dewbertdc

6 minutes ago, PhillipJames89 said:

Tmobile to buy Shentel Wireless

 

https://www.lightreading.com/services/t-mobile-to-buy-shentels-wireless-biz-but-price-isnt-set/d/d-id/763498

 

This seems like the only logical outcome.  T-Mobile was never going to continue the affiliate arrangement, and since they don't have a huge native footprint in Shentel's service area (and where they do have service, it's pretty terrible) it is much cheaper for them to buy the network, stores and employees than to construct their own.  Shentel wasn't going to survive on its own as a regional carrier, especially as they would need to build out their own billing and other support systems.  It sounds like they're still arguing over the price of Shentel's wireless business, let's hope that gets resolved quickly.

This is quite the Speedtest result in NYC... 

4 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

Is your area contiguous or not contiguous with Sprints PCs spectrum?

It’s not. Here in DC we have:

A 1850-1865, 1930-1945 (Legacy Sprint) - 15x15
E 1885-1890, 1965-1960 (Legacy T-Mobile) - 5x5
F 1890-1895, 1970-1975 (Legacy T-Mobile) - 5x5
G 1910-1915, 1990-1995 (Legacy Sprint) - 5x5

I noticed MFBI was enabled around the time they announced the merger and roaming agreement with Sprint, so I assume it was for the benefit of Sprint roamers. 

24 minutes ago, iansltx said:

As I recall, B41 CA support is either 41+41 (2CA or 3CA) or 25+41. If T-Mobile wanted folks to CA, they'd have to run MFBI on their B2 sites to broadcast B25, mirroring the way Sprint would've rolled interband CA out.

But, given that T-Mobile is using B41 surgically for capacity at the moment (same way international carriers tend to use B7), they'd rather phones sit solely on B41, where even on a 20 MHz channel speeds are good enough, vs. spreading load across B2, where at the moment they tend to have less capacity than Sprint did on B25.

For example, Sprint has 10x10 + 5x5 of B25 here. T-Mobile has 10x10...and that's it. Contrast to double 10x10 of B4/66 (all within the B4 blocks) and I'm constantly surprised when my phone prefers B2.

T-Mobile is broadcasting B25 MFBI on B2 around here, but it’s only a 5x5 slice so it’s usually pretty congested and probably not worth their while to combine with a fairly clear 20 MHz channel of B41.

Just noting the logic that I’ve observed on my phone - that the network and my device seem to want me to sit on a strong B41 signal when it’s available vs the “legacy” T-Mo bands. 

Another B41 sighting in Washington, DC. 5505 Colorado Ave NW. Presumably N41 also.

Something I’ve noticed on my iPhone 11 Pro is that if I’m near a tower with B41, the phone seems to use it rather than the traditional B66/B2/B12 or B71 CA configuration. 

6 minutes ago, Trip said:

No, I haven't, and I'm not clear why that is.  I was tempted to contact the Fairfax County permitting people to ask about it, but haven't felt like making the effort yet.

- Trip

*nods* I hope T-Mobile isn't working in an "Act Now, Apologize Later" mode... I could see that biting them in the you-know-what.

19 minutes ago, Trip said:

In/near Alexandria, VA.

- Trip

Have you seen any permits for these sites?  I've noticed a few in DC that seem to be upgraded without having had permits pulled with DCRA.

Some interesting tidbits here: 

https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/t-mobile-says-it-will-have-thousands-2-5-ghz-sites-live-year

Quote

Speaking today at the Oppenheimer Technology Conference, T-Mobile’s President of Technology Neville Ray said that his team is in the process of rolling out mid-band 5G on the company’s 2.5 GHz spectrum and at the same time deploying low-band 5G across its 600 MHz spectrum assets. Ray said that his team is in the midst of a “hyper-aggressive” upgrade and they are able to upgrade about 700 sites per week. But Ray wants them to be even faster and is hoping to get that number to 800 sites per week.

And while he admits that this is very aggressive, he notes that at least with the 600 MHz spectrum, his team isn’t building new towers, but instead hanging radios and adding antennas to existing infrastructure. With the 2.5 GHz spectrum, the process can be a bit more time consuming because with those sites team members are also adding power and in some cases backup power sources. “The work can be done in just under 10 business days depending upon the complexity of the site,” Ray said.

 

On 8/5/2020 at 5:43 PM, twospirits said:

 

 

I agree as well for the most part. In the last month, I have noticed it getting a tiny bit better but still feel Sprint was better in a lot of the areas I go to. One thing for certain, I am surely going to miss the chat feature on Sprint. Rarely ever need to go to the store or call for an issue. Always resolved via chat. T-Mobile forces you to go to the store or call. 

The only time I've ever been forced to go to the store was to prove my identity for a transaction I was making - I have almost always been able to get any issues or account changes resolved via Twitter messaging with @TMobileHelp or via the chat in the T-Mobile app.

1 hour ago, clbowens said:

This is one of the things I've been wondering.  Will new T-Mobile add LTE 41 to their existing network?  Or will they just add N41 to their network, and slowly shut down B41?

New T-Mobile is adding B41 LTE to their existing network; there have been sightings in Chicago, New York, Washington, DC and a few other cities.

6 hours ago, ericwalton said:

If you end up at t-mobile.com, either by redirect or going their in the first place, and put in your sprint login name, you just get redirected back to sprint.com. What a really dumb thing to do.

Especially considering it's possible that there are customers (like me) who have the same login ID for Sprint and T-Mobile.  Now there's no easy way for me to access my Sprint account without going to a bookmarked page.

If anyone else has this issue, here's the legacy Sprint login page: https://www.sprint.com/en/login.html

20 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

Spectrum Omega shows them holding A block, E+F then G

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 

A question I've always had about Spectrum Omega... when I click on the "A" block of PCS in the MTA which DC is a part of, it shows basically all the carriers, all with overlapping assignments. 

US Cellular (1850-1855, 1930-1935)
Verizon Wireless (1860-1865, 1940-1945)
T-Mobile (1860-1862.5, 1940-1942.5)
T-Mobile (1942.5-1945, 1862.5-1865)
T-Mobile (1855-1860, 1850-1865, 1930-1945, 1935-1940, 1855-1865, 1935-1945, 1850-1860, 1930-1940)
AT&T (1860-1865, 1940-1945)
T-Mobile (1850-1855, 1930-1935)

I assume these are subdivided geographically, but is there a good source for how that's done?

Edit: I answered my own question here.  For some reason, the ULS links on Spectrum Omega don't work in my browser, but when I copied and pasted them, they did.

Looks like none of the legacy Sprint PCS holdings are contiguous with Legacy T-Mo PCS holdings around here.

A 1850-1865, 1930-1945 (Legacy Sprint) - 15x15
E 1885-1890, 1965-1960 (Legacy T-Mobile) - 5x5
F 1890-1895, 1970-1975 (Legacy T-Mobile) - 5x5
G 1910-1915, 1990-1995 (Legacy Sprint) - 5x5

14 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

Hopefully they do B25+41 CA at some point

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, will be interesting to see what they do with that.  I haven’t seen any indication that they’re slimming down Sprint B25 here to widen T-Mobile B2, but I’m not even sure if the carriers are contiguous. We’ve only got a 5x5 slice of T-Mo LTE to begin with. 

My first LTE B41 sighting - I was on 12th St NE, in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, DC.  I didn't get a chance to check the tower itself, but I am pretty sure I got a glimpse of B41 panels when I was riding my bike past this tower the other day.  Looks like no CA, but it's a nice relief from the typical congestion in this part of the city.

Looks like T-Mobile is planning to shut down their 2G/3G shortly after the new year...

https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/07/23/t-mobile-will-soon-require-volte-on-all-phones-incomopatible-devices-kicked-off-january/

35 minutes ago, dro1984 said:

  Sprint brand retiring... Naw... we all know that and that has already been made public.     

We know about it because we're nerds who spend time on these forums and reddit... but they haven't had a big media push to tell customers what's going on with it, what to expect, etc.  

Both Neville Ray (President of Technology) and Callie Field (EVP of Customer Service) have tweeted about it, each of them intimating that the event will have something to do with their respective areas of responsibility within T-Mobile.

I really think this event is going to be more an announcement of the retirement of the Sprint brand, plans to integrate the networks and customer base, etc.  Perhaps with a few new things thrown in.  I don't really think it will be transformational beyond that, but I could be wrong.

Here's the press release:  https://www.t-mobile.com/news/press/t-mobile-announces-un-carrier-next-on-july-16/

What:     Now that Sprint is part of T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS), the company will announce what’s next and how a supercharged Un-carrier will continue to change wireless for good.

Who:       T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and other T-Mobile executives in a webcast hosted by Golden Globe and six-time Emmy nominee Anthony Anderson.

When:    Thursday, July 16, 2020

• Webcast at 8:30am PT (11:30am ET)
• Live Media Q&A with execs immediately following

Where:   Watch the webcast and listen to the QA at http://t-mobile.com/uncarrier.

3 minutes ago, Trip said:

Yes. 

Option 1 is T-Mobile acquires Shentel.  As I understand it, T-Mobile would have to pay a price equal to the value of the entire company, but I'm not clear if that would mean paying an inflated price for just the wireless part of Shentel or if it means they have to buy Shentel outright.  In either case, it would seem to be aimed at making a buy-out unattractive, or at least, that's how I read it.

Option 2 is Shentel can acquire T-Mobile's customers and network in its region at a discount.  If Shentel needs financing to fund it, I believe T-Mobile is obligated to provide it, or at least arrange for it, at a low rate.

Option 3 is neither side decides to spend any money.  In that case, T-Mobile shuts down operations within the Shentel region within two years. 

My preference is definitely for Option 2, though I'd accept Option 3 as well.  My assumption is that Option 2 would lead to a more orderly merging of the networks than Option 3 would, and would imply some level of working together. 

- Trip

I imagine Options 2 or 3 would require Shentel to stop using the Sprint brand.  Does Shentel also use Sprint back office billing and other systems, or do they run their own? 

1 minute ago, jreuschl said:

Glad to see there is some LTE staying around.  Apparently in Nokia markets the equipment can do dual LTE/5G but not Ericsson?

There's some talk over in the T-Mobile subreddit that the Ericsson equipment might be software upgradeable to run both LTE and NR carriers.

9 minutes ago, littlejth said:

Not to take this too far off topic (let me know if this would warrant a new thread!) but has T-Mo made any comment as to what it plans to do with Sprint towers, particularly in areas where coverage is sparse? I traveled on I94/90 between Eau Claire and Madison and coverage is *bad*. It looks like not only are they not able to deploy much B12 since just after Eau Claire is US Cellular territory but they have also not done any B71 upgrades in the area (perhaps there was a straggler TV station that had to move and didn't until later?) so it's all B4/66. I know there are Sprint towers in positions where T-Mo has very low to no native coverage and mostly partner coverage (I'm on an MVNO so I dropped to edge at this point, on the interstate) and it *seems* to make sense they'd keep some, but I guess I don't know if there's a rhyme or reason to it? It might be a bit more clear cut thinking about markets like Nebraska where T-Mo has almost no native coverage as opposed to Sprint but it's hard to say I suppose.

They've said they plan to keep about 10,000 Sprint sites where they make sense for coverage or capacity, but haven't specified which.

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

Likewise. Despite my good experiences with T-Mobile, Sprint was definitely better here. T-Mobile now has the scale and revenue to throw the money at the wall like AT&T and Verizon. They really should focus on upgrading every single site to have every single technology available. There's no reason to hold back anymore.

That's part of the reason why AT&T's network shot up to first place in the U.S. according to independent testing. They stopped bs-ing and started throwing money at the problem. They did it in Mexico too and now their network there is second best and only marginally so.

Don't forget that the US Government paid AT&T $6.5 billion to deploy B14 FirstNet spectrum.  AT&T took advantage of those subsidized tower climbs to upgrade its own infrastructure to 5G-ready, and add all of its spectrum holdings.  Smart move.

T-Mobile doesn't have that subsidy, but I agree that any tower they're going to touch from here on out should be fully upgraded, and I think we'll see that with the Sprint "keep" sites for sure, plus anywhere they add NR equipment.

12 hours ago, greenbastard said:

Let's not forget that when TMUS throws a tower online, they brag about the entire market getting some love. They did this with their LTE launch, B12 deployment, B71 deployment, and now n41 deployment.

It will probably be months before n41 becomes widespread in Houston or Los Angeles.

T-Mobile is certainly a marketing machine, but that's part of their success story.  They've convinced consumers that their network is good enough for the prices they're charging.  Sprint certainly never made that happen, even when they were giving away lines for free or dirt cheap.

19 minutes ago, Paynefanbro said:

This is as opposed to Sprint where everywhere I went, I always knew that the site I was connected to had all 3 bands available. 

I think it's only real enthusiast-types like us who really care about what bands we're connected to, speed tests and the like.  The average person doesn't care what band their phone is connected to, or what their peak speed test is, as long as their devices work acceptably the majority of the time.  T-Mobile can achieve that by deploying capacity where it's needed most, without spending the extra money where it would just sit unused.

1 hour ago, Trip said:

I keep looking, but I haven't seen any n41 gear appear in this area (DC).  In fact, I don't really see all that many T-Mobile permits floating around at all.

- Trip

 

That's a bummer.  T-Mobile's network is pretty congested already in DC proper at least, it's going to be unbearable if they move Sprint users over without shoring up capacity.

Looks like T-Mobile has activated 2.5Ghz 5G in parts of Houston, LA and Chicago today, with at least one report of native T-Mobile LTE in B41 as well.

https://www.t-mobile.com/news/network/opensignal-5g-availability-win-june-2020