Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[RedSpark]

3 minutes ago, Trip said:

I've been seeing T-Mobile neighbor cells for weeks (months?) now.  They come and go though; it clearly checks for them, but then stops checking and reverts to Sprint bands.  Maybe to enable roaming if needed?  I often see US Cellular sites in the neighbor cells when I'm in that region as well.

- Trip

 

I have "Data Roaming" enabled under Settings.

[RedSpark]

2 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

You're connected to B12+41 CA?

 

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Maybe? I'm not sure how to tell.

This is what came up on the Field Test (verbatim) when I ran it.

[dewbertdc]

17 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

You're connected to B12+41 CA?

 

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

No, the CA configuration is a different screen in field test mode. Neighbor Cells indicate which signals the phone is being instructed to scan for to find other nearby towers and report back signal strength in the event the phone needs to hand off to a different tower. 

[RedSpark]

2 minutes ago, dewbertdc said:

No, the CA configuration is a different screen in field test mode. Neighbor Cells indicate which signals the phone is being instructed to scan for to find other nearby towers and report back signal strength in the event the phone needs to hand off to a different tower. 

Thanks for the info. What screen would I find the CA Configuration on?

[dewbertdc]

58 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Thanks for the info. What screen would I find the CA Configuration on?

CA Status

[RedSpark]

17 minutes ago, dewbertdc said:

CA Status

Thanks. I have Component Carrier 0 on Band 41 and Component Carrier 1 on Band 41.

What should I be looking at on this page?

[shaferz]

That means 

22 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Thanks. I have Component Carrier 0 on Band 41 and Component Carrier 1 on Band 41.

What should I be looking at on this page?

That means you are on 2XCA with B41 being both carriers.

[RedSpark]

7 minutes ago, shaferz said:

That means you are on 2XCA with B41 being both carriers.

I'm surprised I'm not on 3XCA for Band 41.

How much spectrum is being utilized for 5G in DC currently?

[AppleFanBoy]

Been seeing B71 show up on my iPhone XS Max and also caught this on my CA view:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[floorguy]

So i have been running into issues I have the s20 ultra.. and unless its a spotify issue (which I dont think it is, because other apps have issue at the same time) 

But it drops to zero or very little bandwidth/data  the other day it was barely 10, and it got there at the end, and 2.4 down

Could it be they are tweaking things, thus causing these issues??  it seems to be random and hit and miss

[dewbertdc]

2 hours ago, RedSpark said:

I'm surprised I'm not on 3XCA for Band 41.

How much spectrum is being utilized for 5G in DC currently?

If your Serving Cell info is B41 (primary carrier) and your CA status has two component carriers on B41, I believe that is 3xCA in B41.

I just checked my T-Mobile phone, and I'm on B66 for my Serving Cell, and the CA Status shows Component Carrier 0 as B2 and Component Carrier 1 as B12, so I am also running 3xCA, just across 3 bands.

I'd be surprised if they keep 3 Sprint B41 carriers online around here for much longer - the 2.5GHz spectrum is already getting crowded with at least one T-Mobile B41 carrier (potentially two) and their NR carriers.

 

[mikejeep]

I've been seeing T-Mobile neighbor cells for weeks (months?) now.  They come and go though; it clearly checks for them, but then stops checking and reverts to Sprint bands.  Maybe to enable roaming if needed?  I often see US Cellular sites in the neighbor cells when I'm in that region as well.

I had been seeing T-Mobile neighbor cells for months, but only when my Sprint signal was weak. Tonight I'm suddenly seeing new behavior, TMO neighbors consistently mixed in with Sprint neighbors regardless of connection strength. At one point my Pixel 4 was connected to B41 and I had B12, B25, and B41 neighbors on the list. Pretty cool, and fun (in a nerdy sense) to watch.

[dewbertdc]

Sprint's WiFi calling FAQ has been updated to note that a lengthy list of older phones will no longer support WiFi calling as of October 30, 2020. 

https://www.sprint.com/en/support/solutions/services/faqs-about-wi-fi-calling.html

[dkyeager]

On 8/31/2020 at 5:14 PM, Paynefanbro said:

I don't think Verizon wants any 600MHz at all. Rather they're concerned about a growing spectrum gap between T-Mobile and themselves which I think is a fair critique.

T-Mobile has been very vocal about being interested in purchasing more spectrum in upcoming mid-band and mmWave auctions as well as leasing 600MHz in markets where they had very little. If I were Verizon I'd think it was unfair too considering T-Mobile already has a massive spectrum advantage over every other carrier in the U.S. by far. 

Given the decades Verizon (and AT&T) and their successors had a monopoly on low band I think this request should be deferred for a simular amount of time.

[dkyeager]

32 minutes ago, dewbertdc said:

Sprint's WiFi calling FAQ has been updated to note that a lengthy list of older phones will no longer support WiFi calling as of October 30, 2020. 

https://www.sprint.com/en/support/solutions/services/faqs-about-wi-fi-calling.html

Go a notice about that on Thursday for a Sprint LG G4.  Many other carriers version of this phone supported VoLTE.  Just another tactic by T-Mobile to get people to switch to their network without doing unique Sprint site conversion work

List of phone from above link:

 

The following devices are impacted and will lose Wi-Fi Calling support on October 30, 2020.

• Kyocera Hydro Vibe
• LG G Flex
• LG G Flex II
• LG G Stylo
• LG G3
• LG G3 Vigor
• LG G4
• Samsung Galaxy S III 
• Samsung Galaxy MEGA
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
• Samsung Galaxy S4
• Samsung Galaxy S5
• Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport
• Samsung Galaxy S6 
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge +
• Samsung Grand Prime
• Sharp Aquos Crystal

 

[dkyeager]

On 9/2/2020 at 1:10 PM, clbowens said:

Looks like T-Mobile didn't get a lot of 3.5Ghz spectrum.  Only 8 licenses in six counties:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-1009A2.pdf

A duverse group of purchasers including cable companies. 

What caught my eye was 2.5Ghz WISPs like W.A.T.C.H.TV.  Maybe the will sell their 2.5Ghz to T-Mobile as part of 3.5GHz plans.

[dkyeager]

On 9/3/2020 at 12:11 PM, red_dog007 said:

Well they bought it under Shenandoah Cable Television, LLC so TMobile won't be getting it.  Shentel last year bought a 2.5GHz license for fixed wireless.  Likely what they are gonna do with CBRS.

Or tgey could sell the 2.5 to T-Mobile and just use the 3.5

[dewbertdc]

39 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Go a notice about that on Thursday for a Sprint LG G4.  Many other carriers version of this phone supported VoLTE.  Just another tactic by T-Mobile to get people to switch to their network without doing unique Sprint site conversion work

List of phone from above link:

 

The following devices are impacted and will lose Wi-Fi Calling support on October 30, 2020.

• Kyocera Hydro Vibe
• LG G Flex
• LG G Flex II
• LG G Stylo
• LG G3
• LG G3 Vigor
• LG G4
• Samsung Galaxy S III 
• Samsung Galaxy MEGA
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
• Samsung Galaxy Note 5
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
• Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
• Samsung Galaxy S4
• Samsung Galaxy S5
• Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport
• Samsung Galaxy S6 
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
• Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge +
• Samsung Grand Prime
• Sharp Aquos Crystal

 

Maybe so, but if a software update to the device is required to enable T-Mobile WiFi calling on these devices, that would require coordination with the manufacturers who have no interest in supporting these old devices. 

[jreuschl]

I wonder what kind of network/Wi-Fi calling switch over is happening at the end of Oct.  Maybe TM will be primary first network?

[dkyeager]

2 hours ago, dewbertdc said:

Maybe so, but if a software update to the device is required to enable T-Mobile WiFi calling on these devices, that would require coordination with the manufacturers who have no interest in supporting these old devices. 

One of the goals of this is to likely get more Sprint users on 5g phones on the T-Mobile network. Typically in mergers unique sites are converted first.  Given that I have seen no T-Mobile conversion permits for unique Sprint sites, T-Mobile's goal might just be to cream off the Sprint users that live near their sites or don't care.  Conversion of sites could then be determined by profitability and how many people actually leave T-Mobile.

[dkyeager]

1 hour ago, jreuschl said:

I wonder what kind of network/Wi-Fi calling switch over is happening at the end of Oct.  Maybe TM will be primary first network?

The ideal would be if they combined both networks.

[iansltx]

As of early yesterday morning, data on my phone is now routed through T-Mobile's backbone network rather than Sprint's. There are a few odd caveats to this:

1. Hotspot data still runs through Sprint, with what appears to be a worse-than-usual latency penalty.
2. I can simultaneously have on-phone data from T-Mobile and hotspot data from Sprint, with active data sessions on both.
3. Latency on-phone is better across the board, even on Sprint towers; I'm seeing as low as 29ms on B41, and a few ms lower at times on 25/26. On the T-Mobile network I'm seeing as low as 16ms on LTE; thinking that latency there is 5-15ms lower than it was when routing through Sprint.
4. T-Mobile's network seems to be having issues keeping up with this transition, particularly when using their towers. Mobile hotspot appears to be less affected, as does connectivity on Sprint towers, though for the latter I'm seeing speeds in the 70s on B41 when I was seeing 100+ Mbps before.
5. Depending on time of day, 5G appears to be more unusable than usual.
6. 80 miles west of here on Ting/Sprint, another S20 is still getting a CGNAT'd Sprint IP on-phone. Wouldn't be surprised if this transition only happened with ROAMAHOME lines, which MVNOs don't have.

TMo seems to be performing this switchover area by area; saw a post a week or so ago on Reddit where someone saw the same behavior...though in their case the phone was Sprint-primary rather than T-Mobile-primary as I recall.

If I had to guess, it'll take the better part of the month to iron out connectivity such that data speeds on the T-Mobile backbone are back up to what they were on Sprint, though latency is already better as mentioned above. During that time, T-Mobile will push other areas over to their backbone. Guessing this switch is necessary (but not sufficient) for getting access to T-Mobile's 5G core, and thus standalone 5G.

It will be interesting to see when mobile hotspot switches over to the T-Mobile backbone (at least for folks who don't have a static IP), as well as what happens to the SprintLink backbone in general. Maybe CenturyLink picks it up since they seem to like buying up Tier 1 network providers and running them into the gr...er...integrating them into a diverse portfolio of international connectivity? I was going to mention Dish, but have a feeling they wouldn't want the overhead of existing SprintLink customers.

[greenbastard]

43 minutes ago, iansltx said:

As of early yesterday morning, data on my phone is now routed through T-Mobile's backbone network rather than Sprint's. There are a few odd caveats to this:

1. Hotspot data still runs through Sprint, with what appears to be a worse-than-usual latency penalty.
2. I can simultaneously have on-phone data from T-Mobile and hotspot data from Sprint, with active data sessions on both.
3. Latency on-phone is better across the board, even on Sprint towers; I'm seeing as low as 29ms on B41, and a few ms lower at times on 25/26. On the T-Mobile network I'm seeing as low as 16ms on LTE; thinking that latency there is 5-15ms lower than it was when routing through Sprint.
4. T-Mobile's network seems to be having issues keeping up with this transition, particularly when using their towers. Mobile hotspot appears to be less affected, as does connectivity on Sprint towers, though for the latter I'm seeing speeds in the 70s on B41 when I was seeing 100+ Mbps before.
5. Depending on time of day, 5G appears to be more unusable than usual.
6. 80 miles west of here on Ting/Sprint, another S20 is still getting a CGNAT'd Sprint IP on-phone. Wouldn't be surprised if this transition only happened with ROAMAHOME lines, which MVNOs don't have.

TMo seems to be performing this switchover area by area; saw a post a week or so ago on Reddit where someone saw the same behavior...though in their case the phone was Sprint-primary rather than T-Mobile-primary as I recall.

If I had to guess, it'll take the better part of the month to iron out connectivity such that data speeds on the T-Mobile backbone are back up to what they were on Sprint, though latency is already better as mentioned above. During that time, T-Mobile will push other areas over to their backbone. Guessing this switch is necessary (but not sufficient) for getting access to T-Mobile's 5G core, and thus standalone 5G.

It will be interesting to see when mobile hotspot switches over to the T-Mobile backbone (at least for folks who don't have a static IP), as well as what happens to the SprintLink backbone in general. Maybe CenturyLink picks it up since they seem to like buying up Tier 1 network providers and running them into the gr...er...integrating them into a diverse portfolio of international connectivity? I was going to mention Dish, but have a feeling they wouldn't want the overhead of existing SprintLink customers.

T-Mobile's network is all sort of funked out at the moment in Houston. PCS has been widened for T-Mobile, which has pushed out the WCDMA carrier to Sprint's D block. That D block used to house 1x/EVDO.

I'm not sure where T-Mobile has moved CDMA to (and I can't check since I don't have a sprint line). They could fit one CDMA carrier alongside a WCDMA carrier in a 5x5 block. But I'm not sure about two (unless 3G EVDO has been shut down for good?).

Sprint's two B25 carriers is still online in the same place (E block and G Block). I'll try to see if I can sniff out the CDMA carriers this evening when I get home.

[dewbertdc]

1 hour ago, iansltx said:

It will be interesting to see when mobile hotspot switches over to the T-Mobile backbone (at least for folks who don't have a static IP), as well as what happens to the SprintLink backbone in general. Maybe CenturyLink picks it up since they seem to like buying up Tier 1 network providers and running them into the gr...er...integrating them into a diverse portfolio of international connectivity? I was going to mention Dish, but have a feeling they wouldn't want the overhead of existing SprintLink customers.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the SprintLink backbone integrated into the Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier network.  https://globalcarrier.telekom.com/network

 

[floorguy]

6 hours ago, dewbertdc said:

Maybe so, but if a software update to the device is required to enable T-Mobile WiFi calling on these devices, that would require coordination with the manufacturers who have no interest in supporting these old devices. 

Yea I am betting it's more the MFG side pushing for new phones (so they can sell more and make more money)  Vs carrier.. (which could give 2 craps how old the phone is on the network, they still get their money)  Plus the carrier MAY have to subsidize some to get people to switch over... or the mfg gives them a deal.. Either way, my money is on the mfg pushing for the new phones