Dish Network/Boost Mobile cell/5G buildout thread

[bigsnake49]

35 minutes ago, Jenn_3012 said:

Could you explain how would virtualizing both the enodeB and the RRU help in the urban settings?

Thanks in advance!

If they virtualize both the ended and RRU there will only be antenna panels+amplifiers on sites. Now you will need fiber or the equivalent to the sites which should not be a problem for urban areas. Not all virtualization scheme virtualize the RRU as well but present a standardized interface to the RRU from the enodeB so you can mix and match RRUs from different vendors. Now in rural areas fiber is not readily available so the virtualization scheme has to be more conservative.

[bigsnake49]

52 minutes ago, Jenn_3012 said:

Could you explain how would virtualizing both the enodeB and the RRU help in the urban settings?

Thanks in advance!

In urban settings where you need a lot of sites due to capacity considerations, the more equipment you can virtualize the less rent you pay so you save on rent payments.

[iansltx]

One thing I wonder is whether Dish will keep the relationship Ting Mobile has with VZW long-term, parlaying that into an LTE or NR roaming agreement for their own-brand network. If they got both T-Mobile and VZW roaming agreements set up when launching their own network, they'd almost certainly have the best mobile (home + roaming) coverage of any provider, between T-Mobile B71 and VZW B13, assuming the agreement included LTEIRA coverage (which it almost certainly would).

My bet is that they signed something reasonably long-term with VZW, given that the new Ting plans allow VZW network use.

On another topic, I seriously doubt Dish will build a capacity-focused network for quite awhile. The first overlay will be enough sites to provide outdoor n71 coverage. The next set of sites they turn up will be enough density to provide outdoor coverage on n66/70, which will also give them indoor coverage on n71/26. By that point, n48 will exist, and they might have C-Band, so they'll just throw ~3.6 GHz radios on sites that need them. I would be surprised if Dish is *ever* more than the 4th-densest network in a given area, unless Fujitsu equipment is low-quality enough that they *have* to densify.

[PythonFanPA]

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-secures-fiber-5g-network-signs-agreements-everstream-segra

[JimBob]

I am cautiously optimistic seeing Dish's continued news and progress.

[PythonFanPA]

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-completes-successful-5g-field-validation-and-deploys-open

[iansltx]

16 hours ago, PythonFanPA said:

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-completes-successful-5g-field-validation-and-deploys-open

Wait...what's happening with Fujitsu radios? Guess they'll be using both?

Guessing they'll get some pretty great pricing on both, as neither are major vendors on the mobile network side...haven't even heard of MTI 'til now.

[PythonFanPA]

DISH Partners with Vertical Bridge on Long-Term Infrastructure Lease Agreement as it Builds Nationwide 5G Network

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-partners-vertical-bridge-long-term-infrastructure-lease

 

[PythonFanPA]

DISH Selects Aviat for 5G Microwave Wireless Transport

 

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-selects-aviat-5g-microwave-wireless-transport

[PythonFanPA]

DISH Expands Nationwide 5G Wireless Infrastructure with Seven New Tower Agreements

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-expands-nationwide-5g-wireless-infrastructure-seven-new

[JimBob]

Amazon likely to partner with Dish on mobile service

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3664173-amazon-likely-to-partner-with-dish-on-mobile-service-boost-mobile-founder-says

[PythonFanPA]

DISH signs Master Lease Agreement with SBA

 

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-signs-master-lease-agreement-sba

[iansltx]

Dish is apparently behaving like they didn't know T-Mobile was going to drop CDMA relatively quickly post-merger:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/financial/dish-sheds-363k-wireless-subs-warns-t-mobile-3g-shutdown

This is the sorta thing that you price into your acquisition of Boost et al.; they're just posturing here to get money/devices out of T-Mobile. Or an extension to the CDMA EOL. They're weirdly silent about capacity being allocated away from Sprint on the LTE side.

[IrwinshereAgain]

I wonder how many phones are still in use that still need cdma.

 

Even my old, old, old 2014 Sprint Nexus 6 still works great on Tmobile.  Naturally it doesnt get B66 or B71.

[Trip]

Until VoLTE stops dropping calls without the "end of call" tone while my phone sits unmoving on my desk, I certainly still need CDMA.

- Trip

[IrwinshereAgain]

On 2/22/2021 at 5:13 PM, iansltx said:

Dish is apparently behaving like they didn't know T-Mobile was going to drop CDMA relatively quickly post-merger:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/financial/dish-sheds-363k-wireless-subs-warns-t-mobile-3g-shutdown

This is the sorta thing that you price into your acquisition of Boost et al.; they're just posturing here to get money/devices out of T-Mobile. Or an extension to the CDMA EOL. They're weirdly silent about capacity being allocated away from Sprint on the LTE side.

Do we know if current Tmobile phones such as S20 Fe 5g or A71 5G would work for all of Dish Networks likely cell phone bands?

[IrwinshereAgain]

16 hours ago, Trip said:

Until VoLTE stops dropping calls without the "end of call" tone while my phone sits unmoving on my desk, I certainly still need CDMA.

- Trip

Valid point.  Is that an issue with Tmobiles implementation of VoLte, a phone issue or do we have any idea?

[iansltx]

1 hour ago, IrwinshereAgain said:

Do we know if current Tmobile phones such as S20 Fe 5g or A71 5G would work for all of Dish Networks likely cell phone bands?

Barely. No VoNR on either so they'd have to do some weird non-QoS'd IMS thing or fall back to TMo VoLTE. Also no n26/29/70 support. But n66 and n71 are there so they *could* work, just with unimpressive performance as at launch they'd be missing 30 MHz of downlink and 15 MHz of uplink.

[Trip]

8 hours ago, IrwinshereAgain said:

Valid point.  Is that an issue with Tmobiles implementation of VoLte, a phone issue or do we have any idea?

Beats me.  I honestly don't remember how well it worked before the buy-out, as I didn't make a lot of long calls on my cell phone before COVID-19.  But it definitely irks me now.  One would think that T-Mobile would have this sorted out by now.  I'll drop a call and when I call back it'll be on CDMA.  Or I've taken to just turning off VoLTE entirely before making calls that I know, in advance, will be lengthy.  Doesn't help when someone calls me.

Beyond the lack of service in the Shentel region, lack of ability to turn off VoLTE was one of the reasons I had myself removed from ROAMAHOME.

- Trip

[ingenium]

4 hours ago, Trip said:

Beats me.  I honestly don't remember how well it worked before the buy-out, as I didn't make a lot of long calls on my cell phone before COVID-19.  But it definitely irks me now.  One would think that T-Mobile would have this sorted out by now.  I'll drop a call and when I call back it'll be on CDMA.  Or I've taken to just turning off VoLTE entirely before making calls that I know, in advance, will be lengthy.  Doesn't help when someone calls me.

Beyond the lack of service in the Shentel region, lack of ability to turn off VoLTE was one of the reasons I had myself removed from ROAMAHOME.

- Trip

You could try forcing wifi calling preferred. I started doing this before my phone got VoLTE since the call quality was so much better than CDMA. And now I keep it since VoLTE on my magic box cuts out a lot. At the very least it should prevent it from dropping calls, since it should handoff to and from VoLTE.

[Trip]

1 hour ago, ingenium said:

You could try forcing wifi calling preferred. I started doing this before my phone got VoLTE since the call quality was so much better than CDMA. And now I keep it since VoLTE on my magic box cuts out a lot. At the very least it should prevent it from dropping calls, since it should handoff to and from VoLTE.

Wi-Fi calling drops more often than VoLTE does, and I've yet to see it successfully hand off to the cell network.  Actually, I suspect that's part of the problem; I have Wi-Fi calling disabled on my phone, yet I seem to get a notification that Wi-Fi calling can't connect on a semi-regular basis, as if it's enabled.  I suspect T-Mobile has my phone set to ignore my preference and use Wi-Fi calling anyway.  I've taken to turning off Wi-Fi on my phone as well to get around that particular issue when I know I'm leaving the house.  I'd love to block it at the router if I could figure out how.

- Trip

[PythonFanPA]

Dish to acquire Republic Wireless:

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-acquire-republic-wireless

[ingenium]

On 2/25/2021 at 1:49 PM, Trip said:

Wi-Fi calling drops more often than VoLTE does, and I've yet to see it successfully hand off to the cell network.  Actually, I suspect that's part of the problem; I have Wi-Fi calling disabled on my phone, yet I seem to get a notification that Wi-Fi calling can't connect on a semi-regular basis, as if it's enabled.  I suspect T-Mobile has my phone set to ignore my preference and use Wi-Fi calling anyway.  I've taken to turning off Wi-Fi on my phone as well to get around that particular issue when I know I'm leaving the house.  I'd love to block it at the router if I could figure out how.

- Trip

Block the DNS lookups (return NX or something like 127.0.0.1) for epdg.epc.mnc260mcc310.pub.3gppnetwork.org and epdg.epc.mnc120.mcc310.pub.3gppnetwork.org and epdg.epc.mnc530.mcc312.pub.3gppnetwork.org

And/or block UDP outbound to 208.54.0.0/16 port 4500. You could probably just block all outbound to that subnet, but if you want to be sure it just blocks wifi calling, also restrict to that UDP port.

The latter is probably preferred, but the DNS block should work if you don't have the ability to set outbound firewall rules on your router.

Regarding the handoffs, that has always worked reliably for me. But you might have to make sure that "always on mobile data" is enabled under developer options.

[Paynefanbro]

4 hours ago, PythonFanPA said:

Dish to acquire Republic Wireless:

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-acquire-republic-wireless

Looks like they're continuing their streak of buying up T-Mobile MVNOs. I wonder how they plan on unifying all of them under one brand down the line, if they plan on doing that at all.

[dkyeager]

On 3/8/2021 at 1:45 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Looks like they're continuing their streak of buying up T-Mobile MVNOs. I wonder how they plan on unifying all of them under one brand down the line, if they plan on doing that at all.

What other ones have they bought?