dkyeager

I can understand using B25 + B41 + B41 CA to improve upload speeds. I am still trying to grasp using B25 + B26 CA. The primary benefit would be for VoLTE IMO when B25 access is variable, but perhaps I am missing something. B26 is often overloaded so only in the least populated areas would it give a pure speed boost. Any other thoughts on B25 + B26 CA?

How are they using these 10MHz third carriers? iirc the other two are 20 MHz each and are CA. Is the third just for parking or does it perhaps act as overflow or load balancing?

Recommend that the moderator purge the off-topic political comments above just like any other spam. Then purge this one at the same time.

If no success, try the international desk.

How close are you to the nearest Canadian shore? With 25km requires lower power iirc. LTE 800 typically opens up like an umbrella - very short distance/small coverage area first, with full extend not reached for several months. B26 3x3 and 5x5 both work this way. Typically 1x800 is done first, so you could check the distance for it to see the maximum boundary if limited for some reason. Of course 1x800 normally far exceeds LTE 800.

These are registered to an account. If the account goes away it it likely that the Magic Box or Airave service will also disappear. They are likely just trying to recover the fee Sprint has or will assess them which I think may be $150.

Here are the current T-Mobile FCC Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service (UU) licenses, commonly referred to by the trade press as millimeter-wave or 28 Ghz or 39 GHz: (source: FCC) We don't know what T-Mobile may have won in the 28 GHz auction, which will be release with the upcoming 24 GHz auction results. AT&T and Verizon have tied up most of the 39 GHz spectrum, which is extremely fragmented between them in the few areas I have checked. The 39 GHz auction for the remaining spectrum and locations is to occur after the auctions mentioned above.

Thanks, corrected. mm could also have been millimeter-wave. The FCC has other terminology mentioned next.

If you are using VoLTE, you will want to use the MB Gen3 as production. I encourage you to use the other MB at another location: work, charity, library, bar, or restaurant, etc.

Thanks for the number. They were mentioned. Small cells are so macro dependent. Gap coverage may no longer be valid. RF shadow coverage primarily aimed for indoors would more likely remain. T-Mobile may want to preserve the spectrum or increase their capacity by going fiber backhaul. Some or all could also be used for 28Ghz 5g. Tribanding the former Clear sites would definitely help to improve indoor urban VoLTE, but we have only seen one done and are running out of time.

We know the average age of a phone is approaching three years, but that likely has a long tail. The first phones with VoLTE mentioned in their FCC certification was about three years ago, therefore at least half of the Sprint phones in use are CDMA only. The FCC hopefully requires that T-Mobile either upgrade the smartphones firmware or provide a discount for the less popular VoLTE capable or CDMA only models (required by FCC in Shentel-nTelos merger, done by T-Mobile in Metro PCS merger). Sprint's current VoLTE efforts amount to little more than a box checked to say they have VoLTE. The minuscule number of VoLTE phones say Sprint is really still a CDMA carrier in terms of voice calls. They likely realized it would be too much pain for too little gain for them at this point. Call performance typically has dipped with the introduction of VoLTE until the network is density is increased, which Sprint last did with the introduction of WiMAX outside of short range lower powered small cells. Getting VoLTE to cover the range of 1x800 (B26 covers only the range of 1x1900) would be expensive. Hopefully the FCC requires T-Mobile to cover this like the Shental-nTelos merger which required all CDMA areas to be covered by LTE.

Could it have been through a VPN you use or with an old website when IPs did not always fit the country range? If you have a sim card on another carrier or an unsmashed old phone that could have been compromised as the first step in this hack along with any associated accounts. Check any related accounts in order of unsecured money: bitcoin etc, brokerage, credit cards, bank accounts, other credit. https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6294825?hl=en

A lot of the 28mm and 39mm was already purchased, at least for the major cities: - Verizon bought Straight Path Wireless for $3.1 Billion: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/11/15621814/verizon-buys-5g-wireless-spectrum-straight-path - Verizon bought XO for $1.8 Billion for fiber network and Nextlink Wirlesses 28mm specturm https://seekingalpha.com/news/3239578-verizon-closes-1_8b-buyout-xo-fiber-business - AT&T bought licenses from Fibertower for $207 million, some of which had to be returned to the FCC: https://about.att.com/story/att_completes_acquisition_of_fibertower_corporation.html T-Mobile, 28mm, price unknown: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/t-mobile-buys-1150-mhz-millimeter-wave-spectrum-covering-ohio-for-5g Here are the totals per carrier by band: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/verizon-at-t-t-mobile-and-dish-mmmwave-licensed-pops The FCC record type for the new 28mm and 39MM combined is UU (28mm legacy is LD). This gives a totally different picture than before. In Ohio metros, T-Mobile has all the 24mm UU which is 850MHz, Verizon and AT&T have the 39mm UU but it is interspersed. Verizon has 50+250+50+250, AT&T has 100+50+50+100+50+50 in Franklin county Ohio. Eventually they will need to swap spectrum to make it more contiguous. Plus they all may have to start building right away. What was left for the 28mm auction (24mm is the one to watch): https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/editor-s-corner-why-28-ghz-spectrum-auction-only-covers-23-7-u-s-population

I was getting 14Mbps downloads with WiMAX which was about equal to most LTE at the time. Dramatic improvement over 3G. You can argue it was a waste of money because it was an evolutionary dead-end, but the licenses were use it or lose it. It was the last major site expansion for Sprint. You could also talk and use data at the same time (WiMAX and Wi-Fi shared the same circuitry, 3G was separate). My current phone is capable, but has not seen VoLTE yet. lol.

T-Mobile won't have 5G on the 600MHz band until the summer with Qualcomm's 2nd 5G chipset (source: https://www.pcmag.com/news/365578/t-mobile-confirms-samsung-5g-phone) To the best of my knowledge, all of T-Mobile's 28MM for 5G which can be used with the Samsung Galaxy 10 (or whatever) is located in Ohio covering most of the state using LMDS A Block 850+150+150 Mhz leaving Verizon with the paltry B Block with 75Mhz +75Mhz in Ohio*. This does not include the unreleased results to the 28mm auction which is tied to the upcoming 24mm auction. Sprint's Band 41- 5G is included with the 855 chipset thus the Samsung Galaxy 10 (or whatever). You never know what lobbying or special fees/payments/etc occurred behind the scenes to insure what bands were included in their first 5G chipset. AT&T mid-bands also missed. *as these licenses currently stand. In auction 101 for the 28mm, it is stated that both blocks will be 425Mhz each. Auction 102 will have blocks A through G, with each block being 100Mhz, the first two and last five are contiguous spectrum. Since the results of the auction will be released together, I assume they will be effectively treated the same by the carriers -- time will tell. 101 is county based while 102 is Partial Economic Area based (multi-county).

You really want a larger number of people on one plan no matter what carrier. Ideally 4 or more. It should be easier to get such groups together after a merger. The key issue is the phone "discounts" provided by the carriers which must flow back through the bill, as well as the ability/desire of all the group members to make full and timely payments.

This all depends on what the FCC decides to do with 2.5GHz (Band 41). Currently these groups exist because 5% iirc is to be held back when 2.5 EDS is leased to a commercial firm. Some of the new proposals will allow the EDS licenses to be sold (which may interest Verizon) which would end this practice. This reexamination of 2.5 by the FCC is supposed to be occurring about now. It would also allow the 2.5 that is not licensed to be given away to the non-profits/tribes or sold. Many of the places that only have CA is because the FCC has not put more 2.5 on the market. Of course the FCC may choose to delay this until after this merger question is decided.

There will be terms and conditions from the DOJ and FCC. The question for T-Mobile will be if the deal is still worth it.

The FCC historically takes the longest. Rules on coverage retention, transition of customer phones, area where spectrum must be divested are all to be expected. It could be turned over to an administrative law judge and possibly take a year based on Shentel-nTelos merger. I would expect DOJ will add something for the MVNOs. I expect Dish to be ignored.

Since people often don't like change, I could see a mad rush once the merger is approved but before it takes effect. The first of three hurdles has been jumped (national security demand that parent firms get rid of Huawei has reportedly been accepted). DOJ and FCC remain.

At least in Samsung markets with AirHarmony small cells, the PCI of small cells is 450 or greater. EARFCN would be another way, but that sometimes gets location specific. GCI would be another way, but then you would need to know the MM cutoff point for each market (we have those for Ohio)

Accepted and then verbally confirmed on Reddit:

The best incoming SNR or RSRQ is where you want to place the MagicBox. Right now you may have a lot of retries.

Don't forget to check the SNR or use the RSRQ. You might also be better away from the window. Also check to see if it using B41 -- it might be on B25 backhaul. You could also be above the best signal, depending on your floor in the condo.

Sprint is slicing these root metric wins finer and finer. The reality is Sprint came in a distant forth in Seattle. http://www.rootmetrics.com/en-US/rootscore/map/metro/seattle-wa/2018/2H Sprint has one outright win for this six month period when they used to get six or seven in recent years. Some of this is how Rootmetrics counts upload speeds the same as download when the usage ratio is more like 10 to 1. PCmag understands this so Sprint has done better there. When the duo starts doing the same with TDD for their MM 5G spectrum I expect RootMetrics to alter the formula to balance upload speeds with usage . But this can not overcome limited backhaul capacity and years with very limited CapEX. Recently Sprint has done a great job improving its network, but the competition has done better. This will however help with reducing churn.