Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[mdob07]

3 hours ago, greenbastard said:

T-Mobile doesn't play around. When they deploy spectrum or new technology, they deploy.

I'm hoping they take the AT&T approach as they are adding B41/N41 to their sites and add all other bands sites are lacking as well. There are some sites around me that are 2/4 or 12/2/4 only. 

[Yuhfhrh]

Someone looks to have T-Mobile VoLTE.

[red_dog007]

On 4/10/2020 at 9:58 PM, greenbastard said:

T-Mobile doesn't play around. When they deploy spectrum or new technology, they deploy.

Selectively. 

2G upgrades everywhere near me only saw PCS LTE.  No AWS was added. 700MHz has been slow going.  Dropped here and there.  Taken a long time to get where it is at today.  Then looking at new deployments a lot of sites are just low band or mid band. Where my brother lives in KY, brand new deployments in his area and the sites only have AWS or PCS, not both and not 700A when they own the license and KY terrain very much needs low band.  Then I have seen other sites that only get 700A deployed.  Sites that aren't full builds are only getting 600 added and nothing else.

[Brad The Beast]

4 hours ago, red_dog007 said:

Selectively. 

2G upgrades everywhere near me only saw PCS LTE.  No AWS was added. 700MHz has been slow going.  Dropped here and there.  Taken a long time to get where it is at today.  Then looking at new deployments a lot of sites are just low band or mid band. Where my brother lives in KY, brand new deployments in his area and the sites only have AWS or PCS, not both and not 700A when they own the license and KY terrain very much needs low band.  Then I have seen other sites that only get 700A deployed.  Sites that aren't full builds are only getting 600 added and nothing else.

There's no consistency to how they deploy spectrum. Most towers in my area are 2/12. One is 2/12/71 and one is 2/4. Not surprisingly the congestion is terrible. I don't know why all sites here aren't at least 2/4/12 and why they haven't dumped EDGE for 10x10 band 2. 

[RAvirani]

12 hours ago, Brad The Beast said:

I don't know why all sites here aren't at least 2/4/12 and why they haven't dumped EDGE for 10x10 band 2. 

You don't need to shut down EDGE to deploy 10x10. EDGE can operate in the LTE guard band.

In any market where T-Mobile's LTE EARFCN is a round number plus one (for example in Louisville the L1900 EARFCN is 1051) they are running edge in the lower LTE guard band. 

[dro1984]

The plan is to use Massive Mimo (on all bands) on Bands 2, 25, and 66 because they are close in frequency and can be done. All on one Massive Mimo Sector.    Band 2 and Band 25 combined (former Sprint's and T-Mobile's)  will go from roughly 20 MHz per market to 40 or more... (doubling) when you combine T-Mobile's band 2 and former Sprint's Band 25.   PCS 1900 will be the main LTE band along with Band 66 (AWS).    This will really open up the pipeline for massive capacity.  Band 71 will mostly be 5G and the 2500 (band 41) will eventually be all 5G as well but also all Massive Mimo per my buddy who is a network engineer.    For the time being, Band 41 will also minimally be also used for LTE.    Market by Market.   Conversion will be done just like Metro PCS was done 8 or 9 years ago.    From what I'm hearing, even the older 64 antenna Massive Mimo's will get replaced by 128 and 256 types.   

Lot's of "gotta/wanna have it now" moody attitudes.     You put up with Sprint's very sub-par deployment for years...   Give T-Mobile a chance to see what they can do.     The plans I hear are coming together and work has already started.      

I'm anxious to see this come together in the next few months when (hopefully) have some markets converted by then.    The current situation isn't helping as so much has slowed down.   

 

[Brad The Beast]

4 hours ago, RAvirani said:

You don't need to shut down EDGE to deploy 10x10. EDGE can operate in the LTE guard band.

In any market where T-Mobile's LTE EARFCN is a round number plus one (for example in Louisville the L1900 EARFCN is 1051) they are running edge in the lower LTE guard band. 

So why would they only deploy 5x5 b2 when they own 10x10?

[Brad The Beast]

Also, may I say that I'm loving watching US Cellular cry. "We have to actually do stuff now! This sucks!"

[afazel]

I wonder if my T-Mobile Note 10+ on the T-Mobile network will ever get access to B41 LTE. I hope so.

[Paynefanbro]

1 minute ago, afazel said:

I wonder if my T-Mobile Note 10+ on the T-Mobile network will ever get access to B41 LTE. I hope so.

The S10 and Note 10 series use a single model for all carriers in the U.S. so yes it will.

[RedSpark]

19 hours ago, dro1984 said:

The plan is to use Massive Mimo (on all bands) on Bands 2, 25, and 66 because they are close in frequency and can be done. All on one Massive Mimo Sector.    Band 2 and Band 25 combined (former Sprint's and T-Mobile's)  will go from roughly 20 MHz per market to 40 or more... (doubling) when you combine T-Mobile's band 2 and former Sprint's Band 25.   PCS 1900 will be the main LTE band along with Band 66 (AWS).    This will really open up the pipeline for massive capacity.  Band 71 will mostly be 5G and the 2500 (band 41) will eventually be all 5G as well but also all Massive Mimo per my buddy who is a network engineer.    For the time being, Band 41 will also minimally be also used for LTE.    Market by Market.   Conversion will be done just like Metro PCS was done 8 or 9 years ago.    From what I'm hearing, even the older 64 antenna Massive Mimo's will get replaced by 128 and 256 types.   

Lot's of "gotta/wanna have it now" moody attitudes.     You put up with Sprint's very sub-par deployment for years...   Give T-Mobile a chance to see what they can do.     The plans I hear are coming together and work has already started.      

I'm anxious to see this come together in the next few months when (hopefully) have some markets converted by then.    The current situation isn't helping as so much has slowed down.   

 

Great information! Thank you! One thing we'll have to get used to is how quickly T-Mobile deploys stuff (except for the temporary effect of this pandemic). We've watched Sprint stagnate for so long over the years, so it'll be such a relief to see real progress for a change.

[RedSpark]

On 4/10/2020 at 9:48 PM, mdob07 said:

I'm hoping they take the AT&T approach as they are adding B41/N41 to their sites and add all other bands sites are lacking as well. There are some sites around me that are 2/4 or 12/2/4 only. 

I'm sure every site across both networks is getting a full audit. I agree. It would make sense to make all the upgrades on one tower visit/climb.

[chamb]

15 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

I'm sure every site across both networks is getting a full audit. I agree. It would make sense to make all the upgrades on one tower visit/climb.

If they have to borrow money to do a high amount of upgrades, now is the time to do it with interest rates so low. They still have to pay off the loans at some point, but very low interest is sure attractive.  Sprint might have been borrowed to the hilt, but T-Mobile  has loads of debt too. I am not sure how much more they can borrow to do massive upgrades.

[dro1984]

20 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

I'm sure every site across both networks is getting a full audit. I agree. It would make sense to make all the upgrades on one tower visit/climb.

I agree!   I really think they are going over it all.   They know what they want to do.    Massive Mimo will be a big player in everything except (for now) band 71.   The limiting factor there is the panels would have to be so big, the size of a small car... making it difficult.   

[afazel]

12 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

The S10 and Note 10 series use a single model for all carriers in the U.S. so yes it will.

I know my phone supports it, I just wonder if/when they'll turn it on. I had pretty good B41 coverage at my house 3 years ago when I switched to Tmo

[mdob07]

My favorite part is I don't think I've come across any T-Mobile powerline sites here. Almost all Sprint powerline sites here are still B25 only GMO 6+ years after NV. I hope T-Mobile either gets rid of those sites or finally properly upgrades them. Most have a normal cell tower not too far away, one in particular in Louisville had a Nextel site 1/4 mile away they let go and kept the GMO site.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

Looks like I'm eating my words, I've already found 3 power line sites since switching to T-Mobile. I'm not a fan of these, rent may be cheap but when you factor in how much it costs and extended wait times for the special crews to do maintenance and upgrades is it really worth it? Maybe new T-Mobile will handle these better than Sprint.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

[RedSpark]

https://nypost.com/2020/04/12/ergens-wireless-network-plans-dim-amid-coronavirus-pandemic

Charlie may have hit a snag here....

[JimBob]

8 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

https://nypost.com/2020/04/12/ergens-wireless-network-plans-dim-amid-coronavirus-pandemic

Charlie may have hit a snag here....

I hope there is no significant delay (again) by DISH.  The Federal Reserve and other central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into the markets this past month in order to provide liquidity.  My expectation as a tax-paying citizen is that the point of all that money is to ensure continuance of capital investments such as building out America's 5G infrastructure.

[RedSpark]

1 hour ago, JimBob said:

I hope there is no significant delay (again) by DISH.  The Federal Reserve and other central banks have pumped trillions of dollars into the markets this past month in order to provide liquidity.  My expectation as a tax-paying citizen is that the point of all that money is to ensure continuance of capital investments such as building out America's 5G infrastructure.

We'll see what kind of accommodations are made for Charlie....

Quote

The materials Ergen revealed in court are known in industry parlance as “highly confident” letters that fall short of actual lending commitments.

"Highly confident letters".... That's a good one.

[ZERO_COOL]

Roaming on tmobile I am noticing reduced latency as low as 25ms

 

Edit: its now back over 100ms

[BlueAngel]

I forced T-Mobile earlier in a notorious spot where no one has any service for the most part, no B71 from T-Mobile and on Sprint I was able to maintain 3G although pretty much useless. Thought B71 would have been rolled out here lol but things will improve I'm sure. Or B71 isn't enabled for roaming here yet.

Edited April 14, 2020 by BlueAngel

[ZERO_COOL]

7 minutes ago, BlueAngel said:

I forced T-Mobile earlier in a notorious spot where no one has any service for the most part, no B71 from T-Mobile and on Sprint I was able to maintain 3G although pretty much useless. Thought B71 would have been rolled out here lol but things will improve I'm sure. Or B71 isn't enabled for roaming here yet.

I don't think band 71 is enabled for roaming in most areas. I can't pick it up either only band 12

[danlodish345]

47 minutes ago, BlueAngel said:

I forced T-Mobile earlier in a notorious spot where no one has any service for the most part, no B71 from T-Mobile and on Sprint I was able to maintain 3G although pretty much useless. Thought B71 would have been rolled out here lol but things will improve I'm sure. Or B71 isn't enabled for roaming here yet.

Rip sprint 😭

[Cardsfan96]

53 minutes ago, JLevoLTE said:

I don't think band 71 is enabled for roaming in most areas. I can't pick it up either only band 12

Band 71 roaming was enabled in at least northeastern Missouri sometime around a week and a half ago. No change the first weekend after April 1 but the second weekend band 71 roaming was enabled.

[ZERO_COOL]

24 minutes ago, Cardsfan96 said:

Band 71 roaming was enabled in at least northeastern Missouri sometime around a week and a half ago. No change the first weekend after April 1 but the second weekend band 71 roaming was enabled.

Haven't seen much here in connecticut