Anyone know if TMobile has been using some of it's 600Mhz in Chicago and S Suburbs?

[michko]

Hi everyone,

I'm with AT&T and looking to jump ship. However building penetration is important and I've been reading (TMoNews) that TMobile began lighting up some 600Mhz in Chicago and some suburbs of Chicago. I'm not a techy so I'm not sure if they've flipped the switch and it's already in use or???

I'm sick of AT&T prices and looking for some relief.

Any info you can shed would be great. I'm in Orland Park area.

Thanks

[DRNewcomb]

No band 71 is showing up on CellMapper. This makes sense as there are at least 5 OTA TV stations that could be blocking deployment of band 71 in that market until phase 6 (October).

[michko]

No band 71 is showing up on CellMapper. This makes sense as there are at least 5 OTA TV stations that could be blocking deployment of band 71 in that market until phase 6 (October).

Ah ok. I’ve seen TmoNews report Chicago and Orland Park, etc so maybe they have it up but didn’t flip the switch.


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[shilohcane]

Ah ok. I’ve seen TmoNews report Chicago and Orland Park, etc so maybe they have it up but didn’t flip the switch.


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You must have seen their by weekly update where they have improved all Advanced LTE service on all spectrum. The FCC Phase 3 of 10 is due to be completed on June 21th for TV Channel recompact. This is the map from May 1st that should be updated soon for only 600 Mhz Band 71 spectrum deployment.

[Jack Hagar]

Chicago is not due to move stations until Phase 6 which ends Oct 18th 2019. So I wouldn't expect any band 71 until early 2020

[DRNewcomb]

These TV stations pretty well block band 71 in the Chicago market:
WWME Ch 39
WESV Ch 40
WCPX Ch 43
WLS-TV Ch 44
WTTW Ch 47

[Haas_Dave]

No band 71 is showing up on CellMapper. This makes sense as there are at least 5 OTA TV stations that could be blocking deployment of band 71 in that market until phase 6 (October).

Make that possibly until phase 8 (March 2020) since there are two stations with towers in Chicago under that phase. My bet is at least one station might end up waiting until last second to flip over.

Here in KCMO, the last repacked station barely made it’s April 12th phase deadline. We are only recently, within the last couple weeks, seeing sites get band 71 running.

Ah ok. I’ve seen TmoNews report Chicago and Orland Park, etc so maybe they have it up but didn’t flip the switch.

The TMoNews report regarding Chicago/Orland Park might have been more related to better band 12 deployment. That report did suggest it could be either band 71 or band 12 and there’s no mention of specific band upgrades by city.

Honestly OP, until they get band 71 running in the Chicago metro, I would stay away from T-Mobile. There is a good amount of congestion and data speeds complaints, and I myself have seen these issues traveling there a few times in the last year.

Perhaps you can switch over to a cheaper AT&T MVNO or their prepaid brand if cost is an issue.

[shilohcane]

Chicago is not due to move stations until Phase 6 which ends Oct 18th 2019. So I wouldn't expect any band 71 until early 2020

T-Mobile is way a head of those original FCC 10 phases on the repact. That FCC Repack schedule is almost useless since it is inaccurate with T-Mobile moved up about 50 regions on that schedule. This is due to the fact that only T-Mobile is active in deploying 600 Mhz and T-Mobile owns only 45% of it so the FCC is giving T-Mobile priority in this TV station repack. TV stations don't get their money from the Gov until they have left the spectrum.

[Jack Hagar]

T-Mobile is way a head of those original FCC 10 phases on the repact. That FCC Repack schedule is almost useless since it is inaccurate with T-Mobile moved up about 50 regions on that schedule. This is due to the fact that only T-Mobile is active in deploying 600 Mhz and T-Mobile owns only 45% of it so the FCC is giving T-Mobile priority in this TV station repack. TV stations don't get their money from the Gov until they have left the spectrum.

I'm telling you're not getting all those stations to move before phase 6 which ends in 4 months anyway. I know t-mobile pays to have stations early they did that in my area last year. Were supposed to move in March 2020 moved in June and August of last year. Already have band 71 in my town for a few months now.

Also the maps on rabbitears.info are accurate. Especially since the site owner Trip works for the FCC and specifically worked on this auction

[CircuitSwitched]

They already have Band 12 700MHz in Chicago so 600MHz won’t make a considerable difference for indoor coverage anyways.


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[DRNewcomb]

They already have Band 12 700MHz in Chicago so 600MHz won’t make a considerable difference for indoor coverage anyways....

Perhaps, but 15x15 MHz of additional low-band capacity will definitely help congestion.

[Jack Hagar]

They already have Band 12 700MHz in Chicago so 600MHz won’t make a considerable difference for indoor coverage anyways.


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Band 12 is only 5X5 so max speed is slow and easily congested. adding another 10X10, 15X15 or more of low band helps no matter how you slice it

[shilohcane]

They already have Band 12 700MHz in Chicago so 600MHz won’t make a considerable difference for indoor coverage anyways.

I just don’t get this statement even if B71 is initially just 5x5 MHz. So with B12 5x5Mhz and the new B71 5x5 MHz it has doubled the bandwidth. Also with B71 we also get Carrier Aggregation with B2, B4 or B66 that really improves bandwidth.

[Morphling27]

Right, I don't think there's been a time recently where launching even an extra low band 5x5 slice is 'pointless'. Maybe in the rolling fields of North Dakota, but more capacity is usually welcome even there I bet.

[CircuitSwitched]

I never stated it won't make a difference in speed. I stated the coverage will not substantially improve just by lighting up Band 71.