Network Vision/LTE - LA Metro Market

[Thomas L.]

Wireless contractors for all of the carriers have been very busy in L.A. Sprint has its remaining NV sites and 8T8R upgrades going on. AT&T has been upgrading panels/RRUs, TMO has been doing their 700 upgrades and Verizon has been adding small cells like crazy.

 

TMO is the only one I've seen from start to finish. I've seen 2 sites get the new 700 MHz panels and it's been a one day job in both cases.

 

I hope Sprint can be just as fast on sites that already have the 800/1900 panels but no 800 RRU.

What is AT&T doing?

[lilotimz]

What is AT&T doing?

 

Adding equipment to enable Band 4 / Band 2 LTE. Typically RRUS-A2s. 

[cortney]

T-Mobile band 12 deployment is not putting any significant pressure on Sprint band 26 deployment anywhere.  The unwashed masses of users on both sides have practically zero knowledge of the behind the scenes low/mid/high band machinations.  Only we few semi professionals and advanced users care.

 

And, in San Bernardino County, if any pressure is being applied, Sprint is the one applying it -- to the FCC to force the incorrigible rebanders to move their shit.  What T-Mobile is doing is not a concern.

 

AJ

lol... I too don't understand the hype behind T-Mobile's minuscule band 12 deployment. CH51 complete handicaps them in their most important markets. I remember some trolls were actually asking AT&T and Verizon users if they were jealous of T-Mobile's band 12. It's just another excuse for magenta children to whine about how far they think their carrier is coming, meanwhile any combination of all other 3 carriers complete trump them in 99.9% of all markets and places. 

[Deval]

lol... I too don't understand the hype behind T-Mobile's minuscule band 12 deployment. CH51 complete handicaps them in their most important markets. I remember some trolls were actually asking AT&T and Verizon users if they were jealous of T-Mobile's band 12. It's just another excuse for magenta children to whine about how far they think their carrier is coming, meanwhile any combination of all other 3 carriers complete trump them in 99.9% of all markets and places. 

 

Simply because their god and savior John of Legere told them so. Plus they have those coverage maps which show Verizon'esq coverage coast to coast that they claim will be available by EOY.

[cortney]

Simply because their god and savior John of Legere told them so. Plus they have those coverage maps which show Verizon'esq coverage coast to coast that they claim will be available by EOY.

Not to drift off-topic, but I find it entertaining that the timeline was supposed originally to be EOY 2014 IIRC.

 

Then the wildly spread myth that it would be half complete 2014 and "substantially" complete mid-2015. Oh, now it's right around the corner from mid-2015 and not even a fraction of what they claimed would be done is done as per their own coverage maps and crowd-source maps, so now the new bogus claim is it will be all done EOY 2015, and then what? "Substantially" complete by Mid 2016 and then EOY 2016 and substantially complete mid-2017 and EOY 2017, and on and on and on. It's just ludicrously pathetic. How about EOY 2020? Sounds slightly more realistic.

 

We've all caught on to the mid-year EOY game they're playing to mask the ridiculously slow / non-progress outside of urban cores, *yawn*. Even Nextel blew T-Mobile out of the water before their sunset in suburban and certain rural areas.

Edited April 27, 2015 by cortney

[Deval]

I think Sprint's new direction and focus on really fixing their core markets is huge, and not leaving their secondary markets behind. At least every market will see B25 and B26 (IBEZ excluded), which really matters in the big picture.

[WiWavelength]

lol... I too don't understand the hype behind T-Mobile's minuscule band 12 deployment. CH51 complete handicaps them in their most important markets.

 

I would not say that.  T-Mobile has managed to acquire the Lower 700 MHz A block in most of the top 10 markets.  T-Mobile makes a big deal about it in its presentations for investors.

 

Now, some of those markets are partially or fully UHF channel 51 encumbered.  And plenty of other major markets fall outside of those top 10, where T-Mobile has no band 12 spectrum.

 

But that is T-Mobile for you.  It is an "urban" operator.  It plays to its core audience of city people -- namely, coastal city people.  Will it be able to expand and reinvent itself?  We shall see...

 

AJ

[lou99/maximus1987]

Not to drift off-topic, but I find it entertaining that the timeline was supposed originally to be EOY 2014 IIRC.

 

Then the wildly spread myth that it would be half complete 2014 and "substantially" complete mid-2015. Oh, now it's right around the corner from mid-2015 and not even a fraction of what they claimed would be done is done as per their own coverage maps and crowd-source maps, so now the new bogus claim is it will be all done EOY 2015, and then what? "Substantially" complete by Mid 2016 and then EOY 2016 and substantially complete mid-2017 and EOY 2017, and on and on and on. It's just ludicrously pathetic. How about EOY 2020? Sounds slightly more realistic.

 

We've all caught on to the mid-year EOY game they're playing to mask the ridiculously slow / non-progress outside of urban cores, *yawn*. Even Nextel blew T-Mobile out of the water before their sunset in suburban and certain rural areas.

You mean like how sprint said they'd have 250mil pops EoY 2013? Remember that?

 

 

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[WiWavelength]

You mean like how sprint said they'd have 250mil pops EoY 2013? Remember that?

 

That is degenerate argumentation, maximus.  Invoking Sprint in a response to a post that is purely about T-Mobile is a distraction tactic.  It is like the boy who is getting disciplined for breaking the rules protesting, "But, but, but AJ does it, too."

 

AJ

[lou99/maximus1987]

That is degenerate argumentation, maximus. Invoking Sprint in a response to a post that is purely about T-Mobile is a distraction tactic. It is like the boy who is getting disciplined for breaking the rules protesting, "But, but, but AJ does it, too."

 

AJ

Rules should be enforced uniformly. Pointing out violations of this principle is valid.

 

 

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[S4GRU]

Rules should be enforced uniformly. Pointing out violations of this principle is valid.

 

 

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What rule was violated?  I don't see anything on either side of the discussion.

[Dkoellerwx]

No that is not entirely true for all of LA/OC.  The sites in LA/OC that cannot deploy 800 MHz CDMA or LTE currently do NOT have the 800 MHz RRUs already installed on the racks.  The panels are installed but that is only because the panels used in NV are dual band (800 and 1900) supported.  I have personally witnessed that many NV sites that falls under the restricted zone (mainly eastern part of LA county and all of OC county) have the 800 MHz RRUs installed but only the 1900 MHz RRUs.

 

So when Sprint finally gets the go ahead to deploy, they will need to deploy quickly.  From looking at the NV complete maps you can see that there is a portion of LA that has 800 MHz CDMA already deployed and I agree for those sites the 800 MHz LTE should be lit up quickly but for eastern part of LA county and all of OC county Sprint will need to send crews to install the 800 MHz RRUs and connect them to the NV panels and optimize.

 

Sprint is already out deploying 800 RRUs (and antennas where needed) to get ahead of the curve. Once they are cleared to fire things up, it will already be in place.

[ericdabbs]

Sprint is already out deploying 800 RRUs (and antennas where needed) to get ahead of the curve. Once they are cleared to fire things up, it will already be in place.

 

Thanks.  I was not aware of this effort.  I'll have to keep an eye out on the NV sites I pass through to see if they have started to put up 800 MHz RRUs and connected them to the panels in preparation of the completion of the SB county rebanding effort.  I'll report back to see what I find.

[trojanman05]

Was downtown again today and brought my T-Mobile test drive iPhone. Nothing different from last week, was pretty much on Edge in my office, and speeds were on average slower than Clearwire B41 at street level. I'll be sticking with Sprint even though T-Mobile does better at my gym in Irvine.

 

Sprint is definitely already deploying the 800 RRUs in LA county, I've seen at least one on a tower next to the train tracks along my Metrolink commute. I took a pic today and will post in the sponsors forum with site ID. However, on a tower further south along the train tracks near the Fullerton station, no 800 RRUs yet.

[ericdabbs]

Was downtown again today and brought my T-Mobile test drive iPhone. Nothing different from last week, was pretty much on Edge in my office, and speeds were on average slower than Clearwire B41 at street level. I'll be sticking with Sprint even though T-Mobile does better at my gym in Irvine.

 

Sprint is definitely already deploying the 800 RRUs in LA county, I've seen at least one on a tower next to the train tracks along my Metrolink commute. I took a pic today and will post in the sponsors forum with site ID. However, on a tower further south along the train tracks near the Fullerton station, no 800 RRUs yet.

 

Actually parts of LA County (Pasadena, Downtown LA, Glendale, Santa Monica, etc) already have 800 RRUs installed if you see the NV complete map for those sites that are already deploying CDMA 800 so that is not anything new.  

 

I guess new data points would be if any of the OC county OR eastern part of LA county/San Bernardino county labelled NV sites start to have 800 RRUs installed then that is something worth noting.  As you pointed out a site in Fullerton has yet to receive 800 RRUs which is what I expected.

[trojanman05]

Looks like a new 8T8R site is now live in downtown LA. For the first time this morning I've been connecting to a weak B41 signal from a Sprint site (around -118 dbm) in my office. I normally connect, and stay connected, to a Clearwire site.

 

Unfortunately, it's creating a poor data connection, as I'm now bouncing between this new 8T8R signal, the Clearwire B41 signal, B25 and 3G. And the 8T8R site is not too fast, only about 1.5 mbps DL. Hopefully this will change shortly as they optimize it and have it play nicely with the Clearwire sites. Up until today, downtown LA (primarily from Bunker Hill, down through the financial district, and towards LA Live/Staples) B41 has been served by all Clearwire sites.

[bigmachine]

 

 

Unfortunately, it's creating a poor data connection, as I'm now bouncing between this new 8T8R signal, the Clearwire B41 signal, B25 and 3G. And the 8T8R site is not too fast, only about 1.5 mbps DL. Hopefully this will change shortly as they optimize it and have it play nicely with the Clearwire sites. Up until today, downtown LA (primarily from Bunker Hill, down through the financial district, and towards LA Live/Staples) B41 has been served by all Clearwire sites.

I'm having the same exact issue in Burbank.

[trojanman05]

I'm having the same exact issue in Burbank.

 

How long has it been going on there?

[bigmachine]

How long has it been going on there?

About 2 weeks.

 

I've driven by the Clear site I used to connect to and it's still active.

 

My phone constantly ping pongs between 3G,B25 and occasionally B41 without moving.

 

Fortunately I'm not having those issues at home.

[metayoshi]

I have been selected for jury duty, and I'm in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown la. This is definitely a place that could benefit from 800. At least the WiFi is usable.

[ericdabbs]

Looks like a new 8T8R site is now live in downtown LA. For the first time this morning I've been connecting to a weak B41 signal from a Sprint site (around -118 dbm) in my office. I normally connect, and stay connected, to a Clearwire site.

 

Unfortunately, it's creating a poor data connection, as I'm now bouncing between this new 8T8R signal, the Clearwire B41 signal, B25 and 3G. And the 8T8R site is not too fast, only about 1.5 mbps DL. Hopefully this will change shortly as they optimize it and have it play nicely with the Clearwire sites. Up until today, downtown LA (primarily from Bunker Hill, down through the financial district, and towards LA Live/Staples) B41 has been served by all Clearwire sites.

 

 

I'm having the same exact issue in Burbank.

 

Have you guys tried to switch the band priorities on your phone.  Maybe for the time being, switch B41 priority to be lower than B25 until things get smoothed out.

[Dkoellerwx]

Have you guys tried to switch the band priorities on your phone. Maybe for the time being, switch B41 priority to be lower than B25 until things get smoothed out.

Remember, Band priorities don't have any impact after the first LTE scan following a radio reset. After than, the network pushes you around based on it's priorities, not your device's.

 

You can turn B41 off, but that effect may be less than desirable.

[bigmachine]

Have you guys tried to switch the band priorities on your phone. Maybe for the time being, switch B41 priority to be lower than B25 until things get smoothed out.

My service is still completely useable for what I need, so I haven't touched my settings.

 

I hope all of this is an indicator of some 8T8R upgrades.

[bigmachine]

Anyone know if Metro RF Services does subcontract work for Sprint?   I'm trying to sort through a bunch of permit applications that specify the work being done as installing "3 new panel antennas, 3 RRUs and associated cabling."  It seems like that could either go for new 8T8R equipment for Sprint or new 700 MHz panels for TMO.  Unfortunately the permit applications don't specify panel size and by strange coincidence all of the sites I found today have both Sprint and TMO located at the same site.

[jasonsteele]

Tower porn, Hacienda Heights

 

 

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