SOC: ROMAHOME vs TNX

[@TheRealDanny]

Saw this on Reddit for those of you confused about the two SOC codes from user: PHONER

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sprint/comm...ssmf&context=3



Romahome prioritises T-Mobile as the 4G and 5G network but uses Sprint for 3G fallback. Romahome also keeps the Sprint SIM and Sprint network name. You keep Sprint’s roaming partners

TNX gives you a T-Mobile SIM card and makes it so your phone prioritises T-Mobile’s entire network. You can manually select Sprint LTE but you cannot use Sprint 3G. Your network will display T-Mobile as the carrier and will use T-Mobile’s roaming partners




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[jmac32here]

Thank you for the clarification. So many have been saying that T-Mobile isn't shuttering Sprint's side of LTE when in fact they are. It's just that since so many Sprint customers (not on MVNO's) have been loaded up with ROAMAHOME, it seems like nothing has changed. I am on Tello, an MVNO and am PERSONALLY noticing the changes.

[Haas_Dave]

Thank you for the clarification. So many have been saying that T-Mobile isn't shuttering Sprint's side of LTE when in fact they are. It's just that since so many Sprint customers (not on MVNO's) have been loaded up with ROAMAHOME, it seems like nothing has changed. I am on Tello, an MVNO and am PERSONALLY noticing the changes.

Though true, it gets complicated since T-Mobile’s plan for non-overlapping sites seems to also include adding on to existing setups. It’s the overlapping sites that seem to be depreciated as far as maintenance as time goes along.

I know T-Mobile is adding B41 as LTE along with B25 (mostly via MFBI) on many of their current towers as they have in NYC, Chicago etc. Even here in KC, I can see it on occasion with my Sprint UICC that doesn’t have ROAMAHOME (I lose native Sprint in the basement laundry room and it shows as roaming on T-Mobile with 311-490 on B41 and B25 along with B71 and B12), so my guess is eventually all non-MVNO, non-Boost, Sprint UICCs will end up using T-Mobile towers before they decommission the CDMA setup and overlapping towers.


OP: Mention under TNX that roaming on US Cellular and Nex-Tech requires a T-Mobile-branded device (or any iPhone) and active VoLTE, as that continues to be required on T-Mobile SIMs.
Sprint UICCs still get access to US Cellular CDMA and LTE without needing a T-Mobile-branded device or VoLTE. I presume this is also the case with Nex-Tech (I haven’t been through their coverage area to know for sure).


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[jmac32here]

Though true, it gets complicated since T-Mobile’s plan for non-overlapping sites seems to also include adding on to existing setups. It’s the overlapping sites that seem to be depreciated as far as maintenance as time goes along.

I know T-Mobile is adding B41 as LTE along with B25 (mostly via MFBI) on many of their current towers as they have in NYC, Chicago etc. Even here in KC, I can see it on occasion with my Sprint UICC that doesn’t have ROAMAHOME (I lose native Sprint in the basement laundry room and it shows as roaming on T-Mobile with 311-490 on B41 and B25 along with B71 and B12), so my guess is eventually all non-MVNO, non-Boost, Sprint UICCs will end up using T-Mobile towers before they decommission the CDMA setup and overlapping towers.


OP: Mention under TNX that roaming on US Cellular and Nex-Tech requires a T-Mobile-branded device (or any iPhone) and active VoLTE, as that continues to be required on T-Mobile SIMs.
Sprint UICCs still get access to US Cellular CDMA and LTE without needing a T-Mobile-branded device or VoLTE. I presume this is also the case with Nex-Tech (I haven’t been through their coverage area to know for sure).


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Which would explain why not one, not two, but more than 3 MVNOs have already jumped ship or have begun announcing the Newly Expanded Network.

Tello made the announcement last month in their BLOG that all customers will need to be on compatible devices and be migrated over to T-Mobile (requires a new SIM) ASAP. They note that service will show signs of degradation for those who wait and those devices not compatible with T-Mobile's network. They plan on starting "soon" and are wanting everyone to migrate over ASAP, noting they were informed that Sprint's "basic voice service" will no longer function towards the middle of 2021. There has been no guarantee that those using Sprint UICCs will continue to have even basic data, which I have already seen my service on that front declining rapidly.

I am a Tello customer and I used to get LTE around my house, but only 3G inside my house. (There was one corner where I would sometimes get LTE.) Now, I barely get 3G around my house and only get 1x/"No Service" inside. The 3G data is so scarce and my phone bounces from 3G to 1x often, so I essentially cannot get data on my phone anywhere near my own house - in Seattle - unless on wifi. (Which so far is proving to only be a nuisance since I am on wifi at home.) I get closer to downtown/SODO - as I live on Beacon Hill - then suddenly I get band 25/41 LTE. Band 26 has all but vanished from my area, as to seeing that's what gave me LTE around my house, and now I've only connected to B26 once in the past month - that was two blocks from my house heading towards the the Red Apple Market. That was two weeks ago, now I don't even connect to B26 there anymore. There's a combo tower T-Mobile/Sprint down the hill from my house in SODO near where Link Light Rail stores its trains. I noticed about a week ago that tower was suddenly missing 8 nodes on both rungs, could see the wires where they were for exactly 24 hours. Since this all happened and they "quietly" made changes to their own site before the announcement. (They began advertising phones with VoLTE even though they don't offer VoLTE on Sprint.) Not to mention this past week they made some more quiet changes to the site by beginning to remove all references to Sprint, so another announcement should be coming up. I am eagerly awaiting this one so I can order the new SIM (I upgraded to an iPhone with VoLTE which will be compatible) because I know T-Mobile will get me a better signal around my house since there's a tower a block away.

Hello Mobile just began announcing their "Newly Expanded 5G/4G LTE Network" on the main page of their site. However, they already had a "backup" agreement with T-Mobile (Sprint was the main agreement, but customers not within Sprint coverage would be taken to a site that offered T-Mobile's network.) so they already had "GSM" SIMs and very quickly switched to only sending those out shortly after the merger completed. (They even changed their FAQ to cover both Sprint and T-Mobile devices.) Other than the only sending out T-Mobile SIMs and the newly expanded network, there's been no other announcements.

Access Wireless confirmed to me in an e-Mail that they have been informed that "Sprint/T-Mobile" intends to shut down Sprint CDMA service towards the end of 2021 and are now assessing which customers would be affected and are preparing to issue new devices to those customers. They may also begin issuing out new SIMs to customers who have compatible devices.

Beast Wireless decided, and confirmed to me in an e-mail, that they didn't want to deal with the merger and switched from Sprint to Verizon back in April. They also changed the site and are only offering the free 1GB plan.

I have a list on DWR Reviews section that has been citing all the changes we have noticed on MVNO carrier websites, which includes many former Sprint MVNO's quietly switching to T-Mobile. Showing a new T-Mobile coverage map and device lineup, but not making any formal announcement as to what is actually going on. I suspect they, like Tello, will begin e-mailing customers that were on Sprint informing them of needed changes to keep using the service. If the device is compatible, they may just send out a new SIM, but if the device is not, they will need to urge the customers to upgrade.

As it stands right now, the Sprint MVNO herd is thinning out rapidly and many of these carriers already had agreements with other parent networks.

[hwertz]

Based on pricing of the MVNO services, I would guess (pre-merger of course) T-Mo may have had slightly lower MVNO pricing than Sprint anyway (with both being lower than AT&T or VZW). So (as long as the MVNO can get their billing system to cooperate) it's probably not a hard decision for them to switch to being T-Mo MVNOs.

Really is surprising how reliant Sprint still was on CDMA at time of buyout. I've set my phone LTE-only for quite a while on VZW; VZW, US Cellular roaming, and Bluegrass roaming, VoLTE no problem on all 3.. The one spot I lost service LTE (on this mountain hiking trail in the N. Carolina), turned on 1x and got some US Cellular 1x roaming... that was too weak to do anything. Signal went up a hair and it went back to LTE. As far as I know, VZW, USCC, Bluegrass (recently purchased by VZW) all have allowed for swapping your SIM around for years (as opposed to the CDMA-style faffing about with *228 or web site with IMEI/MEIDs that Sprint was apparently still using.) (Edit: To be fair, for US Cellular it's more like a year... they went from taking 4G pretty casual by 2018, expecting then to take 4-5 years to finish it, to having pretty much 100% VoLTE network by end of 2019... not sure if it's 100% there could be those couple 1x sites out somewhere I suppose but pretty close.)