dewbertdc

There's a redditor in Chicago claiming to have gotten 2xCA on LTE B41 on his T-Mobile SIM yesterday.  As of today, it's gone.  Maybe some testing happening?  

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/he9mod/tmobile_sim_band41_access/

6 hours ago, dkyeager said:

I have been seeing band 25 from a local Sprint site on my T-Mobile MVNO phone occasionally for the last few weeks in the same way as I do band 71 sites before they become public.

I’ve seen a few Band 25 neighbor cells registering on my T-Mobile iPhone, but I can’t tell if that’s just MFBI on Band 2 or something else. Is there an easy way to tell?

46 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

I am sure that they can come up with a much more elegant solution than the Google Fi one. The integration of spectrum and and sites will  take about 2 years. Meanwhile the current method of waiting to have no service before switching to the other network is deeply unsatisfactory.

I'm a T-Mobile customer who works in a building with a Sprint DAS, but not a T-Mobile one.  When I had Fi, there was no elegant handoff between the two - I either had to wait for the phone to realize T-Mobile was gone and switch to Sprint manually, or force the switch with a dialer code.

I'm hopeful we'll hear more about network integration on or around "Day 1," in August, when the Sprint brand is officially sunset.  It'll be great when I can get on that DAS and not have to rely on a prepaid SIM in my office (whenever we return, which may not be until 2021 from what I'm hearing)

35 minutes ago, Trip said:

I don't think they intend to do that.  I believe they intend to move everyone over to T-Mobile, even if the Sprint network is better.

- Trip

The Fi method is also a kludgey hack - the SIM actually has 4 phone numbers assigned to it, one on T-Mobile (your primary Fi number), and three "ghost" numbers for each of Sprint, USCC and Three UK, and the Fi app switches between them based on your location and signal strength.  It's a neat trick, but it's a lot of overhead that T-Mobile isn't interested in adding as it's just going to integrate Sprint sites and spectrum into its existing network.

31 minutes ago, greenbastard said:

Users from all major carriers are now reporting one issue or another. Lots of people on social media chattering about a DDOS attack.

Seems like a routing issue of some sort.

There's no cyberattack (DDoS or otherwise) going on outside the baseline activities we see every day.  Seems like a call and SMS routing issue isolated to T-Mobile with other carriers' customers reporting problems because they're trying to reach folks on T-Mobile.  

Just now, dro1984 said:

Must be the T-Mobile side only?   My Sprint service is ok, here in SE Michigan.    I sent a text at 3:10 and it went through.  

There are mixed reports online about other carriers being impacted, but legacy T-Mobile seems to be hard down at least for voice calling and SMS.  Even calling customer service gives a "technical difficulties" message and hangs up.

Not a good day to be a T-Mobile customer...

https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/h9mpei/megathread_outages_across_the_country/

22 minutes ago, Dkoellerwx said:

Any idea who this would be offered to? Seems pretty vague. 

Probably only folks who have a VoLTE capable handset with all of the T-Mobile bands, perhaps whose primary usage is in an area where there’s extra capacity on the T-Mobile network. 
 

There’s a method to their madness to minimize any negative experiences for existing T-Mobile customers and folks who are being migrated from Sprint, it’s probably just not obvious to those of us who don’t have inside knowledge. 

This Redditor seems to have found some 2.5 panels added to a site in Chicago.

1 hour ago, PhillipJames89 said:

 Plus bands 2/4/12/25/66 and some of 71

Honest question... is there value in referring to bands 2 and 4 separately from 25 and 66 any more, since the former are just subsets?  I could see a case for 4 and 66 remaining separate since I think there are places where New T-Mobile doesn't own any AWS-3 licenses, but is there anywhere they don't own PCS Block G at this point? 

Looks like the first "Uncarrier" event of the New T-Mobile will be tomorrow at 8AM PDT (11AM EDT)... will be interested to see if it's anything of substance, or just another marketing stunt like they have been lately.

2 hours ago, radem said:

I seem to remember that T-Mobile has a complex automated monitoring system that generates regular capacity reports for each of their sites.  

Yep, this article speaks about it a little bit: https://www.speedtest.net/insights/blog/new-t-mobile-spectrum-coverage/

Quote

In conjunction with Speedtest Intelligence™ data from Ookla®, T-Mobile developed an engineering model for forecasting both congestion and required capacity at the sector level. This model involves collecting KPIs within the radio network infrastructure and has been, according to T-Mobile, highly accurate.

This effort has led to 71% reduction in congestion, while traffic and customer growth have increased over the past several years. The model is also being used to analyze which T-Mobile and Sprint cell sites to keep to enhance the New T-Mobile cell site portfolio based on network coverage, traffic and spectrum available.

10 hours ago, Trip said:

Seriously?  Seems like a waste of effort and resources to have to come back and upgrade the site again right after building it.

- Trip

It sure does, which makes me think they're having trouble keeping enough stock of B71/B41 equipment.

Saw this over on the T-Mobile Reddit...

“I was able to speak to the tower crew.  This site has been planned for nearly a year now.   They’re just doing 700/AWS for now and will be adding 600/n41 at some point in the near future.   They’ve been upgrading sites in northern NJ and Central NJ with band 41 for the last several weeks.  I was told expect an aggressive buildout.”

22 minutes ago, derrph said:

Exactly! I thought I was alone but I’m not!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This thread took a turn and I am HERE FOR IT!

13 minutes ago, PhillipJames89 said:

I hope NT restructures their downpayments. It’s too expensive. I may go through Apple for the new iPhone.

For what it's worth, I've been very happy with the iPhone Upgrade Program - you're eligible for a new phone every year, the payments include AppleCare, and it doesn't cost any more than buying the phone outright + AppleCare in the end, even if you don't upgrade yearly.  Carrier integration is perfect with T-Mobile - just turn on the new phone and it's activated, the old SIM is disconnected, and you never have to interact with customer service (or get charged the $10 SIM fee and $20 assistance fee!). The device is fully unlocked, so you're free to leave T-Mobile whenever you want.

1 hour ago, RedSpark said:

Was this underground coverage system even designed with 5G upgradability in mind?

With the right equipment in the cabinets, I'm sure T-Mobile could throw an NR carrier up there if they wanted to.  From some Googling, it looks like a "leaky cable" setup in the tunnels and antennas in the stations both for their public safety radios (blue cable) and the cell carriers (purple cable), nothing too fancy.

http://www.systemintegrators.net/portfolio/neutral-host-das-case-study

https://www.wmata.com/about/board/meetings/board-pdfs/upload/101316_3BRadioandCellularInfrastructureReplacementUpdate.pdf

https://www.wmata.com/business/procurement/solicitations/documents/RFI 15-219.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaYDxJ7A1Z0

13 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

That sure is a good deal for all that stuff. We're on Unlimited Freedom with Sprint.

I had no idea that T-Mobile was congested here. Sprint has congestion issues in certain spots, and it's clear that's where the capex ran out because they have great performance in areas you'd expect to see congestion. I imagine network integration with Sprint won't be long from now.

I don't have a 5G device so I can't tell if 5G made it down there. Knowing WMATA, I'm not sure it did. However, I imagine T-Mobile would want to upgrade it to 5G at some point.

Yeah, congestion on T-Mobile can be really bad during the day downtown and in areas where there has been a lot of growth (think NoMA and H Street NE) but no corresponding upgrade in capacity.  I wonder if T-Mobile had been waiting to densify until after the merger completed.  There are spots where T-Mo has really done a good job upgrading, like the Shaw-U Street corridor, where I can easily pull 50-100Mbps even when it's crowded.

12 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Haha. Yup. It wouldn't be WMATA if it wasn't some kind of mess. I've lived through this history here as well, but at least they're now going to finally finish it. Perhaps with all the metro service cutbacks they've been able to do additional work on it.

I've never noticed the brown cabinets before, but I'll look for them next time I ride. What does "CWS" stand for?

I've had a good experience with the Sprint service in the stations in the past. So the Sprint devices are now roaming on T-Mobile in the stations? That must have been because you didn't have Sprint coverage for some reason.

Would technicians simply have to make configuration changes to the neutral host cabinets/backend to combine the T-Mobile/Sprint network bands onto the New T-Mobile network?

I've left Sprint and have a T-Mobile account now, their 3rd Line free and Discount Match promotions from the summer were too good of a deal to pass up for my family... $168 for three Magenta Plus lines, two iPads and Premium Netflix... congestion on T-Mobile is a real problem in the city though.  I'm hopeful they get network integration in DC done quickly to help alleviate some of that.

Anyway, hopefully much of the LTE integration for WMATA can be done remotely... not sure if Sprint 5G ever made it down into the tunnels.  I don't think T-Mobile's did. Not sure what "CWS" stands for... 

23 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

I imagine every Sprint asset/network is getting a review as for how it can fold into the T-Mobile network.

I'm also curious what will happen with the network build in the Washington Metro that's being supported by all four carriers. I'm not sure if the carriers were each installing equipment specific to their network, or if it was neutral host/shared equipment.

https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Wireless-service-now-available-in-all-Green-line-tunnels.cfm (December 6, 2019)

The last update before that was in May 2019: https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Metro-wireless-service-available-in-two-thirds-of-tunnels.cfm

Perhaps we'll have an update on their progress next month.

If it is separate equipment for T-Mobile/Sprint, I wonder how that will be integrated and consolidated for the New T-Mobile? How would that work?

Oh man, that project was such a mess (as with all things WMATA).  The project was approved in 2009 with a projected end date of 2012.  Metro was required by Congress to provide underground cellular service in order to access a bunch of federal funding.  It's a neutral host system built by a consortium of the big 4 carriers. Most stations have large brown cabinets labeled "CWS" tucked into a corner that house the equipment.

Before all the COVID-19 mess, I commuted daily to Union Station on Metro.  Recently, T-Mobile service on the platform was very congested during rush hour, to the point where I couldn't order a coffee in the Starbucks app until I got up to the surface. I recall when I was on Sprint that Network Signal Info identified service in underground stations and tunnels as a B41 Mini-Macro site.  

7 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

If they are using MOCN they would still be opening up their LTE network to Sprint users natively by broadcasting a Sprint PLMN over whatever the anchor band is. And I don't think it's possible to roam on LTE and operate natively on 5G at the same time right now. So what it sounds like to me is that the devices that will be operating on T-Mobile's 5G will likely also be getting native access to T-Mobile's LTE (or at least the anchor band).

Someone correct me if I'm wrong!

Right, sorry, I was agreeing with you but also trying to make the point (ineffectively!) that they can limit the bands and towers that they're using MOCN on only to those that are broadcasting the LTE anchor bands for 5G, rather than wholesale for the whole LTE network.  T-Mobile described this granular method of integrating their networks in their merger filings, which are unfortunately no longer up on newtmobile.com.  Anyway, I guess we'll find out in a few days!

I'm a T-Mobile customer now, and wish they'd also do the opposite for Sprint "keep sites" sooner than later.  I'm very satisfied with T-Mobile service generally, but there are several buildings with indoor DASes in the DC area that have Sprint but not T-Mobile... I am assuming T-Mobile would want to fold those into their network.

1 hour ago, Paynefanbro said:

I already know about the date, I was more curious as to how T-Mobile plans on giving us access to their 5G without also giving us access to their LTE since we need to be connected to the anchor network in order to be connected to the 5G network. Was native access to their LTE network implied in the announcement or will it come as a surprise on April 28th?

Maybe they’ll enable Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) then, which would bridge the two cores together and allow 5G capable towers to broadcast the Sprint PLMN natively over the NR radios and the LTE anchor bands?

I’m on mobile now and can’t find the link to their filings, but T-Mobile indicated they’d be using MOCN to grant Sprint users native access to the network during integration. 

2 minutes ago, greenbastard said:

Anyone know why older n41 Sprint devices have to be swapped out? Is it because they rely on LTE for upload? From reading the half-assed written articles, it seems like T-Mobile is making NR a stand-alone airlink on their network moving forward. 

That's the only thing I can think of as to why older 5G Sprint phones won't work anymore.

T-Mobile has been using its AWS (B4/66) LTE as the anchor band for NSA 5G.  It's likely that they're doing the same with this new 5G on N41.  The CNET article states:

Quote

The S10 5G lacks the capability to tap into the LTE anchor band for 2.5GHz 5G that T-Mobile is using, a band combination that is different from what Sprint has done. This combination is need so that the transition won't impact Sprint users who are connected to the midband spectrum for 4G LTE.

https://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobile-to-redeploy-sprints-midband-5g-spectrum-in-new-york-in-may/?utm_source=reddit.com

I don't know enough about the other older 5G phones from Sprint to know if they support the AWS anchor band that T-Mobile has been using.

Good news for T-Mobile low band capacity in a whole bunch of markets. This should help ease some of the transition on the “new T-Mobile” network with Sprint users coming over.

“T-Mobile has entered into a three-year arrangement with LB License Co. — a company controlled by the venture capital firm Columbia Capital — for a 600 MHz paid leasing arrangement.