Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[Dkoellerwx]

49 minutes ago, comintel said:

Other than S22 with the all-bands-enabled fix, right?

I applied the fix as per

https://s4gru.com/forums/topic/8304-galaxy-s22-thread/?do=findComment&comment=563978 and get SA N25 ok here in Raleigh.

I would not consider that to be native support since you're doing a bit of a hack to get there. S22 and S21 lines should support it, but so far only have NSA n25 native support.

[comintel]

3 minutes ago, Dkoellerwx said:

I would not consider that to be native support since you're doing a bit of a hack to get there. S22 and S21 lines should support it, but so far only have NSA n25 native support.

That's fair.

[dkyeager]

n25 SA now active in Columbus. OH. Seen natively on a Moto G Stylus 5g 2021. 448/40. Switched to n41 SA with speed test.  s22+ factory unlocked on n41 SA, which is still on Nov 1 update.

Edit: Then tried a32 5g factory unlocked with Tello. Seen but no n25 connection. Tried moving T-Mobile sim/ sprint billing. No connection at all. Moved tello to moto g stylus 5g 2021. N25 only briefly seen. Otherwise n41 sa would then drop to n71 sa. Tried Boost on T-Mobile, but it operated on NSA only.

Edit 2: Calls drop to LTE. When done NSA is added. Then stays there until airplane mode. Then connects to n41 SA which then drops to n25 SA in less optimal areas.

[xmx1024]

On 12/13/2022 at 10:31 PM, IrwinshereAgain said:

You are correct, it clearly says nationwide.   I might have misread the article that I saw.  Thank you. 

All good! Wasn’t necessarily targeted at you, just wanted to answer that question for others who might be scrolling  

[dkyeager]

After a long absence, I am seeing a band 26 site.  Last time I saw this was during a major power failure event. Our grid operator is reporting that they are running short of power and has started emergency procedures. I believe they have just started with volunteers. My main T-Mobile site lacks a planned generator. Construction prep was started but no generator yet.

[Trip]

Oof.  Stay safe!

We dodged the bullet in the DC area.  It rained but the high wind dried the roads before they froze.

- Trip

[dkyeager]

One difference from the summer is the b26 has a T-Mobile GCI and sectors. It is 5x5 rather than 7x7 (if even possible). Alternate view is there may be one b26 site per county, perhaps for licensing reasons. It does appear in the band pecking order after b71 then b12.  It maps out so far to standard site range.

[mdob07]

I'm finally seeing n25 live in Louisville. It's not on every site yet, maybe 60% of sites on my drive to work had it. Seeing 10x10 in B block and 5x5 G block being aggregated together. Not sure why the 10x10 PCC carrier wasn't 15x15, this leaves open 5x5 between the n25 and b2 carrier since they own B, E, F, C3 and G PCS blocks here.

[iansltx]

Seeing n25 in both Fredericksburg, TX and Austin, though the former actually has more of it. Had to force it with my brother's Moto Edge 2022.

In Fredericksburg, it doesn't look like they're using PCS-G at all right now, as it's on a 5x5 island and it appears that Sprint sites have all been converted. B2 LTE is 15x15 in PCS-A, while n25 is 10x10 in PCS E-F. Coverage isn't contiguous, but it's available a pretty decent % of the time, though n41 is available more from what I can tell.

In Austin, T-Mobile has 5x5 adjacent to PCS-G so that's where the n25 carrier runs here (10x10). If the Edge 2022's field test mode is to be believed, there are significant gaps in n25 coverage in town, where n41 is effectively contiguous. I imagine this is because sites that aren't relatively new n71 builds don't have n25, and we have plenty of sites that have n41 and no n71. Not that we direly need the n25 layer here with 100+40 MHz n41 and 20x20 B2, but...it's a thing.

Looking forward to getting SA n25 on my S22 eventually to do further testing...

[mdob07]

1 hour ago, iansltx said:

Looking forward to getting SA n25 on my S22 eventually to do further testing...

If you don't want to wait for T-Mobile to enable it you can follow the instructions from the S22 thread here to enable it. That's how I'm able to get it on my S22 ultra right now. That also worked on my AT&T S22 and even unlocked the band selection menu, so *#2263# works on my AT&T phone now too. 

 

[iansltx]

17 hours ago, mdob07 said:

If you don't want to wait for T-Mobile to enable it you can follow the instructions from the S22 thread here to enable it. That's how I'm able to get it on my S22 ultra right now. That also worked on my AT&T S22 and even unlocked the band selection menu, so *#2263# works on my AT&T phone now too. 

 

Am aware, but that would require a factory reset and a Windows machine, and I'd rather not do the former right now, and don't have a Windows machine with me for the next week. GF's Pixel 7 may support n25 out of the box anyway, so I may be able to test with hers.

[dkyeager]

1 hour ago, iansltx said:

Am aware, but that would require a factory reset

Unless you need to load new firmware, I did not see that mentioned. Can you point out where that is mentioned in the XDA link?

[mdob07]

3 hours ago, iansltx said:

Am aware, but that would require a factory reset and a Windows machine, and I'd rather not do the former right now, and don't have a Windows machine with me for the next week. GF's Pixel 7 may support n25 out of the box anyway, so I may be able to test with hers.

 

2 hours ago, dkyeager said:

Unless you need to load new firmware, I did not see that mentioned. Can you point out where that is mentioned in the XDA link?

Correct I did not have to factory reset or flash anything on either of my phones. I had to use my laptop to run the program to unlock the menu on the phone, and the rest was just following the procedure on what settings to change. 

[iansltx]

2 hours ago, mdob07 said:

 

Correct I did not have to factory reset or flash anything on either of my phones. I had to use my laptop to run the program to unlock the menu on the phone, and the rest was just following the procedure on what settings to change. 

Hmm, I'd still need to grab a Windows machine, which I won't be able to for the next few days, to run Odin.

Went ahad and added Network Pass to gf's Pixel 7 since IIRC that phone *can* do n25 OOTB

[jreuschl]

What would the use case be for N25 NSA?  Did Samsung just program the update incorrectly?

[NE5G]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:46 PM, Dkoellerwx said:

Sorry for back to back posts... but this is unrelated to the others.

12 new sites have shown up in Nebraska on today's coverage map update! That makes 43 new sites in total since the start of October. That does not count the Sprint conversions which number over 100 for our market (Nebraska/West Iowa).

Thank you so much for tracking this! I haven't been on here in YEARS, but did some digging and found this! I have also been keeping tabs on the expansion, and this looks great.

The areas around Lincoln definitely need some love. It seems like every carrier besides Verizon avoids filling in rural Lancaster/surrounding counties. Been that way forever and I don't know why. Even USCC is weak in rural Lancaster.

Looking forward to other updates!

[PedroDaGr8]

So, I posted a while back about it appearing like the two n41 carriers in my area were overlapping

Quote

The 100MHz band moved up to 520110, placing it right at 2600MHz +- 50MHz. Strangely, the 40MHz band has moved to 512190 which is 2560MHz +- 20MHz. That means that 75% of the second carrier is overlapping with the first. 

I now think that in some cases, the phone is actually posting totally wrong values for the ARFCN. I was looking at some screenshots I took of the 0011 menu while on a trip earlier this month. Two of them include ARFCN/BW combos which are 100% impossible. 

For example, this one: 



That NR ARFCN corresponds to center frequency of 2506.95 MHz with a BW of 100MHz. This would mean the n41 signal would range from 2456.95 MHz to 2556.95MHz. This is impossible because Band 41 only goes down to 2496 MHz. Not sure if this is a Qualcomm bug or a Samsung bug but it is very clearly in error. That or T-Mobile is violating loads of FCC regulations and the phone is totally ignoring an out-of-band signal at the same time.

Also, I don't know if this issue is limited to n41 or exists in other frequency bands as well but this is very unnerving either way. 

[iansltx]

1 hour ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

So, I posted a while back about it appearing like the two n41 carriers in my area were overlapping

I now think that in some cases, the phone is actually posting totally wrong values for the ARFCN. I was looking at some screenshots I took of the 0011 menu while on a trip earlier this month. Two of them include ARFCN/BW combos which are 100% impossible. 

For example, this one: 



That NR ARFCN corresponds to center frequency of 2506.95 MHz with a BW of 100MHz. This would mean the n41 signal would range from 2456.95 MHz to 2556.95MHz. This is impossible because Band 41 only goes down to 2496 MHz. Not sure if this is a Qualcomm bug or a Samsung bug but it is very clearly in error. That or T-Mobile is violating loads of FCC regulations and the phone is totally ignoring an out-of-band signal at the same time.

Also, I don't know if this issue is limited to n41 or exists in other frequency bands as well but this is very unnerving either way. 

I've seen this on n41, and from what I can tell it's on the network side, not the phone side, as IIRC (I'll check this later) phones with Samsung (Pixel) and MTK (Moto) modems spit back the same info. The NR ARFCNs don't reflect center frequency, at least what's visible in debug modes that the phone displays. There's no way T-Mobile is transmitting out-of-band (if they were, they would be pushing more than 140 MHz).

I haven't seen this issue on any other band, including n77, so it's not an NR or TDD NR issue.

[PedroDaGr8]

3 hours ago, iansltx said:

I've seen this on n41, and from what I can tell it's on the network side, not the phone side, as IIRC (I'll check this later) phones with Samsung (Pixel) and MTK (Moto) modems spit back the same info. The NR ARFCNs don't reflect center frequency, at least what's visible in debug modes that the phone displays. There's no way T-Mobile is transmitting out-of-band (if they were, they would be pushing more than 140 MHz).

I haven't seen this issue on any other band, including n77, so it's not an NR or TDD NR issue.

Per someone over on Reddit:  Android reports the ARFCN for the SSB of the NR channel. Unlike LTE which had this at the center, it can be any value within the frequency range of the channel for NR. I guess T-Mo is using a non-standard SSB location for some reason. This is really unfortunate because it means the recorded values for n41 are totally wrong. 

[dkyeager]

3 hours ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Per someone over on Reddit:  Android reports the ARFCN for the SSB of the NR channel. Unlike LTE which had this at the center, it can be any value within the frequency range of the channel for NR. I guess T-Mo is using a non-standard SSB location for some reason. This is really unfortunate because it means the recorded values for n41 are totally wrong. 

I read it a little differently. He did state some Pixels worked correctly and put the blame on firmware.

[Dkoellerwx]

On 12/29/2022 at 3:50 PM, NE5G said:

Thank you so much for tracking this! I haven't been on here in YEARS, but did some digging and found this! I have also been keeping tabs on the expansion, and this looks great.

The areas around Lincoln definitely need some love. It seems like every carrier besides Verizon avoids filling in rural Lancaster/surrounding counties. Been that way forever and I don't know why. Even USCC is weak in rural Lancaster.

Looking forward to other updates!

They are doing *lots* of work around Nebraska! Before October there was no coverage outside of the old Sprint footprint, now they are all over the state. Not everywhere of course, but pretty impressive what they have done in a few months. And everything we have seen (a lot of microwave permits all around the state) indicated they will continue full steam ahead next year. Of course, a little slower for now thanks to the weather. We know they are adding sites around Lincoln to expand the footprint out to more of Lancaster County, however when those sites will come online we don't know, but it should be over the course of next year, possibly by Summer!

[Dkoellerwx]

1 hour ago, Dkoellerwx said:

They are doing *lots* of work around Nebraska!

To expand on that... new microwave permits show an additional 12 sites across the eastern half of the state that T-Mobile intends to build out soon. Given weather... probably not till Spring but good to see the progress continuing.

[towerhugger]

15 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

To expand on that... new microwave permits show an additional 12 sites across the eastern half of the state that T-Mobile intends to build out soon. Given weather... probably not till Spring but good to see the progress continuing.

 

Can you tell me how you're finding the microwave permits?  I'm really curious to see what they've got going on in the western end of the state.

I notice that just in the last couple days the coverage map has been updated with at least 3 new sites in the Nebraska panhandle:  Scottsbluff, Hemingford, and Crawford.  I'm very familiar with this area and while I haven't been able to physically verify yet, based on the coverage patterns and a grainy highway cam pointed toward one of the towers, it appears that these are collocations with Verizon on American Tower sites.  If this is indeed the case, I will say that my first reaction is that the coverage maps are probably quite optimistic.  Verizon panels would be at the highest position on these towers, and even they don't have this kind of coverage. 

Maybe there's a method to their madness, but so far none of these new western sites is well situated to provide good service to the nearest population centers, they're all located several miles away from the nearest town and basically just highway coverage.  I realize this is a work in progress, and it might just be that these sites were easier to turn up first, but it just seems they're activating areas at random rather than going for the biggest bang for the buck and starting with the interstate and largest cities.  It's almost like they're motivated to turn up the sites that can make the biggest visual impact to that Nebraska coverage map hole in their ads. 😀 

In any case, what they've done so far is very encouraging. I really hope they do it justice! 

[Trip]

T-Mobile, historically, built out tower sites to fill the map rather than serve people.  In one case, they actually built a tower in the middle of nowhere, an island of service surrounded by miles of "no service" which, of course, was greatly exaggerated on the map.  Today, that tower has B41 on it to serve a bunch of forest land.

As best I can tell, that strategy has changed now, at least here in Virginia.  I think they're building out easiest sites first; trying to get as much online as fast as they can.

- Trip

[Dkoellerwx]

7 hours ago, towerhugger said:

Can you tell me how you're finding the microwave permits?

@Rickie546 has actually found most of them for us, he'd be able to tell you more if he's around.

7 hours ago, towerhugger said:

I notice that just in the last couple days the coverage map has been updated with at least 3 new sites in the Nebraska panhandle:  Scottsbluff, Hemingford, and Crawford. 

Is Scottsbluff new? It kind of blended in with their Wyoming coverage I didn't notice it. Rather odd they added it without showing any 5G layer.

7 hours ago, towerhugger said:

it appears that these are collocations with Verizon on American Tower sites.

We know that they have work in progress on a lot of American Tower sites across the state from 811 or digging permits. Seems like they have some sort of program to co-located on American Tower.

7 hours ago, towerhugger said:

so far none of these new western sites is well situated to provide good service to the nearest population centers, they're all located several miles away from the nearest town and basically just highway coverage.

A lot of it appears to be whatever they can get to first, and getting highway coverage done. Should see more sites light up on I-80 soon.

7 hours ago, towerhugger said:

If this is indeed the case, I will say that my first reaction is that the coverage maps are probably quite optimistic.

Probably... coverage closer to Omaha has been more realistic, but those western sites have really large coverage patterns for some reason.

7 hours ago, towerhugger said:

It's almost like they're motivated to turn up the sites that can make the biggest visual impact to that Nebraska coverage map hole in their ads.

I'd say that's the biggest motivating factor here! Coverage map... not actual coverage. At least for now. They do seem aggressive on getting n41 on as many sites as possible, I assume to offer home internet coverage to the rural communities.