T‑Mobile Takes the Limelight in Latest Industry Expert Report

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.

On 6/23/2023 at 11:05 PM, Paynefanbro said:

DoD sighting in Brooklyn. This is AT&T eNB 110691 in Red Hook.

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.

49 minutes ago, AirlineFlyer said:

Looking forward to an updated map. Do you know to what degree Dish is using small cell/oDAS in NYC?

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.

30 minutes ago, AirlineFlyer said:

Wow. Can you share the map so I can take a closer look. Though that looks reallll sparse in SI and Queens.

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.

Officially at over 700 Dish permits in DOB.

Went to Citi Field yesterday evening for a concert. I had the opposite experience of Yankee Stadium. While both T-Mobile and AT&T have a DAS built out in the stadium AT&T performed phenomenally staying above 60Mbps the entire time while T-Mobile was stuck at 1-3Mbps for the entire concert. It seems like T-Mobile's DAS just hasn't been updated in a while there. I'm also fairly certain that whatever throughput I was getting on T-Mobile was strictly thanks to 5G from outside the stadium because switching my phone to LTE only resulted in zero throughput.

When the concert was over and everyone began leaving, the opposite occurred. Outside the stadium AT&T's macro network couldn't handle the load and had zero throughput while T-Mobile was still able to load websites and directions via Apple Maps even though it was very slow.

— — — — —

eNB 40400 is now gig+. Got over 800Mbps while driving by it recently. Similar experience near the Barclays Center but I'm not sure which eNB it was. Could be 59459 but I'll have to test again. Glad to see backhaul upgrades progressing.

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Adding onto the list of neighborhoods I mapped, got most of Red Hook and the southern half of Bay Ridge. Looks like the points only loaded on T-Mobile in Bay Ridge this time and AT&T is lagging. In Red Hook, both carriers points are appearing but At&T is missing a couple spots. I've been focusing on areas where there likely aren't any more Sprint conversions so that the coverage is as up to date as possible.

Bay Ridge:

Red Hook:

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I noticed that I've been getting a lot more 250-350Mbps speed tests on AT&T recently. At first I thought it might've been that they increased C-band to 80MHz like we've been seeing in some other markets but it's not that. Maybe it's just an extensive backhaul increase. Even getting some 400Mbps+ speeds in Flatbush. 

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Someone has been uploading Dish speed tests over on coveragemap.com. There are a bunch of 600-700Mbps speed tests all over Brooklyn and Manhattan. That's already competitive with the big 3. 

6 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

C-Band antenna in the middle? Or do the n41 antennas look different there compared to Midwest markets.

Nope just the regular Ericsson n41 antennas that they've been deploying here for a while. I don't think T-Mobile has any C-band antennas deployed in NYC yet.

On 6/2/2023 at 7:27 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Sprint eNB 6786 is converted but not live

1. Located at: 40.647096399275, -73.97984672978991
   

 

Caught workers on this site. It's still not live but it looked like they're doing their finishing touches.

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On 7/1/2023 at 10:27 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Bad photo but I came across a new AT&T install in Williamsburg by McCarren Park. According to Google Maps it has been installed since last summer but I don't think it's live. Whenever it does go live it'll cover what's probably their weakest area in Brooklyn.

Got a clearer picture of this site. Turns out it has been live since December.

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T-Mobile n41 keeping up with Verizon mmWave. This is eNB 43891. I posted this site to Reddit last year sometime. You can see both the Verizon and T-Mobile site in the photo.

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Also spotted a Verizon small cell with only mmWave in Staten Island earlier this week.

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Also mapped a new AT&T site at Fort Hamilton. eNB 112267. 

Bad photo but I came across a new AT&T install in Williamsburg by McCarren Park. According to Google Maps it has been installed since last summer but I don't think it's live. Whenever it does go live it'll cover what's probably their weakest area in Brooklyn.

— — — — —

T-Mobile eNB 894899 in a Sprint conversion located at 40.85249928698625, -73.92019513165127.

This site was part of the initial phase of WiMax to LTE conversions that was done by Clearwire just before Sprint acquired them. The site doesn't even appear on Cellmapper even though you can clearly see the antennas in Streetview. I don't think it ever broadcasted the keep PLMN either.

— — — — —

Also good to see T-Mobile still doing new builds in the city that aren't Sprint conversions. eNB 331694 and a bunch of small cells went live October 2022 in Broad Channel to fill in what was once a massive gap in coverage.

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Finally found my local Dish site. Instead of taking over Sprint's spot on what was once my home site, they moved onto the same building as the nearest Verizon site to me which is a little further away. Verizon doesn't have the best coverage in my house so that's a bit worrying for Dish but they might be alright because of lowband.

1 hour ago, clbowens said:

So for low-band, do they only have 5x5 B12 there now?

Yup just the 5MHz of Band 12. Might be an issue for the people still stuck on LTE only devices but standalone 5G is quickly becoming the norm. At this point it seems like half the time I look at the FieldTest screen on the iPhone I’m on standalone n41 with 3xCA. 

Caught a T-Mobile site mid-upgrade this morning.

UScellular Launches 5G Mid-Band Network

https://newsroom.uscellular.com/uscellular-launches-5g-mid-band-network/

Quote

UScellular today announced the launch of its 5G mid-band network, with customers in parts of 10 states who now have access to the benefits of the company’s faster and stronger network. 

By the end of June, UScellular’s 5G mid-band network will be available mainly in parts of Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, including sections of Rockford, Ill., Des Moines, Iowa and Milwaukee. Communities in Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Virginia and Washington are also included in the initial rollout. By the end of the year, the company plans to cover more than 1 million households in its operating footprint with its 5G mid-band network.

 

Got my fastest standalone 5G speed test on T-Mobile today.

eNB 41050 in Park Slope

New Gig+ Sites:

eNB 877322 and eNB 41323 are gig+ sites. While I only got 843 on 41323, it initially shot over 1Gbps before settling down. 

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DoD sighting in Brooklyn. This is AT&T eNB 110691 in Red Hook.

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Filled out Bergen Beach, Old Mill Basin, and Canarsie a bit on Cellmapper. The AT&T layers have started coming through but the T-Mobile layers are a bit slower to show up. 

Fully converted sites:

1. Sprint eNB 74020 -> T-Mobile eNB 326552
   • Location: 40.715917084573746, -73.77254385489373
2. Sprint eNB 79281 -> T-Mobile eNB 344423
   • Location: 40.73372014872347, -74.00341617480531

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Broadcasting keep PLMN:

1. Sprint eNB 253671
   1. Located at 40.57772361187426, -73.84865075580691
2. Sprint eNB 5944
   1. Located at: 40.64903333540103, -73.79131072060973

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eNB 41646 and eNB 41638 are both gig+ sites.

1 hour ago, PythonFanPA said:

https://ir.dish.com/news-releases/news-release-details/dish-5g-network-now-available-over-70-percent-us-population

Looks like Project Genesis is available in my area now too which is a plus. I don’t feel like dropping $400 on a Motorola Edge though lol. 

I mapped AT&T and T-Mobile's networks in most of Bergen Beach and Mill Basin recently on Cellmapper. It looks like some of it is finally starting to appear on the map in Bergen Beach. The two standout things to me are: 

1. T-Mobile's older oDAS nodes have really great coverage. For example when I first saw eNB 49289-3 I thought it was one of those weird situations where a single cell covers ~3 small cells but it's just a small cell with no obstructions so it can be connected to across the that little channel that separates Mill Basin from Bergen Beach with a decent signal. Same deal with 49288-5, it has a range of a couple blocks which is rare on newer T-Mobile nodes.
    
2. AT&T has better signal strength than T-Mobile in much of Bergen Beach despite both carriers being collocated on the same rooftop. I know T-Mobile's azimuths are different and whatnot but it seems like AT&T has fewer qualms about increasing power or adjusting downtilt for maximum coverage. Does AT&T having 20MHz of lowband spectrum between Band 12/14 have something to do with that? I ask because with that much lowband on LTE you likely have fewer fears about the network experience at edge of cell compared to T-Mobile who only has 5x5 Band 12 and Band 71 which can become congested a lot quicker.

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Here are screenshots of my mapping. More of the area should load in over the next couple of days as I mapped almost all of the Mill Basin peninsula area.

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Edit:

Funny, after posting this one layer of AT&T fully updated to reflect all of the mapping I did.

29 minutes ago, mdob07 said:

Looks like I'm seeing 180 MHz of n41 in Charlotte,  NC. This is the first I've seen the 2nd carrier expanded to 80MHz, is this live in other areas also now too? I'm just traveling through here today. 

I believe 180MHz was spotted in parts of Connecticut sometime last year too.

Edit: Reddit showing a few examples in Florida, California, and NY as well from earlier this year.

Converted and live:

1. Sprint eNB 74321 -> T-Mobile eNB 347217
   1. Location: 40.711555634592045, -73.90205282897874
2. Sprint eNB 253648 -> T-Mobile eNB 344966
   1. Location: 40.739909422602764, -74.00570475706513
3. Sprint eNB Unknown -> T-Mobile eNB 310766
   1. Location: 40.760188344416285, -73.96886037075352
4. Sprint eNB Unknown -> T-Mobile eNB 894887
   1. 40.80706983542683, -73.91457816360656
5. Sprint eNB 6829 -> T-Mobile eNB 347832
   1. Location: 40.5971347474561, -73.95019458988855

— — — — —

Converted but not live:

1. Sprint eNB 5888
   1. Location: 40.62612064693741, -73.93488926518539

On 5/20/2023 at 4:45 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Converted but not live:

1. Sprint eNB Unknown located at 40.73044202152905, -73.85233764709504
   1. Got a pic when it was rainy a couple of days ago so it's super blurry but the silhouette should give it away:

This site is live now. It's eNB 343958.

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Verizon is gone from the roof of the building at the intersection of Flatbush and Fulton. Noticed it a couple of weeks ago but forgot to post about it. That's probably why they put up that new site across the street from LIU. T-Mobile already decommed the Clearwire equipment from that site but refuses to upgrade it to n41. Only AT&T has upgraded that site to midband. Something's up.

— — — — —

1. T-Mobile eNB 51834 is a gig+ site. Got 1.3Gbps in standalone mode.
   
   
    
2. T-Mobile eNB 880578 got a backhaul upgrade. Got just over a gig in standalone mode on that site.
   
   

I was just in Greenwich, CT doing some shopping and naturally also doing some recording of cell sites in the background on Cellmapper. Specifically I was along Greenwich Ave which is the most dense part of the city.

1. Verizon: Literally didn't work most of the time. Even though their coverage shows the entire city blanketed in 5GUW you'll only be on their nationwide 5G network or LTE if you're anywhere south of Lewis St. Regular 5G (non C-band) didn't work at all. I don't mean it was slow, I mean it didn't pass any data at all. When I opened Instagram it told me "No connection". In a store I was in I even overheard someone asking another shopper if they had service in the store. I immediately knew they were on Verizon. Switching to LTE gave me data although it was slow. In most stores I'd get speeds in the low teens, outside it'd go up to 40Mbps. Above Lewis St. my phone finally connected to n77. On n77 I was seeing ~180Mbps. It seems like the issue isn't backhaul, it's just that Verizon doesn't have any remaining capacity on the LTE side.
    
2. AT&T: AT&T was slow but didn't suffer from the same "No data connection" issue that Verizon did. Speeds were in the low teens most of the time and peaked around 50Mbps. My phone hopped between AT&T's nationwide 5G and LTE frequently much like Verizon. Also just like Verizon, north of Lewis St. I suddenly connected to 5G+ which gave me speeds just over 100Mbps. AT&T also at least one small cell along Greenwich Ave for additional capacity and coverage and it's doing wonders for their network in the area. I'd go as far as saying it's probably the only reason they're not in the same situation as Verizon.
    
3. T-Mobile: Not to sound like an ad for the company but I was really blown away by T-Mobile's performance here. T-Mobile is collocated on the same towers as Verizon and AT&T in the region but they have an extra site in the steeple a church along Greenwich Ave that they've upgraded with n41. As a result, T-Mobile not only has the strongest signal indoors and outdoors, they also have the fastest speeds by a long shot. Nowhere along the commercial strip did I drop below 500Mbps. Indoors I was seeing over 300Mbps and outdoors I peaked at over 600Mbps. For the sake of testing I switched my phone to LTE and saw speeds of 180Mbps indoors.

1. Sprint eNB 9493/5784 -> T-Mobile eNB 216213
   1. Located at: 40.61611028489374, -74.01141959254353
2. Sprint eNB 6786 is converted but not live
   1. Located at: 40.647096399275, -73.97984672978991
      

10 hours ago, wispiANt said:

Additionally, I've spotted the Dish PLMN broadcasting in parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. I'm unable to manually connect, but hopefully this means the network is going live soon.

Nice, this just prompted me to check to see if it's live in my area and whaddya know, I'm seeing the Dish PLMN inside my house. I might need to get another dual SIM phone to map Dish and Verizon on next!

Converted and live:

1. Sprint eNB 5895 -> T-Mobile eNB 894894
   1. Location: 40.66466311967771, -73.93960182432919
2. Sprint eNB 6178/7096 -> T-Mobile eNB 435611
   1. Location: 40.78707921692206, -73.92779049281599
   2. This was the Sprint site on the water tower on Randalls Island. Would've been converted just in time for GovBall but that got moved to Flushing Meadows.
3. Sprint eNB Unknown -> T-Mobile eNB 326555
   1. Location: 40.723502188026536, -73.8389076735834
   2. This is also a gig+ site:
      

— — — — —

Converted but not live:

1. Sprint eNB Unknown located at 40.73044202152905, -73.85233764709504
   1. Got a pic when it was rainy a couple of days ago so it's super blurry but the silhouette should give it away:
      

— — — — —

Gig+ sites:

1. T-Mobile eNB 50319 in Fort Greene is a gig+ site. Pulled over 900Mbps while driving by. Probably could've gotten over 1Gbps had I stopped in front of it.
2. T-Mobile eNB 41153 on top of Chelsea Piers is a gig+ site.