jonathanm1978

49 minutes ago, radem said:

The 5x5 will be more than enough for text messaging and hundreds or thousands of simultaneous phone calls per satellite cell.  As long as they prioritize phone calls with text messaging without media including data apps such as iMessage, RCS, WhatApp, etc. second, they can put all the other types of media including MMS and app-based photo attachments, etc. and all other data types in lowest priority.  People will get terrible data performance but general data might work or might not.  That is more than enough for many people in an emergency.

It would be great if firstnet didn't rely soley on AT&T towers to provide cellular service.. but B14 seems like it's already crowded.

The balancing between up and down still lacking but looks like speed has been improved on both since the last test that I did..

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/9961537959

I may take my Air 3 and grab some pics of the tower that I live a mile away from, just for curiosity.  I am sure there is a more appropriate place to post pics like that, if I do grab them.. or would this be the best thread?

Hasn't quite been a year since Tmo colocated with AT&T on that particular tower that I'm referring to.. Been wondering what equipment they installed (I get b71 along with a couple other frequencies.. I'll get more details later on freqs).

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

The nice thing about getting a Samsung s series factory unlocked phone is you can get a cheap second carrier for places without T-Mobile signal or for the few times a year the network goes down.

Is that an esim thing now, or can you do physical sim + esim with that? I have firstnet and I'd love to be able to something like that.

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

You have the option to do a trade-in with Samsung with your paid-off device.

You’re asked “yes/no” for Trade-In and it walks you through it either way.

If someone else is offering a better trade-in value you can go with that instead.

Definitely going to have to look at this whenever I decide to move from the S23U. I waited 3 years on the last upgrade and got lucky that I upgraded right before Sprint billing was switched over to Tmo. In fact, my call with Sievert's office even verified that for me.. dont remember verbatim how she told me..but basically if you had devices financed with Sprint, all of that was just accepted to Tmo and you continued that regardless of the limit placed on the account by their newly implemented "Hard R r-tard" rules for sh*tting on the sprint folks. I had a screen problem with my GN20 and NOBODY could repair it..even with the protection plus plus super plus whatever plan... so I kept it for a few months after the break, then decided maybe it would be a good idea to upgrade prior to what I anticipated would be a nightmare to move over to Tmo billing.

31 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Agreed!

Samsung does: "Unlocked by Samsung"

https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/phones/unlocked-by-samsung/

They also offer trade-in credit.

So, if I wanted to do something like this with Samsung, I assume to start with -- the initial phone -- would need to be paid off thru T-mobile (the one that I currently  have thru Tmo is leased S23 ultra). So I would have to finish the lease, buy out the device from them, unlock it and then trade it in to Samsung.. 

Got a call last night from the office of Sievert... 

After about a 38 minutes convo... nothing really going to change with the credit stuff.  Basically.. i got a consolation prize, since the initial reason that I even found out about this was because I tried to buy a new watch line for my wife to upgrade her wifi only galaxy watch, basically they covered the amount that was being req'd as a "down payment"..which came to around $246. Probably maxxed out that $2k equipment financing credit now with that watch being add to the bottom line for whatever the period is (I think it's like 12mos)..

But I was told there's just all these factors that go into their decisions... and it's not going to change. According to her, they dont do the 6month reevaluation and it's a constant thing now on a per-customer basis...blah blah thanks for umpteen dozen years and is there anything else we can do for you?

Seems as though former-Sprint/now T-mobile customers just keep getting the raw end of the merger when it comes to everything from devices, to plans, to the benefits of such..

As a first responder, i never had anything with Sprint as far as a discount..but with T-mobile, after jumping thru several hoops, sending a copy of my EMT national registry card and my state licensure to practice in my state, i finally was able to get a small discount (totals around $40/mo total)...

But so far, that's the only real benefit that i've seen from the merger, as Sprint never offered that sort of thing.  After seeing the website tell me that I could upgrade a watch repeatedly, I finally decided to get one for my wife for Christmas.. and after trying to get the $350 off deal 5 or 6 times, each time, after I would click "proceed to checkout", the amount due today would change from $35 to $349 or so every single time...

I finally went to the store, and point blank asked what did the former Sprint customers get from the merger besides a good screwing by T-mobile...because apparently I can't even lease a watch or phone now, because of the account limits that I've been placed under.  I was a Sprint customer, in good standing, for 14 years before the merger. That equates to NOTHING with T-mobile. I asked about how many lines I was approved for, and the store associate told me 10. Ok great.. so what about device financing / leasing? $2000.00. THAT is the problem. They've limited people who were Sprint customers to like $2k in device purchasing.. so you can't upgrade, or even add a line, unless you're willing to pay the entire $1000+ possibly per phone.  If I needed to add a line with Sprint, in the past, I would just add the line, lease or whatever, and pay the device off after a few months of paying it down. Now, that's not an option anymore... If I want to add a line now, I either pay full price or do without... there's no in between.  That doesn't seem like good customer appreciation for the longest account-holders that came over from Sprint. 

Fired off an email to Mike Sievert this morning about this very thing...because to me, being approved to have 10 lines, but limited to $2000 in device purchasing power seems counter productive and quite frankly, STUPID AF.  Even with Firstnet, if I decided that I want a new phone, I just pick the phone and pay it off over time, usually within 6 months..but usually I'll finance for 4-5 months before paying it off just to lower that big charge upfront.. But Firstnet isn't T-mobile...and vice versa.. Just seems like Tmo doesn't really care if Sprint customers stay or go... Why else would they limit people who have been around the longest?

2 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

Interesting. This is something I had with my Sprint account for a long time, it's still active on my T-Mobile account. I figured it would be going away eventually. Surprised they renewed it, especially with the talk about Hulu getting merged into Disney+ at some point this year.

I also had this with Sprint...and it transitioned with the move to T-mo... I just checked and it's still there for the 7.99/mo ...

I wonder if they'll zero out those who have this for a 12-month period?

2 hours ago, bill875 said:

This issue affects a lot of people, I believe.  I have a higher CL, but I have 16 devices and a measly $5,000 credit line means I will have to pick and choose who can upgrade through T-Mobile and who can't.  As it is, I am going to suggest that extended family members jump to a different carrier to get phone deals as T-Mobile is pretty much dead to me with these very un, unCarrier moves they are making.  Makes me wish Sprint still existed.  I wonder what could have been had USCC been open to a merger with Sprint many years ago.

Definitely affects me. Sprint for 13 years, switched over to T-mo billing and hit with this stupid sh*t. I thought "maybe if I pay off this, pay off that" ..but no...

I paid off a watch and immediately tried to add a new watch...but couldn't do it. Told to call by the website...so I did. I wasn't informed of the CL or any amount... but i'm sure that I'm already over that as we just upgraded back in April to new S23 ultras on 2 lines. I don't understand their motives...but really considering just going with firstnet for all my lines, even though I despise AT&T.

I've been having problems with people unable to call me, and so is my wife. I live in an area with decent 5g UC n71... (both s23 ultra).

Wifi calling doesn't seem to make a difference. It'll randomly drop a call on wifi calling...

But with cellular, it won't even ring if someone attempts to call. 

1 hour ago, PedroDaGr8 said:

In my area, it has worked essentially flawlessly. To the point that I forget I have it on. 

Is there a post to reference to how it can be enabled on an S23 ultra? Or is it something network side that has to be done?

Mine was done yesterday. I received a text message saying 'welcome to tmobile billing' or whatever.

My tablet SIM is locked to my tablet... I was swapping between Tablet and unlocked hotspot a few weeks back..now suddenly the hotspot won't even connect with Tmo SIM installed. Works fine with Firstnet SIM installed.

I dunno what Tmobile is doing but I've seen 3 different types of 5g today...

1 hour ago, tybo31316 said:

So what happens when the spectrum auction authorization expire?

That was my question too but I didn't want to fill up the comments with things that possibly have been discussed...Hopefully Tmo can just reapply for the authorizations without much hassle...

And then, I hope it's just a software upgrade for the current hardware on the tower and doesn't require a fresh climb to make use of it. Not sure what they are putting on towers nowadays.. 

9 minutes ago, jonathanm1978 said:

Edited to add the speedtest.. I'll dig into that auction so i don't have to ask dumb questions that I'm sure have been covered already.. Preshiate the info!!

Any clue what the hold-up would be for the FCC to not give Tmo their licenses?? 

2 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

Yup, 20+20 of n41. Must be a rural area, in which case auction 108 will benefit you greatly when finally released.

Edited to add the speedtest.. I'll dig into that auction so i don't have to ask dumb questions that I'm sure have been covered already.. Preshiate the info!!

1 hour ago, dkyeager said:

400mbps for n71 strikes me as high. Are you sure it is not CA with another band?

I'll check the engineering screen and get back to you... SCP just shows n71.

They've really got the new n71 unbalanced for my area. DL topping around 400mbps, and uploads around 10mbps.  I'm not sure what the ideal U/L should be, but I would rather it be balanced more.. but I guess in time it'll be balanced out.

14 hours ago, floorguy said:

Ok was at an old Sprint store, now Tmo..... turns out the word is...

END OF MONTH ALL SPRINT BILLING SHOULD BE MOVED TO TMO.

The guy said Tmo has now sent out legal letters to people who haven't switched sims yet, that their phone will stop working.

Anyone here still have a Sprint Sim that can verify if they got that letter??

I was told that I would've already been switched if it hadn't been for my tablet still being under an open lease, and i didn't want to buy it out to go ahead and switch  (really no benefit to switching to TMo billing....as the amount should stay the same minus the payment on the lease of the tablet)..

14 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

They are aggressively co-locating on towers all across the country. Since most cell companies no longer own the towers, it's pretty easy to jump on with another carrier.

That's really good news.. to finally be in a time where advancements in tech aren't 5+ years out to see something happen. I remember upgrading phones in hopes of getting clearwire B41... then it never came to fruition... same for other tech that we upgraded phones in hopes of getting service without using a femtocell... It's great to see tech actually advancing forward. We held off on upgrading the old Note 20 5g because I knew there wasn't really any benefit since we didn't have cell coverage here yet.  Now, with knowing they've got coverage, it makes it all worthwhile.

2 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

S23 has all CA combinations available. If it is showing n71 and UC in the corner, that means you have n71 + n41 active at minimum. Checking the engineering screen will confirm that.

Gotcha. I am sort of lost as to what Tmo did because they didn't erect a new tower, obviously.. so they had to colocate with the AT&T tower that is a mile from my house... It's odd because that's like the middle of a dead zone.. it gives great service in ~10 or so mile radius..but the fringes of that tower's reach are way outside of the nearby towers coverage also.. so it leaves some pretty large gaps. But I'm glad to see ANY progress..and for my house, it is great to finally have service at home. I started back in 2009 or so with Sprint and that first year the phone spent more time turned off than it did in use. 10 months into that contract, I rec'd the very first Samsung Airave... and have had a femtocell ever since....Including the current Tmobile Cellspot.  I unplugged my cellspot Saturday when I noticed the n71 coverage on my S23... but wow.. it's great to see them actually doing something in rural Alabama.. It's been a LONG 12 years (give or take a few months on either side). I've always just kept the service because changing phone service to me is like pulling teeth.. so I never wanted to switch carriers.  Now I have Firstnet and Tmo(Sprint) so it really doesn't bother me as much that i didn't have good service on my Tmobile/Sprint phone.. Now all thats left is being switch over to Tmobile billing..still on Sprint billing for now.

With the S23, is there anything to be unlocked with n71 like aggregation that isn't already unlocked? I noticed my tablet (S7 FE 5G) shows some 3CA when my phone is showing the n71 UC so I'm not sure if the S23 is getting all it can.

Well.. my power flickered this evening and kicked my cell spot offline. I noticed that my phone still had service, then the 5G UC showed up on my screen. Honestly thought it was just a hang up from the loss and it was not displaying properly... but then I did a speed test and got 250meg down and 30 Meg upload.... apparently they've added n71 here in the past week and I just found it.  For the first time in 10+ years I don't need a box to give my service at home!!

Like a kid with a new toy now...yay!

2 hours ago, wispiANt said:

https://goo.gl/maps/iHPRYLbNrkcAgxLP9

Well... I upgraded phones...and went with the Samsung 23 Ultra.. So I assume that I can get all the newer bands of frequency that are being utilized.. I don't think central Alabama is going to light up anything in the ultra wideband in the near future, unless it's birmingham... I live rural between Bham and Montgomery so it's doubtful I see that stuff .. 

I do see the 5G UC when I go into the little town I live close to.. but if I didn't have that Cell Spot... I would be kinda SOL unless it was wifi calling.. hopefully they do some big upgrading soon.