dkyeager

Sorry dude, I picked up Shentel near Maysville KY. Once I reached Ripley OH just across the river heading north, it was Sprint Cincy Market. Now I did blow it on my Western KY question. My internal compass must have been off. I was thinking the eastern portion.

Western KY, ie Shentel?

I have this pasted on to the back of my hunter phones:

Thanks for this post. I would never have looked for a small cell that close to the gtound.

Please expand on the Qqualmin value. Many of us often have the same issue. Thanks

The following other factors must be considered: any leases of Dish 600MHz spectrum, Dish may choose not to own 800MHz in the area, T-Mobile has a two year extended option on 4MHz of 800MHz, 2.5 in the area will go up for auction soon for the first time in many decades, mmWave could help in denser areas.

Parts of Northern MN, Northern MI, Ohio are among the many places with no Verizon coverage. Some of those areas are served by AT&T (likely an informal "understanding" between the duo IMO). Starting to see T-Mobile in a few of those places. All bow down before the Verizon God. In other forums I might be burned at the stake. No carrier is perfect, even if you pay top $$$. Verizon is the slowest at my house inside the Columbus beltway. Hard to beat Sprint on roaming. I those places where I did not get T-Mobile, US Cellular, AT&T, Verizon CDMA, or some regional carrier I would sometimes pick up Canadian roaming. Rarely without some form of service. I was at a funeral yesterday in eastern Ohio without service or Wi-Fi. People adjusted. Some women have told me they avoid routes without cell service when we were comparing coverage notes for other remote Ohio places at a state wide conference. Verizon is the safe choice for many.

Interesting that they plan on using carrier grade 5G for their WISP. Puts them very much in line with T-Mobiles plans/precludes them.

I have always wondered about the wisdom of a 120Mhz unit when so many place have 194Mhz. They should have left the 8T8R up in those places IMO. The trouble with 5G NR is it is basically extended carrier aggregation. I want to see full B41 5G with lots of bandwidth (ideally 100Mhz) so the upload issue goes away before you even get to the notion of being able to tweak the timing to get more upload. That would also leave more room for carrier aggregation with other bands.

Where Sprint improves, the duo will quickly put money in and hammer them down. I see this happen often enough to say it happens within 6 months. Sprint has not even publicized at that point. The Duo watch speed test results.

This does not match my experience. Many Sprint small cells in Ohio have two carriers (no CA). We have gotten 70Mbps off of relay fed, faster off of fiber fed. Now many are in the 30-40Mbs range.

No grass growing under their feet.

Altice USA said Wednesday that it has secured a new nationwide roaming contract with AT&T that complements the coverage it's getting from Altice USA's underlying full MVNO deal with Sprint and the cable operator's own WiFi network. The deal with AT&T "ensures an aggregate 99% nationwide coverage" when Altice Mobile launches later this year, Dexter Goei, Altice USA's CEO, explained today on a media call timed with company's Q2 2019 financial results. The AT&T deal will give Altice's forthcoming mobile service coverage in areas where Sprint does not offer service. Altice USA has also inked some new international roaming contracts with multiple partners that will provide additional global coverage, he added. Goei also reiterated that Altice USA's agreement with Sprint is poised to be expanded to the new T-Mobile network, inclusive of 5G services, via a contract extension pursuant to the DoJ's conditions on the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger and T-Mobile's merger commitments to the FCC. source: https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/altice-usa-signs-atandt-to-nationwide-roaming-deal-/d/d-id/753161? These are the kind of details that are buried in the DOJ agreements. Hopefully it gets printed in the federal register soon.

I have been using a .kml with and old version of google earth for a long time. Ideally we would use google maps that would move with you.

The deal with Dish should actually save T-Mobile money in terms of no lease breaking or demolition costs, plus they have a guaranteed buyer for Band 26, which I thought they would get rid of after the death of CDMA service. Makes more sense to have more 600Mhz or other matching spectrum from Dish, although the Dish CEO implies the 600Mhz leases to T-Mobile are temporary. T-Mobile may have the option of further Softbank investment (or Softbank may wish to sell its shares at a later date.)

https://www.slashgear.com/dish-as-wireless-carrier-whats-that-mean-for-me-and-5g-26585385/ https://www.slashgear.com/no-esim-future-whats-in-the-t-mobile-sprint-dish-doj-agreement-26585402/ https://www.slashgear.com/here-are-the-phone-carrier-locking-rules-agreed-to-by-dish-t-mobile-and-sprint-26585416/

https://www.lightreading.com/mobile/5g/qanda-with-dishs-charlie-ergen-about-his-new-5g-strategy/a/d-id/753061? https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/how-will-dish-s-new-5g-network-build-impact-towers https://www.phonearena.com/news/Dish-says-it-will-be-a-national-wireless-carrier_id117762

It is dangerous to predict what Dish might do based on past performance, but some information is better than no information, thus this thread. It also must be noted the merger is not complete. For starters I expect Dish to quickly move past its current protection sites. I think the S4gru model of taking in all information, but they verifying that against what actually exists will work well with Dish.

An important decision affecting cheap internet access, which underpins the opposing state attorney general's argument, is the FCC's 2.5 EBS ruling: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-19-62A1.pdf This allows for the sale of most EBS licenses by the license holders and allows for full use of the spectrum. The prior rule requiring 5% spectrum hold-back is where the cheapest access came from. So you are a non-profit, do you want a small amount of money from the cheap internet provider groups along with carrier payments, more money just from the carriers, or would you rather be done with it and get a large capital infusion? Over time I think most will go for the capital infusion. Sprint will need more capital to maintain its current 2.5 licenses, let alone to expand. AT&T has shown interest, and Verizon's key objection to this band has been removed by this decision. While many may only see this as a rural play, existing licenses will also be sold by the license holders. Thus even if the opposing Attorney General's win and prevent the merger, they may lose in the long run. The DOJ's decision should be published soon. Look for it here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/search?conditions[publication_date][gte]=07%2F26%2F2019&conditions[term]=T-Mobile#

I think in terms of future plans at this moment, with FCC details undecided (approval is already a given based on commissioners comments) but likely almost hammered out, it boils down to the odds with the state suits. The higher the odds of success the less you are going to push. If something is almost complete, such as almost nationwide VoLTE you likely would go for it. Same with 5g announced markets. Maybe even some markets with lots of Massive MIMO sites already installed if things drag on. Anything that might damage your credit in the short term is a no go. Thus don't expect changes in backhaul. Pride and future job prospects may also play a role -- what can you finish up to help with your resume? Another factor fulfilling and loan requirements - thus some installations could be rushed to completion, likely with poorer quality. More new equipment may sit idle. A lot of items may fall to T-Mobile to complete to keep the Sprint network operational during the transition period. Example: Shentel-nTelos merger. Shentel finished activating LTE at many sites and then replaced them with their own new equipment many months later.

The sales of all of Sprint's MVNO business has me wondering if that includes their contracts with Ting, Tello, Redpocket, etc. The New T-Mobile will need lots of capital, thus my guess is Shentel will be acquiring the T-Mobile sites and Shentel are customers. Possible Shentel terrifory could be trimmed, especially in Ohio. Shentel has most of WV and it is Sprint's best state per Root Metrics. Swiftel is more like affiliates T-Mobile has acquired who are executing poorly. I agree that 600MHz would be acquired for use. Dish will also need more capital.

Once the DOJ hurdle is crossed then we still have the FCC (which is where the real details will come from). Then the state suits, half of which are likely just trying to get a better deal for their states. so:

https://www.lightreading.com/cable/cable-wi-fi/an-inside-look-at-cables-mvno-business-model/d/d-id/752938? I know Charter has been including there Wi-Fi hotspots with every business account (on their own data link).

https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/22/apple-acquire-intel-modem-talks/ I assume Apple would still wish to go after the masses rather than the bleeding edge.

The devil is in the details. Besides the revised deal, I will want to see both what the DOJ requires and what the FCC does with spectrum by county, phones, coverage, billing, and transition plus any other details. Then I can make my own judgement as to whether this is good national policy. Only when the transition is complete in my area will I be able to decide whether it is a good deal for me personally. My overall guess is it will be good to allow T-Mobile and to merge, uncertain on Dish, and I might end up with AT&T assuming my local Sprint sites are dropped based on current results.