WebProNews

Tag: Neville Ray

  • Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Is Retiring

    Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Is Retiring

    Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, is retiring after 23 years of leading some of the company’s biggest innovations.

    T-Mobile announced Ray’s intention to retire by Fall 2023, with Executive Vice President and Chief Network Officer Ulf Ewaldsson taking his place. Throughout his tenure, Ray helped the company transition from a 2G carrier to the 5G powerhouse it is today.

    During that time, Ray was a fixture in the company’s commercials, quarterly calls with investors, and the company’s biggest product announcements.

    “Under Neville’s network leadership we have accomplished so much together, and it’s amazing to think that milestones he’s helped T-Mobile achieve – the many network firsts, breakthroughs and innovations – have brought us to where we are today, taking the crown as the nation’s overall network leader,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. “There are so many things Neville has contributed to this company but one of the most important has been his commitment to building the best, most effective Technology team in this industry that will continue to deliver for our future. Neville and his team have worked tirelessly to bring the Un-carrier from last to best in network performance and made T-Mobile’s network a true competitive weapon. What’s even more exciting is that we’re just getting started! As this next chapter of the Un-carrier story is beginning to unfold, we owe a lot of gratitude to Neville for all he’s done to carve this path that will continue to lead us into the future!”

    Sievert continued, “This has been a thoughtfully planned succession and I am thrilled we have an excellent leader in Ulf Ewaldsson to lead our Technology teams. When Ulf joined T-Mobile four years ago, he brought years of experience and deep network strategy leadership capabilities that allowed him to hit the ground running and bring our leading 5G network to life. That’s exactly what he did – and what he will continue to do as President of Technology, leading the best team in our industry! Our goal is always to build a strong bench of leaders who are ready to fill key positions when they’re needed, and this is a perfect example of that approach.”

    Ewaldsson joined the company in 2019 after a 27-year career at Ericsson. He was quickly promoted to EVP and Chief Network Officer in 2021. Ewaldsson has played a crucial role in helping T-Mobile achieve many of its recent milestones, especially in the 5G race. There’s no doubt Ray will be missed, although Ewaldsson certainly has the experience needed to succeed him.

  • T-Mobile Is Still the 5G King With Its Latest Expansion

    T-Mobile Is Still the 5G King With Its Latest Expansion

    T-Mobile has expanded its 5G coverage yet again, helping the company remain firmly in first place in the US 5G wars.

    T-Mobile took an early lead in the 5G race thanks to the wealth of mid-band spectrum it gained with its Sprint acquisition. In contrast, AT&T and Verizon have had to pony up billions at FCC auctions to play catch-up. Despite their best efforts, however, T-Mobile keeps charging ahead, growing its lead.

    In its latest news, the magenta carrier said it now covers 323 million with its low-band Extended Range 5G and 260 million with its mid and high-band Ultra Capacity 5G. This puts the company weeks ahead of its year-end goal and positions it well for covering 300 million with Ultra Capacity 5G by the end of 2023.

    In contrast, Verizon recently announced its 5G Ultra Wideband, the equivalent of T-Mobile’s Ultra Capacity 5G, only covers 175 million.

    “We’re rapidly executing on our vision to deliver the highest capacity network this country has ever seen,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’ve led in 5G coverage from the beginning, delivering a massive 5G footprint that continues to grow. And with Ultra Capacity 5G, it’s undeniable that T-Mobile customers have access to the most powerful 5G network around.”

  • Users Can Test Drive T-Mobile’s Network for Free for Three Months

    Users Can Test Drive T-Mobile’s Network for Free for Three Months

    T-Mobile is upping the ante once again, giving users the ability to test its network for free for up to three months.

    T-Mobile has long billed itself as the “Un-carrier,” thanks to its tendency to do things that go against standard practices in the wireless industry. The company was the first to bring back unlimited data and bundle taxes and fees in the final price customers pay.

    The company is once again making an Un-carrier move, giving users the ability to test drive its network for free for up to three months via its Network Pass service.

    “Switching is another insane artifact left over from a stupid, broken, arrogant industry … and it’s hard on purpose. As the industry juggernauts in the 3G and 4G era, Verizon and AT&T designed switching to be difficult, keeping their hordes of customers from leaving to protect their billions in revenues,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “At the Un-carrier, we’re laser-focused on being the wireless provider you want to stay with, not the one you’re stuck with. Now through digital innovation we’re making it easier than ever to switch with no worry, less hassle and tons more value than ever before with T-Mobile.”

    Should a customer decide they want to permanently switch to T-Mobile, the company’s Easy Switch makes it a cinch for customers to do so via the T-Mobile app, thanks to eSIMs. An eSIM is a hardware component in a modern phone that can be programmed with SIM card information, allowing it to act in the same capacity as a traditional SIM card. This makes it much easier for users to change carriers, not even needing to go to a T-Mobile store with Easy Switch.

    The company is so confident customers will be happy with the coverage and speed of its network, that it is including Network Scorecard in the T-Mobile app so individuals can gauge the quality of the service they’re getting.

    “Every wireless network has spots where the signal fades, but the difference between T-Mobile and everyone else is that we’ll actually let you experience the country’s leading 5G network BEFORE you switch. That’s how confident we are in T-Mobile’s network,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “There’s a reason that experts in nearly 30 reports have given T-Mobile 5G top marks for speed and availability. The Un-carrier is THE leader in the 5G era, and we want people to see it for themselves!”

  • T-Mobile to Triple Mid-Band 5G Coverage in 2022

    T-Mobile to Triple Mid-Band 5G Coverage in 2022

    T-Mobile is looking to expand its lead in the US 5G market, planning to triple its mid-band 5G coverage in 2022.

    T-Mobile purchased Sprint largely to get the latter company’s wealth of mid-band spectrum. Considered the ideal compromise between speed and coverage, mid-band is essential to the successful rollout of 5G.

    While T-Mobile already covers the majority of the US population, the company wants to expand its physical coverage to include rural areas where the population density is relatively low, according to PCMag.

    “We’re going to have materially more macro-cell sites than our competition,” President of Technology Neville Ray said. “This is a macro build, with large volumes of macro sites.”

    The expansion will help cover the 40% of the US that includes “small markets and rural areas,” Ray said.

    Verizon has traditionally been the carrier that offered the best rural coverage. If T-Mobile’s plans come to fruition, it may give Verizon a run for its money.

  • T-Mobile ‘Remains Firmly in First Place’ in the US 5G Wars

    T-Mobile ‘Remains Firmly in First Place’ in the US 5G Wars

    T-Mobile is continuing to dominate the US 5G market, beating both Verizon and AT&T, in OpenSignal’s latest report.

    T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T are racing to switch their networks over to 5G, rolling out new spectrum as fast as they can. T-Mobile gained a huge advantage with its purchase of Sprint, taking over Sprint’s wealth of mid-band spectrum, which is ideal for 5G deployment. Verizon and AT&T, on the other hand, spent some $68 billion at a single FCC auction to bolster their mid-band spectrum, only to run into issues with the airline industry that have impeded their ability to fully use their spectrum.

    Between the early lead T-Mobile was able to take, and its spectrum not being subject to the same concerns as Verizon and AT&T, in terms of the airline industry, T-Mobile has cemented itself as the 5G company to beat in the US.

    According to OpenSignal’s January 2022 5G Experience Report, T-Mobile now wins in four of six categories: 5G Availability, 5G Reach, Upload Speed, and Download Speed. Verizon won the other two categories, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience, while AT&T did not win any categories.

    “The experts have spoken: T-Mobile 5G is number one in speed and coverage, and we’re continuing to pull away from the pack,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We have the largest 5G network covering 310 million people – 210 million of whom are covered by Ultra Capacity 5G. That’s more than double Verizon’s Ultra Wideband and light years ahead of AT&T’s 5G+. Our competitors are trying desperately to convince consumers and businesses otherwise, but there’s no denying T-Mobile is THE leader in 5G and in a position to deliver the best network performance and capabilities to customers throughout the 5G era.”

  • New T-Mobile Icon Will Let iPhone Users Know Which 5G They’re Using

    New T-Mobile Icon Will Let iPhone Users Know Which 5G They’re Using

    T-Mobile is preparing to update the icon they display for iPhone users when they’re on 5G, showing them when they’re using the fastest flavors.

    T-Mobile uses three different varieties of 5G: low-band for long-range, widespread coverage; mid-band for the best combination of speed and coverage; and mmWave for providing the fastest speeds in dense, urban areas.

    Together, the mid-band and mmWave are what T-Mobile refers to as its Ultra Capacity 5G. Without doing a speed test, however, there has been no easy way to know which flavor of 5G a phone was using.

    According to T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Neville Ray, the company is updating their 5G icon with a “UC” to indicate when the iPhone is connected to Ultra Capacity 5G.

    The new icon will initially show up on iPhone 12 and 13 models, but will also rollout to Android devices in the near future.

  • T-Mobile Once Again Has Fastest, Most Available 5G

    T-Mobile Once Again Has Fastest, Most Available 5G

    Ookla has released its latest report and T-Mobile has once again come out on top in the 5G race.

    Ookla is the maker of the popular Speedtest.net. As a result, the company is in a unique position to offer insights into the state of the US wireless industry, based on real-world data.

    T-Mobile had the fastest wireless speeds, with a median speed of 54.13 Mbps, while AT&T took second place with 47.96 Mbps, and Verizon third with 40.02. When looking solely at 5G speeds, however, T-Mobile pulled even further ahead. The company’s median 5G speed was 99.84 Mbps. Verizon came in second with 78.33 Mbps and AT&T came in third with 75.61.

    T-Mobile also had the best 5G availability at 69%. AT&T was a distant second at 38.4% and Verizon brought up the rear with 35.3%

    “T-Mobile customers are the clear winners coming out of these network reports, with unmatched 5G coverage and 5G speeds that keep getting faster,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “Our differentiated 5G strategy of first building a foundation of coverage and then adding a deep layer of speed with Ultra Capacity 5G focuses on what matters most for customers – coverage and speed. This is how you build a 5G network the right way and this is why T-Mobile is the leader in 5G.”

  • Ookla Releases Latest Wireless Report, T-Mobile Comes Out on Top

    Ookla Releases Latest Wireless Report, T-Mobile Comes Out on Top

    Ookla, the maker of the popular Speedtest app, has released its latest report and T-Mobile has come out as the big winner in wireless.

    Thanks to its Speedtest app, Ookla is in a unique position to compile reports based on organic user data, rather than rigid, pre-defined studies. The company gives each provider a “Speed Score,” which is based on the provider’s upload and download speeds. Because download speed has a far greater impact on a user’s experience, 90% of the score is attributed to download speed, with the remaining 10% attributed to upload.

    Its latest report covers Q1 2021, and T-Mobile has come out on top in almost every category.

    Overall Speed

    In terms of overall speed, T-Mobile scored first place with a score of 50.21. AT&T came in second with 48.38 and Verizon came in third with 41.25.

    Consistency

    Ookla’s Consistency test measures providers’ ability to deliver consistent speeds. T-Mobile came in first, providing download speeds of at least 5 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 1 Mbps 84.8% of the time. AT&T came in second at 83.5% and Verizon came in third at 81.6% of the time.

    5G Speed

    When looking exclusively at 5G speed, T-Mobile was again the clear winner, with an average download speed of 82.35 Mbps. AT&T was again second with 76.60 Mbps, and Verizon came in third at 67.24 Mbps.

    5G Time Spent (5G Availability)

    Ookla’s Time Spent test measures how much time phones are connected to 5G, giving a look into a provider’s 5G coverage and availability. T-Mobile came in first with 65.4%. Verizon came in second with 36.2% and AT&T was third with 31.0%.

    Latency

    Latency tests were the only tests were T-Mobile didn’t score first place. AT&T and Verizon tied at 32 ms, while T-Mobile had 33 ms.

    T-Mobile touted the results as validation of its 5G strategy, one that has helped it become the company to beat in the 5G race.

    “Ookla’s report is just the latest to prove T-Mobile is America’s leader in 5G, with real customer data showing T-Mobile delivers the fastest 5G speeds and a 5G signal more often,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “While the other networks play catch up, T-Mobile 5G will keep layering on even more capacity and speed to the nation’s largest 5G network.”

  • T-Mobile Takes ‘Most Reliable 5G Network’ Title in Latest Report

    T-Mobile Takes ‘Most Reliable 5G Network’ Title in Latest Report

    T-Mobile continues to be the carrier to beat in the US 5G race, adding “most reliable 5G” to its list of accolades.

    The magenta carrier established an early lead in 5G coverage, thanks to being the first company to roll out a nationwide 5G network. T-Mobile used its 600 MHz spectrum to power the nationwide network, spectrum that gives it excellent range and penetration.

    In contrast, Verizon focused almost exclusively on high-band mmWave spectrum in its initial rollout. mmWave offers spectacular speed, but very poor coverage and penetration. As a result, Verizon was the undisputed king of 5G speed in the early days of the rollout.

    In January, however, T-Mobile took the 5G speed crown from Verizon, and now the company’s network has been named the most reliable 5G as well.

    Independent research firm umlaut examined 35 million data samples from more than 55,000 5G users. According to umlaut’s research, T-Mobile ranks first in 5G overall in 44 states. In addition, the company earned top marks for 5G coverage, reliability and speed.

    “Time and time again, the independent network benchmarking reports prove there’s one clear leader in 5G, and that’s T-Mobile,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “With the largest, fastest and now most reliable 5G network in the country, our sights are firmly set on what’s next in 5G, while the competition plays catch-up!!”

  • T-Mobile Experiencing Outages Due to Severe Weather

    T-Mobile Experiencing Outages Due to Severe Weather

    As severe weather pummels much of the US, T-Mobile is experiencing outages throughout the country and especially in Texas.

    The US is currently in the midst of a record-breaking cold snap, leading to snow, ice and other severe weather in portions of the country that rarely see such events. Texas has been particularly hard-hit, with millions of people without power.

    T-Mobile, and to a lesser extent Verizon and AT&T, is experiencing outages as a result of the weather, with DownDetector showing a spike in outage reports beginning late-morning.

    Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, acknowledged the issue via Twitter.

    The company is facing some backlash from upset customers, some of whom are saying the company should invest more in generators for its cell towers.

    https://twitter.com/white_boy65/status/1361380906632679427?s=20

    Given how much T-Mobile touts its network superiority over Verizon and AT&T, losing service due to power outages and bad weather is certainly not a good look.

  • T-Mobile Doubles Mid-Band 5G Coverage, Will Cover 100 Million By Year’s End

    T-Mobile Doubles Mid-Band 5G Coverage, Will Cover 100 Million By Year’s End

    T-Mobile has doubled the extent of its mid-band 5G coverage in just a month, with plans to provide coverage to 100 million by year’s end.

    Mid-band 5G is considered the sweet spot by many experts, providing the range and coverage needed for optimal use. T-Mobile achieved gigabit speed with its mid-band 5G in May. While high-band mmWave is often associated with gigabit speeds, it’s hampered by notoriously short range and even worse building penetration.

    “When it comes to real-world 5G, the only way to get the kind of performance benefits we’ve been promised is through the critical mid-band spectrum,” noted Bob O’Donnell, President of TECHnalysis Research. “Sure, mmWave can be fast, but it’s nearly impossible to find, while low-band 5G is easy to find, but offers smaller improvement over existing LTE. With the 2.5 GHz spectrum being lit up by T-Mobile, however, you get the sweet spot of noticeably improved performance in a respectable coverage area. That’s the kind of 5G benefit that consumers are going to notice and appreciate.”

    Thanks to T-Mobile’s Sprint acquisition, it has more mid-band spectrum than any US carriers, putting it in an excellent position to deliver on its promise.

    “Mid-band is the only way to deliver super-fast 5G speeds that can reach for miles. And here’s the secret AT&T and Verizon don’t want you to know: T-Mobile is the only one with big swaths of mid-band dedicated to 5G. T-Mobile has more mid-band spectrum than anyone else,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’re the only ones building a transformational 5G network built on dedicated — not shared — airwaves. And that means only T-Mobile is capable of making the world’s best 5G network a reality.”

    Today’s announcement is good news for T-Mobile subscribers.

  • T-Mobile: Verizon 5G Speeds About To Hit a Massive Speed Bump

    T-Mobile: Verizon 5G Speeds About To Hit a Massive Speed Bump

    T-Mobile President Neville Ray says that Verizon’s speeds on 5G and LTE are about to hit a massive speed bump. He adds, “You can’t enjoy 5G if you can’t get 5G.” Ouch!

    In a snarky blog post, T-Mobile says that new data released today from Ookla proves that T-Mobile customers get a 5G signal more often than anyone else. T-Mobile says that Verizon customers only connected to 5G a paltry 0.6% of the time. 

    “You can’t enjoy 5G if you can’t get 5G. I can’t believe I have to say this, but apparently, some providers think 5G you can’t find is perfectly OK. T-Mobile has America’s largest 5G network, and Ookla’s report shows T-Mobile customers get the benefits of 5G more often,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’re building 5G for All on dedicated airwaves to deliver both coverage and speed … while Verizon and AT&T force 5G and LTE customers to share already-crowded bandwidth.”

    The Un-carrier’s 5G network is the largest by far, covering 260 million people in more than 7,500 cities and towns. And thanks to the merger with Sprint, T-Mobile is rolling out the best spectrum for 5G — mid-band 2.5 GHz 5G — across the country. It’s already live today in 210 cities and towns and will be in thousands of cities and towns by the end of the year. Where mid-band is deployed, it can deliver average download speeds around 300 Mbps — that’s 7.5x faster than our LTE today — with peak speeds up to 1 Gbps. Verizon’s “Ultra Wideband” can only deliver fast speeds outdoors on specific street corners near base stations. T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G is the sweet spot, it can give customers fast speeds across broad geographies.  

    T-Mobile has dedicated spectrum for 5G across low, mid and high bands. And that’s important because 5G devices will use a lot of capacity. Verizon and AT&T are stealing LTE spectrum from their existing customers to broaden their 5G coverage. Using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), Verizon and AT&T force 5G and LTE customers to share bandwidth, splitting up the capacity so each technology only gets part of it. DSS is an important network feature and should be used in limited scenarios — not to provide an entire nationwide footprint. So, what’s the problem with Verizon’s broad use of DSS? Well, they are already spectrum-constrained and have limited sub-6 GHz spectrum. And now, they’re forced to share that limited resource with their 5G customers too. More traffic, same roads – sounds like a slowdown ahead.

    “The physics are simple. When you force more devices to share crowded airwaves, speeds decrease. I predict Verizon’s speeds on 5G and LTE are about to hit a massive speed bump,” added Ray.

    “By contrast,” says Ray, T-Mobile is building 5G on free and clear dedicated spectrum in all bands with its “layer cake” multi-band strategy. With all three major bands dedicated to 5G, only T-Mobile has wide open freeways ready to take on massive amounts of 5G traffic. And with more low and mid-band spectrum than anyone else, T-Mobile is building an even wider and faster freeway.”

  • T-Mobile Adds Mid-Band 5G In Over 80 Cities; Verizon Calls ‘Foul’

    T-Mobile Adds Mid-Band 5G In Over 80 Cities; Verizon Calls ‘Foul’

    T-Mobile has rolled out high-speed, mid-band 5G in over 80 cities as it continues to utilize the spectrum it acquired with Sprint.

    Mid-band 5G is widely considered to be the sweet spot for 5G spectrum. It provides faster performance than T-Mobile’s low-band nationwide 5G network, reaching speeds up to 1 Gbps. At the same time, it offers better range and penetration than high-band 5G, which requires repeaters and base stations every couple of hundred meters.

    One of the driving factors in T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint was the wealth of mid-band, 2.5 GHz spectrum Sprint had. Since the acquisition was completed, T-Mobile has been integrating the spectrum as fast as possible, with today’s news being the biggest gain yet.

    “T-Mobile has the competition in the rear-view mirror on 5G, and they’re only getting farther behind. While the other guys are playing catch-up, we’ve had nationwide 5G since last year, and we’re now adding faster speeds across the country with mid-band 5G,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “This is our 5G strategy in action. Mid-band is the 5G spectrum, and T-Mobile has more of it than anyone. We have nearly twice as much low and mid-band spectrum as AT&T and nearly triple that of Verizon. And that means T-Mobile is the only one capable of making the world’s best 5G network a reality.”

    At this pace, T-Mobile’s competitors will be playing catch-up for some time. This is likely why Verizon has recently appealed to the FCC to prevent T-Mobile from gaining access to additional 600 MHz spectrum. Never mind the fact that Verizon chose not to bid on any 600 MHz spectrum when it was up for auction, believing they didn’t need the additional spectrum.

    Suddenly Verizon is changing its tune:

    “As shown above, it is T-Mobile that has the most substantial total low- and mid-band spectrum holdings of any provider at the national level,” Verizon stated in its appeal.

    Verizon goes on to quote T-Mobile’s Neville Ray on the status of the company’s advantage:

    “T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Neville Ray, recently boasted that, even before these arrangements take effect, T-Mobile’s low- and mid-band spectrum holdings give it such a ‘material advantage’ in the marketplace that its ‘competition doesn’t have a path to match [it] for some time.’ Indeed, Mr. Ray claimed that T-Mobile has a ‘2x’ or ‘3x multiple’ in the ‘mid- and low-bands’ over AT&T and Verizon.”

    It appears Verizon may now be regretting its decision to not purchase more spectrum when it had the opportunity.

  • T-Mobile and Sprint Officially Unified Under T-Mobile Brand

    T-Mobile and Sprint Officially Unified Under T-Mobile Brand

    Four months after completing a merger years in the making, T-Mobile has officially shut down the Sprint brand.

    T-Mobile and Sprint pursued a merger for several years before finally coming to an agreement and receiving FCC and DOJ approval. Despite federal backing, a coalition of states filed a lawsuit to block the merger. After a judge ruled in T-Mobile’s favor, the merger moved forward with T-Mobile quickly integrating Sprint’s spectrum into its own network.

    Now the company has officially retired the Sprint brand, unifying the two under the T-Mobile brand.

    ”Our team has been working night and day to combine our storefronts – and this is SO much more than just rebranding thousands of Sprint locations with a fresh coat of magenta paint,” writes CEO Mike Sievert. “This is about giving customers even MORE access to our expanded retail footprint, (one of the largest in the United States) and making it even easier and more convenient for them to safely drop in, chat with a Mobile Expert, make upgrades, get the latest deals, and reap the benefits from all that new T-Mobile has to offer! It was no small feat and is a testament to incredible teamwork all around the country. Today truly marks the beginning of a new era for T-Mobile, and for our customers.”

    Sievert also took the opportunity to tout the company’s 5G plans, especially in comparison to the competition.

    ”It all starts with our people and of course our integration work – with major milestones like this one marking our way – and then it really comes to life with our 5G network that will surpass anything that anyone (yes, including Verizon) will deliver to the market for years! (Spoiler alert: we have another important network milestone coming up really soon… because Neville and his team are truly firing on all cylinders to bring 5G to even more people in more places, so stay tuned!). Trust me, we are going to bring new and better connectivity options to everything from major metros and urban cities to small towns and rural America!”

    It remains to be seen what the network milestone is that Sievert is referring to. Given the amount of spectrum T-Mobile acquired with the merger, it’s a safe bet it’s probably something big.

  • T-Mobile Explains Outage: ‘We Didn’t Meet Our Own Bar For Excellence’

    T-Mobile Explains Outage: ‘We Didn’t Meet Our Own Bar For Excellence’

    T-Mobile experienced a major outage Monday, impacting thousands of customers around the world as voice and text services were down.

    The issues began around 12:00 PM Monday, with users having trouble making and receiving calls and texts. President of Technology Neville Ray took to Twitter to reassure users the company’s engineers were working on the issue.

    Despite their efforts, however, the problems continued for roughly 12 hours. They were so widespread that users of other networks reported having issues as well, as we reported. FCC chairman Ajit Pai even got in on the action, tweeting that T-Mobile’s “network outage is unacceptable,” and vowing the FCC would demand answers.

    It appears T-Mobile is providing those answers, with Ray explaining what caused the issue, as well as what the company is doing to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.

    “The trigger event is known to be a leased fiber circuit failure from a third party provider in the Southeast,” writes Ray. “This is something that happens on every mobile network, so we’ve worked with our vendors to build redundancy and resiliency to make sure that these types of circuit failures don’t affect customers. This redundancy failed us and resulted in an overload situation that was then compounded by other factors. This overload resulted in an IP traffic storm that spread from the Southeast to create significant capacity issues across the IMS (IP multimedia Subsystem) core network that supports VoLTE calls.

    “We have worked with our IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) and IP vendors to add permanent additional safeguards to prevent this from happening again and we’re continuing to work on determining the cause of the initial overload failure.”

    Ray personally apologized for the problem, while acknowledging T-Mobile and his team did not meet their own bar for excellence.

  • T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T Experiencing Outages

    T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T Experiencing Outages

    All three of the nation’s largest wireless carriers are experiencing technical difficulties Monday, with customers reporting outages across services.

    T-Mobile’s Neville Ray took to Twitter to acknowledge the issues, while at the same time recommending alternate, data-based services that are not impacted.

    Teams continue to work as quickly as possible to fix the voice & messaging problems some are seeing.

    Data services are now available & some calls are completing. Alternate services like WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, Facetime etc. are available. Thanks for your patience.

    — Neville (@NevilleRay) June 15, 2020

    Neither Verizon nor AT&T have issued a similar statement. However, a look at Ookla’s Downdectector service shows a spike in complaints for both companies coinciding with T-Mobile’s issues. In the case of Verizon, 79% reported an issue with their mobile phone, 16% with mobile internet and 3% with landline internet service. In the case of AT&T, 79% reported an issue with the internet, 11% with their phone and 8% reported no network reception.

    The fact that all three carriers started experiencing major problems around the same time would seem to indicate an issue with a shared network backbone, although no further details were available at time of writing.

  • T-Mobile Hits 5G Milestone With 50-State Coverage

    T-Mobile Hits 5G Milestone With 50-State Coverage

    T-Mobile has added another feather to its 5G cap with coverage in all 50 states, thanks to a roaming deal in Alaska.

    T-Mobile has struck a deal with GCI to allow T-Mobile customers to roam on the company’s 5G network while in the Anchorage, Alaska area. In turn, GCI customers are able to roam on T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network.

    “The massive nationwide 5G network we’re building and expanding by the day – paired with important partnerships like this – extend our 5G leadership over the competition and deliver meaningful 5G experiences to our customers,” said Neville Ray, president of technology at T-Mobile. “Now, our customers with 5G devices can keep 5G service when in Alaska. And to GCI customers, welcome to nationwide 5G!”

    “GCI and T-Mobile have a long history of ‘firsts’ together,” said GCI President and Chief Operating Officer Greg Chapados. “GCI and T-Mobile launched the nation’s first LTE roaming partnership in 2014 and were the first providers to partner together to deliver voice over LTE service. Today’s partnership marks another first and a tremendous milestone! GCI congratulates the T-Mobile team on being the first wireless provider to offer 5G service in all 50 states. The partnership is a win for both companies and for GCI customers who will be able to access 5G service on the nation’s largest 5G network.”

    The move is a nice bragging point for the magenta carrier, making it the only one to offer 5G service in all 50 states. The deal is an even better one for GCI, as its customers gain access to T-Mobile’s 5G network throughout the country.

  • Verizon Tries to Temper 5G Expectations

    Verizon Tries to Temper 5G Expectations

    Verizon is downplaying 5G, when compared to 4G, saying customers will only see “some improvements” initially.

    Verizon and T-Mobile have been locked in a battle over 5G, with the two carriers taking swipes at the other’s speed and coverage. T-Mobile has repeatedly emphasized the coverage of its nationwide 5G network, while Verizon has ran ads pointing out its 5G is faster and is “5G built right.”

    Now, however, Verizon is downplaying the initial performance of its 5G, with CEO Hans Vestberg saying at the J.P. Morgan investors conference that, “in the beginning, you’re going to see some improvements. Over time, dramatic improvements,”

    As we have covered repeatedly in previous articles, much of Verizon’s 5G issues stem from its focus on the high-band mmWave 5G. While offering speeds measured in gigabits, mmWave is notoriously short-range, requiring towers, repeaters and base stations every couple hundred meters. While this may be feasible in densely populated urban areas, mmWave is not practical for rural regions. As a result, while also unveiling mmWave in cities, T-Mobile has focused heavily on low-band 5G for its nationwide network. Low-band has far better range and building penetration, but provides only marginally better speeds than 4G.

    In Verizon’s case, however, the carrier is at a disadvantage when it comes to low-band spectrum, especially compared to T-Mobile. Verizon’s 4G LTE network is primarily based on 700 MHz spectrum, which is largely responsible for Verizon’s legendary coverage. T-Mobile similarly uses 700 MHz spectrum for its 4G network, but deployed 600 MHz spectrum for its nationwide 5G, spectrum that theoretically has even better range and building penetration than either carrier’s 700 MHz 4G.

    Verizon, however, does not have a wealth of 600 MHz low-band spectrum like T-Mobile. As a result, it has to rely on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology to share its spectrum between 4G and 5G users for its low-band network. T-Mobile’s Neville Ray has warned about technical issues with DSS, and pointed out that the magenta carrier’s wealth of low-band spectrum means it is not dependent on DSS.

    When asked during the conference about Verizon’s DSS plans, Vestberg simply said: “Our technology team are progressing on that.” Needless to say, that response is not reassuring given the issues that have come up with DSS.

    Based on the investor conference, Verizon appears to finally be acknowledging, however indirectly, the challenges in providing a true, nationwide 5G network. In contrast, with T-Mobile’s abundance of low-band spectrum, and the absolute wealth of mid-range spectrum it acquired in the Sprint merger, T-Mobile continues to establish itself as THE carrier to beat in the 5G race.

  • T-Mobile Achieves Several Standalone 5G Milestones

    T-Mobile Achieves Several Standalone 5G Milestones

    T-Mobile has announced several important milestones in its standalone (SA) 5G rollout.

    5G networks are currently built on non-standalone (NSA) technology, meaning that the backbone is based on the 4G LTE core, giving compatible devices the ability to connect to with 5G and LTE simultaneously. While still faster than straight LTE, NSA 5G can’t match the potential of an SA 5G network, where all the components are based on the newer tech.

    According to T-Mobile, the company has successfully completed a number of significant steps involving SA 5G testing, including the first data session using multi-vendor modems, the first “voice call using Evolved Packet System (EPS) fallback to VoLTE,” and the first low-band voice calls (VoNR) and video calls (ViNR) over production networks. ViNR is particularly significant, as it allows native, high-quality video calls without an app.

    “Powerful and reliable wireless networks are more important than ever, and these milestones mark a huge step forward for the entire wireless ecosystem,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “Standalone 5G, paired with the broad and deep network we’re building by combining the assets of T-Mobile and Sprint, will accelerate 5G adoption and services and transform wireless!”

    T-Mobile is wasting no time moving forward in their 5G rollout following their merger with Sprint. These latest announcements will pave the way for significant improvements for customers of the magenta network.

  • T-Mobile Rolls Out 2.5Ghz 5G in Philadelphia

    T-Mobile Rolls Out 2.5Ghz 5G in Philadelphia

    T-Mobile has already begun rolling out 2.5GHz 5G in Philadelphia, using the spectrum it gained in the Sprint merger.

    2.5GHz spectrum sits squarely in the mid-range—between the slower but far-reaching low-band and the faster but short-range mmWave—and is considered the sweet spot for 5G. Mid-range spectrum offers substantially better speeds than 4G LTE, while at the same time providing good range and building penetration.

    Even more than the subscriber base, gaining access to Sprint’s wealth of mid-range spectrum was the real benefit of the merger between the third and fourth carriers. Sprint’s mid-range spectrum puts T-Mobile in the lead, in terms of how much spectrum it has available, and gives it the most comprehensive 5G portfolio.

    The company is wasting no time deploying the new spectrum, rolling it out in Philadelphia the very same day the deal closed, according to a tweet by Neville Ray, T-Mobile President of Technology.

    We’ll move FAST to bring the @TMobile and @Sprint networks together and build #5GforAll. How fast? New T-Mobile is already deploying midband 5G spectrum in Philly. And we’re just getting started.

    Neville (@NevilleRay) April 1, 2020

    This is good news for all of T-Mobile’s customers, both old and new, and not so good news for Verizon and AT&T.