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Tim Yu Sprint 4G Rollout Updates May 19, 2017 - 8:30 AM PDT The Sprint Magic Box was announced on Sprint's quarterly earning call earlier this month, and was heralded as the first truly all wireless small cell in the industry. So what is this mystical beast that is purported to increase coverage by up to 30,000 square feet, amplifies data speeds, and "boosts" your data signal? This is the 1st Generation Sprint Magic Box In more technical terms, the Magic Box is an Airspan product under their Airunity line. The black colored model that exists in the wild, and which I procured contains the Airspan Airunity 540 small cell eNB. Whereas the white colored Magic Box advertised by Sprint is a newer model that contains the Airspan Airunity 545 small cell eNB. The primarily difference is that the unreleased white Magic Box is able to broadcast at twice the transmit power compared to the black model which results in substantially increased coverage area in addition to the LTE UE Relay Module having HPUE capability. These are all wireless small cells as there is no requirement of a wired backhaul solution like traditional Femto cells like the pending Sprint Airave 3 LTE, Commscope S1000, or the T-mobile LTE Cellspot. Instead, the Magic Box (MB) utilizes a technology called LTE UE Relay that is integrated into the overall package. The Magic Box contains an Airunity LTE B41 2500 MHz small cell and a LTE UE Relay device called the ninja module whose only job is to establish a data link to a macro eNB LTE 1900 or 2500 MHz signal and then feed a data connection to the Airunity small cell. For more on LTE UE Relay: see here Once the Relay link is connected and data flows to the Airunity eNB, a new LTE 2500 MHz signal is then created and broadcasted from the unit. This signal is unique to the Magic Box and is available to use by any compatible Sprint device that can access the LTE Plus (2500 MHz LTE B41) network. Unlike a repeater setup, the Magic Box does not simply take an existing signal and amplify it and all the accompanying noise and interference. This is a brand new and very clean LTE signal being broadcasted. The following screenshot from Network Signal Guru app displays this clearly. The Magic Box in my location broadcasts a brand new LTE carrier with frequency located on EARFCN 40270 (2558 MHz) while the macro donor eNB signal of 40978 (2628 MHz) is used as backhaul (LTE Band 25 1900 MHz can also be used). [As of July 2017, the Magic Box had its LTE carrier center frequency switched to 2518.4 MHz or EARFCN 39874. Signal Check Pro screenshot] This means, instead of a weak edge of cell LTE signal with the accompanying band switching that substantially impact device stand by times and I may lose deep inside the building, a Magic Box allows a Sprint device to connect to a strong and clean LTE 2500 MHz signal which blankets the formerly weak LTE coverage area. As a side effect, LTE speeds may also be dramatically increased due to the better signal level and quality being broadcasted by the MB whose LTE Relay Module can connect to what may have been previously an unusable 2500 MHz network. Especially when placed by a window as recommended. Album of Screenshots Personal Experience In my more than one month of observations using the Magic Box, I was able to connect to a LTE 2500 MHz signal from inside a suburban family residential building where such a signal was previously unusable. Furthermore, not only did the Magic Box boost the data signal from weak edge of cell service with consistent frequency swapping that had previously killed our devices battery life, but it also increased the LTE data speeds substantially to the tune of 200-300% over what we were previously getting over LTE 800 and 1900 MHz. Whereas previously the house was a weak coverage area where LTE 800 MHz was predominant with even parts dropping to EVDO 3G, the new LTE signal broadcasted by the MB covers the entire house and then some through multiple interior walls and even an exterior brick wall before handing over back to the macro network. So what's my view on the Magic Box? It can't come soon™ enough for more people to use and enjoy.

Josh HillSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesFriday, April 5, 2019 - 3:06 AM PDT Now that VoLTE is actually rolling out on Sprint, it's a good time to dive into what exactly is VoLTE, and how is it different from Calling+ and VoWiFi (Wifi Calling). Background Terms E-UTRA or EUTRA: Stands for Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access. This is the technical name for the actual LTE airlink. QoS: Quality of Service. This is a way of tagging / flagging certain types of traffic to have priority above or below other traffic. When traffic has a QoS tag higher than other traffic, network equipment (the tower, routers, etc) will drop or ignore lower priority traffic to ensure that this traffic goes through instead. The equipment can also be configured to reserve a certain amount of bandwidth to only be used by traffic with a particular QoS tag. For example, if a router has 10 Mbps available, it can allocate 1 Mbps for a certain QoS tag. Normal traffic will only be able to use 9 Mbps, with 1 Mbps reserved for that QoS tag. The number of QoS priorities / tags varies between equipment vendors, but can be in excess of 256 priority levels. QCI: QoS Class Identifier. This is a value that an LTE / E-UTRA session can be assigned that corresponds to a particular QoS tag and specific attributes of that particular QoS queue. For example, it may or may not specify a guaranteed/dedicated bandwidth allocation (GBR). APN: The APN is the name of the gateway on a mobile network. It identifies the packet data network that should be used for that E-UTRA session. IMS: IP Multimedia Subsystem. It is a method for sending SMS over LTE, along with setting up VoLTE calls and other signaling. eCSFB: Circuit Switched Fall Back. For phones / UEs that can only listen on either LTE or CDMA rather than both simultaneously, it is a method for the LTE network to tell the device that a call is coming in, and to switch over to CDMA to process it. SRLTE: Single Radio LTE. This is a capability of newer devices that allows them to listen on both CDMA and LTE at the same time, but only transmit on one at a time. This replaces the need for eCSFB, allowing the device to see a call coming in over CDMA while it’s using LTE. It is also more reliable and reduces the number of missed calls due to failed fallback. When a call is active, the LTE session is stopped / paused. SIP: Session Initialization Protocol. This is the standard protocol for VoIP in telecom networks. How VoLTE Works While we typically think of LTE as a single connection, multiple E-UTRA “sessions” can actually be established, creating what are essentially virtual/multiple LTE interfaces, each with their own IP address, QoS level, APN, etc. Each session has a numerical QCI assigned that dictates the actual QoS priority and whether or not it has a GBR (Guaranteed Bitrate). QCI Resource Type QoS Priority Packet Delay Budget Packet Error Loss Rate Example Services 1 GBR 2 100ms 10−2 Conversational Voice 2 GBR 4 150ms 10−3 Conversational Video (Live Streaming) 3 GBR 3 50ms 10−3 Real Time Gaming, V2X messages 4 GBR 5 300ms 10−6 Non-Conversational Video (Buffered Streaming) 65 GBR 0.7 75ms 10−2 Mission Critical user plane Push To Talk voice (e.g., MCPTT) 66 GBR 2 100ms 10−2 Non-Mission-Critical user plane Push To Talk voice 75 GBR 2.5 50ms 10−2 V2X messages 5 non-GBR 1 100ms 10−6 IMS Signalling 6 non-GBR 6 300ms 10−6 Video (Buffered Streaming) TCP-Based (for example, www, email, chat, ftp, p2p and the like) 7 non-GBR 7 100ms 10−3 Voice, Video (Live Streaming), Interactive Gaming 8 non-GBR 8 300ms 10−6 Video (Buffered Streaming) TCP-Based (for example, www, email, chat, ftp, p2p and the like) 9 non-GBR 9 300ms 10−6 Video (Buffered Streaming) TCP-Based (for example, www, email, chat, ftp, p2p and the like). Typically used as default bearer 69 non-GBR 0.5 60ms 10−6 Mission Critical delay sensitive signalling (e.g., MC-PTT signalling) 70 non-GBR 5.5 200ms 10−6 Mission Critical Data (e.g. example services are the same as QCI 6/8/9) 79 non-GBR 6.5 50ms 10−2 V2X messages (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QoS_Class_Identifier) As you can see in the above table, the QCI does not necessarily correspond to the QoS level. For example, QCI 1 has a QoS priority of 2, but QCI 5 has a QoS priority of 1, making it actually higher priority traffic. On Sprint, traditionally one E-UTRA session was used, with a QCI of 9 and QoS priority of 9. This is the lowest QoS priority, and does not have a guaranteed bitrate. On devices which use eCSFB or VoLTE, another E-UTRA session is established for the IMS APN using a QCI of 5 and QoS priority of 1, and is used for IMS. This session also does not have a guaranteed bitrate, but it has the highest QoS priority. IMS is used for SMS over LTE, along with setting up VoLTE calls. eCSFB devices use it for SMS, and likely also for triggering eCSFB. On newer device which instead use SRLTE, IMS is not used unless VoLTE is enabled, and they instead use CDMA 1x for SMS, so an IMS E-UTRA session is often not setup. When a VoLTE call is initiated, a third E-UTRA session is established, also using the IMS APN. This session has a QCI of 1 and QoS priority of 2. Unlike the other two sessions, this one does have a guaranteed bitrate. For Sprint, this bitrate is 39 Kbps. The screenshot below shows all 3 sessions: VoLTE E-UTRA sessions This is how VoLTE calls are prioritized over regular data. Normal data usage, such as loading a web page or watching a video, will still use the lower, default QoS (QCI of 9), while the data for the VoLTE call will be at the second highest priority (QCI 1), just after IMS signaling (QCI 5). The tower / eNB will ensure that the VoIP session always is able to use up to 39 Kbps by reserving that bandwidth and dedicating it to the call. This is in contrast to “Calling+”, which does not establish a separate E-UTRA session, and instead uses the normal QCI 9 session. The below screenshot shows an active Calling+ call. Note the presence of only a single E-UTRA session. Calling+ E-UTRA sessions So now that we have the airlink for VoLTE, what happens? VoLTE, Calling+, and VoWiFi are essentially standard SIP VoIP calls. The below screenshots show the SIP details for an active call, and the LTE Signaling messages that setup and then end the SIP call. VoLTE SIP details VoLTE Signaling For VoLTE, the traffic for the SIP call goes over the QCI 1 E-UTRA session instead of the normal QCI 9 session. This means that the eNB (tower) will reserve and guarantee 39 kbps for the call, but other traffic from the same device will not be prioritized and will use the normal session. So starting a VoLTE call will not make the rest of your traffic prioritized, it will apply only to the VoLTE call. So as a recap, when VoLTE is enabled, the UE / phone establishes multiple E-UTRA sessions. One is used for normal usage, one is used for texting and signaling, and one is used for the VoLTE call. Think of these like separate virtual ethernet cables. On the QoS prioritized and guaranteed bitrate VoLTE session, the UE establishes a SIP VoIP connection for a call. On Calling+ devices, the same SIP connection is used, however it runs over the default QCI 9 session instead, and therefore isn’t prioritized and doesn't have a guaranteed bandwidth. This is why Calling+ calls are more likely to cut out or not sound as good. VoLTE call Calling+ call VoWiFi (Wifi calling) operates almost the same way. Like VoLTE and Calling+, it also uses the same SIP connection for calls and presumably IMS for signaling, but instead of using an LTE E-UTRA session, the phone establishes an IKEv2 IPsec VPN connection to Sprint. This is an encrypted connection that allows data to be tunneled directly into Sprint’s network. The SIP and IMS traffic are then routed over this VPN to Sprint, but not other, normal traffic. From a QoS perspective, VoWiFi is identical to Calling+, in that neither are prioritized above other traffic. VoWiFi call Because VoLTE, Calling+, and VoWiFi all use the same SIP servers and connections, under normal conditions they sound the same and can technically hand off to one another. They can all take advantage of HD Voice codecs and should sound the same, since the call itself is identical across all three. The difference is how the data for that call makes it to Sprint. VoLTE is able to use a dedicated, guaranteed airlink to ensure that congestion on the network (LTE or WiFi) won’t adversely affect the call. One final performance benefit is that VoLTE is able to take advantage of something called RoHC (Robust Header Compression), seen in the above 3 screenshots. This compresses the IP, TCP, UDP, and RTP headers from 60 bytes to 1-3 bytes, resulting in up to 60% bandwidth savings. It’s only possible on a dedicated link, which is why VoLTE has it but Calling+ and VoWiFi do not. So not only does VoLTE have guaranteed, dedicated bandwidth, it will use potentially half as much, which matters a lot for maintaining the call in edge of cell scenarios.

Seth GoodwinSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesMonday, April 30, 2018 - 5:00 PM PDT After three previous attempts during the past four years, something many thought may never happen actually did. On Sunday April 29, T-Mobile announced they were effectively acquiring Sprint in an all stock deal, combining the third and fourth largest carriers in the U.S. wireless market. Pending regulatory approval, the merger is targeted for closing in the first half of 2019. The Deal The deal using an exchange ratio of 0.10256 Sprint shares for each T-Mobile share valued Sprint at approximately $26.5 billion (plus the assumption of Sprint’s $30+ billion in debt) or $6.62 per share using T-Mobile’s Friday closing price of $64.52. The combined company “New T-Mobile” will be owned 41.7% by Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's parent company. 27.4% of the company will be owned by Sprint's parent company SoftBank, with the remaining 30.9% owned by the general public and institutional investors. According to terms of the deal announced by both companies in a joint press release, the combined T-Mobile will retain two headquarters in Bellevue, Washington and Overland Park, Kansas. Current T-Mobile CEO John Legere will retain that role at the new company. T-Mobile’s Mike Sievert will serve as President and COO. No Sprint executives were announced to the management team at this time. Deutsche Telekom's Timotheus Höttges will serve as chairman of the company's board of directors, and DT will have 9 seats on the board compared to SoftBank's 4. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, and SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son will occupy two of SoftBank’s seats. As opposed to the famous T-Mobile/AT&T attempted tie up several years ago, this deal does not include a breakup fee should the merger fail to pass regulatory approval. Rather, Sprint has independently signed a roaming agreement with T-Mobile for four years that will continue regardless of the outcome of the merger. On the analyst call for the merger announcement Marcelo Claure said this would take effect immediately. As of the time this article was published, specific details pertaining to the roaming agreement and any actual known roaming connections have yet to materialize. The Plan Sprint and T-Mobile will continue operating separately until the conclusion of the merger, something that in and of itself raises multiple questions about this coming year. Hopefully we'll gain some more insights with Sprint's upcoming FY 2017/4th quarter earnings call. Assuming approval, the companies announced that they intend on spending up to $40 billion in the first three years on capital expenditures and consolidating operations into a single entity. According to the press release, this represents almost 50% more than what Sprint and T-Mobile combined had spent over the past three years. At the time of closing, the companies estimate that Sprint and T-Mobile will have approximately 110,000 macro cell towers. Of these, around 35,000 will be decommissioned due to co-location or other redundancies. 10,000 new sites will be added leaving New T-Mobile with approximately 85,000 macro sites. Within the first three years of a combined company it is also estimated that the carrier will have over 50,000 small cells independent of magic boxes. The two carriers currently have around 10,000 combined. The stated plan is to “use T-Mobile as the anchor network” and use selected Sprint “keep” sites to add coverage and density. At a minimum, Sprint’s BRS/EBS 2.5 GHz spectrum will be added to T-Mobile’s sites and T-Mobile’s “full spectrum portfolio” will be deployed on Sprint’s “keep” sites. At face value, this would point toward mainly decommissioning Sprint sites as part of the 35,000-macro site reduction. In actuality we'll see what they do. For example all things equal, if two sites are co-located the greater synergies are in eliminating the tower rack with less favorable lease terms or worse rack location. VoLTE and Two-dot-Five The conference call noted while the goal is to migrate Sprint's CDMA customers to VoLTE as soon as possible, with 20 million Sprint customers having T-Mobile compatible handsets on day one. The intention is to have the total migration to T-Mobile completed over a three-year period without “degrading experience on Sprint’s network.” This suggests at a minimum keeping Sprint’s 1x800 voice service active during the transition as well as a deliberate coordinated process for overall decommissioning of macro sites. The other thing to watch going forward in this area is that T-Mobile makes no mention in their investor presentation toward utilizing anything other than Sprint’s 2.5 spectrum on their sites. A Sprint T-Mobile merger would create a spectrum behemoth with holdings ranging from T-Mobile’s low band 600 MHz for building penetration and rural coverage all the way through Sprint’s 2.5 GHz for capacity and speed. On Sunday, executives announced they have no intention of divesting any spectrum. However, questions remain on issues like what does a company that already possesses 600 MHz and 700 MHz LTE spectrum do with 800 MHz? How do T-Mobile and Sprint independently spend CapEx this year without diminishing merger synergies? We at S4GRU plan on potentially analyzing a combined company’s significant aggregate spectrum situation in a separate article at a later date. According to the investor information provided, the combined company is estimated to have run rate cost synergies in excess of $6 billion annually or on a net present value basis in excess of $43 billion. $26 billion NPV or $4 billion annually of these annual savings would be derived from network consolidation and CapEx synergies. Additional savings could come from consolidation of operations including store closing and eliminating corporate redundancies. From Sprint’s perspective these savings would be significant. The carrier has not turned a profit in the past 10 years. However, with these savings (even a portion of these savings) the carrier hypothetically would have been profitable all 10 years. Regulatory Hurdles This merger is not a done deal by any means. It faces regulatory scrutiny from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Under the administration of former President Barack Obama, AT&T and T-Mobile attempted to merge only to be shot down by the government. Sprint and T-Mobile were reportedly told not to even try four years ago. The prior administration's thinking had constantly been that by allowing any combination of the big 4 U.S. wireless carriers to merge into three, consolidation would negatively impact the average consumer due to lower competition in the market. On the conference call Marcelo Claure noted that regulatory approval is “the elephant in the room.” Claure and Legere are expected to embark on a tour of Washington D.C. to try and gain favor for the merger later this week. Much has changed in Washington since Sprint and T-Mobile’s last attempt at a tie-up, but whether or not a merger is anywhere close to a guarantee to pass remains in limbo. President Donald Trump has positioned himself as a pro-business President, meeting with Masa Son shortly after his election. And while Trump’s FCC chairman Ajit Pai has made comments signaling he may be more open to market consolidation than his predecessors; President Trump’s DOJ is simultaneously attempting to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. Claure and Legere noted that they had talked to Pai, but had yet to talk to anyone at the DOJ prior to announcing the merger. The Sell With nothing guaranteed, selling this merger to the government and the public is going to be the key factor on whether or not it ultimately gets approved. Sprint and T-Mobile executives wasted no time in starting on Sunday launching the pro merger site allfor5g.com. Legere and Claure continued touting the merger in a series of interviews and television appearances Sunday night and Monday morning. Based on early results, the argument for the merger is fairly crafted towards its intended audience. The crux of T-Mobile and Sprint’s contention is that 5G is the future, and the future is costly. Both companies maintain a 3rd stronger carrier is better than 4 carriers in a market, two of which are at a capital disadvantage. Claure noted that, “It’s a very simple rule of business---both companies need each other.” Sprint has 2.5 GHz spectrum that will be optimal for 5G but lacks the financial resources to deploy its own. A new T-Mobile benefits from the 2.5 GHz spectrum, a larger combined customer base, financial synergies, and greater economies of scale to effectively deploy 5G. Legere noted their goal to eventually be able to provide 450 Mbit/s speeds consistently everywhere. The 5G argument is significant for a couple of reasons. The first is the current administration has made 5G a quasi-national security issue. The merger of Qualcomm and Broadcom was blocked partially on the grounds of China taking the lead in 5G, and it was widely reported at one point that the Trump administration was considering nationalizing 5G out of security concerns with China. The goal here is that if you let New T-Mobile happen they contend that they will be in a position to deliver 5G rapidly, creating a sense of urgency that a deal needs to be approved sooner than later. If you don’t let them combine they aren’t in the same position to make that happen. They also contended that 5G would allow for the innovators of the future, a not so thinly veiled overall economic development message. The other major 5G argument centers on rural expansion. For a long-time wireless rural cell service and rural broadband have been an important political and economic development issue. Historically rural service has lagged as the infrastructure cost to deliver service far exceeds any revenue operators can hope to recoup. Legere and Claure have immediately been pushing the notion that a merger would allow the combined carrier to bring rural broadband across the nation (as well as creating jobs in rural areas during the network deployment). Lastly, their final argument centers around job creation. Typically, one of the reasons companies merge is that you can save money by eliminating duplicate positions within two separate organizations. Legere on Sunday claimed that this merger would create “thousands of American jobs” with 200,000 people working either directly for or on behalf of a combined entity. This likely faces more regulatory scrutiny than some of the other pro-merger arguments, as again typically mergers result in overall contraction. Furthermore, Sprint on its own announced several hundred layoffs within the past few months. Why now? In the near term, the FCC at some point soon is going to impose a quiet period forbidding anyone that is participating in this fall’s spectrum auction (an auction Sprint and T-Mobile are seeking a waiver for to jointly coordinate bidding strategies) from discussing mergers. Additionally, the longer the wait is, it is likely some of the merger synergies would be eliminated. Sprint towers that are redundant to T-Mobile are not to Sprint itself. If Sprint's executive team was to be believed, Sprint was poised to spend $5 to 6 billion on Capex each of the next three years. Undoubtedly some of that, a potentially significant portion, would've been on towers T-Mobile has no interest in retaining. Slightly longer term, if there was ever a presidential administration to try this under it is this one. Much like this merger's outcome President Trump's re-election is far from a certainty. If a Democratic administration were to come back to Washington D.C. odds of any merger approval diminish significantly. Longer term yet, Sprint hasn’t turned a profit in 10 years. Marcelo Claure has done a more than admirable job at steering the ship during his four-year tenure: cutting costs, coming up with creative cost-effective network deployment strategies, etc. However, at some point access to traditional borrowing markets may have been cutoff due to Sprint's inability to generate a profit or even consistent free cash flows. It didn’t appear imminent given their two-time borrowing this year, but the company has over $27 billion in debt due over the next 6 years. It is pretty easy to envision a scenario where bond investors said times up. Beyond that, the simple burden of debt may have become so overwhelming that even if it didn't threaten the going concern of the company, it negatively impacted capital expenditures, something we've seen recently. Long-term is actually the story of the past 5+ years. Sprint has incredible spectrum assets, but it needed someone more financially able and willing to deploy them. SoftBank through either inability to act due to debt covenants with Japanese banks lending it money or through deliberate choice—in hindsight was never the savior it seemed. On paper, this merger should seemingly create a financially healthy company that finally is able to leverage Sprint's vast spectrum assets. However, as in the past, time will tell... Source: 5gforall- https://allfor5g.com/

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesJanuary 26, 2018 - 5:30 AM PST [Edited: 1/28/18 to include additional information on Samsung 4 port 800 MHz radio] [Edited: 2/2/18 for photograph addition of an Ericsson setup] The Triband Hexadecaport. The newest development of Sprint's recent network expenditures. This is a new triband antenna configuration now being deployed by Sprint that is able to do 4T4R MIMO on both 800 MHz and 1900 MHz in addition to 8T8R MIMO over 2.5 GHz. All in one single antenna. Previously, Sprint typically utilized two different antennas with one from Network Vision days being a hexport dual band unit that supports 800 MHz and 1900 MHz. While 2.5 GHz was an additional antenna and radio unit added on later. Some sites utilized (and may continue to utilize) another triband antenna model. This older generation triband antenna is a decaport (10 port) triband unit that support 4T4R on both 1900 MHz and 2.5 GHz with 2T2R on 800 MHz. This meant that an 8T8R radio would have its capabilities decreased as a result of going from 8T8R to 4T4R. With the development and deployment of this new 16 port triband antenna, Sprint is now poised to offer 800 MHz 4 antenna transmit and receive diversity alongside 1900 MHz, while 2.5 GHz is able to fully utilize the capability of an 8T8R radio. This means that the full capability of Sprint's 800 MHz, 1900 MHz, and LTE Plus (2.5 GHz) network can be utilized from a single triband antenna panel. Removing the limitations of the previous go-to triband antenna model. Because of these limitations, Sprint did not deploy the previous triband antenna panel in a wide scale. Now they are likely to deploy these more commonly. In fact, we are already seeing this occur in Washington State, Pittsburgh, and other places en masse. Above: Samsung 4T4R 800 MHz setup via two 800 MHz RRH-C2, 4T4R 1900 MHz RRH-P4 , & 8T8R 2.5 GHz RRH-V3 Photograph Source: Josh (ingenium) Currently, this type of setup has been found in Samsung vendor regions with two individual 2T2R 800 MHz RRUs to achieve 4T4R MIMO. Samsung and Sprint has a new 4 port 4T4R 800 MHz RRU that will be able to do the job of two existing 2T2R 800 MHz RRUs that will be deployed alongside this new type of antenna. This new Samsung 4 port low frequency radio is also available in Band 13 750 MHz for deployment in the Puerto Rico market due to the Sprint Open Mobile deal. Photograph Source: Chris92 Ericsson Setup Source: mdob07 This type of setup is yet to be seen in Ericsson or Nokia - Alcatel-Lucent territory. If you discover these in other vendor regions, be sure to post about it! ****If you're in Ericsson or Nokia / former Alcatel-lucent territory then replace the Samsung radios with the relevant Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent CDMA / LTE and Ericsson radios depending on region.***

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesJanuary 12, 2018 - 5:30 PM PST "New year, new me. Am I right?" ~ signed Samsung Samsung has decided that the beginning of the new year is a great time to change. Samsung has decided its newest flagship Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus devices must meet with the FCC OET for certification far earlier than usual. With ever watchful and prying eyes, S4GRU staff discovered the twin filings for two devices with FCC IDs of A3LSMG960U and A3LSMG965U which follows the previous Samsung numeration of the Galaxy S8 / 8+ (950u/955u) and Galaxy S7 (930u/935u) respectively. In addition, previous leaks for purported international Galaxy S9 variant have captured the ID of 960F and 965F respectively. To keep this short and simple, the Galaxy S9, to date, is the most technologically powerful device we've seen at least for Sprint and possibly other entities and the following technical specifications should demonstrate why. CDMA BC: 0 / 1 / 10 GSM: 850 / 1900 WCDMA Bands: 2, 4 , 5 LTE Band: 2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 17, 25 , 26 , 29, 30, 38, 41, 66, 71 Downlink Carrier Aggregation (DL CA) 5xB41 (up to 5 B41 carriers aggregated) B25+41CA (up to 2 B41 carriers - 3 total carriers aggregated ) B26+41CA (up to 2 B41 carriers - 3 total carriers aggregated ) B25+26CA (up to 2 B25 carriers - 3 total carriers aggregated ) Uplink Carrier Aggregation (UL CA) 2xB41 256 / 64 QAM Downlink/ Uplink HPUE CAT 18 Modem 4x4 MIMO B2, 4, 25, 30 , 41, 66 12 spatial streams Holy bonanza! This phone supports up to 100 MHz of LTE spectrum being aggregated together from 5 individual Band 41 carriers! To add to that, it also supports FDD and TDD LTE carrier aggregation by utilizing Band 25 1900 MHz or Band 26 800 MHz as the primary component carrier which would contribute to downlink and uplink while Band 41 is aggregated to it would be downlink only secondary component carriers. Remember the saying of having B25 or B26 uplink with Band 41 downlink, anybody? Plus there is expansion of FDD carrier aggregation to that of between Band 25 and Band 26. This will help a ton in areas where Band 41 and its oodles of capacity does not reach. As the recent CDMA refarming nationwide on PCS spectrum has allowed Sprint to fire up an additional Band 25 carrier, this means in many Sprint markets there currently exists two Band 25 carriers in addition to a Band 26 carrier. This additional carrier is not forgotten and can now be used alongside the other Band 25 and Band 26 carrier for carrier aggregation. Last but not least, this phone is "Gigabit Class" by having up to 12 spacial streams means that 4x4 MIMO can be used for 3 separate B41 carriers when aggregated together instead of 2 in the previous generation which supports only 10 spacial streams. Though it was a moot point as the entire generation of Samsung flagships from this past year did not support 4x4 MIMO on Band 41, until now! A phone this size should not be able to pack so many technologies...but yet it does! A splendid phone and surely a must have for the S4GRU and other tech adept users!

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesFriday, June 8, 2018 - 3:00 PM PDT It has been a little over a year since the first Magic Box publicly available was announced. In the time since then since the Airunity 545 "GEN 1" was announced, minor revisions were done as "GEN 2" with the Airunity 544 sporting a LCD display and subsequently the Airunity 546 having an more aesthetically pleasing exterior. All LCD display models are known as "GEN 2" respectively. Come next week starting on June 11th, 2018, the GEN 2 Magic Box's (AU544/546) will be considered out of stock and a GEN 3 Magic Box will take over the reigns in the beginning of July 2018. Though information on this new unit is scarce, information attained by S4GRU does suggest the new revision may potentially contain user accessible USB Type A ports and have a slightly lower transmit power. More to come as S4GRU discovers additional information about this GEN 3 Magic Box.

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesWednesday, September 12, 2018 - 12:45 PM PDT [Edit] It has come to the attention of S4GRU that the Magic Box also supports CDMA Voice Today, Sprint announced the newest Magic Box™ to the world. This Magic Box was first spotted in early summer and S4GRU did a quick write up on it here. Today's announcement formally revealed what new technologies this 3rd Generation public release will give to us. The highlights: This is some huge stuff here especially for technology nerds! Previous Magic Box's only utilized LTE UE Relay for backhaul up to 2 carrier aggregation at 2x2 MIMO at 64 QAM modulation. With 3 CA, 256 QAM, and 4x4 MIMO, this new Magic Box has the same capability as a Gigabit Class device on the Sprint™ network! In addition the notes about Wi-FI connection working for backhaul are huge. Sprint Band 25 or Band 41 may not reach indoors or even in some neighborhoods due to macro coverage patterns even though a Magic Box is available to use in a region. By having the option to use locally supplied internet via WiFi as backhaul, this allows Magic Boxes to enter locations where LTE UE Relay does not work. In addition, the ethernet port tidbit may also be a hint that using ethernet backhaul could also be an option. If so, this Magic Box would potentially support 3 choices of backhaul all in one unit; LTE UE Relay, WiFi, and Ethernet! Wow! With the coming arrival of VoLTE opt in in the near future, LTE coverage indoors is a huge concern. The now expanded reach of this new Magic Box into places previously unreachable is a huge step forward. Exciting! Sprint and Airspan sure loves Magic!

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesDecember 11, 2017 - 9:30 PM PST Recently, individuals who ordered Magic Boxes noticed a change in the product code of the unit to AU544 from AU545. It is now confirmed that the product code change is due to the release of the 3rd generation Magic Box. They are now being shipped! The new revision is in essence a GEN2 optimized with a high quality LCD touchscreen display like that of the 1st Generation AU540. In addition, an external battery pack with an adapter to hook onto the Magic Box is now provided. It can be lugged around for testing purposes instead of internal batteries. In addition, the touch power on button of the GEN2 has been removed with power on sequence done by plugging in power to the unit via a battery pack with an adapter or via the AC power brick. Performance wise, the GEN 3 is identical to the GEN 2 in that they still utilize the Airspan Airunity 545 small cell eNB and a Ninja LTE Relay module. The product designation change from 545 to 544 is primarily due to a change in the WiFi module to a different Qualcomm WiFi module. But for what matters to Sprint users, the LTE B41 performance impact as noted from GEN 1 and subsequently the GEN 2 are identical. GEN 2 users will not be left behind in performance wise. Previous generation device owners will not be missing out on much! For those that are getting the Magic Box for the first time, welcome to the party! Here's pictures of the GEN 3 (AU544MBGN2) courtesy of @bucdenny

Dave YeagerSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesTuesday, April 3, 2018 - 6:20 PM PDT Exciting times for those of us who track Sprint Macro sites and signals. Sprint has accomplished a lot during the last few years in many places. Even during a period of reduced capital expenditures. Progress has been made by increasing bandwidth and adding carriers to LTE 1900 MHz, adding LTE 2.5 GHz macro and small cell sites, adding 3x3 LTE 800 MHz to many existing sites near the border, and working to eliminate 3G Only Ground Mounted Radio sites by adding LTE in many places*. Some of these improvements have been offset by ever increasing data demands that have doubled every 18 months. For maximum gain, a new plan was needed...Next-Gen. Since late Fall 2017 Columbus S4GRU members have been tracking new permits in Ohio trying to figure out Sprint’s Next-Gen plans in detail. These permits soon made it obvious that multiple site configurations are involved. In late February / early March three Next-Gen sites were found in the Columbus Market. To ensure that these were not just isolated test sites, two identical Next-Gen sites were confirmed in the Cincinnati Market about a week ago. These are new antennas and are a different scenario than described in the prior S4GRU Wall Article on 16 port Triband Antennas. Note that these new antennas (center) are about the same size as the 1900/800 MHz dual band antennas, except thicker and cover 2.5 GHz / 800 MHz. There are 10 ports on the bottom, excluding the 4 AISG ports, for 8T8R 2.5 GHz and 2T2R 800 MHz (plus 2T2R 800 MHz from Network Vision antenna/RRH). The site diagrams from Connecticut list them as Commscope DT465B-2XR-V2, which matches our photos. These new antennas are combined with a 2.5 GHz 8T8R RRH and another 800MHz RRH (a few permits list just one 4 port 800 MHz RRH) and always been found with existing hexport dual band 800/1900 MHz equipment. ** Sprint’s desire to add 2.5 GHz to all sites is well publicized. But why two 800 MHz RRHs? To allow 4x4 MIMO for 800 MHz LTE. While only some tablets will fully benefit from 4x4 MIMO given the antenna size requirements, all devices will benefit from the significant signal propagation and stability improvements over 2xT/R diversity. At the cell edge this is especially true. This will be a major improvement for technologies such as VoLTE where weak signals can wreak havoc on voice quality and even usability. Four Sprint scenarios were noted in some of the Connecticut information. Besides the two scenarios covered in this and the prior wall article, there is a ground mounted radio scenario, which is dated February 28, 2018 -- well past the changeover to Next-Gen antennas seen in the late Fall 2017 permits. Only the Triband decaport (10 port Antenna) is visible in the tower with diplexers and RRHs near the ground providing only 2T2R for 800MHz, 2T4R for the 1900MHz and 4T4R for the 2.5GHz, as shown below: *** *** Below is the current status of our 2017+ permits for the Columbus market to give you an idea of where these antenna scenarios will be used more often. Note that while there is extensive permit information for the Columbus market, not all jurisdictions put permit information online plus accuracy and detail varies. There is at least one Sprint Next-Gen Scenario remaining. Keep watching your local sites, especially if you see improved Band 26 LTE 800 or new Band 41 LTE 2500 signal or GCIs. Report anything new to a S4GRU forum. Include pictures and screen shots. Others will guide you to help figure out what you have found. *For details for my market for 2017: http://s4gru.com/forums/topic/1904-network-visionlte-columbus-market/?page=219&tab=comments#comment-526696 Other spreadsheet markets in this region have similar stories to tell. ** Wiring Diagram source: http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/east_windsor/southmainst/sprint/em-sprint-047-180126_filing_southmainst_eastwindsor.pdf page 61 of 66 *** Ground mounted Radio Scenario: http://www.ct.gov/csc/lib/csc/ems/stratford/hawleylane/sprint/em-sprint-138-180302_filing_hawleylane.pdf page 7 of 107 Many thanks to lilotimz and kineticman for their assistance with this article.

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesThursday, August 2, 2018 - 12:01 PM PDT It's been a long time coming for Sprint through many trials and tribulations. Now it's finally here! S4GRU was able to obtain confirmations that Sprint is finally ready and prepared to enable Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for subscribers to manually opt into in select markets across the country this coming September. See list at the bottom. As a refresher here are some of the essential points about VoLTE applicable to Sprint: Calls placed over VoLTE will have the QOS tag unlike the current Calling Plus configuration on numerous Sprint devices Like Calling Plus, VoLTE will have no fallback to the legacy 1x voice network. Calls will drop if the LTE signal drops. The voice codec is AMR-WB which one can experience with Calling Plus calls and matches the other carriers VoLTE setups. At this point and time S4GRU does not have a list of compatible VoLTE devices though we do speculate that any device currently running Calling Plus should be able to tap into that very same IMS core Calling Plus utilizes via true VoLTE. In addition, recent Apple iPhone's seems like a sure bet as some users have already experienced VoLTE in live field tests conducted by Sprint. For the non Sprint branded BYOD devices like Google Pixels or unlocked Moto devices the future is quite murky indeed. Sprint VoLTE Soft Launch Market Map See this for map of all Sprint market boundaries Sprint VoLTE Soft Launch Markets .tg {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;} .tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;border-color:black;} .tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;border-color:black;} .tg .tg-wk8r{background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#ffffff;text-align:center;vertical-align:top} Atlanta / Athens Austin Baltimore Boston Central Jersey Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Colorado Columbus DFW East Kentucky East Michigan Ft. Wayne / South Bend Houston Idaho Indianapolis Kansas LA Metro Las Vegas Long Island Miami / West Palm Milwaukee Minnesota Missouri Nashville New York City Norfolk North Wisconsin Northern Jersey Oklahoma Oregon / SW Washington Orlando Philadelphia Metro Phoenix Pittsburgh Richmond San Antonio SF Bay South Bay South Texas Southern Jersey Tampa Toledo Upper Central Valley Utah Washington DC West Iowa / Nebraska West Virginia

Tim Yu Sprint 4G Rollout Updates September 5, 2017 - 6:45 PM PDT It is that time of the year for flagship phablets and LG has returned to us with their brand new V30 smartphone. Unlike the LG G6, LG was not conservative with the specifications on this one. Many other tech sites and forums have already broken down the V30 but here at S4GRU we are more interested in network technologies and the V30 is definitely no slouch in this regard. Supported Technologies GSM 850 / 1900 WCDMA Band: 2 / 4 / 5 LTE Band: 2 / 4 / 5 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 41 4x4 MIMO on Band 25 and Band 41 up to 10 streams 256 / 64 QAM DL-UL HPUE 2xCA B25 2xCA B41 3xCA B41 4xCA B41 That is right. The LG V30 is the first device confirmed to support 4 carrier aggregation on Band 41. No other device out there, including the ever more popular Galaxy S8 or Note 8, are confirmed to at least technologically support 4 carrier aggregation for Band 41 (though maybe a re-certification & software update can fix that). In addition, the LG V30 is also a "Gigabit Class" device that supports 4x4 MIMO over Band 41 for up to 10 total MIMO streams which the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 does not support (the GS8 and Note 8 are not "Gigabit Class" devices on Sprint). Furthermore, note the inclusion of LTE Band 13. One may think this mean LTE roaming on Verizon may be in the cards, but recently Sprint consummated a partnership with Open Mobile based in Puerto Rico who holds Band 13 750 MHz spectrum. As the Puerto Rico market lacks SMR 800 spectrum needed for CDMA 1x 800 and LTE 800 Band 26, it seems likely that it may be a boutique Sprint market that will utilize 10x10 Band 13 750 MHz for low band coverage. An interesting development. So network wise, the V30 sure seems like one heck of a device that supports just about every technology Sprint is poised to utilize right now in select markets and most of the network in the near future. A potentially splendid device for the Sprint network enthusiast. FCC ID: LS998

Tim Yu Sprint 4G Rollout Updates September 28, 2017 - 2:30 PM PDT [Edit: 4/6/18: Reflects Airave 3 discontinuation] It has been 6 months since I first learned of and received access to what is now called the GEN1 Magic Box. I wrote up my thoughts about it a few months back. Sprint has now evolved to a GEN 2 Magic Box model. These units are being distributed to customers who preordered after Sprint's announcements. I've now acquired a GEN2 Magic Box myself. Upon opening the package, the most immediate and noticeable difference between the Gen 1 and Gen 2 Magic Box is the absence of an external portable battery. This was useful to lug the Magic Box around and test different locations in order to select the best spot for unit placement. On the surface this may appear to be a way to decrease unit costs. This may be true, but the Gen 2 model contains two CR18650 rechargeable lithium batteries integrated inside of the package for the same purpose. No more using a dongle and a hefty battery pack that could be easily lost! [2nd Generation Magic Box white colored on left, 1st Generation Magic Box black colored on right[ Along with the new internal guts, the external aesthetics and materials were also modified. The Gen 1 model had a super bright LCD display with a black front surrounding by white plastic. The new Gen 2 model has an eInk display with a touch power button below it on the front with the entire exterior being a reflective polished hard plastic. What didn't change is the GEN2 is still an all wireless small cell with no requirement of hard wired backhaul supplied by the user. It still uses LTE UE Relay to acquire an existing Band 25 1900 MHz or Band 41 2500 MHz connection from an existing donor site, which is then fed to the small cell unit and broadcasted as a new LTE Band 41 2500 MHz carrier. The LTE Relay unit supports up to 2 carrier aggregation on Band 41 to the macro donor site. Now to the meaty parts. The performance. Let these screenshots tell the story. Before After [Apps used: Network Signal Guru, Signalcheck Pro, Ookla Speedtest] The extremely significant data speed and signal improvements that were experienced by the original Magic Box still exist with the 2nd generation unit. The GEN2 matches and exceeds the performance of my original Magic Box, especially in the upload category. This is due to the newer LTE Relay module design which utilizes a higher gain antenna. A very satisfactory model upgrade. It upholds the positive impressions I outlined in my original article. These units just can't come out fast enough so that more people can enjoy it! The Magic Box is not a panacea, but is a very good solution in many locations. Now that thousands of these preordered boxes are hitting the streets in countless different deployment scenarios, lots of limitations and bugs are being discovered. With varying impacts. The Magic Box doesn't work for everyone everywhere due to the very nature of its all wireless design. In most places, it works as advertised. Just power up and let it rip. In a few locations there is something lacking which causes units to not fully configure. This results in errors such as the infamous "20% initialization" or "cannot connect to mobile network" screens that pop up. We researched, asked questions and were informed that Sprint's LTE Relay configuration is of the out of band variety. This means that the LTE UE Relay operation and the small cell eNB signal has to operate on different frequencies. So in Sprint's case, a market must have Band 41 High and Low separation in order for a LTE Relay to work. Thus, Sprint must have spectrum in the Band 41 low range (2500-2570 MHz) and the Band 41 high range (2620-2690). If a Sprint market does not have said spectrum with such a separation, the relay link cannot be established and the Magic Box will not work. In markets where such spectrum peculiarities exist and areas where the macro 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz RF signal is not strong enough to establish a LTE Relay backhaul connection for the Magic Box, there exists other alternatives available from Sprint. These alternatives are the Airave 3 LTE and Commscope S1000 NSC which will be offered to subscribers who do not qualify for a Magic Box or in a location where the Magic Box does not work. The subscriber will require a home broadband connection in those instances. (Left: Airave 3 LTE, Right: S1000 NSC; credit: ingenium & pwnedkiller) The Airave 3 LTE is the traditional CDMA + LTE Band 41 + WiFi femto cell. It is the successor the Airaves of old. The Commscope S1000 NSC is a LTE Band 41 + WiFi only femto cell which is in essence the Airave 3 minus the CDMA capabilities. If a subscriber desires voice and data enhancement then the Airave 3 should be what the subscriber seeks. If the subscriber does not need voice enhancement due to sufficient macro voice coverage but need 4G LTE data enhancement, then the S1000 NSC would be a better fit. There is a solution for just about everyone now. There now exists an all wireless self configuring LTE small cell, a state of the art and award winning LTE small cell, and which when paired with a CDMA module produces the newest successor in the Airave family. All of which will bring extreme improvements that Sprint subscribers can realize instantly. The densification of Sprint's network is now beginning and it all begins with one quite magic(al) box. Album of the Magic Box

Dave Yeager S4GRU/T5GRU Friday, September 23, 2022 - 3:20 PM PDT Source: www.sashajavid.com/Auction108_TMobile_Final_Demand_Round73.png Click for interactive map covering all auction areas. (May take a few minutes to fully load, PC or tablet recommended) The very favorable FCC Auction 108 for 2.5GHz ED results shown above should allow T-Mobile to immensely expand its rural market share, currently around 13%. The merger alone dramatically increased the number of T-Mobile customers traveling through rural areas. The number of macro cell tower sites has increased from 66,000 on 12/31/2019 to a rough estimate of 88,000 sites by the end of 2022. (102,000 on 12/31/2021 minus the remaining 22,000 planned Sprint cell site decommissions by 9/30/2022 plus 10,000 sites for rural and small cities. This does not factor in co-locations, any other new sites added in 2022, or sites that have been decommissioned where T-Mobile still holds an interest -- the true number may not be available until the 2022 annual report.) T-Mobile 5G Home Internet Service should definitely attract new rural customers, which will help make rural sites more viable. n71 lowband 5G has already made T-Mobile's rural service much more usable. n41 will offload much of that 5G traffic given its much higher capacity. Having more bandwidth will also extend the usable area of n41, which can be further extended by utilizing n71 CA to increase the upload range and performance. Combining this with T-Mobile's long announced increased rural and small town focus could be a very winning strategy that allows them to fulfill their merger promise to the FCC concerning nationwide 5G coverage of at least 50Mbps. Drilling down into the auction results, T-Mobile recently won 7,156 2.5GHz ED licenses in 2,724 counties in FCC auction 108. That is roughly 87% of all the U.S. counties (3,143 counties or equivalents exist in the United States.) Each county license has 53% white space on average (area without existing ED licenses by frequency). Note that white space varies by smaller frequency ranges and/or can cover just a portion of the county. According to ALLnet measurements, 2,490 licenses have 90% or better white space in this latest auction. These ED licenses typically reside in rural areas, but do include a few metro areas. Metro area counties with 25% or more white space include these metro areas: Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Dallas, TX, Kansas City, MO, Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY. These counties are typically at the outside edges of these metros. The auction timing, auction rules, and complexity of the ED band favored T-Mobile. This auction occurred after the 2021 C-Band and 3.45GHz auctions which both offered the possibility of nationwide coverage. Not much money appeared to be left for auction 108. Verizon's small bid in this auction has even been questioned as unwise. $ in Millions rounded. C-Band (Auction 107 - 280MHz) 3.45GHz (Auction 110 - 100MHz) ED 2.5GHz (Auction 108 - up to 117.5MHz) AT&T $ 23,407 $ 9,079 $ 0 Verizon $ 45,455 $ 0 $ 2 Dish $ 0 $ 7,328 $ 0 T-Mobile $ 9,336 $ 2,898 $ 304 For this auction, the FCC tried to simplify ED with C1= 49.5 MHz contiguous, C2 = 50.5 MHz contiguous, and C3 = 17.5 MHz (16.5 MHz contiguous plus 1 MHz inside BRS). C3 was most attractive to T-Mobile given their BRS holdings. In addition to ED, BRS makes up the rest of 2.5GHz band 41. Source: www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/bandplan_for_fact_sheet.png Prior to the auction the FCC setup a special window for tribes to obtain ED licenses. They also eliminated the educational purpose requirement of ED, but preserved the role of non-profit groups like Mobile Citizen and Mobile Beacon. They also allowed existing ED licenses to be sold rather than just leased. T-Mobile has been quite busy securing available licenses since then. It also fought for its lease details to remain secret, which other carriers opposed, but the FCC supported. The FCC sided with the smaller carriers and T-Mobile over lease size being the smaller county size rather that PEAs which are typically multi-county partial economic areas. The original aspects of the ED and BRS licenses also discourage other carriers. They both started as radius, but then most but not all of the BRS converted to counties, while ED primarily remained radius. Where two intersect on the same frequencies, they "split the football". Some shifted frequencies, but others remained the same. The frequencies in ED are also quite small by today's standards and often not contiguous. BRS also has some licenses that appear to basically be duplicates. Band 41 also uses TD rather than FD, thus favors downloads. Basically no where near as clean as bands like PCS band 2 where all the other carriers are more comfortable. It should be noted that not all licenses were sold, typically in Alaska and places with almost no whitespace. Note that there is also a scattering of BRS licenses that were never sold plus licenses in other auctions. Maybe the FCC should have an odds and ends auction once congress extends its auction authority which expires on September 23. It is also possible that T-Mobile may choose to lease spectrum for some of the other winners, such as the North American Catholic Education Programming Foundation, who already leases 2.5GHz spectrum to T-Mobile. Final payments are due by September 30, 2022 (October 17th with 5% penalty.) T-Mobile upgrading existing n41 sites is a no-brainer, likely immediately after FCC release. More bandwidth first followed by greater fiber backhaul later. What avenues T-Mobile pursues after that is the question. Here are the FCC Auction 108 2.5GHz results by license: https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction108/reports/results_by_license. If you are curious about the other winning bidders: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-22-910A2.pdf. Further overall analysis by bidder is available here: https://www.sashajavid.com/FCC_Auction108.php#county_details_table_overlay.

Dave YeagerSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesFriday, February 8, 2019 - 8:00 AM PST Sprint’s tribanding project has reached a new phase -- former Clear LTE 2500 only sites are getting new equipment as reported by nowerlater in Cincinnati, Joski1624 in Cleveland, and here in Columbus. Converting sites from LTE 2500 only to triband LTE 800 MHz, LTE 1900 MHz, and LTE 2500 will significantly improve network performance in the traditional metropolitan areas of markets where Clear sites reside. Adding LTE 1900, LTE 800, CDMA 1x1900, and 1x800 will mean stronger signal with improved building penetration that will allow surrounding sites to better serve their more immediate coverage areas. This added site density will be a key factor in performance improvements needed for high quality VoLTE (Voice over LTE) service. Upon completion, site density for the non-LTE 2500 bands will increase an astonishing 57% in Franklin County (Columbus) Ohio. There are currently 162 macro sites not counting factory and private office building sites. There are 93 stand-alone Clear sites. Hamilton County (Cincinnati) will show a 61% increase in site density for the non-LTE 2500 bands. Additional Clear sites lie outside these counties in both markets. The level of increase will vary from market to market. Market wide LTE 1900 performance will improve if this increased site density allows for fewer 1x1900 CDMA carriers per site. This would allow refarming of spectrum to increase the bandwidth for LTE 1900. Minimum LTE bandwidth allowed by many of Sprint’s Remote Radio Units has been increased in recent months according to the FCC. This will be market dependent. There will be a 50% or more LTE 2500 capacity improvement at most Clear sites. Mini Macro Clear sites broadcast only one or two carriers, while most metropolitan areas triband sites broadcast three carriers with up to five carriers at some sites. The tribanded Clear sites go from having Mini Macros to 8T8R remote radio units at most sites, but some sites may retain existing Mini Macros in some markets. With 8T8R, these tribanded Clear sites will also get improved performance and coverage. Samsung Clear equipment used in portions of the south and east often have three carriers thus will primarily gain benefits from the improved coverage of the 8T8Rs. Tribanding the Clear Mini Macro sites will also improve the LTE 2500 performance of surrounding triband sites. If your phone is on the third carrier and you currently drive into an area primarily served by a Clear site your triband site signal will get weaker and weaker until it drops. The LTE 2500 at these existing Triband sites currently carries an extra burden. Permit Foreshadowing Let’s dive further into the details. We have been watching for these site builds for many months. Permits were first seen in the early fall in Columbus, for example: ALTC1800834: ANTENNA UPGRADE TO AN EXISTING CELL SITE OF SPRINT. REMOVE (3) ANTENNAS, (3) MM RRUS, AND (3) 15/64" COAX. INSTALL (3) ANTENNAS, (9) RRHS, (3) 1-1/16" HYBRID CABLES, GC SUPPLIED RET CABLES, (3) OPTIC FIBER JUNCTION CYLINDERS, (3) POWER JUNCTION CYLINDERS, (1) SITEPRO SNP-12NP SECTOR MOUNT AND HANDRAIL KIT. REMOVE EXISTING CLEARWIRE GROUND CABINETS AND INSTALL ALL NEW SPRINT ECAB & ICAB COMBINATION CABINET AND PPC ON NEW CONCRETE PAD. REMOVE ALL POWER AND FIBER CABLING TO RRHS. Permits and drawings were also found in Sacramento by our resident staff Tim (lilotimz), with one site even going from CA to Massive MIMO: The Network Vision plus LTE 2500 using 8T8R LTE 2500, LTE 1900, and Four Port LTE 800,and the much rarer Massive MIMO LTE 2500/5G future, LTE 1900 and Four PORT LTE 800. A big question was whether the sites would have CDMA or just be VoLTE. Most Sprint phones in use today can only use CDMA. OceanDave picked up the first Clear Triband Conversion signal in his logs recorded on 11/30/2018. Joski1624 found and confirmed CDMA 1x1900 and 8T8R LTE 2500 at the site once the logs were analyzed in early January. Here is a screenshot from Joski1624 showing LTE 800 and 1x800 from the same Clear conversion site: Cleveland has confirmed other sites. Nowerlater has reported similar results covering bands 25 and 26 from other Clear sites converted to Triband in the Cincinnati Market Here is a photo of a Columbus Clear site being converted to Triband. You can see that the Clear Band 41(inside red outline) is still wired and was quite functional at the time of the photo. 1) Clear antenna (remove), 2) Mini Macro (remove for most sites), 3) Microwave antenna for redundant backhaul (will likely remain if present). This is becoming a Triband Hexadeacport 16 port Antenna Setup outlined in yellow with 1) 8T8R LTE 2500 Remote Radio Unit, 2) LTE 1900 Remote Radio Unit, 3) LTE 800 four port Remote Radio Unit, 4) 16-Port Triband Antenna. In this next photo you can see the old cabinet on its metal grate and the new cabinet on new concrete. The underground conduit needs to be placed then the concrete poured before you will see cabinets. Some of the sites will have double cabinets (permits say Eltek, but observed cabinets do not match catalog). Note that they are pre-assembled, in this case by Stonecrop Technologies. These sites are also getting new Purcell cable boxes. In Columbus, 86% of the Clear sites have permits. New permits are still being filed. We began finding permits for Clear conversions last October. Permits are active for one year. They can be extended, but typically the work will be done in that time period. It is quite possible the FCC will not approve the merger into T-Mobile until December or later based on the Shentel – nTelos merger. This merger could finish sooner or not at all. If the merger is approved this work would likely stop, but any completed site work would benefit existing Sprint customers during the estimated two to three year transition period (market dependent). If all Clear sites were converted to triband, here is an image of roughly where the sites would strongly benefit in the traditional Columbus metro area: Please note that actual site coverage areas are not circular but are shaped between a three bladed airplane propeller and a three leaf clover. There would be significant variations from the heat map above. Of course Columbus overall has Network Vision and other Next Generation triband sites. These Ohio markets mentioned have active S4GRU signal hunters, thus are likely a proxy for what is happening or will happen in other markets with active former Clear LTE 2500 only sites (for clarity we will now refer to them as Clear sites). Indeed lilotimz has found permits and drawing in Sacramento. Reddit user Marley3456 has confirmed triband Clear sites in Salt Lake City Utah, thus they very likely exist in other parts of the country. The following cities in state order all had more than 10 Clear sites with LTE in 2014 thus are likely prospects for this type of change: If your city is listed above, how will you know if you will benefit? Start looking looking at the Clear sites in your city today and be observant of any changes. Help is available here at S4GRU.com if needed. Online guides can help: Nokia Mini Macros on Macro Sites, Samsung LTE 2500 Remote Radio Units and Antennas. It will be worth knowing if your market will benefit from the significant capacity improvements of the Clear site Triband conversions! Edited 2/8/19 to better cover Samsung Clear Sites.

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesWednesday, October 2, 2018 - 9:00 PM PDT Starting right now, October 3,2018 12:01 AM EST, Samsung Galaxy S8, 8+, and S8 Active users can manually download the firmware to remove Calling Plus from their devices and bring forth the VoLTE Opt-In toggle. Oh yeah. VoLTE is live on the Sprint Network™ as part of the VoLTE Soft Launch in the select markets. The roll out to the soft launch markets will be gradual over the next weeks. So have at it you folks in the first soft launch markets that are going live! Here are the first 15 initial soft launch markets with more following in the next few weeks. Atlanta-Athens Chicago Dallas-Ft.Worth Houston Indianapolis Kansas Missouri New York City Oregon-West Washington Philadelphia Pittsburgh San Francisco Bay South Bay Southern Jersey Washington DC And if you're in a soft launch market... Source: /u/TheButlershrsmn Discuss Sprint VoLTE on on the forums.

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesSaturday, April 7, 2018 - 6:54 PM PDT A year ago Sprint and Open Mobile announced the beginnings of a joint venture whereby they would combine their network assets and operations together to create a better more competitive alternative on the island. In late 2017, the deal was consummated which gave Sprint access to Open Mobile's spectrum holdings in the PCS 1900 range and, more importantly, the 750 MHz Band 13 block. This LTE Band 13 is almost exclusively used by Verizon Wireless as the basis for their LTE network. In comparison to Sprints SMR 800 MHz holdings it is 20 MHz in width meaning that Sprint is able to utilize a 10x10 MHz lowband LTE carrier whereas Sprints Band 26 800 MHz is limited to 5x5, 3x3, or even non existence as in Puerto Rico due to spectrum hoarders and other issues pertaining to the IBEZ. With this spectrum, Sprint is now able and has begun the deployment of a triband 750 / 1900 / 2500 network in Puerto Rico! See the following screenshots from S4GRU PR / VI market thread users! Note: UARFCN 5230 is 751 / 782 MHz center frequency. LTE Band 13 runs 777 - 787 / 746 - 756 which means it's smack dab in the center perfect for a 10x10 MHz FDD LTE carrier. Thanks to imatute and smooth25 for the finds!

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesFriday, September 28, 2018 - 8:10 PM PDT In the past few day, Sprint began informing its staff and partners that the VOIP application used for LTE Calling on Sprint devices, Calling Plus, will be starting to be decommissioned beginning with software updates to Android devices on the 29th of September. Sprint updated the Calling Plus FAQ to note this upcoming change to android devices via software updates yet to be rolled out. The following is allegedly what the UI screen will resemble when the devices are updated to remove Calling Plus. Photo Credit: Sean Yes. That's right. Don't avert your eyes! The removal of Calling Plus heralds the arrival of the Opt-In VoLTE toggle. Magic Box Connections Enhanced In addition to the removal Calling Plus, existing Magic Box's have already began and will continue to receive firmware updates that will enable the support of VoLTE in the soft launch regions. This firmware update, currently 15.15.50.514 / 60.7.46.0, also has additional "enhancements" that will improve uplink performance and device handoffs between Magic Box's to and from other Magic Box's or Macro / Micro cells. This is what the screen appears to be when updated. Photo Credits: Jim So with all this work going on it's all on you Galaxy S8 generation users to tell us on your experiences with the the slightly delayed VoLTE soft launch in the coming days!

Dave Yeager S4GRU/T5GRU Tuesday, October 11, 2022 - 8:20 AM PDT . T-Mobile asked for Special Temporary Authority to enhance capacity in 5g 2.5 GHz band 41 after the FCC extended the final payment deadline for auction 108 payments due to hurricanes. As noted in T-Mobile Goes Deeper & Wider in 2.5GHz Holdings - FCC Auction 108 Results and Impact, "T-Mobile upgrading existing n41 sites is a no-brainer, likely immediately after FCC release." As a result of this filing, we now know which counties T-Mobile will upgrade first. Here is the list: Alabama ----------- Autauga Cullman Elmore Houston Jefferson Montgomery Shelby Talladega Arizona ---------- Cochise Coconino Gila Maricopa Mohave Pima Pinal Santa Cruz Cruz Santa Cruz Yavapai Arkansas ---------- Pulaski California ---------- Butte Calaveras Contra Costa El Dorado Fresno Kern Lassen Marin Merced Monterey Nevada Placer San Bernardino San Mateo Santa Barbara Siskiyou Sonoma Tuolumne Ventura Colorado ---------- Douglas Eagle Larimer Mesa Connecticut ---------- Middlesex New London Delaware ---------- Kent New Castle Sussex Florida ---------- Alachua Brevard Calhoun Citrus Dixie Franklin Gadsden Gilchrist Glades Gulf Hamilton Hendry Hernando Highlands Jackson Jefferson Lafayette Lake Leon Levy Madison Miami-Dade Monroe Nassau Okaloosa Okeechobee Palm Beach Putnam St. Johns Seminole Sumter Suwannee Taylor Volusia Wakulla Georgia ---------- Appling Bacon Bartow Brantley Bryan Bulloch Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattooga Cherokee Clayton Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Coweta Crisp Dade Dawson Decatur DeKalb Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Effingham Emanuel Evans Fannin Floyd Forsyth Fulton Gilmer Glynn Gordon Habersham Haralson Henry Jeff Davis Jenkins Lamar Lee Liberty Lincoln Long Lowndes McIntosh Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Murray Newton Paulding Pickens Pierce Pike Polk Rabun Randolph Rockdale Screven Spalding Tattnall Telfair Terrell Thomas Toombs Towns Treutlen Turner Union Walker Ware Wayne Wheeler Whitfield Wilcox Wilkes Worth Hawaii ---------- Hawaii Kauai Maui Illinois ---------- Champaign Kane Kankakee Kendall Lake LaSalle McHenry Madison Vermilion Will Winnebago Indiana ---------- Porter Vigo Iowa ---------- Dubuque Linn Pottawattamie Kansas ---------- Finney Riley Kentucky ---------- Adair Allen Anderson Barren Bath Bell Boone Bourbon Boyd Boyle Bracken Breckinridge Butler Calloway Campbell Carroll Carter Christian Clark Clinton Edmonson Fayette Fleming Floyd Franklin Gallatin Garrard Grant Graves Green Greenup Hardin Harrison Henry Hickman Hopkins Jessamine Johnson Kenton Letcher Lewis Lincoln Livingston Logan McCracken Madison Magoffin Marion Marshall Mason Menifee Mercer Monroe Montgomery Nelson Nicholas Pendleton Perry Rockcastle Rowan Scott Shelby Simpson Taylor Todd Trigg Union Warren Washington Woodford Louisiana ---------- Ascension East Baton Rouge Iberia Lafayette Livingston Ouachita Rapides St. Martin Maine ---------- York Maryland ---------- Allegany Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Queen Anne's St. Mary's Somerset Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester Massachusetts ---------------- Barnstable Hampden Hampshire Worcester Michigan ---------- Calhoun Clare Genesee Grand Traverse Isabella Kalamazoo Kent Lenawee Mecosta Montcalm Muskegon Newaygo Ottawa St. Clair St. Joseph Minnesota ---------- Crow Wing Lyon Olmsted Otter Tail St. Louis Mississippi ---------- Alcorn Benton Bolivar Coahoma Hancock Jefferson Davis Kemper Marion Neshoba Scott Sharkey Smith Tallahatchie Warren Wayne Wilkinson Yazoo Missouri ---------- Boone Camden Cole Taney Montana ---------- Gallatin Nebraska ---------- Douglas New Hampshire ---------- Belknap Cheshire Grafton Hillsborough Merrimack Rockingham Strafford New Jersey ---------- Atlantic Monmouth Morris Ocean Sussex Warren New Mexico ---------- Doña Ana San Miguel Santa Fe New York ---------- Allegany Broome Cattaraugus Chautauqua Clinton Jefferson Oneida Otsego Steuben Suffolk North Carolina ---------- Anson Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Camden Carteret Caswell Chatham Cherokee Cleveland Columbus Craven Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Forsyth Franklin Graham Granville Halifax Harnett Hertford Hoke Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir McDowell Macon Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New Hanover Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stokes Surry Swain Tyrrell Vance Wake Warren Washington Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Ohio ---------- Adams Ashland Athens Brown Carroll Clermont Clinton Coshocton Darke Defiance Erie Fairfield Fayette Fulton Gallia Guernsey Hamilton Hancock Henry Highland Hocking Holmes Huron Jackson Jefferson Knox Lake Lawrence Licking Meigs Muskingum Noble Ottawa Perry Pike Richland Ross Scioto Stark Tuscarawas Vinton Washington Wayne Williams Oklahoma ---------- Cherokee Comanche Mayes Oregon ---------- Douglas Lincoln Tillamook Pennsylvania ---------- Adams Armstrong Bedford Berks Blair Bradford Bucks Butler Cambria Chester Clarion Clearfield Cumberland Dauphin Elk Fayette Forest Franklin Greene Huntingdon Indiana Jefferson Lancaster Lebanon Lehigh Lycoming McKean Monroe Montour Northampton Northumberland Perry Pike Potter Schuylkill Snyder Somerset Susquehanna Tioga Union Venango Warren Washington Wayne Westmoreland York South Carolina ---------- Aiken Allendale Anderson Bamberg Barnwell Beaufort Berkeley Charleston Cherokee Chester Chesterfield Clarendon Colleton Darlington Dillon Fairfield Florence Georgetown Greenville Greenwood Hampton Horry Jasper Kershaw Lancaster Laurens Lee Lexington McCormick Marion Marlboro Newberry Oconee Orangeburg Pickens Richland Saluda Spartanburg Sumter Union Williamsburg York South Dakota ---------- Custer Meade Pennington Tennessee ---------- Bedford Benton Bledsoe Bradley Cannon Carroll Carter Cheatham Chester Claiborne Cocke Coffee Cumberland Davidson Decatur DeKalb Dickson Dyer Gibson Giles Grainger Greene Grundy Hamblen Hamilton Hardeman Hardin Hawkins Henderson Henry Hickman Humphreys Johnson Lauderdale Lawrence Loudon McMinn McNairy Marion Marshall Maury Meigs Monroe Montgomery Moore Morgan Obion Polk Rhea Roane Robertson Sequatchie Smith Stewart Sullivan Sumner Unicoi Warren Washington Wayne Weakley Wilson Texas ---------- Angelina Comal Cooke Denton Gregg Hays Howard Jim Wells Kerr Liberty Maverick Medina Montgomery Nacogdoches Polk Smith Starr Titus Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Utah ---------- Box Elder Cache Iron Summit Utah Weber Vermont ---------- Bennington Essex Virginia ---------- Accomack Alleghany Amherst Appomattox Augusta Bedford Bristol Brunswick Campbell Caroline Carroll Charles City Charlotte Chesterfield Clarke Colonial Heights Culpeper Danville Dinwiddie Essex Fauquier Franklin Franklin Frederick Fredericksburg Gloucester Goochland Greensville Hanover Henrico Henry Hopewell James City King and Queen King George King William Lancaster Loudoun Lynchburg Mathews Mecklenburg Middlesex New Kent Northampton Norton Nottoway Orange Petersburg Pittsylvania Powhatan Prince Edward Prince George Pulaski Radford Rappahannock Richmond Richmond Rockbridge Russell Scott Shenandoah Smyth Southampton Spotsylvania Stafford Sussex Warren Washington Westmoreland Winchester Wise Wythe York Washington ---------- Cowlitz Grays Harbor Lewis Mason Pierce Skagit Snohomish Thurston West Virginia ---------- Berkeley Boone Braxton Brooke Cabell Fayette Hampshire Jackson Jefferson Kanawha Lincoln Mineral Mingo Monongalia Morgan Nicholas Preston Putnam Ritchie Wayne Wirt Wood Wisconsin ---------- Brown Chippewa Dane Eau Claire Jefferson Kenosha La Crosse Marathon Portage Rock St. Croix Sauk Walworth Wyoming ---------- Laramie

Dave Yeager S4GRU/T5GRU Thursday, October 13, 2022 - 1:20 PM PDT . In T-Mobile Goes Deeper & Wider in 2.5GHz Holdings - FCC Auction 108 Results and Impact we discussed the white space T-Mobile won. We also noted how the complexity of 2.5 GHz (band 41) kept other major carriers from competing, a true barrier to entry in strategic terms. Now we will get you started on unraveling that complexity to compute how much 2.5Ghz bandwidth T-Mobile controls in your county or equivalent. Control not only means ownership but also leasing. Since white space means what is left over, we will start with what T-Mobile traditionally controls by looking at two counties that cover most complexities. This article will examine one county that represents the new aspects just introduced while the next article will approach a more traditional county that has been heavily changed in recent years by T-Mobile negotiations. Example: Auction 108, Cuming County Nebraska The FCC divides 2.5Ghz (band 41) into Broadband Radio Service (BRS or BR) and Education Broadband Service (EBS or ED). ED is the larger portion so we will start with it. Our first county is Cuming in Nebraska with about 9,000 people. It has other license holders. One traditional EBS license holder has their radius edge slice through the county and the other is a Native American license holder. T-Mobile won some but not all white space in this county. http://bing.com/maps is recommended for our purposes because it easily shows Native American reservations, which were given a special period for requests before Auction 108 and medium priority. Note that Native American land may extend beyond the reservation and be quite fragmented. The first item is to see if this county was in FCC Auction 108. If yes, we need to note what channels T-Mobile purchased. 1) Type https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction108/reports/results_by_license in the browser of your choice. 2) Slide search switch to On so little boxes appear under each heading. 3) Select the box under Market and type the state or equivalent two letter abbreviation plus a dash "-". 4) Select the box under Market Name and type the name of the county. 5) Select the blue Apply box that popped up. 6) If nothing comes up, then recheck the state abbreviation and the county name spelling, else this county was not part of the FCC Auction 108 for 2.5GHz -- you can still continue if you wish to calculate T-Mobile's 2.5GHz bandwidth for the county, although the next article/example many be more appropriate. 7) Assuming data does appear, look in the Bidder column to the right and note the categories where the Bidder was T-Mobile. In this case it is C2 and C3. https://s4gru.com/entry/442-t-mobile-goes-deeper-wider-in-25ghz-holdings-fcc-auction-108-results-and-impact/ shows in the "2.5Ghz Band Plan" diagram that C2 frequency is from 2551.5 to 2602, C3 is from 2615 to 2616 and 2673.5 to 2690. [for future reference C1 is 2502 to 2551.5]. Make a note of the frequencies that T-Mobile won in the FCC Auction 108. This FCC link is preferred when it is working (so everyone can get used to their systems), but here is a Google Sheets FCC Auction 108 - Results by License spreadsheet work-around if needed. Go to edit, select find, a box will pop up, to the right of find put the state abbreviation plus dash, "NE-", then select find at the bottom of this box. Repeat this process with county name, "Cuming". Scroll down two lines to see C2 and C3 categories. Then proceed below. 1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):. 3) Scroll the selection window and select ED - Educational Broadcast Service. 4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active. 5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100. 6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch. Select the State (or territory/district). The select the County or equivalent. Then Search in the lower right. Any EBS in the county will now appear. Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol to the right of them (unless they also have a pending application). The License will open on the main tab. Under Dates, if the Grant date is before 2/2/2020, it is most likely a traditional ED license. Watch for possible sale or lease to be pending within a year of the expiration date if not already owned by T-Mobile or a subsidiary (common names include Sprint, Clearwire, NSAC, etc. If controlled by T-Mobile, it will generally be mentioned on the Main Page for leases or the administrative page for licenses. Look at the contact information or the e-mail address for further hints. Select the Map tab. Then under License Geography in the upper left corner of the map, there is a box with three lines, click on it and select 2017 County to get county lines drawn on the map. This is the typical EBS radius license. Note the thin sliver in the NE portion of Cuming county. It also has typical EBS sized frequency ranges. The License will open on the main tab. Under Dates, if the Grant date is after 2/2/2020 and the Type is Government Entity, highly likely that it is a rural tribal license. You can verify that here: https://www.fcc.gov/25-ghz-rural-tribal-application-details or on a national map here (be patient) https://fcc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b51c97987df5452da4a2b37ec6c28d09&showLayers=Granted - Applications&extent=-99.9200920559036,48.8052768617378,-99.657057161259,48.8924750077155 or check Under the Market tab for Auction. It should be 9997 - TribalLand. These licenses get higher priority than Auction 108 licenses, but less than traditional ED licenses. Under Buildout Dates, look at the 1st and 2nd. Watch for possible sale or lease to be pending within a year of those dates just like with any other license or lease. Select the Map tab to see coverage. In this case it is quite similar to the reservation noted on the first county map. In this case it covers most of the NE portion of the county over basically what would be C1, C2, and C3 frequency ranges in FCC Auction 108. After the frequencies is Auction. If is says 9997 - TribalLand, it will get higher priority than Auction 108. They are recorded as traditional ED frequency segments rather than C1, C2 and/or C3, which is likely how the FCC Auction 108 frequencies will also be recorded. (Hopefully the FCC can simplify EBS all owned by the same firm sometime in the future.) Traditional auctions are often not listed, but they get the highest priority. Now we will figure out the ED allocations in Cuming county NE. The first item to note is the priority ranking of licenses. The original ED licenses have first priority. If two traditional licenses intersect on the same frequency, the FCC directions are to split the intersection in half, ie "split the football". Licenses from the Rural Tribal Window have second priority which were awarded as C1, C2 and C3 as requested. Licenses from the regular auction 108 have last priority. Enter the start and end frequency for each license segment and notes on coverage into a spreadsheet. Google sheets is free if you don't have a spreadsheet. We now sort the licenses by frequency. We now combine the ED licenses, paying attention to each priority area. This means we eliminate the lower priority frequency overlaps. We now need to look at BRS, which is the commercial side of band 41. It was auctioned off as Basic Trading areas which later transitioned into PEAs, or Partial Economic Areas in most cases. PEAs are best thought of as groups of counties. There are a few older licenses that remain radius, but this is rare. 1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):. 3) Scroll the selection window and select BR - Broadband Radio Service. 4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active. 5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100. 6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch. Select the State (or territory/district). The select the County or equivalent. Then Search in the lower right. Any BRS in the county will now appear. Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol in front of them (unless they also have a pending application). Very common that BRS in adjacent PEAs also appears. Select each Call Sign/License Link shown above. Then choose the Map tab and scroll down to the map and find your county. BRS search ability to find counties is poor, thus eliminate licenses that do not match (see below). Below are two licenses that do match our desired county. Time for a spreadsheet again. First we add the T-Mobile BRS from the license spectrum range below the the map. This has become much more accurate in dividing spectrum between two matching licenses in recent years. Associated frequencies above the map can also be used if you want to accept more duplication. Double check the spectrum accuracy of any leases since all spectrum may not be leased. Then we will sort the BRS by Start frequency. Now we combine the licenses with matching frequencies together. Now we combine the BRS results together with the EBS results. Since the EBS results have three different areas in the county, we will add the BRS results to each area. We also remove the other spectrum license holders, since we are just interested in T-Mobile. Now we sort each area's license parts by frequency. We can also reduce out the "Thin sliver of NE Corner" since it lies within the "Most of the Northeast Corner". Finally we end up with the T-Mobile band 41 holdings for each of the two remaining T-Mobile band 41 areas of Cuming county Nebraska What matters is the amount of contiguous space. In the case of the 2616 to 2618 Mhz gap, the FCC does have discretion to allow unassigned Mhz to be used with adjacent matching license holders. Typically this space would have been assigned to BRS owners already as shown below. Note that J or K channels would need to be negotiated with the other parties. In other cases the frequency owners could trade leases which could just cover portions of the bandwidth, but this is not typical. Below is the traditional Band Plan for 2.5 Ghz, taken from a "Request for Special Temporary Authority" from Sprint in 2016. Here is a refresher map of the two T-Mobile band 41 areas. As is, the northeast corner would likely yield 50Mhz and perhaps 10Mhz. The remainder of the county would yield 60MHz and 70Mhz, although I do consider it possible for the FCC to give them a temporary accommodation until a future auction to have 136.5 in on contiguous section, thus 100Mhz and 30Mhz. 10Mhz is typically the smallest amount T-Mobile will consider, and may just be used to park an inactive phone until more speed is needed. If there is any discrepancy in T-Mobile's favor between what you have calculated versus what signal indicates, first double check your work. Else it is common for data edits and new leases in the FCC license system to lag by several months. Now it is time for you to check your most interesting counties where T-Mobile was awarded 2.5GHz Band 41 whitespace!

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesTuesday, May 7, 2019 - 12:00 PM PDT For weeks, rumors have been circulating that Verizon's carrier exclusivity deal to sell Google Pixel devices was ending and other carriers, such as Sprint, will offer them in addition to direct sales from Google. S4GRU has been able to attain information that this is indeed correct and that Sprint will soon be selling Pixel 3, Pixel 3XL, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 3a XL devices. [Google has has announced that Sprint, in addition to other carriers, are selling the device. Source.] Sprint's internal systems have been updated with the devices information and retail stores are receiving shipping information notifying them of the imminent arrival of the Pixel devices. Pricing 1. Pixel 3: $799 2. Pixel 3 XL: $929 3. Pixel 3a: $399 4. Pixel 3a XL: $479 Modem Specifications Pixel 3 GSM 850 / 1900 WCDMA Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 CDMA Band Class: 0 / 1 / 10 LTE Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 29 / 30 / 38 / 41 / 48 / 66 / 71 Carrier Aggregation Combinations 2xCA B41 2xCA B25 3xCA B41 4xCA B41 B25 + B26 B25 + B41 Pixel 3 XL GSM 850 / 1900 WCDMA Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 CDMA Band Class: 0 / 1 / 10 LTE Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 12 / 13 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 29 / 30 / 38 / 41 / 48 / 66 / 71 Carrier Aggregation Combinations 2xCA B41 2xCA B25 3xCA B41 4xCA B41 B25 + B26 B25 + B41 Pixel 3a GSM 850 / 1900 WCDMA Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 CDMA Band Class: 0 / 1 / 10 LTE Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 29 / 30 / 38 / 41 / 48 / 66 / 71 Carrier Aggregation Combinations 2xCA 41 3xCA 41 2xCA B25 B25 + B26 2xCA B25 + B26 B25 + B41 B26 + B41 Pixel 3a XL GSM 850 / 1900 WCDMA Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 CDMA Band Class: 0 / 1 / 10 LTE Bands: 2 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 17 / 25 / 26 / 29 / 30 / 38 / 41 / 48 / 66 / 71 Carrier Aggregation Combinations 2xCA 41 3xCA 41 2xCA B25 B25 + B26 2xCA B25 + B26 B25+ B41 B26 +B41 In addition, Sprint has also recently enabled Pixel 3's eSIM support which is likely to be also true with the Pixel 3a devices when it launches. This means there is no need to seek out the correct SIM card for the device to activate it, though a physical sim card is still an alternate option and the S4GRU SIM Card spreadsheet has been updated to include the 3a and 3a XL devices. Pixel ESIM activation guide 1. Connect device to WiFi 2. Go to Settings, Network & internet, Mobile network, Advanced, Carrier. Alternatively search "carrier" in settings 3. Tap "Add Carrier" 4. Login to Sprint Account and select device to receive one time activation code to continue. Select line to activate Pixel on. 5. Pixel should now be activated. ** If ESIM capable Pixel is already activated on line with a SIM card, you may have to activate another Sprint device in its place before you can undergo the ESIM activation steps ** Credit to ingenium for the ESIM guide Pixel 3 G013A, Pixel 3 XL G013C, Pixel 3a G020A, Pixel 3a XL G020G

Tim YuSprint 4G Rollout UpdatesFriday, December 14, 2018 - 11:00 PM PDT Beginning today on the Sprint subreddit, individuals can begin submitting questions in this thread that will be forwarded to Ms. Schnellbacher to answer at his leisure in a few days time. Who is Mr. Jason Schnellbacher you may ask? So go forth and submit all your questions about Sprint Magic Box's, small cells, and other Sprint related stuff!

Tim Yu Sprint 4G Rollout Updates December 15, 2016 - 9:40 PM PDT It's been but a blink of an eye since Sprint CTO Gunther's last Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) but he's back! Right now, December 16, 2016 at 11 AM to 12 PM PDT, he is doing his second AMA on R/Sprint. Be sure to check it out and ask him many questions that have kept you from blissful nights of rest.

Dave Yeager S4GRU/T5GRU Monday, October 17, 2022 - 10:00 AM PDT . In T-Mobile Goes Deeper & Wider in 2.5GHz Holdings - FCC Auction 108 Results and Impact we discussed the white space T-Mobile won. We also noted how the complexity of 2.5 GHz (band 41) kept other major carriers from competing, a true barrier to entry in strategic terms. Now we will get you started on unraveling that complexity to compute how much 2.5Ghz bandwidth T-Mobile controls in your county or equivalent. Control not only means ownership but also leasing. In many of the traditional metropolitan areas there was no whitespace. Rather a hodgepodge of licenses was cobbled together by Clearwire and Sprint in an heavily derided spectrum which is now viewed by many as the sweet spot of 5G. This article will approach a more traditional county that has been heavily changed in recent years by T-Mobile/Sprint negotiations while the prior article, Determining T-Mobile 2.5GHz Band 41 in Your County - Whitespace Licenses, examined one county that represents the new aspects just introduced by FCC Auction 108 and its preparations. Example: Traditional EBS, Crawford County Ohio The FCC divides 2.5Ghz (band 41) into Broadband Radio Service (BRS or BR) and Education Broadband Service (EBS or ED). ED is the larger portion so we will start with it. Crawford County in Ohio has about 42,000 people along a route from Columbus to the Lake Erie islands. No white space was auctioned in this county and their are no federally recognized Native American reservations, therefor https://www.google.com/maps can be the preferred choice, since it offers a better road map. Like http://bing.com/maps, it does provide current information including population. Crawford County has seen T-Mobile/Sprint purchase many licenses in recent years that continues to this day. It also has a rare BRS radius license. T-Mobile is on the march to total Band 41 domination in this county. The first item is to see if this county was in FCC Auction 108. If yes, we need to note what channels T-Mobile purchased. Preferred Auction 108 Lookup Method (this FCC site may not be functioning correctly) 1) Type https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction108/reports/results_by_license in the Chrome browser. 2) Slide search switch to On so little boxes appear under each heading. 3) Select the box under Market and type the state or equivalent two letter abbreviation plus a dash "-". 4) Select the box under Market Name and type the name of the county. 5) Select the blue Apply box that popped up. (If there is a thin red box (error message) peaking out from under the apply box, the proceed to the Alternate Auction 108 lookup method below the FCC site image). 6) If nothing comes up, then recheck the state abbreviation and the county name spelling, else this county was not part of the FCC Auction 108 for 2.5GHz -- you are reading the ideal article. 7) If data does appear, Then the previous article is likely better: https://s4gru.com/entry/443-determining-t-mobile-25ghz-band-41-in-your-county-whitespace-licenses/. Alternate Auction 108 Lookup Method This FCC link is preferred when it is working (easier to read answer and so everyone can get used to their systems), but here is a Google Sheets FCC Auction 108 - Results by License spreadsheet work-around if needed. 1) Go to edit, select find, a box will pop up, to the right of find put the state abbreviation plus dash, "OH-", then select find at the bottom of this box. 2) Repeat this process with county name, "Crawford". 3) If your county is not listed, (not found or matches the wrong state), then proceed to the FCC Advanced License Search section below, otherwise the previous article is likely better: https://s4gru.com/entry/443-determining-t-mobile-25ghz-band-41-in-your-county-whitespace-licenses/. FCC Advanced License Search 1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):. 3) Scroll the selection window and select ED - Educational Broadcast Service. 4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active. 5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100. 6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch. Select the State (or territory/district). The select the County or equivalent. Then Search in the lower right. Any EBS in the county will now appear. Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol to the right of them (unless they also have a pending application -- which we have two examples of below). The License will open on the main tab. Under Dates, if the Grant date is before 2/2/2020, it is most likely a traditional ED license. Watch for possible sale or lease to be pending within a year of the expiration date if not already owned by T-Mobile or a subsidiary (common names include Sprint, Clearwire, NSAC, etc. If controlled by T-Mobile, it will generally be mentioned on the Main Page for leases or the administrative page for licenses. Look at the contact information or the e-mail address for further hints. Possible Multi-site Spectrum Swap or Purchase Given the pending applications, this license has some promise. It could just be a renewal or name change or something much greater. Select the underlined number to the right of This number has pending applications. It shows LN-New Lease, and just 4 lines above it says Clearwire Spectrum Holdings III LLC, which is a subsidiary of T-Mobile. Most importantly, under Attachments, it says Reference to Lead Application, which likely means far more counties are affected. Select it to find out more. The Reference to Lead Application then pulls up a pop-up window, which gives you the lead application number, which will cover two or more areas. To follow this, in a browser of your choice, type http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/searchAppl.jsp then type in the file number from your lead application information as show below in this example. Quickly select through the file information. If there is more than one, choose the one that is pending rather than inactive. It will pull up the information and go immediately to the Admin tab as shown below. You will find various attachments that can popup on your screen. Of these attachments, I would start with selecting the public interest statement. In the Explanation of the Transaction and Public Interest Statement we can see that T-Mobile is buying a number of licenses and leases from W.A.T.C.H. TV of Lima, OH. In this transaction description further down, you get more details of the FCC licenses involved. Further down they given a summary that t-Mobile will gain from 22.5 to 06.5 MHz from this transaction. I have never seen the cost stated in these documents, which is likely viewed as a trade secret. To help the FCC evaluate this purchase from the public good perspective, T-Mobile's ownership of other spectrum in the various counties must be shown. Just the first page is shown below. Next a Competition Analysis in the affected counties must be provided. Just the first page is show. Of course other information is required, but we have seen what will affect us the most. When you find this type of information, I recommend sharing it. Post it to S4gru.com where a high percentage of members love this type of information. On Reddit there is r/tmobile even though most posts are on phone deals, phone issues, and billing issues it should get attention. Also on Reddit is r/cellmapper with many posts of tower pictures and software update details, but posts like this should be appreciated. There are other groups as well so this list is not all inclusive. Return to the County's EBS leases So we now return to the EBS leases. We will assume the transfer from W.A.T.C.H. TV to T-Mobile will occur soon, if it has not happened already (data entry can sometimes take months). Here are our previous search results in this new light. Since every license is leased we will only be looking at the leases. Below is the first of two leases tied to license WLX885. The frequencies assigned to both leases match as well as the coverage area. A difference is the technical page for this lease is missing a central antenna site typically used for EBS. Select the Map tab. Then under License Geography in the upper left corner of the map, there is a box with three lines, select it and select 2017 County to get county lines drawn on the map. A different W.A.T.C.H. TV lease being purchased by TV which should mesh well with any T-Mobile BRS holdings. Not the this lease also ties back to WLQ885 and has the same spectrum. We now move to Clearwire EBS leases, most of which were started in 2016 under Sprint. Now we enter the spectrum inform above into a spreadsheet for ED. Since there are no Tribal or Auction 108 licenses, all are the same high priority: We now sort the licenses by frequency. We now combine the ED licenses by combining the contiguous frequencies. You can see that almost all of the ED spectrum is consumed. We now need to look at BRS, which is the commercial side of band 41. It was auctioned off as Basic Trading areas which later transitioned into PEAs, or Partial Economic Areas in most cases. PEAs are best thought of as groups of counties. There are a few older licenses that remain radius, but this is rare. 1) in the browser of your choice, type in the address for the FCC's Advanced License Search, which is http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp . 2) Under Call Sign & Radio Services, select the button for Match only the following radio service(s):. 3) Scroll the selection window and select BR - Broadband Radio Service. 4) Under License Detail, then Status, select the button for Active. 5) Under Customize Your Results, then Results Display, select 100. 6) in the lower right corner select Geosearch. Select the State (or territory/district). The select the County or equivalent. Then Search in the lower right. Any BRS in the county will now appear. Select each Call Sign/ Lease ID, except the ones with the L for lease symbol in front of them (unless they also have a pending application). Very common that BRS in adjacent PEAs also appears. Select each Call Sign/License Link shown above. Then choose the Map tab and scroll down to the map and find your county. BRS search ability to find counties is poor, thus eliminate licenses that do not match (see below). Below are three licenses that do match our desired county. Below is a rare radius BRS license, likely from the earliest days. Time for a spreadsheet again. First we add the T-Mobile BRS from the license spectrum range below the the map. This has become much more accurate in dividing spectrum between two matching licenses in recent years. Associated frequencies above the map can also be used if you want to accept more duplication. Double check the spectrum accuracy of any leases since all spectrum may not be leased. Then we will sort the BRS by Start frequency. Now we combine the licenses with matching frequencies together. Now we combine the BRS results together with the EBS results. Since the EBS results have three different areas in the county, we will add the BRS results to each area. Now we sort by Start frequency. Now we combine the contiguous frequency ranges together. What matters is the amount of contiguous space. T-Mobile show soon own or lease all 2.5 GHz Band 41 licenses in this county. Therefore it should be not problem for T-Mobile to ask the FCC to use the J & K "guard" band spaces as shown below. So 194Mhz of contiguous 2.5 GHz band spectrum. This could be used for 100 and 90 Mhz n41 as mentioned above or they could also set aside two 20Mhz channels for Band 41 LTE to take the load off existing AWS. It really depends the overall customers' phone mix between LTE and 5g plus the other frequencies and tower site demand. Below is the traditional Band Plan for 2.5 Ghz, taken from a "Request for Special Temporary Authority" from Sprint in 2016. If there is any discrepancy in T-Mobile's favor between what you have calculated versus what signal indicates, first double check your work. Else it is common for data edits and new leases in the FCC license system to lag by several months. Now it is time for you to check your most interesting counties for 2.5GHz Band 41 spectrum availability!!

by Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Friday, August 19, 2016 - 2:04 AM MDT Earlier this week, the two HTC 2016 Nexus handsets -- codenamed "Marlin" and "Sailfish" -- were caught in the net of the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) authorization database. While Google has yet to reveal them officially as Nexus handsets, that HTC is the manufacturer of choice this year has been a heavily leaked secret the past few months. And the circumstantial evidence now is overwhelming. The FCC grantee code, NM8G, appends a "G" to the usual NM8 grantee code for HTC branded devices, and the user manual declaration document posits that the final draft manual will be available publicly on the Google web site in the Nexus support section. Neither handset has been identified or named individually, though the 2PW4100 likely is the larger "Marlin," the 2PW2100, the smaller "Sailfish." Both are at least the domestic variants with airlink support across the board for VZW, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. No international variants have passed through the FCC OET. Unless international variants do get authorized in the coming days/weeks, the two HTC Nexus handsets could end up in uncharted waters as single variants for the world, covering all supported international LTE bands, too. Full disclosure, however, probably will have to wait until the Google announcement event when accompanying tech specs are published. In the meantime, the domestic RF uplink test results and declarations are out in the world. S4GRU will not run down every last RF capability. But, just to confirm, some of the highlights are... LTE bands 2/4/5/7/12/13/17/25/26/29/30/41 VoLTE bands 2/4/5/12/13 (for VZW, AT&T, and T-Mobile) Downlink 2x/3x CA Dual, switched WWAN Tx antennas 0 and 1, bottom and top 802.11ac 2x MIMO The primary purpose of this article is to present a retrospective on the uplink RF powers of the current 2013-2016 era of 3GPP/3GPP2, Sprint compatible Nexus handsets as well as two recent HTC handsets. Those domestic variant Nexus handsets and the Sprint variant HTC One A9 and HTC 10 are the RF and design forebears of the 2016 Nexus handsets. So, how do the new kids on the block hold up to their predecessors? S4GRU culled relevant data across all eight handsets from thousands of pages of authorization documents in the FCC OET. For the radiated power figures, the usual clauses about lab testing versus real world performance and uplink versus downlink always apply. The figures represent best averaged and rounded estimates of maximum uplink ERP/EIRP test results provided to the FCC OET in the authorization filings for the domestic variant Nexus devices and Sprint variant HTC devices. See below: The numbers can speak for themselves. The LG, Motorola, and Huawei manufactured handsets generally are more powerful. The HTC handsets are not blatantly deficient -- though the One A9 comes uncomfortably close -- but the 2016 Nexus do spec out typically average or slightly below. Source: FCC

by Josh McDaniel, Tim Yu, and Andrew J. Shepherd Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - 11:50 PM MST Update: Further inspection of the FCC OET authorization filings has shown that while Samsung will produce only one "US" hardware variant each for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, it still will delineate operator specific "V," "A," "T," "P," and "R4" variants via firmware. That firmware on the Sprint "P" variant, for example, will enable CCA/RRPP compliant bands 2/4/5/12/25/26/41 but disable VZW band 13, AT&T bands 29/30, and VoLTE. Similar segmentation applies to the other domestic variants, such as the AT&T "A" variant and T-Mobile "T" variant, both of which disable CDMA2000 and Sprint bands 25/26/41. Thus, the single SKU aspect for the "US" hardware variants of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will be limited to their respective FCC IDs. At the retail and end user levels, separate SKUs and model numbers still will exist for the operator specific airlink/band firmware packages. S4GRU hopes, however, that Samsung will use this consolidated hardware platform now as means also to sell unlocked BYOD versions of both handsets that will have full airlink/band firmware across all domestic operators. Per Samsung Galaxy astronomy, the "V" suffix has been for VZW, the "A" suffix for AT&T, the "T" suffix for T-Mobile, the "P" suffix for Sprint, and the "R4" suffix for regional operators. But what does the "US" suffix mean for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge? Both handsets A3LSMG930US and A3LSMG935US bearing the "US" suffix in their model numbers were intentionally/unintentionally outed today in the FCC OET (Office of Engineering and Technology) database -- weeks in advance of their supposed official reveals at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month. Okay, the seventh generation of Samsung Galaxy handsets is a big deal. That said, what is so special about these two device authorizations? Well, these two authorization filings with the FCC cover the entire gamut of supported LTE bands for every single US operator -- and include downlink three carrier aggregation support. Even before Apple, Samsung appears on the verge of single SKU handsets for the US. VZW band 13. Sure. AT&T bands 29 and 30. Right on. T-Mobile band 12. Absolutely. Sprint bands 25, 26, and 41. Positively. Carrier aggregation. Yup. Furthermore, as both Samsung handsets support CDMA2000, that is strong indication Samsung has reversed course from the the sixth generation of Samsung Galaxy handsets and included Qualcomm baseband modems in all domestic handsets. Almost assuredly, the chip of choice is the Snapdragon X12 LTE modem. That detail, though, is not yet available. On a similar count, tested RF ERP/EIRP figures are beyond the purview of this teaser. However, S4GRU may follow up later on all of the above. In the meantime, here are the nitty gritty Galaxy S7 domestic airlink specs. The FCC filings did not disclose -- nor are they required to disclose -- international airlink support. Samsung Galaxy S7 GSM / GPRS / EDGE: 850 / 1900 W-CDMA Band: 2 / 4 / 5 CDMA Band Class: 0 / 1 / 10 LTE Band: 2 / 4 / 5 / 12 / 13 / 25 / 26 / 29 (downlink only) / 30 / 41 LTE Carrier Aggregation: 2xCA 2+4 / 2+5/ 2+12 / 2+13 / 2+29 / 2+30 4+2 / 4+4 / 4+5 / 4+12 / 4+13 / 4+29 / 4+30 5+2 / 5+4 / 5+30 / 12+2 / 12+4 / 12+30 13+2 / 13+4 25+25 30+2 / 30+4 / 30+5 / 30+12 / 30+29 41+41 3xCA 2+4+12 / 2+4+13 / 2+5+30 / 2+12+30 / 2+29+30 4+2+12 / 4+2+13 / 4+4+12 / 4+5+13 / 4+5+12 / 4+5+30 / 4+12+30 / 4+29+30 5+2+30 12+4+2 / 13+2+4 30+2 +5 / 30+2+12 / 30+2+29 / 30+4+5 / 30+4+12 / 30+4+29 41+41+41 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge GSM / GPRS / EDGE: 850 / 1900 W-CDMA Band: 2 / 4 / 5 CDMA Band Class: 0 / 1 / 10 LTE Band: 2 / 4 / 5 / 12 / 13 / 25 / 26 / 29 (downlink only) / 30 / 41 LTE Carrier Aggregation: 2xCA 2+4 / 2+5 / 2+12 / 2+ 13 / 2+29 / 2+30 4+2 / 4+4 / 4+5 / 4+12 / 4+13 / 4+29 / 4+30 5+2 / 5+4 / 5+30 / 12+2 / 12+4 / 12+30 13+2 / 13+4 25+25 30+2 / 30+4 / 30+5 / 30+ 12 / 30+29 41+41 3xCA 2+4+12 / 2+4+13 / 2+5+30 / 2+12+30 / 2+29+30 4+2+12/ 4+2+13 / 4+4+12 / 4+5+13/ 4+5+12 / 4+5+30 / 4+12+30 / 4+29+30 5+2+30 12+4+2 / 13+2+4 30+2 +5 / 30+2+12 / 30+2+29 / 30+4+5 / 30+4+12 / 30+4+29 41+41+41 Note in bold text the Sprint relevant 2x CA combinations each for band 25 and band 41, then 3x CA combinations for band 41. One SKU, one "US" device variant for all in the US, just like or better than iPhone and Nexus? By all appearances, yes. And while S4GRU is a Sprint centric blog and web site, this Samsung development has ramifications for millions of VZW, AT&T, T-Mobile, USCC, et al., users, too. You heard it here first -- at S4GRU. Sources: FCC

by Tim Yu Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Friday, April 8, 2016 - 3:40 PM MDT Over the past week, S4GRU members in multiple Sprint markets have discovered new EARFCNs and corresponding GCI endings that identify new Band 41 LTE carriers. The EARFCN is the center frequency of an LTE carrier that, along with the carrier bandwidth, identifies the carrier placement and occupied spectrum. As Sprint is doing intraband contiguous/adjacent carrier aggregation -- 20 MHz TDD Band 41 carriers are lined up right next to one another with no gaps -- Band 41 EARFCNs are highly predictable in a given market by knowing the location of at least one carrier. Say the ever popular EARFCN 40978 is the first carrier. You add 198 (19.8 MHz) to it to get EARFCN 41176, which is the second Band 41 carrier. Thus, it stands to reason if you add 198 to that EARFCN, you will get the third Band 41 carrier so 41176 + 198 = 41374, the EARFCN for the third Band 41 carrier. Or, in some other markets, 41078 is the first Band 41 carrier. In this case, it goes like this: 41078 + 198 = 41276 + 198 = 41474 Alternatively, say a market has EARFCNs 40056 and 40254. Adding 198 would bring us to EARFCN 40452, but that is not possible due to the BRS/EBS 2500-2600 MHz band plan -- there are spectrum gaps around 2570 MHz and 2610 MHz that Sprint cannot utilize. See the band plan: Thus, in the case of EARFCNs 40056 and 40254, not addition, but use subtraction: 40056 - 198 = 39858, which would be the third Band 41 carrier. The GCI is the unique cell sector identifier of a LTE carrier. Generally speaking, Sprint's GCI patterns are standardized market by market and network wide, making for an easy method to identify each LTE carrier within a given band. In the case of Band 41, GCIs ending in 00/01/02 (Samsung) or x1/x2/x3 (ALU/NSN) indicate a connection to the original and first Band 41 carrier. GCIs ending in 03/04/05 (STA) or x9/xA/xB (ALU/NSN) denote the second Band 41 carrier. It stands to reason that -- if this second carrier pattern were to continue to the third Band 41 carrier in Samsung markets -- we would expect to see GCIs possibly ending in 06/07/08. Long story short, this theory is supported by evidence. See below SignalCheck Pro logs and numerous in app screenshots: This log is from my Nexus 5x. I traveled for a hour around Sacramento, searching for the third Band 41 carrier. Note the GCI endings for the Sprint Band 41 entries: The following is from site member bmoses in Des Moines. Note the 07 GCI ending and EARFCN: Below is from a S4GRU member in the Colorado market: One more from the Cincinnati, Ohio Market: The following is from yours truly in Sacramento: And these below are from Fremont, CA, near San Jose: See those EARFCNs and GCI endings? Look at the calculations from the top of this PSA. Everything is as we would have predicted for a third carrier. With the end of the WiMAX injunction and the decomissioning of the last active Clearwire WiMAX markets that held up huge swaths of leased EBS and licensed BRS spectrum, Sprint finally has the capability to show off its deep spectrum pockets in numerous markets. This has been long awaited and should definitely give a huge boost to Sprint data speeds in numerous markets where spectrum for additional Band 41 carriers now is available. Of course, there still is the issue of actually connecting to and using this third Band 41 carrier. From firsthand reports and personal use, this third Band 41 carrier is not currently carrier aggregation enabled. Thus, 2x/3x CA devices may not connect to it to use data right now. By default, these devices will have CA enabled, causing them to utilize only the first and second carriers that they can aggregate. For the time being, in order to reliably connect to this third carrier, a non CA triband device or a 2x/3x CA setting disabled triband device may be required. Regardless, this appears to be just a minor issue from the initial rollouts that should be resolved soon. Source: S4GRU member reports

by Robert Herron Sprint 4G Rollout Updates September 11, 2016 - 12:30 PM PDT We have many good friends over at the Sprint Reddit page, and many of our members spend a lot of time there. They are excited at their recent score to host an AMA with Sprint's new COO of Technology, Günther Ottendorfer. S4GRU wants to help spread the news. The AMA is scheduled for tomorrow, September 12th from 1:30 - 2:30pm Central Daylight Time. This should be an exciting exchange for S4GRU members, as Mr. Ottendorfer is responsibile for overseeing Sprint’s network, technology and IT organizations, including related strategy, network operations and performance, as well as partnerships with network, technology and IT vendors. As stated in the Sprint Subreddit page, "Günther looks forward to answering your questions on Sprint's pioneering efforts, network performance, LTE Plus network, network technology and roadmap, LTE Advanced, 5G, Network Function Virtualization (NFV), spectrum, and its Densification & Optimization strategy." Be sure to check it out!