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Network Vision/LTE - Upper Central Valley Market (Sacramento, Stockton, Redding, Eureka & Reno/Lake Tahoe)


iwalkthrowwalls

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Looks like we got some new Sprint stores popping up around here thanks to Radioshack going bye bye!

 

By Sac State

- 5650 FOLSOM BLVD SACRAMENTO CA 95819

 

By Greenhaven / Pocket Area & interstate 5... very close to me! woo! No need to drive to... stockton blvd... (ugh!)

- LAKE CREST VILLAGE SC 1012 FLORIN RD SACRAMENTO, CA 95831

 

Inside West Sac Ikea

- 767 IKEA CT STE 100 W SACRAMENTO CA 95605

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Looks like we got some new Sprint stores popping up around here thanks to Radioshack going bye bye!

 

By Sac State

- 5650 FOLSOM BLVD SACRAMENTO CA 95819

 

By Greenhaven / Pocket Area & interstate 5... very close to me! woo! No need to drive to... stockton blvd... (ugh!)

- LAKE CREST VILLAGE SC 1012 FLORIN RD SACRAMENTO, CA 95831

 

Inside West Sac Ikea

- 767 IKEA CT STE 100 W SACRAMENTO CA 95605

 

Are these stores converted from radioshack stores?

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Not much going on but here's some good news for anyone still watching the market...

 

Clearwire Huawei site conversions are soon to begin! I just found the first permits for their replacements looking around today!

 

Woohooo!! 

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Not much going on but here's some good news for anyone still watching the market...

 

Clearwire Huawei site conversions are soon to begin! I just found the first permits for their replacements looking around today!

 

Woohooo!!

Conversions into sprint 8t8r gear?

 

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello to all,

 

I just wanted to provide to everyone my specs for the Sprint signal that I am getting, and a question on what speed I should be able to get.

 

Sprint Netgear 6100D

Patterson, California, 95363

cell tower on Orange Ave.

Sprint says that this is cell tower# SF52XC024

My 6100D says that this is serving cell 5786601

 

The 6100D is a tri-band device with dual external antenna ports.

I have a GiAnt 28dB wide band antenna (6 foot long Yagi antenna, 700 MHz to 2900 MHz, at a height of 30 feet).

 

The coverage map says that I am in the "4G LTE fair" region.  With my high gain antenna, I should do better than what the coverage maps shows.

 

I use this for fixed wireless for my home's internet since cable isn't available in my neighborbood (I'm a mile outside of town) and DSL would only produce 3Mbps here.

 

 

I am able to communicate on Band 25, Band 26, and Band 41.  I've set the preferences so that Band 41 is preferred (priority 1).

 

My signal level is:

     LTE Signal Info: RSSI -79 SINR 5.2,RSRP -109,RSRQ -11

     Active Tech: LTE Band 41

 

The Sprint tower is 4km from my home and there is a clear line of sight except for 1 tree on my property.

 

I only get 7 Mbps.  Sprint says that,  "Spark network 2500 needs to be completed in the  'Upper Valley'  market".  They didn't have a timeframe for this, but I assume that this will happen in November when the Clearwire system is shut down.

 

I have the Sprint 60G/month plan.

 

Other than cutting down my tree, does anyone have any comments or advice on my slow speed?

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

Edited by 645824
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Hello to all,

 

 

Welcome to the site and market!

 

SF52XC024 is an old Clearwire WiMax / TDD-LTE Band 41 site that Sprint has taken over.

 

The site utilizes old Huawei equipment and Clearwire era provisioned backhaul (high speed internet backbone) and as such the speed you are getting is completely in line with expectations since those sites  were provisioned at around 50 mbps and tops out around 20 mbps per sector max. My home site is one of such a site and averages 2-8 mbps during daytime and up to 15 mbps late at night.

 

Sprint is now in the process of beginning to apply for permits to decomission and replace the Clearwire equipment since the federal government mandated that all Huawei equipment be taken offline as a requirement for the Softbank-Sprint takeover. 

 

So that speed you're getting is about what you will get until Sprint deploys their own Samsung macro network equipment to replace that site which is presumably within the next... few months to a year. Patterson doesn't actually have a Sprint site inside or near the city with the actual sprint site is across the highway a few miles south of Patterson. I imagine they will convert the two Clear sites in Patterson sooner than later for coverage purposes.  

 

For ref the Clearwire site you're connected to is near the intersection of Orange Ave and S 1st Street. 

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My signal level is:

     LTE Signal Info: RSSI -79 SINR 5.2,RSRP -109,RSRQ -11

     Active Tech: LTE Band 41

 

The Sprint tower is 4km from my home and there is a clear line of sight except for 1 tree on my property.

 

I only get 7 Mbps.  Sprint says that,  "Spark network 2500 needs to be completed in the  'Upper Valley'  market".  They didn't have a timeframe for this, but I assume that this will happen in November when the Clearwire system is shut down.

 

To add to what Tim said, your 7 Mbps may be backhaul limited, or it may be signal limited.  Your SINR of 5.2 dB and RSRQ of -11 dB are okay but not great.  And your high gain antenna will not exactly help in that regard -- as it will amplify both desired signal and undesired noise/interference.  All in all, getting 7 Mbps from a non upgraded Clearwire band 41 site 2.5 miles away is pretty decent.

 

AJ

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Sprint is now in the process of beginning to apply for permits to decomission and replace the Clearwire equipment since the federal government mandated that all Huawei equipment be taken offline as a requirement for the Softbank-Sprint takeover. 

 

So that speed you're getting is about what you will get until Sprint deploys their own Samsung macro network equipment to replace that site which is presumably within the next... few months to a year. Patterson doesn't actually have a Sprint site inside or near the city with the actual sprint site is across the highway a few miles south of Patterson. I imagine they will convert the two Clear sites in Patterson sooner than later for coverage purposes.  

 

Thank you lilotimz (Tim) and WiWavelength (AJ).   

 

I will sit tight until Sprint rolls out their expanded coverage since it appears that there is nothing more that I can do on my end. 

 

I had been a Clearwire customer for many years until Sprint bought Clear.  At that time, I had also looked into both T-mobile and Verizon.  T-mobile's data plan tops out a 7Gig (it took numerous phone calls to T-Support to confirm this);  Verizon quoted $400/month for my data quantity and they max out at 12Mbps.  So I went with Sprint.  Other than the slow speed up to this point, I've been happy with Sprint and am looking forward to the increased throughput in the future.

 

 

I have a trouble-ticket on-file, and Sprint network support said to call back every 30 days to check the network status.  As-of July they said there weren't any upgrade plans in-place yet for my cell tower.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

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Thank you lilotimz (Tim) and WiWavelength (AJ).   

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

No problem.

 

Just sit tight and enjoy the show. It'll be converted one way or another hopefully sooner than later.  

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No problem.

 

Just sit tight and enjoy the show. It'll be converted one way or another hopefully sooner than later.  

 

I like the optimism, but I'm not so sure; at least not for my neighborhood Clear cell tower.  Patterson has the disproportionate advantage for its size that it is right on I-5 (with 25,000 vehicles per day here).  So Sprint has a couple of upgraded towers over on that side of town to fill-in interstate coverage.  

 

But the tower that I use is on Orange Ave. on the east side of town.  This is presently a Clear tower, and it isn't certain if Sprint sees the market justification to upgrade this tower.

 

As was pointed out in a previous post, Sprint is being forced to pull existing cell hardware.  But would they put in the new hardware and upgrade the backhaul in that tower or just abandon it?   This is a low density neighborhood, and the smallest lot size is 5 acres with estate homes, or 20 acres with farm houses.  Most of the higher density housing (1/6th of an acre) track houses are on the west side of town near I-5.  But those folks all have Comcast available.

 

If Sprint is focusing on competing with Comcast/Verizon/T-Mobile, then they'll concentrate on the west side of town.  If they want an easy monopoly, then they should focus over here on the east side of town.

 

 

So my concern is if Sprint doesn't do the backhaul investment on my neighborhood tower on Orange Ave.,  could my high gain antenna see all the way to the Sprint tower by I-5 (about 8km from my home).  

 

I am presently getting  -109 dBm  RSRP with a RS-SINR of 3.4.  If I allow 6dB (a guess) for my tree that is blocking line-of-sight to the nearby tower, but not the distant tower, I get up to -103 dBm.  If I then scale for the distance difference (8km vs. 4km) I get back down to -109 dBm.  So in theory I might be able to reach that cell tower; I say "might" due to the larger clutter/interference that the greater distance entails.

 

 

Thanks,

Scott

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Thanks,

Scott

There is two Clearwire sites in Patterson. One in the east on Orange ave and one northwest by the warehouses and distribution centers. 

 

Both are prime candidates for full build conversions as they cover Patterson whereas the Sprint site along the highway is most likely set up to cover the interstate. 

 

Sprint does not fire up new sites without prerequisite backhaul installed and they have not and do not share the backhaul with clearwire sites even when colocated AFAIK.

 

I'll put mighty confidence in saying when they convert those two sites in patterson, they will be backhauled to Sprint NV standards (scalable and up to 1gig) be it from fiber or microwave and be substantially better performing in terms of signal quality / reception / coverage and speeds.

 

Sprint will not be decreasing coverage like they did with the Nextel shutdown. They are expanding coverage and will be keeping over 10,000 non redundant Clear sites and I have high confidence they will be keeping Pattersons and upgrade them to full NV capabilities. 

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There is two Clearwire sites in Patterson. One in the east on Orange ave and one northwest by the warehouses and distribution centers. 

 

 

...

 

I'll put mighty confidence in saying when they convert those two sites in patterson, they will be backhauled to Sprint NV standards (scalable and up to 1gig) be it from fiber or microwave and be substantially better performing in terms of signal quality / reception / coverage and speeds.

 

Sprint will not be decreasing coverage like they did with the Nextel shutdown. They are expanding coverage and will be keeping over 10,000 non redundant Clear sites and I have high confidence they will be keeping Pattersons and upgrade them to full NV capabilities. 

 

Thanks lilotimz (Tim), I'll repost when speeds increase.  I'm touching-base with Sprint network support every 30 days as to that tower's status (Orange Ave. in Patterson).  I'm glad to hear that they aren't repeating the situation like the Nextel shutdown.

 

 

As to line-of-sight, the tower on Orange Ave. is the only one that I can see from my rooftop (via binoculars) at 4km.  I know the direction to the other two towers on the west side, but I can't find them (inaccurate angular pointing at 8km from my rooftop).  So the tower on Orange Ave. is probably my best bet.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

Edited by lilotimz
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Thanks lilotimz (Tim), I'll repost when speeds increase.  I'm touching-base with Sprint network support every 30 days as to that tower's status (Orange Ave. in Patterson).  I'm glad to hear that they aren't repeating the situation like the Nextel shutdown.

 

 

As to line-of-sight, the tower on Orange Ave. is the only one that I can see from my rooftop (via binoculars) at 4km.  I know the direction to the other two towers on the west side, but I can't find them (inaccurate angular pointing at 8km from my rooftop).  So the tower on Orange Ave. is probably my best bet.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

 

It is basically your best bet if you wish to have a Sprint signal of any type now or in the future.

 

I spent the past 3 days overlaying the Clear site locations over Sprint locations via a map for the premier sponsors in my area that are still around. Knowing how to use GIS Parcel data comes in handy.

 

Anyways the red are the non-redundant clearwire sites while the light blue represent Sprints own sites. This should give you a pretty good idea on why I have very high confidence in Sprint keeping them..

 

 

c4mY8fu.png

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hey guys, so how did it all turn out in Sacramento?

 

My contract with Verizon ends in roughly a half year, wondering if it's worth it to come back at that time?

 

Verizon is expensive, especially considering that they don't have unlimited data. Other than that, the service has been awesome. Except for a couple weird places I went to along the coast, I always have had signal and data. Other than that, in Sacramento my phone service has been solid.

 

Has sprint reached this level of service in Sacramento?

Edited by jwigley
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Hey guys, so how did it all turn out in Sacramento?

 

My contract with Verizon ends in roughly a half year, wondering if it's worth it to come back at that time?

 

Verizon is expensive, especially considering that they don't have unlimited data. Other than that, the service has been awesome. Except for a couple weird places I went to along the coast, I always have had signal and data. Other than that, in Sacramento my phone service has been solid.

 

Has sprint reached this level of service in Sacramento?

Sprint is now very usable compared to before. In many areas I get a basic layer of LTE from all three bands (typically band 26/41. Almost never on 25). It may not be the fastest or the most reliable but at least I can do stuff.

 

There's still random dead spots for lte in many places though that is very annoying since EVDO is more often than not extremely congested. Toggling airplane mode constantly to get a lte connection has become 2nd nature.

 

Hoping the dead zones get fixed by band 26 being "optimized" (it hasn't yet. They fired it up in nov/Dec) but meh. Indoors is iffy because of that.

 

In the immediate future we have the old Clearwire network which is going to be decommissioned and converted to sprint sites. I estimate about 200 new macro sites can be done. The first two conversion was applied for permits in July so I'm hoping it'll be a quick turn around for more capacity and coverage.

 

 

Tldr: very usable now compared to before but lots of inconsistency as typical of sprint. Ymmv depending on area

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

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In the immediate future we have the old Clearwire network which is going to be decommissioned and converted to sprint sites. I estimate about 200 new macro sites can be done. 

 

 

Tldr: very usable now compared to before but lots of inconsistency as typical of sprint. Ymmv depending on area

 

 

 

I was just wondering regarding Clearwire conversions if this is something that applies to the Bay Area too. 200 new sites in the Sacramento area I would think will make a big difference. In terms of overcoming the level of inconsistency - what will it take to, or maybe a better way to ask the question is how far along is Sprint to achieving consistent coverage with higher speeds.

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I was just wondering regarding Clearwire conversions if this is something that applies to the Bay Area too. 200 new sites in the Sacramento area I would think will make a big difference. In terms of overcoming the level of inconsistency - what will it take to, or maybe a better way to ask the question is how far along is Sprint to achieving consistent coverage with higher speeds.

Haven't counted the Clearwire site count in the Bay area so it best ask the people in that area but yes. Bay area is also going to get some needed added density since their Clearwire market is also Huawei equipment that needs to be replaced.

 

Optimize 800, add new macro sites via replacing old Clear sites (easiest) and outdoor small cells (verizon is going extremely heavy on this). Right now they lack conistency of coverage and I do not imagine any improvements until they "optimize'" band 26 whenever Sprint engineers feel like doing so. Right now Band 26 is about the same as Band 25 so it's only acting as a capacity band.

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