T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

[Deval]

The HSPA+/LTE network uses tower-top electronics. And any cell sites getting 700MHz will use tower-top electronics too. That means when those TMAs are removed at the antenna, full multi-band 700/AWS/PCS RRHs go up in their place. The PCS-only ones aren't getting it for now because T-Mobile doesn't want to go up and down to redo the antennas several times in succession. It would be a waste of time and money to do that.

 

So the GMOs are a stopgap until they know for sure about 700MHz in the PCS-only zones and the supply for tri-band RRHs improves, at which point they'll convert to tower-top electronics using the RRH up at the panel (or AIR systems in Ericsson areas).

 

Essentially, the upgrade has been split into two stages to ensure it gets done faster overall. After all, T-Mobile still has to get that AWS deployed at the very least, too.

 

Makes sense now, thanks!

[transitwatch889]

So I finally received the personal cellspot aka ASUS (RT-AC68U), its so much better than my old WiFi 802.11n linksys by a huge margin! Fills my whole apartment, plus some range in the hallway of my building. I can also maintain a WiFi call now without being constrained to my room with the router. Do like there are two separate networks for 5ghz and 2.4ghz frequencies. Thumbs up to t mobile for this!

[sbolen]

New developments...

France’s Iliad Said to Plan Bid for Bigger T-Mobile Stake

 

Iliad SA (ILD) is planning to bid for a bigger stake in Deutsche Telekom AG’s U.S. unit than it sought in July, as the French telecom carrier approaches a self-imposed deadline to reach a deal, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Iliad, which originally proposed buying 56.6 percent of T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS), still intends to offer about $33 for each T-Mobile share for a significantly larger stake, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Controlled by billionaire entrepreneur Xavier Niel, Iliad has set a deadline of this month for reaching a preliminary agreement with Deutsche Telekom, the people said.

[Conan Kudo]

New developments...

France’s Iliad Said to Plan Bid for Bigger T-Mobile Stake

I don't see Deutsche Telekom agreeing. Selling T-Mobile US would drop DT out of the top 10 in terms of revenue, profits, and subscribers. Without T-Mobile US, it may not be able to maintain its consolidated financial performance as it had in the past. Not only that, T-Mobile US is DT's only growing business unit right now. Based on what Reuters indicated earlier this week, I simply don't see a sale happening at all.

[bigsnake49]

I don't see Deutsche Telekom agreeing. Selling T-Mobile US would drop DT out of the top 10 in terms of revenue, profits, and subscribers. Without T-Mobile US, it may not be able to maintain its consolidated financial performance as it had in the past. Not only that, T-Mobile US is DT's only growing business unit right now. Based on what Reuters indicated earlier this week, I simply don't see a sale happening at all.

Not at $33/share. I see them selling at $37

[Conan Kudo]

Not at $33/share. I see them selling at $37

Considering that DT didn't accept less than $40/share from SoftBank, I think a bare minimum for any consideration will be $38/share. And even then, I don't think DT would all its entire stake to be sold. And that's really only if DT is considering a sale, which I don't think it is anymore.

[avb]

With Tmobile acquiring lower 700mhz licenses, when do we expect to see band 12 and devices with band 12 in the wild?

[Conan Kudo]

With Tmobile acquiring lower 700mhz licenses, when do we expect to see band 12 and devices with band 12 in the wild?

Now.

 

Band 12 has gone live in portions of D.C., Ohio, Texas, and Atlanta already. Work is underway to roll it out in other areas, and T-Mobile is negotiating agreements for DTV 51 stations to either move or accept reduced coverage contours. It has successfully negotiated the Dayton, OH; Altanta, GA; and Kansas City DTV 51 stations to move to other channels, and work began in those areas to roll out Band 12 some time ago.

 

Band 12 devices are rolling out as we speak. Currently, T-Mobile carries four band 12 devices on its site:

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0
• Samsung Galaxy Avant
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (available for pre-order currently, comes out later this month)
• ZTE ZMAX

The following upcoming devices will also include band 12:

• Sony Xperia Z3
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5

There's also an unlocked device that has band 12 that isn't sold by T-Mobile, the Verykool SL5000 Quantum. Most of the specs on the device are good, but it has a 5.0" FWVGA screen instead of qHD/720p/1080p HD in order to bring the cost of the device way down to $230. However, it does have AWS for HSPA+/LTE and supports bands 12 and 17. That said, the ZTE ZMAX is a far better device (5.7" 720p HD screen, Wi-Fi ac, Wi-Fi calling, etc) at only $22 more. But if you need a device that is as cheap as it gets (for kids or whatever) with band 12, the "verykool" phone is the one to get. But $22 more for the ZMAX is a much better bargain (especially since it has stock Android, too).

[eljayyy91]

That makes me wonder... How are ZTE phones nowadays? I had the warp on boost for a little while and God that thing was horrible.

[Conan Kudo]

That makes me wonder... How are ZTE phones nowadays? I had the warp on boost for a little while and God that thing was horrible.

According to those I know who have it, the ZTE ZMAX is a rather good phone. The near-stock Android combined with Wi-Fi calling and decent specs (most ZTE phones released to Sprint and its brands suck in terms of specs) make it a powerful and speedy device for the value.

[bigsnake49]

I don't know that anybody will be offering $37 or $38/share. The $29 price already has an acquisition premium built in. I would say, that left to its own devices, the stock will probably settle at about $24-$25. I can understand why Iliad might not want to offer more than $33 and instead concentrate on offering to buy more shares.

[coorsleftfield]

Are you guys on TMO seeing VOLTE work? Can it now handoff the call from wifi to volte as promised? My brother has a G3 on TMO and says he isn't seeing any VOLTE, but I thought it was supposed to be rolled out now to all their newer phones ?

 

thanks for the info.

[milan03]

Are you guys on TMO seeing VOLTE work? Can it now handoff the call from wifi to volte as promised? My brother has a G3 on TMO and says he isn't seeing any VOLTE, but I thought it was supposed to be rolled out now to all their newer phones ?thanks for the info.

VoWiFi <-> VoLTE handoff works perfectly on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Seamless AMR-WB @23.85kbps experience on both bearers.

[maxsilver]

Are you guys on TMO seeing VOLTE work? Can it now handoff the call from wifi to volte as promised? My brother has a G3 on TMO and says he isn't seeing any VOLTE, but I thought it was supposed to be rolled out now to all their newer phones ?

 

thanks for the info.

 

I played with it on a LG G Flex when it first rolled out in Seattle, and it worked well.

 

I don't think the LG G3 officially has VoLTE yet. (It's fully supported on hardware/software, but I don't think T-Mobile has enabled it by default yet, for that specific device).

 

You might find this useful:  http://www.mylgphones.com/how-to-enable-disable-volte-on-t-mobile-lg-g3.html if your itching to try it out.

 

(As always, a quick warning that I have no idea if these instructions are safe / will work / etc. Try at your own risk)

[sbolen]

I appreciate Legere for stuff like this:

I can tell you everything you need to know about Iliad. The owner is wealthy, he's got long hair, he made his money in porn and his wife is the heir to Louis Vuitton money. I mean, shit, what else do you need to know?

[milan03]

Seems like Legere is into Marcello!

 

39:30min mark: 

[Destroyallcubes]

Seems like Legere is into Marcello!

 

39:30min mark: 

I think  he actually  respects sprint at the moment. But he is right a lot of new lines are coming from ATT and verizon. 

[richy]

I think  he actually  respects sprint at the moment. But he is right a lot of new lines are coming from ATT and verizon. 

 

Curse him for making me agree with him but this is one of the few things he was right about. Tmo is taking subs from the big two and their only fig leaf is additional line adds for tablets. Sprint is in the position to take some of tmo's better business moves and combine it with a better network and seriously do some damage to the big two. They also have the money to build their network for the future.

 

Legere may be doing ok now but how are they going to buy the remaining lower a spectrum, maybe buy in the next aws auction, buy in the 600 MHz auction AND roll all of that out physically, oh and convert all the edge to LTE AND expand their footprint. Especially if it means bands that at&t don't use as now they use essentially the same sku with a different sticker and logo. If they end up diverging from at&t that could cost them more per handset and not able to afford the same range. Things could remain the same though. Sprint might be trimming their expenses now but that is not he same as not having money. Tmo will need to either go to the banks or the market to raise somewhere between 10 and 20bn for their shopping list and the buildout. Maybe they can, maybe their current performance will allow them to but it's not a worry sprint has.

[twospirits]

Curse him for making me agree with him 

That actually made me lol

[Fraydog]

It's OK guys. People on the TMUS side are getting tired of the act. Maybe not the results, which Jim Allchin or Neville Ray would have also been able to replicate if they were CEO. Definitely the act. I know Legere already pissed off a bunch of female employees with his mysogynistic comments at the Uncarrier event in Seattle. I hope DT's board is paying attention.

[jbom]

It's OK guys. People on the TMUS side are getting tired of the act. Maybe not the results, which Jim Allchin or Neville Ray would have also been able to replicate if they were CEO. Definitely the act. I know Legere already pissed off a bunch of female employees with his mysogynistic comments at the Uncarrier event in Seattle. I hope DT's board is paying attention.

you know all this how? The PC squad harped and hollered, got what they wanted, then moved on to the next thing

[jp1992]

It's OK guys. People on the TMUS side are getting tired of the act. Maybe not the results, which Jim Allchin or Neville Ray would have also been able to replicate if they were CEO. Definitely the act. I know Legere already pissed off a bunch of female employees with his mysogynistic comments at the Uncarrier event in Seattle. I hope DT's board is paying attention.

He pretty much said in the video that they don't really care what he does because he has doubled the stock price for T-mobile since he has become CEO.

[Fraydog]

He pretty much said in the video that they don't really care what he does because he has doubled the stock price for T-mobile since he has become CEO.

That is a pretty good insight to the mentality of most modern corporations. Who cares about being offended as long as you get the big fat profit/sale, what ever one comes first. We wonder why things are so often messed up, that's a big part of it.

[Conan Kudo]

That is a pretty good insight to the mentality of most modern corporations. Who cares about being offended as long as you get the big fat profit/sale, what ever one comes first. We wonder why things are so often messed up, that's a big part of it.

Well, the other side of that is: can you do anything without offending someone? Generally, the answer is no. There are two ways you can approach this: you can minimize your "offensiveness", or you can strategically use "offensiveness" (using it as part of "candor" and whatnot) to build the business. Very few people can play the role John Legere is doing successfully. The fact he can pull it off is a testament to his acting ability and his business acumen.

 

I wouldn't recommend anyone else to try to do what he's doing. The reason he can do what he does is because he knows how to do it, and when he screws up, he admits it quickly and well enough that everything works out fine. Most executives aren't capable of that because of the tons of hand-holding by lawyers. The fact that John eschews that and uses his own sense of law and business, and his common sense allows him much more flexibility than most. Very few executives are confident enough to do that.

 

And of course, there's no denying that he's getting results.

[WiWavelength]

Very few people can play the role John Legere is doing successfully. The fact he can pull it off is a testament to his acting ability and his business acumen.

 

 

AJ