mobile broadband

AT&T’s theory of Evolution assumes its customers aren’t highly Evolved

3 January 2019 by Steve Blum
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Att customer evolution

AT&T subscribers will get 5G on their smartphones soon. No, not 5G service. Just a “5” and a “G” and a little bitty “E” at the top of their screens, where it now says “4G”. It’s a branding move, and not a particularly honest one. About a year ago, AT&T announced it was relabelling its 4G upgrades as 5G Evolution (that’s what the little E stands for).

According to a story in Fierce Wireless by Mike Dano…

AT&T…introduced the “5G Evolution” marketing label to cover markets where it offers advanced LTE network technologies…AT&T has argued that such technologies pave the way for eventual 5G services, though critics have argued that AT&T’s “5G Evolution” marketing moves only serve to sow confusion among consumers.

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5G smartphones, systems ready for 2019 exhibition season

22 December 2018 by Steve Blum
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It’s a lot like spring training. Mobile 5G service is moving into the “proof of concept” stage, according to a joint press release from Samsung and Verizon. They trotted out a design they intend to offer to consumers “in the first half of 2019” at a Qualcomm meeting this week.

Both Verizon and AT&T plan to light up very limited 5G (or in Verizon’s case, near–5G) networks in several U.S. cities by the end of the month.… More

AT&T rep says 5G is only for infill in rural California, and she’s probably telling the truth

4 December 2018 by Steve Blum
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Salinas windmill cell site

AT&T doesn’t plan to deploy 5G networks in rural California. According to AT&T staff lobbyist Alice Perez, small cell sites will be used for “infill” purposes in rural communities, to supplement big macro sites.

Those infill small cells might even be limited to 4G capability, and not use 5G technology. Her comments came while she was dampening 5G expectations. Any kind of cell site can be small, and she was quite keen about 4G systems, such as AT&T’s planned public safety network – FirstNet – and “voice over LTE”, which AT&T still hopes will be a replacement for copper-based Plain Old Telephone Service in rural areas.… More

Partisan shift in Congress could influence anti-trust reviews of T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint

29 November 2018 by Steve Blum
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The flip from a republican majority to a democratic one in the federal house of representatives has opened a window of opportunity for, among others, those opposed to T-Mobile’s planned takeover of Sprint. A coalition of fourteen labor organisations and a wide range of advocacy are urging the presumed incoming chairmen of the house judiciary, and energy and commerce committees to investigate the “likely effects” of the deal.

In a letter sent yesterday (h/t to a story by Harper Neidig in the Hill for the pointer), the groups reminded representatives Jerry Nadler (D – New York) and Frank Pallone (D – New Jersey) that they spoke out against the merger when democrats were the minority party, that they should follow through now that they’re in the majority…

Representative Pallone, on April 30th you and Representative Doyle wrote to Chairman Walden and Chairman Blackburn requesting a hearing on the proposed Sprint/T-Mobile merger.

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T-Mobile not worried about speed or result of CPUC review of Sprint deal

22 November 2018 by Steve Blum
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T-Mobile doesn’t seem to be too worried about getting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission for its proposed takeover of Sprint. The company’s chief financial officer, Braxton Carter, spoke at an investment conference in Barcelona last week, and offered an optimistic timeline to complete the transaction…

The goal, we believe, is still to close this transaction…in the first half, probably in the second quarter of ’19. You look at the shot clock with the FCC, it’s really implying a very early April end of that shot clock at this point, and that’s why I’m more pointing to the second quarter is more probable.

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U.S. mobile bandwidth is rich world’s most expensive, and it could get worse

20 November 2018 by Steve Blum
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Mobile broadband prices in the U.S. are the highest in the developed world, according to a report just published by a Finnish research company. A study by Rewheel concluded that even though there are four seemingly competitive mobile operators in the U.S., “gigabyte prices are not competitive”, and “the US has the 5th highest gigabyte prices in smartphone plans and is the most expensive market in mobile broadband among the 41” European Union and other developed countries (i.e.… More

Race to 5G is ready to go, but don’t be distracted by false starts

11 November 2018 by Steve Blum
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The easiest way to win the race to 5G is to simply declare victory. It’s what mobile carriers did a decade ago with 4G, and what they’re doing now. That’s causing confusion, as an editorial by FierceWireless’ Monica Alleven describes…

One of the problems with defining 5G is, practically speaking, there’s no single judge currently determining what is or isn’t 5G. Is it ITU’s job, or 3GPP’s? Mostly, it’s the individual marketing departments at carriers and vendors, or “all of the above"…

Verizon is probably the most justified to date to actually call its 5G Home service a 5G service.

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Will California earthquakes move faster than mobile networks?

4 November 2018 by Steve Blum
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Earthquakes happen quickly, but not instantly. The shaking can last anywhere from a few seconds to more than a minute for a major quake. The shock waves spread out from the epicenter at something like the speed of sound, so it can be a few minutes before everything stops moving everywhere. The initial underground movement can also be detected by instruments before it’s felt on the surface.

Data networks, on the other hand, run at nearly the speed of light.… More

Small WISPs handed a tougher business case by FCC spectrum decision

24 October 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Federal Communications Commission sided with big, national mobile carriers over small, local wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) yesterday. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on where you think the market for wireless broadband service is heading.

The issue was use of the 3.5 GHz band (3550 MHz to 3700 MHz), which is frequently used for wireless broadband service – fixed and mobile – internationally, and is particularly sought after for 5G deployments.… More

T-Mobile Sprint merger will eliminate thousands of California jobs, union says

18 October 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Communications Workers of America (CWA), which is the largest telecoms union in California, asked to join the California Public Utilities Commission’s inquiry into T-Mobile’s proposed takeover of Sprint yesterday. In its “motion for party status”, CWA said it represents wireless industry workers at AT&T and “as members of T-Mobile Workers United, an organisation of T-Mobile and MetroPCS employees”.

Many could lose their jobs, according to the union’s motion…

The T-Mobile/Sprint merger will have a significant impact on CWA members, both as workers in the industry and as consumers of wireless services.

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