Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Boosted20V]

Hi everyone, I'm trying to see if there is a fix for an issue I'm having. For the past several weeks I am having a really FRUSTRATING issue where I answer the phone and people can't hear me. It has gotten so bad that I let calls roll to voicemail and then call back the caller because if I answer they won't be able to hear me. I have Sprint Wireless Advantage Club so I can't go into a store or call a normal tech support line (I don't think?), but I figured this was part of NV upgrades. My phone is rooted with a custom ROM but I never had this problem before, and my phone was working fine until several weeks ago. I don't think it's a phone issue either as I've tried updating it and restarting and I did flash a clean rom. Is there anything else I can do to get people to hear me?

 

I can deal with the awful, spotty LTE connections, I can deal with the dead spots and the dial-up 3G speeds that my phone connects to in the extremely rural towns of Winfield, Warrenville, and Wheaton, but I can't deal with my phone not working!

 

 

 

Oh thank god I thought I was going crazy. Are a lot of people experiencing this?

 

This has to be some remnant of the issue between legacy Moto hardware and Samsung equipment.

[hayzooos]

Maybe u need another phone?

 

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy Nexus rockin 4.2.2 using Tapatalk 2

 

Nah, my wife is on her third phone and it's still all the same thing.

 

It's definitely not just him, when I have recently driven around the Chicago area using my S3 voice service/dropped calls are the worst I have experienced in many years. Specifically, dropped calls while driving, not in one spot but in a bunch. Maybe there are stilll handoff issues since towers still need to be upgraded so hoping. Its insane on a 20-25 minute call to drop 3 times in different spots miles from each other. It is worse than it was months ago. fyi, I have a recent PRL that should include 800Mhz.

 

Also have noticed in last few weeks, but had been having major problems at home/elsewhere with calls going to VM without it ringing.

 

With regards to your calls going right to voicemail...I'm betting your further East than me, closer to the city than the Elgin/Schaumburg area? I ask because that's the problem we were having a few months back. Calls weren't even coming in, the only way we'd know someone called is if they left a VM. Now the calls come in, but they can't hear us if we answer.

 

Hopefully it's not a pattern, where as you'll see the "can't hear you" problem in the upcoming weeks.

 

This has to be some remnant of the issue between legacy Moto hardware and Samsung equipment.

 

So it looks like it isn't just me in my area afterall!!! Sorry for you guys, but I'm actually a little happy to hear that. I agree 100% it has to do with the switch to Samsung towers. They found out real quick there was a massive handoff issue when going from Moto to Samsung towers which is why they had to change their entire rollout plan. However, now that more and more towers have been updated to Samsung towers, the issue is still there, and seemingly all over the place.

 

I was beginning to think the issue may be with the SGSIII (which would make me sad as I love this phone) but I see one of the guys (wtsguy) who posted was using an EVO LTE so it's not a phone thing. People in different places, with different phones leaves only one thing left...the network.

 

For what it's worth, on my wife's first phone, it was rooted with a slightly custom ROM. Second phone was just rooted, but a stock ROM. Third phone isn't even rooted. Same problems regardless of ROM or root.

 

My phone has been running an AOSP ROM for a while and the issues don't seem to be as bad for me as for her, but she uses her phone a lot more than I do too.

 

As I mentioned before, the way we "fixed" this at home was to get GrooveIP for VOIP calling so all our calls now go through wifi. It's been great since that, go figure. However, that doesn't help when we're away from home and the issue is still there.

 

Does anyone know if Sprint allows VOIP calling over their network? I could technically use GrooveIP over Sprint's LTE network, but I'm not sure if they even allow it or not. Right now, I only have it set to work over wifi.

[Boosted20V]

Nah, my wife is on her third phone and it's still all the same thing.

 

 

 

 

So it looks like it isn't just me in my area afterall!!! Sorry for you guys, but I'm actually a little happy to hear that. I agree 100% it has to do with the switch to Samsung towers. They found out real quick there was a massive handoff issue when going from Moto to Samsung towers which is why they had to change their entire rollout plan. However, now that more and more towers have been updated to Samsung towers, the issue is still there, and seemingly all over the place.

 

I was beginning to think the issue may be with the SGSIII (which would make me sad as I love this phone) but I see one of the guys (wtsguy) who posted was using an EVO LTE so it's a phone thing. People in different places, with different phones leaves only one thing left...the network.

 

For what it's worth, on my wife's first phone, it was rooted with a slightly custom ROM. Second phone was just rooted, but a stock ROM. Third phone isn't even rooted. Same problems regardless of ROM or root.

 

My phone has been running an AOSP ROM for a while and the issues don't seem to be as bad for me as for her, but she uses her phone a lot more than I do too.

 

As I mentioned before, the way we "fixed" this at home was to get GrooveIP for VOIP calling so all our calls now go through wifi. It's been great since that, go figure. However, that doesn't help when we're away from home and the issue is still there.

 

Does anyone know if Sprint allows VOIP calling over their network? I could technically use GrooveIP over Sprint's LTE network, but I'm not sure if they even allow it or not. Right now, I only have it set to work over wifi.

 

The strange thing is that it APPEARS all of the towers in your area are at the very least 3G upgraded. I suppose maybe they could be accepted as 3G complete but still broadcasting through legacy hardware,thus causing the problem?

[Boosted20V]

The strange thing is that it APPEARS all of the towers in your area are at the very least 3G upgraded. I suppose maybe they could be accepted as 3G complete but still broadcasting through legacy hardware,thus causing the problem?

 

EDIT - I take that back, the Schaumburg area still has alot of legacy towers left now that I looked closer. Makes sense then that you're seeing this.

[hayzooos]

EDIT - I take that back, the Schaumburg area still has alot of legacy towers left now that I looked closer. Makes sense then that you're seeing this.

 

And that would make sense except we live in Elgin. I posted earlier the two most likely towers we're most likely connecting to at home and they're both 3G/4G upgraded (yellow dots).

[aerxx]

Would legacy equipment be getting uninstalled have anything to do with this?

 

Sent while driving.

[hayzooos]

Would legacy equipment be getting uninstalled have anything to do with this?

 

Sent while driving.

 

Shouldn't by itself unless the new Samsung equipment is complete garbage. The handoffs between legacy (Motorola) and new (Samsung) equipment was causing problems right out the gate.

[mellimel2212]

 

Shouldn't by itself unless the new Samsung equipment is complete garbage. The handoffs between legacy (Motorola) and new (Samsung) equipment was causing problems right out the gate.

 

I don't think so. I'm on the west side and haven't had these issues y'all are talking about since last September. My calls and lte has been nice.

 

Sent from my Sprint Galaxy Nexus rockin 4.2.2 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Fraydog]

There might still be legacy sites in the west suburbs IIRC.

[Luke0536]

some 4g in Valparaiso faint but working 2-3mbs. near us30 and 675 and us30 near 49.

[drock2750]

In the areas near Addison and LSD over to Wrigley, my phone is reporting EVDO not eHRPD when not on LTE (which has subsequently disappeared in much of this area), and has been for several days. When I was in the loop this evening I was on eHRPD as I normally would be though I was unable to load a webpage, but that's the same old story down there.

 

I was under the impression that when a tower was upgraded, that it was pretty much a done deal aside from downtilt, but today on Michigan near the Water Tower, I had very strong LTE (-90ish) and only 50kbps of throughput.

 

For a while it was apparent that steady improvements were being made, but lately things have been a mess where I live and work. As somebody who (like most people) has never hired a contractor to do a network build out, it makes me wonder...is Samsung even doing a good job? Has anybody in other markets with other contractors seen steps backward on the way to a fully upgraded market?

[chgoguy80]

Nah, my wife is on her third phone and it's still all the same thing.

 

 

 

With regards to your calls going right to voicemail...I'm betting your further East than me, closer to the city than the Elgin/Schaumburg area? I ask because that's the problem we were having a few months back. Calls weren't even coming in, the only way we'd know someone called is if they left a VM. Now the calls come in, but they can't hear us if we answer.

 

Hopefully it's not a pattern, where as you'll see the "can't hear you" problem in the upcoming weeks.

 

 

 

So it looks like it isn't just me in my area afterall!!! Sorry for you guys, but I'm actually a little happy to hear that. I agree 100% it has to do with the switch to Samsung towers. They found out real quick there was a massive handoff issue when going from Moto to Samsung towers which is why they had to change their entire rollout plan. However, now that more and more towers have been updated to Samsung towers, the issue is still there, and seemingly all over the place.

 

I was beginning to think the issue may be with the SGSIII (which would make me sad as I love this phone) but I see one of the guys (wtsguy) who posted was using an EVO LTE so it's not a phone thing. People in different places, with different phones leaves only one thing left...the network.

 

For what it's worth, on my wife's first phone, it was rooted with a slightly custom ROM. Second phone was just rooted, but a stock ROM. Third phone isn't even rooted. Same problems regardless of ROM or root.

 

My phone has been running an AOSP ROM for a while and the issues don't seem to be as bad for me as for her, but she uses her phone a lot more than I do too.

 

As I mentioned before, the way we "fixed" this at home was to get GrooveIP for VOIP calling so all our calls now go through wifi. It's been great since that, go figure. However, that doesn't help when we're away from home and the issue is still there.

 

Does anyone know if Sprint allows VOIP calling over their network? I could technically use GrooveIP over Sprint's LTE network, but I'm not sure if they even allow it or not. Right now, I only have it set to work over wifi.

 

Yeah going to straight to voicemail yeah I'm further east I'm at Lake Michigan and Addison (the street) Though I have not noticed that happening but things are really messed up near here. I see some towers within .25-40 mile list 800 mhz upgrade complete. A week and a half ago I connected to 800 mhz here but not lately. Even after shutting the phone down and restart which in theory the s3 looks for 800 mhz 1st. So things are messed up.

 

In part of my unit Sprint is completely back to pre-NV unusable service (even voice).

[Joeynach]

Yeah going to straight to voicemail yeah I'm further east I'm at Lake Michigan and Addison (the street) Though I have not noticed that happening but things are really messed up near here. I see some towers within .25-40 mile list 800 mhz upgrade complete. A week and a half ago I connected to 800 mhz here but not lately. Even after shutting the phone down and restart which in theory the s3 looks for 800 mhz 1st. So things are messed up.

 

In part of my unit Sprint is completely back to pre-NV unusable service (even voice).

 

Strange b/c in the last few days I also noticed at my place on Diversey that I was getting very weak LTE and back into 3G. Something I haven't seen since the wave of NV towers came through Lincoln park last fall. Something must be going on right?

[WiWavelength]

Chicago lost an icon today. Roger Ebert died at age 70, just days after announcing that his cancer had returned.

 

AJ

[tommym65]

Chicago lost an icon today. Roger Ebert died at age 70, just days after announcing that his cancer had returned.

 

AJ

 

Very, very sad. He will be missed

[Fraydog]

RIP Roger.

[drock2750]

New LTE has lit up near Waveland and Lake Shore...had -79db standing in front of the New York building, but when i went underground to the parking garage and lost LTE, I was back to EVDO revA not eHRPD and the data session was interrupted. I wonder why ehrpd isn't working properly in this area. Curiouser and curiouser.

[Joeynach]

New LTE has lit up near Waveland and Lake Shore...had -79db standing in front of the New York building, but when i went underground to the parking garage and lost LTE, I was back to EVDO revA not eHRPD and the data session was interrupted. I wonder why ehrpd isn't working properly in this area. Curiouser and curiouser.

 

Wait for real, I dont see anything new on the NV Sites complete map for the area. I dont even see a site in this area on the Chicago NV tower map that shows there is or was another tower in this area slated for NV. Could this be this rumored Sprint site that's on Addison just east of Wrigley at the Police Station tower. That's not even a cell site according to the Chicago NV map.

[drock2750]

Wait for real, I dont see anything new on the NV Sites complete map for the area. I dont even see a site in this area on the Chicago NV tower map that shows there is or was another tower in this area slated for NV. Could this be this rumored Sprint site that's on Addison just east of Wrigley at the Police Station tower. That's not even a cell site according to the Chicago NV map.

 

Supposedly I'm connected to bsid 35681 at 41.953263888888884, -87.64548611111111 just north of Sheridan and LSD...I know that it's the CDMA tower I'm connected to, but the LTE is so strong near there that it stands to reason it is broadcasting LTE also. I even have LTE in my apartment now that this site is active. The site seems to be on the roof of the parking garage for 3900 N LSD, and in Bing Maps birds eye view the antennas are visible (legacy of course I know the images aren't updated frequently). The site even appears at network.sprint.com.

[Joeynach]

Supposedly I'm connected to bsid 35681 at 41.953263888888884, -87.64548611111111 just north of Sheridan and LSD...I know that it's the CDMA tower I'm connected to, but the LTE is so strong near there that it stands to reason it is broadcasting LTE also. I even have LTE in my apartment now that this site is active. The site seems to be on the roof of the parking garage for 3900 N LSD, and in Bing Maps birds eye view the antennas are visible (legacy of course I know the images aren't updated frequently). The site even appears at network.sprint.com.

 

Oh yes I know the tower now. It is at 3900 N Lake Shore, but this tower received its NV upgrades months ago, when the whole wave of NV upgrades starting come through the area last last year. It was already marked as 3G/800/4G, along with the other towers nearby along LSD, in the NV Sites Complete Map. And its been marked that way since probably December. Was the map icon wrong, was the LTE not turned on.

 

CH13XC050

 

41.95327475758518, -87.64550136425845,

3900 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60613, USA

[drock2750]

Oh yes I know the tower now. It is at 3900 N Lake Shore, but this tower received its NV upgrades months ago, when the whole wave of NV upgrades starting come through the area last last year. It was already marked as 3G/800/4G, along with the other towers nearby along LSD, in the NV Sites Complete Map. And its been marked that way since probably December. Was the map icon wrong, was the LTE not turned on.

 

CH13XC050

 

41.95327475758518, -87.64550136425845,

3900 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60613, USA

 

As far as I can see, there is no way the tower was broadcasting 4G until very recently. I def would have noticed such a strong signal on LSD not to mention that 4G wasn't available inside my apartment until this happened.

[Joeynach]

As far as I can see, there is no way the tower was broadcasting 4G until very recently. I def would have noticed such a strong signal on LSD not to mention that 4G wasn't available inside my apartment until this happened.

 

Could it be that your PRL was recently updated that allowed your phone to access the 800mhz band of LTE?

[drock2750]

Could it be that your PRL was recently updated that allowed your phone to access the 800mhz band of LTE?

 

As far as I know, there aren't any devices available that can use Sprint's new LTE band....even the new HTC One can't and its not even out yet.

[chgoguy80]

Oh yes I know the tower now. It is at 3900 N Lake Shore, but this tower received its NV upgrades months ago, when the whole wave of NV upgrades starting come through the area last last year. It was already marked as 3G/800/4G, along with the other towers nearby along LSD, in the NV Sites Complete Map. And its been marked that way since probably December. Was the map icon wrong, was the LTE not turned on.

 

CH13XC050

 

41.95327475758518, -87.64550136425845,

3900 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60613, USA

 

Definitely not, it was just marked complete in the last few weeks. Its the main tower I have been waiting to get upgraded. 3420 lsd was upgraded awhile ago though. I live literally in between them.

 

And fyi, no sprint devices can yet access 800 LTE nor has it been deployed anywhere yet.

[Joeynach]

Definitely not, it was just marked complete in the last few weeks. Its the main tower I have been waiting to get upgraded. 3420 lsd was upgraded awhile ago though. I live literally in between them.

 

And fyi, no sprint devices can yet access 800 LTE nor has it been deployed anywhere yet.

.

 

Well then how can DRock access the new LTE at this tower, its marked as an 800 Mhz tower.