Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[Trip]

1 hour ago, bigsnake49 said:

I am anxiously waiting to see how expertly the new management team handles the proper blending of macro and small cells. I know that in my area Sprint decommissioned some macro sites and replaced them with small cells and Magic Boxes.

Yikes.  They didn't do that around here.  That's really bad.

- Trip

[bigsnake49]

20 minutes ago, Trip said:

Yikes.  They didn't do that around here.  That's really bad.

- Trip

Yeah remember that phase of actually replacing macro sites with monopoles? 

[bigsnake49]

49 minutes ago, dro1984 said:

What Sprint did doesn't sound good.   How was the user experience when that happened?     I think T Mobile from what I see and hear has their Network team pretty together.   They really move on getting 600 up and increasing 700 around here.   

It's really not that bad outside but once you get inside your house/condo it gets pretty bad. I was doing some speed tests/mapping coverage between T-Mobile and Sprint and they were pretty even (they were co-located on the same tower) and then all of a sudden Sprint nosedived in different spots. I reported it thinking that the site was down and was eventually connected to Tier 2 tech support and they let me know that they "reconfigured" the network and would I like a MB? I went back and found out that the macro site near me that has had Sprint panels for a little while was no longer broadcasting Sprint signal. 1x voice stayed strong, can't complain.

[dro1984]

Perfect example of cheaping out the network.   Poor user experience...and they don't care .    Magic box in this instance was rubbish!   I had one and on one of the updates, it blocked all my incoming calls on my Samsung phone. Days spent with Sprint Tech and nothing fixed it. So much time wasted.  "Plug it in, power it off..." read off a script.   Packed that baby back in it's box and back to Sprint it went!  I'm sure they may be a use for such "micro cells", but I'm not a fan. I call these band-aids, "Son-style".    This is an example of there is not good replacement for a good Macro Cell network.    This was a huge reason why I was a merger supporter.    You just can't do all the cost cutting and band-aiding and have a great network.

Edited February 14, 2020 by dro1984

[dkyeager]

On 2/11/2020 at 8:52 AM, Trip said:

Okay, now I can go back to worrying about what will happen to Shentel.

- Trip

T-Mobile has been try to pick off the more profitable areas of WV with new sites.

[dkyeager]

On 2/13/2020 at 9:57 AM, dro1984 said:

I agree.   As we get better phones that do more, faster, they also get more expensive each time.    We broached the $1000 (US Dollar) a couple of years ago for a top line device.   Now it's becoming $1300-$1400 a pop.     That's a lot of money for me, on a device that I might accidently "flush".     ... unless you were born with a trust fund.      

I too have great confidence in T-Mobile's network team.   Look at what they did with Metro.   It is real how well they handled that.   They proposed a 3-4 year integration and I believe they completed in about 1.5 years if not, quicker!      I'm sure they have had 2 years to figure this one out... I'm sure they have a great plan... I'm dying with excitement to hear it.   I'm sure it's been modified from the one proposed 2 years ago.   They've had some prep time to map and plan!   

Waiting to hear the news.   Like I said earlier... I hope we don't have to wait until April 1st for the plan.   🤞

Agree with almost all, but T-Mobile may never release their plan. They have always been more cash flow/ ROI focused, so likely urban first. The could also go to where Sprint is losing the most money or their sites are the most congested, or places with the most marketing value in terms of improvement overall (shameless plug for Ohio, especially Columbus.)

[dro1984]

3 hours ago, dkyeager said:

... so likely urban first. The could also go to where Sprint is loosing the most money or their sites are the most congested, or places with the most marekting value in terms of improvement overall (shameless plug for Ohio, especially Columbus.)

From a Network Engineer's perspective, and you have a sudden influx of 50,000 subs (Sprint)... well if it's Sprint it's probably more like 40,000 subs going on your network, I can understand.   

You can't dump that load on to your existing network all at once... you'd kill the network for everyone.   They have to pick their areas carefully and build it up / add to it before pouring the customers on it.    That would be a disastrous move that Sprint and their management would have done in the past.   

I have more faith in this team.  I'm sure they have metropolitan areas figured out and those will be the first to get 2.5G and some of Sprint's 1900 mHz  put up or moved over... what ever you want to call it.  Once that's in place, you then have extra capacity.   They literally broke records moving and revamping Metro PCS's network at a break-neck pace ... They know how to do it.  

Edited February 15, 2020 by dro1984

[techfranz]

Technical Question here:

Let’s say there is a new  Network Vision style Sprint tower with new heads and base station.

Can that be re-purposed into a T-Mobile tower via software updates to the radio heads and base station?

Could the same approach be taken to add T-Mobile bands onto a Sprint site that it could transmit both Sprint and T-Mobile bands?

[bigsnake49]

1 hour ago, techfranz said:

Technical Question here:

Let’s say there is a new  Network Vision style Sprint tower with new heads and base station.

Can that be re-purposed into a T-Mobile tower via software updates to the radio heads and base station?

Could the same approach be taken to add T-Mobile bands onto a Sprint site that it could transmit both Sprint and T-Mobile bands?

In an ideal world yes they would. In an ideal world the T-Mobile network engineers in conjunction with Sprint engineers have figured out how to reuse Sprint base stations and RRHs and panels. Also in an ideal world Dish would buy Sprint's network assets and reuse them. A lot would depend on how programmable are the RRHs and basestations.

But there is new technology they could both employ like C-RAN to basically centralize the base station functionality where a data center replaces the basestations in a certain area. The advantage is that if a basestation image dies in the C-RAN you just spin another one. You have centralized backup power and your basestation is not exposed to the elements. The battery at the macro site will last a lot longer with just the RRHs and the antenna panels drawing power from the battery or generator.

One good thing about the merger approval taking so long is that the Sprint and T-Mobile network engineers have had plenty of time to work on the best network integration strategy. Same thing about Dish.

Edited February 15, 2020 by bigsnake49

[bigsnake49]

One side benefit of the merger is that now I can use T-Mobile as the eSIM and have Spectrum mobile as the physical SIM. Two CDMA providers (Sprint physical Verizon eSIM) works but not flawlessly (it freaks out when either phone goes down to 1x). 

[dro1984]

Some more good news...   

New York AG says they will NOT appeal the judges decision on Sprint T Mobile merger.

[dro1984]

Craig Moffett eats a little crow because he's surprised the Judge went with the merger.   

On his best day he never thought their chances were better than 50/50.  

After accepting the facts, this is a go now,  he does have some positive incite  on what the combined company The New T Mobile. 

 Will the Sprint/T-Mobile Deal Ever Be Finished?

Edited February 16, 2020 by dro1984

[bigsnake49]

1 hour ago, dro1984 said:

Craig Moffett eats a little crow because he's surprised the Judge went with the merger.   

On his best day he never thought their chances were better than 50/50.  

After accepting the facts, this is a go now,  he does have some positive incite  on what the combined company The New T Mobile. 

 Will the Sprint/T-Mobile Deal Ever Be Finished?

Craig Mofett is a clown. He needs to eat a whole lot of crows, feathers, beaks, claws and all. The man has never being right.

[dro1984]

5 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

Craig Mofett is a clown. He needs to eat a whole lot of crows, feathers, beaks, claws and all. The man has never being right.

LOL!   Agreed!   

From all the news feeds I've been seeing in the last few hours... California is expected to also fold in the towel in the next few days.  Once that happens, I'm hoping we start going into high gear, get some official info from T Mo and maybe even start seeing commercials on tv teasing "T Mobile and Sprint, coming together to form The New T Mobile"...    

[jamesinclair]

I know this has probably been discussed, but when will my phone grab onto Tmobile when I hit the dead spot on my daily commute?

[Brad The Beast]

3 minutes ago, jamesinclair said:

I know this has probably been discussed, but when will my phone grab onto Tmobile when I hit the dead spot on my daily commute?

Nobody knows. 

[bigsnake49]

27 minutes ago, Brad The Beast said:

Nobody knows. 

Sometime soon after the merger closes.

[Brad The Beast]

12 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

Sometime soon after the merger closes.

Which still means nobody knows. Could be the end of the year before we see anything for all we know. 

[dro1984]

Closing is currently scheduled for April 1st according to T Mobile.  Until we hear different... April 1.            ... Not the end of the year.    

[Brad The Beast]

Just now, dro1984 said:

Closing is currently scheduled for April 1st according to T Mobile.  Until we hear different... April 1.            ... Not the end of the year.    

That's for closing. Not when we can utilize both networks. 

[BlueAngel]

Exciting!

[bigsnake49]

2 hours ago, Brad The Beast said:

That's for closing. Not when we can utilize both networks. 

Why would they wait until the end of the year? It behooves them to open up both networks as soon as possible. Like the next day or within a week.You don't want Sprint customers leaving Sprint because of bad network coverage . You also don't want T-Mobile customers to have to put up with congestion any longer when you can solve both problems immediately by basically flipping a switch. There is free roaming on T-Mobile in some places already. Now the reverse is not true but there are plenty of iPhone 10's and 11s and S10's and S9 that can accommodate both sets of bands. So I expect that there will be new updates to the carrier settings on both sides and then updates to the databases to allow roaming from the business point of view. Maybe it's not a week maybe it's two weeks or a month. It does not matter, it's the first step after the merger. Does that mean that people's coverage will immediately improve? In places that T-Mobiles's coverage is better than Sprint's then yes. In some places it might not because the reverse it true or the networks are equal. But I am excited and I can't wait for the roaming to happen.

[Brad The Beast]

14 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

Like the next day or within a week.

That would be great. But it's not going to happen because they need to reconfigure and test to make sure everything works properly before moving people. 

15 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

Why would they wait until the end of the year?

It was a figure of speech which has gone over your head. 

[dkyeager]

The main merger focus would be on getting to the new T-Mobile network on a market by market basis, but Sprint must be kept alive in other areas.  Quickly doing mutual roaming of some sort is a certainty. 

 

If this merger were to follow the Shentel-nTelos merger (to which it has a lot of technical advancement similarities), T-Mobile might accelerate Sprint VoLTE in terms of what was in progress but not complete along with any other software changes that do not require core hardware improvements. Continued site work would be possible but would have to pass more scrunity (ie only allow in places in markets that really need it until they are consolidated).

[dro1984]

Question... if T Mobile comes in and starts the network conversion... do you see CDMA completely going away?   (I do).     I know Verizon sundowned all their CDMA and it using LTE for most everything now I think they have minimal 1x for some voice but not much.    Maybe Snake was right about T Mobile coming in and offering attractive phone "upgrades" quickly to help move that old equipment off network so they can streamline everything network related?