dkyeager

This is another "free" phone from T-Mobile in exchange for two years service commitment.

Bands certified with FCC:

4g: 2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 25, 26, 41, 66, 71

5g: n25, n41, n66, n71

Made by the same firm that did the original Revvl, Wingtech Group based in Hong Kong.  The original Revvl can be band locked (band selected) using the Quick Shortcut Maker App.  Perhaps this one acts the same way?

There is a way to select or lock onto 4g LTE bands  with quick shortcut maker app without rooting.  Unfortunately it does not work with NR bands.

49 minutes ago, comintel said:

Thanks.  It may vary by area.

Or even by Magic Box.  Some versions of the Magic Box are more suited than others. 

The location of this Magic Box is about perfect.  Provides internal coverage to an area that previously did not have coverage (now gets some low band).  Across the street it gives coverage into a shopping center that has almost no coverage as well.  Reaches almost to the back of a small grocery story.  Covers into the front area of a bar/restaurant as well as a number of places in between.  Plus in a nimby surburb.

On 11/27/2021 at 7:11 AM, comintel said:

My A32 came and I really like it.  It is the T-Mobile model but I got it under an offer where I will be able to unlock it after 45 days.  (Whether that unlock of a carrier model also provides BYOD to other carriers firmware I do not know yet.)

Like you, I got it especially for the band lock ability.

That came in essential right away for two different scenarios.

(1) Locking to band 71 (NR works) is necessary here to provide a continuous signal.  Otherwise it  continuously jumps around bands and drops signal.

(2) i will use it to lock to band 41 once the Sprint sim comes that I have ordered so that I can connect to my Magic Box.  

 I have tested and on the TNX sim it will connect to Sprint towers (an improvement over my Sprint S20) except Magic boxes.

 

 

 

.  

 

 

 

I tested my A32 5g with TNX sim and T-Mobile. firmware and had no issues connecting to my original Magic Box. 82/7 iirc.

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

Pretty surprised to see this many conversions so early on, especially with T-Mobile claiming that the vast majority of them won't be happening until next year.

Most carriers cut the depreciating sites by half at about the six month mark.  Mid December may be that time.  CDMA likely already happened.

On 11/25/2021 at 8:40 PM, dkyeager said:

Looked at the FCC reports. NR bands are 2, 5, 25, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77. 

AT&T is on NR 2, 5(DSS), and soon for 77.

Dish is working on n66, n71.  Also in trial for Dish is n70 at @2.1GHz, but this phone does not have that listed.

Ordered a factory unlocked.  Will report back on how it works on the various national networks (thru various MVNOs).  I figure it is a very good hunting phone.  Can use the band selector app, so root not typically needed.  Of course no mmWave, but that is $$$$$ for a s21 or $$$$ for a Pixel 6. If it does not work as intended, I can return it by January 8.

1 hour ago, iansltx said:

https://twitter.com/iansltx/status/1464042108021583882

Got to play with some AT&T mmW last night.

How rapidly did the data rate fall off?  How far away did you need to walk before the n260 dropped you?  Did you try going into a close-by building and standing in the window to see the speed or behind a large bush or small tree or around the corner on a side street?  Looking for how delicate is this frequency currently. 

Band 41 was often derided for its short range, but was soon refined to go much longer distances and into buildings.  Is the same thing starting to happen with this frequency? 

23 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Is the AT&T and Unlocked flavors of the Samsung A32 5G the same hardware with the bands determined by the sim inserted?  I have not seen the specific 5G bands supported, but for LTE the AT&T flavor omits band 13, 25 & 30 and adds bands 14, 29, & 30.  They both have the main model number of SM-A326U.  No where I have seen all the bands listed correctly.  (Band 77 is supposed to be added soon).  Boost and US Cellular also offer it.  Does not seem to be that good of a fit for Boost based on their NR frequencies.

Looked at the FCC reports. NR bands are 2, 5, 25, 41, 48, 66, 71, 77. 

AT&T is on NR 2, 5(DSS), and soon for 77.

Dish is working on n66, n71.  Also in trial for Dish is n70 at @2.1GHz, but this phone does not have that listed.

Is the AT&T and Unlocked flavors of the Samsung A32 5G the same hardware with the bands determined by the sim inserted?  I have not seen the specific 5G bands supported, but for LTE the AT&T flavor omits band 13, 25 & 26 and adds bands 14, 29, & 30.  They both have the main model number of SM-A326U.  No where I have seen all the bands listed correctly.  (Band 77 is supposed to be added soon).  Boost and US Cellular also offer it.  Does not seem to be that good of a fit for Boost based on their NR frequencies.

You also have the flip for T-Mobile accounts. A Revvl in a poor traditional T-Mobile signal area could not see the band 25 of a nearby converted Sprint site. The Revvl V+ 5g can and prefers it.

19 hours ago, comintel said:

But probably not to the Magic Box which is what I want.  At least that is what I found with a Sprint S20.   Do you think it would be different with this phone?

Interesting question. You might be able to reach it if you turn off all other LTE bands and then go to an area in your house that sees no other b41.

I might be able to test this later today else another day soon. Once your phone sees it, the likely hood of seeing it again should increase, perhaps without eliminating the other bands.

8 hours ago, thisischuck01 said:

Here's another good one...

Reserved 12/22/2017. Still not installed as of May 2021. Noticed it in the last week or two and was thinking to myself "was that there before?". Almost four years between approval and deployment, nice work T-Mobile. 👏👏

Though I guess I shouldn't give them credit just yet, as it's still not live... lol

I assume all these new small cells are fiber fed, correct?

1 hour ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

Came across a T-Mobile permit for a site with both n258 and n260 panels. This is the first site I have seen including n258 and the first with two mmWave bands. Looks like Tmobile is using the AWEB for n260 and AWEUD for n258 in Nokia markets.

Link to the Permit:

https://cosaccela.seattle.gov/Portal/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=DPDPermits&TabName=DPDPermits&capID1=21SCI&capID2=00000&capID3=59600&agencyCode=SEATTLE

 

Click on the NIER report in the attachments to see the bands for the site. 

 

Liked the site photo mockups.  Theses antennas will be quite small.  would have loved to see the n41 antennas for comparison.

6 hours ago, BlueAngel said:

And the phone has massive lag while scrolling, 120hz touch input is bugged. 

Some people in the beta reported this and stated it disappeared in a week or so. Did you try clearing you cache?

21 hours ago, Trip said:

T-Mobile's non-Shentel coverage is so sparse that there are large dead zones between sites in some areas.  In many places, most or all T-Mobile sites that aren't on power lines now have 600 on them.

But they've not started touching Shentel sites as far as I know.  Just T-Mobile's own sites in Shentel territory, which won't be enough.

- Trip

 

There are Sprint sites which have been upgraded with T-Mobile antennas and Massive Mimo, yet are only broadcasting b25, b26, and CDMA and thus are invisible to older T-Mobile phones. They are used by T-Mobile customers with 5g phones.

1 hour ago, Trip said:

Using the Hagerstown-Chambersburg area as a proxy, they've done a handful of upgrades to pre-existing T-Mobile sites, not including the Chambersburg smokestack itself, but haven't touched Shentel sites at all.  They've flagged almost every non-co-located Shentel site with 312250 though, so they should theoretically be available to T-Mobile customers, but YMMV.

I'm going to stick with the Sprint SIM as long as I can, and then make a decision between staying with T-Mobile or joining Verizon.

- Trip

Historically T-mobile has upgraded metropolitan areas first,  which makes sense from a cash flow perspective.  The problem is from a basic call coverage aspect 1x800 is very hard to beat.  I have gotten usable signal 50 miles from a site.  T- Mobile may be attempting to emulate that with widespread 600MHz coverage so thin that it may only work for voice. Does this notion match what you are seeing?  

Their WISP strategy may make rural site economics far more attractive for a much better buildout, but hard to see how that will work in West Virginia which already has many WISPS unless they go on a small WISP buying spree.

Personally would have preferred Shentel remaining as an affiliate. Hard to see T-Mobile not getting distracted by more lucrative markets, but only time will tell.

13 hours ago, Terrell352 said:

I'm seeing so many dish towers in Marion County Fl. Has to be over 40 of them. Even rural.

Have any pictures, especially stand alone sites?

almost $22 billion

hottest markets:

16 hours ago, jhman101 said:

Just came across a permit for another rural site that is being converted from Sprint to T-Mobile.  This site covers Interstate 75 and is taking their average tower spacing from 7 miles to just over 3 miles.  This is positive to see the site density that they are keeping with the Sprint sites.

Here are the details on the site https://webportal.columbiacountyfla.com/AlfrescoDownload.aspx?Site=BuildingAndZoning/BuildingPermits&NodeRef=40985554-0c57-478a-b3c7-91bdc66808b4

 

And just for comparison many of Sprint's sites in this area are 10+ miles apart.

This is what I hoped they would do, although I consider along an interstate as separate from rural.  If they hope to keep Sprint customers who are used to the vast distance covered by 1x800, increased density is a must.

Anyone root it yet?

On 11/8/2021 at 5:02 PM, ingenium said:

Unfortunately it seems that dual SIM doesn't work if you use eSIM for Sprint/T-Mobile. The eSIM moves to IMEI 2 on Pixels when you enable dual SIM, so the IMEI no longer matches and the network rejects the attachment. 

Not sure who to report this to or how to go about getting it fixed... 

It wasn't an issue with previous Pixels because they used Sprint SIMs, and the Sprint SIM only checks the IMEI when you provision or do a profile update (I've checked signaling messages in NSG and the network doesn't ask for it upon attachment). So enabling dual SIM basically was a SIM swap. But T-Mobile SIMs apparently report the IMEI upon attachment, so the network immediately sees that it doesn't match and rejects it.

Interesting. My understanding is T-Mobile allows sims to be moved to different devices without issue, unlike Sprint which requires reactivation with the new IMEI. Perhaps a foretaste of things to occur?

Almost $20 billion.  Hottest markets are in random order: 

source: https://www.sashajavid.com/FCC_Auction110.php

4 hours ago, grapkoski said:

And so it begins, the final gasp of big yellow.

Not quite so fast:

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/business/update-on-our-cdma-network-transition-plans

https://auctiondata.fcc.gov/public/projects/auction110

Auction 110 is for 100Mhz at 3.45GHZ of excess government spectrum and had a reserve requirement of about $15 billion to cover the costs of consolidating and moving spectrum, primarily by DOD.  Two days ago that was in doubt with only about $9.5 billion bid after numerous rounds. In a single day it appears to have exceeded that and grown to $15.5 billion.  This spectrum is in the mid range bands for 5G.

https://www.sashajavid.com/FCC_Auction110.php