T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[EvanA]

Delusion?

Well I just found another strange thing... The data speed reports on speedtest.net don't match netindex at all.  This makes no sense since Ookla uses data from speedtest to construct netindex.

 

http://www.speedtest.net/isp/t-mobile-usa

http://www.speedtest.net/isp/verizon-wireless

[Arysyn]

Well at least in my home, T-Mobile's 15x15 AWS LTE has gone up slightly to around 60mbps, which is where it was after the upgrade from 10x10, though it seemed to have slowed down a bit since then, at least until tonight where I got this excellent speed test result :

 

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1393431179

[joshuam]

Well at least in my home, T-Mobile's 15x15 AWS LTE has gone up slightly to around 60mbps, which is where it was after the upgrade from 10x10, though it seemed to have slowed down a bit since then, at least until tonight where I got this excellent speed test result :

 

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1393431179

My area is still 10x10, but we have Carrier Aggregation with band 12 too.

 

I usually see 80-90Mbps in my area

Rarely below 50Mbps. More importantly though, I rarely ever drop to HSPA.

 

http://www.speedtest.net/android/1392937111.png

[transitwatch889]

Well apparently some people on reddit are reporting band 4+12, 12+4 carrier aggregation has gone live on some cites. Specifically in the NYC metro area. Pretty cool!


From reddit post....
 

Carrier Aggregation now live in New York City!!!

Ok, since no one with CA enabled Band 12 device was able to stop by the Bronx sites, I went out and picked up LG G4 on sale at T-Mobile store so I can test out CA and map some more sites.


Also got some more info on the L700 development:

- Carrier Aggregation is now default on all L700 commercially accessible sites, which means 20MHz of aggregate LTE spectrum;
- About 20 L700 sites are commercially accessible in NYC metro market;
- 18 live sites in the Bronx (majority is south of I-95), and 2 in Harlem (118th Street & Morningside Ave)
- Preferred Carrier Aggregation combo is 4+12 for better uplink experience. 12+4 also used.


Here is Carrier Aggregation in 12+4 combo:

http://i.imgur.com/11Q9BRr.png


Here is 4+12:

http://i.imgur.com/fkWlFcJ.png

http://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/3fd18j/carrier_aggregation_now_live_in_new_york_city/

[Paynefanbro]

You should be put that in a quotable text block. I'm surprised Milan didn't say anything on here yet.

[joshuam]

I have seen a lot of Band 4 + Band 12 carrier aggregation in and around Central Maryland. Usually band 4 with band 12 CA-Add, but sometimes I see Band 12 with band 4.

[transitwatch889]

You should be put that in a quotable text block. I'm surprised Milan didn't say anything on here yet.

I would but don't know how to quote post from reddit outside of site parameters. Link to post is in there with comments as well from reddit.

[Arysyn]

This article on Fierce Wireless looks interesting :

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-t-mobile-strike-173m-deal-swap-aws-pcs-spectrum-dozens-markets/2015-08-03

 

The article mentions Illinois, but doesn't say exactly what spectrum is being swapped in the Chicago market, which is where I'm most interested in. If anyone finds anything about it and posts here with the information, I'd be grateful for it.

[maxsilver]

This article on Fierce Wireless looks interesting :

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-t-mobile-strike-173m-deal-swap-aws-pcs-spectrum-dozens-markets/2015-08-03

 

The article mentions Illinois, but doesn't say exactly what spectrum is being swapped in the Chicago market, which is where I'm most interested in.

 

Chicago isn't mentioned, because it's not affected. It looks like no spectrum is changing in Chicago at all.

 

I'm not familiar with these areas, but they all appear to be rural counties or small cities/towns hours away from Chicago.

 

http://assets.fiercemarkets.net/public/007-Telecom/vzwtmospectrum.pdf

 

Alexander, Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Franklin, Gallatin,

Hancock, Henderson, Hamilton, Hardin, Jackson,

Jefferson, Jersey, Johnson, Macoupin, Madison, Marion,

Monroe, Perry, Pope, Pulaski, Randolph, St. Clair,

Saline, Union, Washington, and Williamson, IL

[cdk]

This article on Fierce Wireless looks interesting :

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-t-mobile-strike-173m-deal-swap-aws-pcs-spectrum-dozens-markets/2015-08-03

 

The article mentions Illinois, but doesn't say exactly what spectrum is being swapped in the Chicago market, which is where I'm most interested in. If anyone finds anything about it and posts here with the information, I'd be grateful for it.

 

 

There was some nice trades that allowed both of them to create larger continous blocks of PCS in some markets. I am not tracking AWS, but I suspect the same thing there.

 

In particular, this trade and the Ntelos spectrum deal earlier this year have now given T-Mobile a signficant better spectrum position in the Newport News & Richmond, VA areas.....

[Fraydog]

 

Chicago isn't mentioned, because it's not affected. It looks like no spectrum is changing in Chicago at all.

 

I'm not familiar with these areas, but they all appear to be rural counties or small cities/towns hours away from Chicago.

 

http://assets.fiercemarkets.net/public/007-Telecom/vzwtmospectrum.pdf

 

 

It's just a swap that enables VZW to get to 20x20 in most of downstate IL and MO.  These areas are all either in the STL metro or close to it, far away from Chicago.

 

I thought T-Mobile and Verizon were swapping PCS for AWS here, but apparently not. FierceWireless got that detail wrong. 

[kineticman]

 

Insulting him for being short? Zing!

[sbolen]

 

Insulting him for being short? Zing!

Stone cold. Wow. Lol

[Arysyn]

An excellent post there by Marcelo Claure.

 

Normally I'd be against any sort of insulting on physical issues, even such as height, but John Legere clearly started this attack on Sprint and on Marcelo by insinuating Marcelo is a drunk. I think this is a good payback made by Marcelo here, one which hopefully will be the last of any personal remarks made by either man against each other.

 

Although, Marcelo still is the better person in this anyways, as he at least made room for a compliment.

[Arysyn]

Also, thank you to those who responded to me regarding the spectrum trade issue. I am considering between Verizon and Sprint at the moment, though I'm focusing my decision this time around much more on the device and the device capabilities, particularly with rf, as I believe that was one of the main issues I had when I had the Kyocera Hydro on Sprint. While there still is some blame on a few of the towers I'll need to contact Sprint about looking into, if I have a better device I shouldn't be having most of those signal issues. Likely I'd still have Sprint now had I at least gone with the Sharp Aquos Crystal instead of the Kyocera Hydro, then waited on the main flagship device I wanted from there.

 

So now I'm between the choices of getting the Sony Xperia Z4v on Verizon when its available, waiting to see if the supposedly passed the FCC Sharp Aquos xx arrives on Sprint or the Sharp Aquos Crystal 2, or else wait to find out more on the new Nexus devices this year, as many have suggested to me here to consider the Nexus lineup.

[WiWavelength]

It's just a swap that enables VZW to get to 20x20 in most of downstate IL and MO.  These areas are all either in the STL metro or close to it, far away from Chicago.

 

Yeah, there basically was nothing left for VZW and T-Mobile to swap in Chicago.

 

A few years ago, they already traded places in AWS A 20 MHz block for AWS F 20 MHz block so that VZW could be contiguous with its SpectrumCo acquisition and T-Mobile could be contiguous with both of its original AWS-1 auction winnings.

 

And on the PCS front, VZW holds only the PCS B5 10 MHz disaggregation in the middle of the band, while T-Mobile has the PCS C 30 MHz block near the top of the band.  Nothing to trade.

 

AJ

[Arysyn]

Yeah, there basically was nothing left for VZW and T-Mobile to swap in Chicago.

 

A few years ago, they already traded places in AWS A 20 MHz block for AWS F 20 MHz block so that VZW could be contiguous with its SpectrumCo acquisition and T-Mobile could be contiguous with both of its original AWS-1 auction winnings.

 

And on the PCS front, VZW holds only the PCS B5 10 MHz disaggregation in the middle of the band, while T-Mobile has the PCS C 30 MHz block near the top of the band. Nothing to trade.

 

AJ

Thanks for the information, AJ.

 

Is the 30mhz PCS that T-Mobile has able for T-Mobile to convert it for 15x15 PCS on LTE?

[WiWavelength]

Thanks for the information, AJ.

 

Is the 30mhz PCS that T-Mobile has able for T-Mobile to convert it for 15x15 PCS on LTE?

 

Yes.  It is the PCS C block 30 MHz (15 MHz FDD) license.  But thoughts of refarming it to "wideband" LTE are years off.  All GSM and W-CDMA operations will have to be eliminated.

 

It is the same as saying that across most of the country where Sprint holds a PCS A/B block 30 MHz (15 MHz FDD) license, Sprint can convert it to "wideband" LTE.  True, but nobody is talking about that -- because it is not relevant until CDMA2000 is shut down.

 

AJ

[Arysyn]

Yes. It is the PCS C block 30 MHz (15 MHz FDD) license. But thoughts of refarming it to "wideband" LTE are years off. All GSM and W-CDMA operations will have to be eliminated.

 

It is the same as saying that across most of the country where Sprint holds a PCS A/B block 30 MHz (15 MHz FDD) license, Sprint can convert it to "wideband" LTE. True, but nobody is talking about that -- because it is not relevant until CDMA2000 is shut down.

 

AJ

I could be mistaken about this, but I think I heard somewhere that the GSM spectrum in use currently for T-Mobile's network here in the Chicago market, is 5x5 PCS. Based on that, It would be nice if T-Mobile could have got an additional 5x5 of PCS spectrum, so they could be able to have a 15x15 PCS LTE network here to compliment their 15x15 AWS LTE network. They would still have a 5x5 network in that case had they been able to get that extra spectrum from Verizon.

 

This hopefully will show people here that I don't have anything against the PCS spectrum band, but rather just like any spectrum band, I have a preference for them to be in wider channels. I think all carriers ought to strive for that, or at least make usage of it in such a way that makes the spectrum work similarly, such as the good idea of Sprint aggregating its PCS with band 41.

 

Hopefully T-Mobile will aggregate their spectrum in the Chicago market soon. I'm interested in seeing how they will go about doing that when it happens.

[Vince]

Hopefully T-Mobile will aggregate their spectrum in the Chicago market soon. I'm interested in seeing how they will go about doing that when it happens.

I believe I read somewhere that it will happen sometime early 2016. But without a source, it's pure conjecture. It will be a B4+B2 aggregation (15x15+5x5, respectively) which is about all T-Mobile can do in the Chicago market for the foreseeable future.

[Arysyn]

Well, it appears the FCC has made their final decision regarding giving T-Mobile any additional reserved spectrun in the 600mhz auction :

 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/6/9108663/fcc-600mhz-reserve-votes-against-tmobile

 

While this is bad news for T-Mobile, it might be good news for Sprint, if Softbank is willing to fully fund Sprint's part of the auction. It is doubtful T-Mobile will have the funds to compete against a fully-funded Sprint. I'd like to see Sprint get at least 15x15 of the spectrum, but it would be really great if they could get more, say 20x20, then move whatever CDMA they have on PCS over to 5x5 600mhz, granted if that is enough capacity for it and if I'm not mistaken about this.

 

It is no secret here that I'm not a big fan of Sprint's PCS arrangement. However, if Sprint could free up all of their PCS spectrum for LTE and aggregate it so that it would function like a 15x15 carrier or greater, then I'd feel much better about it and satisfied using their network when band 41 isn't present in use.

[tybo31316]

Well, it appears the FCC has made their final decision regarding giving T-Mobile any additional reserved spectrun in the 600mhz auction :

 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/6/9108663/fcc-600mhz-reserve-votes-against-tmobile

 

While this is bad news for T-Mobile, it might be good news for Sprint, if Softbank is willing to fully fund Sprint's part of the auction. It is doubtful T-Mobile will have the funds to compete against a fully-funded Sprint. I'd like to see Sprint get at least 15x15 of the spectrum, but it would be really great if they could get more, say 20x20, then move whatever CDMA they have on PCS over to 5x5 600mhz, granted if that is enough capacity for it and if I'm not mistaken about this.

 

It is no secret here that I'm not a big fan of Sprint's PCS arrangement. However, if Sprint could free up all of their PCS spectrum for LTE and aggregate it so that it would function like a 15x15 carrier or greater, then I'd feel much better about it and satisfied using their network when band 41 isn't present in use.

Sprint would not move CDMA to 600mhz spectrum. The bands where CDMA are now is where they will remain. The only thing that will happen is that Sprint will decrease the amount of spectrum that it is using for CDMA when Sprint launches voLTE and get a significant amount of voice traffic over the LTE network. Reallocating that unused Pcs spectrum to LTE leaving just CDMA 800 for older phones and possibly roaming.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Arysyn]

Sprint would not move CDMA to 600mhz spectrum. The bands where CDMA are now is where they will remain. The only thing that will happen is that Sprint will decrease the amount of spectrum that it is using for CDMA when Sprint launches voLTE and get a significant amount of voice traffic over the LTE network. Reallocating that unused Pcs spectrum to LTE leaving just CDMA 800 for older phones and possibly roaming.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

With so much going on around me, I totally forgot about the compatibility issue with older devices. Although hopefully by then, VoLTE will be mostly in use.

[EvanA]

We have a 600MHz thread for this

 

http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/6553-600-MHz-incentive-auction-further-delayed-until-2016

[Arysyn]

We have a 600MHz thread for this

 

http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/6553-600-MHz-incentive-auction-further-delayed-until-2016

That probably would have been the best thread to post it in, but the T-Mobile aspect made me think to post it here. Some issues like this one fit in more the one place sometimes.