milan03

That makes me wonder if Sprint or in your case AT&T even have local offices deciding on the build outs, or all of the decisions blindly come out of Kansas City/Dallas?

Ya it's a B41 site with no proper backhaul. All I know that I wouldn't wanna live in that building, ever.

Awesome, now I'll finally have coverage at my place hey guys, Am I suppose to glow?

 

That side of the building doesn't even have windows. Straight up concrete

Gotta love Sprint/Clear panel placement here in Astoria... Absolutely ridiculous, blasting straight at the facade in front!

That's what happened in NYC. Verizon's XLTE have steadily declined to about 20Mbps on average. That's down from the 60Mbps+ that I used to see when they first began deployment. I haven't tested in Boston though, since I've been here.

Keep in mind that XLTE in NYC never had full 150Mbps backhaul bandwidth provisioned for that capacity layer. It used to max out at ~80Mbps since day one, as they were pooling 150Mbps between 20MHz B4 and 10MHz B13... So, they could easily re-provision the backhaul for more bandwidth per sector, and that alone will double the existing peak rates.

Not sure if they will any time soon, because they only guarantee 5-12Mbps on the downlink.

Maybe so but what if ATT sucks in your area? You can't just take it to any carrier. You are stuck. Yes currently sprint will buy your contract, which may actual reap a huge benefit if this happens. Just my thought is a 2 year contract isn't as bad in my view, as device installment plans are also good. Customers should be given the choice. Maybe something to look into Is a device give back program on contracts, where sprint waives a majority fee of cancellation if the device is returned unharmed, in sellable condition. I'm sure a system like above could be possible.

This rendered your previous post invalid, didn't it?

Point is, T-Mobile is giving consumers every right to leave the carrier at any point, and as you've stated Sprint will also gladly buy your existing contract if needed. There are quite a few options for T-Mobile subscribers.

So....  in early 2014, we were told to expect  to see something like 50% of Tmo's remaining Edge/GSM network transition to LTE by the end of 2014.  We're 4 months from the end of the year...  a LOT of edge should be disappearing in the next few months? 

Yup, about 15 Million pops in EDGE Only areas will be covered by LTE by the end of 2014, which btw is not 50% of the remaining EDGE footprint, it's more like 27%. Majority of the upgrades will happen in H1 2015.

Their goal is to cover 250 Million pops with LTE by the end of 2014.

Currently they're at the 233 Million mark as of the last official announcement a few weeks ago.

Entire footprint covers 284 Million pops.

You can find more info and reports on that progress on other T-Mobile Forums.

Since I moved from the 5s to the s5. No complaints. Pretty solid LTE in my area.

 

Wait... Is that a Download Booster turned on in the notification bar?

Fourth, the backhaul program by VZW was better funded and better managed.  VZW ordered backhaul early and managed it as well as possible.  They were willing to pay more to get a better backhaul provider in some instances.  Sprint had to go with the lowest priced, which sometimes sacrificed schedule ultimately.

This 100%

Looks like charlie is going after dish now.http://m.seekingalpha.com/article/2452305-dish-moving-beyond-pay-television?source=email_rt_article_readmore&app=1&uprof=51

You mean after T-Mobile

I was always led to believe that LTE cells didn't suffer from the 'breathing' phenomenon in the same way that CDMA and W-CDMA cells do. Is that incorrect?

They actually do, Shammo or Lowell (can't remember) was talking about Verizon's LTE issues a few quarters ago during the conference call. In theory some will tell you that there isn't an issue, but on a fully loaded cell the issue is real.

Do you happen to know if they're using the air32s or air21s for band 12?

 

I can probably find out when and if they're doing a deployment in CA and know what to look for.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

My local contact have mentioned Air 32's and the deployment in Long Island market starting in September, but considering that AT&T and Verizon have been deploying taller AIR21's for 700MHz, I wouldn't be surprised to see those as well.

The main issue is the weight of taller AIR21's as many NYC rooftop sites would fail the load. AIR32's are way heavier so that's why they'll be starting with suburban monopoles in LI area and Westchester.

To try counter someone's opinion about Sprint service at a Sprint based website in a way that you are doing is almost trolling. Milan, people are getting happier with their Sprint service even in New York City. Deal with it! And NetIndex bears it out.

 

Tmo ain't the shit, yo!

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Haha I hear ya! I am certainly glad that Sprint's subs are getting happier as they've stuck with the operator through thick and thin. Much respect.

I am offering my own personal experience from my own market, fully respecting your site and it's nature. There wasn't any trolling involved in my posts, but I'm sorry that you've felt that way.

Milan, with all due respect, read the comparison. The point of the comparison was not about Sprint trouncing Tmo's so called Wideband LTE where it was available. It was comparing Sprint LTE coverage right now using the Tmo Test Drive. He showed in his use there just wasn't much difference from Sprint and Tmo for his needs. Sprint LTE is performing well in many parts of NYC and getting better daily.

 

He wasn't trying to find out who has highest peak speeds. But even that is changing. Tmo peak speeds are coming down and Sprint's are going up. And that is a fact. Highlighted that Sprint was on top in Manhattan on NetIndex last week.

 

If you really are a fan of networks and competition as you say, these points should make you giddy.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Robert, with all due respect, I've been comparing all 4 wireless operators myself for the past 2 years in New York City market. I'm telling you how it is here. I do appreciate his 7-day TestDrive comparison, it is one opinion testing the portion of the market, but keep in mind NYC is a huge urban area, and the operators without ubiquitous low band blanket need to deploy dense on PCS/AWS/BRS to tackle the capacity demand. 

Sprint is definitely getting better as more B41 sites are coming on air, but due to inadequate cell density at the moment, that airlink just isn't able to provide consistent user experience across the market. Often times users are camping on G block which as you know is oversold, and now further loaded with all those MVNO subs. That also further shrinks the cell and forces subs onto EVDO, etc.

T-Mobile on the other hand still hasn't upgraded the bandwidth to many of their NYC cell sites, many of them capped at 50Mbps some of them at 100Mbps. Once that's re-provisioned, and MetroPCS CDMA shut down, 15MHz FDD LTE will provide even more capacity, and MetroPCS significant DAS deployment will further densify already very dense grid.

Obviously I'd love to see Sprint get their stuff together and get serious about all that 2.5GHz spectrum, and there isn't a more perfect market to test the TDD tech than NYC. It simply just isn't up to par YET.

This is not always the case. Check out the comparison in the New York City thread. Sprint compared pretty well with t-mobile.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Not so sure about that NYC comparison since T-Mobile currently has way more MHz/pop deployed, less subs, has three competent data layers 75Mbps LTE -> HSPA+42 -> HSPA+21, cell density is second to none in this market with ~99% cell sites modernized with active fiber backhaul in place. I wouldn't compare Sprint's experience to T-Mobile's, at least not in New York City.

On the brighter side, here is the T-Mobile 700MHz deployment in Silver Spring, MA: http://imgur.com/a/rz9SQ

Yes yes. GMO setups. That I think all of us here know about.

 

What I was thinking about was if they were deploying them alongside the Band 4 flexis on their urban modernized sites. I don't believe they began the rural deployments in late 2013 and early 2014 iirc. 

My understanding is that they were deploying Band 2 and Band 4 flexis to urban sites since day one, even though they're only using 1900MhHz licenses for HSPA+/GSM in those markets.

I recall NSN Band 2 Flexis being certified in the FCC around fall/winter of last year.  No clue if they're actually deploying those alongside their Band 4 ones. 

Band 2 LTE is right now being deployed in rural areas where PCS's already been used for 2G services. For now, they're not deploying AWS to those areas at all, it's purely PCS LTE/2G, plus 700MHz where possible.

This type of rollout allows them to rapidly deploy LTE using the least amount of resources. In many cases they're reusing the existing 1900MHz panels, only replacing the cabinets and adding RRUs. This also makes it much easier for their engineers to tune those PCS LTE sites, as they already have a pretty good idea how 1900MHz spreads and propagates around those 2G sites.

The backhaul seems to be in place as well: https://twitter.com/unforgiven512/status/502493782299123713/photo/1

I wasn't aware that Tmo had any Band 2 devices, yet. I guess the Nexus 5 does, but my Tmo SIM doesn't scan Band 2 in my N5. Although, I have to admit I don't follow Tmo device developments closely.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

They have quite a few Band 2 devices seeded, mostly the ones that came out in H2 2013/14. It definitely helps that AT&T also uses Band 2.

Band 12 is a completely different story though.

In my attempt to bring this on topic here is a screenshot of some PCS LTE action in rural OH. It appears to be a 10MHz channel, scanned using Nexus 5 without a SIM by @unforgiven512. 

Just like Sprint, T-Mobile already has commercially live nationwide LTE network. 

40x40 isn't a thing really. Maximum width of an LTE channel defined in 3GPP is 20MHz. What they're really talking about is two aggregated 20MHz FDD LTE component carriers.

T-Mobile will most likely have to do inter-band CA of AWS + PCS, but in many markets they won't be able to do 20+20 CA. It could very possibly be 20MHz FDD in AWS + 10MHz in PCS. And that's most likely not gonna happen until the end of next year at the earliest.

Carter did mention possible synergies with Charlie's spectrum since it's adjacent to T-Mobile's.

I don't know if I agree with these two points. Sprint repeated many times yesterday that they are still going to cover 100 Million customers with Band 41 by year end. There was no change in schedule in that regard. I simply think Sprint is being a bit more open about their 800MHz LTE deployment since it is currently easier and moving faster than the 2.5/2.6GHz deployment. Neither is in in favor at this point.

We know that in wireless industry an operator doesn't have to cover every inch of any given market in order to call it covered. They can still "cover" 100 million pops by deploying to highly populated urban markets, but have a very low site completion (sub 50%) since it's an overlay.

The term is highly unregulated and operators love to interpret it to their own liking.

What annoys me is that the tracks themselves lack service. That means that the service itself is great when you're in the subway stationg LTE (15Mbps on LTE), but as soon as the train leaves you drop the signal.

Transit Wireless DAS is a SISO carrier agnostic system, so for instance Sprint's 5MHz LTE channel will peak just at about 18Mbps instead of 36Mbps. At the moment it distributes Verizon's and AT&T's 700MHz carriers, not B2 or B4. Also T-Mobile's AWS LTE is live.

I personally don't see the need of all three Sprint LTE bands transmitting at the moment since DAS is densely built, and average rates are consistently close to the peak theoretical rates in a SISO setup.

Since now we know that Sprint is also going to be using 4x2 MIMO on their 8T8R sites, this video should be useful as it explains a recent research conducted by SRG on T-Mobile's live 4x2 MIMO network in North Dallas.

They've been hurting in NYC market over the past 6 months. 10MHz Band 17 has been very congested, 5MHz Band 2 has been live since november, but certainly didn't improve user experience by much, and their HSPA+ performance during peak hours has been slow for years now. Sprint's LTE network has actually been performing much better than AT&T's, at least in NYC market.