Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[RAvirani]

3 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

I have looked at T-Mobile's RRHs and they typically have one RRH for the lower frequencies (band 71 and 12) and one for the mid frequencies (2 & 4). So I am assuming they will add a band 41 M-MIMO to each site? Will they also move over or add an 800Mhz RRH or move over a combo one from a Sprint site with the appropriate inputs disabled? Might as well take advantage of 800Mhz while they still own it.

The plan is to add a M-MIMO 2500 panel to T-Mobile sites. I think it is unlikely they will add 800 to T-Mobile sites. If they do, it will likely just be a stopgap in areas where they do not own 700 MHz and 600 MHz isn't ready for deployment yet. As they shut off Sprint sites, they will accumulate 800 equipment, so it wouldn't be much expense to them. 

[RedSpark]

The latest on how the networks are doing.

[bigsnake49]

2 hours ago, RAvirani said:

The plan is to add a M-MIMO 2500 panel to T-Mobile sites. I think it is unlikely they will add 800 to T-Mobile sites. If they do, it will likely just be a stopgap in areas where they do not own 700 MHz and 600 MHz isn't ready for deployment yet. As they shut off Sprint sites, they will accumulate 800 equipment, so it wouldn't be much expense to them. 

I think they want to shut off the Sprint sites that they don't want to keep as soon as possible. On the other hand they can't get rid of 800MHz until 3 years from now. Even then it is not guaranteed that Dish will pick up the option to buy it. If Dish does not, what then?

[dro1984]

7 hours ago, Cardsfan96 said:

Okay, I can definitely confirm speed caps are gone now in my area. Getting great speeds in a rural area where sprint has nothing. The thing is family’s older iPhone 6/6s phones won’t roam onto T-Mobile at all. Not even on band 2 which they have before in the past but now they just stick to uscc 3g. Anyone have any reasons why that would be?

iPhone 6's don't have T-Mobile's "meat and potatoes" frequencies... that's whats up.       You don't have Band 66 or 71 (big time especially band 66 (AWS spectrum T-Mobile is densifying their network with it)).    You need new equipment period. You're missing out on coverage because of it.    Even most "cheap" phones have what you need.  The iPhone 6 is just too old.   

from Phonescoop, these are the bands your iPhone 6 has: 

LTE  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 13 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 41
WCDMA  1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 8
CDMA  850 / 1700 / 1900
GSM  850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

only some versions support CDMA, LTE bands 38/39/40/41

[dro1984]

3 hours ago, RAvirani said:

The plan is to add a M-MIMO 2500 panel to T-Mobile sites. I think it is unlikely they will add 800 to T-Mobile sites. If they do, it will likely just be a stopgap in areas where they do not own 700 MHz and 600 MHz isn't ready for deployment yet. As they shut off Sprint sites, they will accumulate 800 equipment, so it wouldn't be much expense to them. 

A buddy who is a Sprint (Now T-Mobile) tower engineer, said they were putting "Massive Mimo on everything with some  exceptions for band 71 ".     I'm not in his field of expertise, but could T-Mobile,  combine M- Mimo on Bands 2/25/66 since they are so close together.     Could they do the same with band 71, 12 and 26?    Not sure on 71 since he always says MM on 71 has super large panels (small car) up on the pole because the panels are so large on the lower frequencies.   

[Cardsfan96]

I just noticed I’m making calls over VOLTE while roaming on T-Mobile. Has anyone else seen this yet? I’m posting this comment while on a phone call and on band71.

[Cardsfan96]

42 minutes ago, dro1984 said:

iPhone 6's don't have T-Mobile's "meat and potatoes" frequencies... that's whats up.       You don't have Band 66 or 71 (big time especially band 66 (AWS spectrum T-Mobile is densifying their network with it)).    You need new equipment period. You're missing out on coverage because of it.    Even most "cheap" phones have what you need.  The iPhone 6 is just too old.   

from Phonescoop, these are the bands your iPhone 6 has: 

LTE  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 8 / 13 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 41
WCDMA  1 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 8
CDMA  850 / 1700 / 1900
GSM  850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

only some versions support CDMA, LTE bands 38/39/40/41

I know what bands the iPhone 6 supports. There was band 2 T-Mobile coverage and no sprint coverage and it won’t connect. I know they can because they have in the past.

[Tengen31]

I know what bands the iPhone 6 supports. There was band 2 T-Mobile coverage and no sprint coverage and it won’t connect. I know they can because they have in the past.

For TMobile iPhone 6 only has 2,4. 6s has 2,4,12.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

[bookertdub]

We’re on the same plan I believe but we don’t get any hotspot. Are you saying you get 50gb hotspot with your plan? Hotspot is the only reason I would want to switch plans.

Can confirm the 50 GB hotspot while being on the Everything Data 1500 plan. I've had it for about a year or 2 and learned about it on Reddit. I called into Sprint regarding it and they added it with no extra charge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cardsfan96]

4 minutes ago, bookertdub said:

Can confirm the 50 GB hotspot while being on the Everything Data 1500 plan. I've had it for about a year or 2 and learned about it on Reddit. I called into Sprint regarding it and they added it with no extra charge.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you think they will still add it for no extra charge? Is that 50gb per line? What do I need to do to get this added?

[Abdual Rodriguez]

T-Mobile and Sprint have no plan on how to commingle the 2 teams and networks. Its only a couple of weeks in and already messy. And TMO has the same elitist attitude towards their peers from Sprint. Everyone is hoping for the best, as well as the commitment to not layoff anyone for a period of time (3 years?). Trending in the wrong direction. 

 

Abdul Rodriguez

 

[bookertdub]

Do you think they will still add it for no extra charge? Is that 50gb per line? What do I need to do to get this added?

Just tell them you want the 50GB hot spot. Also Sprint during this time during this Coronavirus situation is adding an additional 20GB ontop of the normal hotspot.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2018/11/06/sprint-ups-mobile-hotspot-limits-50-gb-launches-faster-4-g-network/1898490002/


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[ingenium]

I just noticed I’m making calls over VOLTE while roaming on T-Mobile. Has anyone else seen this yet? I’m posting this comment while on a phone call and on band71.

Do you have engineering screenshots showing it while on the call?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[RAvirani]

2 hours ago, dro1984 said:

A buddy who is a Sprint (Now T-Mobile) tower engineer, said they were putting "Massive Mimo on everything with some  exceptions for band 71 ".     I'm not in his field of expertise, but could T-Mobile,  combine M- Mimo on Bands 2/25/66 since they are so close together.     Could they do the same with band 71, 12 and 26?    Not sure on 71 since he always says MM on 71 has super large panels (small car) up on the pole because the panels are so large on the lower frequencies.   

Correct, massive MIMO on L1900 and L2100 is part of the plan. In fact, we've already had some of that equipment installed, at least in the Seattle and Louisville markets.

L600/L700/L800 will not be getting massive MIMO in the foreseeable future. 

[Cardsfan96]

48 minutes ago, ingenium said:

Do you have engineering screenshots showing it while on the call?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

I’m on an iPhone XS. I can get screenshots if you tell me what you need from field test.

[BlueAngel]

I've still yet to have VoLTE while on T-Mobile.

[S4GRU]

22 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

Correct, massive MIMO on L1900 and L2100 is part of the plan. In fact, we've already had some of that equipment installed, at least in the Seattle and Louisville markets.

L600/L700/L800 will not be getting massive MIMO in the foreseeable future. 

That's too bad.  I was hoping to see L600 MIMO along major routes an din rural towns.

Robert

[Brad The Beast]

So an interesting discovery. Talking from the OP of this post: 

His device is doing 12+41+41. This is confirmed in the field test mode screenshots and speed test results. Data is working. VoLTE is working. Status bar indicates "Sprint LTE".

Speed test results and primary carrier

CA status screen

@RAvirani, any thoughts?

Edit: I figured it out. Field test mode hasn't updated in over an hour. Never mind.

[ingenium]

T-mobile roaming got uncapped today on my home site. So seems like it was a gradual rollout versus an all at once thing. No VoLTE, calls went over 1x.

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[ingenium]

I’m on an iPhone XS. I can get screenshots if you tell me what you need from field test.

Something indicating T-mobile while on the call, such as T-mobile LTE bands. Also make sure that the field test screen isn't stuck.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[Cardsfan96]

47 minutes ago, ingenium said:

Something indicating T-mobile while on the call, such as T-mobile LTE bands. Also make sure that the field test screen isn't stuck.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 

Well, I have a screenshot of the field test page updated just before placing the call and the call and LTE in the status bar but it says my file is too large to attach.

[ZERO_COOL]

1 hour ago, Cardsfan96 said:

Well, I have a screenshot of the field test page updated just before placing the call and the call and LTE in the status bar but it says my file is too large to attach.

You have to upload to imgur or something similar.

[JonnygATL]

Guys!!! Cap totally gone on T-Mobile!!! Look at this. Just killed all Sprint bands for shits and giggles and Damn!

[avb]

I thought Sprint outsourced their network team to Ericsson? Or did they bring them back in at some point?

I haven't kept up with Sprint much the past few years.

[bigsnake49]

11 hours ago, S4GRU said:

That's too bad.  I was hoping to see L600 MIMO along major routes an din rural towns.

Robert

You already have 4x4 MIMO on band 71. You just can't have massive MIMO at those frequencies because the antenna would be huge.

Edited April 19, 2020 by bigsnake49