radem

5 hours ago, ScipioUSA said:

Quick question, and apologies if its already been addressed, I havent been through the whole thread in detail.

So I know the MB is supposed to help with data only, and not voice.  (For that I would need an airrave I believe)  With the upcoming push to move to VoLTE, would a MagicBox then actually help out with voice service?  Once upon a time I was approved for one, but never finished my request.  Wondering if it would make sense once they have some of the latest generation ones available.

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this was already discussed.

Magic boxes have been updated with software that makes them VoLTE aware.  However VoLTE only works if the magic box is connected to a macro tower where VoLTE is enabled.

On 11/3/2018 at 4:56 AM, iansltx said:

But, as stated, T-Mobile's ISP ambitions are all about that 2.5 GHz spectrum...which Sprint has. Chuck some 5G Massive MIMO antennas on one end of the connection and a 256x64QAM HPUE outdoor CPE on the other side and all you'll be competing with is fiber, cable, or other carriers' 5G. Sell for $50/mo and you aren't even competing with cable at this point. And yes, this would work swimmingly with Dish's installer network (and with a triple play of either IPTV or satellite).

I have always thought that the first satellite TV provider that comes up with a good way to add cellular repeater small cells to their rooftop satellite dish installs in strategic locations could dominate the single family home internet provider market.  If done correctly, they could create a self healing, self routing, WISP style LTE repeater mesh network with LTE backhaul and every subscriber location with a suitable outside mount could be a repeater.  That LTE network would work as small cells for the mobile phones in the area and the internet pipe for the home subscribers in range.

Blurred Lines

3 hours ago, shaferz said:

Anyone know how watches will (or will not) work with roaming agreements?  I know that my LTE watch was inoperable in Canada even though my iPhone was solidly on Rogers LTE.... but how about domestic roaming via approved partners like tmobile (whenever that goes live) ?

My understanding is that Apple watches are not enabled for roaming service on the Sprint network.  That means they only work in cellular stand-alone mode if you are in an area where the provider is listed as Sprint.  The Apple Watch should work with native roaming as long as the provider is listed as Sprint on your iPhone but I have not tested this.  Do not expect any Apple watch cellular functionality when in an extended or international roaming area. 

Your Apple watch should work in extended or international roaming areas if its paired iPhone is within blue tooth range of the Apple watch and blue tooth is enabled on both your iPhone and on the watch.  The Apple watch works by using the iPhone cellular connection over the blue tooth link to the iPhone in this scenario.

45 minutes ago, Bob Newhart said:

If on a plane, if I put my iPhone into Airplane mode, will that tell the watch to do that too, or do I need to do that on the watch too manually?

Can the watch connect to a WiFi network (if it is out of range of the phone), and answer/make calls on the watch using WiFi? 

If so, does it share the WiFi SSIDs/Password that have been configured on the iPhone, so the list is updated seamlessly?

There is a setting in the watch app where you can set the phone and watch to mirror each other for settings like airplane mode, Do not Disturb, mute, etc.  If you do anything that breaks the blue tooth connection, such as putting it in airplane mode, it will put them both in airplane mode but you will have to manually take both of them out of airplane mode since they cannot communicate with each other in airplane mode.  You can also turn off this mirroring of each setting if you want.

The watch can connect to any 2.4 GHz WiFi network where you have entered the WiFi password on its paired iPhone after you paired the watch to it.  It can also connect to any open WiFi network that does not require a password that you connect your iPhone to but only ones that  you have connected your iPhone to at least one time.  Entering a WiFi password on the iPhone with a watch paired, causes that WiFi connection and its password to also be saved on the watch.  It will only use WiFi connections if it can get to the internet over that connection without requiring anything else other than the password that is already saved and if it cannot connect to the iPhone over blue tooth.  If the iPhone connects to a 5 GHz, the watch will ignore it as it does not have a 5 GHz WiFi modem in it.

If the WiFi connection has a web page where you have to type something to become active, such as what is commonly done in hotels, it will not use that WiFi as it tests the connection to see if it can get to the internet over it.  If the watch has access to the internet over a WiFi connection and the phone is out of blue tooth range, it will use the WiFi for all communications that would normally go over the LTE connection including the ability to answer and make calls.

https://www.apple.com/watch/cellular/.   - Apple watch Cellular specs.

Apple watch supports many LTE bands but not as many bands as the iPhone does and it has a very small cellular antenna in it.  The watch does not have any CDMA support and only supports voice over VoLTE on one of its supported bands or voice over a WiFi/Blue Tooth connection to its paired iPhone which sends the signal over its internet or cellular connection.  In the past it used a version of Calling Plus on the Sprint LTE bands.  The Apple Watch does not support cellular roaming so in roaming areas it will only have connectivity if its paired phone is in range in which case it will use the phone's cellular connection.

A key feature of the apple watch is that it only enables its cellular modem when it is out of blue tooth range of the iPhone it is paired with and if it cannot access the internet over any WiFi network that its paired iPhone has previously connected with.  This means that it uses its paired iPhone's cellular connection and whatever bands that phone can use whenever it can.

1 hour ago, lilotimz said:

When UL B41 CA is active, HPUE is disabled. FCC exposure regulations. 

If I had to guess, I would say that it is likely that with a strong signal, B41 upload CA will be enabled and with a weak signal B41 upload CA will be disabled and HPUE will be enabled.  That would give the best experience to the user.

A large hurricane can have damaging winds out to 150 miles in any direction from the eye (300 mile wide path of destruction).  Very high storm surge flooding and severe damaging thunderstorms can extend out another 100  miles or more further out than that in any direction (500 mile wide path of flooding).  Your best bet if evacuating is to get well more than 300 miles away from the predicted eye center.

Stay safe my friends.

With 80mhz or less of 2.5GHz B41 LTE in use in most higher population areas, (3xCA+Small cell/MagicBox) there should be no rush to shut down Sprint's B41 network until well after a comprehensive inventory of how much bandwidth is really needed in each area and New T-Mobile is ready to start deploying 5G.   They certainly could thin out B41 LTE in areas they are deploying 5G but there is no way for example that they are going to allow New York city to suffer from poor speeds while they build a 5G network and it is highly unlikely that the exiting T-Mobile deployed bandwidth would be enough to be able to add all the Sprint customers without using B41 LTE unless they want their network to slow down significantly. 

It is much more likely that the 5G network will be spun up using bandwidth that Sprint owns but is not currently using.  When 5G devices start selling in the market and customers start getting them, they would then start to move B41 LTE bandwidth to their 5G network.

24 minutes ago, danlodish345 said:

Would they disable cdma 1x voice and just leave data?

No real reason to get rid of voice for a few years.  They could just leave a sliver of 1x CDMA in a 1900mhz guard band and the part that already exists in 800mhz.  That would satisfy any legacy M2M customers.  They may even pick up the CDMA M2M customers that are currently on Verizon when they shut theirs down if their devices are capable of using the Sprint band classes.

One other thing to note is that while waiting for an expected merger to close, some companies will add a clause to some of their newly created contracts that states that the contract terms may renegotiated or the contract voided by the new company if a merger were to occur.  I expect this type of clause is already being added to new contracts for antenna location leases by both Sprint and T-Mobile.  This gives the newly formed company the freedom to keep or eliminate those lease contracts while still allowing both companies to continue expansion efforts before the merger.

1 minute ago, sunmybun said:

i dont know how mergers work. but if it gets approved, what will happen to my business account?

When going through a merger, all existing contracts from the merging companies must be honored by the newly formed company until they expire.  If there is an evergreen clause, which means the contract terms stay in effect until both parties agree to alter them, that must also be honored by the newly formed company.

An interesting point with the Magic Boxes is that they work with both B25 LTE donor cells and B41 LTE donor cells while broadcasting 20mhz B41 LTE.  That means that post-merger if T-Mobile quickly turns off B41 LTE on the macro network, as long as they do not broadcast B41 5G on the same 20mhz frequency that the magic box broadcasts on, the magic box should still work in all areas where B25 LTE is available.  B25 could also be enhanced by T-Mobile's B2 holdings with MBFI broadcasting the B2 holding as both B2 and B25.

It is possible that Magic Boxes with B25 LTE donor cells will be around long term as the 20mhz B41 LTE that a million Magic Box small cells broadcasting inside buildings may be too important to turn off and T-Mobile may just leave the 20mhz frequency that the Magic Boxes broadcast out of their 5G plans for the next several years while they figure out what they are going to do in the future. 

I would love to see a future Magic Box that broadcasts WiFi rather than B41 LTE and could use all of T-Mobile's LTE and 5G bands as back haul.  They could partner with Boingo or a similar company to have a cellular backhaul based Wifi Magic Box that T-Mobile/Sprint users automatically log onto from their mobile devices but others pay to use or have a subscription on similar to how the WiFi works in some airports.  It could also be sponsored WiFi by the hosting location so that the WiFi is free for all users.  This would satisfy their internet to the home plans as well as continue to enhance coverage inside buildings the way the current Magic Boxes do.

16 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

At events like that upload is more important. The others had speeds in the 30's

That is the biggest problem with TDD config 2.  Sacrificing upload speed for more download speed may be fine for the average user somewhere else but there are large events and special locations where lots of people take lots of pictures or videos and upload them.  In those cases, the normal TDD config 2 (12 to 1 download to upload ratio on a single carrier) of band 41 does not work well and gets much worse with 2 or 3 carrier download CA with no upload CA. 

Since we do not yet have FDD + TDD CA or TDD upload CA on most devices, I would like to see Sprint develop better band steering algorithms that temporarily move heavy uploaders off band 41 to the available band and carrier with the most upload capacity while they are uploading.

4 hours ago, ingenium said:

There are people with flip phones. Also people with non B41 capable phones in areas serviced by Clearwire conversations that may drop to 3G. Inside buildings. Edge of cell. IOT type devices with service contracts that are 3G only.

Eventually 1x load will decrease with VoLTR, but Sprint has been very slow with the rollout. Not many devices support Calling+ yet. Actual VoLTE isn't finished. BYOD devices like the Pixel don't have support. I'd say we're at least 3-4 years before we can even begin considering shutting down the last CDMA in 1900 at the current pace. Realistically probably longer.

How long do people keep their phone before upgrading?  The chart in that article indicates that as of end of 2016 in the US, half of the population upgraded their phone before they were 22.7 months old and half after that.  I do not have the statistics but I would guess that somewhere around 10% still have their phones 36 months (3 years) after they purchased them since 30 month financing is now common.  These numbers are likely higher for tablets, IOT devices, and other non-phone mobile devices as those devices are typically upgraded less frequently.  What this means is that 1900mhz CDMA voice channels likely cannot be fully removed until Sprint has not sold or allowed to be activated 1900mhz only CDMA devices for 3 more more years to avoid impacting a lot of users.

7 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Earnings Released!

http://newsroom.sprint.com/sprint-reports-highest-retail-net-additions-in-nearly-three-years-and-raises-adjusted-free-cash-flow-guidance-with-fiscal-2017-third-quarter-results.htm

Anybody tuning into the call this morning?

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/1550424/5346235C13CD6A7C6380F96420CF2A59

For those who cannot go to the link here is a copy/paste of the highlights from the press release:

47 minutes ago, sleet said:

Let's take an email account for example. Even if I log into my email on my mobile device at my home (secure) wifi or over Sprints (Secure) data. But I  keep the browser open so it remembers I'm logged in. they can still get my login info even if I just browse my inbox (without entering in my info?) later over an unsecured connection even though my device has a cookie (or whatever) letting the site know I'm already logged in?

On most sites that you have to log into for every page you navigate to in a browser, the server double checks that you are still logged in before sending the information back to you.  This is done by sending in-memory or on-disk cookie information back to the server you are requesting the page from on every page request.  This information is normally encrypted for banks and other sensitive sites but a bad WiFi hotspot can quietly switch you to pages that are not encrypted while sending and receiving pages that are encrypted from the site you are using.  The bad WiFi can then capture that cookie information.  This is far less useful than capturing your account and password but if you do not log off, that cookie information will be good for a short period of time before the server considers it timed out. 

The best ways of dealing with this problem are to not use open WiFi connections, to use a VPN connection to ensure your communications are always end to end encrypted, or to always verify that the padlock is in place on every sensitive page you go to.  You should always enable 2-factor authentication to any sensitive site that offers it as well.  This will stop people from getting into your email and then using that to get into your bank or other sites by clicking the I forgot my password link and getting the reset your password email that it sends.

15 minutes ago, sleet said:

@Tengen31

mind explaining why?

Personally I won't log into anything (email, online accounts, ect) over a unsecured wifi connection but after I log in over the cell network I don't mind browsing it over unsecure wifi.

Perhaps I'm naive about other possible security issues so I''m just trying to learn if there's something else I'm not aware of

The following scenario does not happen often but it does happen.

Any open WiFi hotspot can be easily spoofed by a bad person.  The bad person runs their own WiFi hotspot with the same name as the one you are trying to connect to but with a stronger signal and you cannot see any difference between the good WiFi and the bad WiFi.  If you connect to the bad WiFi rather than the good WiFi, all your traffic will be routed through the bad person's device and then to the good Wifi so it will appear to work normally.  The bad WiFi has the ability to modify your internet traffic whenever your device asks for encrypted pages and any page with an account and password to strip the encryption off the pages so that they can capture your accounts and passwords.  At some future time, all the gathered pages, accounts, and passwords are sold on the dark web and someone takes over your email, banking and other accounts to send out spam or to take your money.

3 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

So the 800 DAS is actually between all 4 carriers?

Verizon built the DAS and Sprint is using it so I assume it is available for all the carriers.  In addition to the 800 DAS antennas, there are 1300 WiFi access points in US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

4 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

Why only 2xca? Even the Mall of America has 3x.

800 DAS antennas for around 72,000 users is 90 users on average per DAS antenna with most of them not Sprint customers.  You will probably see an average of less than 20 Sprint users per DAS antenna. 224mbps down and 8.8mbps up (2xCA Band 41) should be perfectly fine for well more than 20 users to share although it could be a little slow uploading pictures and video clips.

20 hours ago, Tengen31 said:

Sprint will not gain more customers with all that roaming. They can not be the only hold out. Coverage is the biggest complain I've seen. Sprint is not the carrier for people who travel alot. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

The general rule for mobile coverage is that coverage needs to match up to the road network.  If you want to know where the population lives and works, More than 95% of the population are always within about 10 miles of anywhere where there are roads with 2 or more lanes in each direction or are driving on those roads with 2 or more lanes in each direction passing through that area.  Once you get about 10 miles outside of the multi-lane road area to single lane in each direction roads,  you are in rural areas with very few customers.  In my opinion, native or native-like roaming coverage covering the multi-lane road areas makes the most financial sense for Sprint with slower limited roaming outside of those areas.

20 hours ago, lordsutch said:

Does anyone know if the Airave 3 copes with Double NAT situations OK? My mom's house is in a bit of a coverage black hole for Sprint, about equidistant from 3 macro sites and in a bit of a hollow, so the Airave 3 would make sense there. But her broadband connection & cable is provided by the neighborhood association and there's at least two layers of NAT involved - her cable modem gets a single 10.x.y.z address on the WAN port and then of course within the house there's a router with a more typical 192.168.y.z setup on the LAN side. I assume there's no more translation on the way up based on traceroute, but who knows?

Any experience with the Airave in this situation? She's currently not using a smartphone so the Magic Box wouldn't help her yet - it'd help me when I visit though, and I might eventually get her onto a smartphone at some point. But for now the Airave 3 seems to be the way to go if it'll work.

If it has problems, most routers and cable modems that use NAT tables have the ability to put a device in the DMZ so that they do not go through the NAT layer on that device.

3 minutes ago, JustinRP37 said:

I do not know what Radem meant by low wired caps (maybe speed?) because I do not know of many areas that have low fixed broadband caps.

What I mean is that I can get 100Mbps download speed but I am limited to a 1TB cap.  That is an unreasonable cap in my opinion for the speed offered.  If you actually use the connection speed that you are paying for, you will quickly find yourself at the cap.  A 1TB or 1000GB monthly cap equates to around 33GB downloaded or uploaded per day.  At 100Mbps, you can reach 33GB of data downloaded in just over 45 minutes or 1/32 of a day.  Because of my job I usually go past 33GB uploaded/downloaded every day that I work from home.  I normally exceed 1TB of data usage well before the end of the month.  If however I was only using content that my wired ISP wants me to use, that data usage would not be subject to the 1TB cap and I would not have to pay extra each month to use it.

Sprint needs to spend 2018 chasing down areas where there is no ability to use data while on a Sprint device.  This can be due to no service areas or saturated data connections on Sprint's or their roaming partner's networks.  The "can you hear me now" guy should change into the "can you use data everywhere you go" guy.   I am not concerned if the coverage is Sprint's or extended LTE roaming as long as it has a reasonable speed to use VoLTE and use the apps that I use on my phone. 

I believe Verizon's focus for years with improving their network was first targeting voice coverage and after that targeting any area of the country where their customers were getting less than 1mbps download speed.  They may have since increased that 1mbps threshold to something higher and are now focused on small cells to fix coverage issues deep within buildings and between their macro sites.

3 minutes ago, utiz4321 said:

That sounds like you chose to live in an area with limited access to broadband. Fortunately the majority of Americans did not inflict that probelm on themselves. Only 2 percent of americans are in you position. 63 percent have more than two broadband wired choices. 

Where did you get that 63% number from?  I have rarely seen any home with more than 3 wires attached to it.  Those wires are electric, telephone and cable.  There is no effective internet over electric lines so that leaves 2 wired internet providers at most for homes that are wired for both telephone and cable.  I live in a suburb of Chicago which is a heavily populated area and there are only 2 wired internet providers both of which have messed with internet traffic in the past.  Both of which have low caps for the speed of the connections they offer and where they promote their own content by making it exempt from caps while doing everything they can to limit access to their competitor's content.

Are you just arguing for the sake of arguing or do you not believe the evidence that ISPs effectively have monopolies and have a desire to increase their revenue while disadvantaging their competitors?  This fundamental business desire is in conflict with the open internet that has existed for the past 20 years.  As they started to put those business desires into practice, Net Neutrality was proposed to make them common carriers.  This is not about regulating the internet, it is about keeping it open.