Welcome to episode 232 of the G two on 5G. It's the latest insight scoop on everything 5G. We cover six topics in about 20 minutes, and it's brought to you by more insights and strategy. I'm Will Townsend, and joining me again this week is Fellow Analyst Anshel Sag. Let's get started with my first topic and buddy, it's earnings season. And I'm sure you've been you've been tuned into all of this as well, but let's talk about at and T-Mobile. Both MNOs posted great results. Generally very solid performance for at and t from a revenue perspective. They continue to add crazy amounts of fiber subscribers. This was, what was it, however many quarters in a row of. Over 200,000 fiber ads. But at t did reach a big milestone. They surpassed 1 million fixed wireless access subscribers with their internet air solution. So great performance from at and T-Mobile. Hey, they smashed it. What can you say postpaid net ads, 830,000. What else? 1.7 net customer postpaid ads net income of over 3 billion. They grew overall services revenue by 6%, year over year to 17, almost 17 and a half billion. And again, another great quarter. From my perspective I think the upside for T-Mobile, they'll continue to see upside, I believe, as they build their FWA business and they start focusing on. On fiber, but they're still continuing to build their T-Mobile for business solutions. And I think that's an area that they can really, drive some upside in. But overall, strong performance from both companies. Any thoughts on your part? I would also say that they have been talking up some of their momentum in satellite. And I know you'll cover that topic later. Yeah. But there was an outage yeah, that occurred with starlink. That was for a couple hours. So that was interesting. Not the greatest timing for T-Mobile, but no, they're also the only ones with a commercially available service that's not operated by, a regular satellite provider. Yeah, I think overall they've been executing really well. Fixed wireless continues to grow for them as well. And I'll be talking about some other topic later as my first topic related to T-Mobile seeking some partnerships. Yeah. Hey, let's just make that the segue. Do you wanna talk about Charter and Comcast and an MDNO agreement with T-Mobile? Yeah. This is pretty simple. They sign an MVO agreement with T-Mobile, but specifically around business. So for charter and for Comcast. They're gonna be using that for as their business service, which is really interesting because they both were using Verizon for their consumer businesses it'll be really interesting to see how that works out and whether they're. Testing out the waters to see how T-Mobile handles it and how happy people are with T-Mobile. Yeah, because there's a possibility that they could switch to T-Mobile for both down the road which would help T-Mobile's overall profitability. 'cause they would have a lot more subscribers and more revenue. And obviously those wholesale businesses are not as profitable. But they help with scale and T-Mobile is really pushing scale right now. It's interesting, I know that they've offered, a consumer DNO service and then Spectrum, which has a footprint where I live in Texas, they've had a consumer offering as well. But, beyond Access anal is there anything that's different or unique about these business plans? Not what I, from what I can tell I'm looking at the release right now and it talks about expanding their leadership. Delivering wireline and wireless offerings. But I don't see any specific differences between this. I have a feeling it's obviously gonna have a different support structure. Yeah. Different pricing more bundling. But yeah, I'm looking at this release here from charter and yeah, it really doesn't seem particularly special. It just seems like it's another M-V-N-O-D. Yeah. Interesting. I'll have to dig into that a little bit further and figure it out. But hey, let's let's go to our second topic, and I think you, and I'll be talking about this one for quite a bit. We've got some updates on the low earth orbit satellite space, right? So news this week from both T-Mobile and at and t. So let's talk about T-Mobile first. T Satellite is officially generally available. That announcement was made this week. There was a blog that, that an executive at T-Mobile pinned as well. Speaking of what they're doing there, I think we've talked about the pricing in the past. It is included in some plans, but it is priced at $10 a month. And what's interesting, you talked about your experience with it when you went camping over Father's Day. I'm going to be taking my T-Mobile unmodified Samsung smartphone to Bryce Canyon this weekend in Utah, and I'll be doing some testing with it as well. What I'm most interested in is the usability. One of the things that T-Mobile has spoken to is that they have really simplified that so that you don't have to get, you don't have to be some sort of navigator of the stars to be able to angle it in the right position. To get the connection. And then certainly I want to test the speed as well there. But so that's a big announcement from T-Mobile and now not to be outdone. And this was timed around obviously earnings this week. At and t and a ST space Mobile achieved a major milestone. And what that milestone involves is the first voiceover LTE call in SMS text using at and t spectrum. And at and t's core networking infrastructure. And so this is tied to the first block of a ST space mobile's satellite constellation. And it's a great proof of concept. It, it proves that, what they're doing is gonna drive connectivity. And from my perspective. They are, somewhat behind starlink and T-Mobile. Starlink obviously has the luxury of using SpaceX to get its birds in the air a little more quickly. And there have been some delays with a ST space mobile. I know that there're about to perform a launch in India. And there, there have been some delays there as well that I love this man from my perspective, competition raise, raises the innovation bar. And it's just gonna provide customers with more choice. So it will be interesting to see once at t is in production and they're in GA with their solution, how they're gonna price it as well, and if that'll affect what T-Mobile does. But what do you think of both announcements this week? I would say for your experience, based on me having tested it already, yeah. You're not gonna be able to test the speed. Okay. You're mostly gonna be able to just message people. Applica, obviously the service is gonna be different down the road. Yeah. But they don't really have application support yet. So you're mostly gonna be doing messaging. Okay. But you'll be able to see, how fast are the message is sending, how fast are they coming back. Sure. And I, the thing that really shocked me the most was I was able to use it indoors. 'cause I was under the impression that you always have to be outdoors to use these satellite services. And I was actually getting messages in bed inside a cabin, so Oh wow. That was very impressive. Obviously there's the windows, so there's an opportunity for some signal to get in. Yeah. But I would say otherwise, I am hoping to see at and t and a ST pick up the pace and get to a commercial launch. Because I think commercial availability allows you to figure out a lot more bugs. And work through some of the challenges that exist. Like I had, I, my experience on T-Mobile was not flawless. I didn't have, the first day I connected to the service, I connected to it and I never got any messages and I wasn't able to send any. And then I woke up in the morning and it was working. That could have just been a lack of satellite coverage. 'cause starlink isn't perfect either. It's not perfect global coverage. It's mostly global coverage. Yeah. So I, I think that coverage will be important 'cause. This satellite service is supposed to plug holes in this terrestrial south sites. Yeah. And in order to do that, you need to have really good coverage. Commercial availability and really good coverage are gonna be very important for at t and a ST Space Mobile to be successful in this as they compete with everybody else who's, trying to move as fast as they can. And yeah, launch schedules are always a challenge. And any kind of delays will. Those tend to snowball because then you have to push back launch dates as well, which then, you don't get to just pick the next day. Or the amount of time that you're delayed. You have to go with whatever launch schedules are available, so spaceX definitely has some opportunities there because they can fill whatever holes they want Yeah. And move whatever payloads they want around. Yeah. No, I agree. And the final thing that I'll mention for our viewers and listeners is that. I am working with a ST Space Mobile and at t when they are ready to open a beta up and allow me to do a demo I'll probably be traveling the Midland to do that. So there, there's no defined timeline for that. Obviously this big milestone was achieved a SC space mobile is working on getting its constellation in place. But I will, my goal will be, probably to hold back my experience and my insights from what I, what I end up learning this weekend in Utah until I had that opportunity to also give at t and a t Space mobile their due. And then you're too young to remember this, but there was something called the Pepsi Challenge many years ago where Pepsi was actually sent a kit out with I think it was a new version of Pepsi. In a can of Coke and I think it included some saltine crackers to cleanse your palate and they basically asked people to do the Pepsi Challenge comparing the two and which one you like better. So I'm gonna do the Pepsi Challenge with respect to my experience with both T-Mobile starlink and at and t and a SC Space Mobile. So stay tuned viewers and listeners for that. Without further ado, let's go to your second topic, buddy. And you want to talk about Microsoft's new Surface 5G laptop. Yeah. The Surface 5G is a business laptop. It's specifically designed for portable use. It actually weighs the same as the surface laptop seven. But there, this is specifically being called the Surface laptop 5G. And one of the big reasons why it's being called that is it actually has a dynamic antenna system with six strategically placed antennas. That allow to, adjust based on where the signal's coming from, but also so that you can use the laptop as a hotspot. It's really, and laptops in general are better for 5G signal because you have a lot more space to fit antennas. Yeah. And you'll get better signal indoors. And they said that, they, this laptop both supports EIM and Nano Sim. And it weighs under three pounds, which is the same weight as a surface laptop seven. Wow. So they managed to basically get it in the same weight as a regular surface laptop, but with 5G capabilities. And I asked them, they told me it's a Snapdragon X 62 modem. But they did some custom software capabilities. Built in to make it easier to switch between 5G and wifi make it a much smoother user experience. And then on top of that, they've also pre-certified it and tested it on Verizon's network specifically to be more capable of AI using 5G and just having, copilot Plus and mi, Microsoft 365 copilot and just having fast connectivity. This was like a pre-qualified device on Verizon's network, but as far as I know, it'll work on all networks. This was just a partnership that they built. And then on top of that, it will be available starting August 26th. So it's about a month from now. And yeah, it's I get very excited about 5G PCs. I'm currently using a Dell and a hp that are both 5G PCs, i, I'm, I am very deep into the 5G PC ecosystem. And yeah I'm excited to get my hands on this one. There's a chance that it might end up being my daily laptop because I really cannot live without a 5G pc. It's hard for me to deal with wifi when I know that 5G is a better experience. 'cause you and I both go with a lot of clients and visit them on site and having to deal with their corporate networks and getting all the password. Yes. Wifi. Yeah. Yeah, just wifi. And then for anybody who's like a, rogue warrior or any kind of executive who needs to meet with people, being at coffee shops or using any kind of unsecured wifi network is just an instant no go for me or anyone that I. Would recommend that has sensitive data. So I'm excited about this laptop. It seems really cool. And yeah it is an Intel based system. It's not a Qualcomm based system, so it's an Intel CPU Qualcomm modem. Because Intel got out of the mode and business and I doesn't seem like they're even doing the media tech partnership anymore. It seems like Microsoft wanted to use a Qualcomm monon, which makes sense 'cause they do have. Qualcomm, SOC based 5G modem surface Pros. So I got two questions for you on this 'cause I'm super intrigued. So is it an A IPC or not? It is because it uses an in, it uses an Intel core Ultra two series. So that's lunar lake. That has a, that means it has more than a 40 tops. NPU. So it's a copilot plus PC through and through. But it also has a 5G modem with Qualcomm Snapdragon. Okay. And it's not just the Surface laptop 5G. They're also adding more laptops as well, like the Surface Laptop 13. And the Surface Pro 12 which are available today. So yeah, it's, they're, they expanded the portfolio and they added the 5G laptop. Okay. Awesome. My second question for you, 'cause you really intrigued me on this one. The dynamic antenna into a, in intuition, say that fast three times attenuation. Yeah. Yeah. How does that work? I'm assuming mo most antennas and 5G notebooks are built into the outer bevel of the screen. How are they dynamically adjusting? The way you would do a dynamically tuned antenna system is you put more antennas than you need. Okay. So you have six antennas. But you're only using two or three at a time. Okay. But you use the antenna based on the signal that has the best signal. I see. And that way, if you have dormant antennas, you can also use those for transmit. Got it. So it could theoretically receive and transmit and not have to like lower the throughput or shift over to an antenna that you're, or half using. This is really about improving stability, improving performance, but also enabling mobile hotspot capabilities without. Ham, fisting, the rest of the system. Got it. Yeah. I didn't assume that there was like a physical antenna movement within the notebook. It's software driven, but that's interesting. So you have additional antennas. So yeah, it says with six strategically placed antennas. So device T adjusts signal paths and power based on how it's being held or used. Ensuring strong, reliable connection and exactly where it's needed. Awesome. Yeah I'm gonna have to look into that, man. I love the weight, I love that capability and I, I love just the fact that it's a 5G pc very cool, my friend. Hey, I'm gonna hit my third and final topic very quickly here. I just wanted to share my recent experience when I spent time at my home in the Florida Keys with respect to connectivity. I do have an at t internet error, a demo unit that I'm testing out, an Ila marada I've had generally great, performance. It's what you would expect with 5G FWA. I'll also add that my condo was built in the late sixties and is constructed of concrete block and a lot of rebar because that meets hurricane standards. And it's been really great, but, and I'll make the statement for all the carriers as you move further south to the southernmost point in Key West, the, even though you see, cell towers, along overseas highway, the performance is just really inconsistent from my perspective and what really magnifies the issue is, when you're somewhere like Key West, which is the southernmost point, you do have cell towers there. You've got a military installation there. You have the Coast Guard, you have the Navy, and you have a lot of businesses. You have a lot of, as you would guess, and Key West, a lot of bars and a lot of restaurants. And it was interesting I was spending time at one of my favorite places and. The, the point of sale machine wasn't working properly. And so I asked the bartender, Hey, what's going on? It's this is actually, on cellular and it's just hit or miss and it's been this way for years and it really got me thinking, and I had a similar epiphany a few years ago when I spent time there for the 4th of July and I watched all of the cellular stripe point of sale devices bomb out. People couldn't buy food and beverage and that sort of thing. It's not the end of the world, man. This is a first world problem. But when you think about it, when you think about like a place like QS that caters to visitors, that caters to people that want to go have great food and have a few drinks, sometimes too many drinks like my LR rum. But you've really gotta do more to improve the connectivity from my perspective. I did weigh in on this, a few weeks ago when I when I shared some insights around the lack of connectivity and how that, that potentially affected the alerting tied to the very tragic flooding in the Texas Hill country. But, if you look at what's happening in Key West and parts of the lower forward keys with this patchy coverage. It's potentially a danger when it comes, to like hurricane evacuation and alerts there. And then when you look at the impact on tourism, when you look at the potential impact on commercial fishing, now the military is operating. I'm sure they have their own private networks and the area, but it just for me, just reiterates, the importance of a mobile network operator stepping up. Oh, maybe Overinvesting initially and certainly when you look at what at and t has done with building its fiber footprint, John Sta at and t's CEO will say we are overinvesting in a lot of places that are also underserved because we believe it's the right thing to do and honestly it's good for business because they're building the infrastructure that's gonna pay dividends down the road. And John cracked me up. Last time I saw him, he told me. My, the person that replaces me better be sending me a fruit basket every Thanksgiving or Christmas or Hanukkah because of what I've done to do that. And so I think there is an opportunity, whether it's at and t or T-Mobile or Verizon, to really step up and invest in the infrastructure in my second home to address all of these things. And and I'll just finally leave with this note the Key West International Airport. Recently opened with some much needed innovations and, hey, key West International Airport still doesn't have a public wifi network work on that. I know that at and t has worked with DFW Airport that I fly through almost daily given as much travel onal as you and I do. And so let's get Creative QS International Airport. Go partner with an at t or a T-Mobile or Verizon to get that wifi installed. Anyway I know that's my personal story and you probably don't have a lot to add, but any, anything you wanna say I do. Okay, go for it. I'm looking at Key West and the keys in general, and I'm thinking why aren't there any undersea cables driving more connectivity? Good point. I believe there are. Yeah. But I think that there's some preserve national, national preserves there that might make that more difficult. The coral reef is actually dying. And so there's a lot of focus on not disturbing the ecosystem there, but that's a good point. So that's something to consider. But also I'm curious as to how much of your experience has been on T-Mobile? And the reason why I asked that question is because they just invested that $2 billion in Florida, and I'm wondering how much of that 2 billion ended up in the keys. Maybe you can go down with a t that T-Mobile device you've got. Yeah. And see what the experience is like versus your other carriers. That's great. I'm always carrying at t, Verizon and T-Mobile, so I'm always testing all three carriers everywhere I go. But that was just a thought that I had. Yeah, I have had a demo device down there. And, but you're right, it's been mostly at and t so that's a great idea. Just like I'm gonna do the Pepsi challenge with the LEO satellite services. I'm take, I'm, I'll take that same demo down there and run it through its paces as well very good point. But hey Bud. Let's get to your third and final topic. And we are gonna close, we've been talking a lot about T-Mobile. It wasn't by design, but you do want to talk about what they're doing and they're a first with respect to using L four s. Yes. So this is a topic that we have talked about before but it is now commercially available and ready for deployment. So this is L four s. This is a technology that is part of the release 18, also known as 5G Advanced. Standard. It's not actually a new technology. It's actually technology that's existed for a while. It's already been implemented by cable operators like Comcast and also by Nvidia with their GForce now game streaming service. So it's very much about. Improving the streaming experience for users, whether that's video packets, xr, gaming, whatever it might be. It's specifically a designed to. Lower the latency and anticipate network congestion before it happens as opposed to reacting. So it's much more of a proactive service rather than a reactive one, but it's dynamic and always paying attention to network conditions and ensuring that packets don't drop as much and that the fastest packet goes and takes the best route possible. This was something that T-Mobile actually brought me in for and I did some videos for them. And we I'm actually part of the announcement that T-Mobile made with CTO John saw. So Nice. I wanted to talk about that 'cause it's an announcement that happened late last week. Early this week, but also it's something that I was involved in and something that I've been covering and paying attention to for quite some time. And I wanted to make people aware of it, that they are the first carrier, unlikely to be the last. But because they have a 5G advanced. Network already. They can deploy it. And they were actually, part of the video was also talking to or about a partner called they, who does a remote service that brings you a self-driving vehicle so you can drive it yourself wherever you want. It's very similar to what Halo was doing. Yeah. Yeah. Where they basically have someone tele operate a car, drive it to you, and that teleoperation is what they're doing, what they're enabling. It's really cool stuff. I'm very excited that, this is actually something that's like commercially available, which means developers can take advantage of it. If they, have a game streaming service and want to connect it to a 5G it'll run a lot better than if they just didn't have it. Yeah. And so you did mention that L four s is actually part of the 5G advanced release 18 standard, right? Correct. Okay, cool. And then, obviously you have to have a standalone network to get to 5G advance, so Yeah, correct. So it's no surprise that T-Mobile's first out of the gate but I do, but I would expect that at and t is gonna follow suit as well as Verizon once they get to their nationwide coverage with 5G SA. But good stuff I didn't realize that you had spent time with John. John's a great guy. I, we may be spending some time with him and the team in the not so distant future as well. But hey buddy, it's been another great podcast. Why don't you take us home? Absolutely. We hope our viewers and listeners to this week's topic's interesting. If anyone out there would like to provide specific feedback or insights on the specific 5G topic for future podcast please reach out to us on social media. Will is at Wilton Tech and I'm on shell. And we hope you have a great weekend and please tune in again next weekend. Don't forget to rate and subscribe.