cyclone

Got to work this morning to find my MagicBox unable to join the network via LTE backhaul. I've had this unit for over a year and never seen this error message before...looks like T-Mobile is wasting no time at all

Update: Looks like we had a B41 outage this morning/midday. Went on lunch break and was only getting on B25 and B26. MB finally locked onto B41 about 45 minutes ago. Guess this is just side effects of work starting in this market 😑

Not gonna lie, it's quite sad that this is just Sprint 2013's playbook with the "layer cake". That was their approach to 4G with 800, 1900, and 2.5. Just more proof that Sprint should be where T-Mobile is currently, and a testament to their management. While I am excited to FINALLY see this plan get implemented, I am completely nervous about their obsession with Verizon and AT&T. I don't want them to slowly become them...or worse.

10 minutes ago, jreuschl said:

The "layer cake" is all about 5G though it seems.  No LTE improvements?

I would assume LTE is a "dead" project. Improvement would just be noticed once people stop overcrowding and move to 5G just as happened to 3G after LTE came about

1 hour ago, dro1984 said:

They named an Indian company to do the work.    No wonder Charlie E was in India for weeks!     Wouldn't Ericsson or a well known company be a better choice?    Not thrilled personally with this news.     Hopefully they hire US workers to do the work at competitive wages.     (doughtful)       Everyone in the media was wondering why he said he can build a 5G network for 10 billion. (See link below)     Maybe this is how.     Very shady.

Ergen defends lower projected costs of Dish 5G network architecture

The company was founded and is still very much based in Richardson, TX. Just because the CEO's name is Pardeep Kohli doesn't make them an Indian Company 😒

As for their reputation, they are noted as helping T-Mobile become the first network to offer VoLTE

https://www.convergedigest.com/2014/07/t-mobiles-volte-is-powered-by-mavenirs.html

10 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Interesting how they're breaking out the statistics now between Sprint and T-Mobile.

Well they have stated that the networks are still independent of each other

5 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

"Soon" in T-Mobile terms is different than "Soon" in Sprint terms. 😎

It's just an infographic. At the bottom it says "Be in the know Turn on push notifications and we'll let you know when you can sign in." Then gives you a link to adjust your notification settings to allow push notifications

7 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

T-Mobile's answers to your questions: https://www.t-mobile.com/support/account/t-mobile-sprint-merger-faqs

When do you think Sprint customers will be able to access T-Mobile Tuesday's?

1 minute ago, RedSpark said:

On your screenshot I see 58889 for your TAC. Am I mistaken?

That screenshot is mine...in San Antonio

For those with iPhones, it looks like you go to LTE-> NAS in the Field Test mode. Look for tai_list and you should see TAC listed

If you go down the page a bit it says this:

This software upgrade is only usable on sites already using the stated Nokia equipment? Are Ericsson and other markets going to need to be swapped out or pushed to find a similar software update?

I'm just ready for these "new low cost plans". Hopefully us single line accounts don't get screwed out of promotions. If not, I'll be holding onto mine for as long as possible

24 minutes ago, dro1984 said:

I don't know if you folks ever went on Cell Mapper.com... but I checked my area and a few other metro areas... It seems Sprint has roughly 1/2 the cell towers as everyone else.    In my area there are 3 or 4 towers with Sprint equip.    Compared to T-Mobile that has 12.     Okay I thought... I'm doing something wrong.... I checked a different area of suburban Detroit and it's the same.....   Next I looked at some areas of Ohio.... each time coming up with Sprint having the fewest towers.      This is a critical reason I was so upset with Sprint and probably a prime reason VoLTE took so long to come our area.      This is also why I wanted the Merger.    If nothing else, tower density (and hopefully) better coverage will come in time as we migrate to T-Mo towers/ etc.  

You are aware that those are all community aggregated and not actual data? Just checked my area and it is extremely underrepresented from sites I know of. You should definitely take that map with a huge salt lick

So he's cool with a mega company controlling home internet, home phone, mobile phone, satellite/steaming tv, and an entertainment media company which includes a news broadcasting company...but two smaller mobile phone companies merging to offer better competition to mobile phone service is a surprise? Color me shocked that he's "surprised" that the merger was allowed 🤯🙄

maybe they are so used to running on a fiscal year that they forget to translate to actual year end

1 hour ago, S4GRU said:

Masayoshi Son didn't do anything wrong.  It's just not what we wanted him to do.  With his money.  Go figure.

58 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

Thank you Robert for enlightening some of these guys on what capitalism is all about. It is for investor to make money.

If Son didn't do anything wrong, Sprint would be buying T-Mobile. That was his plan all along, right? Instead he has made wrong choice after wrong choice. Now he's rummaging through the rules of the capitalist business playbook to get a ROI through this merger attempt by trying to attach himself to the combined entity to leech off it's assumed success. Should have just played the short game by setting up his direct purchase, Sprint, for success instead of playing the long game of merging. Isn't that how capitalism works? You spend money to make money?

This case it starting to sound like an episode of Judge Judy. Son has not only been confirmed to be withholding funds to Sprint to make a merger more appealing, but he's also offered to fund the competition? Is it possible the courts can just order Son to pay a fine for wasting everyone's time and costing Sprint money?

Isn't December 9th the date of the trial with the states? Didn't they say previously that they wouldn't finalize the merger until AFTER the lawsuit was settled?

Hopefully it'll be spectrum sharing!

Wish they would at least open up full spectrum access in the mean time. Isn't that just enabled through a carrier update?

8 hours ago, Bob Newhart said:

No, something simpler is being released soon.

By soon, you mean Friday with the release of the new iPhone? Wasn't that how the first bit of downlink CA was brought live? I think it was back with the iPhone 6 or 6s

After several "technical difficulty" popups sending me back a step or two, I managed to get an order placed at 7:14am...with an October 11-18 delivery 🙃 so much for Priority Status. Here's to hoping that date drops as it gets closer to release date

Carriers not doing deals this year?

After digging through https://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/ I think it is safe to say that the new modem inside each of the 11 models is this: https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/xmm-7660-brief.pdf

They've gone back and put the old antennas up, and it worked for like a day. They are still there, but it's back to a non-useable data area again. The signal is fine, which makes it worse because I have about a 5 mile stretch of my drive to and from work where I can't even stream apple music. I know two site managers for this area so I'll reach out to them if it's not fixed by end of next week.