Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[dkyeager]

Here is the other midrange spectrum T-Mobile recently purchased:

3.45GHz (auction 110)

T-Mobile's other midband spectrum:

3.5GHz (auction 105)

3.7GHz (auction 107)

https://www.sashajavid.com/Auction107_TMo_Final_Demand.php

[Grabber5.0]

On 11/9/2022 at 11:24 AM, radem said:

I agree with John Saw's take on mmWave.  There are significant costs to purchasing and installing the mmWave antenna and associated equipment. 

It is only cost effective to spend the money deploying mmWave if there is going to be more than a certain number of customers very close to the antenna with no blockers between the customers and the antenna and the mid-band i.e. 2500mhz that is already available to that location cannot handle the load.  That is a very limited set of locations.

Yep. And without the right back haul, it doesn't matter how much speed and capacity the airwaves have.

[PedroDaGr8]

n258 is now live in Seattle. This is the tower I posted a couple months ago. It is aggregating 4x100MHz. 

Has anyone else seen n258 live yet?

[dkyeager]

8 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

n258 is now live in Seattle. This is the tower I posted a couple months ago. It is aggregating 4x100MHz. 

Has anyone else seen n258 live yet?

I wonder what is causing them to use it now. Is this a high demand area?  Given the usual mmWave coverage of several blocks, I would not expect to see it along a freeway.  It should be noted that mmWave tests in Australia have gotten a distance of 10km, but little was stated about their antennas or pattern (maybe used like microwave backhaul between sites). Another possibility for T-Mobile using mmWave would be possible FCC buildout requirements.  They could also have high demand for home internet in the area.  Hopefully they don't feel obliged to use it because Verizon does.

Any info on speed and distance covered, especially non line of sight? Pictures of equipment? (link if previously posted)

[dkyeager]

FCC auction 102 key details for 24GHz below.  This seems to require 40% of population covered in 10 years.  Could be quite expensive unless you can increase radius from a couple of blocks or have a few minutes/seconds of coverage count (hence a freeway location - my closest interchange serves 100,000 people per day). It should also be noted that Samsung expanded mmWave from the s21 ultra to the entire s22 product line sold for the US. The ability of the license holder to partition down to a county is also a way to reduce costs, ie drop the less dense counties to reduce construction costs.  This could produce a speculators market at the edge of high growth areas.

 

License Period

Initial authorizations will have a term not to exceed ten years from the date of initial issuance or renewal. (See CFR § 30.103)

Construction Requirements

Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service licensees must make a buildout showing as part of their renewal applications. Licensees relying on mobile or point-to-multipoint service must show that they are providing reliable signal coverage and service to at least 40 percent of the population within the service area of the licensee, and that they are using facilities to provide service in that area either to customers or for internal use. Licensees relying on point-to-point service must demonstrate that they have four links operating and providing service, either to customers or for internal use, if the population within the license area is equal to or less than 268,000. If the population within the license area is greater than 268,000, a licensee relying on point-to-point service must demonstrate that it has at least one link in operation and is providing service for each 67,000 population within the license area. In order to be eligible to be counted under the point-to-point buildout standard, a point-to-point link must operate with a transmit power greater than +43 dBm.

Showings that rely on a combination of multiple types of service will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

If a licensee in this service is also a Fixed-Satellite Service licensee and uses the spectrum covered under its UMFUS license in connection with a satellite earth station, it can demonstrate compliance with the requirements of this section by demonstrating that the earth station in question is in service, operational, and using the spectrum associated with the license. This provision can only be used to demonstrate compliance for the county in which the earth station is located.

Failure to meet this requirement will result in automatic cancellation of the license. In bands licensed on a Partial Economic Area basis, licensees will have the option of partitioning a license on a county basis in order to reduce the population within the license area to a level where the licensee’s buildout would meet one of the applicable performance metrics.

(See 47 CFR § 30.104)

[mikejeep]

10 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

n258 is now live in Seattle. This is the tower I posted a couple months ago. It is aggregating 4x100MHz.

I believe I see SCP appears to be showing it as n25? Then again, I also think it shows 3° in Seattle soooo maybe I'm missing something.. 😉

Send me diagnostics and feel free to PM if you have off-topic details to share.

[Dkoellerwx]

30 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

I believe I see SCP appears to be showing it as n25? Then again, I also think it shows 3° in Seattle soooo maybe I'm missing something.. 😉

3° C would fit ... haha. Is it possible the 8 is getting cut off? Or is that not how the icons work (I don't really have any idea).

[PedroDaGr8]

2 hours ago, mikejeep said:

I believe I see SCP appears to be showing it as n25? Then again, I also think it shows 3° in Seattle soooo maybe I'm missing something.. 😉

Send me diagnostics and feel free to PM if you have off-topic details to share.

Haha, that's just the icon not updating, which may not be SC fault. Occasionally the notification bar freezes on my phone until a new notification comes through.  That being said, mmWave is NSA only, so SC wouldnt see it (I think). I was connected to B66 as the anchor IIRC. I'll send you a Diagnostic now just in case. I won't be back over there for a few weeks though.

 

As for the 3°, the wife and I use Celsius. 😁

[PedroDaGr8]

16 hours ago, dkyeager said:

I wonder what is causing them to use it now. Is this a high demand area?  Given the usual mmWave coverage of several blocks, I would not expect to see it along a freeway.  It should be noted that mmWave tests in Australia have gotten a distance of 10km, but little was stated about their antennas or pattern (maybe used like microwave backhaul between sites). Another possibility for T-Mobile using mmWave would be possible FCC buildout requirements.  They could also have high demand for home internet in the area.  Hopefully they don't feel obliged to use it because Verizon does.

Any info on speed and distance covered, especially non line of sight? Pictures of equipment? (link if previously posted)

Honestly, I was driving in heavy traffic so I can't fill in many details about coverage and what not. Here's my previous post showing the equipment:

As for the area, its in downtown Seattle, right next to Interstate 5 and the Convention Center. The area is super dense but it has line of sure to a late area to the west due to the geography.

 

 

[Paynefanbro]

T‑Mobile Lights Up Standalone Ultra Capacity 5G Nationwide

[dkyeager]

https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/t-mobile-rolls-out-5g-standalone-25-ghz-spectrum

plus at the bottom: "Ray also hinted that the company may consider using its milllimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. He said that it might extend its reach with mmWave but would not do it at the street level like Verizon is doing with its mmWave spectrum. Instead, he said it would consider building a macro network overlay in areas where it makes sense."

[Dkoellerwx]

T-Mobile continues to fill out the map in Nebraska. 9 new sites added to the coverage map today from the last update a little over two weeks ago.

[RedSpark]

19 hours ago, dkyeager said:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/t-mobile-rolls-out-5g-standalone-25-ghz-spectrum

plus at the bottom: "Ray also hinted that the company may consider using its milllimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. He said that it might extend its reach with mmWave but would not do it at the street level like Verizon is doing with its mmWave spectrum. Instead, he said it would consider building a macro network overlay in areas where it makes sense."

What does Ray mean by that? What's a "macro network overlay" with mmWave look like?

[RedSpark]

18 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

T-Mobile continues to fill out the map in Nebraska. 9 new sites added to the coverage map today from the last update a little over two weeks ago.

Wow. Look at them go.

[the_intern]

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

What does Ray mean by that? What's a "macro network overlay" with mmWave look like?

My understanding is that they would add mmWave to macro sites (like they have done in NYC for example) so that users near the site will be on mmWave and users further away from the site can have capacity freed up on n41. I assume they would only target this for high usage areas where the location of the macro with mmWave would then actually take some load off the n25/n41 channels. 

[the_intern]

20 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

T-Mobile continues to fill out the map in Nebraska. 9 new sites added to the coverage map today from the last update a little over two weeks ago.

That's a fantastic pace and looks like they are serious about building a native network even off the interstate. 

In Utah, the latest update shows n41 in rural places like Eureka (population ~650) where no one else even has a site, Gunnison (pop 3400), Lynn (not sure on pop, but very, very little), Hideout (pop 1200) recent Sprint conversion , Strawberry Reservoir, and Torrey (small town, but tourist destination). New site / roaming over- build activity also seems to finally be showing in Southeastern Utah. They are really pushing these upgrades into rural areas to meet their 300MM Ultra Capacity goal next year.

[jonathanm1978]

48 minutes ago, the_intern said:

That's a fantastic pace and looks like they are serious about building a native network even off the interstate. 

In Utah, the latest update shows n41 in rural places like Eureka (population ~650) where no one else even has a site, Gunnison (pop 3400), Lynn (not sure on pop, but very, very little), Hideout (pop 1200) recent Sprint conversion , Strawberry Reservoir, and Torrey (small town, but tourist destination). New site / roaming over- build activity also seems to finally be showing in Southeastern Utah. They are really pushing these upgrades into rural areas to meet their 300MM Ultra Capacity goal next year.

Is there any maps out there for recent updates to Alabama?? Just curious if there's anything to be said for the horrible coverage Tmo has around me.  I'm still at a point where i have to use a pebble thing..or whatever their femtocell is named.. and if I don't have it plugged in, then I have either the x for no signal, or roaming to AT&T (tower is a mile away and my firstnet phone gets great speeds on that tower).. but no TM roaming on that particular tower.

[Dkoellerwx]

8 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Is there any maps out there for recent updates to Alabama??

All I've been doing is taking screenshots of the coverage map at each update and comparing it to the last one. I haven't been watching Alabama, so it'd probably be up to you to see if anything has changed.

[jonathanm1978]

10 minutes ago, Dkoellerwx said:

All I've been doing is taking screenshots of the coverage map at each update and comparing it to the last one. I haven't been watching Alabama, so it'd probably be up to you to see if anything has changed.

I've looked, albeit not comparing the SS ... but just a check-in from time to time.. not much has changed around me (specifically within 20 miles or so).. Central AL (between Bham and Montgomery) isn't a priority area, I'm sure..so I doubt there will be much to brag about anytime soon. Maybe I'm mistaken..I'd love to be wrong.. as I was with Sprint for years and just dealt with the service being somewhat sub-par. Now that I have Firstnet the past couple years, I do have an option if it's emergency.. and I like Tmobile's policy of not restricting IMEIs on their network. So far I've been able to use my MR5200 hotspot with my Tmobile unl tablet plan SIM without any problems...

Same goes for my firstnet phone sim.. it's in a MR6150 hotspot.

[dkyeager]

FCC broadband map based on June data:  fun to play around with the carriers (type in their name).  Dish is listed under Hughes. Toggle on and off carrier visbility.  drop and add carriers.  I started you off with the major carriers looking at the higher level of 5g performance.  be sure to drill al they way down in an area.

https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/provider-detail/mobile?zoom=4.00&vlon=-98.221479&vlat=40.113366&providers=130077_500-2_on%2C131425_500-2_on%2C130403_500-2_on&env=0&pct_cvg=0

 

US Cellular = Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.

[Paynefanbro]

15 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

FCC broadband map based on June data:  fun to play around with the carriers (type in their name).  Dish is listed under Hughes. Toggle on and off carrier visbility.  drop and add carriers.  I started you off with the major carriers looking at the higher level of 5g performance.  be sure to drill al they way down in an area.

https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/provider-detail/mobile?zoom=4.00&vlon=-98.221479&vlat=40.113366&providers=130077_500-2_on%2C131425_500-2_on%2C130403_500-2_on&env=0&pct_cvg=0

 

I have not figured out US Cellular yet.

U.S. Cellular is Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.

[dkyeager]

20 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

U.S. Cellular is Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.

must have posted at the same time.  was thinking they might have C-Spire., or maybe they are just using T-Mobile Licenses.

tried by Alabama and Mississippi and did not see it

Edited November 21, 2022 by dkyeager

[Paynefanbro]

 

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

must have posted at the same time.  was thinking they might have C-Spire., or maybe they are just using T-Mobile Licenses.

tried by Alabama and Mississippi and did not see it

C-Spire is listed as it's holding company Telapex, Inc. 

[Paynefanbro]

AT&T urges FCC not to grant T-Mobile’s latest 2.5 GHz licenses 

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/att-urges-fcc-not-grant-t-mobiles-latest-25-ghz-licenses

Quote

The filing notes that counting all auctions except this one (Auction 108), the remaining three nationwide facilities-based carriers have the following mid-band assets on a weighted average basis:

T-Mobile: 205 megahertz (165 megahertz of non-auctioned 2.5 GHz spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, 27 in the C-Band, and 12 in the 3.45 GHz band).

AT&T: 120 megahertz: (80 in the C-Band plus 40 in the 3.45 GHz band).

Verizon: 161 megahertz: (composed entirely of C-Band).

According to AT&T, T-Mobile’s claim that it has locked in a spectrum advantage for “the entirety of the 5G era” should raise “significant concerns because there is no new mid-band spectrum in the auction pipeline that could equalize the current imbalance in mid-band assets.”

AT&T also complains that T-Mobile has told different audiences two contradictory stories about the competitive significance of its spectrum holdings. To policymakers, T-Mobile presents itself as a “scrappy and under-resourced upstart” struggling to compete against Verizon and AT&T. But it tells investors the opposite, boasting about its spectrum advantage over the other two and how its rivals don’t have a path to match T-Mobile anytime soon.

— — — — —

Actual letter submitted to FCC by AT&T here: 

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentViewRD.jsp;ATTACHMENTS=JG3Kj8QGVvpprLw2hqTS7JQy1pxbs7gfvv33KxtSN3dBKTRWRQ3G!990034342!-414398754?applType=search&fileKey=1490028782&attachmentKey=21623913

 

T-Mobile's response letter here: 

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentViewRD.jsp?applType=search&fileKey=1824573146&attachmentKey=21628501

[belusnecropolis]

7 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

T-Mobile's response letter here: 

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentViewRD.jsp?applType=search&fileKey=1824573146&attachmentKey=21628501

From page 13

• Finally, in lieu of purchasing spectrum and investing in its network, AT&T paid $49 billion to purchase DirectTV and $85 billion to purchase Time Warner, more than the sum total of all of AT&T’s spectrum purchases.

lmao