AT&T Mobility
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.
Antenna
AT&T has multiple contracts with different manufacturers for antenna.
UMTS Mapping Practices
AT&T's GSM and UMTS networks have been decommissioned.
| 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.
| 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.
| 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.