Shentel / Sprint LTE - (was ntelos - West & N&W Virginia)

[davidtm]

Aww, don't be a Debbie Downer! ;-)

 

Yes, the quality would very likely be top-notch, given how well Shentel had down elsewhere.

 

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[chamb]

Sometimes you have to pay a premium over the stock price when the company has more in assets than its current stock value. If you don't, then either the company being bought out will not approve, and you risk another company swooping in and outbidding you.

 

Since I don't think Shentel is stupid, any Premium paid would be justified.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

One thing for sure,

Shentel management is not stupid.  I do worry that all the issues within nTelos may not be very easy to see from the outside. Anybody that jsut takes a drive through the nTelos area will see all the roaming and poor service.  nTelos just does not have their act together and it may be hard to jump into the mess and get things working right. 

[bubretti]

Awwwww yisssss

[cdk]

Even if the buyout goes through, don't these things usually take a while? If that's the case then the LTE rollout seems like it won't come any sooner but it will be better once it is here.

 

 

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It might go fairly quickly considering the size of Shentel and nTelos, this isn't AT&T or Sprint trying to buy T-Mobile.

[S4GRU]

Even if the buyout goes through, don't these things usually take a while? If that's the case then the LTE rollout seems like it won't come any sooner but it will be better once it is here.

 

 

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Yes, this is pretty much true. If Shentel can close a deal quickly, the only thing up front that will help current Sprint customers is they will likely open up the current nTelos LTE network to Sprint/Shentel customers ASAP. Other than that, all current and future projects will just happen better, not necessarily sooner.

 

Except, over time, Shentel is more likely to meet their target dates. Whereas nTelos would probably languish late. This is really a good scenario for all if it turns out to be true.

 

Now if we can just get Shentel to jump over to South Dakota and purchase Swiftel. What's another 50 sites?

 

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[shawneyboy123]

I sure hope they open up the network just for the sake of doing so, even if they do a lot of work on it after doing so. And I hope that LTE gets deployed in Morgantown soon because I'll be moving there in August. It would really suck if I moved to a 3G only city and my home town finally gets LTE... [emoji28]

 

 

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[KD8JBF]

Awwwww yisssss

I second this....

 

[S4GRU]

I sure hope they open up the network just for the sake of doing so, even if they do a lot of work on it after doing so. And I hope that LTE gets deployed in Morgantown soon because I'll be moving there in August. It would really suck if I moved to a 3G only city and my home town finally gets LTE... [emoji28]

 

 

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I'm not sure if nTelos deployed their PCS LTE on Band 2 or Band 25. If B25, they could open it up in a week or two. If B2, they would have to deploy MFBI, which could take a month or two.

 

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[chamb]

Yes, this is pretty much true. If Shentel can close a deal quickly, the only thing up front that will help current Sprint customers is they will likely open up the current nTelos LTE network to Sprint/Shentel customers ASAP. Other than that, all current and future projects will just happen better, not necessarily sooner.

 

Except, over time, Shentel is more likely to meet their target dates. Whereas nTelos would probably languish late. This is really a good scenario for all if it turns out to be true.

 

Now if we can just get Shentel to jump over to South Dakota and purchase Swiftel. What's another 50 sites?

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

Where is South Dakota?

[bbostwick8]

I'll ask around

[S4GRU]

Where is South Dakota?

Go to Omaha, then turn right. It's after the second Culver's on the left. If you make it to Fargo, you've gone too far.

 

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[chamb]

I'm not sure if nTelos deployed their PCS LTE on Band 2 or Band 25. If B25, they could open it up in a week or two. If B2, they would have to deploy MFBI, which could take a month or two.

 

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Another Question ---Where was the core switch that nTelos was going to connect their LTE to?? Could Shentel just swing all the various links to the nTelos sites into their Core switch?

[S4GRU]

Another Question ---Where was the core switch that nTelos was going to connect their LTE to?? Could Shentel just swing all the various links to the nTelos sites into their Core switch?

Where? Don't know. Repoint to Harrisonburg? Yes.

 

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[cdk]

Another Question ---Where was the core switch that nTelos was going to connect their LTE to?? Could Shentel just swing all the various links to the nTelos sites into their Core switch?

 

I wouldn't think so, I would suspect that would overload the current Shentel core(s). I would suspect they would keep the nTelos core(s).

[chamb]

I wouldn't think so, I would suspect that would overload the current Shentel core(s). I would suspect they would keep the nTelos core(s).

It would not be a fast move of the nTelos sites to the Shentel Core, so there would be time to expand the capacity of the Shentel Core. Probably cheaper to have it all at one Core and easier to manage.

[cdk]

It would not be a fast move of the nTelos sites to the Shentel Core, so there would be time to expand the capacity of the Shentel Core. Probably cheaper to have it all at one Core and easier to manage.

 

That is possible. However many markets have multiple cores and with the number of combined sites from the resulting merger, I would suspect that there will be more than one.

[S4GRU]

Sprint may allow routing to some of their DDC's with extra capacity. Fairfax, SC comes to mind.

 

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[davidtm]

Can I just share how EXCITING this all sounds?!

 

 

(Thanks)

[Trip]

I really, really, really, REALLY hope this comes true.  Shentel's coverage puts the other carriers to shame (at least in the VA/MD/WV parts, haven't checked PA) and would presumably be just as outstanding in the rest once they got the nTelos network up to snuff in a few years.

 

So pleased.  So, very, pleased.  Please come true.

 

EDIT:  Also, in the overlap areas that I've seen, Shentel is already on nearly every tower nTelos is on, and many more, so I assume they'd just be shutting off the nTelos gear in those areas.  Much neater than the patch-up they'll be doing elsewhere.

 

- Trip

[chamb]

Sprint may allow routing to some of their DDC's with extra capacity. Fairfax, SC comes to mind.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

Shentel has a bunch of their own fiber.  I am not sure if any of it runs into the nTelos area.  If they could get a nice fiber ring established between the nTelos area and Shentel, it could be easy to add the nTelos sites to the Shentel system.

[lilotimz]

I'm not sure if nTelos deployed their PCS LTE on Band 2 or Band 25. If B25, they could open it up in a week or two. If B2, they would have to deploy MFBI, which could take a month or two.

 

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Biggest sticking point is that it's not network vision compliant. The affiliate status that Shentel and ntelos signed have performance requirements that has to be met which is why it ha snot been available.

 

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[Trip]

Would not being Network Vision compliant keep them from opening up the LTE on a short-term basis until they can get everything else upgraded?  Seems like it's better to have LTE working at some level, even at a less than ideal speed on B25 only, as opposed to the nearly unusable 3G currently available to Sprint customers (at least in the areas I visit).

 

- Trip

[lilotimz]

Would not being Network Vision compliant keep them from opening up the LTE on a short-term basis until they can get everything else upgraded? Seems like it's better to have LTE working at some level, even at a less than ideal speed on B25 only, as opposed to the nearly unusable 3G currently available to Sprint customers (at least in the areas I visit).

 

- Trip

Same reason why sprint rejected substandard backhaul for lte sites rather quickly.

 

It's better to have people have terrible 3g than have substandard 4g that bogs down to 3g level very quickly.

 

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[chamb]

Biggest sticking point is that it's not network vision compliant. The affiliate status that Shentel and ntelos signed have performance requirements that has to be met which is why it ha snot been available.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

It would not work well if you just place a few odd nTelos sites on the Shentel core. They would probably need to get  a cluster of nTelos sites upgraded and place them on the Shentel system all at one time.  Even then, if you are traveling out of this "cluster" of sites into some of the old nTelos sites, you would have some serious issues.

nTelos has their own customers that need to be considered. They may not need new phones, but they have to be transferred to the Shentel/Sprint system.

[S4GRU]

Biggest sticking point is that it's not network vision compliant. The affiliate status that Shentel and ntelos signed have performance requirements that has to be met which is why it ha snot been available.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

It may be a sticking point.  However, add a PLMN-ID broadcast for Sprint, and voila, it's open to Sprint commercial traffic.  Like how the Tmo LTE network was usable for MetroPCS customers immediately, so long as they had a B4 capable LTE device.  Sprint and Shentel could get existing nTelos LTE open quickly if this goes through.  How useful nTelos LTE will be once Sprint traffic goes live on it with their existing limited single 5MHz channel and weak backhaul, well...that's another story.