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How do I give back my old one and get one of these lol?

V30+ just got its VoLTE update!! Nice to see the list finally growing!

From earlier today, another Sprint Next-Gen 10 port 800/2.5 upgrade in progress at a Crown Castle site near Mansfield, Ohio: Several more of these sites were confirmed, along with a 16 port Triband site, making Cleveland the first market in our region with two confirmed Next-Gen scenarios. The contractors said they have done 10 sites like these. This does not include the other tower companies possible work.

It's a 10 port 8T8R 2.5 + 2T2R 800 setup. I'm writing something on that soon as well. Probably posted sometime next week..

These are popping up all over the place in Louisville, Kentucky.

Nice to see Sprint (specifically Guenther) give Tim and S4GRU props! https://twitter.com/guengott68/status/887380940208656385

For now. It will become voice too when VoLTE goes live.

Jason’s responses are up!:

4 Rx diversity at eNBs yields moderate to substantial site coverage improvements. Likewise 4x2 at UE yields improvements for all devices regardless of 4x4 MIMO compatibility. This is the same type of configuration tmobile, Verizon, and att uses for ever increasing amounts of their low band setups. I view the documents as equipment capability considerations. Hardly any sprint market is going to use 5 or 6 or more cdma carriers in the coming months and years and they list those capabilities in those documents.

Wow, I'm buying a new phone sooner than I anticipated.

Great photos! I had posted the following info on the Central Valley Market thread. lilotimz pointed me to this thread. -------------------------------------------- The Sprint Magic Box is made by AirSpan. It is their AirUnity product: http://www.airspan.com/airunity/ And here is a little more detailed info, including photos of the bottom of the unit: https://fccid.io/doc....php?id=3281384 https://fccid.io/PIDAU545ENB25 It says that it is 2.506-2.68 GHz and 596 mW. That's 27.8 dBm and LTE Band 41. And here is the AirUnity (Sprint Magic Box) FCC Label: https://fccid.io/doc....php?id=3281386 And details on the antenna (it appears to be a grid of 6 antennas; presumably a MIMO configuration): https://fccid.io/doc....php?id=3281378 There appear to be 6 U.FL connectors for the antennas. And 9 dBi isn't too bad... The power draw says 4.3 Volts at 2 Amps. That is a lower voltage than I would have guessed for this kind of box... The User's Manual and internal photos will be available from that site in August 2017. Scott

In Montgomery, AL and the channels here and surrounding areas are really thin (40mhz). This'll change everything

******* If you guys follow me on IG you can see multiple Clear Connversion ECabs I’ve completed In CA. PLEASE Follow me!!!! IG: Soto.Kali

I found this article interesting regarding VoLTE updates! Enjoy all! https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-eyes-volte-launch-virtualized-core-2019

Excellent work on finding 10 Clear Triband Conversion sites!! I like your offer of free sponsorship for those who help to find more! Most people don't realize that 1/2 of our finds are from people with android phones just going about their everyday lives with SCP Pro logging enabled which just records the lat long of the best signals. Then you just send in the log every so often.

I'm in Denver (Longmont Hampton Inn) area and woke up this morning (10/12) to have my VoLTE on my S8. I'm not sure if it is only the site serving this area because I've not roamed outside of my hotel room yet but wanted to alert fellow Denver market members on here!

Just updated one of our lines which has an S8+. When I move the toggle to enable VoLTE, I get a message that VoLTE is not available at this time. I’m in Bethesda, Maryland just outside of Washington, DC... which I figured would be considered part of the Washington, DC market. ☹️ ————————— EDIT: Just tried it again... now it works! Very cool!

I believe nothing until I see it happen with my own eyes.

Tested the one of these in Pittsburgh on b26 and b41. It was the first time I ever surpassed 200mbps on b41. Throughput on b26 impressed me as well. The downlink throughput was close to a theoretical maximum for 5x5 MHz wide channel -- 37.4mbps. I think it is safe to assume that the cell was nearly empty. It is TM3-OL SM and 2x2 MIMO, despite having 2 RRUs for 4t4r configuration on 800MHz. If the eNB was capable of 4x4 MIMO, it would be displayed as 4x2 MIMO, since there is no devices that can do 4x4 MIMO on low-band spectrum. I was able to get 202mbps out of b41, which certainly impressed me. P.S.: 800MHz layer seems to be much more optimized than 1900 layer. I could easily get 25-30dB SINR on b26, while it was a struggle to find a spot with SINR above 20dB on b25.

Narrowing it to 3mhz will most likely have a negative impact on signal degregation. Having higher order MIMO will help more effectively doubling capacity rather than increase theoretical peak by a small margin.

Almost 20% of the dual band 2.5/800 permitted sites in the above table are locations that already have 2.5. I would assume the dual band 2.5/800 scenario will be targeted to sites that need more 800MHz capacity whether or not they already have 2.5. The 16 port Triband scenario is strongest with band 41 only sites. This may vary by market. Sprint also has one or more Next-Gen Massive MIMO configurations, but we have not seen the details other than Sprint will have 64T64R*, there was discussion of horizontal and vertical oriented units, and Sprint will deploy thousands of Massive MIMO radios. Once they become certified by the FCC, we will know more about the Massive MIMO units. Given that Sprint has not publicized the 800 MHz enhancements that frequently occur with the known Next-Gen configurations, I feel they will likely include such improvements with the Massive MIMO scenarios. Outside of band 41 only sites getting the 16 port Triband Antennas, Columbus has no Next-Gen permits for its densest areas or its many high capacity sites. Being America's 14th largest city**, and access to virtually all band 41 spectrum to make a transition to 5G quite easy, we are hopeful that we will see Massive MIMO configurations soon. With its far greater density and vertical challenges, New York City likely ranks higher on Sprint's list for Massive MIMO. * https://www.rcrwireless.com/20180305/carriers/sprint-cto-massive-mimo-secret-weapon-tag17 https://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/sprint-to-turn-massive-mimo-6-cities-april https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/27/17057502/sprint-5g-lte-antenna-rollout-gigabit-atlanta-chicago-dallas-houston-la-washington-dc https://www.ericsson.com/en/news/2018/2/ericsson-a-key-partner-in-sprints-5g-ready-massive-mimo-deployments http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-unveils-5g-ready-massive-mimo-markets.htm https://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2018/02/sprint-readies-5g-plans-massive-mimo-deployments-6-cities https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/sprints-bid-to-have-5g-in-2019-using-massive-mimo/ https://www.rcrwireless.com/20170620/news/sprint-and-samsung-set-to-roll-out-massive-mimo-tag4 https://www.nokia.com/en_int/blog/nokia-sprint-trail-blaze-5g-massive-capacity-blistering-speeds https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/sprint-cfo-5g-will-allow-sprint-to-finally-change-perceptions-about-its-network ** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population

You have the same RRH configuration with two 800 RRHs, a 1900 RRH and a 8T8R. The antenna housing is slightly different. Likely a Commscope variant, but if you wanted to be 100% certain, we need photos of the bottom ports or a part number. I understand that in some cases, your sites have two 1900 RRHs so five RRHs total per sector would then also be acceptable.

Ericsson has already been doing these in New Orleans with 2x RRUS 11 B26A.

If this could only be a non-TouchWiz device

I had some bumps at first with my MB but now it seems as though it has settled on the network. My speeds do vary though. i get anywhere from 14 down to 60 down. Either way, its a vast improvement from getting 10x10 b25 in my apartment. Best part this box didn't even impact my electric bill but by a few cents.

The magic box came in today while I was at work and she set it up. She has reported that everything is 5 bars on LTE. I will give an update tomorrow on the speed test when I get home tonight.

True, and as you have mentioned before, this might be the device that accelerates its (VoLTE) deployment.

I think Sprint must’ve turned it off on one of the updates. My wife upgraded from the iPhone 7 to the XS and it made her upgrade to iOS 12.1.3 when she was restoring from the cloud and VoLTE was disabled for her. I had to manually turn it on. Voice quality is SO MUCH better on VoLTE. She sounds so much clearer and almost like HD Voice. I have Verizon and when she would call me from her 7, it was so hard to understand her, now it’s night and day. I live in Brooklyn, NY (VoLTE market)

This guy is quick to answer an email. Some on S4GRU might know the fringe that I live in, but for those who dont, I live in an area that has (on the magic box) a signal of around -118 to -115 with an SINR of 3.0 to 5.0 (+).. I sent GJS an email at the email address he listed in the Q&A, and within 10 minutes he personally had replied. He was quick to give me another solution that still falls within the magic box ... I'm not sure if he would want me to disclose the exact details, but I'll now be able to place the MB outside and not have to worry about the elements.

I rebooted it again after updating and it now shows it. Maybe because I have a business line with some extra security stuff or my phone was just acting up. Not sure but either way VoLTE is enabled by default. FYI the option for it is under Settings - Cellular - Cellular Data Options - Enable LTE - Voice & Data. If you select Data Only, it looks like it turns VoLTE off.

Updated to iOS 12.1.1 which just dropped. VoLTE is now live on the iPhone XS (not sure about older devices). Once you update, it's automatically enabled. Sprint clearly wants iOS users to migrate over to it.

Waiting on iOS 12.1.1.... https://tenor.com/WIbs.gif

S8 was selected as it was the test device with the largest concentration of users. S9 is newer and was not as widely adopted so it was on the backburner.

VoLTE is live in the Missouri Market. Updated my wife's phone and it connected. Can't verify the quality as I haven't used it. Hoping it comes to the LG G7 soon

I have it working here in Minnesota! "Welcome to VoLTE!"

My exact thoughts lmao. -Anthony

My local site just got 800MHz added... the 1x800 is live and B26 should go live soon so I know they are pumping up B26 for this.

I don't know how excited I am for this. My experience on Calling Plus is VERY mixed with quality. Often folks on the other end complain I sound very choppy on a Calling Plus (on LTE) call, also losing audio for a couple seconds. Other times it's like I'm sitting in the same room with them. I hope there are some improvements afoot over Calling Plus quality.

I do not welcome any part of this. I don't think T-Mobile really cares about doing anything they say they care about. I have seen how truly bad their network is in the ways that matter for essential communication, and I want nothing to do with it. Say what you want about Verizon, but the one thing they have in common with Sprint is that they have historically built out a solid network before trying to make it extremely fast. I don't care about 50 Mbps to my phone. I care about calls that don't get disconnected constantly. I care about that stock trade getting through when I send it, even if carried by EVDO, because EVDO still gets it through. Sprint's "Outdoor coverage" maps might seem exaggerated to some, but T-Mobile's maps are a complete joke. Maybe Michigan is a bubble, the only state where this is true, but it really is very true here. T-Mobile is the network of dropped and undelivered calls, mysterious disconnection, and "call failed" error messages. If this goes through, look for me at the nearest Verizon store because price to me is absolutely irrelevant. I see two things happening if this merger goes through: 1: Sprint spectrum is used to bolster capacity at T-Mobile sites, and 2: As much of the current Sprint network as possible goes away, even if it means losing sites that would provide valuable fill-in density. I saw the latter happen with Sprint and Nextel, after they insisted that all Nextel sites that could serve to increase Sprint coverage would be used. Similarly, there were locations T-Mobile could have used MetroPCS locations to improve their own coverage but didn't, even where it left holes in their network.

well hey its better then verizon having that band 13 !

From Ericsson: "This radio (AIR 6468 B41) is designed for use in LTE mobile telephone system. This radio operates in Band 41, the transmitter and the receiver from 2496 MHz to 2690 MHz. It supports channel bandwidths of 15MHz and 20 MHz. The radio supports modulation types of QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM and 256 QAM. The radio unit supports carrier aggregation. The radio has the ability to be used in a RBS system configured for 3GPP FD-MIMO and beamforming technologies as an Advanced Antenna System. This radio will in normal mode operates at a maximum power of 1.875W per port at the transceiver array boundary (TAB) connector. The radio has 64 TX/RX ports."

BIG BIG PROPS TO JOHN SAW!! He just sent me this over twitter! https://fccid.io/TA8AKRD901075 MASSIVE MIMO FCC APPROVAL!

Yes. There are many Next-Gen Permits making their way through the Connecticut Siting Council or approved. Besides those mentioned in the footnotes, here are others that I found: 10 port 800/2.5 Antenna: http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/montville/cookrd/sprint/em-sprint-086-180124_filing_cookst.pdf http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/newmilford/boardmanrd/sprint/em-sprint-096-180305_filing_boardmanrd.pdf http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/westhaven/derbyave/sprint/em-sprint-156-180226_filing_derbyave.pdf 16 port Triband Antenna: http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/manchester/hilliardst/sprint/em-sprint-077-171204_filing_hilliardst.pdf http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/manchester/lakest/sprint/em-sprint-077-171214_filing_lakest.pdf This in not an exhaustive list.

In the article you mentioned Connecticut. So does that mean CT is one of the states getting these new tower upgrades?

Considering these new antennas are dual band 2.5/800, would it be safe to assume this is targeted at markets that lack 2.5? and also can see greater benefits out of 800mhz 4x4MIMO, leaving big cities like NYC out of the SMR 4x4MIMO picture.

Man if there is a auction on this phone I actually might get it in. Geez this thing has everything.

I can't comprehend what I just read!!! Launch day I must have this!!!

Finally received my magic box yesterday after having been approved months ago. And....went from weak b26 in my master bedroom with 1.8-2.5 dl to b41 with 11.5 dl speeds. This is because the MB in my living room window is able to latch onto a band 25 connection. Really cool stuff!

I have an inverter that has a built in watt meter, so I plugged my Gen 2 MB in to see what it pulls. It is pretty efficient. When it's fully configured and transmitting B41, it pulls about 10 watts. During setup when B41 is off, it pulls just 3 watts.

It's Data only.