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Network Vision/LTE - Alabama Market (including Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, Mobile)


jonathanm1978

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I am often in Bham for various reasons -- usually against my better judgement ( I really despise Bham traffic!!!)..

But I see B25 for the most part, mixed with occasional B26. Now, B41...HAHA...literally!

 

I can say this, there is a new tower near me (35150 area)...since 2014 there have only been 2 towers that have B25 + B26...but there are 3 towers ...the 3rd one was only 3G..

 

And it was also a GMO.

 

Just last week, I saw LTE on B25 and it was obvious to me that the 3rd (GMO) tower now has live B25.

Far as I can tell, no B26 yet...but that's expected. I will be visiting the tower location -- hopefully today -- and trying to grab some photos if I can remember to take the Canon + 75-300.

 

If the above is the case, then that would mean one of the first GMO's in Alabama has been converted to full build LTE. I'm curious to see for myself exactly what's the case with this tower. And hopefully B26 will be coming along shortly...

 

I have seen some strange happenings with my GN5. I know the note 5 has some roaming LTE bands available to it, but since this tower has become live (give or take a day or two) I've been seeing some strange LTE behavior on my Note 5.

 

And SCP has been reporting some weird stuff...and if what it says is true, then this phone is defying it's radio capabilities!!

First I started seeing B17 AT&T here at my home when I unplug my Airvana. Any other time, I'm on regular EV-DO and Wifi...but when I unplug the Airvana and the Note starts looking for native signal (which isn't present here -- only VZW roaming coverage)..it latches onto LTE on B17 (and even SCP says AT&T)..

 

And just a couple days ago, I was in town and for some reason, I was in an area where I couldn't grab LTE from Sprint...so my Note 5 grabbed onto B2...and again reported that it was AT&T B2 LTE.

 

Along with that, I've also noticed strange behavior from the Airvana -- dropping calls lately...etc. And that's only ever happened around here when either 1)the airvana is on the way out and needs to be swapped -- I've had an airave/airvana since 2008 when sprint first introduced them,...or 2) Sprint is doing work on towers in the area. It has always caused the Airvana to act peculiar when there is work going on with Sprint's towers around me....I see the same dropped call behavior and stuff ..

 

Hopefully B26 goes live on that newly-LTE'd B25 tower pretty soon. I am in the line of thinking that it may even reach me if they get B26 up and optimized ..

 

If you look at where I am in comparison to the towers, I'm 7.5 miles from 1 tower (has B25 + B26), 8.4 miles from another tower (same LTE bands)...and the newly livened tower, I'm 9.1 miles away.

 

It's the small hills/trees and other things that I guess keep me from getting anything LTE flavored. I can get on my ATV and ride up behind my house (maybe 1/2 a mile, but up the hill some)...and I get B26 and it's usually around 8mbps / 5mbps on download/upload.

 

I am also in regular communication with the Bham corp store manager...

Last week when I was in the Sprint store, during our talks, he told me that he had around 40 sites in Shelby + Jefferson + Talladega + St. Clair that went live with LTE..and more on the way. He said there is LOTS of work being done in the Birmingham + surrounding areas...

And now I've seen it for myself with that GMO having LTE...

There is a big push to get LTE on GMOs this year - good to see it's taking place in your market too.

 

AT&T LTE roaming has been reported by several other people so that's of no surprise.

 

As far as your Airave issues go, an LTE capable Airave is going to be released in the coming weeks so I would wait for that if I were you.

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There is a big push to get LTE on GMOs this year - good to see it's taking place in your market too.

 

AT&T LTE roaming has been reported by several other people so that's of no surprise.

 

As far as your Airave issues go, an LTE capable Airave is going to be released in the coming weeks so I would wait for that if I were you.

 

 

Can someone please explain to me what GMO is ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Got it thanks. So GMO sites will increase sprints network within its existing footprint. Or so it sounds like since they have zero plans to expand its network to new markets.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Got it thanks. So GMO sites will increase sprints network within its existing footprint. Or so it sounds like since they have zero plans to expand its network to new markets.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

GMO sites already exist. They are sites that were not fully upgraded to NV antennas, but have NV base equipment which can run LTE over the old antennas. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am often in Bham for various reasons -- usually against my better judgement ( I really despise Bham traffic!!!)..

But I see B25 for the most part, mixed with occasional B26. Now, B41...HAHA...literally!

 

I can say this, there is a new tower near me (35150 area)...since 2014 there have only been 2 towers that have B25 + B26...but there are 3 towers ...the 3rd one was only 3G..

 

And it was also a GMO.

 

Just last week, I saw LTE on B25 and it was obvious to me that the 3rd (GMO) tower now has live B25.

Far as I can tell, no B26 yet...but that's expected. I will be visiting the tower location -- hopefully today -- and trying to grab some photos if I can remember to take the Canon + 75-300.

 

If the above is the case, then that would mean one of the first GMO's in Alabama has been converted to full build LTE. I'm curious to see for myself exactly what's the case with this tower. And hopefully B26 will be coming along shortly...

 

I have seen some strange happenings with my GN5. I know the note 5 has some roaming LTE bands available to it, but since this tower has become live (give or take a day or two) I've been seeing some strange LTE behavior on my Note 5.

 

And SCP has been reporting some weird stuff...and if what it says is true, then this phone is defying it's radio capabilities!!

First I started seeing B17 AT&T here at my home when I unplug my Airvana. Any other time, I'm on regular EV-DO and Wifi...but when I unplug the Airvana and the Note starts looking for native signal (which isn't present here -- only VZW roaming coverage)..it latches onto LTE on B17 (and even SCP says AT&T)..

 

And just a couple days ago, I was in town and for some reason, I was in an area where I couldn't grab LTE from Sprint...so my Note 5 grabbed onto B2...and again reported that it was AT&T B2 LTE.

 

Along with that, I've also noticed strange behavior from the Airvana -- dropping calls lately...etc. And that's only ever happened around here when either 1)the airvana is on the way out and needs to be swapped -- I've had an airave/airvana since 2008 when sprint first introduced them,...or 2) Sprint is doing work on towers in the area. It has always caused the Airvana to act peculiar when there is work going on with Sprint's towers around me....I see the same dropped call behavior and stuff ..

 

Hopefully B26 goes live on that newly-LTE'd B25 tower pretty soon. I am in the line of thinking that it may even reach me if they get B26 up and optimized ..

 

If you look at where I am in comparison to the towers, I'm 7.5 miles from 1 tower (has B25 + B26), 8.4 miles from another tower (same LTE bands)...and the newly livened tower, I'm 9.1 miles away.

 

It's the small hills/trees and other things that I guess keep me from getting anything LTE flavored. I can get on my ATV and ride up behind my house (maybe 1/2 a mile, but up the hill some)...and I get B26 and it's usually around 8mbps / 5mbps on download/upload.

 

I am also in regular communication with the Bham corp store manager...

Last week when I was in the Sprint store, during our talks, he told me that he had around 40 sites in Shelby + Jefferson + Talladega + St. Clair that went live with LTE..and more on the way. He said there is LOTS of work being done in the Birmingham + surrounding areas...

And now I've seen it for myself with that GMO having LTE...

Where is there any B41 coverage now? They need B41 desperately around Hoover and 280.. My speeds have been steadily decreasing whenever I return home, but all I see is B25 or B26. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was at Oakwood University in Huntsville today. Saw a 2nd carrier on B25. Got 11Mbps on it. Also send like I got a couple whiffs of B41.

 

Overall performance was bad though. B26 was no better than B25, only 1x was penetrating buildings, and my phone would get hung up on 3G. Had to do the old airplane toggle trick to get LTE back.

 

Between Chattanooga and Huntsville was successful VZW EVDO roaming.

 

Farmville going to be an LTE roaming provider?

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Well it's looking extremely unlikely that Southern Linc will be a roaming partner for Sprint to latch on to. My T-Mobile phone had no service in an area that only Southern Linc covers as well as Verizon and my S8 was able to catch Southern Linc's LTE info for a second. Looks like they are transmitting as MCC 312-720 and only a 1.4MHz block. 1.4MHz would only be enough to support their own subscribers at a very slowly rate. For their sake, I hope they increase it to 5+5MHz when it fully launches.post-1797-0-14387400-1495722019_thumb.png

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, that is awesome to see.  1.4MHz is pretty tiny.  Roughly 10.5Mbps peak speeds. :o.  Gotta be hard there for coverage. Wonder if they are adding towers. 

 

SoLINC has 10MHz?  Thought they had less than 10MHz. Would be cool if they used Sprint's B26.

 

I don't see Sprint being able to roam on that at all.  If they do, it won't be as an extended LTE partner.  But they might.  There are some other carriers Sprint is supposed to eventually be roaming on in the SE like Public Service Data Wireless, Pinebelt Wireless, Farmers Telecommunications so could reduce the number of those that see SoLINC.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think Southern LINC has less than 10MHz. I think the most they'd be able to do is a 3x3 MHz channel. They seem highly focused on making this a "mission critical" network. I'm glad Southern LINC is modernizing their network but their main purpose is still to support their power company employees and also their niche clientele.

 

As far as Sprint in Alabama, I've not seen many improvements lately. The only recently thing I've noticed is that there is now AT&T LTE roaming in West Alabama capped at 128kbps. Voice is still Verizon CDMA.

 

I have yet to see B41 also.

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  • 2 months later...

Soon to be new to the Birmingham market.  Currently live in an LTE Plus market with Band 41 2 and 3 carrier aggregation.  In my limited time so far around Birmingham,  I've not had any B41,  little B26 and mostly B25 including 2nd carrier.  Speeds weren't bad,  15mb to 20mb daytime.  Does anyone know of any timetable for B41 in Birmingham.  Thanks.

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5 hours ago, sprintveteran said:

Soon to be new to the Birmingham market.  Currently live in an LTE Plus market with Band 41 2 and 3 carrier aggregation.  In my limited time so far around Birmingham,  I've not had any B41,  little B26 and mostly B25 including 2nd carrier.  Speeds weren't bad,  15mb to 20mb daytime.  Does anyone know of any timetable for B41 in Birmingham.  Thanks.

B41 is being deployed in the Alabama market at present. Albeit slowly. It's expected to pick up pace this quarter. It will be mostly Nokia MiniMacs and Small Cells with 2xCA. 8T8R's will still likely be used where high capacity is needed. 

Sent from my Pixel XL using S4GRU Mobile Site

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  • 7 months later...

In BHam right now. Wish I still had a Samsung phone. 

Lot of the sites look they are high capacity B25 and I'm assuming doing 4x4 MIMO. I haven't seen anything other than EARFCN 8665 on B25. I'm constantly getting 30~40Mbps each time I test. 

Running into a bit of B41. It's all been reported  as MM so far on SCP with centered frequency at 2518 or 2538..

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4 hours ago, red_dog007 said:

In BHam right now. Wish I still had a Samsung phone. 

Lot of the sites look they are high capacity B25 and I'm assuming doing 4x4 MIMO. I haven't seen anything other than EARFCN 8665 on B25. I'm constantly getting 30~40Mbps each time I test. 

Running into a bit of B41. It's all been reported  as MM so far on SCP with centered frequency at 2518 or 2538..

8665 would be a 5x5 G Block carrier. Is it possible it is being aggregated with a second B25 carrier? A 5x5 maxes out at ~37Mbps under ideal conditions, usually you will see mid 20s under good conditions. 

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2 hours ago, Dkoellerwx said:

8665 would be a 5x5 G Block carrier. Is it possible it is being aggregated with a second B25 carrier? A 5x5 maxes out at ~37Mbps under ideal conditions, usually you will see mid 20s under good conditions. 

Yes it's being aggregated in that way. I am seeing a lot of 2nd carriers coming online near me.

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On 4/23/2018 at 4:55 PM, Dkoellerwx said:

The small cell looks like a Verizon site.

That is what I was thinking.  But I saw several of those and every time had some decent B41 signal.  I know Sprint deploys these, but I think they aren't as fat.  If these are not B41, I was on B41 a bit, I never found a MM site and never saw B41 gear on a Macro. 

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To add, I-59 between Chattanooga and Birmingham still sucks.  The towers have LTE now, but seem to just be GMOs.  Performance wasn't good, signal always weak and held on waaay to long, no B26.  Still hit 3G and even 1X a bit on that drive.

It's kinda upsetting that Sprint just doesn't do a rebuild on these GMO sites. All this did was allow them to put LTE on their coverage map.  But seriously, when LTE performance is weak and you still hit 3G/1X between the sites, why waste the money on a GMO. Just do a proper B25/26 build. B25 performance could be great as they own all of PCS A. 

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1 hour ago, red_dog007 said:

That is what I was thinking.  But I saw several of those and every time had some decent B41 signal.  I know Sprint deploys these, but I think they aren't as fat.  If these are not B41, I was on B41 a bit, I never found a MM site and never saw B41 gear on a Macro. 

Give an exact location and we might be able to figure it out.

1 hour ago, red_dog007 said:

To add, I-59 between Chattanooga and Birmingham still sucks.  The towers have LTE now, but seem to just be GMOs.  Performance wasn't good, signal always weak and held on waaay to long, no B26.  Still hit 3G and even 1X a bit on that drive.

It's kinda upsetting that Sprint just doesn't do a rebuild on these GMO sites. All this did was allow them to put LTE on their coverage map.  But seriously, when LTE performance is weak and you still hit 3G/1X between the sites, why waste the money on a GMO. Just do a proper B25/26 build. B25 performance could be great as they own all of PCS A. 

It was either they stick with 3G / 1x or they get B25 via a new LTE carrier card and backhaul. B25 may not be great but it's still something vs non existence. Money is the reason why many sites are GMOs. If they had the money to convert them, they would've but since they don't they have to make due....

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On 4/25/2018 at 11:15 AM, red_dog007 said:

That is what I was thinking.  But I saw several of those and every time had some decent B41 signal.  I know Sprint deploys these, but I think they aren't as fat.  If these are not B41, I was on B41 a bit, I never found a MM site and never saw B41 gear on a Macro. 

That’s a Verizon small cell. All B41 sites so far in Bham are MM variants.

 

I have a feeling that work is about to stall out due to the pending merger though..

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  • 1 month later...
On 6/4/2018 at 11:09 PM, JonnygATL said:

How's the mini mac build out in Birmingham going these days? Not much traffic here lately so I'm assuming it's going well. 

Feels like it's stalled out. Honestly there are very few places it reaches, and feels more like the WiMax protection site days...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Are their spectrum constraints there on B4?  In BHam I only came cross lower EBS 2.5GHz range sites.  Every other place I have been has been upper BRS, in the 2.6GHz range.

It seems like that area does have a lot of high capacity B25 sites though.  The speeds were pretty awesome for B25 standards. 

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  • 7 months later...

I just switched to an LTE ISP ...At first I thought maybe Sprint was doing it, but these folks claim that they use AT&T LTE (not sure which band). 

Anyone wants to investigate, it's called Sardis Telecom (or Sardistel)...name appears to be changing to Fusion. 

They are located in Oneonta, Al...

 

Speed tiers are $69.99 for 25/5, $99.99 for 50/10, and I think a smaller $59.99 package for 10/2. 

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