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Paynefanbro

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Everything posted by Paynefanbro

  1. Paynefanbro
    That's really enlightening. I've always said that it felt like T-Mobile was trying to maintain a baseline in my neighborhood of 500/100 at all times of day. So far that has held up despite 5G usage increasing a ton since my site first got upgraded. There are even some TMHI customers nearby that I can see when I scan for WiFi. I wonder what's different about those sites where you can easily pull upward of 1Gbps? Just this morning I connected to a site here in NYC that gave me 1.1Gbps down and 140Mbps up.
  2. Paynefanbro
    Looks like you and another user mapped a new eNB 435763 right by East New York Ave station at the end of July. There's even two PCS cells mapped, Cell 11 is near Atlantic Ave and Dewey Place where the line goes under Atlantic, and Cell 12 is right by the East New York Ave stop. So it seems like the tunnel DAS is active from the Barclays Center to East New York Ave. — — — — — Three more keep sites: Sprint eNB 5888 -> T-Mobile eNB 894509 Located at (40.626123308302006, -73.93491164383306) This site was converted but not live for a while. T-Mobile eNB 41387 got decommissioned in favor of this new Sprint conversion, likely because the new site is on a much taller building and provides significantly better coverage in the area. Sprint eNB 7068/7069 -> T-Mobile eNB 875919 Located at (40.777295261569435, -73.96188129012455) Sprint eNB 79419-> T-Mobile eNB 310769 Located at: (40.77597793649145, -73.96063612433635) What makes this site stand out is that it's one of those mini-macros like the Grimaldi's site in Dumbo. It’s the first conversion I’ve seen with those kind of antennas. Sprint eNB 73984 -> T-Mobile eNB 347835 Located at: (40.66576415487458, -73.80671119247368) T-Mobile eNB 56209/56759 got decommissioned in favor of this Sprint conversion. This eNB was on the building next door to the new site. — — — — — T-Mobile eNB 128752-2/12 (small cell) is also broadcasting n41. I'm getting those characteristic 500Mbps speeds and super low ping. This time it was 11ms.
  3. Paynefanbro
    Verizon has been littering Staten Island with these mmWave small cells. I even saw some Altec workers installing one today. Rather than deploying them borough-wide, it seems like they're deploying them in hyperlocal areas. It's as if they target a specific neighborhood and then deploy dozens of them. I also noticed that all of the Verizon installed nodes in Staten Island are mmWave only. The Extenet-installed small cells in the outer boroughs all have an LTE antenna on top at the very least and on rare occasion they'll install Samsung mmWave radios too. I wonder why they're opting to just do mmWave and not both? Here are two pics I took today. It's like they're just slapping three antennas on a pole and calling it a day. Notably, there's no box on the side of the pole housing radio equipment like the cantenna sites in the other boroughs. Just a power meter and some labels.
  4. Paynefanbro
    I should've clarified that I was referring to C-band+DoD. They average 40MHz of C-band covering 220 million people but they also have 20MHz of DoD covering 184 million people. https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/t-mobile-extends-5g-leadership-in-auction-110 https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/t-mobile-further-solidifies-5g-leadership-position-with-successful-c-band-auction
  5. Paynefanbro
    After they’re granted their Auction 108 winnings T-Mobile will have ~180MHz of n41 on average nationwide. They also have a further 60MHz of n77 that covers nearly 200 million people that they plan to start deploying later this year through next year. I think they’ll be fine. Not to mention the massive coverage gap between them and the other two and neither Verizon nor AT&T have forecasted when they’re gonna hit 300 million POPs with midband.
  6. Paynefanbro
    AT&T's jump to 80MHz has made them significantly more competitive with Verizon and T-Mobile citywide. I didn't realize how much they were being held back by their lack of midband. Before the clearing my fastest speed on their network was about 440Mbps with average speeds around 120Mbps. Now average speeds are in the 350-450Mbps range and peak speeds are over 700Mbps. I don't know if they massively increased backhaul alongside expanding C-band but kudos to AT&T nonetheless!
  7. Paynefanbro
    I recalled this being the case but didn't know if I was misremembering. If T-Mobile is able to get it's hands on enough DoD spectrum to have 40MHz throughout much of rural America, that would make them super competitive in areas where Verizon has 200MHz of C-band. Especially since after T-Mobile receives its spectrum from Auction 110, they'll have nearly the entirety of BRS/EBS in much of rural America.
  8. Paynefanbro
    A sale of U.S. Cellular is pretty much a spectrum sale for the Big 3. Best case scenario, T-Mobile buys them and sells off all of their Band 5 AT&T and Verizon, and the towers to whoever wants it. Worst case, AT&T buys them and keeps pretty much all of their spectrum, only selling off 600MHz to T-Mobile. If Dish were in a better financial position I would have loved to see them buyout U.S. Cellular and have an immediate presence in rural areas. Maybe U.S. Cellular can hold out until Dish gets its house in order. That said, given U.S. Cellular's size as the last "big" regional carrier I don't think regulators will be happy to see Verizon take over them without significant concessions or see T-Mobile take them over given they got away with a massive merger with Sprint just 3 years ago. AT&T would likely face the least pushback.
  9. Paynefanbro
    I also mapped a new AT&T eNB 112900 on July 20th and didn't know what it was so I left it unconfirmed. The cell numbers gave away that it was some sort of picocell on indoor DAS but I didn't know what for. Given what you guys have said it's probably their LIRR tunnel DAS. It's located right where the line goes under Atlantic Ave headed toward East New York station. Seems that both AT&T and T-Mobile went live recently. — — — — — Also no idea if it's all 889xxx small cells in Long Island City but eNB 889940-1/11 is definitely broadcasting standalone n41. Got 519/98 with a 16ms ping while right next to it. Well in line with the performance of the small cells I saw in Downtown Brooklyn. This small cell first went live December 2022. It also had fantastic range too thanks to the omnidirectional antenna on top, though I have seen small cells without an omni-antenna have great range too like eNB ID 134824-6/16. — — — — — C-band got widened to 80MHz on AT&T. — — — — — Also mapped a new oDAS node at Atlantic and 3rd Ave, eNB 478115-1/11. Probably has n41 and fills in a weak spot in coverage.
  10. Paynefanbro
    Sounds like you nailed it. The coverage pattern on Cellmapper make its look like the signal is definitely coming from the tunnel that runs underneath Atlantic.
  11. Paynefanbro
    I mapped a new eNB 345042 in Brooklyn. I thought it was a new macro given that Band 12 got mapped but there are no permits for any new sites or Sprint conversions in the area. Maybe a new DAS at the Nostrand Avenue LIRR station?
  12. Paynefanbro
    From what I've seen in some Ericsson PDFs the currently installed 22xx radios support LTE (FDD+TDD) and LAA alongside 5G via software update but I'm not certain what bandwidth on NR. The 44xx radios on the other hand support up to 6 LTE carriers (FDD+TDD) and up to 100MHz on NR but they don't support LAA. In a previous post you mentioned that you saw 120MHz n41 on a small cell which makes me wonder how they managed to do that given the bandwidth constraints of the currently installed antennas. The small cells are also broadcasting LAA as far as I can tell. What that makes me think is that T-Mobile is potentially installing the Dual Radio variant of their Ericsson Micro Radios, the same one you see on those new strand mounts they've been installing in New Jersey, maybe with a single 44xx and a single 22xx. Doing so would allow them to simultaneously run Band 2/n25, Band/n66, LAA, and n41 at 120MHz (I think). There's a user on the Cellmapper Reddit who seems to be a tower/small cell tech here in NYC and he mentioned a while back that he hadn't seen any of the designs for the new T-Mobile 5G nodes yet. Hopefully he'll be able to provide some insight in the future.
  13. Paynefanbro
    T‑Mobile Delivers Industry‑Leading Growth in Customers and Profitability in Q2 2023, Raises 2023 Guidance Again https://www.t-mobile.com/news/business/t-mobile-q2-2023-earnings
  14. Paynefanbro
    This site is live now: Sprint eNB 6786 -> T-Mobile eNB 446333 Location: 40.64708295826081, -73.97986782685851 — — — — — T-Mobile eNB 344423 is a gig+ site. — — — — — 600MHz LTE is still live in Staten Island. Connected to it while in Red Hook and while driving along the Belt Parkway recently.
  15. Paynefanbro
    Nope, no more Band 71 in NYC. It still exists in Long Island though. I connected to it in Great Neck last week.
  16. Paynefanbro
    Phones with an x70 modem like the Samsung Galaxy S23.
  17. Paynefanbro
    Virtually all of the recent Sprint conversions I've found have multi-gig fiber backhaul. I think that's gonna be the norm for their sites going forward. Following up on this, a bunch of small cells definitely have n41. I just visited some in Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo and all of them had n41 broadcasting from them. eNB 134685-3 is a small cell across the street from the 130 Furman St. Got -65dbm SA n41 signal while next to it. eNB 134686-6 is a small cell at the intersection of Hicks and McKenney, right by the southbound entrance to the BQE in Brooklyn Heights. I got -72dbm signal on SA n41 and look at how low that ping is. eNB 134687-1 in Brooklyn Heights is a small cell near the intersection of Henry St and Poplar St. The nearest macro with n41 in this area is the site on top of Grimaldi's and this specific area is at the edge of the range of that cell so signal should be weak. Instead I had -75dbm signal and great speeds. eNB 134687-3 at Pearl St and High St in Downtown Brooklyn.
  18. Paynefanbro
    Nice catch! gNB 1347372 fits the bill. Each cell pretty matches up with an existing oDAS node in Downtown Brooklyn. Cell 301 -> eNB 134687 Cell 1/11 Cell 303 -> eNB 134687 Cell 3/13 Cell 306 -> eNB 134688 Cell 6/16 (Importantly this small cell and the corresponding gNB were spotted two days apart confirming that they're the same site) I believe that 347812-6 that I mapped in Brooklyn Heights may have n41 too. I reported really fast speeds and strong n41 signal next to it earlier this year but at the time I chalked it up to a nearby macro just performing really well. Maybe I was wrong about that. I'll have to check all of them out. This is big news!
  19. Paynefanbro
    Sprint eNB Unknown -> T-Mobile eNB 894878 Located at 40.88814659211605, -73.9045439608868. Site address is 3840 Greystone Ave, Bronx, NY 10463 — — — — — Filled out a bit more of Flatlands/Old Mill Basin on Cellmapper — — — — — I'm also mapping a bunch of new T-Mobile small cells every time I go out. Unfortunately none are the newer 5G nodes. It seems like right now Crown Castle is still fulfilling some sort of existing contract to build out small cells that were first submitted as far back as 2017. I get the feeling that T-Mobile is still trying to figure out what their 5G small cell strategy is gonna look like here. It'll certainly include midband but they might want to deploy mmWave as well since they could feasibly deploy both with the new design.
  20. Paynefanbro
    T‑Mobile Takes the Limelight in Latest Industry Expert Report https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/t-mobile-takes-the-limelight-in-latest-report
  21. Paynefanbro
    Mapped a bunch of the North Shore/Gold Coast on Cellmapper because I noticed that it was undermapped specifically for AT&T. I managed to log a couple of sites that weren't mapped before as well as locate a bunch that were significantly off from their locations due to being seen super far away. For example, the pin for AT&T eNB 115975 sat unconfirmed for 6 years and was stuck on the Throgs Neck Bridge but in reality it was 5.5 miles away in Sands Point. Another good example was eNB 110233 which was unconfirmed since 2020 and it's pin was stuck in Larchmont, NY when in reality the site was 6.5 miles across the Long Island Sound in Port Washington. As far as my experience with mapping AT&T and T-Mobile goes, what I've found is that pretty much each of the Big 3 are collocated on all of the same macros throughout the region. This means that in most areas you'll have similar coverage no matter what carrier you're on. What makes the difference in performance is how much spectrum is available. In the areas where only lowband reaches, AT&T is faster than T-Mobile at similar signal strengths due to AT&T having 10MHz Band 12/14/n5 whereas T-Mobile has 5MHz Band 12 and 15MHz n71. If you're within range of midband though T-Mobile absolutely clobbers AT&T. The only areas where the carriers aren't collocated are the downtowns/commercial areas of the towns, villages, and hamlets of the North Shore. In those areas, T-Mobile had n41 90% of the time whereas AT&T barely had any C-band coverage. When I did connect, it was decently fast at ~250Mbps but in those same areas I'd be seeing >700Mbps on T-Mobile. Another thing that separates T-Mobile and Verizon from AT&T is the use of small cells. All throughout the North Shore you'll find T-Mobile and Verizon small cells that fill in coverage where macros can't simply don't reach. With AT&T that isn't the case at all. It's a surprising departure from their m/o in NYC where they seemingly deploy 3 small cells for every macro. The best example of this difference in performance is Oyster Bay Road and Chicken Valley Road in Mill Neck and Matinecock. Both of these roads are barely covered by the macros that are meant to serve them. On AT&T I was seeing signals as low as -125dbm on Band 14 with throughput of <1Mbps, often cutting out completely. On T-Mobile in these same areas I was getting a strong signal and ~200Mbps thanks to all of the small cells.
  22. Paynefanbro
    Turns out this AT&T site is actually not live yet. There used to be a monopole in the lot adjacent to 28 Verona St that hosted Verizon and AT&T. Verizon moved from the monopole to this building back in 2018 but AT&T stayed on the tower until it got demolished sometime in the past year. Now this building hosts all of the Big 3 and while i haven't spotted the antennas myself, Dish has an approved permit for this building that expired in November 2022 so the antennas might be there but set back from the roof a bit.
  23. Paynefanbro
    Last I heard they said they aren't focused on small cells right now because they're just trying to hit buildout deadlines but they were trialing CBRS small cells at one point. They'll probably start small cell deployments 2-3 years from now when their macro buildout is significantly complete.
  24. Paynefanbro
    Sure! Here you go: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Ss9bK42uxuOWoPFE2dT1guS1IFsTj64&ll=40.71040969667979%2C-73.97969604999999&z=11 They're still submitting a ton. I last made this map a couple of months ago and since then there are around 150 more permits submitted. The other carriers each have over 1,000 sites that they built out over the decades. Dish (conservatively) has half that in two years so I think they're doing a great job. They also clearly have a good understanding of the density necessary to perform well in the city. In areas like Flatbush and Bay Ridge they have density matching and even exceeding AT&T.
  25. Paynefanbro
    Officially at over 700 Dish permits in DOB.
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