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Auction 110 deep-dive:

https://www.sashajavid.com/FCC_Auction110.php

6 hours ago, AirlineFlyer said:

That’s great. T-Mobile is always so weak and slow in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I didn’t know Sprint was on this building, are the antennas visible from anywhere? Are any other carriers on it?

Did a quick scan of some DOB filings and it looks like Sprint is the only carrier on there. There's a facade to hide the antennas, but it's missing in some of the Streetview shots (north-facing sector, south-facing sector).

On 1/3/2022 at 8:30 PM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

894596

Sprint macro conversion at the corner of 15th and 4th (40.63335129349775,-73.98596029635993). Job # B00473152 from the DOB.

On 1/3/2022 at 8:30 PM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

875844

I'd guess this is another Sprint macro conversion, they have a site at the corner of 4th and 78th (40.628675236201104,-74.0256740184973). eNB 9387. That's just a guess, though.

On 12/24/2021 at 9:25 PM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

894580 pics. I thought it was 2 slim RFS panels, but it's not. I think it is 2 wide RFS panels, but it doesn't make sense to put up 2, so I took multiple photos.

Dual six-port RFS APXVARR18 antennas. I've seen these pop up a few times (example 1, example 2). Not really sure why they go this route for some upgrades.

They have twice the midband capacity of the APXVAR18. So, capacity-wise, this setup should be similar to two APXVAR18s and an APX16. 

On 12/15/2021 at 1:35 PM, dkyeager said:

Some pictures also of WISP Starry.com included -- if anyone wants to comment on those, we can setup a separate thread and I will move those photos to it.

Nice shots! They're using similar-ish gear in NYC. Range seems to be super limited, I'm less than 1000 feet (as the crow flies) from this site and I can't sign up for service.

19 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

eNB 7096 on Randalls Island is broadcasting the keep PLMN. T-Mobile doesn't currently have a site on the island.

I don't think there are many people who live there but it'll be a boost in coverage for those that do and when there are events at Icahn Stadium.

Location: 40.78708172259319, -73.92779788741755

I've been hoping T-Mobile would jump on this site for YEARS! Every other provider is on it and T-Mobile coverage/speeds have historically been terrible along that stretch of road. Super happy to see this.

On 12/7/2021 at 11:20 AM, thisischuck01 said:

Well, this is interesting - if I bandlock to n41 SA, my S21U loses connection completely. But if I bandlock to n71 SA and n41 SA, my S21U is able to get a n71+n41 connection. Williamsburg area.

 

Edit: Took a walk around the block, all the sites (4+) I connected to are broadcasting like this.

Not sure when this was turned off, but it has been (at least in my neighborhood). All this messing around with n41 could certainly explain all the recent complaints about it in the subreddit.

Sprint conversion at 277 Broadway.

Edit: And another one at 26-45 9th St.

Found a permit for a new Dish install in Manhattan - this is the first one I've seen. 

Job #M00510272, at 600 WEST 161 STREET (BIN# 1063351). You can search for it here.

Edit: And one more - Job #M00613083, at 200 HAVEN AVENUE (BIN# 1063431).

eNB 6888 (40.708851728269764,-73.94064353351577) is also a keep site!

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

So it seems like they weren't lying about n71 + n41 being commercially available. The question now is what conditions will trigger your device to use that combo automatically as opposed to manually forcing it? Maybe it happens more often than we think and we don't notice the difference.

Seems similar to how n71 SA has acted in the past - it won't kick in unless you have a poor/nonexistent B2/B66/B41 signal. 

7 minutes ago, clbowens said:

Question:  Are you able to make a call while locked to N71 + N41?

Yep! Though I've been able to do that on n71 SA in NYC for quite some time now.

Well, this is interesting - if I bandlock to n41 SA, my S21U loses connection completely. But if I bandlock to n71 SA and n41 SA, my S21U is able to get a n71+n41 connection. Williamsburg area.

Edit: Took a walk around the block, all the sites (4+) I connected to are broadcasting like this.

I should really get a map going of all these keep sites...

20 hours ago, T-MoblieUser207 said:

It's T-Mobile shifting locations.

Yeah, that was my guess. I'm expecting to see a lot of sector azimuth shifts as T-Mobile integrates all these new macro sites into their network.

20 hours ago, T-MoblieUser207 said:

PC Mag has a new T-Mobile 5G article here, and I would love to check if n41 SA is live across NYC, as it being live means NR CA is probably also live, but they removed the n41 SA option from my A71. @thisischuck01 have you seen any NR CA since you last saw it, as I have heard the S21 is one of the few, if not the only T-Mobile branded Samsung device that still has the n41 SA option.

I'm picking it up here and there, but in most places I've been it isn't live. I picked an unmapped site in Bushwick last night but it was being a bit buggy:
 

CellMapper doesn't show MCC/MNC and I kept dropping signal completely and regaining it, losing data connectivity, etc. Not sure if that was the phone or the site. No sign of n41 SA in East Williamsburg, though.

1 hour ago, AirlineFlyer said:

The data was updated today: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/Mobile-Telecommunications-Franchise-Pole-Reservati/tbgj-tdd6

NY SMA (Verizon?) looks to be installing a really dense network in Staten Island. Could this be a mmWave deployment?

Wow, didn't realize the DOITT was reading my comments. What a power to have! Lol.

I'd be very surprised if all the pole reservations being done at this point aren't for mmWave.

Threw together a better-organized Crown Castle map, I'll play around with the data and see if I can't come up with a better solution given the constraints of My Maps.  

The data still seems to be a bit out of date - node 16608, for example, still isn't showing as installed (though I first mapped it back in Feb). Almost 6000 total CC nodes, though! Love to see it.

Edit: If anyone wants to see all the data, here's a map. I can probably organize it a bit more from here.

4 hours ago, thisischuck01 said:

Found another Sprint keep site while I was mapping up in Greenpoint, eNB 7103. Picked up a B41 signal at the corner of Leonard and Greenpoint Ave. Still hasn't shown up on CellMapper, but I'm guessing it's from the site on Manhattan Ave, between India and Java (Streetview). That's two blocks south of the T-Mobile site on that stretch (eNB 42891). I suppose it could also be the Sprint site at Greenpoint and Provost (eNB 15894) but that seems kinda insane to me unless they're decomming the old B2/B66/B12 T-Mobile site on the adjacent building (eNB 41407). There is a Sprint small cell right around that area (eNB 838363, 18830 on the DOITT map) but I don't believe it's that, signal wasn't strong enough and I picked up sector 66.

eNB 7103 is a part of eNB 6193, which is the site on Manhattan Ave between India and Java. Sprint site eNB 15894 has been totally shut off and the adjacent T-Mobile site (eNB 41407) has been upgraded with B41/B71. Mapped all that today, we'll see when it shows up. eNB 6867 is also broadcasting the keep PLMN, though I'm not sure where that site is.

On 11/23/2021 at 12:35 AM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

When I originally passed by and found this small cell, I was supposed to come back and take a proper spin of the blocks to locate it. I'm not certain it's any of the Mobilitie SCs nearby, I think it is the Crown Castle small cell on Lincoln Place between Nostrand and Rogers Avenues (ID 17022 according to the google map link). Not 100% sure though.

Ah, that would make more sense. I really gotta organize that map a bit better, it's a bit hard to parse in its current state.

On 11/23/2021 at 1:54 AM, thisischuck01 said:

Knowing T-Mobile, probably something dumb like the pole needs to be replaced but they'd prefer if the city paid for it.

Well, the site is live and the pole has not been replaced - it's just as rusty as it appears in Streetview. Pulling good speeds with several LAA carriers, plus a strong connection n41 from a nearby macro. Would really love to know what the holdup was, the AT&T node down the street (eNB 117233, 17547 on the DOITT map) was reserved around the same time and went up in mid-2019 (a year and a half later). Hopefully, T-Mobile is retaining the Sprint small cell team and the sites that have recently been reserved won't take 3+ years to be deployed. Also, would be nice if the DOITT updated their database a bit more often, the last update was in May...

On 11/27/2021 at 11:15 AM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

There are a few others which I think T-Mobile may keep, Sprint eNBs 15946, 9727, and either 17822 or 81319 (or both with the moves they have been making), but I haven't verified them yet.

100% agreed on all of these sites. It looks as though T-Mobile is currently serving the area covered by the last two sites with oDAS nodes. I think you mentioned that a conversion you found was in a similar situation - have you stopped by again to see if they decomm'd those when the conversion went live?

On 11/27/2021 at 11:15 AM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

Another tower to add to the 312-250 list: eNB 6853.

Dang!! Something I am wondering is if any of these instances with extreme density will result in the nearby T-Mobile site being (eventually) decomm'd. In this situation, at least, I don't really think that that will be the case - unless there's something I don't know, the native site makes more sense to retain.

On 11/27/2021 at 11:15 AM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

Interesting conversion here - the antenna just right of the 6449 doesn't appear to be the stereotypical APX16. Kinda looks like legacy Sprint gear?

On 11/27/2021 at 11:15 AM, T-MoblieUser207 said:

Cellmapper back to acting up again, as it has been mapped, but hidden.

Ugh, this is annoying the hell out of me. Hope they're not just going to lose a weeks worth of data again. 

Found another Sprint keep site while I was mapping up in Greenpoint, eNB 7103. Picked up a B41 signal at the corner of Leonard and Greenpoint Ave. Still hasn't shown up on CellMapper, but I'm guessing it's from the site on Manhattan Ave, between India and Java (Streetview). That's two blocks south of the T-Mobile site on that stretch (eNB 42891). I suppose it could also be the Sprint site at Greenpoint and Provost (eNB 15894) but that seems kinda insane to me unless they're decomming the old B2/B66/B12 T-Mobile site on the adjacent building (eNB 41407). There is a Sprint small cell right around that area (eNB 838363, 18830 on the DOITT map) but I don't believe it's that, signal wasn't strong enough and I picked up sector 66.

Greenpoint site is showing the keep PLMN, stopped by today.

1 hour ago, T-MoblieUser207 said:

Funny enough, the sidewalk has the manhole for the node in the street view image, so I wonder what they are waiting for still.

Knowing T-Mobile, probably something dumb like the pole needs to be replaced but they'd prefer if the city paid for it.

37 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

I assume all these new small cells are fiber fed, correct?

Yep! VZ provides backhaul for the majority of T-Mobile sites in this neighborhood.

Here's another good one...

Reserved 12/22/2017. Still not installed as of May 2021. Noticed it in the last week or two and was thinking to myself "was that there before?". Almost four years between approval and deployment, nice work T-Mobile. 👏👏

Though I guess I shouldn't give them credit just yet, as it's still not live... lol

15 hours ago, T-MoblieUser207 said:

The list of sites with 312-250 keep getting larger, Sprint eNB 6879 and 9992 have it now. I was hoping to find B12 for T-Mobile eNB 47947 on the B12/41 locked device, as I know B41 wasn't here, but the device found the 312-250 PLMN instead.

Took the train out to the Rockaways this weekend, bandlocked to B41, and saw SO many 312-250 enabled sites! Really wish I could map them, CellMapper shows them all as 310-120. Was pretty amused to see eNB 899059 pop up - now that's what I call density (Sprint, AT&T, and VZ only have one site each in this complex)!

2 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

Most notably in my own area, they added a new small cell along Nostrand Ave near Lincoln Place which is an area of poorer signal because it's near the cell edge for all 4 sites around it. Funnily enough you and @thisischuck01 are the only people who have mapped it on Cellmapper lol.

Seems like this might be confirmation that T-Mobile is now using Mobilitie as a small cell vendor? I wonder if these were originally planned to be Sprint small cells.

Edit:

Looking around in the Bushwick/Williamsburg area and there are a LOT of small cells that should have been lit up ages ago but have only been seen recently.

eNB 135599, for example, at the corner of Wyckoff and Bleecker. Reserved 5/4/2017, installed Oct 2019, but not mapped until Aug 2021...

Or eNB 137444, at Scholes and Leonard. Reserved 8/14/2019, still not installed as of July 2021, first mapped Nov 2021.

Attempted to do some B41 mapping in the UWS yesterday, as I noticed CellMapper was pretty bare in that area. I think I picked up a grand total of two sites between W 98th and W 59th, was on Sprint's B41 the vast majority of the time.

Found some VZ C-Band deployed at W 110th and Columbus, always thought this was an interesting site:

On 11/19/2021 at 1:12 PM, AirlineFlyer said:

This is AT&T. They've got a permit for microwave there, plus the antenna on the left is Kathrein gear.

On 11/19/2021 at 1:12 PM, AirlineFlyer said:

 

This is Verizon.