T-Mobile Formally Launches LTE, New Pricing > Too bad...

reply to motoracer

Re: Too bad...

LTE, all else equal, will have marginally LOWER coverage than H+ (coverage is pretty much inversely proportional to speed). When comparing to TMo's AWS H+ deployment, all else really is equal, so don't expect to get LTE where you can't get 3G/HSPA+ right now.

As for MetroPCS, I can't think of anyone who would actually prefer them over T-Mobile from a tech standpoint, though MetroPCS is a bit cheaper, depending on the plan you get.

The only reason Verizon has good LTE coverage is they're using ~750MHz spectrum to broadcast it.Lower frequencies propagate better than higher ones, so, all else equal, you'll get LTE nearly as far from a site as you could get 850MHz cellular based 3G (EvDO), despite the marked increase in bandwidth (or rather efficiency; Verizon's LTE takes 8x the spectrum of a single EvDO channel, but is nearly 3x as efficient, in ideal circumstances).

LTE is not equal to H+, like EDGE, etc... There are a number of differences in the air interfaces(OFDM)/MIMO and LTE has a much lower noise floor. On top of that newer cells bring the amplifiers closer to the cell which yields better symbol resolution. You should check this out -- asu and this:

»s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entr···-primer/

That blog discusses Sprint which is running on GHz freq just like Tmo will and outside most of the US lots of LTE countries.

I hear Sprint is going to try and run LTE or fixed on Clear spectrum which they have a crapload of it (over 150Mhz) and that is like 2.5 GHz. That will def require LTE-TD to work well, but technology always gets better.

We are entering a spectrum renaissance. All of these vacated 3G networks will be ripe for MVNO and cheap cell plans.

Now granted Verizon and ATT are sitting on spectrum that penetrates better and will allow them to be more picky, however that doesn't discount PCS/AWS-ish frequencies from running solid LTE. The question is how the refarm works and their upgrade path for EDGE cells. That will all require some shuffling until Vo-LTE takes hold for most of this decade.

When they more to LTE-Advanced you don't have to have dedicated download/upload channels.

reply to iansltx
I do. Though if you look at the technology aspect yea. But if you compare Metro PCS has unlimited everything with 3G for $50 taxes included and for those who don't care for smart phones they have $35 unlimited plan as well. If they have hidden caps I have not reached them. They also have 4G for higher but that has caps unless you pay $60. If you don't travel then I don't see why not go with the lowest priced phone for the most bang for the buck. What I worry is about this buy from T-mobile will most likely raise all the prices on Metro-PCS and introduce caps on 3G.

reply to iansltx
Are there any definitive maps of T-Mobile's 1900 MHz coverage?
--
If you can't open it, you don't own it.

Not that I've seen yet.

reply to Cabal
H+? No.

reply to iansltx

reply to elefante72
Uh, I'm iansltx over at s4gru. I'm aware of that stuff.

Hence why I said "all else equal"; T-Mo's recent base stations are modulating PCS H+, AWS H+ and AWS LTE from the same remote radio unit. So it really is an "all else equal" situation, and given identical RSSIs (a legitimate way to measure LTE signal as long as you specify the carrier width...Verizon uses RSSI) for both techs, there are some RSSIs for which WCDMA will work and LTE won't.

We can talk about Sprint, but that's a different thread. You know, s4gru and all that.

reply to Cabal
This site is about as good as it gets: »www.airportal.de/