Network Vision/LTE - Philadelphia Metro Market (including Lehigh Valley/Reading)

[RedSpark]

Something to wake this thread up!

 

[RedSpark]

Posted a few weeks ago.

[mrknowitall526]

I have been getting more and more LTE Roaming on Tmo Band 66 in the Allentown area. Is this new, or am I just noticing it in places I haven't been to before?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[lilotimz]

I have been getting more and more LTE Roaming on Tmo Band 66 in the Allentown area. Is this new, or am I just noticing it in places I haven't been to before?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Sprint has been purchasing roaming access to T-mobile sites for in market roaming. Helps them increase capacity and coverage for sprint users without resorting to building new cell sites.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[T-MoblieUser207]

Took a day trip to Philadelphia some weeks ago, and my experience was exceptional. I was on n41 basically all the time, except when the device started to overheat and disconnect NR, as the day was hot.

Rode Amtrak from NYC to Philadelphia and back, and T-Mobile was great. I locked SA south, and NSA north. Southbound the device stayed and held SA n71 without going to no signal, except for the immediate area outside the tunnel from Penn Station. From Harrison PATH station south to 30th, SA n71 didn't disconnect at all. The northbound trip was great on NSA also, quite often connecting to n41, with occasional drops to n71.

30th St Station has n41 coverage, but the tower that covers the station either is backhaul capped and/or is heavily utilized, as B66+n41 was only 110 Mbps. Walked from SEPTA Jefferson Station to the Liberty Bell, and it has 100% n41 coverage, and the tower which covers the landmark got to 600 Mbps very easily.

Got on the Market-Frankford Line out to 69th Street Transportation Center, and once the train went from tunnel to elevated, n41 was there, all the way to 69th Street. Tried and failed to run a speed test at 69th St as the device was warm, thanks to the temperature of the day.

Spectrum holdings

Here is what I found in Center City and on the MFL trip for T-Mobile:
n41 is 100 MHz, with EARFCN 516030 (2530.15 ~ 2630.15 MHz)
n71 is 10 MHz, using D and E blocks

B66 is 20 MHz
B41 is 40 MHz, 2558 and 2538.2 MHz at 20 MHz each.
B2 is 15 and 10 MHz. 15 MHz is all of C block, and 10 MHz is 1870-1880 MHz of B block.
B12 is 5, and B71 is 10 MHz, B and C blocks.

HSPA is still active, 1877.3 to 1882.3 MHz.

Sprint:
B41 at 2680 MHz (20 MHz) and 2521.1 MHz (15 MHz), and B25 (G block only) and B26.

T-Mobile B41 is nearly overlaps fully with their n41 block, except for ~2 MHz. Speeds and SNR were great on n41 and B41 on the tower outside the Liberty Bell which I found it and tested on. I wonder if this is a form of DSS.

HSPA is a strange one, as T-Mobile is squeezing 15 MHz of spectrum (10 MHz and 5 MHz HSPA) within 12 MHz of spectrum. I would assume come January 2022 it will be 2 15 MHz B2 blocks in Philly, with HSPA in the middle of the lower 15 MHz block, until HSPA is shut down.

Data has been added to Cellmapper in Philadelphia for T-Mobile and Sprint. Album of screenshots/data is here: https://imgur.com/a/XVKgvWk

[T-MoblieUser207]

I took another trip to Philly, and added some more data to Cellmapper, same thing as last time, NYC to Philly and back via Amtrak. This time, I expanded my mapping a bit, as I mapped the Norristown SEPTA line from a little south of Temple University all the way to Norristown, end to end on both the Norristown High Speed line and Market Frankford Lines, and quite a bit of Center City. There is quite a bit of small cells within Center City, worse Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a hot mess of small cells everywhere, as I think I was able to see 10 or 11 at once from all carriers in some locations. Figuring out who is who is going to be a challenge.

I would guess the sea of red dots will stay that way for some time, but I did find quite a few converted sites within the Philly region, and on the NEC in New Jersey, matching the numbering scheme I found in NYC (8xxxxx). I also found 312-250 sites along the NEC in New Jersey and in Philly. I wondered if there is any gig+ sites within Center City, but I found none. All sites got 500-700 down pretty easily, and the 30th Street station n41 issue has been fixed.

Edited March 27, 2022 by T-MoblieUser207

[T-MoblieUser207]

Been awhile since I did a post about Philly since there really was much new to report. The convert sites I have visited are pretty much empty, as even though I am deprioritized, I still got to 750+ on speedtests with n41, with 2 approaching 790 Mbps very easily. Still no gig+ sites found.

If anyone here is looking to check out keep sites within the Philly area, I made a list a few days ago of the sites I have found and others which I'm monitoring:
 

 

[T-MoblieUser207]

Took a trip to Philly recently, and there seems to be some gig+ sites popping up across the area, but not within Center City yet. eNB 58201 in Willow Grove is gig+ and 56749, and possibly one near NRG stadium. Also, the DAS for the subway system got upgraded with n41 on it. The stations have n41 signal available, but the tunnels are still LTE only and can CA n41 from the nearby station if it reaches. Nice and easy 500+ down on the DAS with n41. B41 has been cut down to 20+15 within the city, but its 20+20 on the outskirts. n41 is 100+40 with n25 at 10 MHz.

There are plenty of keep sites all over to find, and there are still sites that are broadcasting 312-250 that haven't been converted yet.