ericdabbs

Looks like Tmobile is going to increase the deprioritization cap from 28 GB to 30 GB effective 3/8/17 according to a Tmobile employee internal memo.  Great news.  

 

Would be nice if Sprint increased it from 23 GB to 28 GB  and boast about its 2.5 GHz spectrum assets to support a gigabit LTE network which can easily support this increased deprioritization cap.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/5y0i12/effective_march_8th_deprioritization_threshold/

Here's Sprint's take on it from this Wireless Week article:

 

Though other carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile have also announced plans to roll out Gigabit LTE in 2017, Saw argued Sprint’s nationwide spectrum depth would be a differentiating factor.

 

“You need to ask them, one, are you using your actual licensed spectrum or are you also adding in unlicensed spectrum as well. Some of them would have to use License Assisted Access, which is using unlicensed spectrum as well. There’s nothing wrong with that except you have less control with the use of unlicensed spectrum,” Saw said.

 

“The other thing you need to be asking is the ubiquity of what they’re trying to do. Can you demonstrate gigabit class devices only in the lab … or are you able to demonstrate gigabit class devices only in certain markets in Arizona and not nationwide?” he continued. “For Sprint we have always been clear that we have a lot of 2.5 (GHz spectrum) nationwide and we have the right technology that is optimized for data, which is TDD. So when we say we’re going to roll out gigabit class devices, I mean all our phones once they can support 4x4 MIMO and 256-QAM will be usable nationwide.”

 

That is great and all John Saw but we know now that Wifi 5 GHz is everywhere and while he may be right in that it may not provide stable Gigabit LTE speeds due to resource sharing at 5 GHz with unlicensed spectrum, the fact is that 2.5 GHz LTE deployment is going to take years and years and years before it comes to full fruition if ever with the same coverage and areas that 5 GHz Wifi currently serves.  There are still many markets without any 2.5 GHz LTE.  All talk but no walk.

 

Sorry but I will take the chance of getting less than 1 GB of LTE speeds and combining it with 5 GHz unlicensed LTE speeds to relieve capacity now. 

Looks like AT&T is getting to join the LTE-U/LAA fray at 5 GHz.  Where is Sprint in this fold?  They need to jump on this right when the other 3 major carriers are doing the same.

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/at-t-to-begin-selling-laa-equipment-for-5-ghz-soon-service-will-launch-sometime-year

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/report-sprint-betting-big-on-trump-could-merge-with-t-mobile-or-comcast/

 

 

If I had to choose, i would much rather see Sprint and Comcast merge and Dish and Tmobile merge.  Tmobile really could use the Dish spectrum to further than spectrum portfolio since they have the least amount of spectrum of all the major carriers.

Has the auction for carriers purchasing this spectrum happened yet? If so, I'm curious what the results are. Hopefully T-Mobile has, or will go for at least 10x10, although it seems likely to be 5x5 from what I've read in the past.

 

The spectrum block assignment phase are set to start today, March 6th and will last through the end of March.  So hopefully by early April, we will know what spectrum blocks Tmobile received.  I am hoping they are trying to get the E, F, G blocks (according to the diagram link below) so that it can be next to the 700 A block.

 

600 MHz band plan

http://imgur.com/1xHDfPb

Looks like Tmobile is not wasting any time trying to get the 3GPP to approve a LTE band class for the 600 MHz spectrum.  The proposed B71 is in the works with the following Sponsoring members: T-Mobile USA, Ericsson, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, US Cellular, Skyworks Solutions, Deutsche Telekom, C-Spire, LG with the plan to support 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz bandwidths.

 

Surprise surprise that AT&T and Verizon are not present.  Lets hope the spec can be finalized by September 2017 and OEM equipment to be out by early 2018. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/5xtszc/tmobile_initiates_work_on_the_specifications_for/

 

 

600 MHz Work Item Description

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjZWxsdWxhcmJpbmRlcnxneDo3MmNhNDJhNDQ0ZGNkOGM4

I haven't completely abandoned Sprint yet but have ported three lines to T-Mobile. For me it's all about price and the promos they've been running. With the recent promos you can get three unlimited lines for $80 a month including taxes. In addition if any line uses less than 2 GB a month you get a $10 kickback per line potentially making the bill $50 a month for three lines. And they've been offering free iPhone 7 or galaxy S7 with trade-in of select smart phones. Very competitive/aggressive offers. The guys at my local T-Mobile store have been slammed with port-ins and the T-Mobile Reddit board is going crazy.

Yeah only if Sprint ever had promos like that and offered them to current customers that would help stop the bleeding. But of course sprint management just doesnt get it.

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Admittedly I'm being lazy here...

 

Will hpue require hardware upgrades on the towers? Or hopefully pure software updates?

 

And the G6 has it built in ?

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Essentially HPUE is just an increase of 3 dBm transmit power allowed from the handset to the cell towers from 23 dBm to 26 dBm. The higher transmit power translates to the signal travelling further thus "increasing" coverage which is the pitch. It is also a power class change from class 3 to class 2.

 

The reason why they are allowed to do that is because the 2.5 spectrum has not been ever been used for 2G/3G applications like GSM, CDMA, UTMS, HSPA, EVDO, iDEN. Therefore there is no interference with transmitting at a higher power that would conflict with 3G applications unlike other spectrum bands like PCS, ESMR, AWS, Cellular which has been used for 3G application and are limited to a max of 23 dBm transmit power.

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

I am not positive about 95%, but ----- last week, my wife was looking for bigger clothing for our growing great granddaughter. I took a little walk to the nearby Sprint store.   I had one rep tell me I should be buying phones with a bigger battery since it would give me longer range from the cell site.   The rep got distracted and another one thought it would be  a good idea to pick up the conversation. He tried to tell me that a Galaxy S-5 did not have LTE capability.   I am beginning to think that employees in Sprint stores have no clue either.  He then decided to argue with me about it.  What he failed to understand was that I owned TWO galaxy S-5's and now own TWO Galaxy S-7's.  I kinda think that I might know more than all the reps in the store. Very Very SAD.,

 

HAHA...nice one.  Sounds like some desperate employees are trying to meet a sales quota.  Ok ok...94% of the population...

Remember, only we the S4GRU geeks and other real technical people know what is happening.   But about 95% of the population does not have a clue.

 

Well what I have learned from reading the different reddits for tmobile and sprint primarily is that the population does understand buzz words for LTE.  You will be surprised how many people can associate "B12" = longer range", "B4 = faster speeds", "B41 = faster speeds", "B26 = longer range", etc and understand that since the references are used a lot.  So when is Sprint is pitching HPUE, the "HPUE" buzz word can be pitched as having "better LTE coverage".  All Sprint has to say is grab a new phone starting in 2017 that contains HPUE and you can experience better LTE coverage.  You are never going to get 100% of the population to understand it but I am sure the percentage of folks who have no clue is lower than 95% of the population.

Yes, I understand that, but to the average consumer they will not see this benefit for awhile unfortunately. I am not correct in understanding that HPUE headsets are just expected to hit the market this year?

Yes HPUE handsets are just launching this year with the LG G6 being the first handset with HPUE. I expect all 2017 flagship phones from the major OEMs (HTC, LG, Samsung, Motorola, Google, even Apple) to include HPUE support in the phones. The thing is that unlike LTE upgrades which are hard to detect unless you use a tool like SignalCheck to find out which LTE band you are on, HPUE is beneficial right away especially if you know where you get and drop B41 and also where you get B25 coverage, it will be very quick to tell if you can maintain B41 coverage around the same area as B25 coverage. I expect the average consumer to immediately tell a difference in LTE coverage with a HPUE handset for any improvements in coverage.

 

I think what you mean by the folks "not seeing the benefit for awhile" are those that just signed a new 2 year EIP or 2 year contract but that doesn't mean that the customer does not understand what is going on. I think its pretty clear to people that they need to buy a new device in order to take advantage of HPUE.

The name for that attitude is called bankrupt. I help operate a 120 million a year operation for one of the largest companies on earth. And that statement alone would have gotten you fired. Every customer counts. In a connected world one angry customer, no matter how small the profit can make huge dent in your bottom line as they lampoon you on facebook and Twitter. It is quite clear many of you here don't understand business. I really hope none of the people at Sprint share your view. If they share such an anticustomer view the company has earned its reputation for poor customer service and it will not make a full turn around.

 

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

I completely agree with you.  The cost to acquire new customers is so much more than the cost to maintain loyal current customers.  Honestly that is why there is so much draw to Tmobile.  Even if you join Tmobile during a promo and later on if Tmobile has new promos (ex: 3 for $100), guess what...current customers are eligible as well.  Of course the catch for current customers on Tmobile is that they would have to give up some benefits from legacy plans to join the new plan but it gives the power to the people.  Regardless the strategy works and Tmobile is reaping the rewards.

 

 

Well they have zero revenue from me now. I jumped ship. With subsidies off the table, I stand to save a lot by dumping our family's SERO plans. The only real disadvantage is we lose the individual bills going to each user. I'm okay with that since we save money. Tmobile routinely offers deals to existing users on devices. Most of Sprint's offers exclude all but new users.

From what I've heard, you can still pay with Credit Card, just pay your monthly bill before the AutoPay kicks off. 

 

So wait if you pay off your monthly bill before the Autopay kicks off, what happens to your bank accounts when it sees a $0 balance?  I guess what Verizon and ATT is seeing is that as long as you sign up for Autopay then you will get the $5 discount?

I think it's about time... they should've requested a waiver long ago... they've got all this spectrum and need to put it to use asap because they're losing a lot of customers. And they also need to get a carrier settings update put out asap to allow for simultaneous date and voice. Verizon (as well as the other carriers) all have it no reason why sprint does not

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The problem is that we dont know if Sprint is even requesting the same type of waiver for LA Metro/OC/northern parts of SB county. Hopefully they are.

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

If TMobile can get their hands on this spectrum all three national carrier's will be in a world of trouble.

 

Well who knows what is going to happen if serious negotiations between Tmobile and Sprint occur and a merger is proposed. Tmobile would obviously have to forgo any buyout of Dish in hopes that a Sprint merger is successful.

They have 40MHz of AWS4. 2000-2020 and 2180-2200.

 

Yes but initially Dish's plan was to use 2180-2200 spectrum as the downlink and 2000-2020 spectrum as the uplink when they first obtained the AWS-4 licenses.  However when Dish bought the PCS H block licenses in 2014, they decided to convert 2000-2020 spectrum to downlink i so that the 1995-2000 spectrum can be a contiguous 25 MHz downlink stream for more bandwidth and combine the 1695-1710 spectrum as the uplink.  Otherwise there would be massive interference with 1995-2000 as downlink and 2000-2020 as the uplink which would reduce the efficiency of the 1995-2000 spectrum.

 

So the real question is what is Dish going to do with the 2180-2200 spectrum and 1915-1920 spectrum.  Can they possible combine them to make aggregated uplink in the future?

Verizon is launching LTE-U as well and already has a LOT more small cells in the field. Verizon will be greatly helped by T-Mobile pushing through LTE-U.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

Oh good to know.  I didn't know that Verizon was also planning to launch LTE-U.  I guess it is important for them to launch LTE-U given the announcement of the new Unlimited plan.

Looks like Tmobile will be one of the two carriers to launch LTE-U who desperately need to add capacity. This is definitely a great move for Tmobile. LTE-U will mainly be deployed via small cells and Nokia and Ericcson equipment's equipment was just certified by the FCC today.

 

I wonder if Sprint will be doing the same anytime soon but then again they have a ton of 2.5 GHz spectrum that they have yet to deploy.

 

http://www.tmonews.com/2017/02/t-mobile-launching-lte-u-spring-2017-increase-lte-capacity/

It looks like Sprint is requesting a waiver so that Sprint can start deploying LTE 800 in the Phoenix area.  I wonder if Sprint is planning to request another waiver so that parts of LA Metro, OC counties and say the northern part of San Bernardino county (ex: Riverside, Corona, etc) can start deploying LTE 800.  It seems silly to keep that large of a land mass hostage due to Mexico rebanding.  I think the area south of the Salton Sea should be excluded in a waiver for San Bernardino county and that areas north of that should be allowed to begin LTE 800 deployment.  What do you guys think?

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0215/DA-17-169A1.pdf

Good news for Phoenix residents.  Sprint is requesting a waiver so that LTE 800 can be deployed in the Phoenix area. However Tucson residents are still out of luck since the waiver excludes Pima county.

 

http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0215/DA-17-169A1.pdf

Also, for preaching simple, T-Mobile plans are complicated and their billing system is a Continental Tire Fire of epic proportions. Just read their sub. It's post after post of billing error after billing error.

 

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

It amazes why Tmobile couldn't create billing code for these promos where you don't have to deal with all these statement credits. It is really silly to have to deal with it.  Also why in the hell in this day and age do statement credits taking up to 1 or 2 billing cycles.  It should be instantaneous in my opinion.

Hopefully the Note 5 Nougat update comes out within the next month.

Framily is as cheap as it's going to get. Plus it has no data restrictions on gaming, music, or videos. SERO is probably still a deal even without 2 year subsidies.

 

Really, the only plan left to offer an alternative to is ED1500/450 plans. And you'd figure it would be priority #1 as these are loyal customers and Sprint could sneak in newer network restrictions (23GB deprioritization) to counter network congestion.

I dont know about SERO for a single line. Without the 2 year subsidies, I dont think it is that much better than the current Unlimited Freedom plan. At least the new plan includes 10 GB of hotspot tethering. Never really understood the pricing of Framily so ill take ur word for it. I think the biggest group getting screwed is the ED1500 plan customers especially if there is no corporate discount.

 

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

This was recently posted on the Sprint subreddit. This looks like it only applies to those currently on Unlimited Freedom plans. It would also explain why no one is telling you anything.

 

It seems like the new plan which is $10 more is mainly for those on legacy plans like ED1500.

 

Well at least Sprint will finally do the right thing and give all current Unlimited Freedom customers the ability to upgrade for FREE to the 10 GB hotspot and HD video streaming.  One step in the right direction. 

 

However Sprint is still failing to make an effort to offer current loyal customers not on Unlimited Freedom (ex: ED1500, Framily, Unlimited All-In, SERO, etc) any deals that would be save them money.  Sprint should offer a 5 lines for $130 deal for current customers and I bet they will be a ton of Sprint customers flocking to that deal.

Sprint has way too many SOC's for Billing. It must be an administrative and database nightmare. Hopefully this plan converts a large cross-section of people to a better plan at better pricing. It'll have to work for Legacy customers and more current plan customers.

 

That is part of the reason why Sprint should look at it as an incentive to want to get people to jump off of their legacy plans until a simplified Unlimited Freedom plan to reduce their SOCs.  But the problem is Sprint has to open the opportunity to allow current customers to take advantage of it or else nothing is going to be done about it.  

 

With the removal of 2 year contracts, which I am sure was the main reason why people were hanging to dear life to their legacy plans, it makes sense now to try to get people to convert to the new plans.  The only thing that I wish Sprint would make a change to their Unlimited Freedom plan is to improve their bogus 2G streaming speeds after 10 GB.   I mean seriously 32 kbps which is basically nothing should not even been allowed.  At least make it 128 kbps to make it somewhat useful.