dkyeager

S24 capabilities:

While maximum performance is very important, especially upload, more important to me is to see performance on the cell edge, be it rural or inside office and hospital buildings.

18 hours ago, floorguy said:

Always interested in other "stuffs" for the phones.

I tried a privacy SP but between the lack of angle display (that's what its for duh) at night, the tinting of it (causing difficulty with sunglasses on while driving) and issues with finger print (might be a glass thing over all, been a whole with glass and sammys lol) I am going to switch to a zagg one.  My son works at best buy and can get them for cost, so why not?

Also that Beetle case is a beast, I don't like the "plastic" on the back of the phone though, and I am considering jumping into the Magsafe sphere, as I need a new holder in my work truck (only been 9 yrs) So might as well try the magnet, and charge at the same time. 

So any ideas on those would be nice 

No tinting on the matte SP I use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CR13N27B?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1  *** Note that I have to lick my finger to get the finger print to work. ***   I recommend this one glossy clear SP for the easiest possible install: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPJ1QBMR?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I am still quite basic in my needs, but I do want them to work.  For case I went with the Otterbox Defender XT, although I must say the traditional back is much more sturdy (two parts) than the clear one part (except front edge), although both are rated at 5x military spec.  No prices difference so buy where is easiest for you.   Hard to get drop data in print or video on most of the cases.  The SUPCASE UB Beetle Pro looks very much like the clear Otterbox above with a better stand option.

The Magsafe sphere interested me, but I am leary of magnets around my computers, likely for ancient reasons.  It is a pain to carefully put your phone on a wireless charger and then not bump it, versus the magnets guiding you and locking it in place.  *** Magnetic cases do cause problems with stylus. *** JerryRigEverything loves them and considers their lack in the S24 itself as a shortcoming:

From a wireless charger perspective I do consider the s24 Ultra weak, especially when compared with the OnePlus 12's 50 watt wireless and 80 watt plug charging (Now only ordering 100w cables).  My 5 year old truck has a wireless charger pad which holds the phone better than my two port Samsung desktop unit but likely operates only at 10 watts.  If Samsung's s24 Ultra wireless charging was better than 15 watts I would figure out how to replace it.  Of course all these charging watts are graduated: for the first 50% charges much faster than the next 35% which is better than the last 15%. hence 80 watt is not twice as fast as 40 watts, etc.

Recently dropped a S21 Ultra on tile, which smashed the lens protection for one camera, but covered all.  A real pain to get off.  Thus I approached the S24 more like a high end camera, where clear filters using optical glass have been used for decades.  The one I chose has optical glass with individual lens protection and a removal tool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPJ1QBMR?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details  Fits my cases no problem.

Instead I went wired with connectors that glow in the dark and a dual 45 watt (90w) PD PPS charger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFPNQPJY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details The other part is has one PD PPS and the a QC more for iPhones.  I reviewed it in more detail.  Tight 12V fit on my Toyota, slips in my truck and splitters thus I will tape it in place.

I often agree on typically avoiding phone insurance (best for political or cash flow reasons only on top of the line phones for a limited time based on resale value), Samsung has a great deal on it for these phones, including theft coverage. Still miss the old days when I took my run-over crushed phone into the carrier store and walked out with a new replacement a few minutes later.  It will be interesting to see if the 7 years of firmware update support increase the resale value.

P.S:  Some other views I found interesting:

S24 Ultra versus $5,000 camera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKypEsf9QvA

2 hours ago, iansltx said:

I ordered a Boost Infinite SIM a few days back, as the S24 now supports n70, and is being sold directly by Boost, though eSIM is not yet available.

S24 BYOD?

FCC 2.5 licenses granted by market:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-89A3.pdf

I have verified that these are in the ULS (universal licensing system.

Also observed that David Miller has leased many of his Auction 108 winnings to Digital Access Ohio LLC, likely a WISP.  Likely will go much further than what the website describes else they could have gotten much cheaper microwave licenses. https://digitalaccessohio.com/

Finally had a sunny day. So I checked out the outside brightness of the s24 Ultra to the s21 Ultra. I had to give the S21 a bit more brightness before starting the test to even them out. S21 looked slight more yellow.  In my outside tests, a slight edge in brightness to the s24 Ultra. Both had glossy screen protectors, but with its special finish, the S24 Ultra was defineately less glossy. Which made it a bit easier to read and see a photo. I then changed the S24 Ultra screen protector to one with a matte finish. Far easier to read typically or far worse if at the wrong angle. With the sun reflecting in the top half of the screen the matte finish was total glare while the bottom quarter of the glossy screen protect was readable. Now with the glossy protector you might need to change angles to read through an entire screen while with the matte no such changes required. Some say matte screens give more privacy but I can easily read the screen at angles. No loss of quality in displaying photos that I could detect.

Other items I can share notes on if desired: dual PD/PSS car charger that can handle two s24 ultras at full speed, 5x mil spec protective case, optical grade individual lens protectors, 45w wall outlet adapter, wireless charger.

Impressed with 100x camera using it on bush branches, better to use 50x for birds. Will have to try it on a tower.

Auction 108 starts to rumble back to life. Details:

Auction 108 starts to rumble back to life.  These licenses should appear in the ULS any day now:

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-46A1.pdf

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-46A2.pdf

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-46A3.pdf

Just had an incident where I noticed my phone had downloaded an adyghe language from the central caucus region of Russia etc for my Samsung keyboard. Checked general management  | keyboard list and default | Samsung keyboard | languages and types.  I found that English and Spanish no longer selected. Instead it was Chinese and a few others. Quickly removed those added english and spanish back. Pitched my security software and downloaded another. (No problems found). Rebooted.

Rechecked the languages and found updates for English and Spanish. Matched those on an unaffected s24 ultra, so updated them on both.  Also found my reddit app language was listed as unl so changed that to system default. Put the phone on my wi-fi which has its own business security software to see if any thing else kicks up.

My hope continues to be that the auction 108 licenses, when given by the FCC*, will change the rural site economics for T-Mobile.  FWA will become a lot more realistic.  Then hopefully at least the rural small towns will have another choice and the Duo's rural sites will have to be upgraded.  This could be the true competition area from the merger. 

The satellite cellular coverage could also make a dramatic difference, but I expect that to take longer.

* Approximately 45 days left unless only government work days are counted and no other exceptions - with the courts anything is possible, but the intent of congress is now clear.

Other items of note from quarterly report:

Rural market share up from 13% in March 2021 to 17.5% now.  The goal is 20% by the end of 2025.  If the FCC get around to giving T-Mobile the auction 108 licenses (band 41 primarily in rural areas) they have paid for, I would expect this to easily increase.  This delay has been a real gift to the duo.

They basically set aside some share buyback money for after the dilution caused by their agreement with Softbank to issue them shares at a predetermined price point.

75% of customers have 5g phones.

****

Just compared to AT&T and Verizon, T-Mobile had more than 50% of the post-paid customer growth.  Charter and Comcast need to be factored in.  Mobile-X may need to be factored in in the coming quarters with them starting in more than 1,000 Walmarts.

8 hours ago, Trip said:

Sounds like T-Mobile mentioned US Cellular in passing.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4059219-us-cellular-telephone-and-data-gain-as-t-mobile-us-says-looking-at-sales-process

Given that T-Mobile is a known quantity as far as keeping sites and whatnot, that's my preference on a buyer, but we admittedly don't know what other carriers would do.

- Trip

Wonder if it will be whole or sliced and diced? And of course how long.

1 hour ago, PythonFanPA said:

Interesting btw that Google Play system update appears stuck on July 1st 2023 at least on my S24+ unlocked.

On that version with s24 ultra factory unlocked.

starting my new list for s24 ultra.  Thanks Mike for noticing the other one.  Will keep this going until noticed again to keep my number of posts reasonable. 

Turning off the Verizon sim has so far resulted in no n38 being shown by SCP.  Waited about 10 minutes.  I then did the same with Verizon [edit: T-Mobile].  These issues appear to be just when you have two sims active (except the location error, which could be fixed by giving it more time if possible).

27 minutes ago, floorguy said:

Ok I am kind of chatty as I go.

I do find it interesting they send the phone UPS, yet the return of your trade-in, is through FedEx Spreading the money around I guess??

Maybe Fed Ex only drops the packages at the residential end. 

Finding minor issues with S24 Ultra.  Mobile IP address was not appearing with LTE, but does appear with T-Mobile SA.  However it shows as n38 instead of n41.   Also have Verizon network Sim loaded - Both networks show fine.  Diags sent. 

edit: switched to n41 SA while downloading app updates then back to n38 when complete. Watched *#0011#, which stayed at n41 while n38 came and went several times.

edit2: forgot to mention: "Signal Check Pro

Mobile location services appear to be disabled  or unavailable on this device."  which appears just after starting app.  Everything appears fine once in the app for a minute or so.

edit 3: n25 appears as n2 (always), even though n2 is not a selectable band. Diags sent.  Then I turned off Verizon and then n25 appears of Tmobile.

Cellmapper detects n41 correctly, but shows n2 as well as wrong carrier.  Turning off Verizon results in no change (n2).

Factory unlocked notes: update occurred during file transfer so had to start over.  Recommend using wired instead.  Converting from sim to easy was easy, done in sim manager.  *#2263# appears to work (some trickeration required).  SCP appears to work.

SCP has minor issues mostly related to two sims.

Cell mapper issue with n2 instead of n5 and carrier confused (Verizon MVNO instead of T-Mobile).

3 hours ago, RedSpark said:

Investor Factbook (PDF): https://s29.q4cdn.com/310188824/files/doc_financials/2023/q4/Q4-2023-TMUS-Investor-Factbook.pdf

Fluctuations in churn, declining capital expenditures, dividends, buy backs, and inability to make some forecasts are what stood out to me. Want to see what the analysts say.

8 hours ago, floorguy said:

Hum, considering they are saying this is 1 of the big improvements. Was it 2600 nits I think?  

1750 nits for s21 ultra, 2600 nits for s24 ultra, thus should be easy to tell apart in bright sunshine.

Seen some reports about the Ultra screen being dim when compared to the s21 ultra.  I figure we have enough people and discipline to figure this out. I have s21 Ultras so will hopefully be able to do this comparison in daylight, which is where you need the brightness. Hopefully this issue just affects a few units.

S24s are shipping this morning for orders placed several days later with Samsung for Friday delivery.

2 hours ago, RedSpark said:

ICYMI, from a few days back:

Through a merger with Sprint in 2020, T-Mobile has made a massive commitment to improve Internet connectivity and mobile service for rural and small-town America. In 2021, T-Mobile doubled down on its commitment to West Virginia when it finalized its acquisition of Shentel Wireless, one of the primary mobile service providers in West Virginia. Since then, the Un-carrier has invested an additional $200 million to upgrade 5G service via 377 new towers and upgrades to 121 existing towers.

The result:

• 100 percent of interstate highways in West Virginia are serviced with T-Mobile 5G;
• 90 percent of West Virginians now have T-Mobile 5G access, up 30 percent, or 500,000 people, in just two years;
• 70 percent of West Virginians now have access to Ultra Capacity 5G which delivers median download speeds of 99.98 Mbps statewide, 41 percent faster than in 2021;
• Greatly expanded backup power sources to ensure redundancy in case of severe weather or other emergencies that may impact mobile service;
• T-Mobile is the fastest provider in the state of West Virginia, according to third-party experts at Ookla.

 

Impressive!

A few areas where service was dropped, otherwise looks good.  Root Metrics shows a slight decline in the last six months, but they are ranked #2. Sprint (with Shentel) managed to rank #1 a few years ago.

6 hours ago, 1dante said:

My little hometown of Live Oak, Fl is getting a T-Mobile corporate store. It’s currently under construction, and should be complete within the next few weeks. 

Live Oaks looks like a very rural area with I-10 nearby. Excellent.

First ad I have seen referencing the iPhone that fell intacted from the plane in Portland OR:

https://www.lightreading.com/finance/can-dish-raise-more-cash-

Dano takes a different view, but basically points to Dish not having enough money thus trying to position itself to raise more, with perhaps sales of spectrum in the summer of 2026.

To pull off being a national 4th carrier, Dish needed to execute almost perfectly.  Not having loans lined up for day 1 at much more favorable interest rates (T-Mobile did this) was the first of many mistakes. Being hacked was number 2.  So many others...

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/dish-cuts-more-jobs-amid-spectrum-reshuffle?itm_source=parsely-api

Dish is now viewed as unlikely to take band 26 according to Entner and NSR Analysts.  This could mean $172 million for this delay to T-Mobile, but I have my doubts. More likely to be an exchange not involving further cash, such as unused or very valuable spectrum such as some of their 600MHz spectrum.