Trip

Blue dots are outdoor DAS facilities, I believe. And I hate to say it but that map appears to have some errors in it. There are definitely sites that have been upgraded that are missing, though I suppose they could have been done at the end of last year. But more concerning are a handful of red dots that reflect Clear sites awaiting upgrades that have not yet actually happened. My home site is marked in red on that map--it was still running Clear gear this morning. - Trip

I'm willing to give T-Mobile credit for at least publishing a map. As far as I know, Verizon has yet to publish one. - Trip

So 31451 checks if there's a 30001, but doesn't check whether the 30001 in the log is from Band 25/26 or Band 41. Maybe that would be a good way to separate it. If it looks up the lower site but it's not Band 25/26 (or is Band 41), assume it's not connected? - Trip

For now. - Trip

I really like this picture from a Washington Post article about OPM. - Trip

The idea that there is "no anti-trust concern" seems entirely at odds with what I have read about the HHI calculation for the merger. (HHI: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hhi.asp ) The HHI value of the merged company would increase its value by 400-500 in the wireless market from what I understand, which puts it squarely within the range of anti-trust concerns, which arise when the HHI value increases by 200 or more. I'm even less clear on what the point of highlighting perceived media biases has to do with anything. - Trip

The cheap walkie-talkies are usually unregistered and would cause interference when used. While you may not care, I find that wireless carriers do tend to care when there is interference in their spectrum. I don't disagree with you on public safety, though the question is "who pays for more density?" Adding sites adds cost, and I'm not clear who would pay for this massive overhaul of public safety, both moving from 450-512 and within 700/800. You didn't address the non-public safety entities in the band. There are quite a few of them. And neither of us touched the issue of the antennas not fitting in a typical cell phone. Further, I'm not sure who would buy this spectrum even if it were to be made available. - Trip

What a nightmare that would be. In multiple ways. Tons of non-public safety operations are in 450-470. Every one of those cheapo walkie-talkies that you see at Wal-Mart is in 450-470, so the spectrum would be swimming in interference from them for years. On top of that, only certain channels from 470-512 aren't used by TV stations in fewer than a dozen markets. And on top of that, in the most congested markets, 700 and 800 are full, if you believe the public safety folks. - Trip

I think it's harder to spot in urban areas. I was looking for it when I was out of town over the weekend and in the rural areas, when I know the cell tower is 10 miles away, the feet number is more obviously incorrect. Here in the city, where it's "close" but exactly how close never really enters my mind, it was easy to ignore. Thanks. Is the link universal? Like, does every GCI automatically jump to the one above? So would a 30001 link to 31451, and then if a 328A1 were to appear, would that also have the same note since 31451 has it? - Trip

Three things: 1) I didn't even realize the TA values were off until I saw it in the change log. I've now turned the setting on for ALL of my devices and the distances now look more reasonable. Why couldn't I tell they were off? Because I have a hard time eyeballing distances like that in feet. Would it be possible to have a switch to convert those distances to miles instead? 2) I've got an interesting new issue. I now regularly see CDMA entries that have BID values of 0, all with garbage data, and my log now has a number of them. I'm not sure what change triggered this, but I don't like it. Much like how empty GCIs shouldn't be logged, can the same option be made for logging CDMA with BID values of 0? (Interesting note, when I observe them on the device that way, I frequently see BSL data indicating it belongs to a particular site, despite the BID value being 0.) 3) Not really a bug, but I connected to Massive MIMO site 031F4C and 031F4E at Wellington yesterday, but rather than needing a note added, those GCIs were identified as being related to the Westlawn site. The reason for this is that 031F4C and 031F4E are off by 0x1450 from two of the the Mini Macros at the Westlawn site (030AFC and 030AFE). As more Massive MIMO sites light up, and a second wave seems to be lighting up right now, I expect to see more of these cases. - Trip

I have ssh access to a server I keep there with remote X tunneling. I got in just fine. It's a WZR-300HP with firmware version: DD-WRT v24SP2-MULTI (07/09/12) std - build 19438 I can see two sequential MAC addresses and IP addresses which I assume are associated with the Airave. But I figure as long as the GPS light is red, that's the main issue right now. I would expect the WAN light to be red if it were having trouble talking back to Sprint. - Trip

I was thinking about this, and the router is a Buffalo router running DD-WRT, as I recall. Is there any way to tell for certain if DD-WRT is the issue, and if it is, any way to change DD-WRT's behavior? - Trip

The LTE light is green, but I don't know if it's actually providing a connection. I've asked her to try replugging the GPS antenna and then do a hard reset. She's going to try tomorrow. We'll see what happens. - Trip

My parents just got an Airave 4 and while I've not been there to tinker with it, my mom informs me that she has green lights except for GPS and CDMA which are red. I had her plug in the separate GPS antenna and place it near the window (and I had her flip it over since I think she had it upside down to start) and then pull the power/plug it back in, but that doesn't seem to have helped. Any ideas for other things she might try? - Trip

In Albemarle County, VA, and Nelson County, VA, many sites, especially along highways, are on wooden poles for both aesthetic reasons (harder to see) and because the terrain is so rough that anything more than that would be a waste of money. But it means that in many areas, the bands in use are limited, including, for Shentel, sites that are Band 25-only, for example. - Trip

Everything I've ever read about Delrahim indicates that he strongly dislikes behavioral remedies such as these. - Trip

Emphasis mine. Cool, so no penalties. Got it. - Trip

So I went to my parents' new house yesterday and they had the Magic Box sitting in the kitchen window. It was working and had excellent reception of B25 from Mont Alto, PA, mostly because their B25 in the house was excellent as well. Their problem was with the sound quality of the voice service, which of course, the Magic Box won't help. Now they have Comcast for a landline phone and Internet, and the Magic Box wasn't going to do anything for them anyway, so I took the Magic Box with me. Part of me is tempted to try it here, but part of me thinks I should just return it. Thoughts? - Trip

Yes. - Trip

No, didn't make it to Tahoe. We had a (very tardy) van take us to Carson City for dinner, and other than that, I spent my entire time in the casino. I don't know what it is about people and barbecue--a lot of people seem to rave about bad barbecue. Maybe it's because I've lived in a part of the country with really good barbecue, but here in DC, a lot of people rave about this BBQ place in DC that, despite being there several times, I can't find anything particularly great about. The person I know best who likes it is from Florida and then went to school in Georgia, too, so he really should know better. I don't really know what to make of it. - Trip

Thanks. I'm home now. Ate in the hotel/casinos on Wednesday evening and Thursday, then breakfast and lunch were provided by the conference on Friday and Saturday, dinner Saturday as well, and Friday we went to Carson City to "Red's Old 395 Grill" which others raved about but I wasn't as keen on. At least I managed to get some TV and cell data! - Trip

T-Mobile and AT&T are in at least Silver Legacy and Eldorado. Just Sprint is isolated to Circus Circus only. - Trip

I just find it strange that the three buildings are connected--without going outside--and yet the Sprint DAS is only in one of them. Meanwhile, Verizon is in all three. I'll follow-up when I know about T-Mobile and AT&T. - Trip

I'm in Reno for a conference at the Silver Legacy Casino, and this is kind of weird. I've not taken my T-Mobile or AT&T phones around yet, but I took my Verizon phone and, of course, my Sprint phone. Verizon has a DAS spread across the three casinos (Eldorado, Silver Legacy, Circus Circus) with a different sector of GCI 009395xx for each casino. Sprint is on the DAS as well, but only in Circus Circus (0AC1C312). In the other two, my phone instead connects to a macro a few blocks away. - Trip

Please demonstrate what consequences AT&T is facing for raising prices twice in the year after their merger, despite representing to regulators that permitting the merger with Time Warner would permit them to lower prices. - Trip