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Trip

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Posts posted by Trip

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    T-Mobile?  Being terrible?  Never!

    I had ROAMAHOME blocked on my devices because the T-Mobile network was (and still is) so crummy in places I go.  I'm now trying to have MULTOCN put on them since they've started turning off Sprint towers leaving gaps in the coverage.  After nearly an hour, I finally got an answer trying to upsell me to new phones, then after another half hour I was told the G7 and G8X are somehow not compatible with MULTOCN even though the G8 is.  Then I was called and put on hold to talk to "advanced support." 

    After 25 minutes on hold waiting, they told me, oops!  I am talking to T-Mobile support, not Sprint support, and they have to transfer me to Sprint support.  I was dumped onto the main Sprint phone tree.  At that point, I gave up.  I'll try again later.  That's 2 hours and 15 minutes of my life I won't get back.

    These people are so incompetent it's not even funny.  I really want Sprint back.

    - Trip

    • Like 3

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    I spoke with T-Mobile on Twitter this morning and got yet another answer.  Their answer was that my wife's line is eligible for upgrade today, but that my other phones will all need to be replaced, but will become eligible at a later date as they're not replacing equipment that still has payments due at this time.  This, of course, is not what I've seen mentioned in other places, or in the e-mails I've gotten.  So, go figure.

    - Trip

     

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    On 8/4/2021 at 6:23 AM, Trip said:

    What's irritating to me is that they've issued conflicting notices.  I've gotten e-mails saying one of the phones on my account needs to be replaced, a paper letter saying all of them do, and then the website says any device that supports VoLTE is fine, which all of the devices do.  So which is it?

    I wish T-Mobile were competent.

    - Trip

     

    I now have a fourth permutation!  I've got an e-mail telling me three of my devices need to be replaced ("IMPACTED DEVICES"), but not mentioning the fourth.  Somehow, my G8X requires replacement, according to this e-mail, but my sister-in-law's G8X does not.

    EDIT:  Wow.  Just found this page:  https://www.sprint.com/en/cdma-retirement  Which when logged in, tells me that only my wife's phone needs an upgrade, and says the other three phones are "not affected by these network changes".

    Again, I wish T-Mobile were competent.

    - Trip

    SignalCheck - Android app to monitor your Wi-Fi/2G/3G/4G LTE/5G-NR signal strengths

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Mike,

    I'm sure you've been busy, but when will a new update go out to non-Beta members?  I tried to put an updated version of my T-Mobile/Sprint database on my wife's phone and because the versions are different, it managed to trash the database completely.  I had to drop all the data in SCP to get it to work again.  So she currently has no database in her phone.

    - Trip

     

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    Interesting comment in the T-Mobile Q2 Earnings Report yesterday.  https://s24.q4cdn.com/400059132/files/doc_financials/2021/q2/NG_TMUS-06_30_2021-EX-99.1.pdf

    Specifically, this part:

    • Approximately 80% of Sprint customer traffic is now carried on the T-Mobile network
    • One-third of Sprint customers have been moved to the T-Mobile network

    Not terribly surprising to me that the customers who use the most data were most anxious to move to T-Mobile, while the majority of customers--who don't use much data--are perfectly happy with the Sprint network as it is.  I'm definitely in that category and in no rush to give up the superior coverage of the Sprint network for the possibly-superior capacity of the T-Mobile network.

    (Also, at least in my case, since LG phones are now discontinued, moving to a new T-Mobile phone means extensive phone shopping that I'm not looking forward to, rather than just picking up the latest LG device and being happy.)

    After all this time, I still have yet to see any Sprint site conversions that are operating.  I've seen precisely one that has new gear, but still only seems to have Sprint bands running on it (along with 312250).  I don't know what is taking them so long.

    - Trip

    • Like 2

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    21 hours ago, jreuschl said:

    Users on reddit are saying the N41 areas are greatly exaggerated.

    Unfortunately the MVNO map hasn't been updated yet that shows bands and strength per.

    Wouldn't surprise me, but I will say that the map looks accurate in terms of sites actually operating B41 gear, based on what I've seen.  I was able to use it to add a number of sites I haven't visited yet based on the map.

    - Trip

    AT&T LTE and Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    36 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

    Using the old Sprint spectrum plus their existing B5 I assume.  Any complicating factors that would require FCC approval?

    They wouldn't need it.  If they hold both A- and B-blocks, that's 25x25 total, and they could run Band 26 across 15x15 of that spectrum.  Band 26 covers all of Band 5 plus the Sprint spectrum.

    - Trip

    • Like 2

    SignalCheck - Android app to monitor your Wi-Fi/2G/3G/4G LTE/5G-NR signal strengths

    in General Topics

    Posted

    10 hours ago, RAvirani said:

    This is in an ALU market right?

    Verizon is also very consistent with their eNB splits. Sites with CA across all bands use a single eNB. Sites where midband is not allowed to aggregate with lowband have midband assigned to 300,000 (or sometimes 600,000) + the lowband eNB. On rare occasion, to disable CA altogether I’ve seen AWS on 300,000 + the lowband eNB and PCS on 600,000 + the lowband eNB. 

    No idea of the equipment vendor.  I'm bad at that sort of thing.

    But I've seen the 300,000 and 600,000 offsets in certain places.  In most of those places, it's now been shifted back to the normal GCI.

    - Trip

    SignalCheck - Android app to monitor your Wi-Fi/2G/3G/4G LTE/5G-NR signal strengths

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Verizon, in my experience, is very consistent, but their sector IDs are decimal.

    1/2/3 is 700

    12/22/32 AWS

    13/23/33 AWS (second carrier)

    14/24/34 PCS

    15/25/35 PCS (second carrier)

    16/26/36 850

    17/27/37 850

    =====

    AT&T has a pattern for some bands, but newer bands don't have one.

    01-04 B5

    08-0B B2

    0F-12 B12

    16-19 B66

    In between are a bunch of DAS reservations, basically repeats of the above sequence for various DAS or small cell configurations.

    95-98 B30

    Then anything else like B2 second carrier, B66 second carrier, or B14 are just sort of randomly tossed into the A0-FF range, varying market to market.

    =====

    US Cellular had been using different GCIs for B5 and B12, offset by 0x2000, but has recently been upgrading sites to a single GCI following this pattern:

    01-03 B12

    0B-0D B5

    15-17 B2

    1F-21 B4

    29-2B B66

    - Trip

    SignalCheck - Android app to monitor your Wi-Fi/2G/3G/4G LTE/5G-NR signal strengths

    in General Topics

    Posted

    17 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

    We have 01-03 for B66.

    0B-0D for B2.

    3D-3F for B71. 

    B41 is on a completely different GCI, but ends with 83-85

    Some of the sector IDs are similar here in the DC/VA/MD/PA region.  (All values hex.)

    B41 is 83-86/8D-90.

    B2 second carrier is 6F-72.

    B71 is 3D-40.

    The other three bands.  Newer setups follow that pattern:

    01-04 B66/0B-0E B2/15-18 B12

    But older sites vary wildly.  In some places, it's 01-03 B66/04-06 B12/07-09 B2.  In others, where LTE was first deployed on B2, B66 and B2 are flipped.  If B66/B2 were deployed long before B12, then B12 might be on 15-18 but B66/B2 on 01-03/07-09.

    4-sector sites are more or less unpredictable.  In some cases, it's 01-04 B66/05-08 B12/09-0C B2.  In some areas, B66 and B2 are flipped, as above.  In some places, it's the 3-sector pattern but with 0A, 0B, and 0C used for the fourth sector in no particular order.

    And then, of course, the site ID part of the GCIs are a trainwreck.  Some sites have as many as 7 different GCIs, though most of those are being consolidated into fewer now.  Most B41 sites are now on a single, separate GCI, though at first they were split across three.  B71/B12 panels have their own GCIs.  Band 66 can sometimes also have a separate GCI from Band 2, but that's pretty uncommon.  Some 4-sector sites have separate GCIs on the fourth sector, as well.

    - Trip

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    When I'm out locating 312250 sites, I lock a T-Mobile phone on Band 26.  Then the only thing it can possibly connect to is Sprint.  T-Mobile has their Band 2 operations running MFBI as Band 25, so that option isn't great either.  I sometimes manually adjust my Band 26 lock to include Band 25 near a site that I suspect is a 312250 site but which is B25-only.  I've located a few of those.

    - Trip

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