev. A/WiMax support. The device can be ordered now via Telesales/Direct Ship.

Ahead of the launch of the Craft next month, the draft document containing the specifications and plan pricing for the device has leaked.

In terms of hardware, the Craft features a 3.2 inch WVGA (800×480) resolution AMOLED touch display, Wi-Fi radio, dual-mode CDMA EVDO/LTE support, microSDHC expansion slot, 3.2 megapixel camera with flash and video capture, GPS support along with stereo Bluetooth support.

In terms of plans, the Craft will herald two new service plans for the carrier starting at $55 with all taxes and fees included, which features unlimited voice, directory assistance, data, messaging, email access (personal/email) and use of MetroNavigator along with Loopt access.

The $60 plan includes access to the carrier’s new MetroSTUDIO multimedia service, which consists of video on demand, over the air music downloads and ringtone purchases among other services.  Related to the aforementioned, the phone will be bundled with a 4GB microSD card containing the film Star Trek for viewing on the device.  Training for the device will also begin next week in the Dallas area with the launch expected in the middle of the month.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, regional carrier MetroPCS has confirmed plans to launch LTE service in Las Vegas and the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex next month. 

This follows the leak of the first live photos of the Craft feature phone which will be the first LTE phone available in the country, launching ahead of Verizon’s LTE network, expected at the end of the year.  Incidentally, the report does not mention availability of the Craft, despite Samsung representatives confirming the launch of the Craft next month earlier this week.

The Craft will be powered by Samsung’s generic CDMA operating system overlaid with the manufacturer’s TouchWiz user interface. It will retail for $299.99 while featuring a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, QWERTY keyboard, microSDHC expansion slot and Bluetooth.  The phone will use LTE solely for data access while still featuring CDMA support for voice calls as well as an HTML browser and GPS support.

The first images of the forthcoming Samsung dual-mode LTE/CDMA R900 Craft have surfaced.  The Craft features a hardware QWERTY keyboard, 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, a touch display of unknown resolution and a SIM slot for authentication on the LTE network.  Pricing has been confirmed by the tester who leaked the pictures in the above link to be set at $299.99 with no release date set at this time.  The phone will be released alongside the launch of LTE service in Dallas Ft. Worth and Las Vegas this Fall.

The FCC has approved the first LTE smart device destined for MetroPCS.  The SCH-R900 features a sliding QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth with stereo audio support, 802.11b/g WiFi radio, dual-band 1700/1900 dual-mode LTE/EVDO support and microSDHC expansion slot.

Samsung had previously announced the R900 earlier this year during CTIA as part of MetroPCS’ LTE announcement while the regional carrier is expected to launch service in the month of September in the Las Vegas area, ahead of Verizon’s November LTE network launch.

The FCC has approved the first LTE device for use in the US in the LG VL700 dual-mode LTE/CDMA USB modem.  The modem features support for EVDO Rev. A on 800/1900Mhz and LTE on 700Mhz.  The modem is expected to be released around the beginning of the LTE network rollout later this year, with testing underway in Boston and Seattle.

Neither Verizon nor LG have announced the modem or release details at this time

Following up on the announcement of the Verizon LG Ally last week by the manufacturer, internal documentation has surfaced confirming both specifications and release timeframe for the device, with pricing yet to be determined.

The LG Ally will now be positioned as a mid-range Android 2.1 device in Verizon’s lineup with a Qualcomm MSM 7627 chipset running at 600MHz, 512MB of ROM, 256MB of RAM, 3.2 inch capacitive touch display at WVGA resolution, sliding QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth 2.1 with stereo audio support, Wi-Fi radio, 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, video recorder and flash, 3.5mm headphone jack and pre-installed 4GB microSD card.

The Ally will be made available for pre-order starting on Thursday, May 13th, with the official launch set for next Thursday May 20th. 

Sprint internal training documentation has confirmed that the 4G hotspot option announced for the Evo 4G earlier this year will require a plan code with an additional charge for usage and the creation of new service plans created specifically for the device owing to its dual-mode capability, potentially locking it out of current plans.

Further information on plans and costs is expected before the launch of the device in June.