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


iwalkthrowwalls

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I would appreciate some advice. I have two Sprint cell towers in my area. One tower is 3 kilometers away (in central Patterson) but hasn't been upgraded yet. The other is 7 kilometers away (in west Turlock).

 

I have a router bolted onto my mast with two SMA antenna input ports. I have two broadband 23 dBi antennas (800 MHz to 2.6 GHz). Because the closer tower hasn't been upgraded yet, I pointed my second antenna at the 7 km tower.  

 

But my router is MIMO with these two ports.  Should I point my two antennas to the same cell tower, even though that would be the 7 km tower (which supports MIMO) ?

 

Thanks for your thoughts,

 

Scott

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I would appreciate some advice. I have two Sprint cell towers in my area. One tower is 3 kilometers away (in central Patterson) but hasn't been upgraded yet. The other is 7 kilometers away (in west Turlock).

 

I have a router bolted onto my mast with two SMA antenna input ports. I have two broadband 23 dBi antennas (800 MHz to 2.6 GHz). Because the closer tower hasn't been upgraded yet, I pointed my second antenna at the 7 km tower.  

 

But my router is MIMO with these two ports.  Should I point my two antennas to the same cell tower, even though that would be the 7 km tower (which supports MIMO) ?

 

Thanks for your thoughts,

 

Scott

 

Always point it at the same antenna sectors. 

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Always point it at the same antenna sectors. 

 

I would agree if I had a quality signal coming from my local antenna or if my router combined the two signals in an intelligent way.

 

MIMO typically can be broken into three diversity criteria:  spatial diversity (avoiding beampattern nulls from destructive interference multibounce), polarization diversity (solved by orienting the antennas in 2 different polarizations), and beampattern diversity (to avoid nulls in the receiver antennas beampattern).

 

My problem is that the better tower is father away. And in the afternoon, the sun is in the line of sight to the closer tower.  My understanding is that most present MIMO receiver systems simply switch to the better signal from one of the antennas instead of doing something more sophisticated.   

 

In my case, I'm using this latter capability. Depending on where the sun is, my router uses antenna #1 or antenna #2. Unfortunately, my router doesn't tell me which antenna it is listening on.

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

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  • 1 month later...

Found me a Nokia mini macro clear conversion in midtown by Buckhorn grill. 

 

Note GCI will end In 31/32/33 or 39/3A/3B for Nokia conversions. 

 

Any noticeable performance/coverage difference compared to previous? Can these do two or three carriers?

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Any noticeable performance/coverage difference compared to previous? Can these do two or three carriers?

None since they just reuse the same antennas.

 

There can do two carriers and it is ca enabled.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X

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At least 6 more Nokia Mini mac conversions discovered. One in southeast sac and 5 in stockton blvd / florin area.

 

Easy way to identifiy it is by GCI as they end in 31/32/33 or 39/3A/3B. 

 

Oh and someone say mini mac?

 

tkKD6PQ.jpg

 

moaXPXZ.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

According to the coverage map, the two towers in Patterson now support LTE-Plus. The tower on Orange Ave. is near my home. The other tower is over near I-5.

 

I noticed that my signal strength indicator went from 1 bar to 3 bars which is what told me that something had changed.  However, the RSRP is still -92.

 

Likewise, speedtest still indicates 8Mbps.

 

So they have done something to the towers, but perhaps they still need to do work on the back-haul.

 

Scott

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Sprint has (finally) updated their coverage map to include a larger map graphic.

 

http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?ECID=vanity:coverage

 

Scott

The larger map has been around for a couple of weeks now. Before the AMA.

 

Sent from my LG G5

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  • 4 weeks later...

You will never see an unlimited hotspot at full speed on LTE. It would destroy a network. In my home, I have a 200Mbps internet that I share with no one. It's great and very useful.

 

But with Sprint B41 LTE, you are sharing one 80Mbps connection with everyone in your sector. I don't think people get that. Two or three people running full HD streaming on that 80Mbps to a device on hotspots and all of a sudden that carrier is maxed out and everyone else has a reduced experience.

 

On a 5MHz carrier, everyone in that sector is sharing ONE 37.5Mbps connection. LTE networks are shared ecosystems that cannot support many people using them as full speed ISP replacements where people are full definition streaming. That's not going to happen with the way technology is now and the way networks are deployed now.

 

LTE cannot be used for a home ISP without significant handicaps. Throughput speed or data limits. Otherwise millions would switch their ISPs to wireless and the networks would crumble overnight.

 

Whether people like it or not, you're sharing 37.5Mbps, 80Mbps or possibly up to 160Mbps in some situations with dozens or hundreds of other customers. And in a stadium it can be thousands. That's what a wireless network does. We try to educate out that ignorance.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

I have a sprint unlimited full speed hot spot

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I have a sprint unlimited full speed hot spot

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please explain how and what plan, etc.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today i had my first HD voice call. I stay in midtown and the person i was speaking with was at arden mall. Is hd voice new to this region? After that call i called that same person back a few minutes later and there was no HD voice on the second call.

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Today i had my first HD voice call. I stay in midtown and the person i was speaking with was at arden mall. Is hd voice new to this region? After that call i called that same person back a few minutes later and there was no HD voice on the second call.

 

HD voice has been activate for Sprint - Sprint calls for quite some time.

 

HD calling gets disabled though if you enable WiFi calling. 

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  • 1 month later...

I finally replaced my old dying Sprint Netgear 6100D with a Cradlepoint COR IBR900.  Although I had an SIM adapter and the 6100D's SIM card went in and was recognized, and I tried to register it with Sprint, the Sprint network wouldn't accept it (the Netgear 6100D SIMGLT207A won't work in the Cradlepoint IBR900).  I had to go to a Sprint Corporate Sales office (Modesto, on Dale Road) to get the "right" SIM card (SIMGLW236C).

 

My connection to the new router is now excellent (i.e. my old 6100D was unpingable sometimes, but the IBR900 is always available).  However for the connection to the Sprint network itself I'm only getting 7Mbps even though I'm in a LTE-Plus zone on Sprint's map.  My RSSI is -71dB, RSRP is -100 dB, and SINR is 5.4 dB (I'm using a high gain external antenna).  I know that the antenna is doing something because I get -71 with my high gain antenna and only -84 with the little included bunny ears.  I've also got 2 of these high-gain antennas.  But on Band 41, it still says that it isn't getting aggregation even though I've checked that both ports on the IBR900 are indeed active..

 

So I'm still envious of all of you who are getting tens of Mbps.  I think that I've done everything that I can on my end.  

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

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LTE plus now denotes all band 41 coverage areas.

Your clearwire sites had the Huawei equipment swapped out for Nokia mini macros as mandated by the government but as it sounds like the backhaul was not increased so there's no point in deploying 2 carriers for CA.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

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  • 2 months later...

Hi,

 

I just signed up for the new Sprint Magic Box:

 

https://www.sprint.com/apps/magicbox/

 

It is touted as a non-repeater; a micro-cell with a range of 100 meters. It sits in a window facing the cell tower.  It is large; I assume that is an internal flat-plate antenna (?).  It communicates on Band 41 (and 25 ?).  The photos show that it has an LCD screen.  I haven't seen any additional info on the unit.

 

Not sure if it will make any difference for me or not.  I'm already on Band 41.  But if it is smart enough to optimize onto a specific cell tower (using CA and MIMO ? ) and stop jumping around then I'll be happy.

 

According to my Cradlepoint COR-IBR900, I'm hopping between 4 Sprint towers (I've been tracking the TAC and CellID).  And I'm fixed wireless...  So I'm not moving, and I have a high-gain antenna pointed at the tower that I want.  But still, it is hopping from tower to tower.  Download speeds vary from 0.8 Mbps to 18Mbps depending on which tower it happens to be talking to.

 

Regardless, my new Cradlepoint IBR900 is much better than the Netgear 6100D that it replaced.

 

Once I signed up for the Magic Box, I got this automated blurb (below).

 

Scott

 

 

Magic Box Customer Interest Form
Thank you!

Thank you for your request. We are thrilled that so many people are excited about Sprint Magic Box! You are important to us and every inquiry is being thoroughly reviewed. Due to the tremendous interest, it may take us a little longer than usual to respond. Once we determine if a Sprint Magic Box will benefit you, we will reach out by email or phone. At that time, we will communicate next steps. We appreciate your patience.

 

 

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Hi,

 

 

It's a great little box that contains a small cell eNB that broadcasts a new LTE B41 signal for all compatible devices to connect to while it has a LTE UE Relay backhaul module that connects to a donor macro site. 

 

As long as there's a strong enough B41 signal, it'll latch onto it. Else it'll fall back to a B25 signal. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's a great little box that contains a small cell eNB that broadcasts a new LTE B41 signal for all compatible devices to connect to while it has a LTE UE Relay backhaul module that connects to a donor macro site. 

 

As long as there's a strong enough B41 signal, it'll latch onto it. Else it'll fall back to a B25 signal. 

 

I contacted the Sprint support folks on the status of my Magic Box delivery.  Due to the backlog, they said it takes 8 weeks to receive the box.

 

The one thing that attracts me to the Magic Box is that supposedly it locks onto a single cell tower.  Right now I am ping-pong'ing among 4 different towers.  This seems silly since I'm fixed wireless and this ping-pong'ing is probably the root of all of my problems.

 

Scott

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The Sprint Magic Box is made by AirSpan.  It is their AirUnity product:

 

http://www.airspan.com/airunity/

 

And here is a little more detailed info, including photos of the bottom of the unit:

 

https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281384

 

https://fccid.io/PIDAU545ENB25

 

It says that it is 2.506-2.68 GHz and 596 mW.  That's 27.8 dBm and LTE Band 41.

 

I was specifically looking to see if there was an external antenna port. There doesn't appear to be.

 

Based on AirUnity's size and shape, I am also guessing that the unit has a flat-plate antenna. If so, then I would want to disconnect that and use my own high gain antenna. I'm hoping for a connector on the circuit board to make this switch-out easy.

 

It is also odd that all of the photos of the Magic Box on the Sprint web pages intentionally hide the plug that goes into the wall.  They like to hide the plug behind a curtain, a desk, or a plant.  Based on AirSpan's info, I'm guessing that there is a wall wart.  If true, that is good for me because I would like to put it on the roof and need a DC line (not AC).

 

 

Scott

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The Sprint Magic Box is made by AirSpan.  It is their AirUnity product:

 

http://www.airspan.com/airunity/

 

And here is a little more detailed info, including photos of the bottom of the unit:

 

https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281384

 

https://fccid.io/PIDAU545ENB25

 

It says that it is 2.506-2.68 GHz and 596 mW.  That's 27.8 dBm and LTE Band 41.

 

I was specifically looking to see if there was an external antenna port. There doesn't appear to be.

 

Based on AirUnity's size and shape, I am also guessing that the unit has a flat-plate antenna. If so, then I would want to disconnect that and use my own high gain antenna. I'm hoping for a connector on the circuit board to make this switch-out easy.

 

It is also odd that all of the photos of the Magic Box on the Sprint web pages intentionally hide the plug that goes into the wall.  They like to hide the plug behind a curtain, a desk, or a plant.  Based on AirSpan's info, I'm guessing that there is a wall wart.  If true, that is good for me because I would like to put it on the roof and need a DC line (not AC).

 

 

Scott

 

Or you know...

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-420-whats-in-the-box-oh-oh-oh-its-magic/

 

Any modifications to the unit will result in $140 charge and cancellation of Sprint account as it's property of Sprint at all times. 

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And here is the AirUnity (Sprint Magic Box) FCC Label:

 

https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281386

 

And details on the antenna (it appears to be a grid of 6 antennas; presumably a MIMO configuration):

 

https://fccid.io/document.php?id=3281378

 

 

Based on this, there appear to be 6 U.FL connectors.  So I'm out of luck switching-out since I only have two high gain antennas.  And 9 dBi isn't too bad...

 

The power draw says 4.3 Volts at 2 Amps.  That is a lower voltage than I would have guessed for this kind of box...

 

 

The User's Manual and internal photos will be available in August 2017.

 

Scott

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