lightspeed

Dreaming of a world with Massive MIMO everywhere

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

A small article by yours truly for @davwheat_ 's excellent website setting out some thoughts on how Vodafone UK's 5G Standalone network is working in practice based on what I've seen from a mobility parameter perspective. https://t.co/tvYwO0Luqr

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Additionally, I'll enjoy getting a very fast speed test (hopefully) from 140MHz at some point - but the key to a small cell rollout is density precisely targeted at hotspots not bandwidth imo. Target where the slowest 5% of speeds are in cities not peak speed

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

By my reckoning this isn't true - Vodafone UK's RAN (including MORAN w/ O2) has Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, NEC, Spidercloud, Samsung and potentially some legacy (no idea if any ALU live still) or undiscovered new vendor

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Vodafone impressive at Clapham Junction. Wonder if it’s still like that at peak (incidentally another network was so busy at peak the other day here that they wouldn’t admit to the network - just RRC Reject)

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

There we go. Not a common setup from what I’ve seen so far, but n1 SA prioritised above LTE carriers for idle mode reselection. Some threshXHighs of 2 and some of 4. Hard to see a pattern.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

And another set of idle mode params. This one putting the 634 carrier above LTE and the 628 at priority 7. This feels like an absolute nightmare to manage and optimise.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

I can actually pick up B8/L09 from Leatherhead up the road, but no DSS enabled and it's rather weak.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Finally got the SIM activated - B20 only out here in Surrey is not the best for speeds - interested to see how they are in London tomorrow

I think / assume the blocker for L21 adds is actually a mast near the train station without U09 due to GSM-R restrictions.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

On VF idle mode mobility more generally - I really would quite like to try their new B20/B8 parameter set to see the effect of effectively saying 'we'll use this for 9db longer than we would have in the past', but alas VF's billing system has conspired to stop me

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

On VF idle mode mobility more generally - I really would quite like to try their new B20/B8 parameter set to see the effect of effectively saying 'we'll use this for 9db longer than we would have in the past', but alas VF's billing system has conspired to stop me

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Some interesting cell reselection priorities for n8 SA on Vodafone in LTE SIB24 - current system seems to have it prioritised below LTE (it does make sense for a lot of reasons) basically everywhere in London. I wonder what the active mode behaviour (handover) is like

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Some LTE -> NR SA reselection (not handover) seems to effectively be barred by using the 31/31 threshXLow setting. It could also be true that dedicated reselection priorities are set on RRC Release on LTE. Lots to think about to try and understand the implementation.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Some interesting cell reselection priorities for n8 SA on Vodafone in LTE SIB24 - current system seems to have it prioritised below LTE (it does make sense for a lot of reasons) basically everywhere in London. I wonder what the active mode behaviour (handover) is like

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Only one n78 carrier is prioritised above the LTE carriers for reselection and that's with some pretty stiff conditions to actually use it.

[David Wheatley @davwheat_]

O2 appears to be trialling LTE FDD+TDD in Nokia zones.

Historically, this hasn't been enabled for the same reasons as LTE TDD + 5G NSA (quote tweeted), but Nokia sites appear to be getting some love these days!

This set of changes puts Nokia and Ericsson sites on-par.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

My personal best (over an entire speed test) on a UE without NR CA - on Three Ericsson. Not bad for a nearly 3 year old
phone.

[Tom Forth @thomasforth]

People use "world-leading" too easily. But on this, we are. No contest.

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Should be quite a boost to effective coverage. Nice to see. My preference would still be for a q-QualMin in addition but I won't moan at increased time on 4G :)

[lightspeed @lightspeed2398]

Vodafone B20 and B8 in London have a new qRxLevMin (presumably ready for 3G switch off. -128dBm instead of -124dBm. The earlier trial in Basingstoke used -132dBm - a more aggressive change.

[David Wheatley @davwheat_]

O2 UK has now enabled 5G NSA with LTE TDD on Nokia sites.

O2 Nokia sites typically use separate basebands for TDD and FDD LTE, which historically meant they used B40 for LTE-only capacity.

As more 5G devices enter the market, the next logical step is NSA availability.