NB-IoT Devices and the Scrambling Option Configuration

NB-IoT
1

Hello every one,
We usually configure the shield to have the scrambling option either disabled (when connecting to T-Mobile NL) or Enabled (like in the case of DE Telekom or Vodafone). My question is , what does this scrambling stands for? is it the physical broadcast channel scrambling enabled by NB-IoT standard or is it some different application layer scrambling option?
If it is the physical layer scrambling,then how come T-Mobile NL is disabling it although it is mandatory in the NB-IoT standard?

for your info, the scrambling modification was added to the broadcast channel in NB-IoT standard because it was found that the broadcast channels were interfering with each other.

Any one has any information on what is this scrambling option referring to?

Thanks.

2

You can find an explanation here: https://www.ericsson.com/research-blog/robust-scrambling-nb-iot-broadcast-channels/. If your statement is correct (i.e. the TMNL setting differs from DT and Vodafoon), this implies that roaming and inter-operability is still a challenge for NB-IoT. Hopefully to be solved soon.

3

Yes, I have read this before, and this is why I am wondering if this scrambling option we enable or disable when configuring the nb-iot devices according to the provider, is the broadcast physical channel scrambling or something different.
Because as stated in the article this scrambling is mandatory in nb-iot so how come TMNL is disabling it!

4

I expect that the TMNL network will be upgraded soon. This was planned for last December, but got delayed. See post on the TMNL forum: https://forum.iot.t-mobile.nl/topic/158/radio-access-network-upgrade-13-and-14-december

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