bigsnake49

I would think that it should automatically go on WiFi.

What about outside? Comcast has a pretty extensive outdoor WiFi network. When you go inside does it automatically switch the data connection to your cable/WiFi modem?

I wonder if Comcast is going to offload data onto its WiFi network and then stand and pole mounted small cells to where they only use Verizon for roaming outside their own network. Charter will definitely follow that model.

A very decent article summarizing the pros of the merger: http://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/lowenstein-s-view-it-s-time-for-t-mobile-and-sprint

Home ISP? Maybe in rural areas.

Wait a minute, I thought the moon was made of Swiss cheese ;).

I still don't understand why you would need to do RF testing for VOLTE unless it is for hearing aid compliance. There is nothing different about VOLTE unless you increase the power during transmission beyond limits. As long as you stay within the power envelope, it will be like any other data stream.

Or T-mobile can keep on bleeding Sprint dry, siphoning off their customers. Failing an actual merger, I think that creating a company that will own and operate a merged network and leases spectrum from both companies will be the way to go.

Well Softbank could then say, remember those 50,000 jobs that we promised? You can kiss those goodbye! BTW, T-Mobile is not failing.

I have a question for the hardware gurus in this group. Which RRHs and panels would need to be replaced because they don't have enough ports? How about antenna panels? Or will they just add the other company's RRHs and panels onto the rack.

If Sprint was a financially healthy company and had its network ducks in a row, I would agree with you. But even then the Big 2 would always have a built in advantage. Their Capex would be spread over twice as many customers.

Not advocating shutting down 1x800 prematurely. But at some point VOLTE particularly on the 600, 700 and 800MHz will have to make up for it. LTE supports a 1.4MHz channel size so the spectrum won't go to waste. Now at some point or another I would like to see the whole 800Mhz bandplan get revisited. Isn't the only reason that VOLTE get's tested by the FCC the hearing aid compatibility? And once it passes, it is a simple software or settings upgrade?

Well forced device upgrades will be coming with maybe some free low end devices incentivizing the holdouts. M2M will also need to be incentivized to upgrade. But I think the biggest bone to be tossed to the regulators is to promise that they will match or exceed Verizon's square miles coverage over the next 3 years. A minor bone will that they are open to hosting 3rd party spectrum at reasonable commercial terms for 10 years (cough Dish, cough)

T-Mobile right now is offering 480p Netflix which is not satisfactory. Maybe after they merge with Sprint. Maybe they can even offer Dish's Sling TV.

VOLTE is not a hardware feature. It's a software or firmware update. Heck it just might be a carrier settings update. Between voice over WiFi and VoLTE with graceful handover over, CDMA and WCDMA will be forgotten really soon. Heck if they can get Airave 3's to those that need them, they might not even need the handover.

Has anybody noticed that the carriers quietly raised prices. Sprint raised the "5 for 90"plan by $10, T-Mobile raised their 2 line plan by $20, Sprint let the Virgin Mobile $1 offer expire, the iPhone offers are rather tepid is everybody waiting for the merger announcement, meanwhile milking the cellular cow?

1700 and 2100MHz are the uplink and downlink respectively of the AWS band.

With all the midband and 2.5GHz spectrum the combined company will have they should not never be overloaded. When they do then you might want to add lower bands.

I don't believe that they have to densify even more. Just select the best sites and put 1900, AWS and 2.5 on all of them. Selectively add small cells to cover the 2.5 GHz gaps. Then selectively add low frequency spectrum to where it's needed (definitely to suburban, exurban and rural locales). Use 600, 700 and 800Mhz as preferred frequencies for VOLTE, as coverage layer and backup when no other band covers. Use the low frequency bands as an overlay not necessarily on every site.

I am pretty sure that your plan will survive for the next year or two while they merge the networks. After that all bets are off. How do you figure that? T-Mobile might be getting a lot of 2.5Mhz spectrum and a decent chunk of 1900Mhz spectrum but Sprint's network leaves a lot to be desired. Then there is the problem with the IBEZ areas and band 26. Now if Sprint had densified their network, added 800, 1900 and 2500MHz on every site, added around 8,000 new macro sites and filled in the gaps between macros with small cells then you'd have a point. T-Mobile is moving fast to implement 600Mhz outside of TV exclusion zones. Now full support by Samsung and Apple will come next year but they can have the network ready at least in rural areas.

He might but I am sure that the market is will be pretty mature so it will be relatively static. Yes they can cannibalize each other back and forth but the market will be relatively static. The only growth I can see is IoT but remember that they usually pay around $10/month/connection. You better have a lot of connections ("Things").

I am sure that in order to minimize churn, Sprint customers will be allowed to keep some of their current plans for a period of time. I am also sure that new plans will be offered to both sides again to minimize churn. I am also sure that AT&T and Verizon will introduce deals on both phones and plans to entice T-Mobile/Sprint customers to switch. T-mobile's marketing department has done very well and can come up with a good strategy to prevent churn.

Oh it will be very good for the companies because their Capex will be spread out over twice the number of customers. It might lead to increased prices but T-Mobile was starting to raise theirs. The 2016 situation of free iPhones and low plan prices was not sustainable.

It means that they will have less debt than Verizon and AT&T. The problem with the new company will be that it will have about 68 million postpaid customers compared with about 87M for AT&T and 107M for Verizon so that it will presumably have less revenue than the other two.

No it won't. The combined company will be much less leveraged than AT&T and Verizon.