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Look in some places T-Mobile had a denser network and in others Sprint had a denser network and in others neither did. It's the nature of the beast. Let's hope that they do an masterful blending of the two networks and then buildout the places where neither was strong.

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49 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

Look in some places T-Mobile had a denser network and in others Sprint had a denser network and in others neither did. It's the nature of the beast. Let's hope that they do an masterful blending of the two networks and then buildout the places where neither was strong.

Let's hope.   My fingers are crossed.        I want to see some of those lines/ropes coming from the towers around here with new equipment being hoisted up!   Can't wait!!    

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So with "Day 1" rapidly approaching (8/1), what sort of branding changes is everyone anticipating? I'm assuming the websites will be merged more (perhaps all the way) completely. Also with the Note 20 "Unpacked" event taking place on 8/5, it seems more than likely that New TMO will use the launch and device as a showpiece for demonstrating the new combined network's capabilities. I see the Note 20 series as being the first true flagship phone that will be marketed as taking advantage of the combined company's broad and deep spectrum portfolio.  This should be interesting.  The Pixel 5 may or may not be just around the corner (conflicting rumors, Covid-19 related internal structure changes within Google, etc) but if it does materialize in October would be the second major Android device to trumpet new magenta's full power but at a much easier to digest price.  I look forward to the elimination of duplicitous branding and what shakes out this late summer and fall device wise and network wise!

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So I took a road-trip in northern (way north) California, and the new combined Sprint/T-mobile network was almost nowhere to be found.

In fact,  found myself roaming on Verizon most of the time...and even got some very usable data! I can't recall the last time Verizon roaming let me use data. How long do we expect that to continue?

 

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The same thing happened to me when I was visiting a friends cottage up in the Thousands Islands and my iPhone began roaming on AT&T when I got past Alexandria Bay exit. Just like what the previous user posted, I actually had awesome and usable service. That never was the case with just Sprint as my iPhone would just show 1X and basically be useless as Mapquest or Google maps would crash. Something tells me New T-Mobile is willing to pay more for usable roaming service in an effort to keep the churn rate down. [emoji1417]

 

 

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14 minutes ago, jamesinclair said:

So I took a road-trip in northern (way north) California, and the new combined Sprint/T-mobile network was almost nowhere to be found.

In fact,  found myself roaming on Verizon most of the time...and even got some very usable data! I can't recall the last time Verizon roaming let me use data. How long do we expect that to continue?

4 minutes ago, Bennyjet29 said:

The same thing happened to me when I was visiting a friends cottage up in the Thousands Islands and my iPhone began roaming on AT&T when I got past Alexandria Bay exit. Just like what the previous user posted, I actually had awesome and usable service. That never was the case with just Sprint as my iPhone would just show 1X and basically be useless as Mapquest or Google maps would crash. Something tells me New T-Mobile is willing to pay more for usable roaming service in an effort to keep the churn rate down. emoji1417.png


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Sprint has an LTE roaming agreement with AT&T and T-Mobile has an LTE roaming agreement with Verizon. Both of you were probably experiencing some variation of this. 

AT&T LTE roaming for Sprint users has historically been capped at 128kbps, so quick speeds would be something new...were you able to get a speed test?

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Sprint has an LTE roaming agreement with AT&T and T-Mobile has an LTE roaming agreement with Verizon. Both of you were probably experiencing some variation of this. 
AT&T LTE roaming for Sprint users has historically been capped at 128kbps, so quick speeds would be something new...were you able to get a speed test?

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This was taking at the cottage but I definitely regret not taking a Speedtest when I got back on I-81 to head home as I took the screenshot of the five bars/full service. My iPhone 11 Pro Max was definitely loving AT&T and hauling ass. Either way, 5 mbps down in the middle of nowhere is awesome and a major improvement from before.


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My roaming on Verizon wasnt as impressive.

0.64 down and 0.69 up. It showed as Ev-DO Rev A, not LTE

That being said, it was a rural area, and it let me do what I needed to do, which was open a web page

 

I also roamed on US Cellular, but thats just Tmobile right?

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4 minutes ago, jamesinclair said:

My roaming on Verizon wasnt as impressive.

0.64 down and 0.69 up. It showed as Ev-DO Rev A, not LTE

That being said, it was a rural area, and it let me do what I needed to do, which was open a web page

 

I also roamed on US Cellular, but thats just Tmobile right?

Both Sprint and T-Mobile have roaming agreements with US Cellular. Speeds should be uncapped. 

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Sprint has an LTE roaming agreement with AT&T and T-Mobile has an LTE roaming agreement with Verizon. Both of you were probably experiencing some variation of this. 

AT&T LTE roaming for Sprint users has historically been capped at 128kbps, so quick speeds would be something new...were you able to get a speed test?

Why does TMO have a LTE roaming agreement with VZW but sprint doesn't? I didn't think VZW could offer LTE roaming for anyone since they lack capacity

 

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2 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

Why does TMO have a LTE roaming agreement with VZW but sprint doesn't? I didn't think VZW could offer LTE roaming for anyone since they lack capacity

 

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T-Mobile offers roaming on their WCDMA/HSPA network for CDMA-less Verizon devices; the agreement is reciprocal.

I believe LTE roaming on Verizon is restricted to only certain areas. 

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11 hours ago, jamesinclair said:

So I took a road-trip in northern (way north) California, and the new combined Sprint/T-mobile network was almost nowhere to be found.

In fact,  found myself roaming on Verizon most of the time...and even got some very usable data! I can't recall the last time Verizon roaming let me use data. How long do we expect that to continue?

 

Yep Northern California is not well covered by either of them. Neither is it well covered by AT&T at least about couple of years ago.

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I don't think you're going to see California covered for a little while (more than a year...possibly 2)....   None of the carriers are particularly strong in rural areas of California (mostly central and north areas of state)...   Nobody shines everywhere.    This is why the CPUC wanted that agreement  before ok'ing the merger.     They want at least some guarantee that most areas of the state will be addressed.    

3 months into this merger... Was the thinking California was going to be built out and addressed with new coverage?  As both Sprint and T-Mobile were pretty bad in those areas (ie the roaming agreements) new towers will probably have to be completely built, there is nothing T-Mobile can piggy-back on... unless they can share a tower or 2 with AT&T or Verizon.  This might be a while.. someone correct me, but an entire new Macro site can take 2 years or more from start to finish.    I would rather take what you found and hold on to it and retest in about 1 year from now.    Kinda like a progress tracker.  That would be useful information to many of us as I travel to California every couple of years.  

So, "How long do we expect that to continue?"    2 years or more.    

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The problem with covering rural Northern California is that they don't want new towers to be built because it will Martha natural beauty. I understand it but then if you want coverage you have to compromise. 

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21 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

The problem with covering rural Northern California is that they don't want new towers to be built because it will Martha natural beauty. I understand it but then if you want coverage you have to compromise. 

Agreed.   It won't be easy.    But something has to budge... if the state commission insisted on 93% or more coverage with a certain threshold of minimum speed... hopefully the FCC will continue to address the NIMBY's.       I think some here, sadly, think this can all be done in a few weeks and there will be vast amounts of coverage everywhere.    Most former Sprint accounts  haven't even been moved over to the T-Mobile network yet, which still has to happen, only roaming has been unlocked.   Nothing has changed in my neighborhood.    In fact with all the talk and news articles of T-Mobile turning off Sprint's B41.... it's still on here and I can connect to it sometimes.    Lots of work that hasn't even begun yet.   

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I probably should not repeat myself but I thought that moving/merging band 25/2 should have been job 1. As in move enough Sprint spectrum over to T-mobile RRHs to fill up 20MHz, then when they visit the site to add band 41 they can add another RRH if there is some band 25 spectrum left. 

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5 hours ago, bigsnake49 said:

The problem with covering rural Northern California is that they don't want new towers to be built because it will Martha natural beauty. I understand it but then if you want coverage you have to compromise. 

Right. You can't blink coverage into existence.  They want to have their invisible (quinoa) cake and, apparently, eat it, too.  No, Karen. Doesn't work like that!

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4 hours ago, dro1984 said:

Agreed.   It won't be easy.    But something has to budge... if the state commission insisted on 93% or more coverage with a certain threshold of minimum speed... hopefully the FCC will continue to address the NIMBY's.       I think some here, sadly, think this can all be done in a few weeks and there will be vast amounts of coverage everywhere.    Most former Sprint accounts  haven't even been moved over to the T-Mobile network yet, which still has to happen, only roaming has been unlocked.   Nothing has changed in my neighborhood.    In fact with all the talk and news articles of T-Mobile turning off Sprint's B41.... it's still on here and I can connect to it sometimes.    Lots of work that hasn't even begun yet.   

Here in Midtown Atlanta I noticed my phone was stuck (happily) on TMobile bands for about 5 to 7 days but it's been back on band 41 exclusively (Sprint coverage was THAT GOOD here) ever since.  No complaints here!

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56 minutes ago, JonnygATL said:

Here in Midtown Atlanta I noticed my phone was stuck (happily) on TMobile bands for about 5 to 7 days but it's been back on band 41 exclusively (Sprint coverage was THAT GOOD here) ever since.  No complaints here!

Hey Jonny...    

I used to connect to B41 at my home all the time up until a year ago or so.   I think some of it was moved/converted to N41 which was irritating.   They have 160mHz or more in this area.   They only had 20-40mhz deployed around me and then chose to convert some of that over.    

You are one of the lucky ones I guess.   If Sprint network works great, then you have 2 networks that perform decently.   Either one they move you to / shut off, you'll be ok until full integration. 

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On 7/8/2020 at 6:03 PM, jamesinclair said:

So I took a road-trip in northern (way north) California, and the new combined Sprint/T-mobile network was almost nowhere to be found.

In fact,  found myself roaming on Verizon most of the time...and even got some very usable data! I can't recall the last time Verizon roaming let me use data. How long do we expect that to continue?

 

Out of curiosity, where did you go exactly? Do you have a band 71 capable device? Almost all of T-Mobile's new coverage in north NorCal is band 71, Sprint has totally ignored the area for ages. US Cellular is usually pretty good up there, if your phone has band 13. 

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Out of curiosity, where did you go exactly? Do you have a band 71 capable device? Almost all of T-Mobile's new coverage in north NorCal is band 71, Sprint has totally ignored the area for ages. US Cellular is usually pretty good up there, if your phone has band 13. 
Did you mean B12? B13 is vzw

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12 hours ago, Thomas L. said:

Out of curiosity, where did you go exactly? Do you have a band 71 capable device? Almost all of T-Mobile's new coverage in north NorCal is band 71, Sprint has totally ignored the area for ages. US Cellular is usually pretty good up there, if your phone has band 13. 

Up the coast, Ford Bragg, Eureka, Crescent City, with stops at the national parks along the way. So route 1 and 101.

I have a Galaxy S8 Active, so I believe no on 71

 

 

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