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3G Shutdown


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They wouldn't even need to drop 800's LTE. Remember that post-merger they'll have B12 and B71 available for 5G. Carving out an extra 5 MHz won't buy much, compared to the 20 MHz FD in 600.
I'm going to guess Sprint will cut PCS CDMA 12/31/21, with an extra year for 800. Could be EOY 2021 for everything depending on when the merger happens. The issue right now is that they still haven't launched VoLTE so who knows even how much traffic they can shunt away from CDMA with the phones that are in the field right now.
VoLTE works surprisingly well on an unsupported device at the moment. I've forced it on the Pixel 3 XL, which Sprint insists is not possible, and it works great. It ignores all the per eNB enable/disable settings that Sprint broadcasts, so it's working on magic boxes and in theory unlaunched markets. I tested the QoS on it today in a rush hour subway station where Hangouts messages were taking 30-60+ seconds to send due to congestion, and it worked flawlessly.

Honestly, I think whatever weird/non-standard(?) thing Sprint is doing to enable/disable it on a per eNB level is causing a lot of stability problems with supported devices, where it turns off and won't go back on, etc. Once that is overridden, it works really well, at least if you're in an area without 3G drops

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

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On 3/15/2019 at 7:09 AM, red_dog007 said:

I wonder what Sprints timeline is to shut down CDMA completely.  VZW CDMA is dead EOY 2019. ATT looks like they will kill HSPA EOY 2021.  Think Sprint would be in a great spot if they could do it in a few years. Once the market is full of 5G phones.  B26 could go down to 1.4MHz for LTE and add 5MHz for 5G. 

Any of the newer dual-band/tri-band equipment easily upgradable for 5G? At least not requiring a tower climb?

If the merger go through, they probably required to maintain CDMA for a while (1x voice) to support roaming from regional carrier.

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On 3/21/2019 at 6:49 PM, ingenium said:

VoLTE works surprisingly well on an unsupported device at the moment. I've forced it on the Pixel 3 XL, which Sprint insists is not possible, and it works great. It ignores all the per eNB enable/disable settings that Sprint broadcasts, so it's working on magic boxes and in theory unlaunched markets. I tested the QoS on it today in a rush hour subway station where Hangouts messages were taking 30-60+ seconds to send due to congestion, and it worked flawlessly.

I have a Pixel 3, and with Android 10 I noticed in carrier settings I can now enable VoLTE.  It seems to work pretty well in the greater Seattle area, with some dropouts occurring as I drive south of Seattle.  Is the Seattle market officially turned on for VoLTE?

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3 hours ago, JEBrossard said:

I have a Pixel 3, and with Android 10 I noticed in carrier settings I can now enable VoLTE.  It seems to work pretty well in the greater Seattle area, with some dropouts occurring as I drive south of Seattle.  Is the Seattle market officially turned on for VoLTE?

Yes it is. Where are you experiencing issues? I'm from Seattle and pretty well connected with the network team there so I'm curious. 

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On 9/12/2019 at 9:03 AM, RAvirani said:

Yes it is. Where are you experiencing issues? I'm from Seattle and pretty well connected with the network team there so I'm curious. 

I drive from Mill Creek to Fife and back every weekday, and I've had some dropouts, regularly on the South Center hill for example.  Mostly south of Seattle although tonight a dropout as well on 405 in downtown Bellevue.  I have some SignalCheck Pro logs if you are interested.

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8 hours ago, JEBrossard said:

I drive from Mill Creek to Fife and back every weekday, and I've had some dropouts, regularly on the South Center hill for example.  Mostly south of Seattle although tonight a dropout as well on 405 in downtown Bellevue.  I have some SignalCheck Pro logs if you are interested.

South Center hill as in going south on I-5 from the junction of 405 and I-5? If so, that area is in dire need of a site; Sprint is the only carrier without one by exit 152. A while back, there were talks of colocating onto the monopole at (47.4332995, -122.2696476), although they never really happened and I'm not sure if that site is still in planning.

A dropout in downtown Bellevue? Where along the highway (exit number)? I live right around there and I've never had an issue...

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1 hour ago, RAvirani said:

A dropout in downtown Bellevue? Where along the highway (exit number)? I live right around there and I've never had an issue...

I was traveling northbound on 405, just north of exit 12, SE 8th St.  There is a big retaining wall there on the east side, the freeway is kinda in a hole there.  Perhaps a cell was down for maintenance.

And yes, around exit 152 is where I drop (or lose audio but not drop) VoLTE calls regularly. CDMA calls seem to live through that area.

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17 minutes ago, JEBrossard said:

I was traveling northbound on 405, just north of exit 12, SE 8th St.  There is a big retaining wall there on the east side, the freeway is kinda in a hole there.  Perhaps a cell was down for maintenance.

There is very good service along 405 in that area. A site may have been down for upgrades/maintenance. 

17 minutes ago, JEBrossard said:

And yes, around exit 152 is where I drop (or lose audio but not drop) VoLTE calls regularly. CDMA calls seem to live through that area.

Yes, that sounds about right. Sprint needs to do something about that area. 

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I also think there is a TAC transition there south of Southcenter too, if memory serves.  A transition area with a very weak signal and lots of noise from weak distant sites) would result in a lot of drops.  A strong localized signal far over the noise floor is required in this location for VoLTE calls.

Robert

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On 3/3/2019 at 3:18 PM, Brad The Beast said:

Don't take away my 3G! It's the only thing that works decently at my apartment lol

You mean the band that it is using works in your apartment. If they replace it with LTE on that same frequency you should be fine.

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