when pcs fist launched in 1996 it did use the 800 mhz spectrum because that is all there was but there was a problem of licensing most of the licensing for 800 mhz was owned already. but then the government opened up the 1900 mhz spectrum for wireless trafic. so sprint sold all of it's 80 mhz spectrum and bought all the 1900 mhz spectrum it can get it's hands on. (this is why sprint is to my knowlage the only carrier that can bost licensing in all 100 of the top major markets.and sprint can also bost the most pops out of all the carriers.)

now what is the difference between the 800 mhz and the 1900 mhz? well most of the noise out there (radio waves police radio cb tv uhf solar radio waves) ocupies the 800 mhz frequency. ut us a very nois...
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Verizon and Cingular use 800/850 MHz where they have licenses for it, and also 1900 MHz in other areas (and both in some areas).

Sprint and T-Mobile use 1900 exclusively. Why? Because they are newer companies, and 1900 is all that was available when they started operations and bought the licenses from the government. That simple.

There are only two 800/850 MHz licenses for any given geographic area. They were auctioned off long ago. They have been sub-divided since then, but it was all pretty much spoken-for when Sprint came along.

Creating Sprint PCS as a national carrier wouldn't even have been an option if the FCC hadn't auctioned off the PCS (1900 MHz) licenses in 1995-97. There are six PCS licenses for any given geographic area...
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