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

[cjauregui]

Was wondering if you guys can give some insight into something. In Puyallup there is a tower that was approved to be upgraded in Jan 2022. It's now Feb 2023 and the upgrade has not been done. The city sent a letter telling them they have 60 days to start the work or lose the permit. Is this normal for T-Mobile to wait this long to upgrade a tower?

[Dkoellerwx]

4 hours ago, cjauregui said:

Is this normal for T-Mobile to wait this long to upgrade a tower?

They upgraded/converted a few sites here after the permit expired. However, I'm not sure how strict Omaha is about those, there seem to be a number that have lingered after the supposed expiration in the past that still got completed.

[RAvirani]

4 hours ago, cjauregui said:

Was wondering if you guys can give some insight into something. In Puyallup there is a tower that was approved to be upgraded in Jan 2022. It's now Feb 2023 and the upgrade has not been done. The city sent a letter telling them they have 60 days to start the work or lose the permit. Is this normal for T-Mobile to wait this long to upgrade a tower?

Which site?

[cjauregui]

I don't know the site number it's the site on WSDOT property, at 31st and S Meridian. 

[RAvirani]

T-Mobile and Sprint both had racks on this tower. They’ve permitted to take over the Sprint rack, although there were some question marks about breaking the original T-Mobile lease. My understanding is they are reevaluating whether the increased RAD center would appreciably impact 2500 layer coverage. Not sure if a verdict has been reached there...

[cjauregui]

Thank you. It has been a real problem for many of us in the area. As the lower rack they use, has horrible coverage. 

[xmx1024]

Updated to 16.4 beta which brings expanded NR support and SA CA to iPhone. Does anyone know the conditions / requirements that must be met in order for the handset to be connected to NR over NSA? seems at random and I can’t seem to trigger or influence it manually.

[PedroDaGr8]

1 hour ago, xmx1024 said:

Updated to 16.4 beta which brings expanded NR support and SA CA to iPhone. Does anyone know the conditions / requirements that must be met in order for the handset to be connected to NR over NSA? seems at random and I can’t seem to trigger or influence it manually.

I would say just give it time. Initially on Android, it was really really random if you didn't have a phone that could band lock. Overtime, as TMO debugged things, the phones started preferring SA.

[xmx1024]

35 minutes ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

I would say just give it time. Initially on Android, it was really really random if you didn't have a phone that could band lock. Overtime, as TMO debugged things, the phones started preferring SA.

I imagine more ubiquitous VONR will be the final nudge to having SA connections be primary

[PedroDaGr8]

Massive new tower at the 520/202 interchange in Redmond. Looked like Nokia equipment on the ground but I couldn't see all the RRUs.

[RAvirani]

Which tower are you referring to? Did you snag any pictures?

[PedroDaGr8]

23 hours ago, RAvirani said:

Which tower are you referring to? Did you snag any pictures?

The tower is located here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/47°40'10.7"N+122°06'19.8"W/@47.6696389,-122.1055,564m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d47.6696389!4d-122.1055

Sorry, wasn't able to snap any pics. Every time I stopped at that light (I tried thrice), a big box truck pulled up next to me obscuring the view. 

[PedroDaGr8]

5 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

The tower is located here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/47°40'10.7"N+122°06'19.8"W/@47.6696389,-122.1055,564m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d47.6696389!4d-122.1055

Sorry, wasn't able to snap any pics. Every time I stopped at that light (I tried thrice), a big box truck pulled up next to me obscuring the view. 

Found the permit for it! Looks like it will be Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T at minimum on the tower. The bottom rack is described as "future antennas by others", which makes me think Dish will be on there as well. 

[PedroDaGr8]

VoNR looks to be live in the metro Seattle area and multiple other cities across the US.

[PedroDaGr8]

Just noticed also that B2 has shrunk from 20MHz down to 15MHz (and as a result moved down to EARFCNs 18975/975 . I am guessing that n25 will be expanding to the full 20MHz shortly.

[RAvirani]

On 2/27/2023 at 5:59 PM, PedroDaGr8 said:

Found the permit for it! Looks like it will be Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T at minimum on the tower. The bottom rack is described as "future antennas by others", which makes me think Dish will be on there as well. 

Oh—this is the new CC site. I’m surprised they’re moving so fast!

[PedroDaGr8]

3 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Oh—this is the new CC site. I’m surprised they’re moving so fast!

They are moving quite fast, all three equipment boxes were already installed and the trunk of the "tree" was fully installed as well.

By the way, I noticed Dish was installing today on the tower over by Cedar Park Elementary school in Bothell. The same one that T-Mobile already converted from Sprint but has still not activated yet (not the one closer to I-405 which has Verizon/AT&T)

[PedroDaGr8]

17 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Just noticed also that B2 has shrunk from 20MHz down to 15MHz (and as a result moved down to EARFCNs 18975/975 . I am guessing that n25 will be expanding to the full 20MHz shortly.

That's fast, n25 is now 20MHz

[S4GRU]

On 3/1/2023 at 8:22 AM, PedroDaGr8 said:

VoNR looks to be live in the metro Seattle area and multiple other cities across the US.

It wasn't live in Mason County this morning.  But drove into Thurston County, and put it in NR Only mode and I watched the Voice change to In Service.  However, I cannot make or receive calls with my Pixel 7 Pro.  Not sure if it's my device or the network. 

Robert

[RAvirani]

The Chinook Pass site is live! The rest of 410 should be coming soon…

[PedroDaGr8]

The Hollywood Hills tower (near Woodinville) has finally been upgraded! I drove by it today to confirm. This should dramatically improve the coverage in an area which is often very much a dead zone or near dead zone. 

Also, @S4GRU I moved a tower you had pinned in Kenmore. You had it pinned at what used to be a Sprint Keep site but it was actually the tower up the hill by NE 180th St. which had been upgraded. I really doubt that Sprint Keep site is going to be kept at this point. 

Bit by bit, more and more decomm permits are coming through in the Kirkland/Bothell/Kenmore area. 

Lastly, just an FYI for those in the area, Ziply Fiber just released their 10gig/10gig tier of home internet (and also dropped the price of their 2gig/2gig and 5gig/5gig plans). 

[PedroDaGr8]

This really cryptic permit came up recently for a colo on the Kirkland Urban building. T-Mobile is already there and Verizon/AT&T are looking to move to a tower down by the water front.  The only provider without a tower near downtown would be DISH. That being said the number of antennas per sector (three) is more than Dish uses in the area. 

[RAvirani]

3 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

This really cryptic permit came up recently for a colo on the Kirkland Urban building. T-Mobile is already there and Verizon/AT&T are looking to move to a tower down by the water front.  The only provider without a tower near downtown would be DISH. That being said the number of antennas per sector (three) is more than Dish uses in the area. 

Yes I believe that is a Dish site. 

[PedroDaGr8]

On 3/1/2023 at 1:13 PM, RAvirani said:

Oh—this is the new CC site. I’m surprised they’re moving so fast!

This site is already live. Super fast turn around for a brand new site.

[PedroDaGr8]

The Market St. tower in Kirkland has been upgraded and has gone live over the past week or so. Another really fast turn around!