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


marioc21

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12 hours ago, bbostwick8 said:

Hitting’ that 5G network now :)

 

 

24470330-A3FC-48E4-8D3E-C8BC630FEA17.png

That’s about what I was hitting after I picked up my iPhone 12 Pro on 5G with the Sprint Sim. Since I’ve switched over to the T-MOBILE TNX Sim I’m ranging between 200-245 Down and between 60-75 Up. 

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On 11/29/2020 at 8:39 PM, JDP121 said:

That’s where I’m actually located at is in Charlottesville, VA. Went to the TMO Store at Fashion Square to switch out my Sprint Sim for the TMO TNX Sim. Haven’t really noticed to much different in quality yet at least. 

Really? I'm afraid of losing Shentel's network quality if I switch SIMs.

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1 hour ago, davidtm said:

Really? I'm afraid of losing Shentel's network quality if I switch SIMs.

There are quite a few areas where T-Mobile severely underperforms Shentel right now.  Except for actual roaming, none of the measures T-Mobile is using in Sprint territory are currently implemented in Shentel land right now, which means you don't fall back on Shentel when T-Mobile is too weak--you can only roam after everything falls off a cliff.

- Trip

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1 hour ago, davidtm said:

Really? I'm afraid of losing Shentel's network quality if I switch SIMs.

I can not speak for the entire Shentel footprint, but in the areas I am familiar with, you would be much better off staying with Sprint/Shentel.  Nowhere in my travels over the Shentel area does T-Mobile have any advantage over the existing Shentel network. I am sticking to the current Shentel network until I can prove 100% that any T-Mobile network is better. T-Mobiles press releases and claims are worthless in this area just like they were for many years.

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So my guess is T-Mobile will hold off on doing anything network related to their towers in the Shentel area and Shentel will just do regular maintenance until the deal is closed in 2Q21.  If that is the case they will be pretty far behind on combining the two networks in this area.  Kind of a bummer since the T-Mobile network in Shentel's footprint lags way behind Shentel's network as well as the other two big networks.  😪

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2 hours ago, Lockedtight said:

So my guess is T-Mobile will hold off on doing anything network related to their towers in the Shentel area and Shentel will just do regular maintenance until the deal is closed in 2Q21.  If that is the case they will be pretty far behind on combining the two networks in this area.  Kind of a bummer since the T-Mobile network in Shentel's footprint lags way behind Shentel's network as well as the other two big networks.  😪

In the interim, the thing to keep an eye on is whether or not T-Mobile continues to expand or upgrade its network in Shentel territory.  If they don't, it would be a signal that they plan to fold most of the existing Shentel infrastructure into their combined network.  IMO, it would be a mistake to do anything else - as we all know that Shentel has built a really solid network in their territory.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I’ve got me an IPhone 12 and I am finding that 5G is robust when I can get it and I find that I get a signal in Big Island Virginia where I’ve never been able to get a sprint signal before so my phone might be able to get TMO 4g too but I am not sure....could also be Shentel put a tower up there recently but I dunno....all I can say is more signal is more better!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I'm a lot less skeptical than I was a few months ago about the future of the Shentel region.  Based on what I've seen in this area, almost every non-co-located Sprint site now seems to be running the 312250 PLMN, implying they're all "keep" sites.  I would expect similar in the Shentel region, so presumably they would be keeping the network together.

Of course, I'll believe it when I see it.  You never know when it comes to the more rural areas.  I would like to see Shentel leave the Network Vision panels in place with PCS on them, and add a 600/700 panel to each site.  Cheap and easy.  Where extra capacity is needed, like Charlottesville, swap the Network Vision panel for an AWS/PCS panel and add 2.5 GHz panels.  Instant top-quality network throughout the region.

But in any event, since the sale hasn't gone through yet, as long as you aren't on ROAMAHOME and haven't swapped out your SIM for a T-Mobile one, you should still be on the Shentel network and little should have changed.  I assume there will be an investor call in the next week or two which may or may not have information in it about the progress.  Last one was in early November, so we're due soon.

- Trip

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8 hours ago, Trip said:

I'm a lot less skeptical than I was a few months ago about the future of the Shentel region.  Based on what I've seen in this area, almost every non-co-located Sprint site now seems to be running the 312250 PLMN, implying they're all "keep" sites.  I would expect similar in the Shentel region, so presumably they would be keeping the network together.

Of course, I'll believe it when I see it.  You never know when it comes to the more rural areas.  I would like to see Shentel leave the Network Vision panels in place with PCS on them, and add a 600/700 panel to each site.  Cheap and easy.  Where extra capacity is needed, like Charlottesville, swap the Network Vision panel for an AWS/PCS panel and add 2.5 GHz panels.  Instant top-quality network throughout the region.

But in any event, since the sale hasn't gone through yet, as long as you aren't on ROAMAHOME and haven't swapped out your SIM for a T-Mobile one, you should still be on the Shentel network and little should have changed.  I assume there will be an investor call in the next week or two which may or may not have information in it about the progress.  Last one was in early November, so we're due soon.

- Trip

Hopefully a good investor call.  I bought shares in SHEN last Friday at $39.

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5 hours ago, Trip said:

Nice. I bet another big company will be looking at buying up the remaining parts of ShenTel's internet business.

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Here's the (very short) SEC filing: 

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1283699/000119312521025274/d262639d8k.htm

I do find the math to be interesting.  The entire Sprint network with its ~41 million non-wholesale customers went for $26 billion, while Shentel was valued at $2.1 billion with just 1.1 million customers (not sure if wholesale customers are included or not, assuming not as I assume Shentel can't do wholesaling).  Had Shentel been valued as low as Sprint, the purchase price would have been under $1 billion.

Speaks to the quality of the Shentel part of the network.

- Trip

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39 minutes ago, banananuts87 said:

Does anybody know what their spectrum holdings are?

I don't think they had any spectrum.  I think they were just using Sprint's spectrum in that area.

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On 2/3/2021 at 7:47 AM, Trip said:

Here's the (very short) SEC filing: 

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1283699/000119312521025274/d262639d8k.htm

I do find the math to be interesting.  The entire Sprint network with its ~41 million non-wholesale customers went for $26 billion, while Shentel was valued at $2.1 billion with just 1.1 million customers (not sure if wholesale customers are included or not, assuming not as I assume Shentel can't do wholesaling).  Had Shentel been valued as low as Sprint, the purchase price would have been under $1 billion.

Speaks to the quality of the Shentel part of the network.

- Trip

In comparison to Shentel, debt load was also a major factor for Sprint (and lack of execution.)

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1 hour ago, jonnycando said:

I found out today I can't put a TNX sim in my Ipad......yet......some kind of staged rollout.....phones yes....tablets not yet.....makes no sense to me.

My guess is probably due to compatibility, but not 100% sure. 

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