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doug526

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  • Phones/Devices
    A1429
  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Illiana
  • Here for...
    Networking
  • Favorite Quotation
    "Why does it say Paper Jam when there is no Paper Jam?!"
  • Interests
    Football, camping, swimming, bowling, travel, wireless, high speed rail, cats, dogs, yoga, human rights, sustainability, transportation, engineering, comedy, information technology

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  1. I'd like to get my hands on a "budget" LTE800/1900 handset, if only for the purpose of checking for possible LTE 800 signals in my area, and testing the LTE800 strength/coverage/performance. I looked at a Nexus 5, but they are simply too expensive, even pre-owned.
  2. 3,217 of them?? Please, go into further detail... I gotta know what I'm missing out on!!
  3. I have seen very few Android phones other than Samsung that easily show you the LTE band UARFCN that is in use. I know it's easy to find on the Galaxy line of devices, but good luck with any other brand, it's a total crapshoot. Some brands have field test/engineering mode, some don't. And the ones that do, don't show UARFCN. NONE of the apps I've seen in the Play Store show you the LTE band. But more power to ya if the Nexus shows you the UARFCN. What use is it if it only shows you the Cell ID and dBm? I want to know the exact UARFCN that is in use so I can tell which LTE frequency my phone is camping on. That is a critical piece of information when trying to determine connection problems, and every model of iPhone across the board is guaranteed to give you the UARFCN in the field test.
  4. I just had a lengthy discussion with Jose at customer care about post-NV 3G data speed problems in my area, and the constant problem with fallbacks from LTE to 3G on my iPhone5. Jose sounded knowledgeable and up-to-speed about radio frequencies and 800 MHz technology. I live in an area that is blanketed in complete NV towers, with all but LTE 800 running on our sites. But my iPhone5 routinely switches from LTE to 3G as the 1900 LTE is very fragile, and there are often long delays (1-2 minutes) switching back up to LTE even when I'm right next to an LTE tower and my iPhone data is idle. Of course, toggling airplane mode puts it right back on 5 bars of LTE. Jose tells me that starting around March, Sprint is going to activate LTE 800 data service on its towers in my area. He also assures me that my iPhone5 is going to support that band. I told him that everything he told me is contrary to my research and what I've read, as well as Apple's offical specs, about LTE 800 on the iPhone5. He mentions that the 13.1 carrier update supposedly does something to resolve the 800 LTE problem. But I haven't found any evidence to support this. (Update: I checked my carrier, and mine says 15.5 [PRL 51099]). It makes sense, given that the CDMA as well as GSM version of the A1429 supports Band 5 LTE which is just a +10MHz offset of Band 26, and Band 26 appears to even be a superset of Band 5. It could just be as simple as a baseband firmware update to enable the extra 10MHz, so could there be hope that the iPhone5 baseband does indeed support Band 26? I haven't seen the FCC OET docs, but is that what gives the final say in this matter? Can Apple or Sprint retroactively change the FCC specs to include Band 26? Band 5 Downlink: 869-894 MHz Band 5 Uplink: 824-849 MHz Band 26 Downlink: 859-894 MHz Band 26 Uplink: 814-849 MHz (Source: http://niviuk.free.fr/lte_band.php) I asked repeatedly, about 5 times, if he was absolutely sure that my iPhone 5 would support LTE 800, specifically Band 26... He made it sound like he was 100% positive that this is the case. He said the only thing it would not support is Sprint Spark. But unfortunately, that is still ambiguous, as Spark is technically TRI-band service 800+1900+2500, and the iPhone5 definitely does not support the 2.5. Jose also said something to the effect that his father has the iPhone5 and it works on the better in-building coverage in his area. Like his dad happens to live in one of the 4 cities where 800 LTE is active now or something. It would be nice if the iPhone5 supports 800 LTE. I wish there was just a shred of evidence that supported Jose's claim, or if he is just lying through his teeth to keep me as a customer.
  5. I wonder how much weight and wind load all those RRU adds to a tower. From what I can tell, a Samsung high-capacity site does the same amount of work with 2 panels and 3 RRU's per sector. If it is just a normal site, a Samsung uses 1 panel and 2 RRU per sector. AT&T and TMobile sites are just as bad... In many cases using 3 or 4 of those big fat low+high band panels per sector and a hodge podge of RRUs. Verizon is starting to roll out RRUs here in my market. Looks like only 1 RRU per sector on theirs so far, but they have 4 antennas per sector.
  6. The question for him regarding 800 LTE was in the context of his Nexus 5 not the Evo.
  7. You mentioned you had a good signal at the game, but was it usable? How was the throughput and how responsive was your connection? Do you think 800 LTE might be up and running, as you're getting a better signal in the center of the government building?
  8. I have an LG Viper and iphone5. Every time I switch between them, the voice mail system resets. I lose all of my voicemails each time I do the switch. Had AT&T for 7 years and could switch my handset anytime I wanted by swapping the SIM. Never once lost a voicemail.
  9. If I had the time and money I would independently audit the Verizon coverage in the Dakotas and Nebraska and Kansas. I mean, the population density is so low in those states, how could they possibly afford to cover them edge to edge with LTE? Methinks their map is showing licensed areas in those states rather than actual coverage. Hopefully if/when Sprint activates their 800 LTE, there will be a lot more green on their map.
  10. There is a site downtown that is not working properly. It has new antennas and RRUs, but when I am within eyeshot of the building the site is on, I have maybe 1-2 bars of slow LTE at best. For some reason it is down or something. Could be why you're experiencing the problem.
  11. Judging from the sponsor maps, I think they are still working on the upgrades in Lafayette. I see a bunch of yellow and red markers. It's definitely nowhere near as solid as Indy, but hopefully when they turn on 800 1x/ LTE it'll be better. At this point I'd be happy if they would just hurry up and upgrade the sites between Crown Point and Remington along I-65. The 3G along that stretch of road is horrible.
  12. I got one of those Tabs from verizon a few months back. Tried to test Sensorly mapping. Sensorly only had 50% functionality on the tab. It didn't have access to the network info to upload to Sensorly. I returned it. Afraid to get one on Sprint due to the same issue.
  13. I've had times where my iPhone said Extended LTE for brief periods of time. I would go to check the field test screen, and was on Sprint LTE, but I didn't check the 1X screens. I'm guessing I was doing voice roaming somehow, but was still getting an LTE signal.
  14. That's an AT&T sector, and no the backhaul is not terminated behind the antennas. There is separate fiber that goes to the base of the site for the backhaul, and then fiber that goes from the base station up to the RRU.
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