Wimax in Chicago

[nexuss4g]

I visited Chicago last week and I was impressed with the 4G Wimax Coverage in the City.

 

I was connected to 4G at O'Hare airport, while traveling on the metro, Downtown Chicago , Millenium Park, even on the 103rd floor at the Willis Tower, Logan Square and others.

 

Speed was great and no Wimax disconnects on my phone. (Nexus S 4G)

 

After using 4G in California ( Orange County, LA, Inland Empire) and Las Vegas, I was dissapointed of the terrible coverage.

 

I thought wimax coverage was going to be spotty due to buildings blocking signals.

 

Wish we had that type of service here in California specially in the OC area

 

[eljam]

 

Sprint Wimax Chicago Love

 

 

I live & travel around the Chicago area, mainly the I-55 corridor and the streeterville area in downtown. I have found decent to good coverage except for when in buildings in the downtown area & older homes in some neighboorhoods. I even get a good 4G signal in my home & don't need to use WiFi in the house as much. I'm in no rush to upgrade to another 4G phone since, unlike some others (maybe most?), I've been able to get a lot from WiMax. I'm even considering getting a Virgin Mobile 4G hotspot to go some a wifi tablet we have.

 

 

The only complaint I have isn't with the coverage but with the way handoffs from 3G to 4G are handled on my EVO. Sometimes the connection will resume, sometimes it will not. However, 3G has also gotten better along my travel route, as my phone dropped a 4G connection after just a couple of minutes but the music stream continued on 3G with no interruptions.

[nexuss4g]

I had no handoff from 4G to 3G at all during my stay in Chicago, thats the reason I was impressed. Even 3G speeds are blazing fast that sometimes turned 3G off.

 

While unsing 4G California, I always keep loooking at the notification bar waiting to see 4G disconnected

[ericdabbs]

I had no handoff from 4G to 3G at all during my stay in Chicago, thats the reason I was impressed. Even 3G speeds are blazing fast that sometimes turned 3G off.

 

While unsing 4G California, I always keep loooking at the notification bar waiting to see 4G disconnected

 

It is a known fact that 3G and 4G Wimax handoff does not exist. I think its the fact that Wimax was still in its infancy with only Sprint as the only carrier to support Wimax and never took off. I assume that if Wimax had been successful, the chip makers would have found a way to do SVWimax between Wimax and 3G. I guess the reason why it bugs us Wimax users of the lack of SVWimax is because Wimax coverage is just so flaky at best and its a pain to switch between 3G and 4G manually even with 3G and 4G widgets on your main screen.

 

I found out this fact early when I first got my Photon 4G last year and tried to do 4G to 3G handoff and was unsuccessful.

[nexuss4g]

I can tell that handoff in LA area, is horrible, but while in Chicago, 4G was on all the time no problems at all. I do miss Chicago 4G lol