Category: Mobile Phone Service

Spectrum Is Expensive

Christian

The FCC’s C band auction recently closed with a total of about 81 billion dollars in bids. This was by far the highest-grossing spectrum auction in U.S. history. Previously, the largest auction garnered about 45 billion dollars.1

In the C band auction, about 280 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.7-3.98GHz range was reallocated to cellular companies. Spectrum in this frequency range is particularly appealing to operators of cellular networks. The spectrum offers great characteristics, combining a potential for covering large areas with a potential for delivering fast speeds.

The amount of money committed in the recent auction drives home a point that I think most casual observers miss: spectrum is an enormous expense for cellular networks in the U.S. With the auction closing at about 81 billion dollars, U.S. networks are spending over $250 per person in the United States in a single auction.2

Grayscale phone

Let’s Retire The CDMA/GSM Distinction

Christian 2 Comments

Understanding cell phone compatibility across networks can be tough. A common understanding has emerged: some cell phones are CDMA devices while other phones are GSM devices. According to the common understanding, GSM phones work with GSM networks, and CDMA phones work with CDMA networks. The common understanding has never been entirely accurate. For many years, a CDMA phone sold by Sprint wouldn’t necessarily work on Verizon’s CDMA network. Similarly, a GSM phone sold by AT&T wouldn’t necessarily work with T-Mobile’s GSM network. Beyond that, plenty of phone models have supported both CDMA and GSM.

Although the common understanding of the CDMA/GSM dichotomy wasn’t ever entirely right, it was at least useful or directionally accurate for many years. Not anymore. Networks are phasing out 2G and 3G technologies. All of the major networks in the U.S. today are dominated by 4G LTE technology. LTE isn’t GSM or CDMA. LTE is its own thing.

MVNOs typically can’t explicitly name their host networks. As a result, MVNOs often use the CDMA and GSM acronyms to label their networks. An MVNO that offers service over AT&T and Verizon’s networks might refer to the AT&T service as “the GSM service” and the Verizon service “the CDMA service.”

Just this week, the carrier Tello launched service over T-Mobile’s network. Tello is calling the T-Mobile network the “New GSM Network.” While I understand Tello’s rationale, I worry Tello is continuing a trend that ultimately confuses consumers about cellular technologies and phone compatibility.

Tello Launches T-Mobile Service

Christian

Tello, a carrier that has historically run over Sprint’s network, is now offering new customers service over T-Mobile’s network. Despite switching to a network with much better coverage, Tello has not increased its prices.

I think Tello is now one of the best options on the market for customers that don’t need a lot of data. For example, a plan with 2GB of data and unlimited minutes and texts costs only $14 per month. Unlike Mint Mobile, another low-cost service running over T-Mobile’s network, Tello offers service on a month-to-month basis without any long-term commitment.

As far as I know, Tello has not announced when it will migrate existing customers from Sprint’s network to T-Mobile’s network. I expect customers who want to make the switch will be able to sometime in the next month or two. Customers that want to remain on Sprint’s network should be able to do so until at least the middle of 2021:

Older CDMA phones will work up until at least mid-2021, and we will enable a gradual switch with lots of opportunities to change trains.

I’m planning to update my Tello review after trailing Tello’s new network. On another page, I share information about phone compatibility with Tello’s T-Mobile service.

eSIM abstract

Mint Mobile Officially Launches eSIM

Christian

In November, Mint Mobile started offering eSIMs to a small subset of its customers. Earlier this week, Mint opened its eSIM product to all customers with eSIM-compatible iPhones.

Compatible Phones

Mint eSIMs work with all recent iPhone models:

  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone XS
  • iPhone XS Max
  • iPhone 11
  • iPhone 11 Pro
  • iPhone 11 Pro Max
  • iPhone SE (second generation)
  • iPhone 12
  • iPhone 12 mini
  • iPhone 12 Pro
  • iPhone 12 Pro Max

Mint doesn’t support eSIMs for any Android phones yet. Here’s what Mint’s cofounder, Rizwan Kassim, said when asked about eSIMs for Android devices:

There are relatively few Android devices in our base that support eSIM. OS support, app support and documentation are all better starting grounds for iOS as well.

Supporting Android is on the roadmap (Mid-2021), but it’ll be specific per device model and a slower rollout.

Getting an eSIM

Here’s how Kassim explains the process for switching to an eSIM:

Physical SIM to eSIM –

First, make sure you have the most recent update of the app.

Login to the app > tap on “Account” > select “Order Replacement SIM.” You’ll be asked to provide a form of payment for your replacement SIM; but you won’t be charged anything at completion.

Select “Get an eSIM” as your option (please note that this option will only be visible on an eligible device)

Select “This is my new device” and make sure that you are using the device that you want to install eSIM on.

Tap “Checkout”

Once it’s processed, you will be prompted to install your eSIM. Please follow the steps carefully to set your eSIM.

Once it’s installed, you’re done.

Kassim suggested new customers who want an eSIM should select eSIM as a shipping method during checkout. In my testing, I didn’t see an eSIM option. I expect the issue will be resolved soon.

Visit Mint’s website

Verizon store

Verizon Continues 5G Expansion

Christian

Earlier this week, Verizon announced a few planned expansions of its 5G services.

5G Home Internet

Starting January 14, Verizon’s 5G Home Internet will be available in parts of five more cities:

  • Anaheim, CA
  • Arlington, TX
  • Miami, FL
  • San Francisco, CA
  • St. Louis, MO

The service will be available in Phoenix, AZ starting January 28th.

Ultra Wideband 5G

Later this month, Verizon plans to bring Ultra Wideband 5G to parts of three more cities:

  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Columbia, SC
  • Knoxville, TN

By my count, that will bring the total number of cities will Ultra Wideband coverage to 64.

City

5G Is For The Future

Christian

I’ve written regularly about 5G being overhyped. The performance improvements 5G technologies offer don’t have much practical value. Not yet anyway. 4G connections are easily sufficient for most things normal people want to do on their phones.

While I think T-Mobile executives have been particularly guilty of overhyping 5G on Twitter, I’m seeing some common ground with Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology. The other day, Ray approvingly tweeted about someone suggesting 5G is for the future:

Neville Ray tweet

In 2004, the year the iconic Motorola RAZR V3 was released, it would have been hard to imagine the purpose of a 50Mbps cellular connection. The idea of watching videos on a phone probably felt a bit silly. Fortunately, innovation moved ahead anyway.

Even though I make a fuss about the incessant BS and marketing gimmicks around 5G, I’m sure we’ll eventually find great use cases for the technology. Maybe in five or ten years, it’ll be extremely common for people on laptops to access the internet with low-cost, high-performance cellular connections. Perhaps 5G will enable a huge expansion in the Internet of Things. Honestly, I’m not sure what will happen. I’m excited to see what people come up with.

Verizon building

Verizon Further Pushes Back 3G Retirement

Christian

In an earlier post about network operators’ plans for phasing out 3G, I wrote:

It’s possible some network operators won’t stick to their current deadlines (plenty of early deadlines have already been pushed back).

At one point, Verizon was saying it would mostly phase out its 3G network by the end of 2019. Later, Verizon pushed the deadline to the end of 2020. Today, Mike Dano of Light Reading reported that the deadline has been pushed back once more.

As of this moment, it’s unclear when Verizon will push 3G-only devices off the network. Activations for 3G-only devices continue be prohibited.

Verizon building

No Throttling Of Verizon’s Ultra Wideband Mobile Hotspot

Christian 2 Comments

Verizon’s premium unlimited plans (Play More Unlimited, Do More Unlimited, and Get More Unlimited) come with 15-30GB monthly allotments of mobile hotspot data. The 15-30GB hotspot allowances only apply when using hotspot data through Verizon’s 4G LTE or 5G Nationwide service.

In July, I shared a post about Verizon’s rarely discussed policies for hotspot use with the network’s 5G Ultra Wideband service. At the time, subscribers on Verizon’s premium plans were allotted 50GB of full-speed, Ultra Wideband hotspot use each month. Verizon suggested it would throttle hotspot speeds to 3Mbps for subscribers that burned through their data allotments. Here’s a screenshot I pulled from Verizon’s website in July:

Screenshot of Verizon account interface showing a 5G hotspot allotment

I no longer see that usage graphic in my Verizon dashboard. Instead, I see graphics like these:

Verizon data usage graphs

As best as I can tell, Verizon no longer throttles heavy users of Ultra Wideband hotspot data. Reddit user albert1735 recently provided some corroboration. Yesterday, the user shared a video showing speed tests pulling several hundred megabits per second after over 70GB of hotspot use in a single month.

While there aren’t data caps or throttles for Ultra Wideband mobile hotspots at this time, I expect they’ll come back once Verizon’s 5G deployment is further along.

Security abstract

Google Voice Call Forwarding And Security

Christian

Google Voice makes it easy for users to forward calls and texts from a Google Voice number to other phone numbers. It’s a great feature, but Google Voice users should be sure to disable forwarding on any numbers they don’t maintain possession of.

If you cancel service for a phone line and don’t port the number to another carrier, the inactive number can eventually be reassigned to another person. If someone else is assigned your old number and forwarding is still enabled, Google Voice will forward text and calls to the new owner of the number. Beyond the security and privacy vulnerabilities this presents, it can be a nuisance. The new owner of a phone number may get unwanted calls and texts. The prior owner of a phone number may miss calls—if a Google Voice call connects on a forwarding line, the same call can’t be picked up from the Google Voice app (or on other lines that calls are forwarded to).

In an ideal world, Google Voice would scan a database of phone numbers that recently turned inactive. With that information, Google could automatically stop forwarding anything to the numbers found in the database. Unfortunately, I don’t think the kind of database I’m imagining is available at this time.

Beyond Google Voice, phone number reassignment causes a slew of underappreciated security issues. I don’t think most people consider that numbers they stop using can eventually be picked up by someone else.