Jump to content

Sprint and T-Mobile Antennas Coming Together


4GHoward

Recommended Posts

3 minutes ago, clbowens said:

Interesting...

Amphenol makes a 14 port antenna that would be well suited to the combined company post-merger. It has three 6 lowband ports and 8 midband ports, with surprisingly good antenna gain figures. Out of this single antenna, the combined company could run:

  • 2x2 L600
  • 2x2 L700
  • 2x2 L800
  • 4x4 L1900
  • 4x4 L2100

A second antenna could be used for extra capacity and greater Tx/Rx diversity.

This type of antenna with a M-MIMO could be the standard setup nationwide. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder what these would look like.  On one tower I drive by daily, that had only Sprint antennas, recently, they added another "rack" of antennas.  The ones they just added look HUGE.  The are bigger than any antennas I've seen on a tower before.  There are 2 per sector.  One slightly smaller than the other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, clbowens said:

I wonder what these would look like.  On one tower I drive by daily, that had only Sprint antennas, recently, they added another "rack" of antennas.  The ones they just added look HUGE.  The are bigger than any antennas I've seen on a tower before.  There are 2 per sector.  One slightly smaller than the other.

Do you have photos of them you could upload?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, clbowens said:

Sorry, I can't really get photos as I'm always driving at the time.

If you have a few extra minutes to stop and grab photos sometime, I'm sure I or else here could identify them. 

If they're on Google Street View, we could also take a look if you provide the address or coordinates...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, RAvirani said:

If you have a few extra minutes to stop and grab photos sometime, I'm sure I or else here could identify them. 

If they're on Google Street View, we could also take a look if you provide the address or coordinates...

They are probably not on street view yet, but I will check.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see nothing in his tweet that suggests it's for tmobile + sprint.

The frequencies listed covers the almost the entirety of every frequency in use today in the US outside of B71.

Most antenna manufacturer models are configured as such as they're agnostic to carrier entity.



Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, this is Ken speculating as Ken likes, and is wont to do. This is a common set of bands available on just about any modern antenna. Unless Sprint requires a specific antenna mod, which they don't because all their frequencies are listed here. As are AT&T, VZW, and most of T-Mobile's. 

In fact, I have three antennae currently in active receive and transmit on my house. They cover 698MHz, to 2700MHz, the high band only antenna with dual ports covers 1710-2700. I got them all off of ebay and guess which carrier I haven't pumped through them? None. I have a four port on the way that covers 600 to 3.7GHz. These examples let you know how common this configuration is, and at scale makes them more affordable and attractive across carriers for antenna manufacturers.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see nothing in his tweet that suggests it's for tmobile + sprint.

The frequencies listed covers the almost the entirety of every frequency in use today in the US outside of B71.

Most antenna manufacturer models are configured as such as they're agnostic to carrier entity.



Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk


So possible for Sprint to use TMobile spectrum?

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Tengen31 said:

So possible for Sprint to use TMobile spectrum?

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk
 

Remember that the spectrum each carrier has isn't something they physically withhold from each other, but are licenses they are allowed to utilize. Sprint could easily use whatever frequency they wanted to (within hardware capabilities), but due to regulations regarding legal rights to use and to mitigate interference, are not allowed to.

Back in the day, antennas and coax as well as the technology such as CDMA or GSM wasn't as efficient and manufacturers were making specific equipment for smaller subsets of frequencies to help ensure ideal conditions per frequency. We no longer need one high band, one mid band, and two low band antennas per sector

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, RAvirani said:

If you have a few extra minutes to stop and grab photos sometime, I'm sure I or else here could identify them. 

If they're on Google Street View, we could also take a look if you provide the address or coordinates...

Here's a pic.  The top rack is Sprint, I know.  The lowest rack is the one they just added.

Also, I was NOT driving at the time.  🙂

20190412_091421.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/12/2019 at 9:16 AM, clbowens said:

Here's a pic.  The top rack is Sprint, I know.  The lowest rack is the one they just added.

Also, I was NOT driving at the time.  🙂

20190412_091421.jpg

Anybody able to identify those antennas?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/18/2019 at 9:41 AM, clbowens said:

Anybody able to identify those antennas?

Hey, I know where those are. 😜

https://goo.gl/maps/WRs7iXeJrxnXoMKEA

Likely stuck in traffic too. 😏

I think those might be AT&T.  I saw those exact ones when I was traversing I-480 yesterday.  I haven't whipped out my FreedomPop at&t Sim in a while.  It doesn't look like anything VZW is deploying around here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Joski1624 said:

Hey, I know where those are. 😜

https://goo.gl/maps/WRs7iXeJrxnXoMKEA

Likely stuck in traffic too. 😏

I think those might be AT&T.  I saw those exact ones when I was traversing I-480 yesterday.  I haven't whipped out my FreedomPop at&t Sim in a while.  It doesn't look like anything VZW is deploying around here.

Yes, that's exactly where those are.  🙂

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • large.unreadcontent.png.6ef00db54e758d06

  • gallery_1_23_9202.png

  • Posts

    • T-Mobile has saved its 28Mhz mmWave licenses by using the point to point method to do environment monitoring inside its cabinets. The attachment below shows the antennas used: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applAdmin.jsp;JSESSIONID_APPSEARCH=LxvbnJuvusmIklPhKy6gVK7f9uwylrZ8LiNf3BqIKlDp3_5GxoBr!300973589!225089709?applID=14787154#   Here are the sites for Franklin county OH: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentViewRD.jsp?applType=search&fileKey=66518254&attachmentKey=21989782&attachmentInd=applAttach
    • Yep, there is a label on the side of the box but it doesn't provide any useful info that the city doesn't already provide (Crown Castle Solutions is the franchisee). You can see my graphical interpretation of the city's dataset here.
    • T-Mobile UScellular agreement links from SEC filings: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/821130/000110465924065665/tm2415626d2_8k.htm Look inside for main link. Credit mdav-dos1 on reddit
    • Totally agree.  In my county and surrounding counties, TM did not place n-41 on every site.  When I look at the sites in question, I probably would have not placed it there either.  I can find just a few with n-71 only and in most of those cases if you live there and know the probable usage of the residents, you would not do a full upgrade on those sites.  One site in particular is set up to force feed n-71 through a long tunnel on the Turnpike.  No stopping allowed in the tunnel. No stores, movie theaters, bathrooms, so n41 would be a waste.    n25 is not really needed either, so it is not there.  The tunnel is going through & under a mountain with more black bears than people.  TM was smart.  Get good coverage in the tunnel but do not waste many many thousands of dollars with extra unused spectrum. I also see sites with only n71 & n25.  Again this makes sense to me.  Depending on what county we are talking about, they moved much of their b25 from LTE to nr.  Some counties have more n25 than a neighboring county, but luckily, it is plenty everywhere.   When you are in a very rural area, n41 can run up the bills and then be barely used.  I am NOT finding sites that should have had n41 but TM failed to provide it.  They may have to come back later in a few years and upgrade the site to n41.  However, we just may eventually see the last little piece on Band 25 leave LTE and move to n25. I am not sure if the satellite to phone service is using band 25 G block as LTE or nr. We also can possibly have at least some AWS move from LTE to nr at some point.  Yes, everybody wants n41. it is not justified in some cases.  When I travel, I desire some decent service along the entire route but it does not have to be 1 or 2 gig download.   If I can get 50/5 on a speedtest with data that will flow and not stutter, I am very happy. Yes, they will swap out the USC gear.  TM needs to match their existing network. The USCC equipment did the job for years, but it is time to retire it.
  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...