T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[Yuhfhrh]

I was just about to post about that. I don't know where they're getting 290mil pops from. Nobody has discovered any new major expansion.

 

They must be including some POPs covered in Canada/Mexico now 

[mnjeepmale]

So this event today was all about opening the borders to call Mexico and Canada as much as you want without any international and calling fee's?

[cortney]

To me, it seems as T-Mobile has given up with announcements pertaining to actual U.S. benefits, especially with their network here. Even some of their supporters on TmoNews and on other sites have been complaining about the lack of updates regarding the 2g upgrades.

 

Precisely. The 3G updates are still not done after what? Over 6-7 years? And so, they're going to overlay everything with LTE by... when? They might do good in most cities and a handful of airports, but way too much credit is given when unlike all other 3 carriers: they have far too much 2G remaining.

 

Also unlike the other carriers: as of late, they simply gave up with at least the bulk of their remaining 3G upgrades in favor of skipping to robust, delicate LTE which, especially on a mid-band network, should come last. Regarding GSM, every AT&T user here that travels knows that HSPA+ is the saving grace of AT&T's service when density is lacking, or when they haven't happened to have overlayed a tower out of town somewhere with LTE. T-Mobile is not exempt for this reality, and it shows.

 

T-Mobile is now claiming to cover 290 Million people with LTE. Where exactly? It's my understanding that to reach this number they needed to have expanded their network significantly however I can say with confidence that in my area T-Mobile hasn't expanded anything.

 

I can't comprehend where they come up with these absolutely absurd numbers. I'm guessing with their bs metrics. I mean love or hate AT&T's service, their coverage maps are grossly exaggerated (as with VZW, but VZW does have the decency to mark areas "extended" meaning "probably will drop LTE", making them just slightly less ridiculous). Well, with T-Mobile's maps, they took the imaginary coverage to a whole new level.

 

They must be including some POPs covered in Canada/Mexico now 

 

[Rawvega]

So this event today was all about opening the borders to call Mexico and Canada as much as you want without any international and calling fee's?

 

Pretty much.

[Vince]

So this event today was all about opening the borders to call Mexico and Canada as much as you want without any international and calling fee's?

Calling, texting, and unlimited data (LTE, too) to and FROM Mexico, and Canada.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6

[Arysyn]

Touche' Touche' Touche'

 

That's well said and on point! On both accounts.

 

What many who live in denial is the fact that legere and the so called uncarrier business model (short term) is setting up tmobileus for a buyout. Anyone who's bought into this have had the wool pulled over their eyes in believing what he's selling is nothing but smoke and mirrors. A Pipe Dream!

 

In two years time it will be sold or hostile takeover.

Absolutely!

 

I've been rapidly searching around online today since I awoke a few hours ago for information regarding this matter. While it sounds as an amazing deal, once T-Mobile's current customers, along with those T-Mobile adds because of this begin utilizing this service on a fairly decent scale, costs are going to hit the company.

 

I just can't imagine at how T-Mobile's current rates they can afford this, let alone together with their large Edge conversion. If someone here can explain how T-Mobile will be able to financially make this work, and if that examination is accepted by some others here on the site, I'll concede my opinions about it.

 

However, I still think this is exactly what Maverick said, smoke and mirrors as a pipe dream that financially just isn't possible for T-Mobile to pull off, especially without help from DT.

[EvanA]

 

 

I just can't imagine at how T-Mobile's current rates they can afford this, let alone together with their large Edge conversion. If someone here can explain how T-Mobile will be able to financially make this work, and if that examination is accepted by some others here on the site, I'll concede my opinions about it.

It's a reciprocal roaming agreement, so it won't cost them near as much as domestic roaming does.

[caspar347]

In two years time it will be sold or hostile takeover. 

Honestly I'm really surprised they've lasted this long in current form.

[Maverick]

Honestly I'm really surprised they've lasted this long in current form.

 

 

Not really.

 

legere and company since taking over haven't technically stood on it's own two feet to make tmobileus profitable. In other words they've been living off the generosity of charitably contribution from AT&T by a way of major financial funds and spectrum.  Now that piggy bank has been frivolous spent on his pipe dream and asking for more charities from the FCC and anyone who will listen to it's cry's of sympathy. They haven't a clue on how to run a profitable business model in a nation that's build on capitalism. Heck the entire world runs on money and that's what keeps it revolving.  legere has sacrificed tmobileus to the wolves and literally offered it up in a silver platter. DT knows this and is in the wings waiting for that opportunity to cash in and cash in they will.. 

 

Look at the scenario.     It's subscribers have grown immensity but they are all low ballers meaning the company isn't a profitable business and more like a charity case who's subscribers believe everything should be given to them free. legere has done that and given what they want so yeah there's the wool being pulled over. That's a short term business model that has disaster written all over it from a business point of view. The so called uncarrier doesn't come cheap or free and since the subscribers aren't' paying for it then who. To top it off it's network hasn't expanded AT ALL!  Plus only so much of it's current network upgraded. 

 

tmobileus legere has given into consumers demands and these same people haven't a clue on how to run a profitable business let alone a business model that'll help it grow and expand. He's sacrificed everything in the name of popularity. 

 

He calls Verizon and AT&T dumb and dumber of course that's he's personal insecurities but both those companies are flourishing and he's still skimming on how to sucker the consumers and trash talking the competitors instead of focusing on tombileus to make it profitable and grow.  Anyone who behaves in that manner is making up for a HUGE personal shortcoming of it's own. 

 

 

The DOG has no fight! 

[NYC126]

The funny thing with all these uncarrier stuff Verizon and AT&T have not bled at all. Tmobile have thrown everything at the twin bells and they are laughing all the way to the bank.

 

They have increased their customer base, but the profits are nowhere to be found.

 

Now the mangetrolls think Tmobile will walk with a nationwide 10x10 600mhz license which make me laugh.i think Softbank is the dark horse and it will be the one out bidding Tmobile and Dish.

[WiWavelength]

T-Mobile's porting ratio with Sprint rose from 2.45 to 2.50 this past quarter.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/despite-t-mobiles-never-settle-campaign-fewer-verizon-subs-ported-t-mobile/2015-07-09

This gives oomph to all those folks saying Marcelo's burst on twitter was related to 2Q numbers.

Five hundreths is flat.  That's statistically no change.  Glad to see it's not really rising.

 

Robert is correct.  The recent porting ratio is not good for Sprint, but there is no "oomph" to a change from 2.45 to 2.50.

 

To put the math in more practical terms, the porting ratio indicates that for every 100 subs who ported from T-Mobile to Sprint, another 250 ported from Sprint to T-Mobile.  Previously, that latter figure was 245.  Absolutely insignificant.

 

AJ

[joshuam]

Robert is correct. The recent porting ratio is not good for Sprint, but there is no "oomph" to a change from 2.45 to 2.50.

 

To put the math in more practical terms, the porting ratio indicates that for every 100 subs who ported from T-Mobile to Sprint, another 250 ported from Sprint to T-Mobile. Previously, that latter figure was 245. Absolutely insignificant.

 

AJ

Oh I agree that it's not anything to write home about. In fact, I'm wondering why they reported hundredths for Sprint but not the other two...just to highlight that it "moved" (albeit slightly) in their direction?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WiWavelength]

Oh I agree that it's not anything to write home about. In fact, I'm wondering why they reported hundredths for Sprint but not the other two...just to highlight that it "moved" (albeit slightly) in their direction?

 

Somebody could go back and check if T-Mobile rounded off and reported the porting ratio as 2.5 last quarter.  I would not be surprised.  If so, yes, the decision to add another decimal place would be statistical manipulation to show that the porting ratio "moved" in T-Mobile's favor.

 

AJ

[EvanA]

Somebody could go back and check if T-Mobile rounded off and reported the porting ratio as 2.5 last quarter. I would not be surprised. If so, yes, the decision to add another decimal place would be statistical manipulation to show that the porting ratio "moved" in T-Mobile's favor.

 

AJ

They didn't round, it was reported as 2.45. They also noted that through the first month of Q2 they were at 2.75 port ratio vs Sprint, so something happened in the remaining 2 months of the quarter to help drop it back to Q1 levels.

 

http://www.rcrwireless.com/20150429/carriers/t-mobile-us-set-to-maintain-competitive-pressure-on-verizon-att-and-sprint-tag2

[EvanA]

Interesting... I was taking a look at T-Mobile's preliminary results for customer adds in Q2, and their postpaid net phone adds dropped from 991,000 to 760,000, and postpaid mobile broadband net additions jumped from 134,000 to 248,000.  If you ask me, that looks like they are "padding" lower phone adds with higher mobile broadband adds.

[cortney]

If you ask me, that looks like they are "padding" lower phone adds with higher mobile broadband adds.

 

Just like they "pad" their un-accurate coverage map? 

[bretton88]

Interesting... I was taking a look at T-Mobile's preliminary results for customer adds in Q2, and their postpaid net phone adds dropped from 991,000 to 760,000, and postpaid mobile broadband net additions jumped from 134,000 to 248,000. If you ask me, that looks like they are "padding" lower phone adds with higher mobile broadband adds.

Everyone is doing that. Tablet adds are a favorite trick.

[derrph]

Interesting... I was taking a look at T-Mobile's preliminary results for customer adds in Q2, and their postpaid net phone adds dropped from 991,000 to 760,000, and postpaid mobile broadband net additions jumped from 134,000 to 248,000. If you ask me, that looks like they are "padding" lower phone adds with higher mobile broadband adds.

To me it looks like things are slowing down. Some are seeing that it's not all it's cracked up to be. But all the carriers are padding with tablets. Some get called out on it and others "T-Mobile" don't.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WiWavelength]

Just like they "pad" their un-accurate coverage map? 

 

I believe that some of those figures may be un-accurate.

 

 

AJ

[cortney]

I believe that some of those figures may be un-accurate.

 

It was intentional -- a play on their strange "crowdsourcing". In retrospect, I'd put "un-accurate un-coverage map". 

Edited July 10, 2015 by cortney

[anthony.spina97]

If I travel internationally, I'll get a SIM card from a local carrier and use that network on my phone. I mean, why else did I by an unlocked iPhone? To leave Sprint for another US carrier? HA! As if.

 

-Anthony

[Fraydog]

I was just about to post about that. I don't know where they're getting 290mil pops from. Nobody has discovered any new major expansion.

 

Look up Chester, IL (62233, I know it's not that far from you but roll with it) on T-Mobile's site. It still shows up as EDGE. Yet, it's full LTE. T-Mobile isn't exactly fast about updating their maps at this point. Look at Sensorly, there's a bunch of areas like this.

 

Maybe T-Mobile's top brass is overestimating their coverage, but as far as the actual operation of the company, it's still very conservative in estimating coverage. Hence the disconnect. 

[Vince]

I'm going camping for 2 nights south of Sparta, Wisconsin this weekend. It'll be my first time venturing to the middle of nowhere with T-Mobile. Supposedly, there's no coverage there, or very weak HSPA+, if anything. It might be nice to be "detached" for a few days.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6

[lordsutch]

It doesn't seem like it would be *too* terribly difficult going forward at least with newer iPhones, Nexus phones and CCA capable phones like you mentioned. Most of the current LTE deployments in Canada and Mexico appear to be on Bands 2, 4 & 17 with a smattering of Band 7 & 38 deployments. While offering LTE roaming would be great even upgrading from "2G speeds" to HSPA/HSPA+ should be quite usable. Most mid range and all high end handsets include GSM/W-CDMA radios nowadays. International value roaming on Movistar in Mexico already uses GSM or W-CDMA for voice roaming since, as you noted, there's not much in the way of CDMA left (in either country); the same would almost certainly be true in Canada whenever international voice roaming gets added there. Maybe a little extra legwork, but it seems doable if the bean counters could make it palatable.

 

I think the issue is that Sprint (and VZW) wouldn't be able to bring much reciprocal roaming to the table, which helps balance out the numbers so T-Mobile (and if they want AT&T) can offset the high charges in those countries against what they're getting from letting Rogers/Bell/Telus/Movistar/Telcel etc roam in the U.S. And Softbank doesn't have much to offer those companies to reciprocate except cheap Japan roaming in return - and that's not exactly a big draw for them.

 

Technically it would be possible for North American iPhones of recent vintage and Nexus 5 and 6 and probably a few other devices (some of the 2015 flagship models have CDMA support under the hood but only act like it when a Sprint SIM is installed) to roam on Sprint 1x and EVDO with a Canadian or Mexican SIM card installed, but it would take a firmware change to activate all the CDMA bits and allow the user to manually switch on CDMA roaming since you wouldn't want it active all the time (I suppose you could cheat and program the firmware to switch on CDMA whenever it sees a 31x-xxx MCC-MNC signal around), and then you'd have to get it rolled out...

 

Now maybe a Canadian or Mexican carrier with some juice that wants to get that baked into 2016 or 2017 phones could get it done, but that's well beyond what Sprint can request since it'd only affect phones being sold by those carriers. So I'm guessing it isn't going to happen.

 

Maybe they would have some luck with iPad and hotspot roaming deals on LTE at least. Given how much the Canadian carriers screw over their customers on metered data pricing, they should be able to charge domestic Canadian data prices and pay Sprint wholesale rates to use its American LTE network and still come out way ahead.

[EvanA]

Look up Chester, IL (62233, I know it's not that far from you but roll with it) on T-Mobile's site. It still shows up as EDGE. Yet, it's full LTE. T-Mobile isn't exactly fast about updating their maps at this point. Look at Sensorly, there's a bunch of areas like this.

 

Maybe T-Mobile's top brass is overestimating their coverage, but as far as the actual operation of the company, it's still very conservative in estimating coverage. Hence the disconnect. 

I find it odd that they aren't updating their maps that quick.  You would think they would want to put the best possible image of their coverage out for potential customers to see.