AT&T Mobility

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AT&T Mobility (or AT&T Wireless) is an American telecommunication company. For general information regarding AT&T, please check out Wikipedia page: AT&T.

AT&T logo 2016.svg

Antenna

AT&T has multiple contracts with different manufacturers for antenna.

UMTS Mapping Practices

AT&T's GSM and UMTS networks have been decommissioned.

GSM/UMTS Cell ID Layout
Sector ID Band Direction
1 850 MHz North
2 850 MHz South East
3 850 MHz South West
7 1900 MHz North
8 1900 MHz South East
9 1900 MHz South West

LTE Mapping Practices

Macro Tower

Macro towers are those structures designed for cellular, mobile radio, public safety and microwave operations. They are usually at high ground for good RF propagation.


eNB

eNB IDs vary by region. Under the OpenSteetMap basemap, AT&T divides the whole country into various regions (e.g., AT&T Mid-Atlantic, AT&T South). It is common that adjacent counties of the same state will use completely different conventions.

The estimated location of eNB does not necessarily mean the tower is at the nearby location. Due to terrain, weather, API and many other factors, the data may not be enough to precisely reflect the correct location. Deleting seemingly wrong eNBs with caution, as this may erase the data from other people.

Cell

Generally, AT&T strictly follows such convention on cell ID numbering (3 sectors):

  • Band 5: 1, 2, 3
  • Band 2: 8, 9, 10; 179, 180, 181; 208, 209, 210
  • Band 41/66: 22, 23, 24; 222, 223, 224
  • Band 12/171: 15, 16, 17;
  • Band 30: 149, 150, 151;
  • Band 142: 193, 194, 195; 215, 216, 217;

1: Old band plan, recent cellphones use new band plan in almost all cases.

2: In areas without band 12 spectrum license, ATT may directly use cell 15, 16, 17 for band 14 (e.g., West Virginia, Nebraska).

If the cell tower has more than 3 sectors while only using 1 eNB, the naming pattern may be a little bit different. For example: 8, 9, 10, 11 for band 2.

Band 29 and Band 46 cannot be associated with eNB but still can be recognized by the App.


LTE Cell ID Layout
Sector ID Band Direction
1 850 MHz (CLR) Northeast
2 850 MHz (CLR) South
3 850 MHz (CLR) Northwest
8 1900 MHz (PCS) Northeast
9 1900 MHz (PCS) South
10 1900 MHz (PCS) Northwest
15 700 MHz Northeast
16 700 MHz South
17 700 MHz Northwest
22 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1) Northeast
23 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1) South
24 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1) Northwest
43 700 MHz (Public Safety) Northeast
44 700 MHz (Public Safety) South
45 700 MHz (Public Safety) Northwest
149 2300 MHz (WCS) Northeast
150 2300 MHz (WCS) South
151 2300 MHz (WCS) Northwest
208 1900 MHz (PCS) (2nd carrier) Northeast
209 1900 MHz (PCS) (2nd carrier) South
210 1900 MHz (PCS) (2nd carrier) Northwest
222 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1) (2nd carrier) Northeast
223 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1) (2nd carrier) South
224 1700/2100 MHz (AWS-1) (2nd carrier) Northwest
215 700 MHz (Public Safety) Northeast
216 700 MHz (Public Safety) South
217 700 MHz (Public Safety) Northwest

PCI

Small Cell / Microcell

A small cell is a radio access point with low radio frequency (RF) power output, footprint and range. It is operator-controlled, and can be deployed indoors or outdoors, and in licensed, shared or unlicensed spectrum.
This should not be confused with the "MicroCell" branded Femtocell that AT&T used to have.

Outdoor Microcell

AT&T has a consistent cell numbering scheme for outdoor small cells. Multiple microcells may share one eNB.

Small Cell
Cell ID Band
35 2 (PCS)
63 2 (PCS)
99 2 (PCS)
49 4 (AWS)
77 4 (AWS)
115 4 (AWS)
189 66 (AWS)
190 66 (AWS)
191 66 (AWS)

Outdoor DAS

Indoor DAS

Femtocell

Like other operators, AT&T sells indoor femtocells to their customers for home use. It is currently advised to mark these femtocells as decommissioned on the map and not pin them to any location. It is also advised to not mark femtocells as a DAS as sector locations may change over time. They can be identified by their 6-digit eNB starting with 9, with multiple transmit locations across the country on a single eNB.

NR Mapping Practices

AT&T's 5G Standalone network is not available for consumer use yet. Note that it is still possible to map these networks on some devices via band locking. For best results, try locking n5 or n77 using a Verizon-based SIM card which may actively avoid locking on to Verizon's own 5G SA network.


See Also