Network Vision/LTE - East Iowa Market (Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Dubuque, Waterloo/Cedar Falls)

[bretton88]

thanks for the iWireless info/opinions my 3 main concerns with iWireless were 1) they only have AWS for LTE, which means poor in building coverage - UNLESS they densify their network properly and 2) i've not experienced it myself but i've heard GSM voice quality is not very good - coming from sprint who really does have awesome voice quality this could be a negative too. 3) back to only having AWS for LTE, it sounds like they are stuck with a 10x10 (maybe a 15x15 down the road) so it could become strained and lead to poor speeds - counters to this would be since they are a local carrier their user base should be lower so not as many users and if they have enough tower density they could overcome this.

Are you counting the spectrum that iwireless got when they took over T-Mobiles network in Des Moines?

[bmoses]

Are you counting the spectrum that iwireless got when they took over T-Mobiles network in Des Moines?

 

as far as i know yes, everything i could find made it sound like they only had enough spectrum for a 10x10 in AWS in the des moines areas (maybe up to a 15x15 down the road). in other areas it was the same story except it was PCS instead of AWS.

[sgarringer]

thanks for the iWireless info/opinions my 3 main concerns with iWireless were 1) they only have AWS for LTE, which means poor in building coverage - UNLESS they densify their network properly and 2) i've not experienced it myself but i've heard GSM voice quality is not very good - coming from sprint who really does have awesome voice quality this could be a negative too. 3) back to only having AWS for LTE, it sounds like they are stuck with a 10x10 (maybe a 15x15 down the road) so it could become strained and lead to poor speeds - counters to this would be since they are a local carrier their user base should be lower so not as many users and if they have enough tower density they could overcome this.

Iwireless is running LTE on 1900 in eastern Iowa

[bretton88]

as far as i know yes, everything i could find made it sound like they only had enough spectrum for a 10x10 in AWS in the des moines areas (maybe up to a 15x15 down the road). in other areas it was the same story except it was PCS instead of AWS.

I was in error. There was no spectrum transaction. Looks like they're deploying on band 4.

[WiWavelength]

I was in error. There was no spectrum transaction. Looks like they're deploying on band 4.

 

 

AJ

[bucdenny]

It's usable, except for the south end of Cedar Rapids by the airport... where they still haven't added LTE on the Swisher exit site. My friend who works for Sprint confirmed for me that site is ethernet fed so no one really knows why they haven't done any sort of GMO LTE upgrade at the least for that site.

send me site ID, might be able to get more nfo.

[bucdenny]

^^^^^^^ apply that last statement to most of iowa too.... i've confirmed on several GMOs around me that they are on ethernet and its being used yet no full build upgrades/LTE from them.

how were you able to confirm?

[bmoses]

how were you able to confirm?

 

1 of the towers is a sprint only site and had the orange buried fiber marker installed about a year after getting NV equipment installed. then another year later all the sudden EVDO speeds shot up way faster than they were before. I reached out to some sprint employees through reddit that confirmed in the system the sites were now showing as having ethernet for backhaul.

[sgarringer]

how were you able to confirm?

For me there is a guy on reddit.com/r/sprint who works in engineering who looked it up for me.  He said the only way to get the site upgraded to LTE was to submit a report through Sprint zone app, except I don't have that on my N5 so can't do it.  Anyway there's no way they don't know that a site along the 380 corridor isn't running LTE, tens of thousands of commuters drive that route every day and hand off to this site.  During rush hour the EVDO is so overloaded that I can't even get a speed test to complete and I get the bang "!" next to 3G... off times I can get tolerable service from the site.

 

Even more frustrating is that there's even an extra unused basket at the top of the site from the old Nextel equipment, it makes no sense why it hasn't been upgraded.  Site photo: http://imgur.com/cijthLK

 

 

I sent you a PM with the BID of the site that is killing the 380 corridor for Sprint.

Edited February 19, 2016 by sgarringer

[ingenium]

For me there is a guy on reddit.com/r/sprint who works in engineering who looked it up for me. He said the only way to get the site upgraded to LTE was to submit a report through Sprint zone app, except I don't have that on my N5 so can't do it. Anyway there's no way they don't know that a site along the 380 corridor isn't running LTE, tens of thousands of commuters drive that route every day and hand off to this site. During rush hour the EVDO is so overloaded that I can't even get a speed test to complete and I get the bang "!" next to 3G... off times I can get tolerable service from the site.

 

Even more frustrating is that there's even an extra unused basket at the top of the site from the old Nextel equipment, it makes no sense why it hasn't been upgraded. Site photo: http://imgur.com/cijthLK

 

 

I sent you a PM with the BID of the site that is killing the 380 corridor for Sprint.

You can install the Sprint Zone app and it'll still let you submit reports. You can't view any account info or other things in the app, but report submission works. Here's the current version: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0VwIsKe5ermNXpqZ3FRcE52Vmc

 

It'll say "updating" and "content is updating. Try again later" the first few times you open the app (at least it did for me on my Nexus 6P). But eventually it'll start working and let you submit them.

 

Now, as to whether the reports are "valid" (since I'm guessing some fields like PRL, device ID, etc are missing) is another story... I would hope Sprint would investigate them anyway, but no way to know for sure.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[sgarringer]

You can install the Sprint Zone app and it'll still let you submit reports. You can't view any account info or other things in the app, but report submission works. Here's the current version: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0VwIsKe5ermNXpqZ3FRcE52Vmc

 

It'll say "updating" and "content is updating. Try again later" the first few times you open the app (at least it did for me on my Nexus 6P). But eventually it'll start working and let you submit them.

 

Now, as to whether the reports are "valid" (since I'm guessing some fields like PRL, device ID, etc are missing) is another story... I would hope Sprint would investigate them anyway, but no way to know for sure.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

 

While I appreciate the sentiment and effort, as a security conscious consumer I don't install unknown APKs on my device.  Although this one is signed with something called "Sprint Android Production Key" since I can't validate that certificate and I assume Sprint won't publish their known signing cert public key somewhere for validation, I'll just have to go without.

Edited February 21, 2016 by sgarringer

[bucdenny]

1 of the towers is a sprint only site and had the orange buried fiber marker installed about a year after getting NV equipment installed. then another year later all the sudden EVDO speeds shot up way faster than they were before. I reached out to some sprint employees through reddit that confirmed in the system the sites were now showing as having ethernet for backhaul.

Send me site ID, I will request for nfo.

[ingenium]

While I appreciate the sentiment and effort, as a security conscious consumer I don't install unknown APKs on my device. Although this one is signed with something called "Sprint Android Production Key" since I can't validate that certificate and I assume Sprint won't publish their known signing cert public key somewhere for validation, I'll just have to go without.

There are other copies of the apk floating around. You could download them and see if the serial number and SHA1/SHA256 signature on the signing certificate match. Or pull a copy off someone else's Sprint device.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[bmoses]

Send me site ID, I will request for nfo.

 

thanks, i'll shoot you a message tomorrow with all the info i have!

[S4GRU]

 

 

Anyway there's no way they don't know that a site along the 380 corridor isn't running LTE, tens of thousands of commuters drive that route every day and hand off to this site.

It's not that they don't know. It's just that they cannot work on all sites at once. Reporting allows them to prioritize. If no one ever complains about a certain area, it will stay a low priority. Persistent reporting of a problem area has achieved results with many members. You may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

 

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

[sgarringer]

It's not that they don't know. It's just that they cannot work on all sites at once. Reporting allows them to prioritize. If no one ever complains about a certain area, it will stay a low priority. Persistent reporting of a problem area has achieved results with many members. You may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

 

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

 

If Sprint's engineering department doesn't know to prioritize a site that is on the heaviest traveled interstate highway in Eastern Iowa and one of the top traveled interstate highways in the United States they have bigger problems than I can help them with.

 

That said, I've had my iWireless SIM in the whole last week, haven't used Sprint once.  Been nice to constantly see LTE everywhere I go for the last week as opposed to sitting on EVDO 80+% of the time.  I may bite the bullet and drop Sprint and go from $25/mo Framily to $35/mo megatalk LTE.

Edited February 24, 2016 by sgarringer

[bmoses]

If Sprint's engineering department doesn't know to prioritize a site that is on the heaviest traveled interstate highway in Eastern Iowa and one of the top traveled interstate highways in the United States they have bigger problems than I can help them with.

 

That said, I've had my iWireless SIM in the whole last week, haven't used Sprint once.  Been nice to constantly see LTE everywhere I go for the last week as opposed to sitting on EVDO 80+% of the time.  I may bite the bullet and drop Sprint and go from $25/mo Framily to $35/mo megatalk LTE.

 

i feel your pain  same story with the huxley GMO tower, giant LTE hole along interstate 35, and not only that but in between 2 major metro areas. all other towers along I-35 have LTE but this one. just doesn't make sense. and i've contacted them multiple times about the tower and its always the same story "no plans to upgrade at this time" I even sent an email to Kevin Crull who is the president over the central region and all he did was forward my email on to Marci's team.....

 

i bought a $46 android phone from best buy with a t-mobile SIM yesterday and have been using it to check out iwireless signal and speeds (you can run speed tests on t-mobile without having any kind of a data plan  ). so far i've been impressed with what i've seen and their tower density is insane so far in the few places i've checked out. i'll use the phone to see when LTE is on in huxley from them and also check out how the signal is up there and if its good enough my 7 lines on our own Framily plan will most likely be switching as well  

[sgarringer]

i feel your pain  same story with the huxley GMO tower, giant LTE hole along interstate 35, and not only that but in between 2 major metro areas. all other towers along I-35 have LTE but this one. just doesn't make sense. and i've contacted them multiple times about the tower and its always the same story "no plans to upgrade at this time" I even sent an email to Kevin Crull who is the president over the central region and all he did was forward my email on to Marci's team.....

 

i bought a $46 android phone from best buy with a t-mobile SIM yesterday and have been using it to check out iwireless signal and speeds (you can run speed tests on t-mobile without having any kind of a data plan  ). so far i've been impressed with what i've seen and their tower density is insane so far in the few places i've checked out. i'll use the phone to see when LTE is on in huxley from them and also check out how the signal is up there and if its good enough my 7 lines on our own Framily plan will most likely be switching as well

 

iWireless is managing the LTE build out for T-Mobile in Des Moines.  If they do anything near as good of a job as they did in Eastern Iowa (they had Nokia come in and completely rebuild every single site) then you're in for a treat.  I watched as iWireless rebuilt their network from the ground up and like you said their density is insane.  Their LTE in Eastern Iowa is on par with Verizon I have found, now granted I usually only travel between Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Muscatine.  But in those markets, and regardless of what back roads I take between them, solid LTE the entire way.  They managed to build that in less than a year.

[bmoses]

iWireless is managing the LTE build out for T-Mobile in Des Moines.  If they do anything near as good of a job as they did in Eastern Iowa (they had Nokia come in and completely rebuild every single site) then you're in for a treat.  I watched as iWireless rebuilt their network from the ground up and like you said their density is insane.  Their LTE in Eastern Iowa is on par with Verizon I have found, now granted I usually only travel between Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Muscatine.  But in those markets, and regardless of what back roads I take between them, solid LTE the entire way.  They managed to build that in less than a year.

 

thats good to know, thanks! i haven't had this phone for a day yet but in the few areas i've gone so far the signal strength and speeds have impressed me. i was concerned with them only having AWS/PCS spectrum and what that would do to in building coverage but if they did their entire network as dense as what i've seen, and you have seen, then it shouldn't be that big of an issue. thats not to say that there won't be holes/problem spots, but it doesn't look like it will be as much as i feared.

 

plus i've confirmed that not only have they added a ton of their own/new towers, they did in fact go around to the original t-mobile towers that were here and have added LTE to them to (presumably as some kind of GMO add since panels didn't change up top on the ones i've kept track of).

 

from what i can tell they have deployed a 10x10 LTE and 5x5 HSPA+ in AWS and have GSM/HSPA+ on PCS, i just don't know what size the PCS ones are. its nice that when i do drop off LTE i still get 5 to 10 meg down from HSPA+

[jeffcarp]

If Sprint's engineering department doesn't know to prioritize a site that is on the heaviest traveled interstate highway in Eastern Iowa and one of the top traveled interstate highways in the United States they have bigger problems than I can help them with.

 

That said, I've had my iWireless SIM in the whole last week, haven't used Sprint once. Been nice to constantly see LTE everywhere I go for the last week as opposed to sitting on EVDO 80+% of the time. I may bite the bullet and drop Sprint and go from $25/mo Framily to $35/mo megatalk LTE.

As important as we all like to think Iowa is (born and raised here myself, still live here) with all due respect, I-380 isn't on anyone's radar in terms of a heavily traveled interstate. I understand why it is where it is on Sprint's priority list.

[sgarringer]

thats good to know, thanks! i haven't had this phone for a day yet but in the few areas i've gone so far the signal strength and speeds have impressed me. i was concerned with them only having AWS/PCS spectrum and what that would do to in building coverage but if they did their entire network as dense as what i've seen, and you have seen, then it shouldn't be that big of an issue. thats not to say that there won't be holes/problem spots, but it doesn't look like it will be as much as i feared.

 

plus i've confirmed that not only have they added a ton of their own/new towers, they did in fact go around to the original t-mobile towers that were here and have added LTE to them to (presumably as some kind of GMO add since panels didn't change up top on the ones i've kept track of).

 

from what i can tell they have deployed a 10x10 LTE and 5x5 HSPA+ in AWS and have GSM/HSPA+ on PCS, i just don't know what size the PCS ones are. its nice that when i do drop off LTE i still get 5 to 10 meg down from HSPA+

 

Cedar Rapids LTE is 10x10 on PCS

[sgarringer]

As important as we all like to think Iowa is (born and raised here myself, still live here) with all due respect, I-380 isn't on anyone's radar in terms of a heavily traveled interstate. I understand why it is where it is on Sprint's priority list.

 

I-380 is one of the heaviest traveled interstates in the United States.  It's a spur off I80 which is the heaviest traveled interstate highway in the entire USA.  The corridor between the quad cities and I35 in Des Moines is the heaviest traveled stretch of the heaviest traveled interstate in the US

 

Traffic volumes vary from 47,000 to 83,500 vehicles per day

Edited February 24, 2016 by sgarringer

[S4GRU]

If Sprint's engineering department doesn't know to prioritize a site that is on the heaviest traveled interstate highway in Eastern Iowa and one of the top traveled interstate highways in the United States they have bigger problems than I can help them with.

 

That said, I've had my iWireless SIM in the whole last week, haven't used Sprint once. Been nice to constantly see LTE everywhere I go for the last week as opposed to sitting on EVDO 80+% of the time. I may bite the bullet and drop Sprint and go from $25/mo Framily to $35/mo megatalk LTE.

Don't try to lecture me on Sprint's prioritization. And you need to get a grip, man. I can probably give you 5,000 good reasons why your site in question is a lower priority. You already know that Sprint has this as a lower priority site because it hasn't been done. And you can try to convince them otherwise. Know that where you find the most GMO's in the country are in markets that have the lowest share of Sprint customers. Places like East Iowa, Alabama, New Mexico, etc.

 

And if you want to do absolutely nothing to try to help your situation, then that's your loss. But if you really won't take any advice to try to help your situation, why are you here? Seems to me you're here just to complain then. And we don't host Sprint complaints. Direct them to their customer service outlets, please.

 

Thank you.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

[sgarringer]

Don't try to lecture me on Sprint's prioritization. And you need to get a grip, man. I can probably give you 5,000 good reasons why your site in question is a lower priority. You already know that Sprint has this as a lower priority site because it hasn't been done. And you can try to convince them otherwise. Know that where you find the most GMO's in the country are in markets that have the lowest share of Sprint customers. Places like East Iowa, Alabama, New Mexico, etc.

 

And if you want to do absolutely nothing to try to help your situation, then that's your loss. But if you really won't take any advice to try to help your situation, why are you here? Seems to me you're here just to complain then. And we don't host Sprint complaints. Direct them to their customer service outlets, please.

 

Thank you.

 

Using Tapatalk on Note 8.0

 

I wasn't lecturing you, dude.   I've done everything I can do to report it to Sprint.  I've emailed the CEO even, they tell me it's not scheduled to be upgraded.

 

I'm not here to complain but I am pointing out basic information here.  I have a Nexus device, that means no Sprint Zone app.  If you're fine installing 3rd party APKs then that's your decision but I don't install APKs outside of the Play store.  And no one even knows if reports from Sprint Zone sideloaded even go anywhere.  So calm down dude.

 

I've done plenty to help my situation.  I've mentioned it here -- a site which you yourself claim Sprint engineers visit (one even private messaged me about this after I posted it here)  and I've emailed the CEO.  I haven't used the Sprint Zone app, but no one can even say if that would help, since no one knows what happens to reports when the app is sideloaded. 

 

I'm done discussing this.

Edited February 24, 2016 by sgarringer

[belusnecropolis]

I-380 is one of the heaviest traveled interstates in the United States.  It's a spur off I80 which is the heaviest traveled interstate highway in the entire USA.  The corridor between the quad cities and I35 in Des Moines is the heaviest traveled stretch of the heaviest traveled interstate in the US

 

Traffic volumes vary from 47,000 to 83,500 vehicles per day

By this logic, the town of Aynor, SC should have 8t8r, small cells, and two panel per sector 800 setups for 4t4r. Since it heads into Myrtle Beach on hwy 501 where we had 20M+ visitors annually in recent years, easily. The largest driven to family destination in the nation. Yet, it doesn't; it has a (1) three gee GMO because Sprint has realized about 600 people live there and market share is most likely minimal. Priorities are what they are unfortunately for you, and Aynor.

 

I would suggest; get vocal on any and all available channels to the company if you feel the brand loyalty is a good reward for you or make it known to iWireless and bring em your bucks. We can and do share knowledge openly and gladly but we just don't have that kind of inside track on a corp. that is recently known to hold it's cards close to it's chest. Hope this helps perspective, because S4GRU users can't erect sites.