Network Vision/LTE - Western & Central Pennsylvania Markets (Lancaster, Scranton, Erie, State College, Williamsport)

[zodiac12345]

While I do agree ROI in State College would be poor, my theory on why Western PA was put on exclusive GMO conversion is more t do with the original operator, iPCS

 

iPCS fought Sprint on numerous legal battles. Back in 2008, when Sprint had Clearwire create the WiMax network, iPCS became outraged over the fact that they were not Sprint's exclusive affiliate in the regions, as per original terms of their agreement.

 

Overall, iPCS's network was abysmal at best. In Pennsylvania, prior to the GMO conversions, iPCS left almost the entire 300 mile stretch of Interstate 80 on 1xRTT. Most sites along rural highways were also left with 1xRTT. with no plans to install EV-DO. The cities, did see EV-DO, but substantially after Sprint's own markets (Similar to what I read on the NTelos threads with their LTE deployment). 

 

Fast forward to 2009, Sprint decided it was best to outright buy iPCS. Nothing was done to the network until the start of Network Vision. In 2012, Sprint announced Network Vision, with Samsung as the vendor for the region. As Western PA was deemed a round 4 market, for an unknown reason, Samsung readily deployed GMO conversion. And, for the first time, the I-80 corridor received its EV-DO upgrade. 

 

Here is the article, which gives more of the legal background. I just summed up the article and personal experience.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ajUNHZr7xHYo

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-nextel-to-acquire-wireless-affiliate-ipcs-inc.htm

 

Seeing this, among other things with the thread, Sprint most likely didn't want to bother with the market. Just left the current network running just to keep away from roaming fees. 

 

In terms of the worst days for wireless in State College, the football games, Sprint does not come in last place. Verizon does, even with LTE. Calls and texts do not go through. Data dies. Sprint's calls/texts work, albeit at worse quality. Data for Sprint is piss poor, slightly better than Verizon, but comparing Verizon's 0.01 Mbps to Sprint's 0.03 Mbps is a joke anyway. T-Mobile, with so few customers and their forests of Edge in between the cities, has little to no customers and speeds are 15 Mbps. AT&T, sponsoring Penn State, has several DAS' set up at the stadium, along with their WiFi, making them the number one carrier. 

 

 

Keep in mind that Sprint in State College holds no licensed BRS spectrum, only leased EBS spectrum.  So, that makes the WiMAX shutdown situation more tenuous.  The educational/religious organization lesser is the actual licensee that is subject to buildout requirements and license renewal.  Sprint is just the lessee and could walk away.

AJ

Good to know in terms of the WiMax licenses. If Sprint does have any intention of keeping the market, they most likely would renew the EBS license with the licensee. I could never pinpoint exactly where the WiMax protection sites were. Even with access to the Sponsor Maps. I experienced some ghost WiMax signals near the stadium, and usable signals near Martin St/Aaron Dr. They were mappped out on Sensorly. 

[Paynefanbro]

AT&T, sponsoring Penn State, has several DAS' set up at the stadium, along with their WiFi, making them the number one carrier. 

 

AT&T is Boston College's sponsor too and they have done the same thing at BC however, Sprint still performs better than them. Sprint and AT&T have speeds of roughly 10Mbps during football games  and calls and text never get blocked nor drop. Verizon can't even get a text to go through. A few of my friends use T-Mobile but I haven't gotten a chance to see how they perform in the stadium.

[Fraydog]

I don't know if the iPCS theory holds because Sprint post-800 MHz LTE has really good coverage in Illinois and most of this state outside of Chicago was iPCS.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[A2CKilla]

Well this literally just happened at the best buy off the greenfield exist...now I can tell people how great sprint is at work 

 

 

[Galaxyguy]

Is that Lancaster?

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[A2CKilla]

Is that Lancaster?

 

Sent from my Note 4.

Yep, they've been doing upgrades out here a lot and it's finally kicking in

[A2CKilla]

I was right, connected to b41 closer to park city

[A2CKilla]

Another win for sprint, verizon's network went down for a good bit of the area (lancaster, york, etc) and people kept coming in asking me what was wrong with there phone (work for samsung) and were surprised to hear the all mighty verizon actually went down. I said very happily, well I have full signal and my calls and data work fine with my sprint phone     

 

This was the outage, pretty crazy

[A2CKilla]

Well well well, look what I came into on hempstead road 

 

[techfranz]

Well well well, look what I came into on hempstead road

 

Lancaster look out here comes Sprint LTE [emoji583] [emoji583] [emoji583] . On a different note, in Ephrata I pulled in a 1x800 from over towards Lititz/Manheim. I don't know where but it was late and I guess signal was good because usage was low.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

Edited July 14, 2015 by techfranz

[techfranz]

 

Here is speedtest Creek Hill Road and Geist Road Leola PA.

 

Here is 800 LTE by the Rt. 30 outlets.

 

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

[A2CKilla]

Well after the announcement of CA look what I get at work, man I wish the nexus 6 supported CA   

 

[signalchaser]

Not sure if this is old news but I was able to connect to all 3 LTE bands in Hazleton this evening. I have a Nexus 5. It doesn't have the spark option but I am able to get data on each band. I was near Kmart and I was on band 25 and 26 for awhile. When leaving Kmart it briefly showed me connected to band 41. I wasn't able to test band 41 but my LTE discovery app showed it. I don't see any spark capability on the Sprint map but at least the whole area is covered with LTE. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by signalchaser

[mrknowitall526]

I drove up the PA Turnpike from Allentown to Scranton on Saturday and had LTE the entire trip ... Some places along there used to hardly have 3G!

[Dkoellerwx]

Not sure if this is old news but I was able to connect to all 3 LTE bands in Hazleton this evening. I have a Nexus 5. It doesn't have the spark option 

 

Not sure what you mean by this, the Nexus 5 most certainly has Spark (B41) capabilities.

 

Also, there are many, many places where B41 is available but not specifically called out on the coverage map. That's why we have S4GRU! 

[signalchaser]

Dk I am using FreedomPop. I don't get the little spinning logo at the top of the screen. I'm not sure if spark functions using their service. I've had the phone for a week.

[Dkoellerwx]

Dk I am using FreedomPop. I don't get the little spinning logo at the top of the screen. I'm not sure if spark functions using their service. I've had the phone for a week.

Because it is a Nexus, it does not have the Spark icon. Same as Apple devices. That in no way indicates anything about B41 capabilities. If you have a N5 running on a Sprint MVNO, you have access to Spark.

 

Sent from my LG G4

[techfranz]

Well after the announcement of CA look what I get at work, man I wish the nexus 6 supported CA   

 

 

Absolutely amazing speeds there. 40MBS down. Wow! Make me want to check that spot out next time I get down that way.

 

What is the general location in case I get down that way?

Edited July 21, 2015 by techfranz

[S4GRU]

Not sure if this is old news but I was able to connect to all 3 LTE bands in Hazleton this evening. I have a Nexus 5. It doesn't have the spark option but I am able to get data on each band. I was near Kmart and I was on band 25 and 26 for awhile. When leaving Kmart it briefly showed me connected to band 41. I wasn't able to test band 41 but my LTE discovery app showed it. I don't see any spark capability on the Sprint map but at least the whole area is covered with LTE. 

 

When you consider Sprint did not even have 3G EVDO in Hazleton until recently, it is amazing the transformation.  Hazleton was a 1x only market until 2013.  

[burnout8488]

I drove up the PA Turnpike from Allentown to Scranton on Saturday and had LTE the entire trip ... Some places along there used to hardly have 3G!

Are you sure? That stretch was almost 100% 3G on the last sponsor map update. It would be a long shot if they all got upgraded to LTE within a few weeks.

[mrknowitall526]

Are you sure? That stretch was almost 100% 3G on the last sponsor map update. It would be a long shot if they all got upgraded to LTE within a few weeks.

I was a passenger and I wasn't on my phone constantly, but I was surprised at the amount of LTE there was. I hadn't been up that way since 2013.

[burnout8488]

I was a passenger and I wasn't on my phone constantly, but I was surprised at the amount of LTE there was. I hadn't been up that way since 2013.

Hrm. I'll be up the turnpike later today and will see how it is. When I came down a few days ago there definitely was a bit more LTE than usual.

[mrknowitall526]

Hrm. I'll be up the turnpike later today and will see how it is. When I came down a few days ago there definitely was a bit more LTE than usual.

I travelled from Lehigh Valley to Keyser Avenue

[PythonFanPA]

You guys made me pull up Google Maps  I kept reading the above and thinking 'What the heck are they talking about? 76 doesn't run anywhere near Allentown - Interstate 78 does but that's not a toll highway.'   Had no idea about 476....I've only ever heard 76 referenced as the Turnpike.

[mrknowitall526]

You guys made me pull up Google Maps [emoji14] I kept reading the above and thinking 'What the heck are they talking about? 76 doesn't run anywhere near Allentown - Interstate 78 does but that's not a toll highway.' Had no idea about 476....I've only ever heard 76 referenced as the Turnpike.

Haha! It's technically called the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike ... But up here in the LV we just call it "the Turnpike" and we refer to 76 (and 276 when 76 turns into the Schuylkill Expressway) as the "East-West Turnpike." 476 becomes non-toll at the Mid-County toll plaza and then we call it the Blue Route.

 

The NE Extension used to be PA Route 9 until the mid 90s when it became I-476.