Network Vision/LTE - Shentel Market (Shenandoah Valley/Hagerstown/Harrisburg)

[ajm8127]

I'm guessing Strasburg may possibly have it too, but I'll check.

 

I would say that's a pretty good guess.

[Galaxyguy]

I would say that's a pretty good guess.

Strasburg, VA has 4 towers in the area. After checking all 4, two appear to have just 1 B25 carrier and 1 B26 carrier, one tower has 2 B25 carriers (both 5x5) and 1 B26 carrier. The remaining one has B26 and 2 B25 carriers, one being 10x10. It seems as though the tower where it is active is probably where the highest population density is, so it appears Shentel is really picking and choosing where to put the increased bandwidth, which makes sense.

 

Sent from my Note 4

[ajm8127]

Strasburg, VA has 4 towers in the area. After checking all 4, two appear to have just 1 B25 carrier and 1 B26 carrier, one tower has 2 B25 carriers (both 5x5) and 1 B26 carrier. The remaining one has B26 and 2 B25 carriers, one being 10x10. It seems as though the tower where it is active is probably where the highest population density is, so it appears Shentel is really picking and choosing where to put the increased bandwidth, which makes sense.

 

Sent from my Note 4

 

Basing the 10 MHz carrier adds on air link utilization makes the most sense. If a site has 15 MHz of LTE through 3 5MHz carriers and the air link utilization is near 100%, converting one 5 MHz carrier to 10 MHz adds 33% more capacity. The actual deployment comes down to time and money. Not all hardware supports 10 MHz LTE channels with the current software and there are licensing fees above what is necessary for a 5 MHz channel to activate 10 MHz. So as equipment is changed out and funds are available expect more 10 MHz LTE.

 

I would imagine the ultimate plan is to convert all LTE channels to as wide as the spectrum allows where necessary while maintaining voice and at least one EVDO channel. Lots of ATMs and other devices still have EVDO data cards inside. With the nTelos acquisition Sprint and thus Shentel picked up some more spectrum I am sure will be put to use as LTE capacity through wider channels. Five, 10, 15 and 20 MHz wide channels are all possible.

[lilotimz]

Basing the 10 MHz carrier adds on air link utilization makes the most sense. If a site has 15 MHz of LTE through 3 5MHz carriers and the air link utilization is near 100%, converting one 5 MHz carrier to 10 MHz adds 33% more capacity. The actual deployment comes down to time and money. Not all hardware supports 10 MHz LTE channels with the current software and there are licensing fees above what is necessary for a 5 MHz channel to activate 10 MHz. So as equipment is changed out and funds are available expect more 10 MHz LTE.

 

I would imagine the ultimate plan is to convert all LTE channels to as wide as the spectrum allows where necessary while maintaining voice and at least one EVDO channel. Lots of ATMs and other devices still have EVDO data cards inside. With the nTelos acquisition Sprint and thus Shentel picked up some more spectrum I am sure will be put to use as LTE capacity through wider channels. Five, 10, 15 and 20 MHz wide channels are all possible.

The limit is based on the dual made capability of Sprint's pcs equipment which is 2 lte carriers + up to 6 cdma carriers.

 

So either way, once there are two 5 mhz lte carriers live, the only future recourse is to expand one of the LTE carriers. That is unless they deploy another antenna and radio set and reconfigure one set for cdma and one for LTE. Then there is the capability of 4 individual lte carriers from the single mode operations and 4x MIMO on PCS.

[Galaxyguy]

The limit is based on the dual made capability of Sprint's pcs equipment which is 2 lte carriers + up to 6 cdma carriers.

 

So either way, once there are two 5 mhz lte carriers live, the only future recourse is to expand one of the LTE carriers. That is unless they deploy another antenna and radio set and reconfigure one set for cdma and one for LTE. Then there is the capability of 4 individual lte carriers from the single mode operations and 4x MIMO on PCS.

With the capability of having two carriers on PCS, can they both utilize higher bandwidth carriers? For instance, could they both be 10x10 or larger? With the spectrum assets of ntelos, they should have plenty of spectrum to do it (soon).

 

With the lack of B41 spectrum in our area, I hope they can do that.

 

Sent from my Note 4

[Trip]

I just looked and in Shenandoah County, Sprint owns the bottom 15x15 MHz of PCS, and G-block at the top.  nTelos will bring them an additional 10x10 MHz right below G-block.

 

If they've already reduced their 1X and eHRPD down to 10x10 MHz total and can support the nTelos customers that are coming over on that much, they could theoretically (if the equipment supports it) do a 15x15 B25 carrier in the current Sprint spectrum and do 3G in the 10x10 MHz immediately below G-block.  (Plus the G-block 5x5 LTE, of course.)

 

Long-term, when/if 1X and eHRPD go away, Sprint is positioned for 2 15x15 LTE carriers on PCS in that area.

 

- Trip

[lilotimz]

With the capability of having two carriers on PCS, can they both utilize higher bandwidth carriers? For instance, could they both be 10x10 or larger? With the spectrum assets of ntelos, they should have plenty of spectrum to do it (soon).

 

With the lack of B41 spectrum in our area, I hope they can do that.

 

Sent from my Note 4

 

Right now the ALU RRHs are only certified up to 10 MHz LTE but are very capable of up to 20 MHz. They just need to submit a C2PC to FCC if they want more. 

[ajm8127]

The limit is based on the dual made capability of Sprint's pcs equipment which is 2 lte carriers + up to 6 cdma carriers.

 

So either way, once there are two 5 mhz lte carriers live, the only future recourse is to expand one of the LTE carriers. That is unless they deploy another antenna and radio set and reconfigure one set for cdma and one for LTE. Then there is the capability of 4 individual lte carriers from the single mode operations and 4x MIMO on PCS.

 

Concerning the radios, currently 10 MHz LTE only is possible on the ALU 25 MHz 4x40W radio (or so I've been told by ALU). Because of limitations with port power and bandwidth, you will only see 10 MHz on sites with two radios per sector, at least one of them 25 MHz. Sites not meeting this criteria either have to have equipment installed or wait until the 65 MHz 4x45W radio is capable.

 

The eNB itself is limited to 9 LTE cells which works out to three carriers on three sectors. Six sector sites are being deployed, but involve two complete base stations and narrow beam width antennas.

[lilotimz]

Concerning the radios, currently 10 MHz LTE only is possible on the ALU 25 MHz 4x40W radio (or so I've been told by ALU). Because of limitations with port power and bandwidth, you will only see 10 MHz on sites with two radios per sector, at least one of them 25 MHz. Sites not meeting this criteria either have to have equipment installed or wait until the 65 MHz 4x45W radio is capable.

 

The eNB itself is limited to 9 LTE cells which works out to three carriers on three sectors. Six sector sites are being deployed, but involve two complete base stations and narrow beam width antennas.

 

That may actually be the case with the panasonic 4x40 radios. Though the FCC certification does state it supports LTE bandwith of 1.4/3/5/10/15/20 MHz... maybe not in dual mode and a single LTE carrier...

 

 

The newer 4x45 from ALU, if it's anything like its 4x30 brethren that Verizon uses, should be at least capable of 5/10/15 MHz LTE and 4x2/4 MIMO on PCS. Though it was initially only certified for 5 MHz and recertified for 10 MHz.

[ajm8127]

That may actually be the case with the panasonic 4x40 radios. Though the FCC certification does state it supports LTE bandwith of 1.4/3/5/10/15/20 MHz... maybe not in dual mode and a single LTE carrier...

 

 

The newer 4x45 from ALU, if it's anything like its 4x30 brethren that Verizon uses, should be at least capable of 5/10/15 MHz LTE and 4x2/4 MIMO on PCS. Though it was initially only certified for 5 MHz and recertified for 10 MHz.

 

For 10 MHz the 4x40 radio is configured in LTE only mode. I am not sure if it would support dual mode or two LTE carriers because I have no experience with those configurations.

 

For the 4x45 I am not sure why ALU didn't support 10 MHz initially, but I have been told it is coming. Might have to do with how Sprint was using their spectrum, i.e. a lack of demand for 10 MHz.

 

Where do you find the information on the hardware certifications?

[lilotimz]

For 10 MHz the 4x40 radio is configured in LTE only mode. I am not sure if it would support dual mode or two LTE carriers because I have no experience with those configurations.

 

For the 4x45 I am not sure why ALU didn't support 10 MHz initially, but I have been told it is coming. Might have to do with how Sprint was using their spectrum, i.e. a lack of demand for 10 MHz.

 

Where do you find the information on the hardware certifications?

Fcc certification for equipment. They list their configurations and capabilities on the submitted documents.

 

For the 4x40 it is to my understanding that it's actually two 2x2 radios sandwiched in an enclosure with one doing cdma and one doing lte. No C2PC was ever filed for it for any purpose either. 

[ajm8127]

Fcc certification for equipment. They list their configurations and capabilities on the submitted documents.

 

For the 4x40 it is to my understanding that it's actually two 2x2 radios sandwiched in an enclosure with one doing cdma and one doing lte. No C2PC was ever filed for it for any purpose either. 

 

That is correct about the 4x40 radio. It is two separate 2 port radios in single mounting bracket. I never really considered it before and would have to do some checking to see how they are configured, but you could be right about one side being technically LTE only if configured for G block. I am not sure if there might be a connection between them. The fiber connections alone could effectively make one side CDMA only and the other LTE only.

[lilotimz]

That is correct about the 4x40 radio. It is two separate 2 port radios in single mounting bracket. I never really considered it before and would have to do some checking to see how they are configured, but you could be right about one side being technically LTE only if configured for G block. I am not sure if there might be a connection between them. The fiber connections alone could effectively make one side CDMA only and the other LTE only.

 

 

 

[leozno1]

Check over by Airgas on North Sherman and at the top of the hill south of York College. Also if it hasn't happened yet, the smoke stack on West Philadelphia by the creek must be getting B41 as well. I think there is a tower at Spring Garden Park too.

Spring Garden Memorial Park is live with B41. Was connected to it last night in that area.

 

You can see in the notification shade that I was connected to B41 and signal strength.

 

Sent from my 0PJA2 using Tapatalk

[ajm8127]

Interesting stuff, lilotimz I don't know how you find these things. You need to teach me your ways.

 

Regardless, there does appear to be a fiber link between the two 2 port radios using the secondary CPRI channels. I was pretty sure CDMA and LTE can come out of the same port as long as the 25 MHz bandwidth limitations is observed.

 

leozno1, I hadn't posted about it yet, but I was able to get 55 Mbps on that tower at the Penn State York Campus on Thursday. It wasn't on my phone (because it doesn't support CA) so I don't have the screen capture...you'll just have to take my word for it.

[stealth]

So I was in Hanover last night and noticed a new tower that was just constructed by the Texas road house on Eisenhower drive. It looks like a sprint high capacity setup from the amount of panels installed, going back today to check it out. I know there is a new site in Gettysburg (1370 Fairfield Rd, Gettysburg, PA 17325) that was just added a few months ago that is now broadcasting.

[ajm8127]

So I was in Hanover last night and noticed a new tower that was just constructed by the Texas road house on Eisenhower drive. It looks like a sprint high capacity setup from the amount of panels installed, going back today to check it out. I know there is a new site in Gettysburg (1370 Fairfield Rd, Gettysburg, PA 17325) that was just added a few months ago that is now broadcasting.

 

That is not a Shentel site. Their nearest site is at  39.8260°, -76.9620. They are also on the water tanks in McSherrystown and just east of the Hanover square. The water tank in Hanover is about to get TDD LTE. They were just done constructing it recently.

 

Snap some pictures of the new tower if you get a chance.

[stealth]

That is not a Shentel site. Their nearest site is at 39.8260°, -76.9620. They are also on the water tanks in McSherrystown and just east of the Hanover square. The water tank in Hanover is about to get TDD LTE. They were just done constructing it recently.

 

Snap some pictures of the new tower if you get a chance.

Yeah I know all the sites in Hanover for all carriers. Att is on the water towers as well. Sprint uses two panels per sector on both of the water towers and is the only carrier that I seen with that setup down there. The new tower down there has the same setup. I'll be down in the morning and I'll check it out further

[A2CKilla]

Well, ran into some B41 when I was coming to york this morning, this was in the Columbia area, but as soon as I got across the bridge, B25 and slow speeds (compared to lancaster), is shentel still working on stuff? It's really bad when it just seems like no improvement is really happening is all. The most I've seen happen is second carrier B25 (at least around my areas) and B26 with sub-par speeds (once again, compared to lancaster) when I'm seeing B41, second carrier B41 and speed increases happen around here so often. This post is definitely not trying to bash anything either, just want some insight I suppose.

 

[Flompholph]

Shentel B41 is live in some places I have connected to a few. If you look a couple posts up someone post an image showing B41 in york.

 

Shentel has always said it will be limiting deployment to data heavy areas.

[chamb]

Well, ran into some B41 when I was coming to york this morning, this was in the Columbia area, but as soon as I got across the bridge, B25 and slow speeds (compared to lancaster), is shentel still working on stuff? It's really bad when it just seems like no improvement is really happening is all. The most I've seen happen is second carrier B25 (at least around my areas) and B26 with sub-par speeds (once again, compared to lancaster) when I'm seeing B41, second carrier B41 and speed increases happen around here so often. This post is definitely not trying to bash anything either, just want some insight I suppose.

 

According to the court injunction, WIMAX must stay active in York & Harrisburg until end of March.  This may or may not be hampering the activation of B-41 LTE in those cities.

[leozno1]

Well, ran into some B41 when I was coming to york this morning, this was in the Columbia area, but as soon as I got across the bridge, B25 and slow speeds (compared to lancaster), is shentel still working on stuff? It's really bad when it just seems like no improvement is really happening is all. The most I've seen happen is second carrier B25 (at least around my areas) and B26 with sub-par speeds (once again, compared to lancaster) when I'm seeing B41, second carrier B41 and speed increases happen around here so often. This post is definitely not trying to bash anything either, just want some insight I suppose.

 

 

 

[ajm8127]

According to the court injunction, WIMAX must stay active in York & Harrisburg until end of March.  This may or may not be hampering the activation of B-41 LTE in those cities.

 

I am not a lawyer, but I can tell you B-41 deployments are proceeding in the Harrisburg and York areas. Like Flompholph mentioned B-41 will not be deployed everywhere. Depending on morphology (terrain, buildings, trees, etc.) B-41 coverage can be underwhelming so it doesn't make sense to deploy it everywhere.

[ajm8127]

I'm sure some of you guys have seen by now, but Sprint is swapping the B band spectrum in the Harrisburg-York BTA with C band spectrum. This is good for a variety of reasons.

 

The first is spectrum contiguity with the G block. This will eventually allow a 20x20 FDD carrier and will more immediately be used as a single 5x5 and one 10x10. With the 800 Mhz channel that's 20x20 FDD plus something like 100 MHz TDD. Once CDMA dies the entire 20x20 in the C/G band will be a single LTE channel along with the lower band 5x5 MHz FDD in B26.

 

Second it removes the inter-modulation problems between channels 425, 450 and 475 in the B block with the G block. Previously you could not assign those lower band B block channels to the same radio port as G block.

 

Third, nTelos has C band spectrum along I-81 in the Baltimore-Washington BTA. What this means is a single voice channel in what is now the Shentel "legacy" network. Currently there is a spectrum boundary between Franklin (A block) and Adams/Cumberland (B block) counties. With the transition to C the boundary will disappear and with it the dropped calls due to inter-frequency hand-off on voice. You can't use soft hand-off on different channels. Soft hand-off is an important feature in 1X Voice.

 

The drop dead date is 07/31/2016. My sources tell me Shentel will no longer be allowed to transmit on B block after that.

[lilotimz]

I'm sure some of you guys have seen by now, but Sprint is swapping the B band spectrum in the Harrisburg-York BTA with C band spectrum. This is good for a variety of reasons.

 

 

 

*Nod Nod*

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-406-whats-the-frequency-kenneth-sprint-and-att-tango-to-trade-pcs-frequencies/

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-407-not-just-with-att-sprint-swaps-spectrum-with-t-mobile-and-vzw-too/

 

7/31 is the date listed by at the FCC filing stating that's when the spectrum is to be vacated by the applicants. They'll need to set up a lease entity and license the spectrum to each other as they reconfigure their holdings.