Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[PythonFanPA]

7 hours ago, RedSpark said:

An excellent and very detailed writeup by Milan.

Linking properly for those having issue with the inline twitter thing:

https://www.speedtest.net/insights/blog/t-mobile-merger-sprint-changing-5g/

[iansltx]

Ordered an S20 today; should be here Monday. Also switched to a plan that has 50GB of MHS rather than 3GB. I figure I got the best deal that'll be available for quite awhile. Will post back here when I'm able to put the phone through its paces...including in an area 3/4 mi from here that's basically a Sprint dead zone.

EDIT: Somehow it's on the truck for delivery already. Guessing T-Mo/Sprint are farming out their logistics to UPS, including warehousing, 'cuz my phone was on a plane within a few hours of being marked as shipped.

Edited May 29, 2020 by iansltx

[RedSpark]

Amazing. Look at how much spectrum T-Mobile now has vs. Verizon/AT&T.

[Terrell352]

Amazing. Look at how much spectrum T-Mobile now has vs. Verizon/AT&T.

Sprint had the most spectrum too. Look how that turned out. Its about if you can execute on a wide scale. Right now Neville is talking to much and not working enough.

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[RedSpark]

5 minutes ago, Terrell352 said:

Sprint had the most spectrum too. Look how that turned out. Its about if you can execute on a wide scale. Right now Neville is talking to much and not working enough.

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T-Mobile has the ability to devote substantial capex to a buildout. Sprint never could get ahead of its debt load to do that, and it certainly didn't get any help from SoftBank to do that either.

Also, T-Mobile can take advantage of greater economies of scale for its build out than either Sprint or it could do alone.

Also, T-Mobile had to have an orderly shutdown of Sprint's nine 5G markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.). Now that that has seemingly occurred, I would expect T-Mobile's 2.5 GHz rollout to kick into gear in these major markets.

Finally, we are (were) in the midst of a COVID-19 shutdown/delay of many regulatory processes. Hopefully T-Mobile was able to work through this as best it could. Hopefully things reopen soon and T-Mobile can fully execute on its network plans.

[dro1984]

19 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

T-Mobile has the ability to devote substantial capex to a buildout. Sprint never could get ahead of its debt load to do that, and it certainly didn't get any help from SoftBank to do that either.

Also, T-Mobile can take advantage of greater economies of scale for its build out than either Sprint or it could do alone.

Also, T-Mobile had to have an orderly shutdown of Sprint's nine 5G markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.). Now that that has seemingly occurred, I would expect T-Mobile's 2.5 GHz rollout to kick into gear in these major markets.

Finally, we are (were) in the midst of a COVID-19 shutdown/delay of many regulatory processes. Hopefully T-Mobile was able to work through this as best it could. Hopefully things reopen soon and T-Mobile can fully execute on its network plans.

I agree, but I also agree with Terrell.    Neville / T-Mobile needs to quiet down.    Way too much pontificating and not enough action yet.   It's too early to celebrate.    That Cap-Ex budget needs to get a financial boost.   $6-8 Billion isn't enough.  

[tybo31316]

Also, T-Mobile had to have an orderly shutdown of Sprint's nine 5G markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.). Now that that has seemingly occurred, I would expect T-Mobile's 2.5 GHz rollout to kick into gear in these major markets.

I still don’t understand why T-Mobile has to shutdown Sprints 5G when they are using the same technology.

[Terrell352]

T-Mobile has the ability to devote substantial capex to a buildout. Sprint never could get ahead of its debt load to do that, and it certainly didn't get any help from SoftBank to do that either.

Also, T-Mobile can take advantage of greater economies of scale for its build out than either Sprint or it could do alone.

Also, T-Mobile had to have an orderly shutdown of Sprint's nine 5G markets (Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.). Now that that has seemingly occurred, I would expect T-Mobile's 2.5 GHz rollout to kick into gear in these major markets.

Finally, we are (were) in the midst of a COVID-19 shutdown/delay of many regulatory processes. Hopefully T-Mobile was able to work through this as best it could. Hopefully things reopen soon and T-Mobile can fully execute on its network plans.

Phoenix is confirmed to still have 5G on Sprint as of yesterday. So Tmobile is not done shutting down markets yet. Also we all know those 9 markets were not the only Sprint 5G markets. Here in Fl alone Miami, Tampa, Daytona and Jacksonville had plenty of Sprint 5G that just never launched.

 

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[Terrell352]

I still don’t understand why T-Mobile has to shutdown Sprints 5G when they are using the same technology.

They have to shut it down because it's not integrated into their core. They plan on making B66 and B2 the achor band to N41 instead of B41. To do that they have to shut it down.

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[tybo31316]

Does T-Mobile plan on integrating the 2 LTE networks or are they going to move all Sprint subs to 5G and repurpose Sprints bands for 5G afterwards?

[Tengen31]

Does T-Mobile plan on integrating the 2 LTE networks or are they going to move all Sprint subs to 5G and repurpose Sprints bands for 5G afterwards?

Bands 2/25,66/4,12 and some of 71 will stay on LTE for a while. They might use DSS for other bands but don't know when.

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[iansltx]

1 hour ago, Tengen31 said:

Bands 2/25,66/4,12 and some of 71 will stay on LTE for a while. They might use DSS for other bands but don't know when.

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The OP8 got an update recently allowing n2/n66, so betting we see DSS sooner rather than later. So B12 and PCS-G will be the two blocks that'll be LTE-only.

[Tengen31]

The OP8 got an update recently allowing n2/n66, so betting we see DSS sooner rather than later. So B12 and PCS-G will be the two blocks that'll be LTE-only.

Yeah no phones support n25 for some reason which is odd given TMO will likely do C+G block at some point

 

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[Terrell352]

Yeah no phones support n25 for some reason which is odd given TMO will likely do C+G block at some point 

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Not true. LG V60 supports N25.

 

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[dkyeager]

3 minutes ago, iansltx said:

The OP8 got an update recently allowing n2/n66, so betting we see DSS sooner rather than later. So B12 and PCS-G will be the two blocks that'll be LTE-only.

 

1 minute ago, Tengen31 said:

Yeah no phones support n25 for some reason

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Not certain this will be true. More bandwidth options with n25 than n2. But n25 could be longer term. Why throw away 5x5?  They have so much PCS spectrum I am not even certain about DSS except for n66/b66 and n12/b12.

[dkyeager]

Also note that T-Mobile has stated it will rollout 5g stand alone by the end of the year. This will eliminate the need for anchor bands and dramatically increase n41 upload speeds.

[notsrealinc]

Some additional information about how T-Mobile plans to upgrade legacy Sprint 5G customers: 

I'm glad that they aren't just restricting it to just customers in prior Sprint 5G markets.

Edited May 29, 2020 by notsrealinc

[clbowens]

Is there somewhere that shows what all the antennas that T-Mobile uses looks like?

[PedroDaGr8]

8 minutes ago, clbowens said:

Is there somewhere that shows what all the antennas that T-Mobile uses looks like?

I looked through a bunch of permits and they use a variety of antennas over the years. The most common in recent years are the Commscope FFHH-65C-R3, Commscope SBNHH-1D65B, and Nokia AAFIA. Usually, the Comscope FFHH and Nokia AAFIA are used together. I included the ones I encountered in some quick searches below. I have also included links to pages or pdfs which show the antenna.

Commscope:
TMZXX-6516-A2M - 2 port: 1710-2155MHz (B2, B4, B66?)
HBXX-6517DS-A2M - 4 port: 1710-2180MHz (B2, B4, B66?)
SBNHH-1D65C - 6-port: 2x 698-896Mhz (B5, B12) and 1695-2360Mhz (B2, B4, B66)
FFHH-65C-R3 - 8-port: 4x 617-806Mhz (B12, B71) and 4x 1695-2460Mhz (B2, B4, B66)

Nokia:
AAFIA - 16T16R - B25 and B66 
 

[red_dog007]

TMobile has the capex, we will see if they can execute.  Sure they have spectrum now, but before Sprint they had LTE spectrum on par with VZW.  Half the customers and their data speeds were only on par.

With VZW deploying CBRS, I expect them to take away a lot in Auction 105 of which this spectrum has been deployable since January. So Im not sure how much of a head start TMobile has even on the 2.5GHz deployment front. VZW is supposed to launch 5G in Q3 so we will see how much work they have been doing behind the scenes if any at all.  Hopefully it will be straight to SA, non of this NSA nonsense.  For me personally 5G has been about the SA. I want to be able to turn off LTE and really see 5G-only coverage/speed.

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by red_dog007

[RAvirani]

• Andrew TMBXX-6516-R2M
  • 4x4 1700 & 1900 & 2100 (17.5)
  • 65°
  • 50.9 (59.5 with actuator) x 12 x 6.5
  • 34.6lbs
• Andrew TMZXXX-6516-A3M
  • 6x6 1700 & 1900 & 2100 (17.4)
  • 65°
  • 51.5 (60 with actuator) x 19.7 x 3.5
  • 38.4 lbs
• Nokia AAFIA
  • 16x16 1700 & 1900 & 2100 [ACTIVE]
  • 72.4 x 25.6 x 11.8
  • 358 lbs
• Commscope SBNHH-1D65B
  • 2x2 700 (14.9)
  • 4x4 1700 (17.7) & 1900 (18.2) & 2100 (18.6)
  • 65°
  • 72.9 x 11.9 x 7.1
  • 40.6 lbs
• Commscope SBNHH-1D65C
  • 2x2 700 (16.2)
  • 4x4 1700 (17.7) & 1900 (17.9) & 2100 (18.5)
  • 65°
  • 96.6 x 11.9 x 7.1
  • 49.6 lbs
• Nokia FASB (RAS)
  • 2x2 700 (16.0)
  • 4x4 1700 (17.3) & 1900 (18.0) & 2100 (18.1)
  • 4x4 1900 (17.5)
  • 65°
  • 96.1 x 13.4 x 14.9
  • 108 lbs
• Commscope FHH-65C-R3
  • 2x2 600 (15.8) & 700 (16.3)
  • 4x4 1700 (18.1) & 1900 (18.6) & 2100 (18.7)
  • 65°
  • 96 x 15.6 x 9
  • 69.4 lbs
• Commscope FFHH-65B-R3
  • 4x4 600 (14.1) & 700 (14.3)
  • 4x4 1700 (17.6) & 1900 (18.4) & 2100 (19.0)
  • 65°
  •  72 x 25.2 x 9.3
  • 101.4 lbs
• Commscope FFHH-65C-R3
  • 4x4 600 (15.4) & 700 (15.8)
  • 4x4 1700 (17.9) & 1900 (18.4) & 2100 (18.8)
  • 65°
  • 95.9 x 25.2 x 9.3
  • 127.6 lbs

[dro1984]

Interesting!  Word is within the T-Mo engineering area, is Ericsson is the way to go... better tech than Nokia. 

T-Mobile moving NYC's midband 5G signal from Nokia to Ericsson

[ingenium]

Interesting!  Word is within the T-Mo engineering area, is Ericsson is the way to go... better tech than Nokia. 
T-Mobile moving NYC's midband 5G signal from Nokia to Ericsson

I've also heard that Nokia's NR equipment isn't very good, at least compared to the competition. And that it's buggy. The 2.5 equipment Sprint was using for LTE+NR had a several known bugs. Some European providers have already torn out Nokia NR equipment and replaced it with other vendors for that reason.

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[Paynefanbro]

The choice to switch to Ericsson is not surprising given that NYC was already an Ericsson market for T-Mobile LTE and 5G. It didn't make sense for them to switch vendors.

[ingenium]

The choice to switch to Ericsson is not surprising given that NYC was already an Ericsson market for T-Mobile LTE and 5G. It didn't make sense for them to switch vendors.

I wonder if they'll deploy Nokia NR equipment in their Nokia markets.

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