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Trip

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Posts posted by Trip

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Mike,

    I have been noticing that certain individual site notes have been missing lately, and I wasn't really sure what to make of it.  I finally determined this morning that the issue seems to be that rows are getting dropped from the database file.  I kept a copy of my database from 4/1, right when the merger ended, and I did a sqldiff between that and today's file and found something like 100 rows that had previously been present in my database file then are now missing. 

    The missing rows seem to be in random spots, but are sequential.  So I'm missing IDs 3898-3922, then 15546-15583, then 17433-17462, then 25625-25647.  The last row in the 4/1 file is 28638.

    What I have yet to determine is whether it's something to do with the nowal and/or vacuum procedure I've been doing to get my database in and out of SCP, or if it's something related to Android 9/10 on the G8X.  I'll be investigating as time permits.

    - Trip

    Shentel / Sprint LTE - (was ntelos - West & N&W Virginia)

    in Markets

    Posted

    1 hour ago, davidtm said:

    And still no resolution to the status of Shentel (and us customers on that network)?

    Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk
     

    I wouldn't expect to hear anything until at least September.  If we make it to September 30 without hearing anything, then I'm going to assume Shentel remains in business as an affiliate, as I would assume a buy-out under Option 1 would be announced within a month of the end of the Option 1 period.  (But I am also not a financial expert, so that may not be a valid assumption, either.)

    In any case, I would assume that we would hear about an Option 1 buy-out in the 3Q earnings call at the latest, presumably at the end of October.

    - Trip

    Phone History Thread 2020

    in Misc.

    Posted

    I started as a US Cellular customer in about 2005.

    Kyocera SoHo KX1
    Motorola V323i
    Motorola Crush
    Motorola Electrify
    Galaxy S4 Mini

    Switched to Sprint in 2014 when I got tired of the quite slow roaming on Verizon.

    Galaxy S5
    LG G5
    LG G6
    LG G8X

    Naturally, I'm not counting the phones that I use for other carriers, only my primary phone.

    - Trip

    • Like 1

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    On 7/6/2020 at 4:47 PM, Trip said:

    Okay, now that I said I hadn't seen any activity, I'm wondering if I saw something new this afternoon.

    https://imgur.com/a/kD5lUkr

    I copied one of the pictures and annotated it in red.  Am I right?

    - Trip

    Following up on myself, my wife and I ventured to Wegmans for the first time since March this morning.  The T-Mobile rack at Hayfield now has a fourth antenna, that resembles (but is taller than) the Sprint Massive MIMO antenna on the rack below it.  Guessing this is the n41 gear.

    Oddly, I checked for permits, and there's only electrical permits, and no antenna replacement/addition permit.  Not sure what to make of that.

    - Trip

    • Like 1

    Shentel / Sprint LTE - (was ntelos - West & N&W Virginia)

    in Markets

    Posted

    I've not read the SEC filing lately, so I won't promise I'm 100% correct in case my memory is faulty.  But because these terms are part of the existing affiliate agreement, I would assume that agreement continues to hold until it ends in 2029 (unless renegotiated sooner), including use of the branding and spectrum. 

    I know nothing about the billing system.

    - Trip

    Shentel / Sprint LTE - (was ntelos - West & N&W Virginia)

    in Markets

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, Lockedtight said:

    If they pass on that options what's the next step?  Is that the one where Shentel gets T-mobile's customers?

    Yes. 

    Option 1 is T-Mobile acquires Shentel.  As I understand it, T-Mobile would have to pay a price equal to the value of the entire company, but I'm not clear if that would mean paying an inflated price for just the wireless part of Shentel or if it means they have to buy Shentel outright.  In either case, it would seem to be aimed at making a buy-out unattractive, or at least, that's how I read it.

    Option 2 is Shentel can acquire T-Mobile's customers and network in its region at a discount.  If Shentel needs financing to fund it, I believe T-Mobile is obligated to provide it, or at least arrange for it, at a low rate.

    Option 3 is neither side decides to spend any money.  In that case, T-Mobile shuts down operations within the Shentel region within two years. 

    My preference is definitely for Option 2, though I'd accept Option 3 as well.  My assumption is that Option 2 would lead to a more orderly merging of the networks than Option 3 would, and would imply some level of working together.  It would also allow for Shentel to receive the income from T-Mobile's current customers in the region, however many of those there might be.

    - Trip

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Sigh.  In attempting to put the database back on my phone this evening after doing an update, it obliterated the database again.  It had been working as normal for several weeks.

    I think I'm going to [finally] apply the Android 10 update and see what happens.  Maybe it'll help...

    EDIT: When I rebooted, it came back up with data included.  No idea what to make of it.  Reimported from the file just in case, and it remained present, so we'll see, I guess.

    Separately, how hard would it be to make it possible to filter the Neighbor Notes?  I noticed earlier today that I'm seeing neighbors on Bands 12 and 2 pretty often.  Naturally, it tries to look for notes for those PCIs with PLMN 310120, even though they're clearly T-Mobile neighbors.  Would it be possible to add a "Sprint transition mode" or something where it matches Band 25/26/41 neighbor notes to 310120 and other neighbor notes to 310260?

    - Trip

    • Like 2

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    57 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

    I can't speak for S4GRU data sources, but on a similar note a I do know that T-Mobile LTE GCI patterns are nowhere near as consistent as Sprint's. Different markets have different rules, and many conflict with each other. Thankfully most phones report frequency info, but that's why you might not see secondary carrier info as much, or if you pay attention to patterns it might confuse you.

    This is correct.  In my travels, I've seen:

    01/02/03 AWS or PCS, 04/05/06 700, 07/08/09 PCS or AWS.

    01/02/03/04 AWS or PCS, 05/06/07/08 700, 09/0A/0B/0C PCS or AWS.

    01/02/03 AWS or PCS, 04/05/06 700, 07/08/09 PCS or AWS with 0A, 0B, and 0C being the fourth sector for each band and not necessarily in any particular order.

    01/02/03(/04) AWS, 0B/0C/0D(/0E) PCS, 15/16/17(/18) 700.

    So "nowhere near as consistent" is very accurate.  It seems that 3D/3E/3F(/40) is always 600 though.

    - Trip

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    2 hours ago, mdob07 said:

    How much T-Mobile coverage is there within Shentel's footprint? I'd like to see them continue independently as an affiliate like they were to Sprint to see how they deploy T-Mobiles spectrum within their network. That's assuming T-Mobile would allow them to use it.  

    My experience is that Shentel beats the stuffing out of T-Mobile pretty much everywhere it runs the Sprint network, except in the rural parts of the most recent expansion area (which they put on hold pending the merger).  Shentel invests in its region, and T-Mobile tries to fill the map.

    In Buckingham County, VA, Shentel has 17 sites.  T-Mobile has 2.  You wouldn't know it from the coverage map, but you'd know it from the service on the ground.

    - Trip

    • Like 7

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    1 hour ago, mdob07 said:

    Any word on the Shentel situation yet? I thought they only had so many days to make a decision after the merger closed. 

    They have 180 days to negotiate, which is until about 10/1.  Then 60 days for T-Mobile to buy out Shentel (until about 12/1), then 60 days for Shentel to buy out T-Mobile (until about 2/1), then if all else fails, T-Mobile has two years after that to shut down its network in Shentel territory.

    I'm assuming they'll come to terms, good or bad, before all of that plays out.

    - Trip

    • Like 9

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Not sure when it started, but I noticed yesterday that my home screen widget for SCP stopped working.  It was frozen on old values, but would still bring up SCP if I tapped it.  I then removed it from my home screen and added it again, and now it says that SCP is not running and tapping it does not open SCP.

    - Trip

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Trip said:

    2)  Can you add cyan and magenta as text color options?  Because I now carry a phone for each carrier, and four of them are Moto E5 Play phones, having the colors for the text might be a way to help tell them apart at a glance easier.  But there's no magenta for T-Mobile, and the current blue option which I would use for AT&T is way too dark.  I think the red feels too dark as well, but I'm not sure what to do about that.

    - Trip

    Having used the green on my US Cellular phone today, I feel that is too dark as well, particularly when on the road with bright sunshine.  How hard would it be to allow the entry of custom colors?  I'd love to be able to make it just off-white enough to tint it.

    - Trip

    • Like 2

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Thanks for the suggestions but, um, it fixed itself while on the road.  Really.

    https://imgur.com/a/SJZzQXT

    This is the appropriate part of the database on my new US Cellular phone.  I really wanted to capture the new data on Band 66 (and changed Band 5) GCIs in Farmville, so what I did was while I was connected to each sector before leaving US Cellular land today, I opened the note text and hit "Save".  It looks like when it connected to T-Mobile LTE, it started logging and didn't stop, but you can see all the data that was missing when I saved the notes prior. 

    - Trip

    • Like 1
    • Confused 1

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted · Edited by Trip
    Clarified LTE issue.

    I'm trying a few different things this morning.  Apparently, Android 9 changed the default "journal mode" from "delete" to "wal".  I can see that discrepancy when comparing my G8X log file to, for example, my Verizon one.  So I manually set the journal mode to delete on my G8X file and sent it to the US Cellular phone.

    Now, it appears as though the CDMA is logging, but not the LTE.  (I can't be sure it's not coincidental, either.)  I have 7:22AM last_time values for Cullen East and Phenix on CDMA, but I went so far as to remove the sector for the Cullen East LTE entry I'm connected to, and nothing has been written in its place.

    - Trip

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    4 hours ago, S4GRU said:

    I had this issue when I purchased a Moto Z2 Force.  I uploaded my log file immediately after activating and installing SCP from my previous phone.  Drove me nuts.  What I finally did to solve the problem...I had to disable the logger, reboot, re-enable the logger, reboot and then it worked.

    Robert

     

    3 hours ago, mikejeep said:

    I checked out your report; it all looks good, nothing to indicate that logging might not work. These logging glitches are very odd and difficult to reproduce across devices sometimes, and it drives me mad. As Robert mentioned before me, his Motorola had similar issues. I couldn't find anything wrong on my end but a couple of reboots did the trick. I have no idea how or why that would fix anything, but please give his suggestion a try and let me know..

    Alright, I'm trying it out.  So far, following Robert's procedure still resulted in no logging.  Trying a few more variations on it with more reboots.  I'm assuming random chance, rather than a specific procedure, will start the logging.

    I've actually had another weird database issue lately.  I use SQLiteStudio to manage my data, and for my G8X (Android 9), when I dump out the database, I have to run a "vacuum" operation on it in order to make it save properly after editing, rather than just committing the data.  If I merely commit and send it back to the phone, the import appears to work, but none of my rows get updated.  It's only that particular one; my other phones (Android 8 for all of them) do not have that problem, and I have Sprint and US Cellular in the same database which gets shared between the two phones.  If it wasn't for Robert's similar experience, I'd wonder if it wasn't a coincidence, and whether Android 9 has upgraded SQLite somehow and the two aren't entirely compatible anymore.  The vacuum operation shrinks the size of my .db file from 5.8MB to 5.2MB, but if I dump it out again immediately after importing on my G8X, it dumps at 5.8MB.  But on my new US Cellular Moto E5 Play, when I dump it back out, it's still 5.2MB with nothing having changed, as if it were being treated as read-only, except that if I change a note within the app, it does actually update in the dumped database file without updating the last_time field.  :confused:

    All of my new E5 Play phones are rooted; if there's any operation I can do as root that might be helpful either in tracking it down or fixing it, let me know.

    =====

    Separately, I'm loving the "accent" option.  Very useful.  Two comments though.  1)  Can you set the yellow accent for Shentel?  It doesn't seem to show any accent at all when set to Shentel.  2)  Can you have it follow the PLMN rather than the provider name?  I am still having that issue where, for example, connecting to US Cellular B5 sometimes calls it Sprint B5 or Shentel B5.  So I might get the yellow accent when the PLMN clearly shows I'm on US Cellular.

    You can actually sort of see both issues at once here; it says I'm connected to Shentel B5 rather than US Cellular B5, and also is not showing an accent.  https://imgur.com/a/28YwFfo

    Also, two additional questions:  1) Are you using the same blue shade for AT&T and US Cellular?  They certainly look similar to me, and Sprint can currently roam on both.  Despite the corporate color of US Cellular being a shade of blue, I always use green for US Cellular since it's largely in more rural areas and green makes it a lot easier to distinguish from AT&T.  2)  Can you add cyan and magenta as text color options?  Because I now carry a phone for each carrier, and four of them are Moto E5 Play phones, having the colors for the text might be a way to help tell them apart at a glance easier.  But there's no magenta for T-Mobile, and the current blue option which I would use for AT&T is way too dark.  I think the red feels too dark as well, but I'm not sure what to do about that.

    - Trip

    • Like 1
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