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Network Vision/LTE - Las Vegas Market


Timbax

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I travel to Vegas every week for work

 

Two questions.

 

1. Where/what do you do?

 

2. And are you taking job applications. Lol.

 

But in all honesty, I'm more interested in Old Vegas since last time I had terrible data and voice inside the casino floors there. I've never had 1 issue in the strip (unless you're in the hotel room...hit and miss)

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Aren't most casinos designed to block wireless signals? I know the sportsbooks do it. I was there for my bachelor party, and we had all 4 providers present. They were all struggling on the casino floor.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

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Aren't most casinos designed to block wireless signals? I know the sportsbooks do it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

I've never heard of that. Newer casinos have DAS so I doubt that they're actively blocking cell phone signals. Older casinos may just have poor reception due to construction or cell site placement.

 

As for sports books, it used to be illegal to use cell phones in them. However, that ban was lifted back in 2008. I've never encountered any specific problems using my cell phone in any sports books unless there was generally poor reception in the entire casino area, which itself is becoming rarer.

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I've never heard of that. Newer casinos have DAS so I doubt that they're actively blocking cell phone signals. Older casinos may just have poor reception due to construction or cell site placement.

 

As for sports books, it used to be illegal to use cell phones in them. However, that ban was lifted back in 2008. I've never encountered any specific problems using my cell phone in any sports books unless there was generally poor reception in the entire casino area, which itself is becoming rarer.

Yup, I second this. Even when sports books asked you not to use your phones I never had any signal problems. Now all they ask is that you're not on your phone while in line to the counter and my connection has always been great.
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Casino construction involves lots of concrete and heavy duty steel columns, joists and girders. They are awful for signal penetration. So, it's not so much that they are intentionally blocking signals, they just are inherently awful at letting them through. That's why DAS systems are critical in the mega resorts.

 

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

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Yup, I second this. Even when sports books asked you not to use your phones I never had any signal problems. Now all they ask is that you're not on your phone while in line to the counter and my connection has always been great.

Same here. Both MGM and Ceaser Entertainment casinos have great signal and 3G bandwidth available throughout their floors. LTE was a work in progress last year I was there.

 

The hotel rooms are a completely different story. I've never had any good data experiences at Flamingo, MGM, Ceasers, or NYNY rooms

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Same here. Both MGM and Ceaser Entertainment casinos have great signal and 3G bandwidth available throughout their floors. LTE was a work in progress last year I was there.

 

The hotel rooms are a completely different story. I've never had any good data experiences at Flamingo, MGM, Ceasers, or NYNY rooms

The big issue with casinos in Vegas, especially on the upper floors, is noise. The noise floor gets so high, because you are now within ear shot of too many sites. Interfering with each other.

 

From a window in a tower in Vegas on the 30th floor, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say your device was in range of 40-50 sites across the valley before you. Your device will attempt to connect to the one with the best signal, but it will constantly be switching sites...boom, boom, boom. One after another. And because the interference is so high, your effective throughput for voice and data is going to be very low. Increasing chances for dropped calls and causing data speeds to crawl.

 

Not a good scenario for a single RF connection to a site. Sometimes moving toward the center of the tower will help because it will reduce the number of sites in range. Even though your signal may be weaker, your signal quality may go way up.

 

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

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The big issue with casinos in Vegas, especially on the upper floors, is noise. The noise floor gets so high, because you are now within ear shot of too many sites. Interfering with each other.

From a window in a tower in Vegas on the 30th floor, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say your device was in range of 40-50 sites across the valley before you. Your device will attempt to connect to the one with the best signal, but it will constantly be switching sites...boom, boom, boom. One after another. And because the interference is so high, your effective throughput for voice and data is going to be very low. Increasing chances for dropped calls and causing data speeds to crawl.

Not a good scenario for a single RF connection to a site. Sometimes moving toward the center of the tower will help because it will reduce the number of sites in range. Even though your signal may be weaker, your signal quality may go way up.

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

Why doesn't something like that happen in NYC?

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Why doesn't something like that happen in NYC?

 

It happens in NYC too, but to a lesser extent.  Two big reasons...

  1. Sites around NYC are broadcasting at lower power and have more severe downtilt because they don't have to cover as far.  A typically site in suburban Las Vegas broadcasts an area much greater and has their antennas pointed higher to travel farther.  So someone up high in that area is going to get signal from a lot more sites than in NYC.  So in NYC you will likely still get interference this way, but maybe from 1/4 of the number of sites.
  2. Sites in really dense urban areas, especially Manhattan, have their RF tuned for three dimensions, not just out over the ground.  The density in Manhattan is uber dense.  They point antennas up and down, not just out.  So they try to minimize interference from other adjacent sites by appropriately aiming, thus lowering the noise floor somewhat.  Also, having a strong signal pointed right at you allows the signal you are connected with to be better able to communicate above the noise floor.

Both of these contribute to having a better experience on a high floor in Manhattan over a high floor in a place like the Strip in Vegas.  The same problem that happens in Vegas can also happen as you climb high hilltops or mountain ridges.  Like above Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, etc.  You can be in earshot of dozens of sites at once.  You can see the neighboring cells just go bonkers, and see the site handoffs bounce around like a ping pong ball.

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Why doesn't something like that happen in NYC?

 

Robert's explanation is great, but I will offer a simplified version.

 

Las Vegas: a few tall buildings surrounded by desert plain.

New York City: many tall buildings surrounded by many other tall buildings.

 

See the difference?

 

AJ

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I've never heard of that. Newer casinos have DAS so I doubt that they're actively blocking cell phone signals. Older casinos may just have poor reception due to construction or cell site placement.

 

As for sports books, it used to be illegal to use cell phones in them. However, that ban was lifted back in 2008. I've never encountered any specific problems using my cell phone in any sports books unless there was generally poor reception in the entire casino area, which itself is becoming rarer.

Have Casino's started installing DAS so you can get a good LTE signal when walking around inside the Casino?
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Have Casino's started installing DAS so you can get a good LTE signal when walking around inside the Casino?

 

Many casino's have had DAS installed for quite some time. Several of them have been upgraded to LTE. When you look at the NV Map, any site that has 97X or 98X in the site ID is generally a DAS.

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Many casino's have had DAS installed for quite some time. Several of them have been upgraded to LTE. When you look at the NV Map, any site that has 97X or 98X in the site ID is generally a DAS.

 

NV Map in the premier forum?

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I'm here in Vegas now on the 32nd floor in Mandalay Bay. My B25 signal sucks. But I am hitting a B41 tower that is pretty decent. There is no LTE on the casino floor here though. New York New York I had B41 the entire time with great speed. MGM I had good B25. This is way better then when I was here in August.

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I'm here in Vegas now on the 32nd floor in Mandalay Bay. My B25 signal sucks. But I am hitting a B41 tower that is pretty decent. There is no LTE on the casino floor here though. New York New York I had B41 the entire time with great speed. MGM I had good B25. This is way better then when I was here in August.

Have you had LTE most of the time since you arrived? I'm going to Treasure Island this weekend & Venetian next week.
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Have you had LTE most of the time since you arrived? I'm going to Treasure Island this weekend & Venetian next week.

Yes.

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No, we have never started a Premier Thread for Vegas.

 

If you are a premier user check out my last post in the 8T8R thread

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5816-tdd-lte-2600-band-41-8t8r-sites-accepted-discussion-thread/?p=416662

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