T-Mobile takes their Network Switching Cloud Native.
By going cloud native, they gave the entire network a ten percent boost.
I won’t dunk on t-mobile with too much flack, as a 10% boost is worthy of accolades. But I will say that switches alone do not add that many milliseconds to packet traversal. A more accurate headline would read, “T-mobile identifies poor routing tables and takes steps to optimize paths across their entire network.” This 10% boost was facilitated by complete control over the entire network from one location (the cloud core), drastically reducing the time it takes to update tables as engineers are no longer required to “roll out” to fix or update equipment.
Why Cloud native routing matters.
I am an avid user of Cisco’s Meraki equipment. I can personally vouch that the cloud-controlled hardware has dramatically reduced my need to “roll into the office” to resolve network-related issues. This reduced lag time from reported issue to resolution means my clients are online more often with less downtime overall. With T-mobile using Cisco’s latest cloud routers, they will also benefit from the latest multi-gigabit speed enhancements. The routers T-mobile has selected can transfer 400 GBs to 800 GB in data transfer per port. This will allow T-Mobile to better utilize existing fiber runs by getting more capacity out of their existing fiber deployments and can handle millimeter 5g, which can consume multiple GB’ps per user connected to a single tower. Multiply this by their existing footprint, which paints a picture of a very heavy data load that T-mobile is more than willing to bear. Furthermore, the performance and scalable approach used by cisco using next-gen computer networking services distributed over T-Mobile’s entire network mean that finding and updating their networking solutions (IE routing tables) is centrally managed. That is if they use different paths to get a customers packet to a final destination and one of the routers along that path starts dropping packets (IE packet loss) they can use Cisco’s applications to deliver new BGP (border gateway protocols ) tables. All this to say that T-mobile’s move to a relationship with cisco is an important step forward for both companies.
The Benefit to the Mobile Worker or Road Warrior.
T-mobile has been on a roll as of late. In mid-December, they deployed their 5GUC network nationwide in a mic-drop moment. However, this was only part of a complete picture, and now another part has been deployed, cloud-controlled routing. UC or Ultra Capacity allows for 3x 5g carrier aggregation. Now, ciscos hardware will allow that capacity to be leveraged on a data backbone able to handle the increased data loads that faster connections allow. This is a very long way of saying that more capacity means that speeds overall should improve and latency drops so your zoom meetings can be more spontaneous when you are out and about. Or, like me, when watching my daughter go swimming can pound out this quick news article in a short fashion. Also as a regular T-mobile customer on their 5g network you should see your service improve as the core network improves in the us.
Where the wild things are
I see T-mobile doing a lot of good here for the consumer as of late. They are pushing ahead with Starlink to enable nationwide texting wherever you happen to be. Furthermore, these bold capital expenditures keep boosting their edge over their traditional competitors, such as Att and Verizon. And now, with cloud routing, they can further consolidate their equipment control behind one centrally managed interface. This is one of the major reasons why I think T-mobile will be successful in the long run.
Regulation Headwinds
In the short term, however, I would not be surprised to see some unexpected volatility in the T-mobile future. And by that, I mean they face headwinds due to spectrum rules. Currently, T-mobile has allegedly been over their allowable spectrum capacity limits. This will (if proven) be a significant hurdle to overcome as spectrum is the lifeblood of cellular carriers for both backhauls with limited use spectrum and as major bands for 5g use. Suppose T-mobile is forced to, through regulatory action, be forcibly divested of the spectrum. In that case, it could limit their ability to keep improving the day-to-day experience for the average consumer. This could easily be resolved by the FCC updating their woefully out-of-date rules that were drafted before cell phones were a thing. But that would take some political muscle that the FCC may not be willing to exercise in the present climate due to the average Joe Q. Public souring on big tech and big companies in general.