greenbastard

1 hour ago, Yuhfhrh said:

 

2.5GHz install on a T-Mobile site in the Houston area: 29.7018566, -95.7397737

Site is only broadcasting two B41 LTE carriers, no N41 as of right now. Talked with the crew for a bit and the four of them are tackling four sites per day right now.

One thing I do like about T-Mobile is that they really put a lot of energy into taking care of Houston. T-Mobile pulled a bunch of permits from the City of Houston on June 10. Seems like they're not sitting on those permits (which Sprint used to do).

From the few towers I checked, it seems like they are prioritizing towers that were left behind during the 600 Mhz upgrades first. The towers that received the first round of 600 Mhz upgrades have not had any permits submitted.

On 7/4/2020 at 12:47 PM, bigsnake49 said:

For me the interesting event will happen in 3 years when T-Mobile's leases with other holders of 600Mhz spectrum expire. Will we see a bidding war between T-Mobile and Dish for those leases?

If there is a purchase option on the current T-Mobile leases, then there probably won't be much of a bidding war.

Any area where West Central Wireless owns spectrum will be an area were T-Mobile is severely spectrum constrained. I wouldn't recommend anyone touch T-Mobile if they plan to live in San Angelo.

19 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

 I used to tell my mom to hang up and I'll call her back just for HD Voice to work.

1st world problems.

But seriously, HD voice calling between T-Mobile and Sprint are still a hit or miss for me. I was surprised when a friend called me from his Sprint line a couple of months ago and it sounded very clear (way clearer than VoIP gaming solutions such as Discord). All of our calls are HD since then.

But when I call my sister, no HD. VoLTE works fine on her phone, but just no HD.

1 hour ago, dewbertdc said:

Looks like T-Mobile has activated 2.5Ghz 5G in parts of Houston, LA and Chicago today, with at least one report of native T-Mobile LTE in B41 as well.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/opensignal-5g-availability-win-june-2020

 

Let's not forget that when TMUS throws a tower online, they brag about the entire market getting some love. They did this with their LTE launch, B12 deployment, B71 deployment, and now n41 deployment.

It will probably be months before n41 becomes widespread in Houston or Los Angeles.

17 hours ago, iansltx said:

Party's over for loaned spectrum in Austin. NR is down to 10x10 and LTE is down to 5x5 in band 71.

Partly the same in Houston. T-Mobile has vacated Dish's spectrum. LTE last night was at 15x15 (all leased spectrum; 10x10 Mhz Columbia + 5x5 Mhz Dish spectrum). Today, only Columbia's 10x10 spectrum is being used.

As far as NR, I'm not sure if leases are still active (or if they ever were) since I don't have a 5G Phone. T-Mobile's spectrum (10x10 MHz) was located between Comcast (5x5 MHz) and Bluewater (5x5 MHz) spectrum. Both of those companies loaned T-Mobile spectrum during the pandemic. I'm just not sure the terms of those leases. 

Completely different story on Hwy 71. Once you cross Hwy 281, it's all 1x roaming for Sprint until you hit San Angelo (I'm sure that has changed now with T-Mobile roaming).

Another weak area for both carriers are the back roads around Canyon Lake. IIRC, Sprint and T-Mobile didn't have any native signal out near Canyon Lake HS (which is a school that services the huge region). Considering the demographics of the region, I'm not surprised. The area is too affluent, very rural-ish, and a topographical nightmare to properly cover. 

2 hours ago, iansltx said:

T-Mobile network performance on their standard preferred bands seems to be getting worse here, despite not losing any 600 spectrum yet. Sprint is holding up nicely, so I have my phone set to only connect to 25/26/41 for the time being. B71 seems to be a bit better if I lock onto it.

I'll be heading down 35 on Friday, through San Antonio, and out west of there for a few days. Where I'll be is in a fringe area for NR by the looks of it, though it has strong Sprint coverage. It'll be my first real test of a mostly-unloaded NR network once I get past San Antonio, so it'll be interesting to see if service is good enough to not lock onto Sprint for most of the trip.

Both carriers are pretty subpar out in the hill country when compared to At&t. I was pleasantly surprised to see Sprint have native coverage between San Marcos and Wimberley. It's definitely way better than T-Mobile and it's dead zones (even though T-Mobile claims to cover that area as well).

It will be interesting to see if TMUS keeps Sprint towers in that entire region. They have the better network out there, even though TMUS claims to have bigger coverage out there.

My service is back up and running as of 10:16 PM Central. VoLTE is up and SMS all poured in at the same time. 

According to Cloudfare's CEO, the issue started when T-Mobile was doing network configurations.

https://mobile.twitter.com/eastdakota/status/1272678168638500864

2 hours ago, dro1984 said:

Wow... wonder what it is... maybe somebody cut a fiber line?     Think they'll tell us?

Users from all major carriers are now reporting one issue or another. Lots of people on social media chattering about a DDOS attack.

Seems like a routing issue of some sort.

2 hours ago, nexgencpu said:

One plus 8

https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/cell-phones/oneplus-8-5g.html?ensembleId=OPIN2017SLV&credit=A2&contractName=0-yr-lb-18months&deviceQuantity=1

V60

https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/cell-phones/lg-v60-thinq-5g-dual-screen.html?ensembleId=LGV600DSKIT&credit=A2

I wonder if these will be activated as T-Mobile phones and have absolutely no access to the Sprint network?

6 hours ago, JonnygATL said:

I see from the June 2nd coverage map update that 5G coverage has been removed in Atlanta. Unsurprising but still nostalgically sad. 

5G coverage maps are actually gone from the Sprint site. I wonder if T-Mobile has started installing panels in Sprint's original 5G markets?

19 hours ago, RAvirani said:

Band 5 LTE is being shut down to deploy NR in the CLR block. AT&T doesn't have free spectrum anywhere else. 

In my area, 3G was the one that was actually taken down. Band 5 LTE is still there. I haven't been able to make calls at my place since unlocked phones don't have VoLTE. WCDMA Band 2 doesn't reach indoors for me for fallback on.

But then again, it could just be issues with my tower. I haven't left the house much since the quarantine. And when I do, I forget to check since T-Mobile is my daily driver.

59 minutes ago, derrph said:

Awe guys, we’re having our first Uncarrier tomorrow!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Prepare for disappointment. These "uncarrier" events haven't been good for a while now. Bundling Netflix to family plans without raising costs and offering free international roaming were probably the best uncarrier moves. Everything else came with a catch.

My guess is that tomorrow T-Mobile is going to announce new n41 cities (or at least a roadmap to see which cities are next).

4 hours ago, Member21 said:

will folks with older Sprint phones, such at the iPhone 6 eventually be forced to get a new phone to be able to make phone calls?  

As far as the iPhone 6 goes, I doubt they'll force anyone to get a new iPhone. The iPhone 6 supports band 2 and 4. There are plenty of iPhone 6 still out in the wild on T-Mobile.

I just don't see how they can justify forcing Sprint users out of the iPhone 6, but leave current T-Mobile users on them. It wouldn't make sense or be fair.

13 hours ago, cyclone said:

Not gonna lie, it's quite sad that this is just Sprint 2013's playbook with the "layer cake". That was their approach to 4G with 800, 1900, and 2.5. Just more proof that Sprint should be where T-Mobile is currently, and a testament to their management. While I am excited to FINALLY see this plan get implemented, I am completely nervous about their obsession with Verizon and AT&T. I don't want them to slowly become them...or worse.

The infamous "Triband LTE network" that never got finished. 

16 hours ago, ingenium said:

My assumption though is that they only have it on older sites. Any new sites definitely don't have it, and there's a chance rebuilt or recently upgraded sites also don't have it.
 

I can confirm that GSM 2G isn't being broadcast from new towers since at least 2016. Only LTE and 3G.

There is another tower currently going up for T-Mobile that is supposed to have massive MIMO for AWS/PCS according to the permits. This was before the merger went through, so I'm actually curious if they will be sticking to the plan or submitting any modifications.

Just now, Tengen31 said:

They have around 12 carriers of B41 in West tx

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 

I'm talking more along the lines of the energy area known as the Concho Valley. West Texas includes everything from Lubbock down to San Angelo and Midland-Odessa. It's a pretty massive area. Once you get into areas west of Fort Stockton, it's no longer considered "West Texas". Some call it Trans-Pecos, others l call it "Far West Texas". Personally, that area doesn't feel like Texas tbh. El Paso feels more like Arizona or New Mexico than it does "Texas".

Also, those maps are highly inaccurate when it comes to the 2.5/2.6 Ghz licenses (or at least last I checked). It's a mess.

7 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

They own B41 in plunky of rural areas. TMO also has areas where they do own AWS but are not actually using it.

West Texas they do hold AWS and PCS. Some thanks to sprint

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

 

 

There are a few counties in West Texas where all T-Mobile owned was two non-adjacent 5x5 blocks on AWS (before the 600 Mhz auction). Sprint wasn't doing so hot there either on spectrum. As a matter of fact, I don't think Sprint had any EBS or BRS spectrum there either. 

Either way, don't expect to be blown away in rural areas. Sure, you'll get NR. But it won't be as robust as it will be in Dallas or San Antonio.

1 hour ago, clbowens said:

Even if it's just 2 layers of the layer cake in rural areas.

I don't think this is going to happen like you think it will. Most of the 2.5/2.6 Ghz licenses that T-Mobile owns are concentrated in urban areas.

For rural, T-Mobile will have trouble unless they buy spectrum. There are a lot of areas where they don't own much AWS or PCS. In West Texas for example, there are a few counties where the 600 Mhz auction more than doubled their spectrum holdings. That's how bad it can get.

That was...quick. I'm sure the areas where you can find T-Mobile n41 are still rare, but all things considered this is quite impressive.

As far as spectrum goes in NYC, the rest is still broadcasting LTE and Sprint n41?

1 minute ago, Tengen31 said:

Some people are saying now that the merger did pass with all the B41 they have that it's unfair to keep all the PCS. Example Rochester MN again, after the swap TMobile will have 35x35 vzw 20x20 and att 10x10. What is everyone else's thoughts. I am kind of surprised.

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I'm ok with it. AT&T and Verizon have had the same advantage in other markets for years. Fortunately (or unfortunately...depending on how you see the merger), thetables have turned on the Big 2.

In Dallas, for example, At&t owns 24 Mhz of 700 Mhz, All 50 Mhz in the Cellular Band, and now leases 20 Mhz of 750 Mhz (FirstNet). (They were also allowed to buy 40 Mhz of 600 Mhz, but have since sold it.)

That's a total of 94 Mhz of lowband spectrum they control (47x47 FDD).

31 minutes ago, swintec said:

If the merger failed, where would that have put TMO going forward?  Absolutely no viable way forward for 5G and beyond? Hope to the spectrum gods that further spectrum would be opened up for sale?

It wouldn't have been as bad as it seems (at least when compared to Verizon). They could have simply repurposed their AWS band for 5G while the upcoming 3.5 Ghz auction was sorted out.

Funny enough, there doesn't seem to be any indication from T-Mobile that they're going to take a backseat in the next few auctions. They're all in. 

Kind of odd they left out older iPhones and Pixels since these phones work well on T-Mobile's VoLTE. 

1 hour ago, belusnecropolis said:

With all the nuts overseas attacking 5G masts and telecom workers I wouldn't say a thing either. We have a habit of importing bad ideas from overseas at our own expense and now we can't have a casual conversation with some doods working.

 

The stuff some people believe is mind-boggling. It doesn't help that we've had so many world events that have only fed the hysteria in 2020. Just in this year alone Kobe died, Australia burned down, WW3 almost kicked off with Iran, President got impeached, Coronavirus swept the world, economic crash followed it, oil falls to negative prices, US Government confirms UFO video, and Tom Brady isn't a Patriot anymore (And we're still in the month of April!)!

It's a breeding ground for conspiracy looneys.