Tmobile looking at Verizon's 700mhz spectrum

[jroepcke51]

Remapped channels are a headache for us RF guys.

 

At the family's vacation home over the weekend, we had one inexplicably broken LNB that prevented reception of the 103° W orbital satellite, which transmits the local affiliate feeds. I had to jury rig a solution with a UHF antenna so that we could try to pick up the Chiefs-Broncos game OTA. But I had to go online to double check that the Albuquerque NBC affiliate, KOB, which has long been known for its position on low VHF channel 4, had moved to UHF with the ATSC transition. Indeed, it had moved its physical channel to UHF channel 26, remapped to virtual channel 4. And my UHF antenna solution worked. But the antenna did not pick up the local CBS affiliate, which had moved back to its high VHF channel 13 position, hence my need to confirm the NBC affiliate physical channel had gone UHF.

 

AJ

Where is your vacation home here in nm?

[ericdabbs]

Looks like AT&T wants to cause some disruption in Tmobile's plan to bid on the 700 MHz A block spectrum from Verizon.  I really hope AT&T is not allowed to buy the 700 MHz A block spectrum from Verizon.  If ATT does win this 700 MHz A block spectrum, they should be barred from participating in the 600 MHz auction.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-att-vying-t-mobile-verizons-700-mhz-block-spectrum/2013-12-05

[WiWavelength]

Where is your vacation home here in nm?

 

About five miles west of Santa Fe.

 

AJ

[khammondnm]

About five miles west of Santa Fe.

 

AJ

Pojoaque? Tesuque?

 

Brought to you by my Galaxy Note 2, Android 4.4 KitKat

 

 

[WiWavelength]

Pojoaque? Tesuque?

 

Pojoaque and Tesuque are too far north.  Pojoaque is basically where Robert lived.  No, this is a few miles off the Relief Route due west of Santa Fe.

 

AJ

[jroepcke51]

Pojoaque and Tesuque are too far north.  Pojoaque is basically where Robert lived.  No, this is a few miles off the Relief Route due west of Santa Fe.

 

AJ

Surprisingly when i lived in Santa Fe, I lived close to what is the relief route and airport road.  It used to be way out there.  Now it is just a thought. 

[WiWavelength]

Surprisingly when i lived in Santa Fe, I lived close to what is the relief route and airport road.  It used to be way out there.  Now it is just a thought. 

 

Yep, we drive through the arroyo on Paseo de River and hit the Relief Route at Airport Road whenever coming and going from Albuquerque.

 

AJ

[KD8JBF]

Yep, we drive through the arroyo on Paseo de River and hit the Relief Route at Airport Road whenever coming and going from Albuquerque.

 

AJ

 

So I wonder what they meant by/or why they called it Relief Route? 

 

HMMMMM....

 

[WiWavelength]

So I wonder what they meant by/or why they called it Relief Route? 

 

Two things: relief from traffic and radioactive waste transit through the heart of Santa Fe.

 

AJ

[richy]

If the FCC is committed to 4 nation wide carriers it cannot do a half arsed job, it has to give the two 'smaller' carriers a shot at sub gig spectrum (I know sprint have 800mhz, but I mean a significant chunk like 20-40MHz). The big two are not exactly innovating, their pricing usually all but matches each other, they roll out service pretty much as it suits their marketing department unlike Sprint who seems to be rolling it out as fast as it can or tmo who seems to be doing it as quickly as they can afford. Sprint and tmo cannot be 'token competitors'. Whilst Sprint is doing a good job these days they still need a decent chunk of low dial spectrum and to have a chance at expanding coverage. It would be nice to see them both get some assistance to level they playing field. 

[S4GRU]

Two things: relief from traffic and radioactive waste transit through the heart of Santa Fe.

 

AJ

If there is anything people need relief from, it's Santa Fe traffic. Driving down Cerrillos or St. Francis at rush hour is enough to make someone batty. I actually preferred driving in ABQ.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[ericdabbs]

New report that Verizon is open to swapping spectrum for 700 MHz A block.  I see this as an opportunity for Verizon to dominate the AWS spectrum as well by asking Tmobile to swap some of its AWS spectrum in exchange for some 700 MHz A blocks.  I wonder if Tmobile will bite on this.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-open-swapping-spectrum-700-mhz-block/2013-12-11

[milan03]

New report that Verizon is open to swapping spectrum for 700 MHz A block.  I see this as an opportunity for Verizon to dominate the AWS spectrum as well by asking Tmobile to swap some of its AWS spectrum in exchange for some 700 MHz A blocks.  I wonder if Tmobile will bite on this.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-open-swapping-spectrum-700-mhz-block/2013-12-11

I don't see how swap could be a solution for T-Mobile since their AWS is all deployed. I can only think of AWS rich market like Dallas where they could shut down their A block and divest to Verizon, but they'll still pay a lot of money for 700Mhz A so not sure if that'd make much sense...

[ericdabbs]

I don't see how swap could be a solution for T-Mobile since their AWS is all deployed. I can only think of AWS rich market like Dallas where they could shut down their A block and divest to Verizon, but they'll still pay a lot of money for 700Mhz A so not sure if that'd make much sense...

 

Tmobile's goal is still to eventually move HSPA+ off of AWS and onto PCS correct?  However in the time frame that Verizon needs to sell its 700 MHz A block spectrum, I don't see how this can happen.

 

Honestly I don't really want to see Verizon get any stronger with more AWS spectrum.  I would rather just see Verizon cash out on the 700 MHz A block spectrum and move on.  They have a 20x20 LTE AWS block in the eastern half of the US already and I don't think they need anymore.  Perhaps the goal for Verizon in the 700 MHz A block swap would be to fill in the gaps on the western half of the US so that it holds more than just a 10x10 LTE block of AWS spectrum.

 

[WiWavelength]

I don't see how swap could be a solution for T-Mobile since their AWS is all deployed. I can only think of AWS rich market like Dallas where they could shut down their A block and divest to Verizon, but they'll still pay a lot of money for 700Mhz A so not sure if that'd make much sense...

 

VZW seems ready to divest its Lower 700 MHz A block licenses in as many markets as possible.  Meanwhile, in exchange, T-Mobile might be willing to shed some AWS spectrum across numerous secondary and tertiary markets.  After all, let us be honest -- T-Mobile for years has shown tepid interest in updating those markets.  It seems more than content to be the new "MetroPCS."  And VZW has a much higher proportion of its subs outside of the top 100 markets, so it may need the smaller market AWS spectrum far more than T-Mobile does.

 

AJ

[milan03]

VZW seems ready to divest its Lower 700 MHz A block licenses in as many markets as possible.  Meanwhile, in exchange, T-Mobile might be willing to shed some AWS spectrum across numerous secondary and tertiary markets.  After all, let us be honest -- T-Mobile for years has shown tepid interest in updating those markets.  It seems more than content to be the new "MetroPCS."  And VZW has a much higher proportion of its subs outside of the top 100 markets, so it may need the smaller market AWS spectrum far more than T-Mobile does.

 

AJ

That actually make pretty good sense, assuming those markets still have sufficient amount of left over AWS and PCS so that voice remains uninterrupted and HSPA/LTE service could be deployed. I'd much rather see T-Mobile acquiring 700Mhz A from smaller smaller providers or spectrum holders in those secondary markets for rural deployment, but oh well.

[milan03]

Interesting BusinessWeek article popped up today http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-12-13/verizon-said-to-be-near-agreement-to-sell-airwaves-to-t-mobile