Everything 800mhz (1xA, LTE, coverage, timeline, etc)

[digiblur]

Are there currently LTE 800MHz Band 25 compatible devices out on the market?

 

 

 

Band 25 is the PCS band, not 800.

[jamisonshaw125]

AJ

 

 

Are there currently LTE 800MHz Band 25 compatible devices out on the market?

 

 

Lte Band 26, and yes. Several. All spark devices are capable of b26. The iPhone 5s and 5C can also run b26 and b25, but not b41.

[WiWavelength]

A slide from T-Mobile regarding the 700Mhz purchase from Verizon Wireless says it has 40Mhz in top 25 markets for AWS.

I would like to see the wording of that slide because it is patently not true that T-Mobile has 40 MHz of AWS, let alone contiguous AWS in all top 25 markets.

 

In fact, I have a VZW-T-Mobile top 25 market AWS spectrum spreadsheet that I put together about 18 months ago following the major spectrum swap.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArY31Mr219-ydFVpWGJJNlFtQlk4M3h5R1c4eklJamc&usp=drive_web#gid=0

 

Now, some of that data is no longer current due to subsequent transactions, such as the MetroPCS merger. But the thrust of it is still accurate. T-Mobile has anywhere from 10 MHz to 50 MHz of accumulated AWS in the top 25 markets.

 

Additionally, keep in mind that T-Mobile will have to continue to run at least one W-CDMA carrier in AWS for the next few years, so that takes up at least 10 MHz of spectrum. In other words, not all of that spectrum will be available for LTE. And 20 MHz FDD requires contiguous spectrum, so that further limits the pool of possible markets.

 

AJ

[ejlwireless]

Band 25 is the PCS band, not 800.

Sorry been a hectic week of writing and analyzing global bands. Meant Band 26 devices for 800MHz. Thank you.

[Guest DigiClaws]

Excited to see CDMA 800 being lit up in the DFW market. Seems to be around 50 sites upgraded yesterday. I've been waiting a long time to gain that better voice signal at my house. I'm on the cusp on 5 different towers. I'm in that perfect spot that I get a weak signal (RSSI -105). I roam just about every day, especially the past two days a lot on MetroPCS. Makes me believe they are about to light up some towers around me.

 

Can anyone tell me if the CDMA 800 upgrades in the DFW market are like the recent upgrades in the Houston Market where they turned on Band 26 when upgrading sites to CDMA 800? I believe I read that somewhere on here recently. I do have to say that my tri-band S4 has shown Band 26  briefly in the LTE Engineering screen while around a certain site (32.838611, -97.134444). When i get around that site it's a toss up to whether I'll have LTE (Band 41), LTE (Band 25), or EHRPD. I can't figure out why I would not always connect to Band 41. Seems that they might be lighting up Band 26. One can only hope.

[S4GRU]

Can anyone tell me if the CDMA 800 upgrades in the DFW market are like the recent upgrades in the Houston Market where they turned on Band 26 when upgrading sites to CDMA 800? I believe I read that somewhere on here recently.

The new CDMA 800 sites shown in the DFW market do not have LTE 800 accepted on them yet. So far, it's not happening like Houston.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

[afazel]

The new CDMA 800 sites shown in the DFW market do not have LTE 800 accepted on them yet. So far, it's not happening like Houston.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

:-(

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[MacPCS]

:-(

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Don't be sad.  Sprint expects 800 voice deployment to be largely complete in the first half of this year, for the entire network.  They even expect very good progress on LTE on 800Mhz as well by the halfway point of calendar 2014.

 

All of this was stated yesterday AM on the quarterly earnings call.  

[Guest DigiClaws]

The new CDMA 800 sites shown in the DFW market do not have LTE 800 accepted on them yet. So far, it's not happening like Houston.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

What is needed for 800 LTE to be lit up? An additional carrier card? Are they installing the needed equipment or preparing what is needed for 800 LTE to come on down the road or are they going to have to go back to the site?

[anthony.spina97]

What is needed for 800 LTE to be lit up? An additional carrier card? Are they installing the needed equipment or preparing what is needed for 800 LTE to come on down the road or are they going to have to go back to the site?

When a tower is upgraded to NV, the necessary equipment for 800 LTE is installed. In order for it to become online, a tech has to go visit the site and install the carrier card, run some tests, and turn it on. It's a MUCH easier process than doing a full NV install. It only takes a couple hours, tops, to install the carrier card and run the tests.

 

-Anthony

[Guest DigiClaws]

Thanks for that information Anthony. It's unfortunate that a tech will have to go back out to the site to get 800 LTE up and running. What would be the reason the 800 LTE carrier card would not be installed when CDMA 800 is being turned on? Doesn't it seem that they are making more work than needs to be? I'm sure there are underlying reasons as to why they do what they do. Just wondering. Thanks.

[jefbal99]

Thanks for that information Anthony. It's unfortunate that a tech will have to go back out to the site to get 800 LTE up and running. What would be the reason the 800 LTE carrier card would not be installed when CDMA 800 is being turned on? Doesn't it seem that they are making more work than needs to be? I'm sure there are underlying reasons as to why they do what they do. Just wondering. Thanks.

I believe there was a shortage of carrier cards at one point.

[anthony.spina97]

Thanks for that information Anthony. It's unfortunate that a tech will have to go back out to the site to get 800 LTE up and running. What would be the reason the 800 LTE carrier card would not be installed when CDMA 800 is being turned on? Doesn't it seem that they are making more work than needs to be? I'm sure there are underlying reasons as to why they do what they do. Just wondering. Thanks.

To elaborate on what jefbal99 stated, I'm pretty sure it was due to the shortages in the carrier cards (like jefbal said). When CDMA 800 was first being installed, the different vendors were having problems with the designs of the LTE 800 carrier cards and also weren't able to get to manufacturing them in time for turning on CDMA 800. I believe that when doing new NV installs in markets that the vendor has been able to manufacture the carrier cards and distribute them to techs, and when going to do the work for turning CDMA 800 on, the installers are going to be turning CDMA 800 and LTE 800 on at the same time (given that the backhaul that is required for LTE is installed already).

 

-Anthony

[Vince]

I believe there was a cutoff of simultaneous LTE 800 installs with new equipment upgrades to sites. Older sites will require a new visit, while from X point forward, everything is installed at once.

 

 

Vince

[chamb]

I believe there was a cutoff of simultaneous LTE 800 installs with new equipment upgrades to sites. Older sites will require a new visit, while from X point forward, everything is installed at once.

 

 

Vince

I have no proof of this, but I would bet that you are correct. Makes sense to do it that way with some possible exceptions.

[EvanA]

I have a Nexus 5 and I am in an area with 1x 800 deployed.  There is also LTE on band 25.  I noticed something odd about how the phone connects to 1x and I am not sure if it is normal.  When i force the phone to 3G only mode, it will connect to eHRPD and 1x800.  If I have the phone in LTE mode and I make a phone call, however, the phone jumps on to 1x RTT.  When on 1x 800 everything works fine, so it doesn't make sense that having LTE enabled causes it to use 1xRTT.

[WiWavelength]

I have a Nexus 5 and I am in an area with 1x 800 deployed.  There is also LTE on band 25.  I noticed something odd about how the phone connects to 1x and I am not sure if it is normal.  When i force the phone to 3G only mode, it will connect to eHRPD and 1x800.  If I have the phone in LTE mode and I make a phone call, however, the phone jumps on to 1x RTT.  When on 1x 800 everything works fine, so it doesn't make sense that having LTE enabled causes it to use 1xRTT.

If you are connected to LTE 1900, then you will have ample signal for CDMA1X 1900. CDMA1X 800 is not needed in that situation.

 

AJ

[TheForce627]

If you are connected to LTE 1900, then you will have ample signal for CDMA1X 1900. CDMA1X 800 is not needed in that situation.

 

AJ

I've noticed the exact opposite in my area. I will barely see CDMA1X 800 in cdma only mode but when connected to LTE and I make a call I'll see CDMA1X 800

[EvanA]

If you are connected to LTE 1900, then you will have ample signal for CDMA1X 1900. CDMA1X 800 is not needed in that situation.

 

AJ

This makes sense, but then why does the phone connect to 1x 800 when it drops to 3G on 1900 in the same area?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[ingenium]

This makes sense, but then why does the phone connect to 1x 800 when it drops to 3G on 1900 in the same area? Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

The network may just move the phone to 800mhz for some reason.

 

Or it's prioritized in the PRL. It seems some official PRLs keep 1x 800 and 1x 1900 at the same priority, but my current stock PRL has 1x 800 at a higher priority than 1x 1900. So I always connect to 1x 800 even if it's a weaker signal than 1900 (800 is only on some of the towers in my area).

 

I do notice that 1x 800 seems to cut out more during calls, even with a signal stronger than - 78db according to Signal Check Pro... Not sure why this happens, but I get better call quality on 1900.

 

Sometimes the 800 signal is practically unusable with the audio cutting out a lot, but my phone usually switches over to 1900 after a minute or so on the call if 800 is too weak.

 

So it's not necessarily a bad thing your phone is using 1900, sometimes it's actually better.

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

 

[ImmerStark]

It's probably easier to manage interference from adjacent cells at a higher frequency. If the towers in your area are actually spaced appropriately for PCS then the noise floor on 800MHz is going to be higher. For those who live in areas with less than ideal(for PCS) site spacing 800MHz will be a godsend.

[mrjeff]

If you are connected to LTE 1900, then you will have ample signal for CDMA1X 1900. CDMA1X 800 is not needed in that situation.

 

AJ

 

 

This makes sense but I don't find this is always the case...at least not currently.   One place I travel through in particular has really terrible LTE 1900 coverage for about a block but my phone remains connected to it despite that.  When a call connects to CDMA1X 1900 in this spot I'll barely be able to hear the caller and will almost always have to hang up and try again.

[Guest DigiClaws]

Does anyone's phone ever show that it is on 1x Band 0 or Band 3, both of which are in the 800mHz spectrum? I've never seen this in my 1x Engineering RF screen until today.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B12RaEnHPgWTbkR5UHRnNUVVNUk/edit?usp=sharing

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B12RaEnHPgWTMEwxZW9kWlFnVDg/edit?usp=sharing

[WiWavelength]

Does anyone's phone ever show that it is on 1x Band 0 or Band 3, both of which are in the 800mHz spectrum? I've never seen this in my 1x Engineering RF screen until today. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B12RaEnHPgWTbkR5UHRnNUVVNUk/edit?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B12RaEnHPgWTMEwxZW9kWlFnVDg/edit?usp=sharing

You are not actually connected to "channel 0."

 

AJ

[Guest DigiClaws]

I figured that didn't look right, but why show Band 0 and 3? Why not camp out on Band 1, Channel X?