Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[bigsnake49]

9 hours ago, S4GRU said:

And this is the truth that many of us are going to learn.  T-Mobile is not perfect everywhere.  They have some markets where they have some real bad towers here and there.  And there are some entire markets that aren't that good.  But if the New T-Mobile fully leverages Sprint spectrum and add every Sprint site that expands coverage or provides additional capacity, it will get really good.  Probably the best. 

Sprint failed to leverage Nextel sites to expand coverage and capacity to its full extent.  Not even half its extent.  Hopefully NTmo will take it to the maximum.  But their comments about existing Sprint sites sound kinda lukewarm.  No I won't hold my breath.

If Tmo really wants to take it to the Duopoly, they need to keep every Sprint site that adds any coverage (and upgrade it, of course).  They should also try to add Nextel locations that expand coverage too.  And then any Sprint in-footprint sites that are not co-located With Tmo where density improvement or capacity would be helpful.  

Robert

They will keep about 11,000 non-colocated Sprint macro sites and add around 10,000 new macro sites. Not to mention any small cells. If T-mobile is smart they will leverage the cable cos ability to add strand and pole mounted small cells without permits. In addition to leasing/hosting Comcast's and Columbia Capital's 600MHz spectrum.

[shaferz]

2 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

I wish I was as lucky as you. Guess they are targeting major markets first. I am still holding on Sprint's band 25 & 26. 

It's times like this that I am glad I live where I live.  The closest native tmobile site is 14 miles away, and there is a Sprint tower less than a mile from me.  I'm hanging on by a thread right now hoping that tmobile comes in and does a full 'new tmobile' build on this existing sprint site.  If I have to default to native tmobile coverage right now, I'm boned.

[RedSpark]

Great article by Sascha Segan.

I found this section interesting:

Quote

 

T-Mobile now owns 160-190MHz of mid-band across the country. It uses 60MHz of that for Sprint 4G. Sprint's previous hardware restricted its 5G bandwidth to 60MHz as well, but Kuoppamaki says T-Mobile is installing more advanced kits.

"The plan is to use the latest and greatest hardware that allows us to deploy 5G for more than 60MHz, in 100MHz channels," he says. That will further boost speeds, into what I estimate will be an average 300-400Mbps range. Over the next several years, T-Mobile intends to move Sprint LTE customers off that spectrum and use it all for 5G.

 

 

[shaferz]

1 minute ago, bigsnake49 said:

They will keep about 11,000 non-colocated Sprint macro sites and add around 10,000 new macro sites. Not to mention any small cells. If T-mobile is smart they will leverage the cable cos ability to add strand and pole mounted small cells without permits. In addition to leasing/hosting Comcast's and Columbia Capital's 600MHz spectrum.

Sure - that is true what they said about the 'keep sites'.  However - I don't think anyone has seen a list or a map of sites that will be kept, thus, I'll stick with " I will believe it when I see it. "

[bigsnake49]

1 minute ago, shaferz said:

It's times like this that I am glad I live where I live.  The closest native tmobile site is 14 miles away, and there is a Sprint tower less than a mile from me.  I'm hanging on by a thread right now hoping that tmobile comes in and does a full 'new tmobile' build on this existing sprint site.  If I have to default to native tmobile coverage right now, I'm boned.

Well, before they integrated MetroPCS network around Florida, T-Mobile's network was pretty weak. Give credit to Metro, they colocated on each and every Verizon site. Conversely during Sprint's let's replace macro sites with monopoles, small cells and MBs phase, Sprint's weakened. 

[blakebaa]

This is what I'm currently "stuck with" all morning.

[shaferz]

6 minutes ago, blakebaa said:

This is what I'm currently "stuck with" all morning.

I NewTMo can make that happen everywhere - they are going to have a LOT of happy customers.  Nice!

 

edit:  However, it does appear Willmar has a tower located in town, so I wouldnt expect any less.  Still though... Nice! 

[bigsnake49]

6 minutes ago, blakebaa said:

This is what I'm currently "stuck with" all morning.

Man, I feel sorry for you 😂. I mean the signal strength is just pitiful and your Speedtest just paltry.

Edited April 21, 2020 by bigsnake49

[dkyeager]

T-Mobile completely brought down its sites several times in Columbus last night for B71.  Took about 20 minutes between 6:30 and 7pm (prime time).  Not impressed. 

Sprint typically would wait until midnight, a far less busy time.  Personally think they should give warnings like "We plan on bringing up more low band capacity tomorrow evening.  Service interruptions are possible."

[dro1984]

 Are you people for real?    Complaining that your service was "interrupted" for 30 mins?   In the name of a better network!?     LOL!    Sorry.   But I think I had to say this.    They can bring my network down as much as they want if it's intended to improve.       They have so few Sprint towers by me, it's terrible. It's all overloaded.    Looking forward to the New T-Mobile.   

[PhillipJames89]

11 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

T-Mobile completely brought down its sites several times in Columbus last night for B71.  Took about 20 minutes between 6:30 and 7pm (prime time).  Not impressed. 

Sprint typically would wait until midnight, a far less busy time.  Personally think they should give warnings like "We plan on bringing up more low band capacity tomorrow evening.  Service interruptions are possible."

20 mins... whew chile. Hopefully they repay you that 20 mins 

[dkyeager]

Cavalier attitude considering how many people are dependant on their phones, especially for emergency calls.

[clbowens]

29 minutes ago, blakebaa said:

This is what I'm currently "stuck with" all morning.

And no VoLTE while on this?

[Trip]

10 minutes ago, dro1984 said:

 Are you people for real?    Complaining that your service was "interrupted" for 30 mins?   In the name of a better network!?     LOL!    Sorry.   But I think I had to say this.    They can bring my network down as much as they want if it's intended to improve.       They have so few Sprint towers by me, it's terrible. It's all overloaded.    Looking forward to the New T-Mobile.   

 

8 minutes ago, PhillipJames89 said:

20 mins... whew chile. Hopefully they repay you that 20 mins 

Whew, indeed!  Good thing everyone has landlines and can fall back on them to call 911 when the cell towers go out at random.

- Trip

[bigsnake49]

6 minutes ago, Trip said:

 

Whew, indeed!  Good thing everyone has landlines and can fall back on them to call 911 when the cell towers go out at random.

- Trip

You can make emergency calls on other networks when you have no service on yours. 

[dkyeager]

2 minutes ago, Trip said:

 

Whew, indeed!  Good thing everyone has landlines and can fall back on them to call 911 when the cell towers go out at random.

- Trip

Not to mention we currently have an estimated 20% unemployment rate.  State worker compensation systems overwhelmed and unable in most cases to handle 1099 claims.  A lot of gaps in the social safety net.  Super fast issuance of the first CARES Act checks, but may not be until October until all are issued.  A long time to wait without a job or health insurance during a pandemic.  Most people live paycheck to paycheck.  Any interruption could sent some over the edge.  Lack of an ambulance for 30 minutes could mean death.

[dkyeager]

3 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

You can make emergency calls on other networks when you have no service on yours. 

True, given your phone supports the bands and 3g is still on local towers (Verizon has removed 3g from many sites).  I don't believe VoLTE 911 is supported on other carriers.

[Paynefanbro]

CNET's article revealed that T-Mobile plans on overlaying Sprint's current 5G network and giving access to their current customers along with Sprint customers with new the S20 and newer. Then when they've fully deployed over Sprint's 5G footprint, they'll shut down the Sprint 5G network and Sprint users with "first-gen" 5G devices will become LTE only devices.

Quote

Although Sprint's Galaxy S20 phones will be brought along for the network upgrade, older Sprint 5G phones from 2019 will not be getting updates to enable access to T-Mobile's 5G network. Instead, those devices will remain capable of tapping into Sprint 5G in the markets where it's available for as long as it's active. 

To make the midband 5G spectrum work better with its other 5G networks, T-Mobile is taking the already deployed Sprint 5G and refarming it, a process that shuts down the existing network and redeploys the spectrum. 

This process will take place in New York as well as, over time, in the other eight markets (plus parts of Miami) where Sprint's 5G service is currently live. The carrier says that it will turn off Sprint's 5G network in New York City shortly before turning on its redeployed version. 

 

[ZERO_COOL]

20 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

CNET's article revealed that T-Mobile plans on overlaying Sprint's current 5G network and giving access to their current customers along with Sprint customers with new the S20 and newer. Then when they've fully deployed over Sprint's 5G footprint, they'll shut down the Sprint 5G network and Sprint users with "first-gen" 5G devices will become LTE only devices.

 

Wth are they talking about? 

[Paynefanbro]

53 minutes ago, JLevoLTE said:

Wth are they talking about? 

I was initially confused but PC Mag is saying the same thing so it sounds like it may be the truth instead of just a misinterpretation of what T-Mobile said. 

Quote

"First generation" Sprint 5G phones such as the Sprint OnePlus 7 Pro 5G will still get Sprint's older 5G, but will become 4G devices as T-Mobile takes over the 5G networks, Kuoppamaki says. Owners of those phones will get "an offer" to switch to newer T-Mobile 5G phones, T-Mobile reps tell me.

T-Mobile users with OnePlus McLaren, Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, Galaxy S20 series, and OnePlus 8 phones will all be able to access the new network. Sprint customers with Galaxy S20 phones will find their phones now behave as T-Mobile phones for 5G purposes—they'll get T-Mobile's nationwide 5G now, not Sprint's 9-city mid-band 5G.

If that last sentence is correct then those of us with S20's will be losing access to n41 via Sprint pretty soon and getting n41 via T-Mobile with its (currently) smaller footprint. That sucks. At least we'll still have Band 41 LTE for the time being.

[RedSpark]

45 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

CNET's article revealed that T-Mobile plans on overlaying Sprint's current 5G network and giving access to their current customers along with Sprint customers with new the S20 and newer. Then when they've fully deployed over Sprint's 5G footprint, they'll shut down the Sprint 5G network and Sprint users with "first-gen" 5G devices will become LTE only devices.

 

Sprint's 5G build was built as a "maybe" network. If the merger went through, they wouldn't have spent too much on it in the 9 cities it covered so far. If the merger failed, they'd at least have a start on it.

I'm glad T-Mobile is going to reset and start over fresh.

[RedSpark]

5 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

I was initially confused but PC Mag is saying the same thing so it sounds like it may be the truth instead of just a weird interpretation of what T-Mobile said. 

If that last sentence is correct then those of us with S20's will be losing access to n41 via Sprint pretty soon and getting n41 via T-Mobile with its (currently) smaller footprint. That sucks. At least we'll still have Band 41 LTE for the time being.

We're operating under T-Mobile's definition of "soon" as opposed to Sprint's.😎

[derrph]

If that last sentence is correct then those of us with S20's will be losing access to n41 via Sprint pretty soon and getting n41 via T-Mobile with its (currently) smaller footprint. That sucks. At least we'll still have Band 41 LTE for the time being.

So now the question is, for those with older “5G” that gets this device offer will need to switch over to a T-Mobile plan.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RedSpark]

8 minutes ago, derrph said:

So now the question is, for those with older “5G” that gets this device offer will need to switch over to a T-Mobile plan.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Merger "promise" was that you could keep your Sprint plan/pricing for 3 years. (5 years in the case of CA I believe), so I don't think you'll need to yet.

I think the article is referring to T-Mobile as speaking on behalf of Sprint. These offers will likely come from T-Mobile through Sprint, via an email from Mike Sievert (Just like that "Welcome" email he sent out recently over Sprint's email system.) Just my theory on it.

[RedSpark]

See this newly updated landing page: https://www.sprint.com/en/landings/nationwide5g.html

Instructions on how to update your S20 5G devices as well as FAQ's.