AT&T LTE in the PCS Band

[milan03]

Can't believe that no one reported on this earlier, but according to William Hogg, Senior Vice President of Network Planning and Engineering, AT&T Services, Inc., AT&T is in the process of deploying PCS spectrum for LTE service, and will begin commercial LTE service in that band in the initial markets (e.g., Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Dallas, Philadelphia, New York City and San Francisco) by the end of this year.

 

DECLARATION OF WILLIAM HOGG: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/a...Ind=applAttach

This is absolutely wonderful news, but it would also mean that they are shutting down some of their UMTS voice/data capacity in the PCS spectrum in some of these markets. I'm assuming 5Mhz FDD LTE in the PCS will be their initial push, which could be widened in the future to 10Mhz LTE, and used as component carrier in their future LTE-Advanced deployment. The real key here is to carefully avoid interruption or degradation in the essential services like voice.

[Bob Newhart]

A phone I use, the S4 GPe does support LTE in the 1900 Mhz frequencies, 4G LTE (700, 850, AWS, 1900 MHz).

[lilotimz]

AJ actually corrected me a while back on ATT deploying 18-1900 mhz band 2 LTE but not unexpected considering ATT has a ton of PCS spectrum to spare.

[Nickel]

Can't believe that no one reported on this earlier, but according to William Hogg, Senior Vice President of Network Planning and Engineering, AT&T Services, Inc., AT&T is in the process of deploying PCS spectrum for LTE service, and will begin commercial LTE service in that band in the initial markets (e.g., Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Dallas, Philadelphia, New York City and San Francisco) by the end of this year.

 

DECLARATION OF WILLIAM HOGG: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/a...Ind=applAttach

 

This is absolutely wonderful news, but it would also mean that they are shutting down some of their UMTS voice/data capacity in the PCS spectrum in some of these markets. I'm assuming 5Mhz FDD LTE in the PCS will be their initial push, which could be widened in the future to 10Mhz LTE, and used as component carrier in their future LTE-Advanced deployment. The real key here is to carefully avoid interruption or degradation in the essential services like voice.

Milan, how much PCS does AT&T have in those markets?

[milan03]

Milan, how much PCS does AT&T have in those markets?

I think AJ would be the perfect person to answer that question. He knows top 100 PCS markets by heart

[Nickel]

I think AJ would be the perfect person to answer that question. He knows top 100 PCS markets by heart

I know AJ does, but you're no slouch yourself. 

[WiWavelength]

Milan, how much PCS does AT&T have in those markets?

 

In all of the listed markets, AT&T holds at least one Cellular 850 MHz license -- in Dallas, it holds both.  So, even if some W-CDMA 1900 is refarmed, one or two W-CDMA 850 carriers will remain.

 

New York:  30 MHz

Philadelphia:  40 MHz

San Francisco:  40 MHz

Washington, DC:  40 MHz

Dallas:  20 MHz

Baltimore:  30 MHz

 

AJ

[Nickel]

In all of the listed markets, AT&T holds at least one Cellular 850 MHz license -- in Dallas, it holds both.  So, even if some W-CDMA 1900 is refarmed, one or two W-CDMA 850 carriers will remain.

 

New York:  30 MHz

Philadelphia:  40 MHz

San Francisco:  40 MHz

Washington, DC:  40 MHz

Dallas:  20 MHz

Baltimore:  30 MHz

 

AJ

Wow, it's crazy that AT&T could have a 20x20 LTE in some markets.

[WiWavelength]

Wow, it's crazy that AT&T could have a 20x20 LTE in some markets.

 

No, in most cases, those multiple licenses needed to reach 40 MHz are not fully contiguous.  They are 10, 20, 30 MHz blocks here and there.

 

AJ

[Nickel]

No, in most cases, those multiple licenses needed to reach 40 MHz are not fully contiguous.  They are 10, 20, 30 MHz blocks here and there.

 

AJ

Ah I see, But they could use CA like Sprint will with band 41 right?

[milan03]

Ah I see, But they could use CA like Sprint will with band 41 right?

They'll totally be able to aggregate 10Mhz FDD LTE in 700Mhz B17, with 5Mhz FDD LTE in PCS B2 in NYC. I think that'll come with Release 11.

[gnoj]

I wonder if there is any chance of AT&T applying MFBI to its PCS network to support LTE roaming for Band 25 devices like they are currently doing for Band 12/17? Depends on whether and how much Sprint would be willing to pay to roam, I suppose.

[Nickel]

They'll totally be able to aggregate 10Mhz FDD LTE in 700Mhz B17, with 5Mhz FDD LTE in PCS B2 in NYC. I think that'll come with Release 11.

Well I actually meant combining noncontiguous PCS blocks, but yeah you're idea is going to happen sooner. And, yes, Release 11 

http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/WiVsSpec--510025.htm

 

[Conan Kudo]

However, there's some uncertainty on whether the CA will be with Band 17+2 or Band 12+2. Both are supported in the spec, but depending on how fast the agreement gets implemented, AT&T may do the latter rather than the former...

[digiblur]

Wow, it's crazy that AT&T could have a 20x20 LTE in some markets.

 

They gobbled up all they could a while back.  In my market Sprint sold them 5mhz a while back as they both had 15x15 but now AT&T has 20x20 now but they are in 2 separate 10mhz slices.  They could easily run a 10x10 carrier though.

[Nickel]

However, there's some uncertainty on whether the CA will be with Band 17+2 or Band 12+2. Both are supported in the spec, but depending on how fast the agreement gets implemented, AT&T may do the latter rather than the former...

If the spec supports both I would imagine they would wait a little bit and do 12+2.

 

They gobbled up all they could a while back.  In my market Sprint sold them 5mhz a while back as they both had 15x15 but now AT&T has 20x20 now but they are in 2 separate 10mhz slices.  They could easily run a 10x10 carrier though.

Oh man, I hope it wasn't the F block. That would be unfortunate. 

[digiblur]

If the spec supports both I would imagine they would wait a little bit and do 12+2.

 

Oh man, I hope it wasn't the F block. That would be unfortunate.

They sold 1940-1945 to AT&T. They weren't using it at the time here but I am sure they regret it now as they could sure use it in several areas due to the site spacing.

[WiWavelength]

They sold 1940-1945 to AT&T. They weren't using it at the time here but I am sure they regret it now as they could sure use it in several areas due to the site spacing.

 

And I doubt that Sprint would be actively using that upper 10 MHz of spectrum now, either.  Honestly, for a city the size of Baton Rouge, 20 MHz should be sufficient, since that can support fully seven CDMA2000 carriers.  But there may not be a site in the entire city that has all seven possible carrier assignments deployed.

 

AJ

[digiblur]

And I doubt that Sprint would be actively using that upper 10 MHz of spectrum now, either. Honestly, for a city the size of Baton Rouge, 20 MHz should be sufficient, since that can support fully seven CDMA2000 carriers. But there may not be a site in the entire city that has all seven possible carrier assignments deployed.

 

AJ

Several sites have all 7 active and EVDO still has issues even with fiber backhaul and NV equipment.

[digiblur]

If only they could run another 5mhz LTE as many of the sites need it with the 1x style speeds during the day. Damn data hungry folks..

[WiWavelength]

Several sites have all 7 active and EVDO still has issues even with fiber backhaul and NV equipment.

 

Well, I find that surprising.  The way you portray it, no one in Baton Rouge should still be with Sprint.  The bad network should be devoid of traffic.  Why do people stay?  What do you have, 50,000 SERO account subs down there?

 

AJ

[digiblur]

Well, I find that surprising. The way you portray it, no one in Baton Rouge should still be with Sprint. The bad network should be devoid of traffic. Why do people stay? What do you have, 50,000 SERO account subs down there?

 

AJ

Surprised as you are. When the site in mid city went LTE active I thought it had backhaul issues since it would not get over 1 megabit even with a -70 signal. I went by a month later at 1am and it pulled 8 megabit. Still to this day it's dead during the day. EVDO is the same way.

[Paynefanbro]

Surprised as you are. When the site in mid city went LTE active I thought it had backhaul issues since it would not get over 1 megabit even with a -70 signal. I went by a month later at 1am and it pulled 8 megabit. Still to this day it's dead during the day. EVDO is the same way.

Weird. Are there a sufficient amount of sites in that area? Maybe infill sites would increase speed.

 

Or maybe you have some classic network abusers in your area.

[digiblur]

Weird. Are there a sufficient amount of sites in that area? Maybe infill sites would increase speed.

 

Or maybe you have some classic network abusers in your area.

There's the rub... Either throw sites at the problem or throw spectrum. Even VZW and AT&T struggle a bit but not as bad here with twice the site density and twice the LTE carrier width. My coworker's AT&T phone will pull about 10 megabit or so at lunch while my speedtest just fails. Maybe it will get some relief once they start upgrading sites here again.

[Fraydog]

Maybe it's budget minded college kids and Lifeline users along with Boost subs who migrated from IDEN to CDMA2000?