new markets launching Monday

[Rickie546]

This Monday you should see sprint launch metro Chicago, Wichita falls Texas, some of southern mass, and Hutchinson and McPherson,ks

[gusherb]

Seems like that's about right. I've begun receiving an LTE signal in Chicago within the past week.

[Dkoellerwx]

Maybe Sunday? They've done launches before on Sunday. I see the coverage maps have been updated.

 

Looks like we'll be seeing the announcement for Chicago IL, Bourbannais/Bradley/Kankaee IL, Rockford IL, Gary IN, Hutchinson/McPherson KS, and a smattering of southeast Massachusetts cities that weren't explicitly called out in the "NV underway" press releases.

[gr8nuguy]

Mcphersons coverage isnt good enough to be launched, unless they turn on the tower in town

[gusherb]

Looks like all of Chicago itself and Northwest Indiana have been added to the maps....and right off the bat the coverage maps are lying. It's showing coverage where I know for a fact there are big coverage gaps around here.

 

And now I'm gonna have to drive around Chicago a bunch cuz I don't believe the coverage maps for there either.

[DaQue]

A friend works for the rail road. There are parts of Chicago I wouldn't go map... He has to have a police guy with him when if fixes radio gear in those areas.

[gusherb]

A friend works for the rail road. There are parts of Chicago I wouldn't go map... He has to have a police guy with him when if fixes radio gear in those areas.

 

I stay away from those parts myself! I only care about downtown, the north side and south side.

[marioc21]

Sprint makes it official for the Chicago suburbs.

 

http://newsroom.spri...article_id=2432

 

Several more as well:

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2414-new-4g-lte-markets-officially-launched-by-sprint/

[DC_MTP]

What about Washington DC! sheeesh.

[Turgenev]

What about Washington DC! sheeesh.

 

This. Service in the DC 'burbs has been atrocious for nearly two months now.

[Yungrapunxel]

I pray that the Cambridge-Framingham Mass area gets LTE ASAP. If they do, I'll will definitely switch to Sprint. However sprint is doing a lot of improvements in my town. We'll see...

 

-has heard dreadful 3G stories

[halcyoncmdr]

 

 

This. Service in the DC 'burbs has been atrocious for nearly two months now.

 

Welcome to the club. At least your area is starting the rollout soon. We still have a wait in AZ.

[nahum365]

 

 

This. Service in the DC 'burbs has been atrocious for nearly two months now.

It is truly horrible. DC needed it more then Baltimore.

[BigPuddin]

DC has gotten so bad that I'm thinking of selling my phone, paying the ETF and going to a different carrier. Unlimited data means very little when you can't use your phone unless you're on wifi.

[S4GRU]

DC has gotten so bad that I'm thinking of selling my phone' date=' paying the ETF and going to a different carrier. Unlimited data means very little when you can't use your phone unless you're on wifi.[/quote']

 

Right before LTE sites are starting to go live? The first DC market sites started going live in Bowie recently. I think we are just about to see signal testing to go live all around the market. If you become a Sponsor, you can see all the DC sites that have been converted already.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/user/1-s4gru/

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner

[zmccaa]

Hopefully Rochester gets NV soon.....speeds keep changing here...but I can say last night when the internet went out Netflix streamed on my computer thru my WiFi tether...I don't even think it cut out once.... that's a first...does anybody know when / if Rochester or Buffalo is going to get NV

[S4GRU]

Hopefully Rochester gets NV soon.....speeds keep changing here...but I can say last night when the internet went out Netflix streamed on my computer thru my WiFi tether...I don't even think it cut out once.... that's a first...does anybody know when / if Rochester or Buffalo is going to get NV

 

If? Yes. All markets will. When? Next year.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner

[dstrait]

DC has gotten so bad that I'm thinking of selling my phone, paying the ETF and going to a different carrier. Unlimited data means very little when you can't use your phone unless you're on wifi.

 

Agreed. I was looking at my bill for 6 lines on Sprint and was dumbfounded that we use less the 2gb per month combined. Then I thought about it and that makes sense since none of us can do anything on our phones short of receive e-mails and load simple web pages. To boot, Sprint is silent on support for Windows Phone 8. I may have to move on given that factor alone. I am all in on the MS ecosystem.

[BigPuddin]

Right before LTE sites are starting to go live? The first DC market sites started going live in Bowie recently. I think we are just about to see signal testing to go live all around the market. If you become a Sponsor, you can see all the DC sites that have been converted already.

 

http://s4gru.com/ind...?/user/1-s4gru/

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner

 

I keep telling myself "it's about to get better, it's about to get better" but it hurts shelling out $95/ month for service I'm not getting. I couldn't even stream a podcast on my walk yesterday. My friend as an old Iphone 3g on ATT and her internet is significantly faster than mine.

 

I'm also hearing that Sprint's LTE is spotty (at best) when they do go live.

 

Basically I'm going to wait to see if NV fixes the problem, but I'm really close to jumping ship.

Edited October 31, 2012 by BigPuddin

[S4GRU]

I'm also hearing that Sprint's LTE is spotty (at best) when they do go live.

 

This is not accurate. I spent four days doing LTE testing in a fully deployed area with several Sprint devices. It's as spotty as Sprint 3G and voice is now. It's nothing like WiMax. It will get even better when LTE 800 is added next year. It will be spotty in active deployment areas, of course. However, coverage should be uniform after deployment is complete in a market (except for maybe Baton Rouge ).

 

Robert

[BigPuddin]

Well that's good. I'm going to stay as long as I can, but Sprint needs to justify my monthly bill.

[Turgenev]

This is not accurate. I spent four days doing LTE testing in a fully deployed area with several Sprint devices. It's as spotty as Sprint 3G and voice is now. It's nothing like WiMax. It will get even better when LTE 800 is added next year. It will be spotty in active deployment areas, of course. However, coverage should be uniform after deployment is complete in a market (except for maybe Baton Rouge ).

 

Robert

 

Quick time line for me.

Until Aug 2012: DC 'burbs (Germantown) was mediocre at around 50-100kbit/s on 3G, but it worked.

Aug-Sept 2012: Obvious 3G improvements. I get up to around 1.4mbit/s and it's stable.

Sept 2012-present: Suddenly, a challenger appears, and vomits all over the Sprint towers. I am LUCKY to get 5-20kbit/s in areas that get 4 full bars of 3G.

 

Sprint knows about it and says that "refunds will be issued when the problem is resolved". It's been broken since Sept. I got the GNex in May thinking "mid year 2012" was right around the corner. I had a Nexus S 4G and its connectivity ran circles around this phone.

 

I love my GNex, but Sprint's dropped the ball, badly, by taking not one, not two, but an order of magnitude TEN steps back in the DC area for service reliability on 3G, let alone 4G LTE progress.

 

Hearing that other markets are being fast tracked? Great, but if fast tracked leads you to where DC is now, then your fast track plan is obviously fubar.

 

The worst part? Verizon LTE is 4 bars everywhere I go, with 15-20Mbit/s steady.

 

If I weren't on a family plan, I'd have left already. I get that they're building a possibly better market environment, but when they reduce the existing one to tatters for months at a time, with no timeline to hope?

 

Faith wanes.

[Rock_Paper_Scissors_]

It would be nice if Sprint would actually finish a market before they started a new one. I believe they are already over extended as it is. They are behind in existing markets, especially the markets that Ericsson is working in.

[waoonetwork]

Seems like that's about right. I've begun receiving an LTE signal in Chicago within the past week.

 

 

I have also. It wasn't that stable where I was in the north but it was nice seeing 4G LTE :-)

[S4GRU]

It would be nice if Sprint would actually finish a market before they started a new one. I believe they are already over extended as it is. They are behind in existing markets' date=' especially the markets that Ericsson is working in.[/quote']

 

I've addressed this in the past. This is dumb. Sprint has three OEM's who have dozens of subcontractors each. The people who are working on new markets would not work in neither San Antonio nor DC. They would just be sitting on their couch waiting for work.

 

The delays in San Antonio are not related to workers, but rather backhaul deployment. As backhaul is ready, the crews there jump on the next site. Soon, there will be quite a bit of 3G progress in San Antonio, as that has been delayed because of Ericsson equipment problems.

 

As for DC, they are just about to start lighting up 4G all over the market. It will be a lot like Baltimore where there was virtually no LTE for a long time, then all of a sudden a whole bunch goes live right before launch. DC will have quite a bit of LTE sites go live in November.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 using Forum Runner