LTE Plus / Enhanced LTE (was "Sprint Spark" - Official Name for the Tri-Band Network)

[TangerineAir]

To those that would like to actually enjoy b41 DO NOT switch to the new $50 or $60 "Simply unlimited" plan. I am a heavy user no doubt, and Sprint decides it's okay to violently "Manage" my LTE connection due to this new plan with "Reduced data priority" I can be in a Spark b41 area and not go over 1.5 MBPS there's no way b41 is that congested. If I go revisit that area at like 2 in the morning however, I get 66 MBPS down. It's ridiculous. Sure you can build out a super fast network but you're not going to let people who actually use more than 5 gigabytes take advantage of it? It doesn't make any sense either that they are managing b41 like this, it surely cannot be congested, and that is part of their basis when they decide to manage your connection; the amount of congestion on a site.

 

 

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[S4GRU]

To those that would like to actually enjoy b41 DO NOT switch to the new $50 or $60 "Simply unlimited" plan. I am a heavy user no doubt, and Sprint decides it's okay to violently "Manage" my LTE connection due to this new plan with "Reduced data priority" I can be in a Spark b41 area and not go over 1.5 MBPS there's no way b41 is that congested. If I go revisit that area at like 2 in the morning however, I get 66 MBPS down. It's ridiculous. Sure you can build out a super fast network but you're not going to let people who actually use more than 5 gigabytes take advantage of it? It doesn't make any sense either that they are managing b41 like this, it surely cannot be congested, and that is part of their basis when they decide to manage your connection; the amount of congestion on a site.

 

 

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Sounds like you are being throttled per the Terms of Service you agreed to.  Nothing to see here.  What would be shocking is if you didn't get throttled.  You were saying you use Sprint LTE as your primary Internet service and used greater than 5GB in one week.  So none of us are really shocked.

[njjdnt]

Just deleted my Speedtest app. Who cares how fast data is. As long as it loads your information properly it shouldn't matter.

I can be in a Spark b41 area and not go over 1.5 MBPS there's no way b41 is that congested. If I go revisit that area at like 2 in the morning however, I get 66 MBPS down. It's ridiculous. 

 

I thought that you didn't care how fast data is, as long as it loads your information? 

[caspar347]

To those that would like to actually enjoy b41 DO NOT switch to the new $50 or $60 "Simply unlimited" plan. I am a heavy user no doubt, and Sprint decides it's okay to violently "Manage" my LTE connection due to this new plan with "Reduced data priority" I can be in a Spark b41 area and not go over 1.5 MBPS there's no way b41 is that congested. If I go revisit that area at like 2 in the morning however, I get 66 MBPS down. It's ridiculous. Sure you can build out a super fast network but you're not going to let people who actually use more than 5 gigabytes take advantage of it? It doesn't make any sense either that they are managing b41 like this, it surely cannot be congested, and that is part of their basis when they decide to manage your connection; the amount of congestion on a site.

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The data management clauses specify latency throttling. Not speed throttling. Your ping should be way down, but not your speed. We have many reports of B41 sites being misconfigured to have extremely low speeds. (I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure we determined that it would be latency throttling.)

[Dkoellerwx]

it surely cannot be congested, and that is part of their basis when they decide to manage your connection; the amount of congestion on a site.

 

Surely it can be congested. Do you know how many users are connected?

[TangerineAir]

Sounds like you are being throttled per the Terms of Service you agreed to. Nothing to see here. What would be shocking is if you didn't get throttled. You were saying you use Sprint LTE as your primary Internet service and used greater than 5GB in one week. So none of us are really shocked.

Please don't say primary internet service, that makes it sound like I'm illegally tethering. I'm just observing my experience with this new plan. I never saw management like this on unlimited my way.

 

 

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[TangerineAir]

I thought that you didn't care how fast data is, as long as it loads your information?

Shame on me.

 

 

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[TangerineAir]

Surely it can be congested. Do you know how many users are connected?

I wouldn't know. It just doesn't seem reasonable that a b41 site would be overloaded.

 

 

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[S4GRU]

Please don't say primary internet service, that makes it sound like I'm illegally tethering. I'm just observing my experience with this new plan. I never saw management like this on unlimited my way.

 

 

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I didn't say you did anything illegal.  You said what you wanted.  I said what I wanted to in response.  There are people who use 20GB in a month a do not get throttled at all.  So I would guess you consistently use way more than 5GB every month.  So you've been flagged.  I would guess anytime you go over 5GB and use a high usage site, you will likely get throttled.

 

I wouldn't know. It just doesn't seem reasonable that a b41 site would be overloaded.

 

 

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What Sprint is likely doing is not separating bands when figuring a site is overloaded.  It seems like they may flag a site for throttling when any band gets overloaded and not just when a specific band gets overloaded.  For instance, if B41 is running fine and nowhere near overloaded, but B25 is overloaded, they may flag all heavy users at the site for throttling and not just B25 users.  If that's the case, that may get fixed in the future with network fine tuning.

[Dkoellerwx]

Please don't say primary internet service, that makes it sound like I'm illegally tethering.

 

Still, you're using it as your only access to the internet. That inherently would be your primary internet service. No one said you were tethering.

 

You agreed to the plan details. Every new plan since Everything Data ended has had the "fine print" stating that other plans may have priority, aka you might encounter throttling on congested sites. However, slow speeds during the day and fast speeds at night isn't directly evidence of throttling. Now, if you can get another user connected to the same site, same sector at the same time and show they are getting significantly faster speeds than you are, then we'll talk.

[TangerineAir]

The data management clauses specify latency throttling. Not speed throttling. Your ping should be way down, but not your speed. We have many reports of B41 sites being misconfigured to have extremely low speeds. (I may be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure we determined that it would be latency throttling.)

No that was the old way they managed I assume. On newer plans there is "Lower data priority" which I would think means lower speeds.

 

 

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[TangerineAir]

I didn't say you did anything illegal. You said what you wanted. I said what I wanted to in response. There are people who use 20GB in a month a do not get throttled at all. So I would guess you consistently use way more than 5GB every month. So you've been flagged. I would guess anytime you go over 5GB and use a high usage site, you will likely get throttled.

 

 

What Sprint is likely doing is not separating bands when figuring a site is overloaded. It seems like they may flag a site for throttling when any band gets overloaded and not just when a specific band gets overloaded. For instance, if B41 is running fine and nowhere near overloaded, but B25 is overloaded, they may flag all heavy users at the site for throttling and not just B25 users. If that's the case, that may get fixed in the future with network fine tuning.

The thing is... This site I experience problems with is only b41. No b25 or 26 to be found.

 

 

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[S4GRU]

The thing is... This site I experience problems with is only b41. No b25 or 26 to be found.

 

 

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I don't know what to tell you.  Sometimes I feel you may be an astroturfer or a troll.  Because we really don't have members that report what you do.  It just almost seems like you're here to prove some sort of anti-Sprint point.

[TangerineAir]

I don't know what to tell you. Sometimes I feel you may be an astroturfer or a troll. Because we really don't have members that report what you do. It just almost seems like you're here to prove some sort of anti-Sprint point.

I don't hate on Sprint 24/7. In some way I just have bad luck I guess. I don't try to personally attack or shove opinionated posts down others mouths like some of your moderators have done to me either... But that's none of my business. [emoji196][emoji477]️ I'm a real person here though! I'm not brainless and full of hatred. Just saying.

 

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

The thing is... This site I experience problems with is only b41. No b25 or 26 to be found.

 

 

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I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. There are very, very few places where the only signal to be found is B41. If you had an Android device, I would tell you to turn off B41, but I don't think that is possible with an iPhone. 

[payturr]

God save the queen, queen Marcelo the fifth.

 

Can't wait for my tower to get optimized for band 26, seems like such a far away thing though. Most places I've been to, now including Woodbridge in Old Bridge, NJ, is totally unoptimized for band 26 as band 26 will hold a -105 signal, 2 bars, then drop to 3G. It's odd.

[S4GRU]

God save the queen, queen Marcelo the fifth.

 

Can't wait for my tower to get optimized for band 26, seems like such a far away thing though. Most places I've been to, now including Woodbridge in Old Bridge, NJ, is totally unoptimized for band 26 as band 26 will hold a -105 signal, 2 bars, then drop to 3G. It's odd.

 

Yeah, before B26 optimization, weird signal coverage anomalies exist.  Things you wouldn't expect to happen.  It does get way better after optimization.

[payturr]

Yeah, before B26 optimization, weird signal coverage anomalies exist.  Things you wouldn't expect to happen.  It does get way better after optimization.

Is there a set time frame after a tower is upgraded? Like if a tower was finished today, does it get optimized 2-3 weeks following or something?

[S4GRU]

Is there a set time frame after a tower is upgraded? Like if a tower was finished today, does it get optimized 2-3 weeks following or something?

 

Unfortunately not.  It's been highly variable.  It's rare to be less than 2 months.  Most often it's 4-6 months.  Sometimes even longer.

[Dkoellerwx]

Is there a set time frame after a tower is upgraded? Like if a tower was finished today, does it get optimized 2-3 weeks following or something?

 

There is approximately a 6 month window for sites to optimized. Because of the sheer number of sites, and the relatively few engineers qualified to run optimizations, it may take longer. Also, they seem to wait until the majority of sites in the area have B26 live before doing optimizations. So if only scattered B26 is live right now, it may be some time before they come back. 

[payturr]

Unfortunately not.  It's been highly variable.  It's rare to be less than 2 months.  Most often it's 4-6 months.  Sometimes even longer.

 

 

There is approximately a 6 month window for sites to optimized. Because of the sheer number of sites, and the relatively few engineers qualified to run optimizations, it may take longer. Also, they seem to wait until the majority of sites in the area have B26 live before doing optimizations. So if only scattered B26 is live right now, it may be some time before they come back. 

 

Damn, that's pretty far off and unfortunate to hear. Oh well! I still got relatively decent band 25, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll throw a second carrier to keep me occupied until they complete optimizations. Thanks Robert & Koeller!

[TangerineAir]

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this. There are very, very few places where the only signal to be found is B41. If you had an Android device, I would tell you to turn off B41, but I don't think that is possible with an iPhone.

It was a old clear wire setup on a T-Mobile tower. A b25 and 26 tower is farther away. That's what I meant.

 

 

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[Dkoellerwx]

Damn, that's pretty far off and unfortunate to hear. Oh well! I still got relatively decent band 25, maybe I'll get lucky and they'll throw a second carrier to keep me occupied until they complete optimizations. Thanks Robert & Koeller!

 

Maybe B41 will be coming soon to an area near you....

[Dkoellerwx]

It was a old clear wire setup on a T-Mobile tower. A b25 and 26 tower is farther away. That's what I meant.

 

 

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Ok, that makes more sense. Do you know anyone else that uses a Sprint Spark device? If they'd be willing I'd like to see their and your service compared. Same site, same sector, same time and see what happens.

[TangerineAir]

Ok, that makes more sense. Do you know anyone else that uses a Sprint Spark device? If they'd be willing I'd like to see their and your service compared. Same site, same sector, same time and see what happens.

I don't know anyone else... But there is a Sprint store located right near that clear b41 setup. I'd have to take a trip and play with some demo phones and see.

 

 

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