Continuing PCS Legacy Spectrum Refarm to Full LTE in more Markets
support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-31961Posted Mar 29, 2017, 6:50 PM UTC
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support.t-mobile.com
Markets going all LTE with GSM fallback:
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Carolinas – MSA, Mt. Airy, Pinehurst, Georgetown
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Indiana – Indianapolis, Elkhart, Goshen
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Hawaii [not Oahu?]
Markets with legacy AWS HSPA+:
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Connecticut – Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, West Hartford, East Hartford, Hartford, Middlesex, Tolland counties
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Colorado – Denver, Colorado Springs
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Hawaii [Oahu?]
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Mobile, AL – Daphne, Fairhope, Foley, Mobile
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New York – New York, Long Island, Duchess County (Upstate New York)
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New Jersey
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Ohio – Cincinnati
The network upgrade will continue in additional markets later in 2017
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I guess this means Cincy will finally be going to 20mhz band 2 🙌🙌
Correct me if I'm wrong
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I thought it was already!
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Not yet! Currently we're just at 15mhz band 2 and 5mhz band 12. A little further north in Butler county they've also yet to deploy band 2 in the sw portion of the country, which would go perfectly with the 10 MHz of band 4 and 5 MHz band 12 we currently have.
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How will this improve the NYC metro area?
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Unobstructed L1900 channel.
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Thanks. It states upgrades will take place on 4/27. Does this take one day to upgrade the network or is it beginning on the 27th and may take months for finish?
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Starting on the 25th, no one will be able to use U1900. L1900 is probably already rolled out in most areas, and activated.
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Soooo nice to see the Indianapolis area receiving some back end love for a change. We've been hurting for a while. Hopefully this will help.
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Any market with more than 2x20 MHz of AWS-1 and contiguous PCS of no more than 2x20 MHz seems a good candidate for moving HSPA+ (2x5 MHz) to AWS and using all the remaining mid-band spectrum for LTE (with GSM in the PCS guard bands.)
Other major markets fitting that description include Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle, San Jose-CA and much of Florida (Orlando, Jacksonville, etc., but not Miami or Tampa.)
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Markets going all LTE with GSM fallback: Carolinas – MSA, Mt. Airy, Pinehurst, Georgetown Indiana – Indianapolis, Elkhart, Goshen Hawaii [not Oahu?]
Do you have an update on this? Was UMTS shut down completely in these markets? The coverage map says these areas still have HSPA+.
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I'm a little late but do you think this will affect outer markets getting 10x10 on 1900pcs then the little bit of 2G 1900pcs if tmobile only has 10x10 in the area like in Mobile,AL Where rural areas are on the outer do you think it will go to 10x10 in a few of the small citys close to mobile?
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Woohoooo this is some good news! Cincinnati is getting some more Magenta Love! :-)
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Really curious what "Carolinas - MSA" means. I know MSA is Metropolitian Statistical Area, but there are about 25 of those throughout NC & SC. Maybe it should read "All MSAs"? The 3 other listed cities/towns are not in micropolitan statistical areas, so they wouldn't be counted under "All MSAs"
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I think it's a typo. Should be MTA (Major Trading Area). MTA 6 covers Carolinas.
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So is the Cincinnati market having HSPA on AWS shut down as well?
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Not yet.
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Ah ok, so we'll be B2(20mhz)+B12(5mhz) and B66(5mhz)whenever they decide to flip the switch on B66. Thank you for the clarification.
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Wow. Essentially an all LTE network. Nice work! Sooner than I expected!
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I really hope we don't lose HSPA here in St. Louis anytime soon because without B12 most places lack indoor LTE coverage and GSM is WAYYY too slow for data on modern devices.
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wifi for indoor use?
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That's not always a option.
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So Denver will go 20mhz on B2 and kill off HSPA? They just moved HSPA to B2 last fall.
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No, Denver only has enough spectrum for 15x15 Mhz FDD LTe on PCS. HSPA was added to Band II back in 2012/13 during network modernization, it is now being decommissioned.
http://www.spectrumgateway.com/county?cc=8031&lat=39.73924&lng=-104.99025
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That's right, slipped my mind. So we will have 2 10mhz blocks instead of a 10 and 5.
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No still 10+5 AWS and 15 PCS. Leftover AWS for HSPA+.
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We already have that now. What's changing in April?
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Nice to see this happening in Cincinnati -- perfect timing for when I move in August!
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Milwaukee needs this. We only have 10Mhz band 4 and 5mhz band 2 with the other 5mhz still hspa.
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Too bad Pittsburgh is not on the list :( We have 10x10 MHz for DC-HSPA+ and desperately need more spectrum for LTE.
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The list only include markets that are having UMTS shutdown.
Pittsburgh is definitely on the roadmap to getting more Band 2 LTE.
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The list only include markets that are having UMTS shutdown
And of that UMTS being shutdown, only U1900 being shut down, which the vast majority of these markets listed have U2100 still on air for the foreseeable future.
In laymen terms, thinning 3G capacity, but not removing 3G completely (yet), for the sake of creating more LTE capacity.
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I'd be willing to bet that AWS 3G is shut down soon after their PCS refarming is complete. Neville's been pretty clear about his eagerness to get rid of 3G and 2G as quickly as possible.
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All of this is part of the move to 1c of UMTS, in whatever band is least encumbered, which for 50 MHz AWS-1 markets, that's U2100.
For most markets with less than 50 MHz of AWS-1, that's U1900.
And for markets with severely undersized and/or fragmented holdings, that's 0c UMTS to maximize what little spectrum there is.
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Excellent!
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10x10 MHz for DC-HSPA+
EARFCN 9765 and 9784 means 7.6 MHz of DC-HSPA+. Looks out for when the latter UMTS carrier disappears to ready for 10+10 PCS LTE.
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I wish the Chattanooga area could get its PCS refarmed to LTE. In terms of CA Verizon is kicking our asses in my area.
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It will eventually, just not on April 25th. This is only the first wave of shutdowns. Their goal eventually is to refarm all PCS 3G to LTE, and eventually all AWS 3G as well, leaving only 2G in the guard bands until it's shut down in 2020-2021.
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It looks like they can probably add another 5mhz of Band 2 if they refarm the HSPA spectrum in my area. Jacksonville FL, I have B2 and B4 HSPA. Is that normal in a lot of markets?
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Can somebody swap spectrum in Tampa to get us up to 15mhz band 2? We have 25mhz of band 4 so I think we should swap!
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I wish that Wilmington Nc was going to get 20x20 pcs band 2.
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Not enough spectrum.
http://www.spectrumgateway.com/county?cc=37129&lat=34.22573&lng=-77.94471
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What will we ever get down here?
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Start refarm with 5 PCS LTE and 7.6 DC-HSPA+ and GSM, then to 10 PCS LTE and 3.8 HSPA+ and GSM.
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I see!! Thanks.
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Yet some MVNOs like USMobile or Project Fi haven't fully activated VoLTE.
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It's not T-Mobile's responsibility to worry about MVNOs.
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Actually it is, they're customers just like T-Mobile's normal ones and they had a load impact on the network.
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T-Mobile most likely is working with Tracfone on VoLTE support. That will take care of 90% of MVNO subscribers. US Mobile and Project Fi are too small to worry about.
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Project FI is working on T-mobile VoLTE right now https://www.reddit.com/r/ProjectFi/comments/5uon4i/project_fi_and_volte/?ref=share&ref_source=link
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T-Mobile doesn't make major network decisions based on how it'll impact a very small number of MVNOs. The MVNOs should enable VoLTE.
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Yes but Project Fi has this issue where they also use two other networks, even with that hinderance they're testing VoLTE as we speak
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They could run voice over GSM without problems. Or, in the case of FI, use Sprint.
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Is Los Angeles already refarming B2 spectrum for LTE?
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For some time now.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/comments/575x60/latest_network_upgrade_in_los_angeles_ca_area/
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all of Los Angeles?
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yes, and surrounding areas OC/SB/RV. Not all macro sites have it yet.
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I've noticed a ton of band 2 LTE popping up in Boise.
Holdings for Boise: 15MHz of PCS and 25MHz of AWS (5 of it is AWS-3.) PCS is at 10MHz so far and LTE is at 20MHz.
If they get rid of PCS HSPA in Boise, there will be 15+20+5Mhz of LTE there. (B2+4+12)
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Might not get there for another year or two I would guess.
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I've noticed it too, mostly around the mall area. Hope they keep that going, T-Mobile is very good in most of Boise (especially in terms of coverage; plenty of places I get coverage that I would not get any on Cricket/AT&T) but there are a few congested spots (though also, not as congested as Cricket was). The Village in Meridian is probably one of the worst (my Fi phone has started auto switching to Sprint in that area). Also the area around Fairview and Curtis might be a bit slow (though I'm less sure about that).
Oh and Nampa/Caldwell, that's where the real congestion is.
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Was at my brother's house (kind of close to downtown) and I was hitting ~80-90Mbps down. The tower that I was connected to is band 4 only still. I forced band 12 just to see what I'd get and I was getting ~20Mbps down on a different tower. I've seen B2 popping up in Caldwell and Nampa (check cellmapper, I run that every time I go through caldwell/nampa/meridian/boise.) One place that I have horrible coverage is inside the mall in Boise.
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Does this mean that areas with PCS 4G HSPA+ will now be on PCS LTE? I notice a lot of times my friends with iPhone 6's which lack band 12 LTE support will often be on PCS 4G HSPA+ in areas I have band 12 LTE on my iPhone 7
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Eventually, but not instantly.
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So this could result in coverage lost. Great.
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With NYC on this list, does that mean that the spectrum sharing going on (L1900 at 5/10 Mhz and U1900 broadcasted at the same time, if a U1900 device is nearby) will end, and B4 will be the only HSPA connection available?
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Yes
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Thanks!
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Any news on San Francisco ? It was supposed to be getting some modernization but it's been super brutal. Especially around Caltrain in SOMA.
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can i buy the onetouch tablet and add it to my account just to get the 200 off an ipad? i see one in my local pawn for like 30 bucks
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My work is never done.
That's a good thing, right? Job security :D
Complaining about how work is never done?!?!?!?!?? Let's see if you'll complain when there's no work and no pay!
Job security is important but let's hope that u/icepick_ isn't being overburdened and at least has a life :)
Who's complaining? You lost me... :P
Haha sorry, I meant for u/icepick_