T-Mobile CFO makes case for U.S. consolidation, Sprint deal

[maxsilver]

Also, looking (and experiencing) the tower spacing in West Michigan, I'm fairly certain iPCS didn't actually care about the majority of their rollout, even beyond what some might call the "maximus" of CDMA 1900. A ton of places feel like they just need to split every single cell and do infill just to get in-building coverage. Or coverage, period.

Yep. iPCS basically skipped entire parts of town they didn't like. Entire neighborhoods are missing coverage. Sprint will, at minimum, need to double their site density city-wide just to offer working 1x service on 800.

 

Others reading this might think "oh, the complaining about iPCS isn't that big of a deal. These guys are exaggerating. It can't be *that* bad." No, you'd be greatly mistaken. There's no level of complaining that can adequately describe just how badly the iPCS sites are spaced up here.

 

And since there's roughly only five of us here, we have to keep hauling it out in discussion, to keep our sanity, since Sprint's ignored the state for half a decade now...

 

- - - anyway, back on topic - - -

 

I really don't understand the fascination with Sprint and T-Mobile merging. Ignoring all the technical challenges, from a purely consumer oriented perspective, having Sprint and T-Mobile separate keeps them both in a healthy balance.

 

If T-Mobile had already merged with Sprint, I don't think we'd ever be seeing changes like JUMP or 'free international data roaming' take place. There'd also be little-to-no pressure on Sprint to do BYOD or move towards removable SIM cards. Or even to fix service. (A large part of NV's fast pace is a reaction to T-Mobile hitting urban areas with LTE rather quickly)

 

T-Mobile's lack of coverage (and lack of easy cash infusion) gives them incentive to innovate in ways other than adding new cell sites or buying competitors, and when they do this, it helps all of us.

 

Every carrier came out with a JUMP-clone after T-Mobile did. I'd bet every carrier will at least slightly lower their data roaming rates now, as a direct reaction to T-Mobile's move yesterday.

 

Having a 'scrappy' 4th place carrier keeps the other three in check. And when they make these moves, it forces others to react, which raises the bar for all of us, regardless of what carrier we happen to be on.

[cdk]

- - - anyway, back on topic - - -

 

I really don't understand the fascination with Sprint and T-Mobile merging. Ignoring all the technical challenges, from a purely consumer oriented perspective, having Sprint and T-Mobile separate keeps them both in a healthy balance.

 

....

 

Having a 'scrappy' 4th place carrier keeps the other three in check. And when they make these moves, it forces others to react, which raises the bar for all of us, regardless of what carrier we happen to be on.

 

Agree. Now on the other hand my fascination with Sprint buying USCC is much more reasonable....    

[cdk]

Yep. iPCS basically skipped entire parts of town they didn't like. Entire neighborhoods are missing coverage. Sprint will, at minimum, need to double their site density city-wide just to offer working 1x service on 800.

 

Others reading this might think "oh, the complaining about iPCS isn't that big of a deal. These guys are exaggerating. It can't be *that* bad." No, you'd be greatly mistaken. There's no level of complaining that can adequately describe just how badly the iPCS sites are spaced up here.

 

And since there's roughly only five of us here, we have to keep hauling it out in discussion, to keep our sanity, since Sprint's ignored the state for half a decade now...

 

- - - anyway, back on topic - - -

 

At least it seems like several of the new sites added in the last 90 days have been in West Michigan. I think Sprint recognizes they have to do something to correct the mistakes of iPCS.

[bigsnake49]

Yep. iPCS basically skipped entire parts of town they didn't like. Entire neighborhoods are missing coverage. Sprint will, at minimum, need to double their site density city-wide just to offer working 1x service on 800.

 

Others reading this might think "oh, the complaining about iPCS isn't that big of a deal. These guys are exaggerating. It can't be *that* bad." No, you'd be greatly mistaken. There's no level of complaining that can adequately describe just how badly the iPCS sites are spaced up here.

 

And since there's roughly only five of us here, we have to keep hauling it out in discussion, to keep our sanity, since Sprint's ignored the state for half a decade now...

 

- - - anyway, back on topic - - -

 

I really don't understand the fascination with Sprint and T-Mobile merging. Ignoring all the technical challenges, from a purely consumer oriented perspective, having Sprint and T-Mobile separate keeps them both in a healthy balance.

 

If T-Mobile had already merged with Sprint, I don't think we'd ever be seeing changes like JUMP or 'free international data roaming' take place. There'd also be little-to-no pressure on Sprint to do BYOD or move towards removable SIM cards. Or even to fix service. (A large part of NV's fast pace is a reaction to T-Mobile hitting urban areas with LTE rather quickly)

 

T-Mobile's lack of coverage (and lack of easy cash infusion) gives them incentive to innovate in ways other than adding new cell sites or buying competitors, and when they do this, it helps all of us.

 

Every carrier came out with a JUMP-clone after T-Mobile did. I'd bet every carrier will at least slightly lower their data roaming rates now, as a direct reaction to T-Mobile's move yesterday.

 

Having a 'scrappy' 4th place carrier keeps the other three in check. And when they make these moves, it forces others to react, which raises the bar for all of us, regardless of what carrier we happen to be on.

 

What exactly has T-Mobile actually done? Nothing that you can't do on your own by charging the whole amount on your credit card and then paying off every month.

Free international roaming! Sure T-Mobile! After you fix your coverage woes, I might be tempted.

[WiWavelength]

What exactly has T-Mobile actually done?

 

...hired an extra from the 80s "Miami Vice" to be its CEO.

 

 

AJ

[cdk]

...hired an extra from the 80s "Miami Vice" to be its CEO.

 

 

AJ

[bigsnake49]

And T-Mobile, in Florida, please use Metro's network. They have done a wonderful job. Sure they have a lot of DAS since they did not have enough subsribers in a particular area to justify a full basestation, but that's OK, even between the two of you you still won't have enough.

[maxsilver]

And T-Mobile, in Florida, please use Metro's network. They have done a wonderful job. Sure they have a lot of DAS since they did not have enough subsribers in a particular area to justify a full basestation, but that's OK, even between the two of you you still won't have enough.

+1 to this.

 

The MetroPCS network in most of Michigan has much better chosen sites than T-Mobile's, and they *all* run LTE except for Flint. (It's only 3G-speed LTE, but that's not really Metro's fault, they only had 10mhz of spectrum total for 1x and LTE to share).

 

T-Mobile so far, does not seem to be using any of the Metro assets in West Michigan, which is a huge mistake. T-Mobile's LTE is fast (essentially matching speeds of Verizon / AT&T where it exists), but it's spotty (T-Mobile is PCS spaced running AWS, Metro was AWS spaced running AWS), and appears so far to only be using their old HSPA+ mainstays. I'm pretty sure whatever deployment strategy their using was in the works before the MetroPCS merger.

[jefbal99]

That is almost certainly CDMA1X "cell breathing." If you had soft handoff to another site, you would be probably be fine. But you live on the edge of Sprint coverage, so you just made a poor choice of where to live.

 

 

AJ

Question about this cell breathing... Is there anything I can look for in the engineering screens for 1x to see the neighboring cells that I might hands off to? I sometimes see 2nd RSSI, is that the potential hand off site?

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

 

 

[MrZorbatron]

Question about this cell breathing... Is there anything I can look for in the engineering screens for 1x to see the neighboring cells that I might hands off to? I sometimes see 2nd RSSI, is that the potential hand off site?

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

No, that's the signal strength from the diversity antenna, just a second signal path (usually rx only) from the same site.

[jefbal99]

No, that's the signal strength from the diversity antenna, just a second signal path (usually rx only) from the same site.

What about the neighbor Set on the 1x Engineering-PROTOCOL screen?

[MrZorbatron]

What about the neighbor Set on the 1x Engineering-PROTOCOL screen?

Yes that refers to other available sectors.

[JosefTor]

I kind of hope they do merge. 3 strong carriers is better than two strong carriers and two week carriers. In addition, a combined Sprint / T-Mobile would really complement each other. The would have a ton of spectrum. Plus, T-Mobile has done a lot better with tower spacing and keeping it's backhaul up-to-date.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Paynefanbro]

I kind of hope they do merge. 3 strong carriers is better than two strong carriers and two week carriers. In addition, a combined Sprint / T-Mobile would really complement each other. The would have a ton of spectrum. Plus, T-Mobile has done a lot better with tower spacing and keeping it's backhaul up-to-date.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

Backhaul is a yes in larger cities. Site spacing is not better than Sprint in my experience besides in New York City. Outside of the city is a different story.

[MrZorbatron]

Backhaul is a yes in larger cities. Site spacing is not better than Sprint in my experience besides in New York City. Outside of the city is a different story.

TMO is never better than Sprint anywhere. I don't care about dc-hspa or anything else. It isn't a reliable service and isn't worth talking about.

[JosefTor]

TMO is never better than Sprint anywhere. I don't care about dc-hspa or anything else. It isn't a reliable service and isn't worth talking about.

Give credit where credit is due. I appreciate all of sprint's hard work to make a world class network, but t-mobile did good with planning early on their backhaul. Plus, they have a lot of great Spectrum in the 1900 band. A marriage might not be too bad.

 

I don't appreciate baseless fanboy comments either. See today's side by side comparison:

 

http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3420-T-Mobile-LTE-&-Network-Discussion&do=findComment&comment=226074

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[JosefTor]

For full disclosure, I hold positions in both Sprint and TMO.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[IamMrFamous07]

I want them to merge eventually but for bow lets get through both network vision phases first

[bigsnake49]

People are going to get tired of me suggesting that the two merge in order to compete with the big two, but I think the only way for them to survive long term is to merge and also to acquire some 600Mhz spectrum. Now, as part of of the merger they should be forced to provide "substantial" service in rural areas and to relinquish control of the EBS spectrum to Dish which will then be forced to provide fixed wireless service nationwide. Dish could then create a nationwide network to host all of their frequencies as well as merge with Direct TV.

Edited October 26, 2013 by bigsnake49

[Moropo]

TMO is never better than Sprint anywhere. I don't care about dc-hspa or anything else. It isn't a reliable service and isn't worth talking about.

Anywhere? Miami would like a word with you.

[WiWavelength]

TMO is never better than Sprint anywhere. I don't care about dc-hspa or anything else. It isn't a reliable service and isn't worth talking about.

Give credit where credit is due. I appreciate all of sprint's hard work to make a world class network, but t-mobile did good with planning early on their backhaul. Plus, they have a lot of great Spectrum in the 1900 band. A marriage might not be too bad.

 

While "never" is probably too strong a word, I think you misunderstand the essence of MrZorbatron's comment.  He is excluding high speed data from the comparison.

 

As a basic phone service, Sprint is far more available and reliable than is T-Mobile.  Sprint may not have great in building coverage, but on the whole, it is certainly superior to that of T-Mobile.  And Sprint has the broadest ranging domestic roaming agreements in the industry to serve as in market and out of market backup.  On the other hand, T-Mobile subs are far too often left with no service or emergency only service.  This happens in rural areas where no GSM type network is available and even in suburban dead zones where T-Mobile roaming on AT&T is prohibited.

 

AJ

[TheForce627]

I can say for my area TMO certainly has better site spacing. Far too often Sprint skips sites while TMO is there

[tongboy]

It really depends on where you live and work. All the carriers can vary significantly over a few blocks, let alone market to market. Where I live in the Chicago area, USCC had great coverage, they are no longer an option unfortunately. Just west of here it is a great option though.

 

The problem with the "in my area x is better" is the argument could go on forever.

 

I really wish there were more gsm carriers then T-Mobile and AT&T. Att is the only company that T-Mobile has to be a roaming partner. That pretty much allows att to ask for whatever money they want for a roaming agreement. Its too bad that T-Mobile phones can't roam on cdma.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

 

 

[MrZorbatron]

Anywhere? Miami would like a word with you.

yes, I will give you that one. Florida is particularly sad spot for Sprint.

[WiWavelength]

I really wish there were more gsm carriers then T-Mobile and AT&T. Att is the only company that T-Mobile has to be a roaming partner.

 

No, other GSM based providers do still exist.  However, the only one in a major market is Cincinnati Bell.

 

AJ