wispiANt

18 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

I don't mind them in the more dense part of the city however I think they stick out like sore thumbs in areas like the one pictured above where they're taller than the buildings that surround them. I'm guessing that when they're rolled out citywide they'll start to be seen as just another piece of NYC infrastructure like lightpoles.

I spotted a new deployment in the LES, on Clinton Ave, and it is shockingly out of place. I didn't have a chance to take a pic but I believe it replaced this streetlight. 

All the streetlights on the sidestreets in this area are in the 15 foot range. IMO, replacing them with something 2x the height is totally inappropriate. Moreover, it takes up half the sidewalk in an area with already limited sidewalk space.

Here's an updated NYC oDAS node map, for anyone who is interested.

Seeing this in Brooklyn, as well.

Going through some of these permits and found this abomination. AT&T wall-mounted a omni CRAN node in midtown.

On 5/22/2022 at 8:00 PM, Paynefanbro said:

T-Mobile eNB 880536 in the Bronx isn't a Sprint conversion, instead it looks like T-Mobile changed the eNB ID when they upgraded the site. The nearest Sprint site at 40.8150405321864, -73.93010756429787 still has all of its antennas up and is literally within spitting distance of two other T-Mobile sites in an area that's very industrial as opposed to residential or commercial so a keep site isn't particularly necessary. You can see on Cellmapper that the old eNB stopped broadcasting about two days after the new eNB went live.

Stumbled upon what actually happened here - the original site (eNB 41108) was just south of E 138th St. It was decommed and the new site (eNB 880536) was put up across the street.

Sept 2021 vs July 2022.

Figured I'd share another project I have (slowly) been working on, as well. Here is a modified version of one of the older LTE-only oDAS maps I made that includes (some) carrier identification. Keep in mind that carrier identification is based solely on observations/assumptions I've previously made about oDAS node design and vendor, and that CellMapper and Streetview have been my main source for ID. Additionally, these observations/assumptions only seem to hold true for metal streetlights - wooden utility poles in the outer boroughs follow a totally different node design scheme.

Was hoping to get a bit more done before I shared it but have been occupied with other projects. 

Just FYI, it seems like most (if not all) the DOBNow building permits can be viewed here. I did a quick scan of how many Sprint keep sites there might be and we're looking at 196, give or take. Not too far from the 160 @T-MoblieUser207 has on their map.

As far as Dish permits go, we're looking at 400, give or take.

Spotted some work on the Sprint site at CCNY's Steinman Hall (275 Convent Ave) today. 

This upgrade has been long overdue - the existing T-Mobile site serving the majority of the north side of the campus (eNB 55893) was a B2/B66-only site that hadn't been touched in years. The Sprint site had not been broadcasting the keep PLMN, though B26 remained active. I haven't seen any active permits, but I'm guessing this means they're decommissioning the T-Mobile site across the street. Looking forward to better building penetration and a more resilient n41 connection. 

Additionally, T-Mobile has converted the Sprint site at 50 W 131st St. It's now broadcasting eNBs 216061/216062. 

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

It's back! Pretty much nobody on it. I nearly maxed out the 5MHz Band 26 carrier on it and I never used to see pings that low on Sprint LTE.

I'm now seeing an open permit for the site in the DOB database, so that essentially confirms it will be converted.

Quote

Sprint:Relocation of antenna sector, removal of antennas, replacement/relocation/installation of cabinet, replacement of RRUs & antennas, relocation of RRUs & installation of antennas with related kickbacks on the roof.No change of use,egress, or occupancy.

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

1.9Gbps over 160MHz of spectrum (120MHz NR + 40MHz LTE) in Long Island City. 

— — — — —

As an aside, I'm surprised that with the amount of LAA T-Mobile has gone through the hassle of deploying they haven't allowed aggregating it with NR en masse or even enabling NR-U. I know Milan has seen LAA+5G on select sites in the past but that feature seems inconsistently deployed.

With LTE, T-Mobile was limited to 60MHz of Band 46 due to aggregation limits on the UE side but with 5G, they could easily go above 100MHz of n46.

They'd have to roll out new radios to support NR-U - the Ericsson Micro Radio 2205 they have deployed is limited to 3x 20MHz B46 carriers. Ericsson hasn't filed any new documentation with the FCC since release (2017), so I'm figuring the product is essentially EOL.

Could be a possibility for their oDAS nodes, though? I'm not sure what radios they have deployed in those.

On 6/2/2022 at 8:26 PM, wispiANt said:

I feel like something is missing...

Spotted two more oDAS nodes in Williamsburg.

1. (Pictured) Corner of Graham and Boerum (40.7062348, -73.9431029). Extenet II.
2. (Not Pictured) Havemeyer St, between S 3rd and S 2nd (40.7111516, -73.9578876). Extenet II.

AT&T has an LTE-only node a half block away from the first sighting and an application in for a new node about a block away from the second node (under New Cingular). So guessing both of these are, once again, Verizon mmWave.

 

Walked by this new oDAS node yesterday and it's still missing its top - four months later. Wonder what's up with that.

SA n41 is back on my home serving site in the Bed-Stuy/Bushwick area. Interestingly enough, my S21U seems perfectly happy to idle on it.

Bonus pic:

Found CBRS at another location in Manhattan, but haven't been able to test it just yet. Here's the Streetview.

Plus, one more Sprint convert in the Bronx:

• Sprint eNB ?? (40.86715407494202,-73.90311136271255) --> T-Mobile eNB 894795

A whole bunch more:

• Sprint eNB 79606 (40.75132648431523,-73.90146879382196) --> T-Mobile eNB 310071
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.76217959031908,-73.98290725716903) --> T-Mobile eNB 306359
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.73515112286398,-74.05620754132336) --> T-Mobile eNB 219100
• Sprint eNB 74287 (40.70103618706469,-73.88568221202024) --> T-Mobile eNB 307512
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.61153605033678,-73.97809151056654) --> T-Mobile eNB 216122 
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.85506888812853,-73.8833696864961) --> T-Mobile eNB 894975
• Sprint eNB 74711 (40.8825393882436,-73.8824177643403) --> T-Mobile eNB 894014 
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.853581236454886,-73.96895437356767) --> T-Mobile eNB 878599
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.858543517828,-73.99069077095734) --> T-Mobile eNB 879007
• Sprint eNB 103747 (40.72050408418687,-74.05430368479026) --> T-Mobile eNB 216911
• Sprint eNB ?? (40.71543795248539,-74.04311338634996) --> T-Mobile eNB 894452

Also, spotted two brand new Dish deployments in Harlem:

First was at 320 St Nicholas Ave.

Second was at 128 Edgecombe Ave.

• Sprint eNB 899078/899079 is now live and is broadcasting T-Mobile eNB 219280/219281
• T-Mobile eNB 331166 isn't a Sprint convert. All carriers used to be located at 88 East 111th Street, but relocated once new construction wrapped up next door (at 94 E 111th St). Confirmed via DOB.
• Sprint eNB 6867 (planned, location unknown) is actually a duplicate of Sprint eNB 6867 (Planned) in east Greenpoint
• I think Sprint eNB 253661 is the Sprint site at the Steinway and Sons factory. Haven't been able to confirm
• T-Mobile eNB 875326 is at 40.87448416330753,-73.83759099992582. Confirmed via Streetview.

Not sure if this is old news, but SA n41 as the PCC hasn't been available for at least a few weeks. 

On 9/7/2022 at 7:21 AM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

T-Mobile still does 2xB41 in Bay Ridge, but it's 20(2558)+15(2599). I haven't done a scan of the neighborhood in a while, but I would assume it's still only T-Mobile eNB 131646 that does it.

Still enabled on certain sites in the Bed-Stuy/Williamsburg/Bushwick area.

SA n41 seems to be live on just about every site with n41 - I've tested in Bushwick, Bed Stuy, Williamsburg, downtown Brooklyn, and the LES/EV. 

Also, I stopped by the site in DUMBO yet again to map n41 and take some more pics:

Bonus: Here's a Dish deployment in the LES (550 Grand St, confirmed via DOB permit).

SA n41 (as the PCC) went live on my home site overnight.

8 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

T-Mobile is definitely using a new mini-antenna for Band 41/n41. I visited eNB 41048 again this morning and took pictures of the antennas for comparison. There are at least 2 new antennas. Also ran another speed test.

Before:

 

After: 

In the same vein, it appears eNB 42184 was also just upgraded. New antennas were caught on Streetview.

Feels a bit wrong for T-Mobile to have a deployment right above a Sprint store for 15+ years but then close the store once they acquired Sprint.

Edit:

Job# M00637104 in the DOB Permit Portal, though the Landmark Approval doesn't include any useful information about the new antennas. Previous antennas in use were HBX-6513DS-VTM.

18 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

You can see in this photo of eNB 42012 that they definitely replaced the older antennas and put new ones up if you compare it to StreetView from 2019.  I can't tell if that middle antenna is an AIR32 or if it's something else.

The port layout on the AIR32 is a bit different, I'd guess that this is the CommScope VV-65A-R1. T-Mobile has been using them as a stand-in for the AIR32 or APX16 on newer deployments for B2/B66, but they've also spotted for low-profile n41 . 

N41 SA is back!

9 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

Was checking for permits for Sprint keep sites and noticed that Verizon eNB 84004 in Brooklyn Heights is getting C-band but using 8T8R JMA MX14FIT465-01 passive antennas instead of the Samsung Massive MIMO antennas they normally deploy according to the permits online. I remember seeing a site in Los Angeles in the Cellmapper subreddit where they did something similar.

Sprint used the Nokia Massive MIMO antennas to deploy 5G on this site so I'm not sure why Verizon chose not to follow suit. Weird.

https://a810-dobnow.nyc.gov/Publish/DocumentStage/PortalDownloadedDocuments/BROOKLYN/B00678468/I1/Supporting Documents/Landmark Approval_1dc135b1bd.pdf

Looks like C-Band was a last minute add-on. They don't provide any info about the radios besides mislabeling them as "CBRS RRH Units". 

It seems T-Mobile is finally addressing some of the on-building multi-sector "microcells". eNB 41048 in Park Slope was upgraded with B41/B71 (I think you mapped this @T-MoblieUser207), and eNB 42102 in Dumbo was upgraded with B41 (at least). Unfortunately, neither of these upgrades were caught with Streetview.

5 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

I'm still getting Band 26 and Band 41 from keep sites in Crown Heights and Bay Ridge. I haven't seen any Band 25 though. I'm starting to think T-Mobile shut down Sprint's PCS spectrum here. I wonder if we'll get 5MHz Band 25 + 5MHz n25 carrier or if we'll just get 2 5MHz n25 carriers.

Yeah, their midband holdings aren't really conducive to deploying meaningful NR channels unless they shrink their existing LTE channels.

AWS: 25+25 MHz

PCS: 25+25 MHz, 5+5 MHz

Deploying a single n66 channel and two n25 channels is messy and doesn't really make sense as only the more recent devices allow for 3x NR CA (even for intra-band CA). Plus, you'd think they'd want to deploy at least a 10MHz channel if they're looking to take some load off the existing n71 channel.