TMobile refarming could lead to poor Nexus 4 speeds and coverage very soon

[donrhummy]

TMobile has been refarming their 2G towers (1900mhz) to be HSPA+, and will soon also refarm their 3G towers (1700mhz) to be LTE-only. So it won't add the 2G bands to the 3g bands, but instead switches 3g over to the current 2G band and replaces the 3G one with LTE (which the Nexus 4 doesn't have). In areas where you get good 1700mhz coverage but poor 1900mhz coverage, you'll soon get poor coverage on a Nexus 4.

+ the higher the mhz, the shorter distance it travels and the poorer it goes through walls.

 

[zkSharks]

While your points about the refarming are valid, I think it's more of a temporary problem while we're using Nexus 4's that don't have LTE. The refarming is a necessary process in order for T-Mobile to have such a large portion of their spectrum available for LTE use. Consider, also, the fact that T-Mo has a drastically smaller consumer base than does Verizon or AT&T. I'd rather deal with the 1700MHz-to-1900MHz HSPA+ refarming for the time being than lose out on a future LTE network of its intended size and capacity.

It's going to be fast, it's not going to have as high of an infrastructure demand as Verizon or AT&T's, and you won't need a contract in order to use it. You don't even need to pay for a pricier plan in order to get the same data rates with LTE support.

Additionally, I've noticed little difference in speeds and signal reduction between 1700MHz and 1900MHz towers here in Seattle. I tested it out when the initial refarming began in this area, and tried with line-of-sight of the tower as well as deep inside buildings (and everything in between).

 

[6tr6tr]

While your points about the refarming are valid, I think it's more of a temporary problem while we're using Nexus 4's that don't have LTE. The refarming is a necessary process in order for T-Mobile to have such a large portion of their spectrum available for LTE use. Consider, also, the fact that T-Mo has a drastically smaller consumer base than does Verizon or AT&T. I'd rather deal with the 1700MHz-to-1900MHz HSPA+ refarming for the time being than lose out on a future LTE network of its intended size and capacity.

It's going to be fast, it's not going to have as high of an infrastructure demand as Verizon or AT&T's, and you won't need a contract in order to use it. You don't even need to pay for a pricier plan in order to get the same data rates with LTE support.

Additionally, I've noticed little difference in speeds and signal reduction between 1700MHz and 1900MHz towers here in Seattle. I tested it out when the initial refarming began in this area, and tried with line-of-sight of the tower as well as deep inside buildings (and everything in between).

Good info, but not every area will have the same strength in 1900 vs 1700 coverage as your area so there's still some risk. Won't know 100% until about 8 months from now how it plays out.

 

[zkSharks]

Good info, but not every area will have the same strength in 1900 vs 1700 coverage as your area so there's still some risk. Won't know 100% until about 8 months from now how it plays out.

True, and when I said the following I meant it more as a blanket statement; I'd rather deal with the refarming even with signal reduction.

I'd rather deal with the 1700MHz-to-1900MHz HSPA+ refarming for the time being than lose out on a future LTE network of its intended size and capacity.