T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[Trip]

Interesting note, when I left to visit my parents in US Cellular roaming territory on Thursday, my US Cellular phone was roaming on Sprint and Shentel LTE.  On the way home yesterday, it instead roamed on T-Mobile LTE, and still is, but is also doing SRLTE with Sprint 1X.  I tried to disable the T-Mobile bands and force it onto Band 25 and it would not connect.

Very odd, especially considering that I still haven't seen my T-Mobile phone roam onto US Cellular.

- Trip

[chamb]

55 minutes ago, Trip said:

Interesting note, when I left to visit my parents in US Cellular roaming territory on Thursday, my US Cellular phone was roaming on Sprint and Shentel LTE.  On the way home yesterday, it instead roamed on T-Mobile LTE, and still is, but is also doing SRLTE with Sprint 1X.  I tried to disable the T-Mobile bands and force it onto Band 25 and it would not connect.

Very odd, especially considering that I still haven't seen my T-Mobile phone roam onto US Cellular.

- Trip

 

[dkyeager]

6 hours ago, Trip said:

Interesting note, when I left to visit my parents in US Cellular roaming territory on Thursday, my US Cellular phone was roaming on Sprint and Shentel LTE.  On the way home yesterday, it instead roamed on T-Mobile LTE, and still is, but is also doing SRLTE with Sprint 1X.  I tried to disable the T-Mobile bands and force it onto Band 25 and it would not connect.

Very odd, especially considering that I still haven't seen my T-Mobile phone roam onto US Cellular.

- Trip

T-Mobile seems to have WV in its sights.  Some Shentel tower hands I talked to gave their T-Mobile work to some sub contractors.  I later talked to some for T-Mobile who said they were on site 5 of 6.  They would not comment on 600Mhz.

[reedacus25]

Very odd, especially considering that I still haven't seen my T-Mobile phone roam onto US Cellular.
- Trip

Afaik the only places where TMUS is roaming onto USCC is where USCC has VoLTE live. Which is Iowa and Wisconsin from what I've heard.

On top of that, they're whitelisting IMEIs right now, mostly from Apple and Samsung, but read some were able to get their LG IMEIs whitelisted and roaming started working.

So it's very much an in progress situation.


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[S4GRU]

6 hours ago, chamb said:

 

Your post is blank.

[jreuschl]

Also there's a notice on T-mobile website that phones need a software update to work with USCC because they have different implementations of VOLTE.

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[brockeb1]

Glad to see the USCC thing is finally coming to pass. That will really help things out in quite a few areas. I was in the T-Mobile store today, in Rapid City SD, with a list of zip codes checking for new and/or upgrades to existing sites in western South Dakota.

We looked at over 77 zip codes and found out that T-Mobile has come back in and is upgrading all the Band 12 only sites by adding Band 4. This is great news as it should help not only with speeds but also with coverage at those sites.

Sites that show completed or completed soon are Custer Peak, Wall, Wasta, New Underwood, Farmingdale, and Piedmont, with Kadoka and Belvidere coming in November. It also seems like I saw Kennebec, Murdo, and the site north of Vivian in there.  They are mostly rural and don't need capacity, however, they do need larger coverage areas. They have started along I-90 and are working west, much like they did originally.

Also, I did learn a while back that the launch here in Rapid City was so successful that a 2-year roll out of additional coverage has now been pushed up to a 6-8 month timeframe. This is REALLY GREAT news as we certainly do need it - IE-Spearfish/Whitewood and Lead/Deadwod plus west Rapid City. They are fully aware and have both an engineering team assigned as well as 3 tower techs staying in the area to work on locations and getting permits rolling etc. All good news.

Also heard that Sioux Falls SD store launch may actually be coming soon. Stay tuned for that. Originally looked like it was pushed back, but it may not be pushed back as far as originally thought.

Also, for the guy out of Denver that is checking 600mhz around Cheyenne, I will take the northern part of Wyoming and will check the I-90 corridor from Rapid City into Montana and will report what I find. I heard that there is possibly a 600 mhz site near the Montana border and will be checking that in the next couple of weeks and will report.

Keep the info coming as it's great to see things rolling along so quickly for T-Mobile. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by S4GRU
Split post into paragraphs for readability

[jreuschl]

Is there a site like S4GRU that would show T-Mobile tower locations?  I guess one way you can tell is by zooming in on their map for strongest signal levels.

I know we used to have T4GRU...

[Arysyn]

1 hour ago, jreuschl said:

Is there a site like S4GRU that would show T-Mobile tower locations?  I guess one way you can tell is by zooming in on their map for strongest signal levels.

I know we used to have T4GRU...

I wish there were.

[Trip]

In the part of the country that I'm in, I have compiled my own tower map which has all the carriers, to the extent I could determine from afar.  It's in the Premiere Sponsor area. 

Won't help you guys in the Midwest, though...

- Trip

[Arysyn]

Some of you may remember the times I've reported here about my leaving T-Mobile in the past, which I officially did about three or four times. A few of those were to try Sprint, and the others were two specific times T-Mobile messed up on my preorders for smartphones, in which once I went to Verizon, and the other to AT&T.

Then several months ago, I mentioned about how I might leave T-Mobile because of the Digits issue, but I didn't end up leaving T-Mobile after all since executive response offered me a great deal for whenever I decided to upgrade my device away from the Microsoft Lumia 950xl I've been using, which ver these past months has seen a huge drop in support from many companies who previously supported the platform with various apps. Its been quite frustrating, but the problem really is with Microsoft for failing to promote its platform to compete with Android and iOS.

BTW, the two smartphone preorders T-Mobile messed up on were the Samsung S7 and the Note 7, both I tried to preorder and went through a bunch of problems dealing with T-Mobile trying to get the devices while plenty other customers were already receiving theirs. However, I'm happy to report T-Mobile not only gave an incredible discount to me for my iPhone X 256gb (they're covering the full down payment), but I'm receiving the device on Friday this week, tomorrow, on time, finally! Not only that, but they're discounting my mother's iPhone SE and Apple Watch Series 3 42mm Stainless Steel model the same discount as on my iPhone X. So, between that and the service being improved lately, I'm keeping T-Mobile.

[itsrobert]

I just switched to T-Mobile. Very impressed with speeds and coverage so far.

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[danlodish345]

On 11/2/2017 at 12:35 PM, Arysyn said:

Some of you may remember the times I've reported here about my leaving T-Mobile in the past, which I officially did about three or four times. A few of those were to try Sprint, and the others were two specific times T-Mobile messed up on my preorders for smartphones, in which once I went to Verizon, and the other to AT&T.

Then several months ago, I mentioned about how I might leave T-Mobile because of the Digits issue, but I didn't end up leaving T-Mobile after all since executive response offered me a great deal for whenever I decided to upgrade my device away from the Microsoft Lumia 950xl I've been using, which ver these past months has seen a huge drop in support from many companies who previously supported the platform with various apps. Its been quite frustrating, but the problem really is with Microsoft for failing to promote its platform to compete with Android and iOS.

BTW, the two smartphone preorders T-Mobile messed up on were the Samsung S7 and the Note 7, both I tried to preorder and went through a bunch of problems dealing with T-Mobile trying to get the devices while plenty other customers were already receiving theirs. However, I'm happy to report T-Mobile not only gave an incredible discount to me for my iPhone X 256gb (they're covering the full down payment), but I'm receiving the device on Friday this week, tomorrow, on time, finally! Not only that, but they're discounting my mother's iPhone SE and Apple Watch Series 3 42mm Stainless Steel model the same discount as on my iPhone X. So, between that and the service being improved lately, I'm keeping T-Mobile.

You know the iPhone X doesn't support band 71

[cyclone]

You know he lives in Chicago and according to https://howmobileworks.com/spectrum/ that area isn't projected for B71 opening up until phase 6 in Q4 2019 and his frequent phone changing makes the lack of current B71support irrelevant

[danlodish345]

You know he lives in Chicago and according to https://howmobileworks.com/spectrum/ that area isn't projected for B71 opening up until phase 6 in Q4 2019 and his frequent phone changing makes the lack of current B71support irrelevant

Well over here where I live in New Jersey band 71 rollout isn't supposed to happen until July of 2020

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[brockeb1]

Hey everyone. Not sure if anyone else here is from the Dakota's/Nebraska/Wyoming/MT, but I wanted to report that there is quite a bit of action in Wyoming. There are currently 10 sites in progress around the Gillette area (I know they want to get a store in there ASAP) as well as 2-5 sites in each of these locations-Newcastle, Torrington, Lusk, and Lingle. All of these sites have a minimum of Band 71 and several are actually Band 2/4/71. Found that very interesting.  Will be checking additional cities when I get time to stop back into the store. If you have a T-Mobile location near you they have the same coverage map as the website, however, it also shows any MODERNIZATION IN PROGRESS and will give the details of what they are doing at each site. It is a great tool and I suggest making friends with your local T-Mobile store so you are up on the happenings in your area. In regards to the Spearfish/Lead/Deadwood situation, and lack of towers, I don't expect to see anything happening until after the 1st of the year. There is a low power PBS station that broadcasts over the border in Sundance WY and they have been advised they have to be moved by the 4th of February 2018. They are going to be using Band 71 instead of Band 12 in the northern hills so they can't light up until then, but I am sure they will have equipment up and ready by then. As soon as I hear, I will report. One last thing that Robert will find rather funny.....both kinds of funny-funny haha and funny hmmmm. The site at Pactola (hwy 44 and 385) has been pushed back 3 times over the past month. They are finally adding the microwave dish for the backhaul, which was permitted last March. Worse yet, the radio's and base station have been there since before Robert moved away from here last year. In fact, I actually believe they may have been there since March or April of 2016-Robert may be able to confirm. Believe me, I will probably get out of my car and dance in circles when that sucker finally goes live. Out for now, take care and keep up the great tracking and info sharing. 

[S4GRU]

Yeah, I moved from South Dakota March 10, 2016. I want to say it had been up like 6 mos. before I even left.

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[brockeb1]

3 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

so there is no band 12 live at all?

Band 12 is on all existing sites in Western South  Dakota.  90% of those sites were Band 12 only. They are now coming back in and adding Band 4 to all those Band 12 only sites. Problem starts when they didn't put any towers up in Deadwood/Lead or Spearfish. They expected the tower at Terry Peak to handle all that. Not possible as ATT has 2 towers in Deadwood, 1 in Lead, and 2 in Spearfish, as well as being on Terry Peak. This should have told them something. I am aware of conversations with both the T-Mobile engineering and tower tech teams and that is how I know that they are looking at Band 71 in those places, as opposed to Band 12.  Why? I am not certain, but it may have to do with propagation in those hilly areas. Of course, Wyoming has no 700mhz licenses until they finalize what they are picking up in Western and Southwestern Wyoming from Silver Star. http://maps.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-700-mhz-spectrum.html Also, here is the 600mhz info to date. This is interactive, and you have seen it already, but it gives some information on what is happening. http://maps.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-600-mhz-band-71-deployment.html

[belusnecropolis]

1 hour ago, brockeb1 said:

 

Are your insights local or available in other markets?

[brockeb1]

11 hours ago, belusnecropolis said:

Are your insights local or available in other markets?

Unfortunately, my insights are only local at this time. If you let me know the area you are inquiring on, however, I can do a check on tower movement in your area. Let me know. 

[belusnecropolis]

7 hours ago, brockeb1 said:

Unfortunately, my insights are only local at this time. If you let me know the area you are inquiring on, however, I can do a check on tower movement in your area. Let me know. 

Groovy, thanks for all your cool updates.

[danlodish345]

On 11/17/2017 at 5:33 PM, belusnecropolis said:

Groovy, thanks for all your cool updates.

It's not bad at all for T-Mobile

[Deval]

Testing out T-Mobile right now on an Essential device. Any cool perks I should be aware of? Already downloaded Thank You Tuesdays. 

I'm on the 6GB LTE plan, which includes BingeOn and MusicFreedom, anywhere to check what services are included?

[Syph3r]

My best Speedtest on T-Mobile so far.

 

[danlodish345]

That's pretty fast. The first one is T-Mobile and the other one is on Verizon.

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