Trip

I'm not sure if this is a bug or an unsupported behavior. I took this picture this morning while sitting in the Crystal City Metro station. Look carefully at the PCI of the connected cell versus the PCI of the neighbor cell. In Crystal City and Pentagon City Metro stations, the 02 and 1A sectors of 0303DFxx are used with PCI 403. In Pentagon Metro, the 01 and 19 sectors of 0303DFxx are used with PCI 234. So in my database, I set the notes for each of the sectors differently to match where they actually belong. That is, 0303DF02 and 0303DF1A say "Crystal City/Pentagon City (U)" while 0303DF01 and 0303DF19 say "Pentagon Metro (U)". Despite this, the note for the 01/19 sector is showing even though I'm connected to 1A in the picture. (But then the correct note is used for the neighbor cell!) I know that the sectors are linked so that the app is smart enough to link newly-seen sectors together (as well as connecting B41 with B25/B26) and when you set a site note from within the app it rewrites all the associated ones, which is all fine and preferred, but I didn't think it did that when reading back out of the database as well. Thoughts? - Trip

Verizon SIMs only seem to allow that for 90 days at a time, at which point a new SIM is needed. - Trip

Maybe it's different for 8T8R, but I find -115 to be about the minimum for data to go through on Samsung Clear equipment with my S5. At -120, which my phone will cling to, no data passes. - Trip

And the LG Tribute 5 is 5 inches, and thus not a solution. Not to mention that as an LG, I assume it too has the power/volume buttons on the back. - Trip

A bit off-topic, but not 100% sure where to put it. Does Sprint sell ANY Android phones that are less than 5" and not ancient? I know Boost has some but apparently you can't take a Boost phone to Sprint post-paid for some reason. My wife thinks my S5 is too big and everything I saw at the Sprint store today was the same size or larger. - Trip

Tried it. They only had fake phones, nothing actually there. They had an HTC 10 model, but that was it. At the Sprint store, they didn't even know the HTC 10 existed. I did get to see the G5 and it's better than I expected. - Trip

Noticed on the coverage map that LTE roaming is not shown for the HTC 10. Is this an error because the phone is so new, or is there actually something preventing the phone from LTE roaming? That will be a deal breaker if true. - Trip

Is there any way to tell if a store has a demo unit short of calling or visiting? I really, really want to put my hands on one. - Trip

It has. I will simply point out that I am 27 and have been with the FCC more than 3 years, after more than a year with a TV station ownership group working on constructing stations, and was involved in the industry via my not-for-profit website for many years before that. Not to sound arrogant, but I don't think anyone would tell you that my age puts me at any kind of disadvantage. To say age has anything to do with this discussion is false and comes across as very insulting, to be quite honest. Age is irrelevant to this conversation. What I would answer with is, if you believe all of this 5G talk is untrue, then why is an agency full of people of all ages (the FCC) working on 5G in millimeter wave bands if you're correct and it's a complete waste of time? I'm not directly involved, but plenty of other people in my branch of OET are, and they don't think it's a waste of time. Are you saying my supervisor, in his 30s, or my co-worker, in her 40s, or the head of OET who has been with the agency for 30 years, or the pile of others of all age groups, are all too young to know what's true and what isn't? But, that's neither here nor there. Let's get back on topic. - Trip

I used to live in Chattanooga. Not only was EPB terrific in the price and performance department, their customer service and installation and everything else was fantastic too. I had exactly one outage with them, which was announced in advance, occurred in the middle of the night, and was required in order for them to increase my speed from 30 Mbps to 50 Mbps at no cost to me. Seriously. It's the one thing I miss most about Chattanooga. The ageism here is rather unsettling. I've seen it mentioned in several posts now, and it doesn't actually prove anything, it just belittles others. I think we can make our points without it. - Trip

Looks like a special deal with Easy Pay. I agree, I would want to pay it off up front. Unrelated, I found the Sprint-specific manual on HTC's site and while it doesn't have a full set of specifications in it, it does have a "Communication Speed" section which mentions "3xCA - DL: 450 Mbps, UL: 50 Mbps". It also mentions GSM and HSPA. - Trip

I went to this: https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2016/03/spectrum-frontiers-workshop Well, I skipped the talk and went to see the equipment demos. Were they all hoaxes? - Trip

I have them and they're on a list to pick through in more detail. - Trip

I'd love an SCP log from such a trip. - Trip

I have to admit I was kind of bummed when I found while sitting in the Chinese buffet in Lynchburg on Saturday that I was roaming on US Cellular 1X. Outside I could just barely snag ShenTelos 1X/EV-DO at -100 dBm. Definitely a hole that needs filling. I hope someone from Shentel is reading here! - Trip

Today's news about Metro's "safety surges" sound like they'll be good news for the cell service in tunnels project. I don't think it was stated outright, but it seems to be implied that while those segments are closed for rail work, communications work will also be done. Very smart; here's hoping it actually gets done. I also hope they turn it on as they go; that would make Yellow in VA one of the first areas to get the upgrade. - Trip

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't all poles at a consistent height be less of an eyesore than having sporadically placed poles that are much taller than others? In which case, the more the merrier! - Trip

In my neck of the woods, US Cellular appears to have B5 on all sites and B12 on all sites where it owns B12. - Trip

My sister has the Nexus 5X so I've seen it and I think I'd be happy with it except for the lack of MicroSD. Actually, that lack is why I'm leaning away from it. With the G5, the reason I'm leaning away from it is the placement of the power button the back. I want to put my hands on it to see about the build quality, but I'm also hopeful they might make an ATSC 3.0 module at some point for it, which makes me think I want it. But that's a huge "if" and probably isn't worth holding out for, since it's at least a year away and probably more. Maybe a future LG phone. I don't want the S7 for multiple reasons (my current phone is an S5), not least of which being the Sprint coverage maps suggesting that LTE roaming is unavailable on the S7 versus the others mentioned here. That may change in the future, of course, but I've waited long enough. In any case, I'll be waiting to see the HTC 10 and the G5 in person (and confirming LTE roaming now works on the 5X) before making a decision. - Trip

Afton Mountain is way up there. Richmond TV, for example, comes booming in, very strong. Wouldn't surprise me if you connected to something far away. I had a GCI 00008018 appear on my S5 while changing sites and determined it was a device bug. Is that what you saw? - Trip

By the time the repacking process is done, it will be 2019 at the very earliest. By then, LTE may very well be replaced by some newer 5G technology in any event. I don't think it's entirely unreasonable. But you are also correct that most 5G discussion has been on much higher frequencies. As far as the broadcasters and money, well, that's how the free market works. If the buyers won't offer a price the seller wants, then that's that. If you offer $5 for a flagship smartphone, they won't sell you one. That doesn't make it unfair to you in any way. And the auction, and its free market means of repurposing spectrum, was mandated by Congress well before Tom Wheeler was in the picture. AJ, I believe there's a requirement for 600 MHz interoperability in the new rules for the band, which means that even if two duplexers and two bands are required, the phones should be certified for both bands. I could be wrong about that, but I do recall a discussion about it a while back. And if the clearing target drops to 84 MHz, then you're above channel 37 at that point anyway, so no split should be needed. I'm a TV guy at heart; you probably can guess what my overall opinion of the auction is, but I figured it's better to be there and make sure it's done properly as opposed to being absent and potential mistakes being made. But it's definitely looking like it will happen and will succeed, at some level of clearing. The real question, to me, is how much. Broadcasters will be repacked into the remaining UHF TV band. That's the point. Only in certain places might TV stations be able to interfere, which is what the "impairments" are all about. - Trip

My next phone will be either an LG G5, Nexus 5X, or an HTC 10. Given all I've heard about all three, I'm leaning toward the HTC 10, but am also waiting to see it in person and what others have to say. - Trip

And I feel the need to remind everyone that just because 10 blocks are being offered at the outset doesn't mean the end result will necessarily be 10 blocks. If the wireless companies don't pay enough to cover the cost of paying the broadcasters, then the amount of spectrum is reduced and bidding continues. - Trip

Leaving aside the equipment issue for the moment, isn't SMR contiguous with CLR A block? - Trip

Each block consists of 5 MHz downlink and 5 MHz uplink. - Trip