NID Boundary changes in Orange County, CA!!

[larryt510]

Just got an LG G3 and now I notice in debug mode I'm switching back and forth between band class 1 and band class 3.  Also switching back and forth between NID 3 and NID 19 (This entire area is definitely NID 3 so not sure how this 19 factors in).  What's the deal with this?  It's not causing missed incoming call thankfully.

[WiWavelength]

Just got an LG G3 and now I notice in debug mode I'm switching back and forth between band class 1 and band class 3.  Also switching back and forth between NID 3 and NID 19 (This entire area is definitely NID 3 so not sure how this 19 factors in).  What's the deal with this?  It's not causing missed incoming call thankfully.

 

If you are idling on LTE, any CDMA2000 engineering screen readouts are spurious, since the LG G3 is a single RF path handset.  Regardless, band class 3 is not correct, as that is the JTACS band, which is not in use in North America.

 

AJ

[larryt510]

But I don't get why it is showing my phone as being on SID 19 and  NID 33.  We are clearly SID 4145 and NID 3.

[mikejeep]

But I don't get why it is showing my phone as being on SID 19 and  NID 33.  We are clearly SID 4145 and NID 3.

 

By any chance did you try checking what a third-party app like SignalCheck or LTE Discovery was reporting for a SID/NID? Some engineering screens are far less reliable than you might expect. Sometimes invalid data is displayed when the device is scanning for additional channels or connected to a separate technology.

 

While nothing is perfect, I have never seen any third-party apps show incorrect SID/NID information. The Android routines behind them must be more reliable than the methods used by some of the OEM engineering screens.

 

-Mike

[irev210]

 

 

So hopefully the days of missed incoming calls are now behind me.

 

I hope so.  You waited a long time, heh.

[larryt510]

Yes this NID boundary was set up back in the 1990's when Sprint first entered the market here.  It was the absolute worst place they could have picked to divide up the NID split.   12 months ago (last September) they finally merged the two NID's into one but the incoming call failure was still happening even worse than it had been before the NID merge.  I kept putting pressure on them with repeated tickets on it and was in contact with one of the top RF engineers in So. Cal.  Finally one day I woke up in early June and it was fixed.  I also breathed a sigh of relief last week when they converted my local cell site over to 3G NV and nothing got messed up in the process. lol

[NGeorge]

Sprint finally fixed a major SID boundary issue that's plagued me since I've owned a cell phone (1998) -- the line between the Seattle and a Portland markets, which they had also set on a CMA license boundary... Back when I had US West/Qwest Wireless, it was where they changed from the A block in Seattle to the E block for Portland -- and the call would drop. Then I got Sprint, and although they have the B block on both sides, the call would drop because of the SID change. Verizon inherited the licenses from Qwest so they could offer native service when Sprint bought the rest in 2004, and sure enough -- when Verizon flips from A-E, the call drops as well -- almost at the exact point just north of the Toutle river bridge, just before you get to the overpass (if your heading North)...

 

So imagine my surprise when I drove though there and it didn't drop... same thing happened again on the way back... I actually held a call for almost a half hour. So they've either moved the boundary from right across the freeway, or they've figure out how to get the call to stay even while changing SIDs. This all happened once NV was cut over -- so that was an extra little benefit

[WiWavelength]

Sprint finally fixed a major SID boundary issue that's plagued me since I've owned a cell phone (1998) -- the line between the Seattle and a Portland markets, which they had also set on a CMA license boundary...

 

So imagine my surprise when I drove though there and it didn't drop... same thing happened again on the way back... I actually held a call for almost a half hour. So they've either moved the boundary from right across the freeway, or they've figure out how to get the call to stay even while changing SIDs. This all happened once NV was cut over -- so that was an extra little benefit

 

Both Seattle and Portland were Lucent legacy infrastructure markets, but was there ever any affiliate market territory along I-5 between the two?  If so, that could have been Motorola or Nortel legacy infrastructure, hence the lack of interconnection.

 

Even if there was no affiliate infrastructure issue, I seem to recall a Lucent limitation from 10-15 ago.  If I remember it correctly, Lucent, unlike Nortel, could not hand off between two MSCs in different markets.

 

Regardless, both Seattle and Portland are now Samsung infrastructure markets, and the sites in the affected SID boundary area have all received at least their 3G upgrades.

 

AJ

[NGeorge]

Both Seattle and Portland were Lucent legacy infrastructure markets, but was there ever any affiliate market territory along I-5 between the two?  If so, that could have been Motorola or Nortel legacy infrastructure, hence the lack of interconnection.

 

Even if there was no affiliate infrastructure issue, I seem to recall a Lucent limitation from 10-15 ago.  If I remember it correctly, Lucent, unlike Nortel, could not hand off between two MSCs in different markets.

 

Regardless, both Seattle and Portland are now Samsung infrastructure markets, and the sites in the affected SID boundary area have all received at least their 3G upgrades.

 

AJ

 

No, Ubiquitel was the only affiliate in Washington and they were over on the Spokane side -- not sure what equipment they used. It actually was a corporate market, then Ubiquitel took it over in 2000.

 

Probably that Lucent limitation you mentioned because it ALWAYS happened in that area like clockwork. I know that Qwest back in the day was all Ericsson from back when they experimented with CDMA on their own the first time -- I vaguely remember all sorts of complaints about the gear--that it was very compact and that was about all that was good about it. Sprint did a complete rip and replace when they added those sites into it's network, but Qwest dropped in this same spot... not sure who Verizon uses, but they have the issue too; they took over Qwest's licenses while Sprint got the towers so they could have an unbroken network between Seattle and Portland, so Verizon has to deal with an A-E switch there as well... The GSM carriers don't have an issue.

 

Nat

[WiWavelength]

No, Ubiquitel was the only affiliate in Washington and they were over on the Spokane side -- not sure what equipment they used. It actually was a corporate market, then Ubiquitel took it over in 2000.

 

Are you certain that you are not forgetting Alamosa PCS nee Washington Oregon Wireless?

 

AJ

[Nickel]

Are you certain that you are not forgetting Alamosa PCS nee Washington Oregon Wireless?

 

AJ

WOW, what a former name.