T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[PythonFanPA]

My wife flew cross country to/from San Diego last week for a conference, and I was surprised she was actually able to text me midair much of the time via their WiFi service (she flew United).   I knew certain apps would work (usually WhatsApp which I haven't used in years and won't any longer) and FBM also worked for us when we switched to it, but I didn't expect her to start texting me out of the blue at 37k feet up.

[RedSpark]

Nice.

[Paynefanbro]

U.S. mobile operators are revving their engines for the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Quote

T-Mobile takes the pole position for 5G Availability with a score of 66.8%, which reflects the percentage of time our 5G users with a 5G subscription have an active 5G connection. The carrier commands a colossal lead over both of its competitors, as our T-Mobile 5G users spend nearly triple the proportion of time connected to 5G services than on Verizon’s network and almost six times more than on AT&T’s network. 

— — — — —

Compared to the same data collection period 12 months earlier, all U.S. national carriers observe notable relative increases in their average 5G download speed scores around the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street. AT&T’s 5G Download Speed has nearly doubled, while Verizon sees an increase of 68.8%.

— — — — —

While AT&T and Verizon have been closing the gap for 5G Download Speed between them and T-Mobile around the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street — T-Mobile has increased its lead for 5G Availability. Our 5G users on this network observe an increase of 14.3 percentage points of their time spent with an active 5G connection — which is a more substantial growth in 5G Availability in the area than in the case of Verizon (6.6 percentage points) or AT&T (1.7 percentage points).

https://www.opensignal.com/2023/11/09/us-mobile-operators-are-revving-their-engines-for-the-f1-las-vegas-grand-prix

[4GHoward]

FYI..

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/helium-mobile-launches-unlimited-5g-plan-news/

 

[Trip]

https://www.wtaj.com/news/national-news/5g-sale-act-bill-on-its-way-to-president-bidens-desk/

I assume Biden will sign it.  So hopefully licenses can be issued sooner than later.

- Trip

[dkyeager]

16 hours ago, Trip said:

https://www.wtaj.com/news/national-news/5g-sale-act-bill-on-its-way-to-president-bidens-desk/

I assume Biden will sign it.  So hopefully licenses can be issued sooner than later.

- Trip

In the case of any applicant for a license or permit for the use of spectrum in the band of frequencies between 2496 megahertz and 2690 megahertz, inclusive, that the Federal Communications Commission selected through a system of competitive bidding conducted under section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) on or before March 9, 2023, and to whom the Commission has not granted the license or permit as of the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission may process the application of the applicant during the 90-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.

[dkyeager]

2 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

In the case of any applicant for a license or permit for the use of spectrum in the band of frequencies between 2496 megahertz and 2690 megahertz, inclusive, that the Federal Communications Commission selected through a system of competitive bidding conducted under section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) on or before March 9, 2023, and to whom the Commission has not granted the license or permit as of the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission may process the application of the applicant during the 90-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.

Ideally it would say shall rather than may, but the FCC would no longer have an excuse not to process these licenses.

[Trip]

Given that the objection from AT&T is still hanging out there so far as I know, and that there may be other problems with other applicants, I'm not sure they'd want to put "shall" which could result in legal problems if various i's are not dotted and t's not crossed.

I would be very surprised if the licenses are not moved along as promptly as is feasible.

- Trip

[dkyeager]

On 12/13/2023 at 5:10 AM, Trip said:

Given that the objection from AT&T is still hanging out there so far as I know, and that there may be other problems with other applicants, I'm not sure they'd want to put "shall" which could result in legal problems if various i's are not dotted and t's not crossed.

I would be very surprised if the licenses are not moved along as promptly as is feasible.

- Trip

90 days may not be enough time.

The President could also veto it rather than sign it. With no executive action it should become law in 10 days from when it is presented to the President.  I don't believe a pocket veto will be possible.

Edited December 14, 2023 by dkyeager
President expected to sign: https://communicationsdaily.com/news/2023/12/13/Biden-Expected-to-Sign-25-GHzFocused-5G-Sale-Act-After-House-Passage-2312120067

[Trip]

I would be very surprised if Biden doesn't sign it.  He's not the one who allowed the auction authority to lapse in the first place.

It may not be.  But I'd guess they were working on it before the authority lapsed, so they're probably at least part of the way there.

- Trip

[dkyeager]

8 minutes ago, Trip said:

I would be very surprised if Biden doesn't sign it.  He's not the one who allowed the auction authority to lapse in the first place.

It may not be.  But I'd guess they were working on it before the authority lapsed, so they're probably at least part of the way there.

- Trip

My guess is FCC auction authority will be restored as part of an overall budget in late Winter/Spring along with some likely spectrum to bring in revenue.

[RedSpark]

 

Nice.

[Paynefanbro]

Press Release: Bills Signed: H.R. 1734, S. 788, S. 2747, S. 2787

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2023/12/19/press-release-bills-signed-h-r-1734-s-788-s-2747-s-2787/

Quote

S. 2787, the “5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act” or the “5G SALE Act,” which authorizes the Federal Communications Commission to temporarily process applications for licenses for the use of spectrum between 2496 megahertz and 2690 megahertz from applicants who were selected through a system of competitive bidding on or before March 9, 2023;

 

[mdob07]

I noticed today that T-mobile has shut of B41 LTE in the Louisville area and widened the 2nd n41 carrier to 80MHz. That just leaves them with 5x5 B12, 10x10 B2, and two 10x10 B66 carriers on LTE, everything else is in NR (besides their 2G network). They have 20x20 n71, 20x20 n25, 5x5 n25, and 180MHz n41. 

[Trip]

I'm waiting for that to happen here.  In most of the rest of Virginia (outside the DC market), B41 LTE is long gone. 

Of course, relatively nearby here is a Sprint power line site flagged 312250 serving a shopping center that is still running B2/26/41 LTE, so maybe it's not the only one and they're leaving it running on purpose for sites like that one.

- Trip

[dkyeager]

What I see in Columbus is n41 (100), n25 (15x15), n41 (80). Lte only is 66 (20x20), 71 (5x5)  2 (20x20) or 66(20x20) 2 (20x20) 66 (5x5). So 12(5x5) is reserved for voice. 26 (5×5) is available for just desperation data from one site in two counties. 41 (10) is unused.

[dkyeager]

No sign yet of n77 or mmWave (T-Mobile has like 800Mhz iirc). The mmWave has a deadline coming up soon iirc.  My guess is they will put it at busy interstate intersections.

[iansltx]

As mentioned on the other thread, this morning (IIRC 9:20a) T-Mobile dropped B41 here, adding the 40 MHz previously allocated to the n41 secondary carrier, bringing that to 80 MHz. Theoretically there's another 10 MHz here but B41 is completely offline from what I can tell so TBD if we'll ever see that.

[4GHoward]

Anyone ever try any of these companies in this article?

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/redzone-nextwave-also-complain-of-interference-from-t-mobile-s-5g

 

[Paynefanbro]

13 hours ago, 4GHoward said:

Anyone ever try any of these companies in this article?

https://www.lightreading.com/5g/redzone-nextwave-also-complain-of-interference-from-t-mobile-s-5g

 

Here in NYC I don’t think NextWave even has any clients. By my count they only have about two dozen sites deployed across the entire city. It’s pretty much a network only put up to try to pressure T-Mobile into buying them by forcing T-Mobile to switch their n41 configuration from 140MHz to 80MHz over a growing portion of the city. That’s not competitive with Verizon who has 160MHz citywide. 

I hope we get to the point soon where T-Mobile decides it’s worth it to just buy out NextWave, take over their leases, and finally have a full 190MHz across the city. 

[Dkoellerwx]

Drove from Omaha to KC this weekend. There were a number of n41 sites that previously only had 50 or 50+20Mhz on air and didn't allow for the n41 channel to be the primary channel on SA NR. As of this past weekend (probably sometime last month) all of them had 100 + at least 40Mhz of n41 and had n41 as the primary channel. A couple of them had 100+90. The network in KC was also increased to 100+90 since the last time I was here, giving a total of 15 n71, 20 + 5 n25, 100 + 90 n41. Pulled 1.2Gbps on a random site at 5pm Saturday afternoon.

[Dkoellerwx]

At some point over the weekend, T-Mobile bumped the Omaha metro from 100+40 to 100+90 of n41! That's a pretty large increase from what we had just a few weeks ago when we were sitting at 80+40Mhz. Out of curiosity, tested a site on my way to work and pulled 1.4Gpbs. That's the fastest I've ever gotten on T-Mobile! For those that know Omaha, this was on Dodge street in Midtown so not exactly a quiet area!