red_dog007

On 6/21/2018 at 4:55 PM, nexgencpu said:

I'm already thinking of Verizon myself..

I do not want to be around while integration is happening to say the least.

As long as you are on a new device, I bet the integration will be fairly seem less on the network side.  Beings the underlying technology for both companies is LTE and the changes of a local TMobile and Sprint site going fully down at exactly the same time I doubt will happen. 

And right now with the roaming agreement they are already getting to jump ahead, getting the networks at least a little integrated with each other now.  Depending on their confidence level of the merger happening, I would not be surprised if they do even deeper integration to allow them to turn on with a "switch" once the merger is approved. 

Trying to fuel the merger approval with these "excuses".  

I think removing it and keeping it that way is cool.   Even TMobile didn't go as far as Sprint with 600/700MHz.  If Sprint ever had a B41 only device, then they should only show B41 coverage, but keep it the same color. 

However, they could leave the API there to be used on a site like our local user here (forgot name/site name) for the more geeky users and to track B41 a little.  However, it needs a lot of work and a lot of updating.  

Yeah, with almost 60% of the towers having B41 on them now, it's probably a good call.  Beings 2.5GHz, there will never be a one to one coverage w/ B26. Just adds confusion. 

On 6/8/2018 at 8:10 PM, ingenium said:

I think they've dropped support for it. You can't use an Airave 3 with it, as it will incorrectly QoS the Airave traffic and throttle it to a couple hundred KB/sec. Honestly your best bet is to flash a third party firmware to it. Merlin is pretty popular and is based on the stock firmware. OpenWRT / dd-wrt is also an option I believe, but I'm pretty sure hardware accelerated NAT isn't functional (you likely wouldn't notice anyway).

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I think the AC66U is now legacy on Merlin.  It isn't getting the 384 builds, and I think they are done updating the 380 builds, so I wouldn't expect a new firmware from Merlin for these routers.  The last firmware for it was released early April.  But it looks like ASUS is still supporting it.

Think a flavor of DD-WRT is the way to go and still supported for now afaik.  But if it is being used as a main router, the thing is a bit sore in the tooth these days (very weak processor).  I'd grab something new, even if just the AC66U_B1.  

16 hours ago, tyroned3222 said:

I know it's nothing big, anything positive should be considered a small win.. according to this new speed testing firm .. Sprint has surpassed att in average download speeds.
https://speedsmart.net/wireless_index/may_2018/

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These guys aren't very big. They don't have a big crowd to pull from.  The play store only shows that they have 10,000+ app downloads.  Those who regularly use it, I am sure isn't very big.  

But there data is showing that, imo, that this speed race is becoming more of a marketing thing than anything. You get to the point where the speeds are high enough, anything higher is just a marketing tool.  

On 6/6/2018 at 7:53 PM, RAvirani said:

In low traffic areas, I personally don't see much benefit in deploying 8T8Rs over mini macros, if there are no capacity issues.  8T8Rs do provide better coverage and propagation than mini macros, but I think the difference is small enough that it can be overlooked.  

Ultimately, to deploy NR (which will be the next major wave of upgrades we see), both mini macro and 8T8R antenna/RRU sets will need to be swapped out for massive MIMO antennas.  In the meantime, why waste money on 8T8Rs where they aren't needed?

What can also be asked is why waste money on 8T8R when a MM would do.  I have seen this a lot.  Low traffic tower that gets >20Mbps on B25 at any point in the day gets 8T8R gear. Tower in growing part of town that is always <5Mbps gets a MM.  

And all those 8T8R gear that has been deployed over the years in BFE instead of a more urban area.  While there are still a many towers in BFE that are 3G or GMO LTE w/ only B25.  

From an outsiders prospective, it can be hard to less the logic in their madness.  

Man, Sprint really needs to jump on this coverage map.  

So a lot of B41 in my home town still does not show. Some of the towers are over 6 months old and going on 1yr now.  Then I have been traveling in Alabama a lot recently, so B41 coverage in this state at all.  In Birmingham it appeared to be mostly MM (which supposedly they aren't showing up on the coverage map yet) but in Huntsville and now here in Decatur, what I pick up aren't MMs.  

That's pretty cool.  So will spend $1.5~$3billion through 2020 on this network.  That will be enough to meet H-Block buildout deadlines? Is that for 30% pop buildout or 70%?

I'm glad they are going at it a lone.  Would be cool if they end up a nationwide carrier through their own brand name or an MVNO. I'd imagine once their network gets fairly solid, possibly with the help of roaming agreements, that they will end up directly in the phone business even if they just offer the service to TV customers.  It's a hemorrhaging business (traditional TV service that is) and the power of bundling will help out greatly I'm sure. 

Whose is this? Noticed this at my local WalMart.  Doesn't seem to be Sprint's' due to dBm. 

Funded by Verizon and you also only get 480p video.  They also need some design help on that website! 

If Shentel does not buy TMobile network and customers, how long is TMobile not allowed to compete? 

As far as the spectrum, do they continue to only use Sprint's or will they be allowed to use all of New TMobile's spectrum assets?

I wouldn't expect Sprint to stop deploying, upgrading and possibly even expand still.  Maybe they might coordinate with TMobile just in case they do merge.  But it would be silly to stop or decrease from their current stated CAPEX.  They would lose an entire year of work.

To add, I-59 between Chattanooga and Birmingham still sucks.  The towers have LTE now, but seem to just be GMOs.  Performance wasn't good, signal always weak and held on waaay to long, no B26.  Still hit 3G and even 1X a bit on that drive.

It's kinda upsetting that Sprint just doesn't do a rebuild on these GMO sites. All this did was allow them to put LTE on their coverage map.  But seriously, when LTE performance is weak and you still hit 3G/1X between the sites, why waste the money on a GMO. Just do a proper B25/26 build. B25 performance could be great as they own all of PCS A. 

On 4/23/2018 at 4:55 PM, Dkoellerwx said:

The small cell looks like a Verizon site.

That is what I was thinking.  But I saw several of those and every time had some decent B41 signal.  I know Sprint deploys these, but I think they aren't as fat.  If these are not B41, I was on B41 a bit, I never found a MM site and never saw B41 gear on a Macro. 

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/19/17253308/google-allo-texting-paused-android-messages

Google is pausing development of Allo in favor of Android Messages. Android Messages is supposed to be getting a web portal soon. 

With this announcement, do we know if Google is going to flex some muscle to get the major carriers (at least State side) to interconnect? Or if there is any development on the interconnect side from TMobile, AT&T and VZW.  

Yeah, finally saw 2nd carrier at 8065.  

Here are two cell sites. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/N4dukrqqXEfugMh62

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TAe6ZAi4YkvQ6sWh1

In BHam right now. Wish I still had a Samsung phone. 

Lot of the sites look they are high capacity B25 and I'm assuming doing 4x4 MIMO. I haven't seen anything other than EARFCN 8665 on B25. I'm constantly getting 30~40Mbps each time I test. 

Running into a bit of B41. It's all been reported  as MM so far on SCP with centered frequency at 2518 or 2538..

Found some old articles about them having wireless meters that use two-way radio.  Maybe this is expansion of that network if you are finding these at substations.

You live  in the area, any news on that front?  Lack of meter readers, or new meters being installed?

https://rf.jwmaloney.name/sprint-coverage.html

If I select 3G & More and LTE Plus (No 3G) I see lot more B41 coverage.  The two B41 towers that are new near me are shown.  Manhattan is shown correctly. Shentel B41 is shown. The B41 I saw in Huntsville is shown.

Earlier they were bashing all the other carriers for announcing 5G this year, and now they are saying 30 cities!? Geez...

I can see them doing a lot with 600MHz.  Their 5GHz movement will be interesting.  The cellular industry push on 5GHz in general will be interesting. So many things are out of your control.

Yeah, plus a 8T8R "maxed out" should provide a ton of throughput.  4x4MIMO + 256QAM on 4 Carriers is almost 1Gbps for just that single sector.  It might even be way more cost effective to just add additional sectors to the site or toss up another 8T8R antenna. I'd expect 64T64R to be extremely rare, especially if it is really expensive.

On 2/3/2018 at 6:46 AM, Grabber5.0 said:

I just noticed you said Netflix was free - how the heck are you getting it for free?

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The common route of most others who don't pay for Netflix. It's a "family" account.  That's why I pay for YTRed.

But now I also got Youtube TV. Not sure how long I am going to keep it.  It is almost $40/mo after taxes. Im not a huge sports guy, and it is mostly sports channels.

For the 40GB, it would depend on how it is actually being used.  If aren't even close, I may not worry too much. Plus do you see any lines being shed over the next 3~5yrs?  As consumers use more data and 5G delivers faster speeds, codecs will continue to get better and/or utilized to help keep data usage to a minimum.  Plus with current caps in place, there is already a check on how much you can us.  Also 1080p will be more than enough streaming resolution a phone would ever need. Anything above that is just a waste of bandwidth.

I'd rather not get boned with a much higher bill than before, that is unless you are constantly hitting your 40GB cap.

I'd just remember what Sprint has done the last  years.  Post some solid or OK CAPEX spending only to not spend it.  I want Sprint to spend every dollar they say they will spend, but recent history shows us that CAPEX spending is all talk. 

I called to get a phone unlocked.  Apparently I have a special on my account.  $10/off per line if I switch to unlimited SD and removed the hotspot.  Would drop me to $70/mo+tax+phones.  That's $35/mo a line.  Kinda interesting. Not going to do it, but thought it was cool.