Network Vision/LTE - West Washington Market (Seattle/Puget Sound Region)

[RAvirani]

33 minutes ago, JThorson said:

So I recently saw what I believe to be a new tower. I'm not sure who's on it yet but maybe someone else knows? It is on the corner of NE 45th St and 7th Ave NE in Seattle. You can see it from I-5. I'll try to get a picture of it this week.

If you’re referring to the monopole with two long skinny antennas per sector, that’s a Verizon site. It’s been there for quite a while now. 

[JThorson]

6 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

If you’re referring to the monopole with two long skinny antennas per sector, that’s a Verizon site. It’s been there for quite a while now. 

Well never mind than. Thanks for the clarification.

[lilotimz]

On 1/12/2018 at 5:35 PM, RAvirani said:

The site I’ve been getting screenshots from is at the Montlake Blvd NE exit off 520. 

There are a few other sites in downtown Seattle that are broadcasting six carriers. 

Quick checkup. Have you been able to get more screenshots?

[RAvirani]

11 minutes ago, lilotimz said:

Quick checkup. Have you been able to get more screenshots?

I was. I’ve uploded them to the same imgur album: https://imgur.com/a/SnNVc

[lilotimz]

18 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

I was. I’ve uploded them to the same imgur album: https://imgur.com/a/SnNVc

Nice! Just need to find that elusive 39874 (6th)...

[RAvirani]

Just now, lilotimz said:

Nice! Just need to find that elusive 39874 (6th)...

I’m out of town this week, but I’ll go back and try to connect to the 6th carrier when I get back. 

[dkyeager]

10 hours ago, RAvirani said:

I’m out of town this week, but I’ll go back and try to connect to the 6th carrier when I get back. 

It would also be awesome to get the same carriers from an 8T8R site,  which should use the standard GCI layout to earfcn.

[RAvirani]

Just returned to Seattle to a pleasant surprise — full LTE throughout SeaTac airport! Never thought this day would come. 

Service was -102 or worse on L1900 or L2500 before. Now signal on L1900 doesn’t drop below -90. 

[RAvirani]

It seems I’ve come home to another pleasant surprise — a new site with hexadecaport antennas located on Microsoft building 43. I can’t connect to it yet, but it’ll definitely improve coverage and capacity in the surrounding areas when it comes online. 

[RAvirani]

So I picked up another two new L2500 carriers in downtown Seattle, bringing us up to a grand total of 8 carriers live across the region. Here’s what I’ve noticed:

- Most 8T8Rs seem to be running five carriers (40072, 40270, 40978, 41176, 41374)

- All mini-macro-on-macro sites are running two carriers (40978, 41176)

- All magic boxes run one carrier (39874)

- Most small cells/DAS setups seem to be running two carriers (40582, 40780)

Pretty neat stuff!

[Tengen31]

So I picked up another two new L2500 carriers in downtown Seattle, bringing us up to a grand total of 8 carriers live across the region. Here’s what I’ve noticed:

- Most 8T8Rs seem to be running five carriers (40072, 40270, 40978, 41176, 41374)

- All mini-macro-on-macro sites are running two carriers (40978, 41176)

- All magic boxes run one carrier (39874)

- Most small cells/DAS setups seem to be running two carriers (40582, 40780)

Pretty neat stuff!

You seeing any 15x15 on B25 at all?

 

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[RAvirani]

55 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

You seeing any 15x15 on B25 at all?

 

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Still nothing. We’ve got two 1x1900 carriers and an EVDO carrier in the PCS B block as well as a 10x10 L1900 carrier spanning the PCS C5 and G blocks, although the PCS C4 block remains completely unused. 

[RAvirani]

Few quick updates on the Seattle market:

• Verizon B5/B26 MFBI is now live in Seattle.
• Verizon is also replacing all of the antennas on many of their sites with new MIMO (and possibly NR-capable) antennas. It seems that in a large majority of these setups, only half of the ports are used—I think they will come back and hook up new RRUs (again maybe for NR) to these unused ports later.
• Verizon has historically had phenomenal site optimization and load balancing but not-so-great site density in my area, although recently, they have been closing that gap. Although they still seem to be avoiding using wooden utility poles as much as possible, they are colocating onto many existing macros and buildings as well as constructing their own towers. I think they will soon become a much stronger competitor to the other carriers in this market. 
• All Sprint towers in the market that can support the weight are being upgraded to one hexadecaport antenna (4x4 800, 4x4 1900, 8x8 2500) and one 8T8R antenna (8x8 2500) per sector. Sites with weight limitations are also getting triband upgrades but with lower order MIMO. The common setups in order of weight are:
  • A single hexadecaport antenna (4x4 800, 4x4 1900, 4x4 2500) per sector. 
  • A standard 6-port dual-band NV antenna (2x2 800, 4x4 1900) and a 10-port dual-band next-gen antenna (2x2 800, 8x8 2500) per sector. (This setup is quite rare). 
  • A single decaport triband antenna (2x2 800, 4x4 1900, 4x4 2500) per sector. 
• I haven’t seen any L600 in the Seattle metro on T-Mobile yet. They largely seem to have stagnated over the last year or so. Many sites (probably 1/4 or 1/5) still don’t have L700, mostly sites on wooden utility poles or powerlines. I haven’t seen permits or anything to upgrade these sites...
• AT&T also seems to have largely stagnated in the Seattle market following their WCS rollout. That being said, their network is probably holding up the best in my immediate area. They have the best site density in my market and their 15x15 lowband, 20x20 midband and 10x10 highband LTE is working out really great for them. 

[RAvirani]

The new Sprint site on Microsoft building 43 is finally live with L1900. I have not been able to connect to L800 or L2500 yet, though, and CDMA does not appear to be live either…

[JThorson]

I saw this down in Renton yesterday when I was at Fry's and from the looks of it, it looks like I have 2xca upload. If this is true, I didn't look for what site it was coming from.

[Tengen31]

I saw this down in Renton yesterday when I was at Fry's and from the looks of it, it looks like I have 2xca upload. If this is true, I didn't look for what site it was coming from.

That is starting to pop up yes. So yeah it's real

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[Dkoellerwx]

1 hour ago, JThorson said:

I saw this down in Renton yesterday when I was at Fry's and from the looks of it, it looks like I have 2xca upload. If this is true, I didn't look for what site it was coming from.

 

Good to see they are bringing it online in Samsung markets now!

[RAvirani]

2 hours ago, JThorson said:

I saw this down in Renton yesterday when I was at Fry's and from the looks of it, it looks like I have 2xca upload. If this is true, I didn't look for what site it was coming from.

Oh awesome!

I actually know which site that is—if I were still in Seattle, I’d definitely drive down and check it out. 

[RAvirani]

3 hours ago, JThorson said:

I saw this down in Renton yesterday when I was at Fry's and from the looks of it, it looks like I have 2xca upload. If this is true, I didn't look for what site it was coming from.

We’re you able to check if the modulation scheme as well? 64QAM for uploads would be really nice!

[Terrell352]

2 minutes ago, RAvirani said:

We’re you able to check if the modulation scheme as well? 64QAM for uploads would be really nice!

64qam upload has been live in Ericsson markets for a while now. I have no doubt its active in Seattle.

[Tengen31]

64qam upload has been live in Ericsson markets for a while now. I have no doubt its active in Seattle.

With 2xca and 64qam whats the theoretical upload 40-45 Mbps or so?

 

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[nexgencpu]

9 minutes ago, Tengen31 said:

With 2xca and 64qam whats the theoretical upload 40-45 Mbps or so?

 

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About 30mbs..

[Terrell352]

With 2xca and 64qam whats the theoretical upload 40-45 Mbps or so? 
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28 mbps

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[Tengen31]

28 mbps

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That's it? The CA alone should be 18. Since one carrier is 9.

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[nexgencpu]

1 minute ago, Tengen31 said:

That's it? The CA alone should be 18. Since one carrier is 9.

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Why would you waste anymore spectrum for anything over 10mbs?