T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[TheForce627]

That is the problem of using individual experiences in one market (and often a specific subset of places one tends to frequent in a market) to extrapolate generalities about the state of a carrier's network elsewhere.

well when you experience an issue over the course of a couple years, on multiple towers, multiple phones, in multiple markets then you'll see why it's a problem. I'm not here to start a battle over this but just to say RCS would be welcomed on the Sprint network from this user.

[travismheim]

my run in with CDMA networks hasn't been great. W-CDMA is a whole different story and performs much better with texts for me

Unless you lose LTE, you aren't sending SMS over CDMA if you have a triband phone on Sprint. How would RCS improve delayed text messages? If SMS is being delayed what makes you think RCS messages wouldn't also be delayed?

[Dkoellerwx]

Yeah yeah, they must've not come to the DC market or didn't send a message over 160 characters because they wouldn't have won in that category. There have been too many times I've texted a family member on Sprint and they get it late. That was the reason I left and would come back if they did something like this.

 

I could just as easily say Sprint's CDMA is fantastic and beats everyone when it comes to texting because when I send an SMS the recipient generally gets the message in a few seconds, 160 limit or not. I've never seen a message get lost other than when I was out of the service area. But that's just my experience in my home markets, and I can't attribute that to the whole network.

 

RootMetrics most certainly tested the DC market. And Sprint's results weren't spectacular, but they weren't horrible. And they were better than the 2H2014 period. http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/rsr/washington-dc/2015/1H

 

Edit: And, as travismheim mentioned above, texts are sent over LTE now anyway on Spark devices, which is likely why I see the near instantaneous send/receive.

[bigsnake49]

I could just as easily say Sprint's CDMA is fantastic and beats everyone when it comes to texting because when I send an SMS the recipient generally gets the message in a few seconds, 160 limit or not. I've never seen a message get lost other than when I was out of the service area. But that's just my experience in my home markets, and I can't attribute that to the whole network.

 

RootMetrics most certainly tested the DC market. And Sprint's results weren't spectacular, but they weren't horrible. And they were better than the 2H2014 period. http://www.rootmetrics.com/us/rsr/washington-dc/2015/1H

 

Edit: And, as travismheim mentioned above, texts are sent over LTE now anyway on Spark devices, which is likely why I see the near instantaneous send/receive.

So it seems that Sprint has implemented RCS after all because SMS usually use the control channel of a CDMA/GSM/WCDMA to send SMS.

[EvanA]

So it seems that Sprint has implemented RCS after all because SMS usually use the control channel of a CDMA/GSM/WCDMA to send SMS.

LTE has integrated SMS support. RCS is a completely separate technology.

[Dkoellerwx]

So it seems that Sprint has implemented RCS after all because SMS usually use the control channel of a CDMA/GSM/WCDMA to send SMS.

 

What Evan said. LTE supports SMS/MMS. 

[bigsnake49]

What Evan said. LTE supports SMS/MMS.

When did they add that feature? In the beginning LTE was supposed to be just data with IMS/RCS providing voice and messaging. Are they using the control channel still or just subcarriers?

[caspar347]

When did they add that feature? In the beginning LTE was supposed to be just data with IMS/RCS providing voice and messaging. Are they using the control channel still or just subcarriers?

AFAIK SMS/MMS over LTE is handled by the LTE IMS.

[greenbastard]

Nvm

Edited July 29, 2015 by greenbastard

[joshuam]

T-Mobile network update in the 2Q press release...

 

Continued expansion of the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network:

• 290 million POPs covered by 4G LTE – targeting 300 million by year-end 2015
• 212 market areas with Wideband LTE – more than 250 market areas targeted by year-end 2015
• 141 market areas with 700 MHz A-Block spectrum already deployed
• MetroPCS network and customer migration completed, ahead of schedule
  • 100% of MetroPCS CDMA spectrum re-farmed

Source: http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/q2-earnings-2015.htm

[Paynefanbro]

They also posted a profit of $361 Million.

[joshuam]

They also posted a profit of $361 Million.

 

Yeah, this was a pretty good quarter for them.

[bigsnake49]

T-Mobile network update in the 2Q press release...

 

Continued expansion of the nation’s fastest 4G LTE network:

• 290 million POPs covered by 4G LTE – targeting 300 million by year-end 2015
• 212 market areas with Wideband LTE – more than 250 market areas targeted by year-end 2015
• 141 market areas with 700 MHz A-Block spectrum already deployed
• MetroPCS network and customer migration completed, ahead of schedule
  • 100% of MetroPCS CDMA spectrum re-farmed

Source: http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news/q2-earnings-2015.htm

 

I think they are doing well but I do not for a moment believe they are covering 290 million POPs.

[Paynefanbro]

I think they are doing well but I do not for a moment believe they are covering 290 million POPs.

Quite frankly, no one except Fabian does.

[Ascertion]

Quite frankly, no one except Fabian does.

T-Mobile's coverage map is quite inaccurate (even criticized on TmoNews...)  But, all of the carriers coverage maps are wrong.  I wouldn't doubt that they're including future buildout in their current numbers.

[luvixuha]

I think they are doing well but I do not for a moment believe they are covering 290 million POPs.

Anecdotal, but T-Mobile has turned on LTE in a lot of rural areas about an hour+ away from me. Areas with farms and cows and corn went from having a barely usable EDGE signal that was only good for phone calls, to LTE with pretty decent bandwidth for being in the middle of nowhere.

[Terrell352]

Anecdotal, but T-Mobile has turned on LTE in a lot of rural areas about an hour+ away from me. Areas with farms and cows and corn went from having a barely usable EDGE signal that was only good for phone calls, to LTE with pretty decent bandwidth for being in the middle of nowhere.

I have seen the same thing. T-Mobile's rural coverage is improving fast.

[JosefTor]

I hope sprint isn't so secretive this quarter. I want to know about their network plans and plan for capital. We should have permits already around the US for all the small cells and not just talk.

[caspar347]

I hope sprint isn't so secretive this quarter. I want to know about their network plans and plan for capital. We should have permits already around the US for all the small cells and not just talk.

IIRC one of the big advantages of small cells are lack of permitting requirements in most areas. But we should be seeing project NGN macro permits popping up.

[Terrell352]

I hope sprint isn't so secretive this quarter. I want to know about their network plans and plan for capital. We should have permits already around the US for all the small cells and not just talk.

Doesn't really matter to me. If they release plans the public it will get a negative response. The usual where's the money coming from, Sprints past and Sprint mediocre execution thanks to the vendors they chose ect.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Trip]

I have seen the same thing. T-Mobile's rural coverage is improving fast.

 

To provide an anecdote to the contrary, I recently bought an LG Leon LTE (MetroPCS) just to see how service is on T-Mobile, and have found it lacking.  In this area, coverage is good, it holds LTE a really long time, etc.  Once I left Culpeper to visit my parents last weekend, though, my Sprint phone kept on chugging (either via roaming on US Cellular or, for one short stretch, Verizon, or via nTelos pseudo-native) while the T-Mobile phone spent more time saying "No connection" than anything else.  Service popped up when I crossed the interstate and one other larger town, and that was it.  I would say that out of the 4 hour drive, T-Mobile had no service for at least 2 hours of it.

 

- Trip

[Terrell352]

To provide an anecdote to the contrary, I recently bought an LG Leon LTE (MetroPCS) just to see how service is on T-Mobile, and have found it lacking. In this area, coverage is good, it holds LTE a really long time, etc. Once I left Culpeper to visit my parents last weekend, though, my Sprint phone kept on chugging (either via roaming on US Cellular or, for one short stretch, Verizon, or via nTelos pseudo-native) while the T-Mobile phone spent more time saying "No connection" than anything else. Service popped up when I crossed the interstate and one other larger town, and that was it. I would say that out of the 4 hour drive, T-Mobile had no service for at least 2 hours of it.

 

- Trip

Is there band 12 over there? Where I live even the rural towers have band 12 now. I was surprised. It's night and day in the coverage department. Holding LTE even longer than Sprints band 26. This could be 3 reasons here. First is Sprint is on the bottom of towers alot while Tmobile is rarely on the bottom of most towers here. The nexus 6 could be better at band 12 than band 26 and the last reason is T-mobile's LTE is set to drop down to hspa or edge at around 130dbm compared to 120dbm from Sprint.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[joshuam]

Is there band 12 over there? Where I live even the rural towers have band 12 now. I was surprised. It's night and day in the coverage department. Holding LTE even longer than Sprints band 26. This could be 3 reasons here. First is Sprint is on the bottom of towers alot while Tmobile is rarely on the bottom of most towers here. The nexus 6 could be better at band 12 than band 26 and the last reason is T-mobile's LTE is set to drop down to hspa or edge at around 130dbm compared to 120dbm from Sprint.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

 

I noticed that too. T-Mobile will hold 125dbm, but Sprint switched to 3G sometimes much sooner than it needs to I think. I really wish Sprint would change that.

[Terrell352]

I noticed that too. T-Mobile will hold 125dbm, but Sprint switched to 3G sometimes much sooner than it needs to I think. I really wish Sprint would change that.

No Sprint has it right. Tmobile 10*10 or 15*15 will still be usable at 125dbm and sometimes even 135dbm Sprint 5*5 is unusable around 120dbm

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Trip]

Is there band 12 over there? Where I live even the rural towers have band 12 now. I was surprised. It's night and day in the coverage department. Holding LTE even longer than Sprints band 26. This could be 3 reasons here. First is Sprint is on the bottom of towers alot while Tmobile is rarely on the bottom of most towers here. The nexus 6 could be better at band 12 than band 26 and the last reason is T-mobile's LTE is set to drop down to hspa or edge at around 130dbm compared to 120dbm from Sprint.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

The last tower at Culpeper has B12.  It made it, with significant gaps on the down-slopes of hills, to the county line.  After that, there's simply no T-Mobile towers.  Lack or presence of 700 doesn't change that.  (T-Mobile owns 700 all the way to Gordonsville, but there's no service from T-Mobile, period, from the Culpeper County line until well after Gordonsville.)

 

- Trip