Trip

Sounds just like Metro too; run it for 45 days, then turn it off while evaluating feedback. All of which will either be positive, complaining it works poorly (it IS Metro), or requests for it to be in more stations. - Trip

That article is from 2012. - Trip

Aren't the new Silver Line stations above ground? Which would imply nothing special needs to be done for LTE service there since they would just depend on the local macro sites? - Trip

I hate how every time I go out now, it's Verizon that has new sites up. (They're co-locating on the AT&T tower at US-50 and I-495 near Merrifield; the antennas looked like Verizon antennas and there was a construction crew on the ground outside the compound.) Meanwhile, nothing from Sprint lately, not even permits. - Trip

I assume AJ will be offering employment (and relocation incentives) shortly in order to rectify the problem? - Trip

Not all of it. Louisa County, for example, is one of four or five counties that Sprint has in the "Southern Virginia" market. It would be nice to see those counties rolled into the Shentel region. - Trip

Is that the SBA Tower there? My info has AT&T also present either on that one or nearby that I haven't found, and that's HSPA only, no LTE. - Trip

No kidding; I found the coverage on the 3G to be really poor and once connected to it, it was really awful. My guess is that it was just bogged down given the shopping centers and whatnot there. I hope they took the opportunity to up the power a bit on the 3G while they were at it now that LTE should be able to handle some of that load. Really glad to hear they're finally getting I-64 taken care of. The mind boggles that it took this long. Now just waiting for Shentel to do some more conversion and addition! - Trip

Can't wait to pass through and use it! - Trip

Islands of coverage surrounded by roaming or no service probably helps roaming costs, but does little to convince people who actually live in or frequently visit those areas to switch. My understanding is that T-Mobile is primarily doing this expansion in areas where they own B12. In places where B12 isn't available, they're not building much. I've been in touch with my friend at T-Mobile and sent along some recommendations on places to co-locate now that they're getting 700 in the places I need to go. We'll see what happens. - Trip

So to have CA and 5 or 6 carriers, as I keep hearing the future holds, you'll need two sets of B41 gear, right? That's what I thought, which is why I made my suggestion about the Clear gear. And to be clear, I was referring to sites where Sprint and Clear are co-located or nearly co-located. - Trip

That was the impression I was under, but lilotimz says otherwise. - Trip

I often see Clear B41 at -122 or so, but the service doesn't actually work, so pointing out that it holds on that long doesn't actually mean anything. What I don't understand is why not add an 8T8R to Clear sites that already support dual carrier rather than ripping and replacing? It would instantly give them the ability to run 5 carriers from a given site. To the extent the Clear gear doesn't cover as well, push people outdoors onto Clear and those with lower signal onto the 8T8R. - Trip

Working for me, even when I log out. - Trip

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qtSrW2KKDCVW9RQmQ3NUdwRVE/view?usp=sharing Time isn't my friend once again, but there's the 55056 output. - Trip

After only about two months, I'm already seeing burn-in on my screen from SignalCheck Pro. My S5 didn't burn in for more than a year. - Trip

If it's a rooted device, then the EARFCN is coming straight out of the modem, which it sounds like you already know. As such, I would consider it to be reliable. - Trip

Is it a rooted device? My gut feeling is to trust the EARFCN. The "700" indicated by SCP is a guess since T-Mobile's sector IDs are wildly inconsistent. (In some places I travel, the sector 01/02/03 that's listed as "LTE AWS" is actually on PCS, for example. In my area, 04 can be either 700 or AWS, depending on whether or not the site has 3 or 4 sectors.) - Trip

Mike, I have a BLU R1 HD (Amazon Prime model). It's a dual SIM device but if I try to enable the second SIM for phone calls, all of a sudden LTE data vanishes from SCP. It's not the only thing wrong with how SCP works with the device, but it's the most annoying. When I look at Diagnostic Mode, I can clearly see the LTE data still present, but not showing up. Additionally, getting under my skin is the fact that it shows GSM and LTE at the same time whenever LTE is connected, but the GSM data is dummy data (which then gets logged in the GSM log incorrectly, too). I'm sure you're busy, but if you have a chance to give it a look, let me know what I can do to help you piece it together. I don't remember if I've sent you diagnostics yet. - Trip

That's the site on the Massey Building. I almost always get bumped up to Clear B41 there almost right away, so no surprise that B25 is clear. - Trip

Thanks. I'm really busy so I can't analyze, but here are the outputs. The 55055 file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qtSrW2KKDCZEI0NVFkRlF4UEE/view?usp=sharing The 55054 to 55055 comparison file, built off 55054: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qtSrW2KKDCcHpXbmVtbEp5dWc/view?usp=sharing - Trip

Yes, you can choose in software. I have an AT&T SIM card in slot 2 but there's no service on it, so I can't actually test the software swapping at this point. - Trip

Well, I have the phone in-hand, took it with me to the beach, and here's my two cents. First of all, I threw $20 on a T-Mobile pre-paid plan just for kicks, but so far, can't get the phone to do anything beyond "Emergency Calls Only." It IS on LTE while doing that, so it works for the purpose I bought it for, but it's still very annoying that I can't make it work the way I need to. I'll be calling T-Mobile support at some point to try to get that sorted. From an RF perspective, the phone appears to be somewhat more deaf than my LG Leon LTE. On AWS, it seems to be 5-7 dB weaker (according to SignalCheck Pro), and it likes to fall back to HSPA or EDGE much more rapidly than my Leon, even when Band 12 is unavailable for the Leon to fall back on. One feature I do really like is that the engineering mode screen (which can be accessed through Activity Launcher) allows a by-band/technology setting, including the enabling of Band 12. I could make the phone LTE-only if I wanted by disabling all the GSM and HSPA bands, or I could look for B12 only, etc. If I was starting my phone collection from scratch, I would buy another of these for T-Mobile and have one set for Band 2/4 only and another for Band 12 only. (Does anyone want to buy an LG Leon LTE?) I wish it supported Band 5; if it did, I would also want to use it for AT&T for the same reason. It seems to have some bugs with SignalCheck Pro. When connected to LTE, it simultaneously shows invalid GSM data and logs it as "LTE" in the GSM log. Additionally, when connected to EDGE, it says "No connection" even though it's clearly connected. But it definitely updates more frequently than the Leon, which is nice, but it also seems like it does not report PSC data to SCP for the connected cell even though it does use PSC for neighbor cells. Not sure what the deal is there, or if that's a bug of some sort. As for the phone itself, the battery life seems comparable to my Nexus 5 (AT&T) and my Moto E (Verizon). I like the screen in general, but it's polarized such that my polarized sunglasses make the screen look like it's off when I hold it vertically. Like the Nexus 5, the Micro USB port on the bottom is upside down, and unlike any of my other phones, it's offset to the left side. I had fits figuring out how the SIM locking mechanisms worked, but I eventually figured it out. I don't like the button placement, but I think that's personal preference. I can't speak to the sound or camera quality since I've tested neither. Although the phone has two SIMs, as expected and against hopes, it appears that only one will send data to SCP at a time, it seems, though you can have GSM active on both at once (presumably for incoming calls). Any questions I can answer? - Trip

My question is why the T-Mobile variant supports Band 13. - Trip

I have the tool at work but I've been working from home for the past week and a half. I'll run it through on Tuesday if someone can post a reminder... - Trip