Network Vision/LTE - East Iowa Market (Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Dubuque, Waterloo/Cedar Falls)

[S4GRU]

Dies anyone have any insight?

 

Since February 12th, the network connection will just stop working. I would be surfing and then all of a sudden web pages wouldnt load. I would do a speed test and it wouldn't run. So I toggled airplane mode on and off and then data would work again (around 5mbps). Then about 2 mins later it would stop working again. Another temp solution is doing ##update to get it working again, but again that is only temporary.

 

We are also experiencing dramatic speed swings from 5mbps down to .2 in the same location taken within a minute of each other.

 

I have called Sprint many times and 99% of the time their representatives say everything is working correctly, but 1 time the rep said we have over 30 issues in our area. But, when I call back and reference that, the technician is dumbfounded and can't see a single issue.

Is this from multiple phones all doing the same thing? Because it almost sounds like it is device related.

[bkco14]

I have an iPhone 5c, 5s, and 6 and they are all doing the same thing

[S4GRU]

I have an iPhone 5c, 5s, and 6 and they are all doing the same thing

Does it seem to be just one tower (one area of town) or everywhere you go? Including to other cities?

[bkco14]

It has happened in 2 different cities. But it does seem like 1 tower has had something change as right next to the tower and 2 blocks away now have awful coverage (full bars and .4mbps) but if I start driving further away from it, the speed starts to increase. I want to clarify that those were the best spots for speed a couple months ago.

 

Also another part of the city if I am on LTE, then the data doesn't work at all, but if I switch to 3G it does

Edited March 11, 2015 by bkco14

[bretton88]

The LTE data here in Burlington is being spotty too. B26 doesn't want to connect anymore and when it does there's no data.

[grapkoski]

Could your areas just be getting the tower software update? The issues seem a bit more dramatic than what I experienced though.

[bkco14]

What is the software update?

[S4GRU]

Keep calling Sprint every few days to complain.  And report the problem areas via the Sprint Zone app.  And do it from every device on your account.

[KDKobes]

In home town for family and spotted a new tower. Doesnt seem to be on yet,there was an underground cable company there so I'm just assuming there fi.ishing it up.

 

I looked and looked and I just cant tell whose it is..any ideas?

 

Also I cant seem to figure out is Cedar Rapids, IA Samsung or Ericsson market?

 

Trying to upload photo. File aize too big

Edited April 8, 2015 by KDKobes

[S4GRU]

Samsung.

 

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

[bmoses]

In home town for family and spotted a new tower. Doesnt seem to be on yet,there was an underground cable company there so I'm just assuming there fi.ishing it up.

 

I looked and looked and I just cant tell whose it is..any ideas?

 

Also I cant seem to figure out is Cedar Rapids, IA Samsung or Ericsson market?

 

Trying to upload photo. File aize too big

 

you can use this guide

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3767-adding-images-to-posts-imgur-links/

 

for adding pictures to posts. where is the location of this new tower?

[KDKobes]

Samsung.

Using Moto X² on Tapatalk

Thanks. I finally got the photo scaled down. Hopefully you can see it clear enough.

[KDKobes]

you can use this guide

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3767-adding-images-to-posts-imgur-links/

 

for adding pictures to posts. where is the location of this new tower?

Thanks.

 

The tower is located behind here..

 

Eaton Corporation

Executive Square, 373 Collins Rd NE # 202, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

 

Basically off Collins Rd & C Ave. I live here all my life until 2yrs ago I moved and there isnt any new providers so I'm thinking its either Sprint or iWireless. Possibly iWireless building out the LTE spectrum for T-Mobile.

[bmoses]

Thanks.

 

The tower is located behind here..

 

Eaton Corporation

Executive Square, 373 Collins Rd NE # 202, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402

 

Basically off Collins Rd & C Ave. I live here all my life until 2yrs ago I moved and there isnt any new providers so I'm thinking its either Sprint or iWireless. Possibly iWireless building out the LTE spectrum for T-Mobile.

 

its definitely not sprint, the tower is showing up on satellite view and there is an equipment shelter there and sprint doesn't generally install equipment shelters. plus being a new tower there are too many and not the right type of panels up there

 

it could be verizon, they have a 2 large, 2 small panel configuration they have been installing all over the place around here. 

[bkco14]

Keep calling Sprint every few days to complain.  And report the problem areas via the Sprint Zone app.  And do it from every device on your account.

So, after being in more places around town where I have an LTE signal, but no data throughput, I called Sprint again (been dealing with this since Feb). I was told that they won't do anything unless they get a lot of unique people complaining and they finally they got enough complaining that they now have 5 tickets open in our area starting April 20th. But, the technician on the phone said that there doesn't seem to be an answer for this yet.

 

I was told a lot of upgrades happened in March, but the data keeps getting slower and slower. It seems like in order to have data that works, I need to disable LTE.

 

Does this seem right? I feel like I am getting a runaround. I love Sprint when I travel and I can see what they are capable of, but in my hometown they have gotten really bad and no one that I talk to at Sprint can answer why.

[bkco14]

Any ides on how complete this market is and if they are coming back to it anytime soon?

 

Because it is getting really congested

[bmoses]

Any ides on how complete this market is and if they are coming back to it anytime soon?

 

Because it is getting really congested

 

i guess that depends on what you mean by "complete" the east iowa market is actually 100% "complete" since the network vision base equipment is installed on all towers in the market. but as far as LTE goes, LTE is only on about 44% of the towers. and its probably not going to move much higher then that for several years as its a low priority market.

 

you location is listed as the quad cities, so specifically to that area, all but a few towers have LTE and it looks like both B25 and B26 should be on most of them. So other than the few towers left to get LTE i would say no, they aren't going to be coming back to do anything else anytime soon. 

 

based on their new plan i wouldn't count on seeing any B41 deployments for at least a year or 2 either. So basically what you have is as good as its going to get for the foreseeable future.

[Paynefanbro]

i guess that depends on what you mean by "complete" the east iowa market is actually 100% "complete" since the network vision base equipment is installed on all towers in the market. but as far as LTE goes, LTE is only on about 44% of the towers. and its probably not going to move much higher then that for several years as its a low priority market.

 

you location is listed as the quad cities, so specifically to that area, all but a few towers have LTE and it looks like both B25 and B26 should be on most of them. So other than the few towers left to get LTE i would say no, they aren't going to be coming back to do anything else anytime soon. 

 

based on their new plan i wouldn't count on seeing any B41 deployments for at least a year or 2 either. So basically what you have is as good as its going to get for the foreseeable future.

 

We honestly don't have a clear enough picture of Band 41 deployment besides "It's going to be a concentrated deployment in many cities. Sprint may begin deploying Band 41 small cells in his area. I honestly don't know Iowa that well but if he lives in an area with a decent amount of people he might end up seeing Band 41 in his area within the next year.

[bmoses]

We honestly don't have a clear enough picture of Band 41 deployment besides "It's going to be a concentrated deployment in many cities. Sprint may begin deploying Band 41 small cells in his area. I honestly don't know Iowa that well but if he lives in an area with a decent amount of people he might end up seeing Band 41 in his area within the next year.

 

while that could be true, i don't want to get his hopes up..... omaha and des moines would be higher on the pops list than the quad cities and would/should potentially get B41 before them. from what we are hearing/seeing i don't foresee those cities getting B41 for at least a year or more. maybe a "hotpot" here and there but no significant deployments.

[bkco14]

Thank you guys for all your help and vast knowledge.

[Mr.Nuke]

Any ides on how complete this market is and if they are coming back to it anytime soon?

 

Because it is getting really congested

Just to revisit this it is hard to say. Like bmoses said 3 weeks ago when you initially posted, outside of a few towers LTE work substantially completed in the Quad Cities. It has also recently come to our attention that East Iowa by-and-large is one of the few native Sprint areas where they don't hold signficant EBS/BRS spectrum for Band 41 LTE. The internet service provider SpeedConnect has it.

 

The bright side is the Quad Cities do have enough PCS spectrum for a second carrier. If they chose to deploy a second carrier that would help with congestion.

[bkco14]

So is it safe to assume that a second carrier could theoretically double the speed of it was put on?

 

When I called tech support, they mentioned that all the towers are missing a second sector. Do you know what that means? Is that the second carrier?

 

The other oddity that I have noticed is that there is a lot more roaming near zip code 61264. That was never roaming before, but the coverage maps are showing a lot of roaming. Does that seem right?

[WiWavelength]

So is it safe to assume that a second carrier could theoretically double the speed of it was put on?

 

When I called tech support, they mentioned that all the towers are missing a second sector. Do you know what that means? Is that the second carrier?

 

A second band 25 carrier can roughly double average speeds.  But it will have no effect on maximum attainable speeds.

 

As for the missing second sector, if these are ground mount sites, they could be just two sector sites, instead of three sector sites.  Many Sprint affiliates deployed two sector sites as a cost saving measure where they wanted coverage basically in a straight line, not in a full circular cell.

 

AJ

[Mr.Nuke]

So is it safe to assume that a second carrier could theoretically double the speed of it was put on?

Like AJ said there is a maximum attainable speed on Band 25 and 26 of 37.5 Mbps per sector. . I think the better way to look at it is a second carrier would effectively double capacity on each site. In general though speeds would theoretically "double" as instead of everyone on a single carrier on a given sector you would have that same number divided in half between two carriers.

When I called tech support, they mentioned that all the towers are missing a second sector. Do you know what that means? Is that the second carrier?

It depends where we are talking too. In Nebraska and Iowa in a lot of places outside of cities particularly along interstates and highways many sites are only two sectors. In the Quad Cities though nearly all of the sites are 3 sector sites.

The other oddity that I have noticed is that there is a lot more roaming near zip code 61264. That was never roaming before, but the coverage maps are showing a lot of roaming. Does that seem right?

It seems probable. Sprint's coverage should drop quite a bit South of I-280.

[WiWavelength]

It depends where we are talking too. In Nebraska and Iowa in a lot of places outside of cities particularly along interstates and highways many sites are only two sectors.

 

iPCS really should have named itself iiPCS.

 

AJ