Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[RedSpark]

Apple Stops Allowing Sprint iPhone Activations, Removes Sprint References From Online Store
 

https://www.macrumors.com/2023/03/23/apple-stops-sprint-activations/

[Rickie546]

Hopefully this goes thru! 

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/1211mh7/tmobile_files_another_sta_application_to/

Edited March 27, 2023 by S4GRU
Added a navigable link to the URL

[Dkoellerwx]

Visiting Kansas City for a couple of days. First time since SA 5G has become widespread and easier to access since I upgraded to my S23 Ultra. n25 is online widely across at least the Kansas side of town, I expect it should be in Missouri too since the spectrum holdings are the same. T-Mobile has a ton of spectrum on air now.

LTE:
5 Mhz B71
5 Mhz B12
15+5 Mhz B66
15 Mhz B2
20+20 Mhz B41 (this may have changed, I haven't actually see a B41 connection in a while).

5G:
100+40 Mhz n41
20 Mhz n25
10 Mhz n71

While on 5G, I see 100 n41 + 40 n41 + 20 n25. Pulled the fastest speed I've seen on T-Mobile yet. In the middle of the afternoon no less.

[Paynefanbro]

Bloosurf is petitioning to deny T-Mobile's request for an STA specifically in their service area.

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/attachments/attachmentViewRD.jsp;ATTACHMENTS=Ghl9knTSFp8J4nVm1P9qL4541XR1gy58whH7Yyz0MwGs037gQrNV!-2042069078!-79842837?applType=search&fileKey=1297203795&attachmentKey=21718533&attachmentInd=applAttach

Short read but pretty much they're saying that T-Mobile's operations in the BRS/EBS band has been interfering with Bloosurf's LTE-based WISP network and that this has caused them harm (lose customers, etc.) They claim that allowing T-Mobile access to all of the spectrum they bought in or near Bloosurf's service area would cause even more interference.

To be fair they aren't wrong. They mention that in 2021 the FCC investigated and determined that T-Mobile was operating outside of its licensed spectrum band there. However, I get the sense that Bloosurf is just trying to stop a competitor from operating in their service area. Typically carriers work this kind of stuff out among each other. Here in NYC, 3/4ths of Brooklyn has 140MHz of n41 deployed and the southern 1/4th of it has 80MHz deployed thanks to an incumbent that leases the spectrum from the archdiocese. In spite of that there are no complaints of interference from NextWave in such a dense environment. Seems to me like Bloosurf just doesn't want to coordinate with T-Mobile and would rather complain to delay the deployment of spectrum for as long as possible.

EDIT: It's not just their service area, it's a larger area surrounding their service area as well. Something's fishy about this request. 

[xdfgf]

Sounds like a "well you might as well just buy the company" statement

[jonathanm1978]

Well.. my power flickered this evening and kicked my cell spot offline. I noticed that my phone still had service, then the 5G UC showed up on my screen. Honestly thought it was just a hang up from the loss and it was not displaying properly... but then I did a speed test and got 250meg down and 30 Meg upload.... apparently they've added n71 here in the past week and I just found it.  For the first time in 10+ years I don't need a box to give my service at home!!

Like a kid with a new toy now...yay!

 

[Paynefanbro]

T-Mobile Fiber expansion. They're charging $55 for 500Mbps. 1Gbps is available but no price listed. This appears to be a native buildout to individual homes as opposed to what they're doing in NYC which is reselling another company's pre-built fiber.

That makes 3 cities where this is available now:

1. NYC
2. Pueblo, Colorado
3. Northglenn, Colorado

 

[jonathanm1978]

With the S23, is there anything to be unlocked with n71 like aggregation that isn't already unlocked? I noticed my tablet (S7 FE 5G) shows some 3CA when my phone is showing the n71 UC so I'm not sure if the S23 is getting all it can.

[Dkoellerwx]

2 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

With the S23, is there anything to be unlocked with n71 like aggregation that isn't already unlocked? I noticed my tablet (S7 FE 5G) shows some 3CA when my phone is showing the n71 UC so I'm not sure if the S23 is getting all it can.

S23 has all CA combinations available. If it is showing n71 and UC in the corner, that means you have n71 + n41 active at minimum. Checking the engineering screen will confirm that.

[jonathanm1978]

2 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

S23 has all CA combinations available. If it is showing n71 and UC in the corner, that means you have n71 + n41 active at minimum. Checking the engineering screen will confirm that.

Gotcha. I am sort of lost as to what Tmo did because they didn't erect a new tower, obviously.. so they had to colocate with the AT&T tower that is a mile from my house... It's odd because that's like the middle of a dead zone.. it gives great service in ~10 or so mile radius..but the fringes of that tower's reach are way outside of the nearby towers coverage also.. so it leaves some pretty large gaps. But I'm glad to see ANY progress..and for my house, it is great to finally have service at home. I started back in 2009 or so with Sprint and that first year the phone spent more time turned off than it did in use. 10 months into that contract, I rec'd the very first Samsung Airave... and have had a femtocell ever since....Including the current Tmobile Cellspot.  I unplugged my cellspot Saturday when I noticed the n71 coverage on my S23... but wow.. it's great to see them actually doing something in rural Alabama.. It's been a LONG 12 years (give or take a few months on either side). I've always just kept the service because changing phone service to me is like pulling teeth.. so I never wanted to switch carriers.  Now I have Firstnet and Tmo(Sprint) so it really doesn't bother me as much that i didn't have good service on my Tmobile/Sprint phone.. Now all thats left is being switch over to Tmobile billing..still on Sprint billing for now.

[floorguy]

On 3/24/2023 at 11:42 PM, RedSpark said:

Apple Stops Allowing Sprint iPhone Activations, Removes Sprint References From Online Store
 

https://www.macrumors.com/2023/03/23/apple-stops-sprint-activations/

I read that wrong to begin with lol..... I was thinking that's a lie I just did it.  But it was at a Tmo store, activating a I-phone on a sprint account.

[floorguy]

Ok was at an old Sprint store, now Tmo..... turns out the word is...

END OF MONTH ALL SPRINT BILLING SHOULD BE MOVED TO TMO.

The guy said Tmo has now sent out legal letters to people who haven't switched sims yet, that their phone will stop working.

Anyone here still have a Sprint Sim that can verify if they got that letter??

[Dkoellerwx]

19 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Gotcha. I am sort of lost as to what Tmo did because they didn't erect a new tower, obviously.. so they had to colocate with the AT&T tower that is a mile from my house

They are aggressively co-locating on towers all across the country. Since most cell companies no longer own the towers, it's pretty easy to jump on with another carrier.

[jonathanm1978]

14 hours ago, floorguy said:

Ok was at an old Sprint store, now Tmo..... turns out the word is...

END OF MONTH ALL SPRINT BILLING SHOULD BE MOVED TO TMO.

The guy said Tmo has now sent out legal letters to people who haven't switched sims yet, that their phone will stop working.

Anyone here still have a Sprint Sim that can verify if they got that letter??

I was told that I would've already been switched if it hadn't been for my tablet still being under an open lease, and i didn't want to buy it out to go ahead and switch  (really no benefit to switching to TMo billing....as the amount should stay the same minus the payment on the lease of the tablet)..

14 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

They are aggressively co-locating on towers all across the country. Since most cell companies no longer own the towers, it's pretty easy to jump on with another carrier.

That's really good news.. to finally be in a time where advancements in tech aren't 5+ years out to see something happen. I remember upgrading phones in hopes of getting clearwire B41... then it never came to fruition... same for other tech that we upgraded phones in hopes of getting service without using a femtocell... It's great to see tech actually advancing forward. We held off on upgrading the old Note 20 5g because I knew there wasn't really any benefit since we didn't have cell coverage here yet.  Now, with knowing they've got coverage, it makes it all worthwhile.

 

[RAvirani]

Ran a fair number of speed tests at the final four on Saturday and the championship game today, and T-Mobile performed pretty well. I mostly saw download speeds between 100 and 250 mbps with uploads between 25 and 50 mbps.

AT&T’s performance was similar, maybe marginally better than T-Mobile’s. Verizon really struggled. I almost never broke 10 mbps in either direction. 

Overall, a good showing for T-Mobile .

[jonathanm1978]

They've really got the new n71 unbalanced for my area. DL topping around 400mbps, and uploads around 10mbps.  I'm not sure what the ideal U/L should be, but I would rather it be balanced more.. but I guess in time it'll be balanced out.

[dkyeager]

16 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

They've really got the new n71 unbalanced for my area. DL topping around 400mbps, and uploads around 10mbps.  I'm not sure what the ideal U/L should be, but I would rather it be balanced more.. but I guess in time it'll be balanced out.

400mbps for n71 strikes me as high. Are you sure it is not CA with another band?

[jonathanm1978]

I'll check the engineering screen and get back to you... SCP just shows n71.

[PythonFanPA]

14 hours ago, floorguy said:

Ok was at an old Sprint store, now Tmo..... turns out the word is...

END OF MONTH ALL SPRINT BILLING SHOULD BE MOVED TO TMO.

The guy said Tmo has now sent out legal letters to people who haven't switched sims yet, that their phone will stop working.

Anyone here still have a Sprint Sim that can verify if they got that letter??

 

I've gotten no letter (yet anyway), and we recently finally changed over the wife's A32 5G to a T-Mo sim so neither of our lines are using Sprint sim any longer....but I did get an out of the blue text yesterday notifying that 'Sprint is now T-Mobile' and that 'upcoming bills will have an updated look' etc.

[jonathanm1978]

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

400mbps for n71 strikes me as high. Are you sure it is not CA with another band?

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by jonathanm1978
Add speedtest

[dkyeager]

6 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

 

Yup, 20+20 of n41. Must be a rural area, in which case auction 108 will benefit you greatly when finally released.

[jonathanm1978]

2 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Yup, 20+20 of n41. Must be a rural area, in which case auction 108 will benefit you greatly when finally released.

Edited to add the speedtest.. I'll dig into that auction so i don't have to ask dumb questions that I'm sure have been covered already.. Preshiate the info!!

[jonathanm1978]

9 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Edited to add the speedtest.. I'll dig into that auction so i don't have to ask dumb questions that I'm sure have been covered already.. Preshiate the info!!

Any clue what the hold-up would be for the FCC to not give Tmo their licenses?? 

[PedroDaGr8]

5 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Any clue what the hold-up would be for the FCC to not give Tmo their licenses?? 

AT&T filed a complaint which the FCC is required to investigate (even if it is spurious). While investigating, congress let the FCCs spectrum auction authorization expire. 

[Dkoellerwx]

6 hours ago, jonathanm1978 said:

I'll check the engineering screen and get back to you... SCP just shows n71.

@dkyeager beat me to it, but as I said earlier if your phone says n71 but has the UC icon, that means you are CA'd with n41. SCP will not show you that. You have to check the engineering screen. What you posted makes sense, the CA will get you great download with the n71+n41+n41, but there is no upload CA yet so you are relying on only the n71 channel for upload.