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Kaiser Roll

So, in summary, here are the options I tested: T-Mobile intl roaming - LTE on SoftBank, routes back to the US (~220ms to 4.2.2.4) IIJ physical SIM - LTE on NTT, local routing Airalo - LTE on SoftBank and KDDI (seems to prefer SoftBank), routed through Singapore (SingTel) Ubigi - 5G on NTT, routed through Singapore (Transatel) US Mobile East Asia roaming - 5G on SoftBank, routed through Singapore (Club SIM) Saily - 5G on NTT, routed through Hong Kong (Truphone)...seems to be poorer routing my1010 - LTE on SoftBank and KDDI (seems to prefer KDDI), routed through Taiwan (Chunghwa Telecom) I wouldn't buy up on the T-Mobile international roaming, but it's a solid fallback. If you have the US Mobile roaming eSIM that's a great option. Otherwise Ubigi, Airalo, or my1010 are all solid options, so get whatever's cheapest. I wouldn't bother trying to find a physical SIM from IIJ...the Japanese IP is nice but there's enough WiFi that you can get a Japanese IP enough for whatever you need, and eSIM flexibility is great (IIJ as eSIM but seems a bit more involved to get it to work).

So, the rural part of the journey still has cell service for nearly all the way, usually on B18/19/8 (depending on whether we're talking about KDDI/NTT/SoftBank). I think I saw a bit of B28 and even n28 early on in the trip, though that faded out after a bit. Once we got to where we were going though, KDDI had enough B41 to pull 150+ Mbps, while NTT and SoftBank had B1/B3 IIRC. Cell service was likewise generally fine from Kawaguchiko Station to Tokyo on the express bus to Shinjuku Station, though there were some cases where only low-band LTE was available and capacity seemed to struggle. I also figured out what I was seeing with SoftBank on 40 MHz vs. 100 MHz n77: the 40 MHz blocks are actually inside the n78 band class, but SoftBank advertises them as n77, probably to facilitate NR CA. My phone likely preferred the 40 MHz slices as they're *much* lower-frequency, ~3.4 GHz rather than ~3.9, though of course I did see the 100 MHz slice being used rather often. By contrast, when I got NR on NTT it was either n28 10x10 or, more often, 100 MHz n78. As usual, EMEA bands on my S24 don't CA, so any data speeds I saw were the result of either one LTE carrier or one LTE carrier plus one NR carrier...except for B41 LTE. KDDI seems to have more B41 bandwidth live at this point, so my1010 or Airalo works well for this, and honestly while SoftBank and NTT 5G (in descending order of availability) have 5G that's readily available it may be diminishing returns, particularly given that I still don't know how to, as someone not from Hong Kong, get an eSIM that runs on SoftBank 5G that isn't the USM "comes for free with the unlimited premium package" roaming eSIM (NTT is easy enough thanks to Ubigi). In other news, I was able to borrow someone's Rakuten eSIM and...got LTE with it. 40 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 40ms latency to Tokyo while in Tokyo...which isn't any worse than the Japan-based physical SIMs I had used earlier. But not getting n77 or n257 was disappointing, though I had to test the eSIM from one spot rather than bouncing around the city to find somewhere with better reception. It's currently impossible to get a SIM as a foreigner that runs on Rakuten, so that was the best I could do. Also, I know my phone doesn't have all the LTE and 5G bands needed to take full advantage of Japanese networks. My S24 is missing: B21 (1500 MHz) - NTT B11 (1500 MHz) - KDDI, SoftBank B42 (3500 MHz) - NTT, KDDI, SoftBank n79 (4900 MHz) - NTT Of the above, B42/n79 are available on the latest iPhones, though you lose n257, and I'm guessing you're not going to find B11/B21 on a phone sold outside Japan.

T-Mobile acquiring SoniqWave's 2.5 GHz spectrum Another spectrum speculator down! T-Mobile is acquiring all of their licenses and their leases. Details are lacking but it looks like T-Mobile might be giving them 3.45GHz in exchange in some of the markets where they're acquiring BRS/EBS to sweeten the deal and stay below the spectrum screen. Hopefully NextWave is at the negotiating table with T-Mobile so NYC can finally get access to the full BRS/EBS band as well.

Maybe. The taller buildings on one side of the street all have Fios access and the NYCHA buildings are surrounded by Verizon macros that have mmWave. I don’t think this site will add much coverage. It’d be better off inside the complex itself.

Looks like a great place for for FWA. Many apartment dwellers only have one overpriced choice.

It took NINE MONTHS for contractors to replace the traffic light pole they took down for this, but Verizon contractors finally returned to install an oDAS unit in Downtown Brooklyn. I only saw it in the states of having no antennas and then mmWave antenna, so I'm not sure if they added more on top. I'm once again very confused by the placement of this site since it's on the same block as a macro site with mmWave, and standing in this position I can get 2.5Gbps download speeds. What is Verizon doing?

Barrel Roll

Was at the Yankees vs Tigers game today and besides being a terrible day to have good seats, T-Mobile had great speeds via the stadium's DAS. I consistently saw 500-600Mbps on 5G and on LTE I got upwards of 200Mbps. I noticed that the stadiums DAS is broadcasting 140MHz n41 while macros that surround the stadium are at 80MHz. Pics of antennas I spotted and speed tests:

Throwed Roll Lambert's Cafe

I've now seen how things work in Kobe, Hiroshima, and Osaka, as well as some areas south of Osaka (e.g. Wakayama, Kinokawa), and tried three more SIMs. The two physical SIMs (different branding for each) both use IIJ, which provides a Japanese IP address/routing on NTT, aleit LTE-only, so latency is ~45ms to Tokyo. The catch with NTT is that it uses two frequency bands (B42/3500 MHz LTE, n79/4900 MHz NR) that you're not going to get on an Android sold in the US, and I'm guessing that B42 would be helpful speed-wise on that network, as it doesn't have B41. I also found one place that doesn't have cell service: a vending machine in the back of the Osaka Castle tower. Or, rather, the B8/18/19 signal is weak enough there to be unusable. Going back to 5G for a moment, I saw a fair amount of Softbank n257 in Hiroshima, as well as in some train stations between Osaka and Kobe. 4x100 MHz bandwidth, anchored by B1/3/8, with speeds sometimes exceeding 400 Mbps on the US Mobile roaming eSIM. Not quite the speeds I've seen on mmW in the States, but I've probably been on mmW for more time over the past few days than I have in the US over the past year, so I'll take it. My fastest speed test was actually on SoftBank n77 though, with 100 MHz of that plus 10x10 B8 hitting ~700 Mbps down and ~80 Mbps up with ~100ms latency...on the roaming eSIM...on the 4th floor of the hotel near Shin-Kobe station. Guessing B8 was a DAS or small cell based on signal levels, and the n77 might have been (or was just a less-used sector of the site serving the train station). I'm now 99% sure that all three providers are running DSS on band 28, and I've seen 10x10 on similar frequencies from both NTT and SoftBank IIRC, on both LTE and 5G. I also picked up one more eSIM: my1010, which is different from 1010/csl used by US Mobile's eSIM unfortunately, as it's LTE-only. On the bright side, it's cheap (10GB/7 days is like $11, and 20GB for the same period would be around $15), and can use both KDDI and SoftBank LTE. It also egresses from Taiwan (Chunghwa Telecom), though latency isn't really any better than the Singapore based eSIMs. Tomorrow will include the most rural part of our journey, so we'll see how networks hold up there, and from tomorrow night on we'll be in Tokyo, so any further reports after that will be Tokyo-centric.

Jelly roll Jelly Roll

I think the push for them is adding US Mobile as a MVNO with a priority data plan. Ultimately, making people more aware of priority would allow them (and other carriers) to differentiate themselves from MVNOs like Consumer Cellular that advertise the same coverage. n77 has dramatically reduced the need for priority service at Verizon where the mere functioning of your phone was in jeopardy a couple of years ago if you had a low priority plan like Red Pocket. Only have heard of problems with T-Mobile in parts of Los Angeles. AT&T fell in between. All had issues at large concerts and festivals, or sporting events if your carrier has no on-site rights. Edit: Dishes native 5g network has different issues: not enough sites, limited bandwidth. Higher priority would help a few. Truth is they can push phones to AT&T or T-Mobile.

Tracfone AT&T sims went from QCI 8 to 9 as well a couple years ago. I'm pretty neutral towards AT&T's turbo feature here, the only bad taste left was for those who had unadvertised QCI 7 a couple months ago moved down to 8. In my eyes it would have been a lot better for AT&T to include turbo in those Premium/Elite plans for free to keep them at QCI 7, while also introducing this turbo add on option for any other plans or devices. As it stands now only a handful of plans can add it, and only if you're using a device on a random list of devices AT&T considers to be 5G smartphones.

My Red Pocket AT&T GSMA account was dropped to QCI 9 about a year ago. Most recently 8 for the last few years prior. Voice remains at 5.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/att-announces-7-monthly-add-on-fee-for-turbo-5g-speeds/ Hopefully we don't ever see T-Mobile do something like this. Based on how I was treated with my Credit Limit, it's definitely not the same company it was before the merger, and it's entirely possible they'd try it.

Jelly Beans

Fixed wireless success propels T-Mobile’s move into fiber

This is market-specific. As an example, in Richmond, VA, this is true. Here in the DC area, though, two of the three PCIs are clearly part of a sequential set, but the third is clearly not. I'm not sure why some markets are like this and some are not, but I note Richmond was one of their earlier test markets, while DC was not. - Trip

Noticing several things in hunting down the Dish 5g network: 1) I can not always do speed tests. I believe this is congestion. Tonight I had reasonable signal signal and it failed to start. I don't even try if my rsrp is -140. Never had any issues so far when a 1 mile or less to the site. 2) GPS is not always accurate. Can be off by a few blocks. 3) Most of the PCIs are sequential. (per site)

Boston Baked Beans

Boston cream pie

American Pie

Today I was driving over in Bothell/Kenmore area. I noticed the site which used to host Sprint eNB 745953 (where Waynita Way NE turns into 100th Ave NE) before it was fully decommissioned last year is now hosting all new T-Mobile gear. The gear isn't live yet but is fully installed. My guess is they plan to decommission the T-Mobile B2/B66 (enB 84647) only site a few blocks up the hill. This is a great move because decommissioning that old site would reduce interference with eNB 84740/175124. At the same time, the new location should notably improve coverage in the geographically shielded area along Waynita/100th. The weird thing is I can't find a permit for this anywhere!

Mint and Ultra: Welcome to the T-Mobile Family! https://www.t-mobile.com/news/business/t-mobile-closes-acquisition-mint-and-ultra-mobile