Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[chamb]

2 hours ago, wispiANt said:

I found a multi-carrier oDAS node at the corner of Bushwick Ave & Cedar St. You can see an upgraded Verizon macro deployment behind the node, and T-Mobile has a fully upgraded site only a block away. So, the only thing that makes sense is that this is an AT&T node with LTE+mmWave (or maybe C-Band).

Lots of time if you can get close to the pole, you will see a sticky label on the box that is low enough to read.

Most of the time it warns of RF exposure but also it may have a toll free number to call if there is an issue.

Sometimes there is a power company meter with the name of the user. I would be surprised if there was nothing there to help identify it.  Thinking further, if this is multi-Tenant oDAS, then maybe you might only see some name like Crown Castle or maybe even a department in the city government.   An app on your phone may show the carrier(s)

[wispiANt]

2 hours ago, chamb said:

Lots of time if you can get close to the pole, you will see a sticky label on the box that is low enough to read.

Most of the time it warns of RF exposure but also it may have a toll free number to call if there is an issue.

Sometimes there is a power company meter with the name of the user. I would be surprised if there was nothing there to help identify it.  Thinking further, if this is multi-Tenant oDAS, then maybe you might only see some name like Crown Castle or maybe even a department in the city government.   An app on your phone may show the carrier(s)

Yep, there is a label on the side of the box but it doesn't provide any useful info that the city doesn't already provide (Crown Castle Solutions is the franchisee). You can see my graphical interpretation of the city's dataset here.

[Paynefanbro]

If the small cell is Crown Castle I'd be surprised if it's AT&T since they seem to exclusively use Extenet and ZenFi in the outer boroughs with the exception of Staten Island where they have a bunch of super old Crown Castle NG small cells using the Wide-Area DAS cell numbering scheme.

I'll try to pass by with an AT&T phone to map it later this week.

[AirlineFlyer]

I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s Verizon, too. In my area they have multiple nodes on the same block as full macro sites with mmWave, in direct line of sight. 

[wispiANt]

Historically, T-Mobile has been the only carrier contracting with Crown Castle Solutions, at least in Brooklyn. I did a quick count of the ~35 nodes currently marked as "installed" and everything mapped appears to be T-Mobile. However, they have a macro sector pointed directly at this site and seem to continue relying on the older-style DAS nodes. Additionally, there's another Crown Castle Solutions node approved for construction just around the corner, well within range of their macro.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Verizon using a new vendor for their mmWave build, especially since the macro site directly behind this node lacks mmWave/CBRS deployment (limited to LTE plus C-Band). However, opting for a multi-carrier solution here seems unlikely unless another carrier has actually joined the build.

This node is equidistant (about five blocks) between two AT&T macro sites, and there are no oDAS nodes deployed nearby. Although I'm not currently mapping AT&T, based on CellMapper, it appears to be right on cell edge for both sites.

Regardless, it appears that whoever is deploying is planning for a significant build. There are eight Crown Castle Solutions nodes approved for construction in a 12-block by 2-block area.

[Paynefanbro]

Passed by that small cell and didn't pick up anything on T-Mobile or AT&T. Maybe it's offline or maybe it's Verizon.

[Paynefanbro]

Conover St in Red Hook has a row of 3 new Link5G sites deployed along it.  T-Mobile really needs a macro in that part of the neighborhood but I’d settle for them hopping on those Link5Gs for a boost in coverage. 

[AirlineFlyer]

17 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

Conover St in Red Hook has a row of 3 new Link5G sites deployed along it.  T-Mobile really needs a macro in that part of the neighborhood but I’d settle for them hopping on those Link5Gs for a boost in coverage. 

Do we know of a single "Linke5G" site that actually has carrier equipment installed?

[Paynefanbro]

11 minutes ago, AirlineFlyer said:

Do we know of a single "Linke5G" site that actually has carrier equipment installed?

Nope!

[Paynefanbro]

Came across another Crown Castle Solutions multi-tenant oDAS node in Brooklyn. Located at 40.7002286, -73.9612666. Nothing on T-Mobile or AT&T so I'm assuming these are all Verizon nodes that Crown Castle is anticipating another carrier will hop on down the line.

[Paynefanbro]

On 6/11/2024 at 3:01 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Conover St in Red Hook has a row of 3 new Link5G sites deployed along it.  T-Mobile really needs a macro in that part of the neighborhood but I’d settle for them hopping on those Link5Gs for a boost in coverage. 

Was in Red Hook again and I swear there are more Link5G sites as there are Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T small cells combined in the entire neighborhood. It seemed like every other street I turned down had one installed. Hopefully carriers will start hopping on them soon. Seems like a lot of effort to go through for no one to use them. 

— — — — —

T-Mobile converted the Sprint site on top of NYU Langone Brooklyn in Sunset Park. I first mapped one sector of it back in November 2023 but I thought it was a small cell so I never pinned it but I ran into another sector today which caught me off guard. I'm unable to find a permit for the conversion so it's definitely a surprise. There's another T-Mobile site 1 block away that T-Mobile initially installed back in 2019 so I'm kinda surprised they're keeping both considering the Sprint conversion is on a much taller building and could potentially provide much better coverage to the entire area. 

— — — — — 

On 5/17/2024 at 4:58 PM, Paynefanbro said:

eNB 41188 is decommissioned but as far as I can tell the site at 200 West 55th is not built yet.

Old permit for this new install expired but a new one was recently issued. It's gonna be similar to the site at 360 Forman St in Brooklyn Heights. Permit calls for only 3 antennas to be installed so I'm assuming it gonna be Band 2/41/66 and n25/41 only which is a bit of a downgrade from the now decommissioned full build that was on 871 7th Ave but in it's current state the nearest macro is a few blocks away and a small cell at Broadway and 55th is doing a lot of heavy lifting in the area so anything helps.

 

[Paynefanbro]

On 5/17/2024 at 4:58 PM, Paynefanbro said:

On 5/13/2024 at 12:06 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Just came across a permit for a new T-Mobile site at 61 Jackson St in Manhattan. It's replacing eNB 41150 which is a fully upgraded two sector site covering the FDR.

This site is built but not live. No mmWave or LAA but there is any empty fourth mount, probably for C-band or mmWave at some point down the line. eNB 41150 is still live.

Site is live now, gNB 1088943. eNB 41150 is still live though despite the fact that it's supposed to be decommissioned. I'm also starting to think eNB 41150 is only broadcasting 100MHz n41. It's the only site I've encountered where I haven't been able to map the 311/312 cells on it. Every other site around it, including gNB 1088943, I have no problem mapping the second carrier.

— — — — —

Edit: eNB 41150 is now offline. 6/25

[wispiANt]

Lots of new multi-carrier nodes popping up in Bushwick.

Crown Castle Fiber node at Ridgewood & Palmetto:

 

Crown Castle Solutions node at Irving & Jefferson:

 

Crown Castle Solutions node at Wilson & Noll: