Verizon Wireless: Difference between revisions

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Cell ID Layout: Update with current information
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Revision as of 23:33, 13 June 2025

Overview

Verizon Wireless is a mobile network operator in the United States.

It operates a 4G LTE network along with a 5G NR network operating primarily in NSA mode with SA active in some locations.

If you have better knowledge about the information below, please feel free to correct and update the page. Thanks!

4G LTE

eNB Scheme

One physical site may share multiple eNBs. Usually, this will be split between one eNB for mid-band (2/66) and another for low-band (5/13). In any case, the last 4 digits of the eNB will remain the same between split eNBs.

Macro Sites

(Todo)


Microcell

DAS / Femtocell

Commercial

(Todo)

Network Extender

Like other operators, Verizon sells indoor femtocells to their customers for home or business use. They are identified by a distinct 7-digit eNB and will likely appear out of place on the map. It is currently advised to mark these femtocells as decommissioned on the map and not pin them to any location. Do not mark femtocells as a DAS. Verizon LTE Network Extenders are B13-only.

5G NR

Verizon's 5G sandalone core is now active for postpaid lines on recent devices. Not all 5G-enabled sites have standalone enabled, or may be in testing mode (see gNB section for how to identify this). In addition, many areas with standalone enabled only have it operating on N77 limiting its range and usefulness indoors.

gNB Numbering Scheme

Verizon gNBs IDs are 22-bits. They are always at least 4 digits long, with the last 3 digits corresponding with the last three digits of an LTE eNB.(source) The digit preceding that varies whether or not the gNB is a temporary one for testing, or if it is the permanent gNB ID. The frequencies being broadcast from a tower cannot be inferred from the gNB as previously thought. Now that standalone has been rolled out more widely, several towers have been observed broadcasting multiple bands such as N77 and N2 using the same gNB.

If the fourth from last digit is a 9, such as 2169422, 5G standalone is being tested and the site is not broadcasting the true gNB. Once testing is complete, the fourth from last digit will become a 7, with the rest of the ID staying the same. Towers broadcasting test gNBs should not have their locations pinned, as the test gNBs are sometimes reused at multiple sites over time.

For example, given a gNB of 2187442, it would be associated with an LTE tower with an eNB ending in xxx442. The 7 in the fourth from last position indicates that 5G standalone is operating normally and it is broadcasting its true gNB ID. Thus, the tower location can be pinned and any cells or towers with the testing gNB in that area can then be safely deleted.


TAC

For unknown reasons, the TAC for Verizon sites may either be mapped as 0, or will be mapped with the last valid NR TAC reported by the device (in most cases, T-Mobile's.) The latter issue is almost guaranteed to happen when mapping without a SIM enabled, and / or when the device had last connected to a T-Mobile NR site.

Cell ID Layout

Note: this is currently a guess based on pinned towers.

Sector ID Frequency Band Band Direction
? 1900 MHz (CLR) n2 -
?
?
63 850 MHz (CLR) n5 Northwest (3 sector)
31 Northeast (3 sector)
47 South (3 sector)
? 1700/2100 MHz (AWS) n66 -
?
?
58 3700 MHz (C-Band) n77* North (3 sector)
59
26 Southwest (3 sector)
27
42 Southeast (3 sector)
43

* Verizon owns up to 200 MHz of n77 spectrum in some markets, while the vast majority have at least 140 MHz. The majority of currently deployed radios can broadcast up to a 100 MHz carrier on n77, so this requires using 2 PCIs per sector for a total of 6 on a three-sector tower.

Microcell

CellMapper can only map trails for mmWave at the moment. An extension has been developed to view the hidden mmWave layer on Verizon's coverage map which may be useful in identifying possible mmWave sites.

See Also