CNN Money names T-Mobile as Tech Company of the year; Investors not happy

[npaladin-2000]

Good luck getting the carriers to play nice with LTE bands. A lot of the phones released by carriers only with that carriers' specific bands. It costs money to certify/design more LTE bands, so there is some cost issue, but mostly greed.

Only exceptions would be manufacturers unwilling to bend to carrier modifications and only release one model with all bands (eg apple iPhone, google nexus)

There can be some overlap: I believe att/Verizon/T-Mobile hold and will use bands 2/4. T-Mobile's band 12 phones can roam on Att's sband 17. Sprint is just SOL,and I hope their new equipment policies will try to be more consumer friendly(yeah... Probably not going to happen)

Bands 2 and 4 (PCS and AWS) are pretty universal, Sprint even uses Band 2 in places, not Band 4 though (and they mostly use Band 25 rather than 2 anyway) . Once AT&T gets their 700 mhz stuff advertising as Band 12 that will also be a common band, also used by T-Mobile and US Cellular. Those three bands are where any LTE roaming is going to happen.

Verizon's Band 13, Sprint's bands 25, 26 and 41, and AT&T's bands 17 and 30 are all pretty unique to each carrier. AT&T also has LTE Band 5, which Verizon and Tmobile could theoretically use, but so far they aren't, and I don't know if US Cellular or cSpire are using it either.

Band 12 devices can only make use of a Band 17 LTE network if it's also advertising itself as Band 12, not if it's only appearing as Band 17. So it's not correct to say T-mobile Band 12 phones can use AT&T's current Band 17 network. They can't not until AT&T makes some changes to it to make it compatible.

 

[dagamer34]

T-Mobile's CEO said it best, he's garnering good will by doing things that everyone in the industry must eventually do. For example, the hocus pocus that previously happened around 2-year contracts and $199 is unsustainable, especially when it's clear that phones are going to last longer than 2-years in pretty good condition. We're pretty quickly at that point now if not already with either the iPhone 5s or iPhone 6.

T-Mobile is biding its time until 700MHz and 600MHz spectrum are usable by phones and the "poor coverage" argument completely disappears. Then what are AT&T and Verizon going to use to gain customers? And remember that customers are not likely to forget prior bad practices when those two companies start having to really compete with customers in an attempt to increase profits.

 

[dagamer34]

Bands 2 and 4 (PCS and AWS) are pretty universal, Sprint even uses Band 2 in places, not Band 4 though (and they mostly use Band 25 rather than 2 anyway) . Once AT&T gets their 700 mhz stuff advertising as Band 12 that will also be a common band, also used by T-Mobile and US Cellular. Those three bands are where any LTE roaming is going to happen.

Verizon's Band 13, Sprint's bands 25, 26 and 41, and AT&T's bands 17 and 30 are all pretty unique to each carrier. AT&T also has LTE Band 5, which Verizon and Tmobile could theoretically use, but so far they aren't, and I don't know if US Cellular or cSpire are using it either.

Band 12 devices can only make use of a Band 17 LTE network if it's also advertising itself as Band 12, not if it's only appearing as Band 17. So it's not correct to say T-mobile Band 12 phones can use AT&T's current Band 17 network. They can't not until AT&T makes some changes to it to make it compatible.

Yeah, and if I remember correctly, AT&T isn't doing that network advertising until last 2015.

 

[paperwastage]

Yeah, and if I remember correctly, AT&T isn't doing that network advertising until last 2015.

there are reports of AT&T already testing/deploying it in production areas... not official of course

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1853331-Note-4-picking-up-band-12

 

[dainthomas]

I come from a rural area that I visit for the holidays, so it's a problem.

T-mobile has wifi calling.

 

[jonny13]

I really find that whole rural argument to be meaningless. Are so many of you guys from rural areas that coverage is an issue? I mean AT&T claims to cover 99% of the population. Even if that 1% is not covered, what % of that 1% actually surfs tech forums.

I have carried an VZW iPhone and AT&T Android phone for some time now, and only very few cases has the VZW coverage been a factor. And there are just as many places where VZW sucks balls too (i.e. Manhattan)

I know for me in Minnesota, most cities have decent coverage for Tmobile. But the problem is the hundreds of miles between those cities that are completely dead. I have wifi at home, so I just care about coverage in the car or on the lake or wherever else I plan on being at the time. If you live, work, and never leave a major city, then Tmobile is just fine.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I really find that whole rural argument to be meaningless. Are so many of you guys from rural areas that coverage is an issue? I mean AT&T claims to cover 99% of the population. Even if that 1% is not covered, what % of that 1% actually surfs tech forums.

I have carried an VZW iPhone and AT&T Android phone for some time now, and only very few cases has the VZW coverage been a factor. And there are just as many places where VZW sucks balls too (i.e. Manhattan)

How else am I gonna stream Netflix when I am driving through the desert to Vegas?

 

[paperwastage]

How else am I gonna stream Netflix when I am driving through the desert to Vegas?

i drove from NYC to Windham NY for skiing..

mostly Edge on highways (once you leave the tristate area), got LTE in kingston (pitstop), 3G on the Windham mountain (4 bars, but only 3-4KByte/s speeds, not very usable), lost signal a few times, went roaming on AT&T once

So if you understand that you won't get the (very good 70mbps) LTE service outside of cities, t-mobile is fine


When I do a trip up to Killington VT, I know I'll be roaming 100% of the time once I pass Albany NY. Killington itself has one t-mobile 2G tower....

 

[npaladin-2000]

i drove from NYC to Windham NY for skiing..

mostly Edge on highways (once you leave the tristate area), got LTE in kingston (pitstop), 3G on the Windham mountain (4 bars, but only 3-4KByte/s speeds, not very usable), lost signal a few times, went roaming on AT&T once

So if you understand that you won't get the (very good 70mbps) LTE service outside of cities, t-mobile is fine


When I do a trip up to Killington VT, I know I'll be roaming 100% of the time once I pass Albany NY. Killington itself has one t-mobile 2G tower....

When was this? Route 9 in Dutchess County is all wideband LTE now. A lot of Orange is too, including 84 and 9W.

 

[paperwastage]

When was this? Route 9 in Dutchess County is all wideband LTE now. A lot of Orange is too, including 84 and 9W.

I was on route 87 last sunday, driving though.... My friend was on the phone, telling me there was 2g sometimes maybe LTE...

Sensorly shows LTE on the south part of 87(closer to tri state area), lte in kingston, edge north of kingston... Close to what I saw myself

 

[darkswordsman17]

Good luck getting the carriers to play nice with LTE bands. A lot of the phones released by carriers only with that carriers' specific bands. It costs money to certify/design more LTE bands, so there is some cost issue, but mostly greed.

Only exceptions would be manufacturers unwilling to bend to carrier modifications and only release one model with all bands (eg apple iPhone, google nexus)

There can be some overlap: I believe att/Verizon/T-Mobile hold and will use bands 2/4. T-Mobile's band 12 phones can roam on Att's sband 17. Sprint is just SOL,and I hope their new equipment policies will try to be more consumer friendly(yeah... Probably not going to happen)

Oh I know, and that's kinda the situation now. But I guess I was assuming that in the future that mass phones would choose to use a single modem (or would it be antennae?) to support most of the major carriers. Granted that might take a shift in consumer behavior (buying non contract non-carrier locked versions). But then seems like we've been anticipating some disruptive technology that would put the screws to the telecoms to force them to compete as the dumb pipes they should be for years with little real change to bring it about.

 

[ultimatebob]

i drove from NYC to Windham NY for skiing..

mostly Edge on highways (once you leave the tristate area), got LTE in kingston (pitstop), 3G on the Windham mountain (4 bars, but only 3-4KByte/s speeds, not very usable), lost signal a few times, went roaming on AT&T once

So if you understand that you won't get the (very good 70mbps) LTE service outside of cities, t-mobile is fine


When I do a trip up to Killington VT, I know I'll be roaming 100% of the time once I pass Albany NY. Killington itself has one t-mobile 2G tower....

I drove through the Pocono's on I-80 a few days ago, and watched my data coverage go from 4G LTE at the Jersey border, to 3G, to Edge, to GPRS (WTF, cell towers still support this?!?) to 3G roaming on AT&T, and back to Edge for the rest of the trip.

If you do that same trip with a Verizon phone, it will occasionally jump from 4G LTE to 3G in the more rural areas.

 

[npaladin-2000]

I drove through the Pocono's on I-80 a few days ago, and watched my data coverage go from 4G LTE at the Jersey border, to 3G, to Edge, to GPRS (WTF, cell towers still support this?!?) to 3G roaming on AT&T, and back to Edge for the rest of the trip.

If you do that same trip with a Verizon phone, it will occasionally jump from 4G LTE to 3G in the more rural areas.

I suppose it depends on whether you're going through the parts of NY state that have actual people in them. Deer generally don't care about cell coverage