PedroDaGr8

The most recent S22 update added a VoNR toggle to settings. To me, this indicates that TMO is happy enough with VoNR now to roll it out to the general public. 

OK, one thing this update added was a VoNR toggle under Settings--> Connections-->Mobile Networks.

Looks like TMO is making it official. 

2 hours ago, RAvirani said:

Which site are you referring to?

I must have been updating my post when you responded. The new T-Mobile site is eNB 375718/gNB 1872606. This site used to be a Sprint Nokia B41-only site with the eNBs 748630/748632/748633.

The old Sprint mMIMO site in Brook Trails Estates (off Avondale south of Cottage Lake) has been converted (eNB 375718/gNB1872606). This fills a huge TMO coverage hole that used to exist in that area. Unlike the two nearby towers which both lack n41, this has the full suite of bands. AT&T and Verizon both are also located at this site (part of a power substation)

2 hours ago, jreuschl said:

Out for locked too. Quite a big one too, over 2GB

Yeah, 2.37GB for supposedly just a security update and bug fixes. Seems exceptionally large. 

18 minutes ago, Terrell352 said:

Can some one explain to me why we haven’t seen a single 190mhz siting on T-Mobile besides lab tests? I know the 6419 can do it. 
 

My market Orlando has been sitting at 150mhz on NR and 40mhz on LTE for what seems like forever. Why won’t they just make it 190? 

I have NO IDEA how they decide to allocate BW. That being said, so few of their sites can even make use of the extra BW due to their limited backhaul that maybe it just makes sense to keep it as is?

As an aside, I have noticed a number of new sites near me no longer broadcast B41 at all (though n41 isn't expanded). So maybe they are gradually planning for the transition?

Some random LTE/NR site pairs appeared recently on CellMapper by the waterfront in downtown Seattle:

eNB 380915 Cell 5/15 (2/66) --> gNB 1883233 Cell 305 (n41)
eNB 380916 Cell 3/13 (2/66) --> gNB 1881902 Cell 303 (n41)

Unfortunately, nothing shows up on StreetView yet but based on the NYC thread, these are likely new small cells which include n41.

On 7/24/2023 at 8:18 PM, Paynefanbro said:

Nice catch!

gNB 1347372 fits the bill. Each cell pretty matches up with an existing oDAS node in Downtown Brooklyn.

Cell 301 -> eNB 134687 Cell 1/11
Cell 303 -> eNB 134687 Cell 3/13
Cell 306 -> eNB 134688 Cell 6/16 (Importantly this small cell and the corresponding gNB were spotted two days apart confirming that they're the same site)

I believe that 347812-6 that I mapped in Brooklyn Heights may have n41 too. I reported really fast speeds and strong n41 signal next to it earlier this year but at the time I chalked it up to a nearby macro just performing really well. Maybe I was wrong about that. 

I'll have to check all of them out. This is big news!

This just explained some random sites that just appeared recently by the waterfront in downtown Seattle:

eNB 380915 Cell 5/15 (2/66) --> gNB 1883233 Cell 305 (n41)
eNB 380916 Cell 3/13 (2/66) --> gNB 1881902 Cell 303 (n41)

Unfortunately, nothing shows up on StreetView yet.

6 hours ago, Trip said:

Yes, and I saw at least one analyst suggest that any buyer would just turn off the US Cellular network.  I certainly hope not!  I was a Sprint customer specifically because of roaming on that network!

While US Cellular has great coverage in some needed areas (e.g., the rural areas near Mt. St. Helens in WA), the overall value of that kind coverage isn't great for any single player. The most plausible scenario I have heard is that a buyer would keep the spectrum licenses (selling off or trading those they don't need/want or are required to) and selling the towers off to a company like American Tower who would then do what they see fit with the towers. My guess is the tower company will mostly keep the towers online but it will be based on who they can lease to rather than a single contiguous entity.

As for who would be the buyer, ATT makes the most sense (by far) based on USC's spectrum holdings. That being said, there is enough value to be split up that a "corporate raider" type of company could try their hand as well. Any suggestions beyond that are rapidly going into sub-optimal fits.

Here's my quick(ish)  analysis of USC's spectrum holdings. Looking at them, I see a lot of value for AT&T and less value for TMO/VZW:

• The 600MHz Block
  • USC doesn't own a lot of this block but where they do, it mostly benefits TMO.
• The 700MHz Block is a bit more complex:
  • A-Block: With the exception of only a couple of places, US Cellular owns the license to this band where TMO does not. Were TMO to acquire these licenses, it could make the B71 to n71 conversion a lot less painful. 
  • B-Block: Much like TMO in the A-Block, US Cellular owns the vast majority of the licenses which ATT lacks. 
  • Lower C-Block: They don't own a lot in this block but where they do it could give ATT an easy 12-18MHz of contiguous low-band (when combined with the A and B  Block holdings). In the era of NR and FWA, this is HIGHLY valuable. 
  • Overall, ATT would benefit the most followed by T-Mobile. 
• 800MHz
  • USC owns assorted licenses, mostly in the 800MHz A-Block. ATT could find value in these holdings by expanding their A-Block geographic coverage. On the other hand, most are contiguous with Verizon's holdings in the B-Block which could allow VZW to expand their 800MHz bands.
• AWS and PCS Bands. 
  • Outside a couple of limited metros, USC really doesn't have a lot of valuable licenses that I can see in these bands. Mostly rural areas with no commonality in overlap with a single provider in the big 3. Not that these licenses aren't devoid of value but that they are likely more valuable split up and sold off to the various carriers than they are as a single holding. 
• EBS/BRS Band:
  • The BRS licenses which USC owns/leases in the WI area which T-Mobile would likely want to acquire (if the price was reasonable). Not a lot of value but clearly would be something T-Mobile would like to acquire. 
• 3.4GHz Band
  • USC owns a contiguous 40MHz block of 3.4GHz spectrum covering decent contiguous rural/semi-rural swaths of the US. ATT owns essentially all of the remaining blocks above these (and often where less than 40MHz, AT&T owns the other blocks) making them HIGHLY valuable for AT&T. This would allow AT&T to deploy up to 80MHz of contiguous 3.4GHz in the majority of these areas. 
• CBRS
  • USC doesn't own much valuable in this range. 
• 3.7GHz Band
  • USC's has substantial holdings in the C2-C4 Blocks. AT&T owns the C1 Block across essentially the entire US and REALLY significant holdings in the C2-C4 throughout the US. AT&T acquiring this spectrum would really benefit AT&T. There would also be a bit of benefit for TMO, as TMO owns the C3 and/or C4 blocks in some areas where USC doesn't. 
• mmWave
  • USC has a bunch of scattered holdings but in general they are in more rural areas making them really low value. As recent history has shown, the forte of mmWave at this time is in high density environments (the opposite of what USC holds). 

As you can see, a USC acquisition would put ATT on a much better/more equal footing to Verizon and TMO when it comes to mid-band. A USC acquisition would give them huge swaths of 80+MHz contiguous mid-band coverage, the kind of coverage that is needed for 5G and beyond.

That being said, it would also somewhat overload them on the low-band (especially in the 700MHz range), giving them too much of an advantage. I could see the Justice department requiring ATT to off-load some of their lower band holdings (namely the 600/700 MHz holdings) to TMO and/or Dish as a requirement of the acquisition. For TMO, who lacks low-band compared to VZW/ATT, this would put them on a much better low-band footing than before. 

As for Dish, they would benefit significantly from the improved raw spectrum holdings but I doubt they could easily utilize anytime soon. 

Looks like the site on Sparc apartments in Bellevue is live. That is another weird site in a REALLY dense and already well-covered area. 

Went out to Red Top Mountain this weekend, which had me driving through Snoqualmie Pass. Spotted a new eNB 429402 which doesn't follow the usual T-Mobile eNB formatting for the PNW.

2 hours ago, S4GRU said:

Look what I found in Port Townsend this afternoon!  n66 baby!!!  NR AWS FTW!

Not as fast as n25 or n41

Robert

 

 

 

 

Holy shit! That's awesome! Not live in metro Seattle yet.

7 hours ago, jreuschl said:

July update out for locked. From S22 Reddits I think the unlocked is out in the last few days too.

Don't forget to install the Play Store updates after installing the July Security update. Seems like, at least on my phone, this recent update freed up a couple of additional Play Store updates as well. The first one was 10MB and the second was 39MB, with the second one bringing my Play Store revision up to June 2023. 

57 minutes ago, cooltech6597 said:

Looks like new T-Mobile colocation on an American Tower site has come online in the past month or so near Eubank, KY! Previously a very very dead spot for both Tmo and Sprint

 

 

Pictures don't load. That being said, good to see the more rural parts of KY are getting some love. Sprint used to be REALLY hit or miss outside the more suburban bluegrass region. 

2 hours ago, dkyeager said:

This update broke proper reporting of non-standalone 5g in SCP.

How so? On my locked TMO S22U, SCP still shows the limited amount of info that it always has for NSA.

2 hours ago, Grabber5.0 said:

What has everyone's experience been on VoNR that has enabled it? I hadn't given it a second thought until I saw it mentioned again.

In my area, it has worked essentially flawlessly. To the point that I forget I have it on. 

Carillon Point south of Kirkland has been upgraded to gig+

2 hours ago, PythonFanPA said:

 

I guess the last few months' trend of unlocked getting them first is over....I've been checking almost daily the last 7-10 days and nothing yet here.

I guess there was nothing special T-Mo needed to shoehorn in on this one. 

On 6/18/2023 at 9:47 AM, schmidtj said:

Numerous antennas mostly atop utility poles have started popping up every few blocks along major roads here in North suburban Chicago. I asked one of the install crews who they were for and was told Verizon. Until only recently they didn’t show up on Cellmapper and now they show as Verizon DAS locations. 
Is this how small cells are identified or are they something else?

ATT has a similar looking site but it shows in Cellmapper as a normal cell site. 
 

Any insight appreciated. 
J

Not all small scales are DAS setups. Pretty much all providers do a mix of single eNB per small-scale and DAS-type shared eNBs. As for CellMapper, the DAS identification you mention is triggered manually.

To do so:

1. Open CellMapper on PC 

2. Click on the tower which is a DAS

3. Click in 'Change tower type'.

4. Select DAS.

Doing this will split all of the sectors into individual "towers" with (DAS) appended to the end of the eNB. 

Another wrinkle tothis is that some DAS-type small-scale setups share sectors across multiple sites. Those cannot be handled by switching the tower to a DAS type. The best thing to do in that case is to make a note that the sectors are split across multiple sites and that it shouldn't be pinned. 

On 6/16/2023 at 6:56 PM, mdob07 said:

Update out tonight for my AT&T phone. Also, anyone else having issues with the USB port on an ultra? My AT&T phone will hardly charge when plugged in, not sure if the port has debris or physical damage. I've tried cleaning it the best I can and using different cables with no luck. No issues with my T-Mobile Ultra. 

Update is out for T-Mobile Locked. As for charging, no issues here. I concur with chambs suggestion to try a different charger.

You can also try cleaning the pins with some toilet paper and some alcohol. Use a paper clip or back of a sewing needle to push it in there. 

30 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Congrats! Make sure to check your line(s) profile info (Caller ID/E-911, etc.) to be sure it migrated over properly. Also, you'll want to update your payment method to continue receiving the AutoPay discount.

Thanks for the heads up. Caller ID migrated perfectly (including my wife's name being in all caps) but E911 did not. 

Did notice that while I do see Hulu as an add-on, I don't see Tidal. Guess that one will be going away soon. 

I just got migrated over at 4:30pm in the afternoon. It wasn't migrated over at 1pm this afternoon. Seems like they are REALLY ramping up the migrations. 

Seems like I am one of the last remaining. I am sure it will come very soon. 

Definitely not expanded out here yet.

Looks like both AT&T and Dish are going in at Evergreen Hospital at Totem Lake. Considering Verizon and T-Mobile are already there, that will put all four carriers on the same building. This also means that outside of the Motel 6 location, AT&T and T-Mobile will have essentially an identical foot print in the area.