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What's in the Box? Oh, oh, oh, it's Magic.


lilotimz

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Tim Yu

Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

May 19, 2017 - 8:30 AM PDT

 

The Sprint Magic Box was announced on Sprint's quarterly earning call earlier this month, and was heralded as the first truly all wireless small cell in the industry. So what is this mystical beast that is purported to increase coverage by up to 30,000 square feet, amplifies data speeds, and "boosts" your data signal?

This is the 1st Generation Sprint Magic Box

 

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In more technical terms, the Magic Box is an Airspan product under their Airunity line. The black colored model that exists in the wild, and which I procured contains the Airspan Airunity 540 small cell eNB. Whereas the white colored Magic Box advertised by Sprint is a newer model that contains the Airspan Airunity 545 small cell eNB. The primarily difference is that the unreleased white Magic Box is able to broadcast at twice the transmit power compared to the black model which results in substantially increased coverage area in addition to the LTE UE Relay Module having HPUE capability.

These are all wireless small cells as there is no requirement of a wired backhaul solution like traditional Femto cells like the pending Sprint Airave 3 LTE, Commscope S1000, or the T-mobile LTE Cellspot.

Instead, the Magic Box (MB) utilizes a technology called LTE UE Relay that is integrated into the overall package. The Magic Box contains an Airunity LTE B41 2500 MHz small cell and a LTE UE Relay device called the ninja module whose only job is to establish a data link to a macro eNB LTE 1900 or 2500 MHz signal and then feed a data connection to the Airunity small cell.

For more on LTE UE Relay: see here

Once the Relay link is connected and data flows to the Airunity eNB, a new LTE 2500 MHz signal is then created and broadcasted from the unit. This signal is unique to the Magic Box and is available to use by any compatible Sprint device that can access the LTE Plus (2500 MHz LTE B41) network.

Unlike a repeater setup, the Magic Box does not simply take an existing signal and amplify it and all the accompanying noise and interference. This is a brand new and very clean LTE signal being broadcasted.

The following screenshot from Network Signal Guru app displays this clearly.

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The Magic Box in my location broadcasts a brand new LTE carrier with frequency located on EARFCN 40270 (2558 MHz) while the macro donor eNB signal of 40978 (2628 MHz) is used as backhaul (LTE Band 25 1900 MHz can also be used).

[As of July 2017, the Magic Box had its LTE carrier center frequency switched to 2518.4 MHz or EARFCN 39874. Signal Check Pro screenshot]

This means, instead of a weak edge of cell LTE signal with the accompanying band switching that substantially impact device stand by times and I may lose deep inside the building, a Magic Box allows a Sprint device to connect to a strong and clean LTE 2500 MHz signal which blankets the formerly weak LTE coverage area.

As a side effect, LTE speeds may also be dramatically increased due to the better signal level and quality being broadcasted by the MB whose LTE Relay Module can connect to what may have been previously an unusable 2500 MHz network. Especially when placed by a window as recommended.

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Album of Screenshots

Personal Experience

In my more than one month of observations using the Magic Box, I was able to connect to a LTE 2500 MHz signal from inside a suburban family residential building where such a signal was previously unusable. Furthermore, not only did the Magic Box boost the data signal from weak edge of cell service with consistent frequency swapping that had previously killed our devices battery life, but it also increased the LTE data speeds substantially to the tune of 200-300% over what we were previously getting over LTE 800 and 1900 MHz.

Whereas previously the house was a weak coverage area where LTE 800 MHz was predominant with even parts dropping to EVDO 3G, the new LTE signal broadcasted by the MB covers the entire house and then some through multiple interior walls and even an exterior brick wall before handing over back to the macro network.

So what's my view on the Magic Box?

It can't come soon enough for more people to use and enjoy.

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I received notification today that my Magic Box will arrive in 5-7 days.  According to the PDF direction sheet, I'm supposed to try it in various windows BEFORE actually plugging it in. Humm... now that is magic (or a battery)  

Scott

 

 

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I received my Sprint Magic Box and hooked it up.  I was never able to get the "button" that the two arrows point to to work, so I plugged it in.

It took about 20 minutes to initialize and lock-in.  There are 3 screens:  GPS, LTE, Relay.

On the Relay screen, it says Band 25.  I assume that means that it is communicating with the Sprint tower on Band 25.   But I thought the whole point was to use Band 41.

I tried a couple of different windows, and even flipped the unit sideways to see if it made any difference.  The signal to my cell phone went from -114 to -64, so the Magic Box certainly helps with the indoor signal. That's to be expected; according to the front panel, the Magic Box is transmitting a 25 dBm signal.  However, my Speedtest speed is still 4 Mbps.

Other than the 3 screens (GPS, LTE, Relay), and the 4 menu options (Change Time Format, More Info, Other Actions, Re-Run Setup), I can't find any other settings. One of the screens says that the Magic Box Technical Support phone number is 844-463-3194, but I haven't tried calling yet.  I don't want them to say, "it doesn't work for you, mail it back".

 

Is there any way to lock the Magic Box to Band 41 ?    Sprint's Magic Box checker said that I'm in an eligible zone, the coverage map shows I'm in a Band 41 zone, and prior to the Magic box my phone communicated with the Sprint tower on Band 41.  But for the past 3 days , the Relay screen says that the Magic Box is on Band 25. With correspondingly with poor Mbps.

Thanks,

Scott

 

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...Also, the 3 screens are accessible by touching the screen, then selecting GPS, LTE, or Relay.  The 4 menu options are accessible by touching the little square icon in the upper-right corner.  

Scott

 

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On 9/15/2017 at 8:12 AM, 645824 said:

I received my Sprint Magic Box and hooked it up.  I was never able to get the "button" that the two arrows point to to work, so I plugged it in.

It took about 20 minutes to initialize and lock-in.  There are 3 screens:  GPS, LTE, Relay.

On the Relay screen, it says Band 25.  I assume that means that it is communicating with the Sprint tower on Band 25.   But I thought the whole point was to use Band 41.

I tried a couple of different windows, and even flipped the unit sideways to see if it made any difference.  The signal to my cell phone went from -114 to -64, so the Magic Box certainly helps with the indoor signal. That's to be expected; according to the front panel, the Magic Box is transmitting a 25 dBm signal.  However, my Speedtest speed is still 4 Mbps.

Other than the 3 screens (GPS, LTE, Relay), and the 4 menu options (Change Time Format, More Info, Other Actions, Re-Run Setup), I can't find any other settings. One of the screens says that the Magic Box Technical Support phone number is 844-463-3194, but I haven't tried calling yet.  I don't want them to say, "it doesn't work for you, mail it back".

 

Is there any way to lock the Magic Box to Band 41 ?    Sprint's Magic Box checker said that I'm in an eligible zone, the coverage map shows I'm in a Band 41 zone, and prior to the Magic box my phone communicated with the Sprint tower on Band 41.  But for the past 3 days , the Relay screen says that the Magic Box is on Band 25. With correspondingly with poor Mbps.

Thanks,

Scott

 

I'd recommend trying to run setup again.  I've found that the MB picks up far better B41 signal than my phone does.  

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On 9/17/2017 at 3:46 PM, shaferz said:

I'd recommend trying to run setup again.  I've found that the MB picks up far better B41 signal than my phone does.  

I can do the menu option and 30-second power cycle to restart, but how do I get back to the initial test-the-window mode?

Also, lilotimz's screenshots show Relay on Band 41.  But my Relay screen shows Band 25.  My understanding was the the Magic Box only worked on Band 41 based on the Sprint FAQ:

 

So how do I get back to test-the-window mode?  And how do I get my Magic Box to Band 41 ?  I've tried different windows, rotating it 90 degrees, and angling it.  It seems to always prefer Band 25.  I do have Band 41 here, but Band 25 seems stronger...

Thanks,

Scott

 

 

 

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Ah... to get back to test-the-window mode, first we select Shutdown from the menu.  That shuts the unit down and gets it back to the original state (that it arrived in the box).  Then hold down the hidden button on the front for 5 seconds and wait for the unit to power back up.  Then I can access test-the-window mode again.

Funny thing is that when I take the Magic Box outside and point it directly at the cell tower, the maximum that I get is 12 (out of 100).  But when I put it in a particular window, I can get 16.  So I'm using that.  It is still showing Band 25, but SpeedTest is reporting a better number now than I had before in a different window. 

Scott

Thanks,

 

 

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Hi I 1st want to say the post is excellent. The images along with explanations was very useful. I just had one quick question. I tried to do some research on the relay ninja module used in the magic magic Box. Is the ninja Marge war solely concerned with relay to and from the donor site? And thus the 4 antenna inputs to the ninja module are strictly concerned with transmit receive to and from the donor cell site?   My understanding is that the ninja module is in no way used to generate the band 41 signal to client users of the magic Box? Any help on this matter is greatly appreciated.

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