Latest News

New Guidelines and Sponsor Threads for Members

Thanks for all your patience.  We have finally caught up with a few housekeeping items long requested:  S4GRU Guidelines and Sponsorship Information threads.

Over in the General Topics section of The Forums there are now two threads for these items.  See the links below:

• S4GRU Posting Guidelines (a.k.a. The Rulez)  
• Information about S4GRU Sponsorship levels and how to become a Sponsor  

Thanks!

Robert
S4GRU Administrator

Read story →    0 comments   

Server Issues

As most of you probably experienced today, we ran into server issues with IP Board.  IP Board sets limits on the amount of simultaneous server activity that is permissible based on the account type you have.

Back on January 24th, when I signed up for IP Board, I selected their lowest hosting package.  As popularity in S4GRU grew, we were "automatically upgraded" to higher and higher hosting plans.  S4GRU is now so popular, we are on an Advanced hosting plan.  Advanced hosting plans come with dedicated servers.  However, unbeknownst to me, I have to ask IP Board to migrate us to the new higher performance servers that we are paying for.

Today, the consequence of my inaction was discovered.  Since we were on the economy "shared" servers, we were consistently exceeding our maximum allowable simultaneous usage limits, and IP Board kept taking us offline.  It took a few hours for IP Board to discover the problem.  They initially thought it was caused by aggressive indexing bots.

After discovering that we needed to migrate to new servers, I went ahead and pulled the trigger.  It takes a few hours to migrate our site over to our new higher performance servers and for the DNS caching to catch up, so normally that would have been done after hours to impact the least amount of users.  However, in this instance, our site kept going down.  So I asked them to do it immediately and get it over with.  This way we would be back online through the prime evening hours tonight.

I apologize for the inconvenience.  But as long as we allow the site to grow, there will be growing pains, like this one.  Thanks for your patience during this ordeal.

Robert



Read story →    4 comments   

We now have 500 S4GRU Members! And other stats...

S4GRU Members!

Today we crossed a new threshold.  We now have 500 S4GRU.com Members!  This is an exciting milestone.  See some other points below:

• 500 S4GRU Members
• 1,077 Twitter Followers
• 904 Facebook Fans
• 158 Google+ Circlers
• Averaging 12,000+ page views per day
• 40 S4GRU Sponsor Members, donating $11.12 on average
• 5 S4GRU Premier Sponsors, donating $105.00 on average

We have had to upgrade our account with IP Board because our average number of users online at any given time has gone from 28 to 69!  But this is a good thing!  Thank you to those who support S4GRU.  It's what pays for us to increase our licensing.

I wonder what the future has in store?

Robert
S4GRU.com



Read story →    9 comments   

Evidently I am a 13-Year Old Hacker whose Dad works for Sprint, now...

Nothing like a good deep belly laugh at 1 AM to rejuvenate ya!

I came across an article today in IT World (yeah, I never heard of it either) where the writer says of our site, "S4gru, a blog seemingly designed by a 13-year-old hacker whose dad works in dealmaking for Sprint."

I thought it was funny.  I think most of you will get a kick out of it.  I took it as a compliment, at least he is saying we are credible.  Just immature.  And perhaps that's true!  We are immature on the tech scene, and maybe even a tad irreverent.

I'm 36 and going on 13!

Robert

Read story →    12 comments   

S4GRU.com is now out of Beta stages...hello Mainstream!

S4GRU Members and Readers:

Today is an exciting day, because I decided to pull S4GRU.com out of beta stage.  The amount of comments are way down and the IP Board environment has exceeded our expectations!  Do any of you remember how slow and painful our servers were over in the Spruz environment?

We have come a long way in a few short months.  I really appreciate all your support.  S4GRU.com has really taken off, especially in the past week, since we started in our expose of device articles.

I want to thank our writers, sponsors, members and even you readers who have not joined to date.  Sprint 4G Rollout Updates and S4GRU.com is a collaborative community.  Even though I lead this endeavor, I have a wonderful supporting cast.  And here we all have a part.

S4GRU.com really is a home for all of us.  It's becoming a unique and friendly environment for the enjoyment of our members.  I am excited to think about where we are headed in the next few months.  May we always be a place for us...the outcasts of the wireless world!

Thanks for making this all possible.  Without you, I would just be a wireless geek sitting in the corner desperately longing for friends!

Robert
S4GRU.com

Read story →    7 comments   

BOOM! Check out the S4GRU.com traffic count graph...

Here is a little graph of S4GRU page view traffic since we moved to IP Board back on February 6th.  As you can see, usage skyrocketed this past weekend.  Our mean number of daily page views is approx. 7,000 per week day and 4,500 per weekend day.

However, this past weekend we had:

• 14,102 page views on Saturday
• 15,410 page views on Sunday
• 18,626 page views on Monday

Wow!  Staggering!  Thanks for all your support of S4GRU.com.

Robert

Read story →    6 comments   

New 50 Member Chat Limit!

Due to popular demand, we have increased our Chat Limit to 250 licenses.  We have upped our chat, so up yours!  j/k

Our 20 chat licenses were no longer cutting it.  Demand was so high for our chats, that I had to stop announcing them on social media.  And we still had people who couldn't get in.  I never expected the chats to be so popular.  They have exceeded my wildest expectations.

Unfortunately, we could only go from 20 to 250.  It was a significant expense, but I thank you all you members who stepped up with the financial contributions.  This will pay for the extra chat licenses for approx. 4 months.  We can then evaluate if we want to keep them after that.

Since having 250 people in chat all it once would lead to chaos, I have put an artificial restriction of 50 members.  If the number ends up being too chaotic, we can decrease that number in the future.

Now at the next chat on Tuesday evening, you are all virtually guaranteed a spot at the table.  And thanks again for your unwavering support of S4GRU!

Robert
S4GRU.com Ringmaster!

Read story →    7 comments   

Announcing our newest S4GRU Premier Sponsors!

Today we have two new members join the esteemed ranks of S4GRU Premier Sponsor...

Special thanks to gr8nuguy and runagun for their generous donations in supporting S4GRU.  They join twospirits and themuffinman in our S4GRU Premier Sponsor membership category!  You all are welcome to join them.

As a refresher to all our S4GRU Members, you can go to this posting on The Bulletin Board for more information about our membership levels.

Thanks to all of you who support S4GRU!

Robert



Read story →    2 comments   

Announcing our newest S4GRU Premier Sponsor!

Today we have a new member join the esteemed ranks of S4GRU Premier Sponsor...

Special thanks to themuffinman for his generous donations in supporting S4GRU.  He joins twospirits in our S4GRU Premier Sponsor membership category!  You all are welcome to join them.

As a refresher to all our S4GRU Members, you can go to this posting on The Bulletin Board for more information about our membership levels.

Thanks to all of you who support S4GRU!

Robert



Read story →    5 comments   

The site is booming today!

S4GRU Members:

We hit 156 simultaneous users today.  A new all time record.  Previous record was 98.  The site is booming today because of the GNex article.  We have already have 1,500 page views in just 8 hours.  Our highest visited articles typically have 1,500 to 2,000 page views over the entire life of the story.

Our story has already been featured on Phandroid.  Let me know if you come across any other sites talking about it.

Thanks for all your support and linking!

Robert

Read story →    21 comments   

Keep close to S4GRU.com all weekend long!!! Lots of Breaking News this weekend!

Wanna know when the GNex is going to be released???  I now know when it's scheduled!!!

Our tipsters were busy today and core dumped on me, including some of our first device information.  We will be going to print with several exclusive stories in the next few days, including over the weekend.

We also will be hosting a Live Chat tonight at S4GRU.com at 9:30 PM Mountain time.  We will be announcing a bonus weekend second round market.

Stay close to your computers and devices this weekend.  It's going to be an exciting next few days at Sprint 4G Rollout Updates!

Robert

An excited S4GRU Member this weekend!

Read story →    7 comments   

First S4GRU Premier Sponsor

Special thanks to S4GRU Member twospirits for becoming our first S4GRU Premier Sponsor!

As a refresher to all our S4GRU Members, below are our S4GRU Membership Groups that you can attain:


S4GRU Membership Groups

S4GRU Sponsor. For members who donate money through PayPal to S4GRU to help fund the costs of Sprint 4G Rollout Updates, you get the S4GRU Sponsor title for six months from your last donation. Once you donate $100 or more in total, you get the title forever and upgraded to Premier Sponsor (see below). S4GRU Sponsors get:

• Allow profile customizations
• Larger profile photos (up to 250x250)
• Can edit forum posts up to six hours after posting (incognito)
• No limitations on auto signatures
• Not subject to flood control timeouts
• Store up to 250 Private Messages
• No daily limit on Private Messages
• Up to 10 People allowed in a Personal Message
• Can view who gave you reputation points
• Unlimited inline notifications

S4GRU Premier Sponsor. S4GRU Sponsors who donate $100 or more in total, get to keep the title forever and you also get in addition to the benefits of the S4GRU Sponsor above:

• Bypass word filters
• Can post HTML in posts
• No limit to number of people allowed in a Personal Message
• Unlimited PM storage
• Allow attachments in PM's
• Allow unlimited amounts of reputation points to be given
• Larger profile photos (up to 250x400)
• Can edit forum posts at any time (incognito)
• Can soft delete own posts
• Avoids any moderation queues

S4GRU Contributing Author. For members who write news articles for S4GRU, you get an even better membership group. S4GRU Contributing Authors get all the S4GRU Premier Sponsor benefits plus they get the acclaim of being in the S4GRU inner circle. After you become a trusted regular contributor, you will be given the ability to post your own articles directly up in The Wall. You can create drafts of articles and keep them stored until ready for publishing. This status will stay active for six months after you publish your most recent S4GRU article.

Thanks to all of you who support S4GRU!

Robert



Read story →    5 comments   

Nationwide Sprint Market Map is here!!!

Finally...what many of you have been waiting for.  A National Sprint market map, by county (or parish for y'all in Louisiana!).

The map file is very large (full resolution version is over 3MB).  90%+ of counties only have sites from one market, or another.  In a small handful of counties (like Imperial County, California), there are sites in two markets.  In the small handful of instances where that occurs, we tried to color it the market that has the most sites in that county.

Thanks to Digiblur for his tireless efforts in the S4GRU Cartography Division!

- Robert

Nationwide Sprint Market Map.  Here all 97 Sprint Markets are shown.  Click on Image to Enlarge.

You can go here to view and download the full resolution image...  http://s4gru.herronw...ap10MAR2012.jpg

Read story →    21 comments   

S4GRU featured in DailyWireless.org website

Sam Churchill featured Sprint 4G Rollout Updates in his Daily Wireless blog this past Monday.  It's a big read among wireless nerds.  And we appreciate the attention!

You can click on the screenshot below to go and read the article.  S4GRU.com, FTW!  And you guys have been with us long before we were ever noticed.  Thanks for your support.

Robert

Read story →    4 comments   

New Market Maps for Previously Announced Cities

Thanks to the tireless efforts of S4GRU Member Digiblur, we now have posted all the previously announced Network Vision/LTE market maps.  Markets announced by Sprint and S4GRU.com.

You can follow the links below to the articles where the Market Maps have been inserted.  Be sure to send Digiblur a thank you for all his work.  I know I have.

• Sprint Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Atlanta Announcement
• S4GRU.com Chicago Announcement
• Sprint Kansas City & Baltimore Announcement
• S4GRU.com Chicago Cluster & Schedule Announcement
• S4GRU.com San Francisco Announcement
• S4GRU.com Boston Announcement
• S4GRU.com Washington, D.C. Announcement

You can also find them in The Gallery.  Additionally, I am working on a National Sprint Market Map.  But it will take some time.  You can see an example of how it will look like below.

Stay tuned to S4GRU.com for all the latest on Network Vision!!!

Robert
S4GRU.com

Read story →    4 comments   

Sprint 4G Rollout Updates surpassed 1000 Twitter Followers today!!!

On March 1, 2012, S4GRU finally past the 1,000 Twitter Follower mark.  WooHoo!!!



Here are some interesting factoids about Sprint 4G Rollout Updates:

• 1,004 Twitter Followers
• 845 Facebook Fans
• 299 S4GRU.com Members
• 142 Google+ Subscribers
• Average 7,500 Page Views per day (up 400% since 2/1)
• On 2/27 and 2/28, we had over 10,000 page views each day!
• S4GRU Articles draw huge numbers to the site (wanna do some writing?)
• Averaging about 180 forum posts per day (up 250% since 2/1)
• 62% of all traffic are return visitors
• Average visit is 6 pages (this is very high)
• Highest Traffic Cities:  1. NYC   2. Chicago   3. Baton Rouge   4. Kansas City   5. Overland Park  
• 40% of All Views are from Chrome Browsers
• 15% of all traffic is accessed via the Sprint Network (or Clearwire)
• Mobile Site makes up 20% of our traffic total
• The Device that accesses our site the most:  SonyEricsson LT15i Xperia Arc  (that's probably from just one heavy user!!!)
• Largest Referring Site:  community.sprint.com
• Most Visited Forum Thread:  Keep-A-Word, Drop-A-Word
• Most Externally Visited Forum Thread:  Network Vision/LTE Deployment List
• Most Viewed Article:Samsung Network Vision/LTE Deployment schedule & details for Sprint's Chicago Market

Thanks to all of you for your continued interest and support of S4GRU.com.  Can't wait until we get the next 1,000.  Don't be afraid to send an invite to all your Facebook, Google+ and Twitter friends.

Robert
S4GRU.com


Read story →    3 comments   

Forum Runner App revised with new S4GRU Yellow Banners

For all of you S4GRU Members who use the Forum Runner app, I came across a setting today where I can change the colors of the category banners.  By default, the banners are all pasty blue.  However, now I've changed S4GRU to be a golden yellow.

This will help differentiate S4GRU in Forum Runner for you.  If you are like me, you belong to several forums in Forum Runner.  To have S4GRU be its own wonderful golden color will help you to realize which forum you are in.  Plus it looks snazzy and goes with the brand.

Just the little things I try to do for you all!

Robert
S4GRU.com

Forum Runner Screenshot.  Here is a screenshot from

my E4GT of what the Forum Runner app now looks like.

Read story →    0 comments   

Guidelines about Posting Articles from Outside Websites

ATTENTION S4GRU MEMBERS!



Uh, oh!  He's brought out the Rules Emoticon!

I really appreciate all the links that our members provide to news article and relevant interest stories.  Please keep it up.  They are very informative to S4GRU members and help spark great forum conversations.  Sometimes, they are even a lead to me to write a S4GRU article.

However, in the interest of being fair and just to content writers and attempt to keep from running afoul with copyright laws, we will be instituting the following guidelines from here forward regarding reposting content from other sites.

Do not copy and paste whole articles in your post

If something is relevant in the article, please quote it.  See the quote button below...

You can paste it within the quote caption.  If the article is short, you can paste the whole article within the quote caption.  A quote caption will appear .  With this, the quote header will just say:  Quote.  If you want to customize what your header says, post this instead .  And now that header will be changed to say:  BGR.com said:

All words/articles copied from other sites must be quoted.  And a link back to the other site must be included, so the copyrighted material can be viewed in its entirety and within its intended context.  Also, this allows the copyright holder an opportunity to make money, which is the whole purpose of why the content most likely even exists.

Do not quote from paid/subscribed sources

Please do not quote any materials from a subscribed source.  For instance, much of the Wall Street Journal is in a subscription area.  If you have a subscription to one of these sites and see a wonderful article there, please do not copy and paste it here.  The WSJ is very protective of their content and they are eventually going to come after me if you post things they intend to be read by paying members.

So please do not copy and paste any material that is part of a subscription service.  However, if you want to link to these stories on a subscription based site, please do so.  Just mention next to the link that a subscription is required.

Post Outside Website news stories and links in the new forum category

Today, I created a new Forum category called The News Forum.  In it is a subforum called Member Posted News Articles.  This is where news articles should be posted in the future.

Thanks for your help, and when in doubt, just link it

I appreciate the help of all of you with these issues.  It will help insulate S4GRU from copyright issues and disputes.  That way we can keep bringing to you all this great content!

If I come across any infractions, I will take corrective actions on the post and leave a comment linking back to these guidelines.  Your immediate cooperation is greatly appreciated!

Best Regards,

Robert Herron
S4GRU.com

Read story →    0 comments   

New Forum Categories so Tapatalk & Forum Runner users can keep up with News & Announcements

S4GRU Members:

Approximately one third of your usage now comes via the Tapatalk and Forum Runner apps.  That's great!  However, these apps don't have access to articles in The Wall and announcements in the The Bulletin Board.  While I was in the shower this morning (where I do my best thinking, BTW), I came up with an idea...

"Why don't we create a forum section with linked posts to The Wall and The Bulletin Board for App users???  Brilliant!!!"

We already post every article on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter when they are published, so it's no big deal to post a link in the forums to for our App users.  We have created a new News Forum in the forum front page.  And two subforums, News Articles from the Wall and Messages from the Bulletin Board.

Now you will be able to just go to New Content, and see if any new news articles or announcements has posted since your last sign in.  You can then follow the link directly to the story and read in your default mobile browser.

Additionally, we have set up in The News Forum an additional new category called Member Posted News Articles.  Here S4GRU Members can post links to relevant news stories they have read each day that may be of interest to other members.  It's kind of like re-tweeting!

I do want to apologize, though.  I went back and added articles and announcements since February 6th.  So you will have a whole bunch of New Content appear the next to you sign in.  However, upon your next sign in, this will return to normal and only brand new articles and announcements will appear.

Hope you like these new features!

Robert Herron
S4GRU.com

Read story →    4 comments   

Calling Baton Rouge!!! S4GRU member posts in Forums about NV tower, looking for photos!

4ringsnbr posted this in the Network Vision forum today:

I was driving over to Towne Center last night and noticed the tower at Jefferson & Old Hammond had what appeared to be RRUs attached to the antennas on the bottom rung of the tower. I was going to snap a pic, but the traffic was actually flowing (which is a rare blessing there), and I didn't have time. Any Folks in Baton Rouge, LA should go check it out.

If you are in and about the Red Stick in the near future, stop by and check out this site and take some photos for us, please!!!

I show this market as Second Round market, so for it to be receiving work a little advance is unexpected and surprising.  Is Ericsson far ahead of schedule?  Is this is a FIT?  Not sure at this point.

- Robert, S4GRU

Read story →    0 comments   

S4GRU.com Recent Articles...

Here is a list of links to our most recent articles:

• Sprint sports its I ♥ NYC T-shirt...New York City is a Sprint 2012 Network Vision/LTE market
• Sprint proclaims new SDC Push-To-Talk Network virtues over iDEN
• Could Amazon build on the success of the Kindle Fire and move into the phone market?
• New Early Upgrade Promo in select Sprint markets, all devices including the iPhone
• Could tax relief legislation allow Sprint to add an "H" to its PCS alphabet?
• Sprint's Network Vision & LTE Deployments will soon come speeding into Washington, D.C. to jump start stalled bureaucracy
• "Two if by LTE!!!" declares Sprint 4G Rollout Updates as Boston is named as a Network Vision/LTE city for 2012

Robert Herron, S4GRU

Read story →    0 comments   

Don't forget...live chat tonight. Will discuss next NV market!

I'm going to be largely offline this afternoon and evening, so I wanted to remind everyone we will be conducting a live chat late this evening, where will be announcing the next Network Vision/LTE market.

We will not be announcing a time in advance, so you will need to stay tuned. The chat will be limited to the first 20 attendees.

I will jump in the chat room as soon as I will have a good signal for an hour or so.  I will be attending via mobile, so be patient with me if I get thrown out of the room by occasional connection issues as I am being chauffeured from cell to cell.  There is one dead spot on I-25 between Albuquerque and my home in Northern New Mexico, where I might get dropped.

I hope to see you all there!

- Robert, S4GRU

Read story →    0 comments   

VIDEO: Are you being "throttled" by AT&T?

In an interesting video submitted to me by S4GRU Member sosharpdevy, a news show called The Daily Take talks about the lack of competition in the U.S. Wireless industry has lead to the problems associated with AT&T and their throttling of unlimited customers.

I don't agree 100% of the whole clip, but it is interesting to ponder.  And the competitive market in Europe sure looks good to us in America at this point.  Take a listen...

Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.

Read story →    5 comments   

S4GRU Member Ranks and Groups

ATTENTION ALL S4GRU Members!

We have now created membership ranks and groups for all S4GRU members to obtain.  Ranks are determined based on the number of forum posts you have made.  Groups are based on how you contribute to the S4GRU cause.

S4GRU Member Ranks

• Smoke Signals - 0 posts
• Analog - 10 posts
• Digital - 25 posts
• 1xRTT - 50 posts
• 3G EVDO - 100 posts
• eHRPD - 250 posts
• 4G WiMax - 500 posts
• 4G LTE - 1000 posts
• LTE Advanced - 2500 posts

Also, for those who contribute to S4GRU, there are groups you can belong to.  These come with additional benefits, that are associated with your sign in credential permissions.

S4GRU Membership Groups

S4GRU Sponsor.  For members who donate money through PayPal to S4GRU to help fund the costs of Sprint 4G Rollout Updates, you get the S4GRU Sponsor title for six months from your last donation.  Once you donate $100 or more in total, you get the title forever and upgraded to Premier Sponsor (see below).  S4GRU Sponsors get:

• Access to the S4GRU Sponsors Forum (contents subject to change, but includes some interactive maps)
• Allow profile customizations
• Larger profile photos (up to 250x250)
• Can edit forum posts up to six hours after posting (incognito)
• No limitations on auto signatures
• Not subject to flood control timeouts
• Store up to 250 Private Messages
• No daily limit on Private Messages
• Up to 10 People allowed in a Personal Message
• Can view who gave you reputation points
• Unlimited inline notifications

S4GRU Premier Sponsor.  S4GRU Sponsors who donate $100 or more in total, get to keep the title forever and you also get in addition to the benefits of the S4GRU Sponsor above:

• Access to the S4GRU Premier Sponsor Forum (contents subject to change, but includes NV schedule maps for many markets)
• Bypass word filters
• Can post HTML in posts
• No limit to number of people allowed in a Personal Message
• Unlimited PM storage
• Allow attachments in PM's
• Allow unlimited amounts of reputation points to be given
• Larger profile photos (up to 250x400)
• Can edit forum posts at any time (incognito)
• Can soft delete own posts
• Avoids any moderation queues

S4GRU Contributing Author.  For members who write news articles for S4GRU, you get an even better membership group.  S4GRU Contributing Authors get all the S4GRU Premier Sponsor benefits plus they get the acclaim of being in the S4GRU inner circle.  After you become a trusted regular contributor, you will be given the ability to post your own articles directly up in The Wall.  You can create drafts of articles and keep them stored until ready for publishing.  This status will stay active for six months after you publish your most recent S4GRU article.


NOTE:  The PayPal donation button is located in The Forums main page, at the upper right hand corner.

Read story →    5 comments   

Cyanogen releases video of new CM9 Boot Animation, perty kewl!!!

I'm really excited for ICS on CM9.  Alpha leaks are abounding everywhere.  And here is a video of the new CM9 Boot Animation.



Feel free to comment with your thoughts below...

Read story →    2 comments   

Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Recent Articles...

Sprint 4G Rollout Updates and our contributing authors have been busy writing for you.  Here is a recap of our Most Recent articles:

• Samsung Network Vision/LTE Deployment schedule & details for Sprint's Chicago Market
• Network Vision Drawings for a site in Overland Park, Kansas
• SNL mocks Verizon's 4G LTE Campaign
• Spectrum Analysis Part Two...Sprint and T-Mobile spare PCS spectrum would pair nicely for a LTE Partnership
• Spectrum Analysis...Does Sprint have more options for additional LTE carriers?

Read story →    0 comments   

What to make of AT&T’s vanishing spectrum crisis - GigaOM

Article:  http://gigaom.com/br...pectrum-crisis/

Tim Farrar of GigaOm is out with a new article regarding the appearance of AT&T's change of heart regarding the spectrum crisis.  It's a good read.  Sure makes you go, Hmmmm...

Click on the link above or the image below to view the article.

Read story →    0 comments   

S4GRU.com is now live!!!

No more subdomains for us, Sprint 4G Rollout Updates is now live at S4GRU.com.

The old links with the subdomain will still work, but change all your bookmarks to the new site!

Thanks for all of you who make Sprint 4G Rollout Updates possible.  This was paid for directly with Pay Pal donations.  To all of you who support S4GRU...



Best Regards,

Robert Herron
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Read story →    0 comments   

New Members - February 8th

Just wanted to take a moment to welcome the new members that joined yesterday.  After we opened up new member registrations on the new site, we had a lot of requests.

Welcome to:

Rickie546, JustinRP37, Fraydog, MattLee100, Libra1212, strung, Molly s Speece, boiker, Radixs01

​

Hope to see you all around S4GRU soon!

Robert Herron
S4GRU

Read story →    0 comments   

PayPal donate button has been added to S4GRU Landing Page

Thanks to all you S4GRU members who have been requesting us put up a PayPal donate button.  I finally caved in to all your pressures and have provided links on our Main Landing Page to our newly created PayPal account.

I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm of wanting to donate to the cause.  We sure hope you are enjoying the S4GRU site.  It is expensive to run, but I believe it's well worth it.

If you feel we are worthy of a few bucks to help cover the costs of hosting the site or help cover my late night K-cups (Keurig coffee) that I use to keep my eyes open until 3 AM every night, then please feel free to part with a couple of your dollars.

I greatly appreciate your consideration of helping the cause.  Your contributions help to give us all a home to hang out while we wait, and wait and wait for Sprint to NV our towers!

Thanks again and best regards,

Robert Herron
Wireless Dork &
Resident Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Masochist



Read story →    0 comments   

New S4GRU Forums now support Forum Runner and Tapatalk apps

The new Sprint 4G Rollout Updates website and forums went live today.  Do you know that the new forums are supported in several mobile formats?  See the options below:

• Forum Runner.  This app includes a free limited feature version and a paid version for Android, iPhone and iPad.
• Tapatalk.  This app does not have a free version, but is supported by Android, iPhone and BlackBerry.
• Mobile Site.  The new S4GRU site also includes an HTML5 mobile website.  The mobile site not only supports the forums, but also includes additional content, like our news articles, wall posts and status updates.

Now, when you are on the go, you can easily keep up to date and participate with Sprint 4G Rollout Updates.  You asked for it, and we delivered.  We want S4GRU to be your place to go for Sprint and/or 4G information and forum discussions on the web!

Read story →    0 comments   

S4GRU gets shout out at GigaOM and Engadget for our iDEN Decommissioning Article over the weekend

This past weekend, Sprint 4G Rollout Updates was tipped off that Sprint had quietly set up an iDEN tower decommissioning website.  And of course, we went live online about it right away.

GigaOM and Engadget wrote up articles about it after the weekend, and listed S4GRU as the source.  We are always bringing you Sprint network info, first.  Every day!

We can't do it without you.  S4GRU Members are always on the prowl, and quick to tip us off.  Thanks to you all, we will continue to be first.

Never assume I hear everything first.  In this case, I had no idea when AJ tweeted to me about the site.  But we quickly sprang into action and got the story up first.  Thanks to all of you!



Read story →    0 comments   

S4GRU New Website & Forums new registrations temporarily disabled

Please note...New Member Registration for the new website is temporarily disabled.  We had too many people trying to create new accounts, even though they already had an existing one.  Please sign into the old website and go to your Inbox in the upper right corner.  There you will find a message from S4GRU with your temporary sign in credentials for the new website.

New registrations will be disabled on the new website for a few days, until most members have had a successful sign in on the new site.

If you are not a member of the S4GRU Website and Forums, you can register on the old website and your account will transfer over to the new site automatically.

Thanks everyone for your patience.  The new forums are so much better.  It's worth it!!!

Read story →    0 comments   

The New Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Website & Forums is Open!!!

ATTENTION ALL S4GRU WEBSITE MEMBERS!  The new website and forums are now open for business. It took a lot to get it up and running, but it's going now.  Your accounts and forum posts have been transferred over automatically.

You will receive a Private Message over at the old website with your temporary sign in credentials.  You will need to sign into the new website with your new temporary password.  Once signed in, you should change your password.  More information and instructions will be in your Private Message.

Messages will be sent out in post frequency order.  The heavier users will get their credentials first.  If you do not receive your temporary sign in by Tuesday, send me a Private Message at the old website.

I hope to see you all soon at the New Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Website and Forums!

Signed, Robert, S4GRU

Read story →    0 comments   

S4GRU Membership Update - February 5, 2012

Today, Sprint 4G Rollout Updates passed 800 Facebook Fans, 900 Twitter Followers, 200 S4GRU Website Members and 100 Google+ Friends. Thanks for joining us and following along as Sprint proceeds with Network Vision and LTE Deployment. Remember to stay tuned to S4GRU for all the latest!

- Robert Herron, S4GRU

Read story →    1 comments   

Template Variables Help

All templates are capable of using template tags, and as such when you edit any type of template, there will be a "template tag help" link.  Clicking this produces a sidebar (there is then a link in the sidebar to open a separate popup) that details all of the template tags you can insert to include IP.Content data within your template.

However, with database and article templates, there are additional variables that are passed into the template to allow it to manipulate and display the HTML that represents the content.  For instance, different data is retrieved and available when you are looking at a list of articles compared to when you are viewing a single article.  You need to know what these variables are in order to be able to properly modify the template to display data in the manner you want, and as such, a template variable help popup is available that will detail the variables available for each template type.

When you are editing a template, click on "template variable help" and a new window opens displaying the variables you can expect to be available to the template with a short description of each variable.  If you get stuck, this help window can help shed some light on the variables that are available, what values they should contain, and how you can use these variables to your advantage to build a more dynamic and useful interface for your database.

Read story →    0 comments   

What Is A Frontpage?

IP.Content 2.0 uses the term "frontpage" to refer to both the homepage of the Articles module, and the landing page of each individual category.  We have introduced this new navigational structure to better allow you to showcase content, while presenting it in a standardized format that your users will be able to understand and jump into without assistance.

Firstly, you will now be able to define "frontpage" templates in the ACP for the Articles module.  IP.Content 2.0 will ship with 3 defaults:

• 1x2x2 Layout
  This layout will display articles in a traditional "news" style layout.
• Blog format
  This format will display articles in a blog-style format.
• Single column
  This layout will force articles to display in a single column, one per row.

You can use one or more of these frontpage layouts, or you can create your own.  Experiment with displaying articles in different formats on your homepage to determine which layout your users like best.

Articles must be set to "Show on front page" in order for them to display on the homepage frontpage.

In addition to the homepage frontpage, each category has it's own frontpage.  The category frontpage functions identically to the homepage frontpage, except for two important factors:

• Only records from within that category (and it's subcategories) will be displayed
• The "Show on front page" setting is not honored for the category frontpage

You will be able to easily review and manage the articles set to display on the frontpage from a new section of the ACP labeled "Frontpage Manager".  We feel that this new area of the articles section will help showcase important articles and increase user interaction with your articles section.

Read story →    0 comments   

Media Management

The media module in the IP.Content 2.0 ACP section allows you to quickly and easily manage multimedia files you may need to use with IP.Content.  While you can certainly upload your files through FTP, or link to offsite files, you may find it easier to upload the files using the media section of the ACP, and then copy the links for use within pages, templates, and blocks.

From within the media module, you can create folders, upload files, move files and folders, rename files and folders, and delete files and folders.  Files can be listed and you can click on a file to view it (or right click on the file to copy the link).

This simple tool can be a timesaver when you simply need to upload an image quickly for use within a page template.  The media folder is defined in the media_path.php file in your forum root directory, giving you the freedom to move and organize your paths as needed.

Read story →    0 comments   

Store Comments In Forum

With IP.Content 2.0, articles and custom databases can now mirror a topic to the forums when a new article or database record is submitted.  In doing so, IP.Content can also utilize that automatically-generated topic as the comment "storage" for the article or record.  When a comment is submitted to the article, the comment is actually stored as a reply to the topic.  Similarly, replies made directly to the topic in the forum also show up as comments for the record.

This new functionality can be enabled at a per-database and per-category level.  You can specify separate forums for each category in your article section, for instance, or you can turn off forum commenting for a specific category, while enabling it for all others.

A few additional configuration options, such as allowing you to automatically remove the topic when the record is removed, and specifying a prefix and/or suffix for the topic title so that your users can more easily identify that such topics were stemmed from the articles section help round out the feature, giving you better control over how these automatically posted topics are handled.

These new forum cross-posting capabilities allow the administrator to better tie in articles with the forums, giving you better opportunities to expose your content to a wider audience.  Additionally, forum management of comments provides for easier maintenance and stronger managerial options of the comments, utilizing IP.Board's powerful, proven feature set.

Read story →    0 comments   

Sharing links

IP.Board 3.1 introduces a new feature that is available for any application to make use of: sharing links.  IP.Content 2.0 makes use of this new feature in the custom databases (and articles) modules to allow you to more easily expose your content to a wider audience.

Along with supporting sharing of your content with third party services such as Facebook and Twitter, you can now also send an article via email, print the article, and download the article easily by clicking the appropriate icon under the article body.  The additional printing and downloading features allow the content to be shared, online as well as offline.

Within the articles module specifically, the article image that you upload when posting the article (optionally) will automatically be flagged for use with Facebook when someone uses Facebook to share the link.  This ensures that the correct image is the one Facebook displays to other users.  Similarly, we pull out an appropriate extract of textual content for Facebook to use as well.  If the user is logged in to Twitter or Facebook, sharing the content becomes even easier, not requiring you to even leave the site.

We hope that by providing tools to make it easier to share content on your site, your content will be exposed to a wider audience, bringing you more traffic and making your content more easily and readily available to the world.

Read story →    0 comments   

Promoting Posts to Articles

Beginning with IP.Content 2.0, you can now promote forum posts to your articles section in IP.Content.  

The administrator can configure the specifics of this feature in the ACP under My Apps -> IP.Content -> Promote Article Settings.  You can turn the system on and off, control which groups can copy and move posts to the articles section, and specify a few other details for the feature.  A new hook is included with IP.Content which adds a button to each post labeled "Promote to Article".  This button only shows up if you have permission to use the feature based on the ACP configuration.

When clicked, the button will take you to a new form where you can formalize the details of the new article.  You can tweak the text and title, upload an image, and specify other pertinent details.  If you are able to both move and copy posts to the articles section, you will also be asked which type of promotion you wish to use.  Upon submitting the form, IP.Content handles the rest.

This new feature can be used to showcase important content otherwise hidden in your forums by pushing this content to your frontpage.  It is then up to you whether you want a copy made in the articles section (leaving the original post in tact), whether you want to actually move the post to the articles section, and whether you want any cross-linking left in place.  With such powerful options, we are sure you will find many uses for this new promotion tool in IP.Content 2.0.

Read story →    0 comments   

Page Management

The page management module interface has been overhauled for IP.Content 2.0 to make it easier to manage your pages in the ACP.

Firstly, the folder navigation utilizes AJAX to load the folder contents inline without requiring you to visit a new page to view the contents of the folder.  We found that folder navigation was a slow process, especially when working with many files and folders, so we wanted to speed up the interaction with the software in this particular area.

We have also updated some common management features to utilize AJAX to help facilitate management of your pages.  Actions like clearing folders and deleting folders, for instance, will now occur without page refreshes, making your managerial activities flow smoother and quicker.

Additionally, the interface as a whole has been updated to provide a nicer, smoother feel for the page management areas.  In practice, we found that many administrators spend the majority of their time setting up and utilizing IP.Content in the page management areas, so we wanted to update the user interface to make this experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.  Minor details like confirmation dialogs have been updated to bring everything together for a more consistent feel.

A new filter bar, utilizing AJAX to retrieve the results without the need for a page refresh, has also been added to the page management area.  You can begin typing in the name of a page and a live-search action will occur in the background, showing you the results of your search as you type.  If you have many pages and many folders (and many pages within those many folders), you will find that using the filter bar to locate your pages can dramatically speed up your navigation of IP.Content within the page management areas of the ACP.

Overall, we've modernized the IP.Content page management area of the ACP, polishing up the little details, in an effort to make your experience all the more pleasant.

Read story →    0 comments   

Template Management

In IP.Content 2.0, you will notice that there are 3 separate template sections of the ACP:

• Page Templates
• Database Templates
• Article Templates

In IP.Content 1.x, database and page templates were combined into a single "Templates" section, which worked fine for our original intentions.  However, with the introduction of a separate Articles module, and additional template types related to the articles module, we decided to separate the templates so that each template type is displayed separately.  This should help finding and editing your templates easier in practice, as you will be able to filter the template types and work with fewer at a time.

Within each templates section, you can create containers to group your templates into logical groupings.  For instance, you may wish to create a grouping for each database you create, and then place the database templates appropriately into the container representing the database itself.  Or you may wish to create multiple front page templates, and group them all together in the article templates area.  You can use containers for whatever purposes you may have, or not at all: it's up to you!

Templates can be reordered by dragging and dropping the rows up and down, and they can be moved from one container to another via drag n drop as well.  

Certain meta data about the templates are stored when you create new database or article templates, allowing IP.Content to tailor other areas of the ACP to help you out.  For example, in IP.Content 1.x the software did not "remember" what kind of database template you were creating, so all database templates were presented in each of the dropdowns when creating or editing a database.  Beginning with IP.Content 2.x, the software stores the template type when you create a new template.  This allows us to show only "category listing" templates in the "category listing template" selection dropdowns.  Similarly, the template tag help popup can automatically know which template type you are editing without you having to specify.

Properly making use of templates can help you push out pages on your site in a uniform manner quickly and easily, and without having to "reinvent the wheel" each time a new page is ready to be published.

Read story →    1 comments