Jump to content

Trip

S4GRU Staff
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,291

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    90

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Trip

    SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

    in General Topics

    Posted

    On 4/6/2019 at 8:02 AM, mikejeep said:

    I do plan on adding both TA and BW to the database. TA has appeared to be very reliable in my experience as well, but I'm not going to change the logic on saving the coordinates just yet. It's still a fairly new addition and not all devices report it, so I don't think I want to open that can of worms yet. I do see how it will be more valuable so it will be a good idea.

    What's weird is that I only see TA sometimes.  I'm not sure it could be depended on, at least in my experience.

    - Trip

    Strand Mount Gear?

    in Equipment Spotting

    Posted

    Does anyone know what the strand-mount equipment looks like?  I ask because I've got a bunch of weird GCIs in my log west of George Mason University, and I didn't spot any apparent small cells or similar.  I do see boxes on poles that do not have antennas on them, and the cables seem to go up to the lines, like this one on Google Street View.

    https://goo.gl/maps/VNGZBdZDjfR2

    Any thoughts/pictures?

    - Trip

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

    in General Topics

    Posted

    14 hours ago, dkyeager said:

    I have heard from sources of mixed reliability that T-Mobile will be adding a lot 600Mhz sites in the coming weeks  They currently have one site near the lake on the east side.

    They are constantly adding 600 MHz, though primarily in rural areas right now.  In most of the urban areas, it is dependent on the repack; Los Angeles/San Diego, Denver, Miami, Kansas City, and Houston should be cleared out within the next few weeks, even though T-Mobile has managed to squeeze some 5x5 deployments into some of those areas.

    - Trip

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    It usually takes ECFS a day or two to make public things that are filed.  I'm not sure why T-Mobile included a link that didn't work yet in their press release, but it may well start working later today.

    Here's the FCC PN announcing the clock stoppage:  https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-19-161A1.pdf

    This appears to be the February 22 document:  https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/102221766502159/Feb 21 Public Ex Parte.pdf

    I do not see the March 6 filing yet.

    - Trip

    • Like 2

    Marcelo Claure, Town Hall Meetings, New Family Share Pack Plan, Unlimited Individual Plan, Discussion Thread

    in General Topics

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

    Needs more Maryland!

    Hard to tell if Bethesda is covered by 5G on that map.

    It appears that the three sites on the eastern shore of the Potomac at the three sites in DC.  So coverage doesn't extend into Maryland.  This is odd, because there are a number of Massive MIMO installations, from what I can glean from the MLS data, between the DC/Maryland border and the Beltway in Montgomery County, including near Bethesda and the water tower at Cabin John.

    - Trip

    • Like 2

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

    in General Topics

    Posted

    So, this is interesting.

    https://imgur.com/a/D9y82Ru

    It looks like Sprint has stopped using 311870 for Clear sites, and is now using 310120 as the PLMN for them.  This means, as you can see in the Crystal City South image, that it's now showing as "Sprint B41 SC" even though it's a Clear site.  I don't know why Goat Hill, for instance, did not show up that way.

    - Trip

    • Like 1
    • Sad 1

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

    With 600MHz using 5G and having HPUE, there is no reason why T-Mobile should not ultimately demolish Sprint's rural business.  If not merged, Sprint could become a T-Mobile vassal state over the life of 5G in rural areas.

    5G is marketing hype.  The key difference between 4G and 5G in the lower bands is essentially latency (not important for most use cases) and slightly better occupied bandwidth.  Speeds aren't markedly different from what I understand. 

    T-Mobile's rural deployments are pretty bad.  I would know, I drive through some of them regularly.  Nobody who actually lives in those places would switch to it, because the towers are too far apart.  In those areas, Shentel beats the stuffing out of T-Mobile.  That's why I'm arguing in favor of having local entities manage the network in rural areas. 

    - Trip

    • Like 3

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    27 minutes ago, tyroned3222 said:

    if no merger he said: “sprint will be a different company turn into a suburban/urban only carrier “

    I'm sorry, I just don't see this as a big problem.  Assuming they can line up good partners, like Shentel, I don't see why Sprint couldn't become a federation of smaller, local companies that each run their own little regions, but under the Sprint umbrella, the way Shentel does it.  Maybe people will tell me that partners didn't work out in the past, which raises the question of what makes Shentel so much better than the others, and how can it be replicated? 

    - Trip

    • Like 1
    • Love 1

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

    in General Topics

    Posted

    2 hours ago, mikejeep said:

    That is odd. I'll have to do some digging and testing to see where that is coming from. Regarding TAC 0, I have it flagged to log if TAC is between 0 and 65535. I can have it ignore TAC 0 if that's truly invalid, but I assumed that about PCI when I wrote the app, which turned out to be wrong (PCI 0 is valid and in use). If TAC 0 is legitimate I could look into making it a user option.

     

    That's the long-standing issue where the PLMN doesn't update in sync with the other data. It's very annoying. I *may* have overcome that in the current beta, albeit accidentally.. it's taking awhile to iron out some other bugs that have popped up but I'm still plugging away at it.

    -Mike

    My assumption is that 0 could be valid, but in my specific circumstances, it never actually is.  Making it a switchable option would be enormously helpful for me; sometimes when changing sites, my Motorola phones seem to lose the TAC while keeping the previous GCI and showing whatever PCI it's connecting to, whereas my LG Sprint phone loses the GCI in those cases, preventing the bad data from being logged.  It's rather unhelpful.

    I look forward to the next beta!

    - Trip

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

    in General Topics

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

    No, that's odd! In most instances, the app overrides the provider name that is being broadcast (because many SCP users want to know the true identity of the network they are on, i.e. Project Fi). SCP uses "US".. perhaps the network uses periods in the name and for some reason it's falling back to that. Where in the app are you seeing "U.S."?

    -Mike

     

    Mike,

    Here's a picture showing it in the database editing software.  I've circled it in red.  https://imgur.com/a/MeTsS8k

    Also, circled in orange, note the Sprint B5 for a US Cellular site.  I see that in the app fairly regularly, along with nTelos B5.  Not sure what's up with that, either.

    - Trip

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

    in General Topics

    Posted

    30 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

    No, that's odd! In most instances, the app overrides the provider name that is being broadcast (because many SCP users want to know the true identity of the network they are on, i.e. Project Fi). SCP uses "US".. perhaps the network uses periods in the name and for some reason it's falling back to that. Where in the app are you seeing "U.S."?

    -Mike

    In my log database.  It's usually US, but sometimes I'll see U.S. instead.  Sometimes even for different sectors on the same site. 

    (Unrelatedly, I'd love it if it were possible to prevent the log from updating when the TAC is 0 but is normally populated.  I've found that the PCI values entered into the database are incorrect when the TAC is missing, and of course the TAC being 0 ends up in the database as well.)

    - Trip

    • Thanks 1

    Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

    in T-Mobile Merger/5G NR Deployment

    Posted

    On 1/27/2019 at 7:21 AM, dro1984 said:

    The FCC has a 180 Day "shot clock".   It can go over 180 days, but not 2 years?!    I'm hoping there is some word/ communication this week or next.     

    The shot clock is entirely informal and is frequently paused and resumed.  See here:  https://www.fcc.gov/transaction/t-mobile-sprint

    The transaction is paused on Day 84 right now, even though the clock was first started on July 18, more than 6 months ago.

    - Trip

    • Like 1

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

    in Markets

    Posted

    On 1/23/2019 at 12:49 PM, Trip said:

    I can't help but notice the latest Sprint coverage map update now shows the towers in Clarksville and Raines Tavern (on VA-45 north of Farmville), both of which are "Richmond sliver" expansion area sites, to be providing service.  I hope to pass by the Raines Tavern tower this weekend and will report back.

    - Trip

    The Raines Tavern site was not operating, but antennas are in place.  I observed two other GCIs which must be somewhere else in Cumberland; we'll be going back via US-60 tomorrow and hopefully I'll pass them.

    Additionally, the site in Farmville that was live but didn't work a few weeks ago is now working and has CDMA.  The GCIs of the existing sites in Prince Edward and Culpeper still have the 0280xx pattern, but the Culpeper County sites have been moved to the new GCIs.  And maybe it was the placebo effect, but I could swear I had an easier time holding LTE than I used to.

    - Trip

    • Like 1

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

    in General Topics

    Posted

    T-Mobile's questionable build-out practices in rural areas is what makes me most nervous about the merger.  My experience is that such construction is usually very clearly an attempt to make the map look good and not a real build-out that attempts to properly serve the local population. 

    - Trip

    • Like 1
×
×
  • Create New...