gusherb

I would much rather see 4 national carriers instead of 3. Just the thought about how much divestiture in spectrum that needs to be made in order to get this to past regulators is staggering. I would much rather see Sprint partner up with a cable company or something.

I agree. I think Sprint and a cable company would be good for each other. Even despite how much I despise the cable companies.

I don't believe that B25+B26 is planned. B26 is the last resort band, I don't think they want it tied up providing capacity to devices that have a decent B25 signal.

 

I understand that but I specifically said 26+25. Think about it, you're stuck on B26 but B25 still has enough range to use as DL, that means you can utilize that bandwidth and not overburden 26 as much. 

 

Also the network does not at all treat B26 as a "last resort" around here or in most parts of the country. They never did get optimization right in many places. 

10+5 B25CA

 

Nice!

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2713-network-visionlte-west-texas-market-including-lubbock-amarillo-midlandodessa-san-angelo/?p=506477

 

It's about time! Hopefully they're firing up 26+25 CA

This is a typical Crown Castle small cell in downtown Chicago, they all have Verizon on them and a number of them TMO is adding to:

https://i.imgur.com/3ccB6aD.jpg]

It's seeming like VZW is all over the place with their setups...I was hoping we could make a thread in the equipment spotting forum but looking at all of these different setups, I'm not sure how manageable it would be...

Bingo! You got it! Verizon has at least a dozen different site variations in my market alone. I had to learn how to identify some of the equipment vendors in order to confirm which was Verizon. There are some consistencies that help despite all the variation in panels; the surge protectors they use are all the same from every site I've looked at, they tend to either mount RRU's on a separate pole next to the panel or right behind the panel, on the newer sites the racks are all the same, and the newest sites since 2016 have been using a raised platform with sloped roof instead of the shacks. Another consistency is every site has a generator, usually a Generac or less commonly Kohler.

You missed the point I was making. The years before NV was conceived was years of Sprint spliting CAPEX between 3 technologies, weakening their core CDMA network to the point it was not longer competitive and a wimax network that wasn't nation wide. This forced sprint into a position where NV was the last hail marry play they had left. It was even described at the time as a "bet the company" play at the time.

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Really it was just two networks, Clearwire dealt with WiMAX. Really even after Sprint bought them there wasn't a whole ton of redundancy, they kept most of that around for B41 LTE. WiMAX was shuttered more to free up the spectrum than to remove redundancy.

Here is a 3 panel per sector setup getting mounted to the rack before it gets lifted up on top of the water tower. I believe those are Amphenol panels used on this one:

https://imgur.com/a/ZRbNq

 

Here is the rack mounted on the water tank, I'm guessing AT&T is gonna come out and move its panels to the new outer rack:

https://i.imgur.com/MZ7okIW.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/akLAZPT.jpg

 

This is a typical metrocell style setup they use all over my area, always mounted low on a macro tower. Not really sure what their goal is with many of these setups as they seem to be in areas that really needed a full macro instead:

https://i.imgur.com/ZhvGkFK.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/f4f1yzY.png

 

This is a standard two panel per sector setup but using JMA panels instead of Amphenol (the photo was taken while the build was still in progress so the RRU's weren't up yet):

https://i.imgur.com/byeVMD6.jpg

 

The 3 panel per sector setups have been the most recent ones in the area, they have many different site variations around though. Some look like AT&T and even TMO so it can be hard to tell sometimes.

To this day I am still impressed with Sprint's NV 1.0 deployment, an entire brand new 3G/4G LTE network, shutting down iDEN and WiMax, re-tuning 800MHz for voice and LTE, and simultaneously adding, configuring, and optimizing LTE.  A job well done!

 

Doing what they did sure took some initiative and a lot of guts. They could've just left all the legacy gear in place and added LTE on top like the others did. But I think in the long run replacing everything was the way to go. I can't help but wonder if they could've transitioned over more smoothly though.

What else would you call it then?

 

Even if you ignore T-Mobile's rural GMO sites, they've had to rip/replace their entire network (significantly larger footprint than Sprint's native network FYI)

The other carriers definitely didn't do a 100% rip and replace on every site in the country. They've all over time replaced most of everything but it's been done slowly and methodically in stages. The last major overhaul TMO did in my market was around 2008-9 for 3G, they replaced all the panels and I assume added base equipment for UMTS support. They didn't go around and take everything offline.

 

Verizon and AT&T obviously just added LTE equipment to their existing 2G/3G equipment, so LTE was all new. Now currently they're going through and replacing hardware for extra band support, 4x4, and 256 QAM which is basically a rip and replace. Base equipment is getting replaced too. But again the 3G stuff stays as is.

 

By comparison sprint just tore everything out and sorta left you hanging for days or weeks. I remember being in downtown Chicago on 1x everywhere.

I still feel that they need to reoptimize the entire network before they do a VoLTE launch. Once you're doing VoLTE one thing you gotta do is stretch that low band signal as far as it will go, congestion issues be damned. As things are currently for my area I'd probably lose calls on certain roads. Right now not even AT&T and it's garbage density in my area loses VoLTE calls very easily, they're also stretching B12 out as far as it needs to go, and B2 is pushed out about as far as B12.

 

If Sprint can get those Magic Boxes in businesses and homes all over Chicago the indoor LTE coverage might actually be pretty decent for once.

I signed up 8/23/12 according to my profile. At the time I had AT&T and was unhappy because of some network optimization issues so I started looking for another carrier at a better price. For whatever reason I settled on Sprint and made the switch on iP5 release day. My immediate area was an original NV FIT so all sites around me had LTE which was awesome. Up in the city was a hot mess for the first few months though, but it got better quickly.

 

I was happy through 2013 and part of 2014, I ultimately left in 2015 because the competition had surpassed Sprint in my area and I was tired of the LTE drops by then.

 

I attribute most of my wireless knowledge to this site, especially learning all the basics about cell networks and getting pretty deep into technical details. The info on this site helped lay a solid foundation for what has turned into a pretty much full time hobby for me.

Same methodology that they're doing to deploy small cells quickly without waiting for traditional backhaul.

LTE relay module hooks up to existing macro or small cell carriers on air and feeds a data connection to an eNB.

The eNB broadcasts an entirely new unique LTE signal using that data connection from the LTE relay module as backhaul.

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I just read the article. Seems like this device has some high potential if Sprint can get it deployed widely. I would want one for work and home if I still used them. I like the sound of this much better than a repeater or device that feeds off your home internet.

Not exactly, they purposely deployed all Tech's in these areas for testing what's possible. They want to duplicate these results in all markets as they mentioned in the quarterly conference call.

That makes sense. Somebodies gonna take that chart from the article and run with it completely out of context to make fun of them.

It broadcasts a brand new LTE B41 carrier whose speed is dependent upon the relay backhaul. Speeds vary based on the macro network but the new signal will be constant.

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Am I right in assuming this is one step above being a repeater? I remember a year or two back them talking about deploying small cells powered by B41 carriers, this seems like part of that deployment. (Which makes more sense to deploy this as an in-home solution than out on the street where I'd think they'd need fiber, not B41 to adequately supply it).

Sprint posted this chart in the CTO blog. They're really small areas but it shows what Sprint can achieve when they invest heavily in an area.

 

So they're showing results from one little cherry picked area from a huge metro? I feel like every carrier is number one SOMEWHERE in every market no matter how bad they are overall in said market.

It was just a little joke with all the speculation behind why the T-Mobile and sprint executives were going to Japan and the Far East.

Far East ended up being read into a little too much. He ended up going to a Yankees game...

https://twitter.com/johnlegere/status/858128448505688065

Thanks.  I was just really eluding to the OEM for the small cell equipment which nowadays is mainly Ericsson or Nokia.

Yeah I'm trying to figure that out but apparently can't find a picture of one of these small cells, which I think are really oDAS nodes. If it's Crown Castle I would bet the OEM is Ericsson is what I was saying before though, because these small cells are mainly built for Verizon and it seems TMO is hopping on them too.

 

Chicago is really a hotbed for small cells, home to many different kinds since it was kind of an experimental test grounds for AT&T about 8 years ago, and again 3-4 years ago. I know theirs are all Ericsson.

Does anyone know what brand and model Tmobile uses for their small cells.  Neville put this tweet out below regarding the launch of 700 MHz along with small cell deployment going on in Chicago.  I assume the small cell equipment is made from Nokia.  

 

Anyone have any insight?

 

https://twitter.com/NevilleRay/status/854682259621781504

T-Mobile is using Crown Castle for many of its small cells in Chicago, sharing with Verizon. I think I saw Ericsson RRU's the last time I looked at one.

VERIZON'S PROFIT SINKS AS IT LOSES WIRELESS SUBSCRIBERShttp://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EARNS_VERIZON_COMMUNICATIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-20-09-04-40

Verizon losing wireless subscribers? Reason for lowering prices bringing back unlimited. Interesting. AP cites Sprint and T-Mobile as reasons. Maybe four providers is necessary to keep competition strong?

Here's the thing about Verizon...they should have been proactive on lowering prices and unlimited instead of reactive. If they had instituted a strong competitive stance before Tmo really started deploying B12 and before Sprint started with B41, they would have been in a much better position to steal customers. Heck, if done in the right way at that time, they could have put Sprint out of business and Tmo knocked back on his heels.

They decided to keep profits as high as possible for as long as possible. Well, there is a cost for that. We will see how this plays out. Verizon still is in a very good position, of course. But the foundation's not as strong as it used to be. And the water is rising all around.

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

Yeah that's what happens when they're someone's "only choice" for so long and feel they're paying way too much but have to suck it up. Now they see another option and are gone. I feel this way about Comcast, I'd dump them in a heartbeat and never go back if we got fiber based Internet from a new competitor.

That's what they get for continuing to act like they're the only game in town.

I doubt it as Samsung doesn't really need to replace it's own 2xCA B41 clear equipment they use on their Samsung clear LTE sites. It's a sidegrade at best and downgrade at worst. 

 

They did use these extensively for Clear Huawei conversions last year. Now they're using these to deploy new 2.5.

 

That makes sense. I only see these in the city and suburbs where Clear existed, they probably went up last year some time. I was puzzled what these new short panels on what were obviously sprint sites were until you made this thread.

Adding 2.5 to macro sites on the cheap.

Must be replacing some Clear sites here since we have 8T8R stuff on everything else. Maybe even some USCC/Nextel conversions I guess.

I've been seeing those around lately. What are they doing with them? Replacing clear LTE sites? All the ones I've seen went on existing sites.

I finally got a chance to do some drive testing with Sprint the other day, put an inactive sim in the new Moto G5 Plus and gotta say that thing has some very good RF capabilities because nothing has changed with their network optimization wise in my area but the device was really clinging tight to B41, hanging on well into places I used to drop straight to 3G. It did end up dropping to B26 and then to 3G after about 5 minutes though, only about 1.5 miles from the nearest site. B26 was about -118 dbm, while B13 on my iPhone was -108 dbm, both serving cells in the same place. 

I noticed that the device was on B26 ALOT of the time, with B41 a close second to that, and I hardly saw B25. Other than that nothings changed in 2 years with Sprint's network here (other than a few USCC/Nextel conversions).

Impressed with B41 range but B25 and 26 are the same garbage range/signal I left two years ago. 

 

 

P.S. My suburban home serving site has 3xB41 which I was pleasantly surprised to see. 

Sounds like AT&T got bad for you. I don't even know why this happened with them, but the Uverse home internet service they have just suddenly got really bad after the upgrade I made, prompting me to switch out to Verizon, and now back with T-Mobile. If you do get the UDP wuth Verizon and decide to have autopay, make sure to get an honest response. Verizon's network definitely is good here, but the sales reps seem really bad, at least from my recent experience. I'm even tempted to say worse than Sprint store reps, as the Verizon store manager my mother spoke with gave her a very shady excuse for the billing problems.

Yeah I had a bad run in with telesales reps. Rule of thumb; try to do as much as you can on your own with that stuff.

gusherb, did you switch from AT&T to Verizon as I did?

Verizon has a very good network around us, though the phone I had was having issues and billing/setup went wrong. My mother was getting frustrated by it, until she seemed quite relieved when I mentioned this T-Mobile deal. It all seemed to happen at just the right time, so we went for it. I'm still getting excellent home internet service using Comcast/Xfinity's Extreme 300 plan ever since AT&T messed up on my Uverse home internet upgrade, which is why we left AT&T.

I've been with Verizon for awhile, took advantage of the 2 GB bonus per line offer and get an 18% discount. I don't think I'll be going to UDP for now. Service is night and day compared to the shit I put up with on AT&T over here.