Cell phone network question

[Eli Allen]

Yes, this is kind of biking related...

Currently I'm on att cause when I went with att they had good cell service when away from populated areas and other providers (sprint and TMobile mostly) didn't seem to get good reception. Reception being important when I'm in the middle of a ride and needing to reach help. I'm guessing things have changed but hard to tell how good reception is. Any thoughts on what to avoid? (I.e. is TMobile still bad in rural areas away from large populations)

Reception maps seem to show all of Maryland and Virginia being covered which I know isn't true when I've been hiking and lose reception.

I know there are only a few actual networks with att, TMobile, Verizon, US Cellular,... As listed here: https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-fi-mint-mobile-xfinity-mobile-visible-which-wireless-networks-do-smaller-providers-use/

Thanks

[Doug Scott]

Not an immediate concern, but AT&T lost out in the 5g bandwidth auctions to both T-Mobile and Verizon.  After their debacle in streaming they just did not have the resources.  AT&T still has dominance in 4g which provides broader coverage in terms of physical area.

I don’t see any immediate need to switch, but if/when 4g networks come off line in the future AT&T’s network coverage will suffer.

Sent from my iPad

On Apr 2, 2023, at 11:02 AM, Eli Allen <eall...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Bruce A. Johnson]

I have had Google Fi for about 4 years. Google Fi is a mobile phone service that opportunistically uses Wi-Fi for voice service and mobile service when Wi-Fi is unavailable. Mainly, they seem to use T-Mobile for their mobile service. Before switching to Google Fi, we had Verizon for over 20 years.

Verizon generally seemed to live up to their "Can you hear me now?" advertising. The only place I ever had zero service was in Browntown, south of Front Royal. For some reason, I could never get good service at my synagogue in Reston, either, but no one seemed to be able to get good service there, from any of the Big Three carriers.

As for Google Fi service, it's generally beenn pretty good. I did have trouble with voice calls at my mother's in Manning, SC, where we were about 2 miles from the interstate and the Wi-Fi was backed up by slow, balky DSL service, and down near Lake Marion (south end of Hwy. 260), but my Verizon-subscribing sister also had no service. As that area is dense with people of means, it was surprising. The Wi-Fi aspect has been very beneficial, since there's nearly always a Starbucks or McDonald's nearby.

I don't worry too much about my phone not having cell service while I'm riding. The situation is better than it was before cell phones existed, and that's good enough for me. I do rely on Google Maps for navigation when exigencies arise, and to avoid an interruption in their availability, I use the "Offline Maps" feature. I have the entire region around my usual riding locations stored in my phone, and when I go to an out-of-town event, I download that area before I leave home.

I hope this has been some help. Individual tolerances of risk vary, and, unfortunately, so does cell coverage. For me, the difference between the reliability of Verizon and Google Fi wasn't worth the difference in price.

Bruce A. Johnson
Herndon, Virginia

[Eli Allen]

Thanks. Though thinking in the next few years at least, less worried about speed (current att seems far enough) and more worried about being able to place a call and having basic data ability.

As in if I only had 4g in major populated areas and 3g everywhere else that would be better than 5g in major populated areas but dead spots when in the middle of no where. I'm kind of worried that's what TMobile would be like so leaning towards switching to a Verizon based network. I'm assuming in terms of reception which Verizon based network I use doesn't matter (a phone with Xfinity will have the same reception as using a Verizon plan directly)

[Neal Becker]

I've been using google fi with good results for years.  They have everything t-mob covers + us celluar.  When I visit places like deep creek US cellular kicks in.  Also nice if you travel because I get data for the same price as I pay here almost everywhere.

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Those who don't understand recursion are doomed to repeat it

[Doug Scott]

We had a place in WV that was nearing the outer perimeter of the Green Bank blackout zone. There was coverage but any attempt to improve it was met with great resistance.

The original plan to build out what is now AT&T’s network was called “Road Runner.”  It was part of the network sharing between then AT&T and Cingular.  One of the two built coverage along the odd numbered interstates (N/S) the other the even.  What they knew is this would cover 80% of the American population and “presto!” that became the FCC accepted standard for advertising nationwide coverage.  The T-Mobile predecessor Voicestream was stuck with mainly urban licenses and needed roaming deals to boast nationwide coverage.

The primary driver for 5G speeds/capacities is for machine to machine data communications.  

As a side note 5g technology had two principal developers; a Turkish academic Erdal Arıkan and a former Nortel colleague Dr. Wen Tong.  The actual technology is brilliant and worth a few moments.  Arikan is responsible for the theoretical innovation moving signal to one pole (+) and noise to the other (-).  Tong operationalized the approach inside wireless transport systems.  They spent several years trying to market their approach to the remaining players in the Western telecoms industry plus Qualcomm, Cisco and Intel.  There was only tepid interest and a general unwillingness to invest in the lab resources required to operationalize things.  My understanding is that private equity players were equally unwilling.

I am told somewhat unreliably that the introduction to Huawei came from an Adm.  Bill Owen a retired naval officer as well as senior executive at both Nortel and Huawei.

This is not the narrative one commonly sees in the US about Chinese stealing our technology.  BTW, when you hear national security concerns over Huawei, they are probably turn, but think in context of a Congressionally mandated capability called CALEA which required all telecoms equipment providers to allow single point network access to monitoring calls that was undetectable.  Prior to this, tapping a line was always accompanied by a measurable voltage drop from the resistance of the addition circuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdjrFrkvf1Q

Anyway, the days trivia.

[Neal Becker]

Yes Airikan invented polar coding.  No, I don't agree that it is fundamental to enabling 5G.  It was included into the standard for mostly political reasons.

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