T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[Arysyn]

Anyone noticed the 2.6ghz thread on the tmobile subreddit ? seems the fans over there want a piece of the 2.5-2.6ghz spectrum and rebranded to band 7. Of course Sprint number one hater Cabian_Cortez is hoping Sprint fold .

 

Didn't those same people use to complain a lot about band 41? Seems quite hypocritical to me.

[derrph]

Didn't those same people use to complain a lot about band 41? Seems quite hypocritical to me.

In thinking more on the 5g front, it's been established that 5g will be about high band which sprint has a lot of. So it's only right that they want sprint to go under because John would lose his mind trying to buy up as much of it as he possibly can.

 

Sprint is truly for once in a good place when it comes to next gen. They have what the others don't which is that high band spectrum which is on the lower end. They can afford to sit back and let everyone else figure out a standard. After which Sprint can haul ass and have it out to its customers faster due to having a abundance of high band.

[Arysyn]

I think looking more on the 5g front that it's been established that 5g will be about high band which sprint has a lot of so of course they want sprint to go under because John would lose his mind trying to buy up as much of it as he possibly can.

 

Perhaps all he'll get is 5x5, then the Magentans will rave about how great it is and how much better they think T-Mobile is than Sprint. All while ignoring that Sprint has 3xca 60mhz of it in use, s opposed to whatever T-Mobile ends up with, which I doubt will be much.

 

At one point, I had hope that T-Mobile would be smart be seriously investing in spectrum. Until I read in quite a few places that T-Mobile was likely going to settle for 5x5 of the 600mhz spectrum in areas where they didn't already have spectrum. Considering T-Mobile made the huge price hike in their unlimited plan remaining more expensive than other competing unlimited plans makes me wonder how much money they really have to invest in spectrum. They must realize how much they need additional spectrum, yet to settle on just 5x5 of new spectrum where they really ought to be seeking at least 10x10 of, it doesn't make sense, unless they really just cannot afford it.

[Fraydog]

Problem with this is that ignores that China has more mobile accounts than most of Europe. China Mobile alone is worth almost 800 million users alone. Let's not ignore the companies around the world that use B41 including SoftBank, Au, and most importantly the ChiComs. There's a pretty strong ecosystem for B41. The problem I see on Sprint's end is that most of the rest of the B41 crowd is on UMTS or in the case of China Mobile on their own standard so there's no handset economies of scale that can pop up yet. In the future where CDMA isn't a concern, there can be huge economies of scale pop up. Even if Sprint ceased to exist, the government would be advised to hold to spectrum usage that has these massive economies of scale and can use more data where more people use it, on downloading.

 

There's also the matter of the educational users and ISP's still on B41, Sprint doesn't own every iota of this spectrum contrary to public belief. I imagine some of these users may not take well to a reband.

 

Edit: China Mobile has more users right now than THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF EUROPE.

[markjcc]

So Central Maui got 15Mhz like 3 weeks ago.. Just re-checked my slow speed issues 

 

Still present

 

http://imgur.com/a/5C61i

[Arysyn]

Problem with this is that ignores that China has more mobile accounts than most of Europe. China Mobile alone is worth almost 800 million users alone. Let's not ignore the companies around the world that use B41 including SoftBank, Au, and most importantly the ChiComs. There's a pretty strong ecosystem for B41. The problem I see on Sprint's end is that most of the rest of the B41 crowd is on UMTS or in the case of China Mobile on their own standard so there's no handset economies of scale that can pop up yet. In the future where CDMA isn't a concern, there can be huge economies of scale pop up. Even if Sprint ceased to exist, the government would be advised to hold to spectrum usage that has these massive economies of scale and can use more data where more people use it, on downloading.

 

There's also the matter of the educational users and ISP's still on B41, Sprint doesn't own every iota of this spectrum contrary to public belief. I imagine some of these users may not take well to a reband.

 

Edit: China Mobile has more users right now than THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF EUROPE.

 

Thing about China too, is they have the best mobile smartphones in the world. Even certain companies that sell devices to the U.S. market still produce there best stuff in China, while sending the U.S. second rate devices. Nothing here in the U.S. comes close to what is available in China, which is something I'm about to try setting out to prove.

 

I just purchased the Vivo Xplay 5 Elite I've been raving about in posts I've written here on S4GRU. I ordered it from the most reliable international sales company I could find online selling this, and it'll be interesting to see how it works out. It'll only work on T-Mobile, so for now I'm going to stay with T-Mobile as long as the device pans out well. If it does, then this will be an incredible experience, as tech-wise this device is the best device in the world currently in most ways. If everything does go well with this, I'm pretty much only going to advice people to purchase international devices, as everything I've read and heard online about U.S. devices never comes close to matching the power of devices in China.

 

So, it doesn't surprise me China is such a strong force, particularly in how its system is organized so differently, yet so much better than here in the U.S. I'm a major supporter of fewer carriers serving more people than having more carriers competing for less. Problem isn't that there needs to be competition, there just needs to be a different mindset that the system here in the U.S. just doesn't have the right tune to. Often blamed on capitalism, though I think its just the nature of how people think here that is more the problem than any political ideology. China has it right where the U.S. doesn't, and the difference is clear. China has better devices, better network, etc., than does the U.S.

 

Also, people complaining about how Canada's carriers cost too much, very true. I looked into it the other day, and wow! Very expensive! Shows that there is a problem in North America when a heavily competitive country and a less competitive country can't really seem to get mobile right.

[richy]

So Central Maui got 15Mhz like 3 weeks ago.. Just re-checked my slow speed issues 

 

Still present

 

http://imgur.com/a/5C61i

West maui got it as well but no bump in backhaul lol. Speeds are alright on west maui, central was poor today, the WiFi in queen k was faster than tmo. Another reason to dislike going to 'the city'.

[markjcc]

West maui got it as well but no bump in backhaul lol. Speeds are alright on west maui, central was poor today, the WiFi in queen k was faster than tmo. Another reason to dislike going to 'the city'.

I don't understand T-Mobile at this point why even refarm if backhaul isn't available Q_Q

 

The cell site by Maui Market place behind the Savers building that cell site is doing piss poor on certain sectors And that thing looks like it's maxed out on sectors already.

[richy]

I don't understand T-Mobile at this point why even refarm if backhaul isn't available Q_Q

 

The cell site by Maui Market place behind the Savers building that cell site is doing piss poor on certain sectors And that thing looks like it's maxed out on sectors already.

It's likely partially so they can boast about another wide band market or whatever term they are abusing and partially due to how slowly backhaul gets done. They probably aren't sending enough campaign donations to our esteemed mayor. Could be worse, we could have big islands mayor.

 

The good news is we have plenty to refarm still and 700mhz on the way plus a 10x10 of aws3 at some point. They just need backhaul. It will be interesting to see how they compare against sprint now we have finally gotten some sprint love.

[markjcc]

It's likely partially so they can boast about another wide band market or whatever term they are abusing and partially due to how slowly backhaul gets done. They probably aren't sending enough campaign donations to our esteemed mayor. Could be worse, we could have big islands mayor.

 

The good news is we have plenty to refarm still and 700mhz on the way plus a 10x10 of aws3 at some point. They just need backhaul. It will be interesting to see how they compare against sprint now we have finally gotten some sprint love.

Didn't Sprint get ahold of another 5Mhz of PCS in Maui/Ohau? That'll be interesting to see when maui gets 3xCA B41 and 10x10Mhz of B25

[richy]

Didn't Sprint get ahold of another 5Mhz of PCS in Maui/Ohau? That'll be interesting to see when maui gets 3xCA B41 and 10x10Mhz of B25

That will be interesting, assuming they can get the backhaul in place (plenty of sites are still using t3's) and TMO manage to keep up both should fly. Sprint can always roll out a second set of 3xca if they really needed. Oahu probably needs it most.

[EvanA]

T-Mobile reported earnings this morning and now claims 308 million LTE POPs. Upon closer inspection, you'll find this statement:

 

Currently, T-Mobile covers 308 million POPs with 4G LTE, which now includes partner LTE coverage.

Sneaky sneaky. I wonder what their actual native coverage is.

 

http://investor.t-mobile.com/file/Index?KeyFile=34010432

[rjw]

T-Mobile reported earnings this morning and now claims 308 million LTE POPs. Upon closer inspection, you'll find this statement:

 

Sneaky sneaky. I wonder what their actual native coverage is.

 

http://investor.t-mobile.com/file/Index?KeyFile=34010432

 

2 million is partner coverage based on their slides posted.

 

http://investor.t-mobile.com/QuarterlyResults - Page 5

[derrph]

T-Mobile reported earnings this morning and now claims 308 million LTE POPs. Upon closer inspection, you'll find this statement:

 

Sneaky sneaky. I wonder what their actual native coverage is.

 

http://investor.t-mobile.com/file/Index?KeyFile=34010432

Hmm. I don't even think that they disclose what's partner coverage on their map. But even on apps like Sensorly can a T-Mobile user map partner coverage?

 

 

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[rjw]

Hmm. I don't even think that they disclose what's partner coverage on their map. But even on apps like Sensorly can a T-Mobile user map partner coverage?

 

 

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Link is at the bottom of their map coverage page: https://maps.t-mobile.com/pcc/images/partnercoverage-map.png

[EvanA]

2 million is partner coverage based on their slides posted.

 

http://investor.t-mobile.com/QuarterlyResults - Page 5

Forgot to look at the investor factbook. Thanks. That puts them at 306 million native, which is an increase of 1 million pops since last quarter.

 

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[NYC126]

They truly have huge momentum, and they are not slowing down, they keep adding almost a million of phone customers, expanding their coverage etc.

 

Their churn is 1.33% higher compared to the twin bells, but it seems most of the customers they are taking are coming from Sprint. ATT and Verizon profits are hardly impacted.

[Terrell352]

Forgot to look at the investor factbook. Thanks. That puts them at 306 million native, which is an increase of 1 million pops since last quarter.

 

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The real question is how can they claim such coverage when most tests point to Sprint having better coverage than them overall. Does Sprint have more than 280 pops and for some reason is not reporting it? Thats a massive claim to say that Sprint is so far behind on coverage.

[NYC126]

The real question is how can they claim such coverage when most tests point to Sprint having better coverage than them overall. Does Sprint have more than 280 pops and for some reason is not reporting it? Thats a massive claim to say that Sprint is so far behind on coverage.

magentans says Sprint truly coverage is only 270 millions pops. I will leave the coverage stuff for the experts, but Verizon is the only carrier that cover  the most mass land in the United States. Pops and mass land coverage are different things in their eyes.

[Terrell352]

magentans says Sprint truly coverage is only 270 millions pops. I will leave the coverage stuff for the experts, but Verizon is the only carrier that cover the most mass land in the United States. Pops and mass land coverage are different things in their eyes.

True. But there statements makes Sprint look vastly inferior. If I was a average consumer I would look at who has the most benefits at the best price and the best coverage. That coverage map would have sent me to tmobile really quick if I seen such massive coverage difference. Also it would make me believe that Sprint is lying about its network being the fastest since they are not doing as good as tmobile 4th place customers and 4th place coverage but 1st place speed would not add up. It just doesnt look good. I dont have any proof that T-Mobile is lying about there coverage though so I can't say they are lying.

 

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[NYC126]

True. But there statements makes Sprint look vastly inferior. If I was a average consumer I would look at who has the most benefits at the best price and the best coverage. That coverage map would have sent me to tmobile really quick if I seen such massive coverage difference. Also it would make me believe that Sprint is lying about its network being the fastest since they are not doing as good as tmobile 4th place customers and 4th place coverage but 1st place speed would not add up. It just doesnt look good. I dont have any proof that T-Mobile is lying about there coverage though so I can't say they are lying.

 

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We can argue anything, but it comes down to customer experience, and right now Tmobile is the carrier covering all the checklists in a customer eyes. Sprint burned a lot of bridges over the years, and many customers will not forget that regardless of what we say here.

[WiWavelength]

The real question is how can they claim such coverage when most tests point to Sprint having better coverage than them overall. Does Sprint have more than 280 pops and for some reason is not reporting it? Thats a massive claim to say that Sprint is so far behind on coverage.

 

T-Mobile has a lot of new coverage on the map -- but some of that coverage is of low density, poor quality.  T-Mobile is just tossing up band 12 sites, using a favorable propagation model, and calling it a day for now.  That actual coverage does not reach everywhere that the map depicts.  However, that is not the real issue.  T-Mobile has expanded its footprint and covered millions more people.  But if that footprint in actual use is low density swiss cheese, how good is that? 

 

Anyway, if Sprint decided so, it could do likewise.  Just a few hundred low density, band class 10/band 26 only sites, along with an optimistic propagation model, likely would push Sprint over the 300 million POPs mark.

 

AJ

[derrph]

Even though T-Mobile had more lte than Sprint I just feel like Sprint has a more intact feeling with its network whereas T-Mobile is fragile. Idk I'm weird.

 

 

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[Terrell352]

T-Mobile has a lot of new coverage on the map -- but some of that coverage is of low density, poor quality. T-Mobile is just tossing up band 12 sites, using a favorable propagation model, and calling it a day for now. That actual coverage does not reach everywhere that the map depicts. However, that is not the real issue. T-Mobile has expanded its footprint and covered millions more people. But if that footprint in actual use is low density swiss cheese, how good is that?

 

Anyway, if Sprint decided so, it could do likewise. Just a few hundred low density, band class 10/band 26 only sites, along with an optimistic propagation model, likely would push Sprint over the 300 million POPs mark.

 

AJ

We know this but most consumers don't. Either way T-Mobile's approach is working. Personally I think all of the freebies is the biggest reason why they continue to do so well but a bigger coverage count never hurts.

 

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[NYC126]

We know this but most consumers don't. Either way T-Mobile's approach is working. Personally I think all of the freebies is the biggest reason why they continue to do so well but a bigger coverage count never hurts.

 

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They know how to do marketing, and they market themselves as the cool kid. People want to hang out with the cool kids not with the boring ones(Sprint etc)

 

Personally I don;t like Legere,but he knows a lot about marketing. He has used marketing tools, ( Uncarrier 1-10, BingON etc to gives the company momentum until they have a superior network and take out  Sprint. 

 

Let's be clear here, Tmobile will never touch Verizon and AT&T, but Sprint is vulnerable.  Sprint mostly customers losses go to Tmobile.