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Boosted20V

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    Future 600 MHz band & OTHER discussion thread (was "Sprint + 600 MHz?")

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    Just a thought.

     

    Assuming more 600 spectrum does get auctioned. What would be the chances of Sprint buying say a large national chunk of 600 and flipping it to say VZ for 850? Would make sense for both parties as Sprint should have the head units in place and VZ could get out of a spectrum band. Also assuming VZ bought say 10mhz of 600 or something. 

     

    I'd say not a chance in hell. I don't think VZ wants to get "rid" of its Cellular spectrum.

    • Like 3

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Meh.  Get a history lesson.

     

    T-Mobile did not build out California; PacBell did.  Pacific Telesis spun off its Cellular 850 MHz assets as AirTouch.  Then, PacBell got back into the mobile game via the first PCS 1900 MHz auction in 1995.  That allowed PacBell to go GSM (barf!) and focus its efforts on only one state and basically one other market -- California and Las Vegas.  With such a limited scope, PacBell built out a very good GSM 1900 network.  

     

    A few years later, SBC acquired PacBell.  Then, SBC spun off the PacBell mobile network to T-Mobile in order to help Cingular's merger with AT&TWS.  So, do not give T-Mobile much, if any credit in California.  T-Mobile essentially stumbled into a pre built network.

     

    I documented all of this nearly a decade ago...

     

    AJ

    I don't know that any of that is relevant. Regardless who built it, there are areas where T-Mo has more native coverage. Out west their footprint is definitely better than Sprint's.

    • Like 1

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Who pays for the NV upgrades?

     

    Shentel pays for all upgrades/maintenance in their footprint. And for their size, theres not a better company in my eyes.

     

    EDIT - And that is the whole point of an affiliate. The affilieate pays to maintain the network they own. But they don't deal with branding/advertising/customer support which Sprint does. So Sprint pays them a cut based on usage/subs in their territory.

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    MetroPCS is bringing in 11.5k additional sites but TMO has announced they're gonna retire 10k of them.

     

    I just called TMO customer service and for what it's worth, a "technical specialist" said "50k native and 7k roaming".

     

    Also, do you have a link explaining Sprint's relationship with their "affiliates"? It sounds like they're part of Sprint but not really.

     

    As for Shentel, they use each other's network interchangeable and it is all branded as Sprint. Shentel maintains the network in the areas they own. Sprint/Shentel have a formula they use based on how much usage occurs inside/outside their borders to determine how much $ Shentel is paid out of Sprint's revenue.

     

    Also, they own ~600 towers (580 some I believe) in PA/MD/VA.

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    A great place to find info is Earnings Conference Calls. The analysts typically ask decent enough questions: 

     

    Robin Bienenstock - Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC., Research Division

    So your LTE network will clearly be better in the U.S., in the densely populated parts of the country, but it'll still be thinner in terms of coverage in the less-dense parts of the country. So I'm wondering, to what extent do you think that reduces the addressable market for you in the U.S.? And then secondly, I just had a question about your working capital, which is going to be a big negative number, it looks like, this year, a lot bigger than last year, lots of restructuring charges in there. And I'm wondering if you can help me think about what that means, if anything, for margins next year and what I should think about in terms of potential costs there next year as well.

    René Obermann - Chairman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer

    Right. Robin, the LTE question, allow me to answer that in -- entailing the HSPA coverage as well because, after all, for customers, it does matter, the network speed and throughput, and capacity matters, not so much whether you are on LTE or 3G. And from my own and, personally, your own user experience, I suggest that you don't care whether you see the LTE signal or the 3G signal. In Germany, we launched LTE and it's still somewhat spotty. And for me as a user, all that matters is high-speed coverage. And therefore, our HSPA network is with 225 million POPs coverage in spring, and the successful spectrum migration onto the 1,900 band is going to be an important component in the game. And then next year, in the course of the year, we'll cover up to 200 million POPs and that, in combination, still having EDGE as a world-class technology available to the customer and seamless upgradable to 3G and 4G proposition. In that combination, I think, we'll be more competitive and the network perception will improve. But also, to be honest, it's grinding work because we are coming from very low perception and we need to move up the ladder. And it's grinding work and it will take some time, but we are coming and we will have a good competitive environment -- network, sorry, not environment. [indiscernible].

     

     

    Another piece from a previous conference call, again, 37k is the right number but this only entails their HSPA service footprint:

     

    Philipp Humm

    Yeah, so I think, the additional incremental CapEx basically reflect that we want to role out LTE to our total 3G, 4G footprint, which is about 37,000 sites. And so to achieve a full modernization and then LTE rollout, this is then the number we – at the end of the day we’ll need to do that.

     

     

    So they're stating they're keeping EDGE and are touting that there is a seamless handoff to HSPA and LTE from there. Also, specificallys tating that only their HSPA/HSPA+ footprint will be upgraded (i.e. 3G/4G footprint).

    • Like 1

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    Whether TMO has 37k or 51k total towers, 37k LTE towers is 2k towers less than Sprint will have upgraded so for the money, 37k LTE will provide very good coverage.

     

    I'm still researching DT ever publically stating their LTE network will do anything but supplement their existing HSPA footprint. I haven't found anything. Also, Sprint has the same number of towers relatively but with 800mhz and PCS spectrum vs. AWS. That isn't a very good comparison.

    • Like 1

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    And it also specifically dated they're gonna upgrade all 37k sites.

     

    The backhaul description is of their network TODAY not their network forever.

     

     

    If they're never gonna upgrade rural backhaul, what's the point of installing LTE equipment everywhere?

     

    You're missing a key fact that their network consists of 51K towers. The 37K IS a subset:

     

    http://gigaom.com/2012/09/28/t-mobile-sheds-its-towers-in-exchange-for-a-2-4b-infusion/

     

    Check out the article, it specifically states the total number of towers T-Mo operates.

    T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion

    in General Topics

    Posted

    The vendors will install LTE Release 10-capable equipment at 37,000 cell sites across T-Mobile's HSPA+ network footprint as part of the carrier's effort to increase signal quality and improve network performance this year.

     

    Read more: T-Mobile: 95% of our backhaul is fiber - FierceBroadbandWireless http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/t-mobile-95-our-backhaul-fiber/2012-08-01#ixzz2XW7kSM00

    Subscribe at FierceBroadbandWireless

     

    Not so. It specifically states:

     

    "T-Mobile has enhanced backhaul covering 100 percent of our 4G network, 95 percent of which is fiber backhaul,"

     

    So they are only stating that of their 4G network, 95% is backhauled by fiber. T-Mo is the tale of 2 networks. A great one in cities with fiber and a sad one in rural areas with T1s.

    • Like 2

    Bird is The Word : Some more info on NV bird issue

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    Next time it happens, call the EPA. When EPA enforcement arrives, walk over and eavesdrop and see if he tells the officer the same thing.

     

    I stopped at a Tmo site a few months ago and asked to see his permit. The foreman had a very good story planned explaining why he didn't need one. Since I work for the State, I knew he was full of crap. I pulled up the State website that showed him that he needed an electrical permit for his work. Then his story changed. Plausible deniability.

     

    Robert from Note 2 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

     

    Such BS. I love having a fast mobile connection but we don't need to break laws to get it.

    Interview with Bob Azzi on iDen Shutdown at Fiercewireless

    in Network, Network Vision/LTE Deployment

    Posted

    I would say the LTE portion of that is a mistake and it's really referring to CDMA on 800 only.  Since no devices have passed the FCC supporting LTE on that band class, there aren't any out that currently support LTE on 800.

     

    EDIT:  Unless they are referring to the hotspots and broadband card that are coming out this summer that support LTE on 800MHz.  

     

    I'd take it to mean the hotspots which have been announced.

    • Like 1
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