Trip

Walking by the USDA today, I noticed a panel attached to the building, which I later determined to be a Verizon small cell. https://imgur.com/a/8rZe8Ly Don't see it? Here's a close-up. https://imgur.com/a/98u2DwE Not exactly where I would mount an antenna... - Trip

I have no idea. That's part of my question. I took more pictures today; they're probably not terribly helpful. I'm wary of photographing things near government property for obvious reasons. See here: https://imgur.com/a/s5KwHfe I'm not 100% sure, but I think I saw Verizon and T-Mobile GCIs there too. They were very strong and I did not observe other antennas around. - Trip

It could be. I'm not really sure how to interpret what I'm seeing on that tower. I see three spheres and then two panels. I also suspect Sprint is on it somehow (or extremely close by; 030493/0318E3), and plan to run by this afternoon with my T-Mobile and Verizon phones. - Trip

So, um, I have an interesting issue. Suddenly this morning, my AT&T phone (which I have locked to Band 14 at the moment) connected to 9FD76xx, which was a new GCI for me. Went to a chiropractor appointment in near McPherson Sq an walked back. After walking around on the mall a bit, I found it came from this: (Sorry the pictures aren't great) https://imgur.com/a/jFtDFM3 (What you can't see that's also interesting is that the white pickup truck parked in front of it has "Verizon Wireless" on the side of it for some reason. Might bring my Verizon phone tomorrow and wander over there, just in case.) What's odd about it is that when I'm close to it, my phone jumps between several different GCIs. 9FD76xx is one, but I also connected to A10B8xx, A10BAxx, A10BBxx, and A10BCxx, all at strengths better than -60 dBm. Checking MLS, that data indicates there's also an A10B9xx that I didn't see but that comes from it as well. Any idea why I would see so many GCIs from that one site? - Trip

I actually also have this issue but didn't even think to report it as a bug. Nothing custom that I can think of, as I see it across multiple devices. - Trip

Exciting times! I'm in the Shentel region for the first time since the funeral and in Farmville yesterday, although the Southern Virginia market Sprint sites still have the 028xxx GCIs, I connected to 0FE876 in the Wal-Mart parking lot with PCI 19, and also saw a PCI 28 neighbor cell that I never connected to. Going to drive by some candidate sites on the way out of town this morning and see where they're coming from. - Trip

Folks, pretty sure the subject of this discussion is not funding for border security measures, but rather about a merger between Sprint and T-Mobile. Please stay on topic. - Trip

They may be deciding, but all the research and analysis work is done by staff and presented to them for the decision. - Trip

That is T-Mobile roaming. The tower on Royal Ave (340) at Academy Dr. - Trip

Yesterday, I decided to try locking my phone to Band 5 to see if I could spot any AT&T Band 5 in the area. At the top of a hill, I connected to 9EC9A01, which was unidentified. I eventually realized I had calculated that value from HSPA--it's the site at Mount Vernon. Evidently, AT&T got tired of waiting to do a full upgrade and did a GMO on the existing site there. It had been the last HSPA-only site I knew of in the area, and does not appear to have any other LTE bands on it, which is why I think this. As far as I can tell, nothing else around me is running Band 5, even though several towers are running five other bands. (Bands 17/2/4/14/30.) - Trip

About half of my commute is above ground, so I've definitely seen heard it. - Trip

I'd love to have data, but not voice, in the tunnels. I hate people shouting into their phones on the Metro. That said, they've made progress, and I'm glad they have. Not on the part of the system I use every day, of course, but progress. And for Sprint, at least, it's Band 25/26/41 (with Mini Macros). - Trip

I look forward to having the option for neighbor cells. It will help me in a certain specific case; the US Cellular tower on Willis Mountain uses the same PCIs as the new Shentel site in Dillwyn or Alpha (I forget which off-hand), and there's some amount of overlap between them. Because I know in my head about that overlap, I can tell what I'm actually seeing. The average person or even the advanced person unfamiliar with a local area would not. I know you struck it out, but the question you asked is an interesting one. I've not found any first-hand evidence that Shentel uses Mini Macros, but when I met with their lead RF engineer back in the summer, he indicated that they were in use. I'm just not sure where. - Trip

One other note; I sent you diagnostics today for a Shentel site that added Band 41 but was incorrectly flagged as "B41 MM". 0x0FE615 + 0x1450 = 0xFFA65, part of the normal pattern, and it had three carriers, indicating it's not a Mini Macro. See here: First is the third carrier: https://imgur.com/a/qsBtPaB Then here's first carrier of the same sector of the same tower noted as "B41 MM": https://imgur.com/a/UnT0CID - Trip

The Verizon spread doesn't really surprise me. 700 is on every tower, and in rural areas especially you may frequently find 700-only. My impression is that they have wideband AWS in more places than wideband PCS, and in my experience if only two bands are needed in an area, they choose AWS over PCS. - Trip

I had proposed having a "Sprint" mode as opposed to the current behavior options of either locking the neighbor notes to the current PLMN (which would prevent Sprint neighbor cells from appearing when connected to Clear sites, for example) or turning off PLMN matching entirely (which could allow US Cellular or other carrier sites in the log from showing even though they would not ordinarily appear in neighbor cells). The idea would be that if you were connected to a Sprint-related PLMN, neighbor notes would be restricted to other Sprint-related PLMNs and not just the current PLMN, so you could see a neighbor cell for 311870 (Clear) even though you're connected to 310120 (Sprint) but without seeing 311580 (US Cellular), for instance. The catch, of course, is what to do about 311490, which is a Clear PLMN but seems to be used for T-Mobile roaming. DA is fourth sector of the D7-D9 set; spotted locally on a single AT&T tower that has a fourth sector. DD is part of a DD-DF set that seems to be used in the Virginia market (as opposed to the DC market). I'm not sure why the inconsistent sector between DC/Northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia. - Trip

Very exciting! I can't wait to try it out. Does this change any of the behavior of the neighbor notes as I've suggested in the past, or is that a separate project? Relatedly, does this add sectors DA and DD-DF to LTE 750/Band 14 for AT&T? I sent you a few diagnostics showing those in use. - Trip

Here's AT&T Band 5 in Prince William County: https://imgur.com/a/A6x70Xe I tried locking to Band 5 in other places a few times along the way and did not see any additional Band 5. This site also has Band 14, on top of the displayed 17/2/4/30. I wonder if it has Band 66 as well. (Didn't think to check.) Couldn't get a good look at the antenna as it was getting dark and it was cloudy and I was on I-66. Sorry. - Trip

Looking at the Best Buy Black Friday ad, it looks like the LG G7 will be available for $7/mo, though details are sparse: https://www.bfads.net/stores/best-buy/ads/black-friday/page-24 Assuming it applies to upgrades, as my G6 upgrade did last year, does anyone have any feedback on how the G7 compares with the G6? I know the G7 lacks the rear power button, which is disappointing, but how about other features/design decisions? - Trip

I think a new site in Prince William County, VA has Band 5. I hope to check on Friday. - Trip

There isn't even a clear definition of what 5G actually is. At this point, it seems to be whatever the company pushing it at that moment wants it to be. They talk about deploying 5G in rural areas, but if it's nothing more than the new 5G modulation standard, there's no reason that can't be deployed by refarming existing spectrum over time, just like LTE was deployed. - Trip

Sector IDs (per my own experience and reports): 01-06 850 MHz (CLR) 08-0D 1.9 GHz (PCS) 0F-14 700 MHz (lower 700) 16-1B 2.1/1.7 GHz (AWS) 95-9A 2.3 GHz (WCS) D7-DC 700 MHz (upper 700--some areas) DD-E2 700 MHz (upper 700--some areas) As of this writing, I'm going from memory and will try to add more information from my logs later in the day. - Trip

Per some requests, we're going to try out an AT&T discussion thread along the same lines as the T-Mobile discussion thread. We're going to see how it goes. Enjoy! - Trip

Yes, I know. There are multiple models of that device as well. I used the example of the device I own. - Trip

It may depend on the model. I have two E5 Play phones: Moto E5 Play - T-Mo: CDMA 0/1/10; GSM 1800/900/850/1900; WCDMA 1/2/4/5/8; LTE 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/25/26/38/41/66/71 Moto E5 Play - Unlocked (used for AT&T): No CDMA; GSM 1800/900/850/1900; WCDMA 1/2/4/5/8; LTE 1/2/3/4/5/8/12/14/17/30/66 I'm trying to get a hold of additional T-Mo models that are carrier unlocked so I can use them on US Cellular and Verizon. - Trip