Network Vision/LTE - West Washington Market (Seattle/Puget Sound Region)

[PedroDaGr8]

23 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Sprint eNB 747123 has been outfitted with Sprint equipment. I hope they null the southwest sector on eNB 84598/97496…

I assume you mean Tmo equient and yeah I hope they do. That being said, I have little faith based on the Totem Lake area.

[RAvirani]

49 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

I assume you mean Tmo equient and yeah I hope they do. That being said, I have little faith based on the Totem Lake area.

That is what I meant - oops. I guess we’ll see.

Verizon just rebuilt that area and it’s looking super nice, especially with the narrowband antennas on eNB 2305. I do wonder why they turned off low/mid CA on that site though. 

[PedroDaGr8]

T-Mobile has already pulled the Sprint equipment from the top of the Totem Lake Motel 6. We will see soon how bad things get signal-wise in that area. 

[RAvirani]

2 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

T-Mobile has already pulled the Sprint equipment from the top of the Totem Lake Motel 6. We will see soon how bad things get signal-wise in that area. 

I actually have those Commscope antennas in inventory now plus a bunch of SignalCheck drive test data in that area, so this should be pretty accurate:

https://imgur.com/a/j4959Tl

Mostly QPSK/16QAM. 

[PedroDaGr8]

2 hours ago, RAvirani said:

I actually have those Commscope antennas in inventory now plus a bunch of SignalCheck drive test data in that area, so this should be pretty accurate:

https://imgur.com/a/j4959Tl

Mostly QPSK/16QAM. 

What does satellite mean in this context? Also, that is pretty bad when it comes to modulation. 

 

[RAvirani]

15 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

What does satellite mean in this context? Also, that is pretty bad when it comes to modulation. 

 

Just the map canvas. It’s easier to see where mall/big box stores are on a satellite map than a roadmap (at least in my opinion). 

[PedroDaGr8]

1 hour ago, RAvirani said:

Just the map canvas. It’s easier to see where mall/big box stores are on a satellite map than a roadmap (at least in my opinion). 

Ohh, map versus satellite view. I sound have noticed that. I've been in and out of meetings all day and my brain is toast.

[PedroDaGr8]

On 3/22/2022 at 12:02 PM, RAvirani said:

I actually have those Commscope antennas in inventory now plus a bunch of SignalCheck drive test data in that area, so this should be pretty accurate:

https://imgur.com/a/j4959Tl

Mostly QPSK/16QAM. 

By the way, which frequency is this calculated with? I am wondering if they are optimizing some things for n41 since that is becoming their primary data channel. 

[xmx1024]

On 3/19/2022 at 12:50 PM, RAvirani said:

Sprint eNB 747123 has been outfitted with Sprint equipment. I hope they null the southwest sector on eNB 84598/97496…

Happen to snag a pic?

[RAvirani]

On 3/23/2022 at 2:55 PM, PedroDaGr8 said:

By the way, which frequency is this calculated with? I am wondering if they are optimizing some things for n41 since that is becoming their primary data channel. 

PCS. I don’t have AAHF or AEHC radiation patterns so I can’t simulate 2500 coverage unfortunately. 

[xmx1024]

16 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

PCS. I don’t have AAHF or AEHC radiation patterns so I can’t simulate 2500 coverage unfortunately. 

also tough to do as they support beamforming as well.

[RAvirani]

2 hours ago, xmx1024 said:

Happen to snag a pic?

I did not unfortunately. 

1 hour ago, xmx1024 said:

also tough to do as they support beamforming as well.

The software can and does account for antennas that support beamforming - I just don’t have the antenna files.  

[PedroDaGr8]

Not western Washington per se but the wife and I went hiking at Palouse Falls and the Columbia Wildlife Refuge (namely by the Drumheller Basalt Columns). I was surprised to see 5GUC in areas like Othello and Connell. Those are far from bustling metropolises or even mid-size towns.

On the other hand, outside of those areas and there was basically zero TMo coverage on WA-24, WA-26,WA-260, and WA-261 . I spent most of my time roaming on AT&T with the occasional US Cellular or Sprint tower (hopefully keeps)

[S4GRU]

I roamed on VZW LTE the other morning in my home near Olympia on my LGV60 when the local Tmo tower went down in the storm.  Never seen that before. When did Tmo and VZW have a roaming agreement?

Robert

[RAvirani]

2 hours ago, S4GRU said:

I roamed on VZW LTE the other morning in my home near Olympia on my LGV60 when the local Tmo tower went down in the storm.  Never seen that before. When did Tmo and VZW have a roaming agreement?

Robert

VZW CDMA-less devices have been roaming on T-Mo WCDMA/HSPA for some time now. I suppose it’s about time T-Mo users were able to use VZW LTE. 

[PedroDaGr8]

TMobile just filed to upgrade the site they just installed last year over by Totem Lake:

https://permitsearch.mybuildingpermit.com/PermitDetails/BNR22-02836/Kirkland

I'm guessing it will add n41 because that's the only band that site lacks. 

[dkyeager]

1 hour ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

TMobile just filed to upgrade the site they just installed last year over by Totem Lake:

https://permitsearch.mybuildingpermit.com/PermitDetails/BNR22-02836/Kirkland

I'm guessing it will add n41 because that's the only band that site lacks. 

Historically T-Mobile would only add bands to sites when really needed. Is that changing?

[PedroDaGr8]

20 hours ago, dkyeager said:

Historically T-Mobile would only add bands to sites when really needed. Is that changing?

Around here, they have been putting n41 on pretty much everything they can. You almost never see a permit without it. 

[Dkoellerwx]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:26 PM, dkyeager said:

Historically T-Mobile would only add bands to sites when really needed. Is that changing?

Aside from a couple of stragglers, when they update sites here in Omaha they put everything on it. We're thinking that maybe supply chain issues might have had an impact on the couple of sites that got B71 antennas but no RRU.

[PedroDaGr8]

Seems like updates have stalled out around here. A number of permits ready for issue or issued but none of the sites having installations done. For example, the Motel 6 site hasn't changed since they removed the equipment.

I've heard rumors that the chip shortage was impacting rru/antenna production. Not sure if it's that or something else but really have a dozen permitted sites are sitting unchanged right now. 

[mdob07]

11 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Seems like updates have stalled out around here. A number of permits ready for issue or issued but none of the sites having installations done. For example, the Motel 6 site hasn't changed since they removed the equipment.

I've heard rumors that the chip shortage was impacting rru/antenna production. Not sure if it's that or something else but really have a dozen permitted sites are sitting unchanged right now. 

I've noticed that around here as well. Found 1 T-Mobile site being upgraded last week and that was the first in a couple months at least, it's been awhile since I've seen any AT&T work around here too. And no additional Sprint removals for awhile. Not sure if its equipment shortages or that Verizon has all the crews tied up around here right now, they're going crazy with C band equipment installs around here. Haven't seen much new Dish activity either in a bit. 

[PedroDaGr8]

The tower across WA-522 from the Woodinville Costco just got upgraded with a B41/n41 panel. I was surprised it took that long for that site to be updated. It's a relatively dense pocket within a rural area. 

[PedroDaGr8]

And speaketh of the devil, the Totem Lake Motel 6 site install was done today. It wasn't there this morning when I looked and this afternoon it is all installed. 

[PedroDaGr8]

Actually, I take back what I just said about conversions being slow. Apparently it has been Woodinville/Maltby upgrade month. Driving around today during lunch break, I discovered:

• The Maltby tower (eNB 84578) has been upgraded to the full suite of bands (2/12/41/66/71)
• Workers were busy converting the Sprint Conversion Tower (89059) just west of the Maltby tower. It appeared it was also getting the full suite of bands but wasn't live yet. 
• The tower at the intersection of Avondale/Woodinville-Duvall, behind the Safeway, (84788) had been upgraded with the full suite of bands but wasn't live yet.
• The tower over by Cottage Lake (84696) had been upgraded from 12/66 to all bands except 41. This is one of the few towers I have encountered which were upgraded and DIDN'T get B41. 

[PedroDaGr8]

18 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Actually, I take back what I just said about conversions being slow. Apparently it has been Woodinville/Maltby upgrade month. Driving around today during lunch break, I discovered:

• The Maltby tower (eNB 84578) has been upgraded to the full suite of bands (2/12/41/66/71)
• Workers were busy converting the Sprint Conversion Tower (89059) just west of the Maltby tower. It appeared it was also getting the full suite of bands but wasn't live yet. 
• The tower at the intersection of Avondale/Woodinville-Duvall, behind the Safeway, (84788) had been upgraded with the full suite of bands but wasn't live yet.
• The tower over by Cottage Lake (84696) had been upgraded from 12/66 to all bands except 41. This is one of the few towers I have encountered which were upgraded and DIDN'T get B41. 

I forgot to add, T-Mobile was already on that Sprint Keep Tower but on a lower rack. Sure enough, all of the new T-Mobile equipment is on the top rack (where Sprint used to be). This is the first conversion I have seen in the area where the Keep PLMN was used to denote T-Mobile was taking over Sprint's rack. I'm sure that has been very common in other areas.