Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[jasonsteele]

3 hours ago, superbluepsd said:

Lower Sprint B41 carrier is gone here in the Portland market as well.    The remaining 2 B41 carriers have also been moved up higher to 2660 and 2680 Mhz.   

So far still three carriers in Phoenix, Sprint is at 2640, 2660 and 2680 for B41. Seems like only 2xCA as well. T-Mobile is at 2538 and 2558 for B41. I’m guessing everything in between is for n41, can’t tell for sure on my iPhone 12 because Field Test Mode is hot garbage and my other phone is an S10+.

[PedroDaGr8]

So far this morning, I haven't even seen a single 2640 B41 carrier. Yesterday I saw a few but never could connect to them. 

[Paynefanbro]

The same thing happened in NYC but T-Mobile is a bit more spectrum constrained on BRS/EBS here so Band 41 was reduced from three carriers to two carriers and at the same time n41 was increased from 40MHz to 60MHz to prevent the NR carrier from overlapping with the LTE carrier.

[JonnygATL]

16 hours ago, jasonsteele said:

So far still three carriers in Phoenix, Sprint is at 2640, 2660 and 2680 for B41. Seems like only 2xCA as well. T-Mobile is at 2538 and 2558 for B41. I’m guessing everything in between is for n41, can’t tell for sure on my iPhone 12 because Field Test Mode is hot garbage and my other phone is an S10+.

Not "hot garbage"!!

[1dante]

T-Mobile finished up a deal to acquire Swiftel. Deal should close in Q1 2021. Saw a guy on YouTube report the deal. 

[RedSpark]

T-Mobile just upgraded your rate plan:

https://delivery.sprint.com/m/u/nxt/migration/faq.html

Monthly taxes and fees are now included.

Customers will be notified via text/email in the coming weeks.

Per the FAQ, you can opt out of this plan upgrade if you want to.

[though]

16 hours ago, RedSpark said:

T-Mobile just upgraded your rate plan:

https://delivery.sprint.com/m/u/nxt/migration/faq.html

Monthly taxes and fees are now included.

Customers will be notified via text/email in the coming weeks.

Per the FAQ, you can opt out of this plan upgrade if you want to.

Well this could get hairy. I wonder how this will also change video throttling, etc which varies between different current plans. Upgrade could translate to downgrade for some users potentially.

[PedroDaGr8]

Didn't see this posted:

Quote

T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) announced today that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the Sprint-branded wireless operating assets of Brookings Municipal Utilities (BMU) in Brookings, South Dakota. Under the former Sprint brand, BMU operates a network of cell sites and provides wireless and data services to approximately 14,000 customers in Sioux Falls, Watertown, and Brookings, South Dakota and Sioux City, Iowa...

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/un-carrier/brookings-municipal-utilities

[iansltx]

106 million covered with n41 (and technically mmWave, but 99% sure unique mmWave pops are negligible), 280 million with n71: https://investor.t-mobile.com/news-and-events/t-mobile-us-press-releases/press-release-details/2021/T-Mobile-Adds-5.5-Million-Postpaid-Customers-in-2020--the-Most-in-Company-History--and-Further-Expands-5G-Network-Leadership-by-Exceeding-Ambitious-2020-5G-Goals/default.aspx

They're still saying nationwide n41 by year-end, which from previous references is ~200 million covered. I'd expect 300MM covered by n71 by then.

Curious whether we'll get another set of mid-band city announcements, or whether there was such a hard push to hit the goal that they're giving up on the announcements because they'd be too long.

Betting the next announcement is an official release of 5G home internet, including announcements on coverage for *that*, as an explicit Uncarrier event.

[Paynefanbro]

2 hours ago, iansltx said:

106 million covered with n41 (and technically mmWave, but 99% sure unique mmWave pops are negligible), 280 million with n71: https://investor.t-mobile.com/news-and-events/t-mobile-us-press-releases/press-release-details/2021/T-Mobile-Adds-5.5-Million-Postpaid-Customers-in-2020--the-Most-in-Company-History--and-Further-Expands-5G-Network-Leadership-by-Exceeding-Ambitious-2020-5G-Goals/default.aspx

They're still saying nationwide n41 by year-end, which from previous references is ~200 million covered. I'd expect 300MM covered by n71 by then.

Curious whether we'll get another set of mid-band city announcements, or whether there was such a hard push to hit the goal that they're giving up on the announcements because they'd be too long.

Betting the next announcement is an official release of 5G home internet, including announcements on coverage for *that*, as an explicit Uncarrier event.

T-Mobile has the coverage lead right now and I think they're gonna milk that for as long as possible, especially since they've found a way to market their mid-band network against AT&T and Verizon's mmWave networks. I would expect updates every once in a while to rub it in.

It's interesting that you pointed out that they didn't say 200 million covered in this announcement but instead said "nationwide". One thing that's for certain is that it's a lot harder to get to 200 million covered than it is to get to 100 million. Covering the top 15 metro areas covers 108 Million. They'd need to cover the top 75 metro areas to reach 203 million POPs. I have no doubt that they can do it but it's interesting to see them change their wording.

[iansltx]

My bet is that if they put n41 equipment on, give or take, every site that currently has n71, they'd hit 200MM covered. They already have n41 in pretty low-density markets, going wide rather than deep. Wouldn't be surprised if merely providing citywide coverage in areas where they already have at least one live n41 site would do the trick.

[mdob07]

1 minute ago, iansltx said:

My bet is that if they put n41 equipment on, give or take, every site that currently has n71, they'd hit 200MM covered. They already have n41 in pretty low-density markets, going wide rather than deep. Wouldn't be surprised if merely providing citywide coverage in areas where they already have at least one live n41 site would do the trick.

They just added N41 to a very rural site here in KY between Bardstown and Springfield. I was shocked when I caught that live. 

[jporter12]

13 hours ago, mdob07 said:

They just added N41 to a very rural site here in KY between Bardstown and Springfield. I was shocked when I caught that live. 

There's a rural site east of Columbus that I pass every day.  To me it makes little sense in that location, but it could be that they're using it for testing in that sort of setting.  It DOES provide some fringe coverage to an industrial park area, and is not far from some major data centers, although I don't think coverage extends out to the DC's.

[kckid]

On 12/23/2020 at 7:07 AM, superbluepsd said:

The answer is no.   I tried to have Sprint add a free line with the free line on us 4 and after spending an hour with the sales chat team all they can say is that there is no deal on the account currently for the Tmobile 2020 Line On Us 4 promo.    2 different agents tried but returned the same answer.    Oh well.   I guess we legacy Sprint customers are still the red headed step children of Tmobile....

Sprint/Tmobile finally fixed the billing for the free line.

$45 2GB Plan ($40 w/AutoPay)

-$40.00

They still owe me some credits for the last 3 months.

[iansltx]

Looks like the 200MM coverage number is still on: https://uk.pcmag.com/networking/130839/t-mobile-4-million-sprint-customers-are-now-on-our-network

Was rather surprised how few Sprint customers have migrated over at this point. Given the spectrum thinning T-Mobile has been doing on the Sprint side, I'd think there'd be more folks on TNA or TNX, particularly with the push for new phones.

It's good to hear them quoting ~300 Mbps averages on mid-band though, indicating that sites that haven't finished optimization (or running backhaul) won't stay that way.

[Paynefanbro]

1 hour ago, iansltx said:

It's good to hear them quoting ~300 Mbps averages on mid-band though, indicating that sites that haven't finished optimization (or running backhaul) won't stay that way.

In Verizon's most recent network update they say this about their 5G home service "It’s super fast, with max download speeds of up to 1 Gbps, depending on location, with typical download speeds of 300 Mbps." 

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-2021-more-5g

Suddenly T-Mobile comparing their midband to Verizon's mmWave makes a lot more sense.

[greenbastard]

9 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

Suddenly T-Mobile comparing their midband to Verizon's mmWave makes a lot more sense.

I took advantage of T-Mobile's free OnePlus 8T+ and was quite surprised at what T-Mobile has been able to do with n41. My speeds went from 20-60 Mbps on LTE during the day (depending on the band) to a solid 200+ Mbps on 5G indoors. T-Mobile just became a real threat to Verizon. Comparing n41 to mmWave is fair game IMO. 

It's quite sad to see what a competent company has been able to do with the BRS/EBS band. I'm a lot closer to a Sprint tower and was never able to get B41 indoors as a Sprint sub. Sprint really screwed the pooch by not properly investing in their infrastructure. T-Mobile is doing it right in urban areas and continues to upgrade existing towers and adding several new ones each month. T-Mobile is likely going to lead in the 5G game for the next 5 years or so.

[bigsnake49]

22 hours ago, greenbastard said:

I took advantage of T-Mobile's free OnePlus 8T+ and was quite surprised at what T-Mobile has been able to do with n41. My speeds went from 20-60 Mbps on LTE during the day (depending on the band) to a solid 200+ Mbps on 5G indoors. T-Mobile just became a real threat to Verizon. Comparing n41 to mmWave is fair game IMO. 

It's quite sad to see what a competent company has been able to do with the BRS/EBS band. I'm a lot closer to a Sprint tower and was never able to get B41 indoors as a Sprint sub. Sprint really screwed the pooch by not properly investing in their infrastructure. T-Mobile is doing it right in urban areas and continues to upgrade existing towers and adding several new ones each month. T-Mobile is likely going to lead in the 5G game for the next 5 years or so.

I think you are forgetting about the CBRS and C-band. Maybe they will have a 2 year head start.

[iansltx]

11 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

I think you are forgetting about the CBRS and C-band. Maybe they will have a 2 year head start.

A two year head start (realistically 1.5) gives 'em plenty of leeway to stay in the lead for the other 3-3.5 years

[bigsnake49]

8 hours ago, iansltx said:

A two year head start (realistically 1.5) gives 'em plenty of leeway to stay in the lead for the other 3-3.5 years

The 3.7-3.8GHz block will be cleared by Dec 2021. The C-Band auction will be over this week or at the most  next. The winners of that block will probably start deploying hardware and testing long before then. I foresee that Verizon and to a lesser extent AT&T will be the big winners of that block. 

[Paynefanbro]

11 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

The 3.7-3.8GHz block will be cleared by Dec 2021. The C-Band auction will be over this week or at the most  next. The winners of that block will probably start deploying hardware and testing long before then. I foresee that Verizon and to a lesser extent AT&T will be the big winners of that block. 

T-Mobile will still have vastly more mid-band spectrum on average nationwide compared to Verizon and AT&T post-auction. That's in addition to having the device ecosystem and site hardware already deployed and ever expanding. 

Assuming Verizon or AT&T deploys C-band at the same pace that T-Mobile is deploying BRS/EBS currently, they'll still be at least 100 Million POPs behind T-Mobile by year end in addition to having less capacity than T-Mobile. 

[ingenium]

Got some drone pics of a recently upgraded T-Mobile site:

B66/N66 + B25/N25 AHFIG center. AHBOA B71/ N71 right. Nokia Flexi Zone B12 left. Behind AHFIG is network converging box where the hybrid flex splits output and fiber to the RRUs. Gen 2 Nokia M-MIMO (courtesy of lilotimz).

More pics: https://www.joshuajhill.com/s4gru/img/PT43XC804/

[dewbertdc]

1 hour ago, ingenium said:

Got some drone pics of a recently upgraded T-Mobile site:

B66/N66 + B25/N25 AHFIG center. AHBOA B71/ N71 right. Nokia Flexi Zone B12 left. Behind AHFIG is network converging box where the hybrid flex splits output and fiber to the RRUs. Gen 2 Nokia M-MIMO (courtesy of lilotimz).

More pics: https://www.joshuajhill.com/s4gru/img/PT43XC804/

This is the coolest thing!  Thanks!

[though]

4 hours ago, ingenium said:

Got some drone pics of a recently upgraded T-Mobile site:

B66/N66 + B25/N25 AHFIG center. AHBOA B71/ N71 right. Nokia Flexi Zone B12 left. Behind AHFIG is network converging box where the hybrid flex splits output and fiber to the RRUs. Gen 2 Nokia M-MIMO (courtesy of lilotimz).

More pics: https://www.joshuajhill.com/s4gru/img/PT43XC804/

Bet T-Mobile LOVES this

[Dkoellerwx]

6 hours ago, ingenium said:

B66/N66 + B25/N25 AHFIG center. AHBOA B71/ N71 right. Nokia Flexi Zone B12 left. Behind AHFIG is network converging box where the hybrid flex splits output and fiber to the RRUs. Gen 2 Nokia M-MIMO

When you say center, are you talking about the RRUs? The Nokia M-MIMO B/N41 is the center antenna is it not?