WiWavelength

I can't wait for the day all networks in the u.s. provide equal LTE roaming for each other.

Let us know how that waiting works out for you...

AJ

If you are willing to pay $1200 for a Samsung Galaxy Note 8, then you have money burning a hole in your pocket.  Maybe a phone burning a hole in your pocket, too.

AJ

Maybe they get priority but they will be sendinf it out to those joe schmos too.

Nope, not all of them.  Sprint has rejected plenty of Magic Box requests.  And if a Magic Box would benefit only a single family residential address and not the surrounding area, Sprint should deny that request -- other Sprint provided or user provided solutions are available and more appropriate.  Additionally, Sprint needs to ensure that the Magic Box does not become an enabler for users to drop home broadband because, woo hoo, they now can use their "unlimited" data inside at home.  The Magic Box should not be "free candy."

AJ

so add enough magic boxes in poor coverage areas and it will fix coverage issues...sounds like a step in the right direction.

I live in good to great coverage -- because I have two Sprint sites one half mile north and south, respectively, and receive band 41 at -110 dBm or band 25 at -95 dBm even inside my house.  However, one half mile east of my house, Sprint has a coverage challenged spot, where the perfect storm intersection of 3-4 cell edges leaves band 26 at -110 dBm or lower.  More recently, I noticed -95 dBm band 41 for a few blocks while driving through that same area.  I thought it possibly an anomaly, but I confirmed today that it is a Magic Box.

That is how Sprint should be and is using the Magic Box.  Not just to appease Joe Schmo, who has adequate signal outside but lives in a masonry Faraday cage.  Sprint should be and is placing Magic Boxes with users in strategic locations to improve coverage for everyone.

AJ

Just did a b41 comparison with the S8+ in the Sprint store and wow they optimized this thing to the core. It's b41 was -10 to -15dbm better at all times. I was shocked.

That is highly unlikely to be an apples to apples comparison -- because the Moto would be receiving 10-30 times stronger signal.  Almost assuredly, at least one other factor contributed to the differences.  Also, your negative signs and dBm units of measurement are incorrect for this comparison.

AJ

Judged by the level of interest in its 10 post thread, this phone is non essential.

AJ

I know he doesn't have much experience with band 41. He was actually talking about HPUE with band 2/4.

...which his network and its devices do not use.  So, do you think that he might have corporate reasons for downplaying the usefulness of HPUE?

And any parallel made here to band 2/4 FDD does not address the physical airlink differences between it and band 41 TDD.

AJ

T-Mobile will show No Service while standing outside on a Sunny day.

As the saying goes, even the sun shines on a dog's ass some days.

AJ

Thank you Robert but Neville Ray said it best when he said that there was less than 10% difference. I think he said something like 3-6%. It's just that Sprint is advertising 30% difference in b41 coverage when that's not the case at all that has us wondering.

Looking to Neville Ray for insight on band 41 HPUE makes perfect sense.  I know when I need service info on my Chrysler that I ask Ford.

AJ

OpenSignal reports T Mobile Network very strong!   

 http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/t-mobile-tops-latest-opensignal-s-latest-network-study-while-unlimited-weighs-verizon-at-t

To add to this :

 

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/08/02/t-mobile-wins-every-single-one-opensignals-state-mobile-networks-awards/

Of course, crowd sourced results are never manipulated, skewed, or just flat out wrong.  See the 2016 United States presidential election:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016

But I wonder why T-Mobile cannot ever seem to get scientifically tested results to match up with crowd sourced results.

Hmm...

AJ

Cell phone coverage itself has become quite good to where checking a coverage map doesn't seem as important anymore, other than particular bits of information that is more band-specific. Such as for example, band41 deployment and densification. This would be really nice to know as Sprint has more capex spending available for it.

That level of detail is too much information for average consumers -- too technical.  And too much information for competitors -- too revealing.  So, no, public facing site upgrade maps are not coming back, not while Sprint struggles against the competition.

AJ

HPUE is based on conducted power, not radiated power.  No iPhone yet is HPUE -- despite any EIRP >26 dBm.  And any EIRP >26 dBm without HPUE could jump to >29 dBm with HPUE.

AJ

Now to think of it, I may be mistaken about the T-Mobile mention regarding the monetary listings in areas, for listing the number of tower upgrades, not specific monetary figures. Perhaps Sprint could show where recent developments are without the cost being shown.

Sprint did.  But those site upgrade maps were taken down several years ago.

AJ

Streaming video at a good rate while at a spot that never would work with a non_HPUE handset.

Nope.  Streaming video requires next to zero usage on the uplink.  That would not be a good demonstration of HPUE.

AJ

How do you provide evidence of a HPUE connection?

Engineering screens, man.  You have a Samsung, so you have lots of engineering screens.

AJ

On top of that HPUE is a gimmick no difference, there needs to be some serious optimization done because in its current form it's broken.

To me in my opinion HPUE does not live up to the claims that Sprint has made.

For all the expressed disappointment over HPUE, how many of you actually have done your due diligence and demonstrated that HPUE has been active in situations in which you think HPUE has been or should have been active?  Because I have not seen anyone provide any evidence of an active HPUE connection.  Assumptions do not cut it.

AJ

I think snapdragon 835 and x16 modem are not great but average in s8.Hpue not impressed.

A chipset and its baseband modem likely do not define handset RF performance.

AJ

I am not convinced.  But it does not matter.  It's going to be 3x3.  Just a matter of where the 3x3/5x5 dividing line will be.

You do not need to be convinced.  But, bar none, the uplink is a risk.  In some situations, uplink will radiate across the border enough to create interference.  Whether that interference will be frequent or detrimental is questionable.  Still, if 3 MHz FDD were the free and clear solution, then it would be deployed on more sectors, including north facing sectors.

AJ

Yes, but the signal from handsets is much, much weaker.  And the precedent does exist.  We have seen broadcast on sectors facing away from borders before.

Dozens or hundreds of handsets transmitting at up to 200 mW are not necessarily "much, much weaker" signal.  And unlike for base station antennas, HAAT (height above average terrain) for handsets is entirely unpredictable -- skyscrapers, mountaintops, airplanes, etc.

AJ

After breaking two screens on my Nexus 6P, I think I'm willing to try a nearly indestructible plastic screen in my next device. I'm thinking about getting this thing.

"The Moto Z2 Force's 'unbreakable' screen may be a deal breaker"

http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/07/31/moto-z2-forces-unbreakable-screen-may-deal-breaker/

Deal broken.

AJ

I’m with you in that I agree all south facing sectors should go straight to 5x5 B26.

Yes, because omnidirectional antennas on handsets never radiate north.

AJ

That depends upon how you define "pretty soon."  FCC OET filings for Apple products do not go public until the day of their unveiling events.

No matter.  This thread is silly.  Have there been rumors?  Of course.  But rumors do not reveal any substantiated information.  Otherwise, they would be announcements or leaks, not rumors.

AJ

What the eff is going on with mobile video throttling?!

EFF comments (and Sprint receives some mild commendation):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/07/throttling-mobile-networks-sign-things-come-unless-we-save-net-neutrality-now

AJ

plastic screen ≠ purchase

AJ

IIRC WiMax was a major part of that.

Nope.  SpectrumCo was 2006.  WiMAX was later and in unrelated spectrum.

AJ