Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Cubbiefan82]

That's some great news, my parents live in Fox River Grove and when I was home from school over the summer I noticed there was a dead spot in CL along route 31 and in Cary. I'm guessing the sites at Cog Circle by Portillo's and the water tower in downtown Cary are still not live with LTE? When I'm out there I mostly see my phone connecting to those sites when I'm in Cary or Crystal lake. When I'm at home in Fox River Grove it's usually a split between Cold Spring Rd, the downtown Cary water tower and the Kelsey Rd site, and LTE being pretty scarce.

 

I know that there is a Clear site located on the Ski Jump in FRG, and that there is a USSC site on top of the FRG water tower. I hope they convert those to NV eventually, because Sprint doesn't have the best coverage in FRG.

 

And those sites that still aren't live with LTE, don't they have microwave back haul installed?

The uscc site will not be converted, sprint didn't buy the towers, just spectrum. The coverage will get better with voice and lte on 800

[tommym65]

Did the other Crystal Lake sites have improved 3g speed now?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4

Yesterday stopped at the big Starbucks with the drive-thru on US 14 in Crystal Lake.

 

While inside the car I witnessed nothing but 3G on my Moto X with 273 ms ping times and download speeds... when the network would stay connected...of a pathetic 80 kb/sec.

 

Hopefully that has all changed.

 

Going to Portillo's shortly, will update after.

 

Later: Got 104 ms ping, 1651 kbps down, 646 kbps up outside Portillo's, 109 ms ping, 704 kbps down, 525 kbps up outside Starbucks.  This is much better than athens' results, and also much better than results I have gotten from that tower before.  It suggests that the link from the "Portillo's" site to the switch has been improved, but note that my readings are on a Sunday night, so network traffic is likely fairly low. I got even faster pings (98 & 94 ms) further west on 14 while still connected to the same tower.

 

Edit:  Later:  I am getting multiple copies of texts tonight.  In the past, that has happened when Sprint was making changes in the local network (for example, last June, when 800 SMR came up).  Maybe I'm being silly, but I'm hoping that this means new local services. [   ]

[Deval]

Staying here at the Springhill Suites near the airport, loving LTE everywhere!

 

This is what a deployed market should look like. I've been here for 6 hours now, and have yet to see my phone show 3G or 1x.

[mellimel2212]

Staying here at the Springhill Suites near the airport, loving LTE everywhere!

 

This is what a deployed market should look like. I've been here for 6 hours now, and have yet to see my phone show 3G or 1x.

Yeah illinois seems pretty covered by what ive seen and experienced.

 

Sent from my T-Mobile LG Escape using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[bucdenny]

A Miracle has apparently happened!!!!!

 

Site CH[censored] at Routes 31 and 176 in Crystal Lake, IL, has gone live with Band 25 LTE only 14 months after the NV hardware was installed!  This morning, I clocked data speeds up to 34.4 Mbps down and 10.4 Mbps up, with pings between 53 and 85 ms.

Screenshot_1013-09-22-09-05-48.jpg Screenshot_2013-09-22-08-51-23.jpg

 

Why is this important? Because several sites in the far Chicago exurbs (Crystal Lake, Dekalb, others) have been stalled for months, for no visible reason. The upgraded Network vision hardware was visibly installed (new antennas, RRUs) in the summer of 2012, and in a number of cases, 800 SMR for voice and text was activated in the late spring and early summer of this year, and that has been a good thing.  But LTE has been completely missing.

 

3 NV-upgraded sites remain without LTE in Crystal Lake and Cary, and now one can only hope that they get their LTE soonest.

 

Now what will I rant about?  Hmmm.  Well, I was actually chasing Band 41 on a co-located Clear site when I found the new Band 25. No Band 41 evident.  And I have been chasing an elusive Band 41 site in Algonquin, IL, for weeks.  I KNOW where it is, and I get Band 41 signal from it on my Zing only in really odd places, but never near the site itself (so I can't get good speed numbers).  And, oh, yeah, where's that pesky new Band 26?  I guess I'm not out of topics yet.

 

But I am so irrationally happy over today's discovery, I am almost tempted to forgive Sprint for all of its past indiscretions.  Almost. ( )

 

Crazy 800Mhz voice coverage out there.    How is the services compared to 2 years ago?

[tommym65]

Crazy 800Mhz voice coverage out there. How is the services compared to 2 years ago?

Service is much, much better than 2 years ago, or a year ago. Took the choo choo in to Chicago yesterday (50 miles) had 800 SMR all the way, LTE nearly all the way, and had excellent voice and LTE in the Loop.

[Joeynach]

Service is much, much better than 2 years ago, or a year ago. Took the choo choo in to Chicago yesterday (50 miles) had 800 SMR all the way, LTE nearly all the way, and had excellent voice and LTE in the Loop.

Oh yes for sure, its much better than a year ago, its much better than 6 months ago, especially downtown.  Back in April or May I calculated downtown had about 35% of its towers with LTE, the rest stuck on legacy 3G, now its about 65%.  Lots of other holes have been filled in; McCormick Place, Soldier Field, O'hare, Lakeview, N Michigan Ave.  Most of these sites now have LTE, just a few without.  The last remaining towers that need LTE upgrade I was told will happen before the end of the year. 

[mhammett]

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/23598637/4g-wireless-service-coming-to-cta-subway

 

No mention of what carriers the CTA is working with, but maybe once the official announcement comes...

[Cubbiefan82]

http://wgntv.com/2013/10/03/cta-announces-plans-to-upgrade-underground-wireless-service/

Looks like they are working with all the carriers, they still haven't got the design and installation together yet. But still it is good news for people who do ride the blue and red line a lot

[gnoj]

http://wgntv.com/2013/10/03/cta-announces-plans-to-upgrade-underground-wireless-service/

Looks like they are working with all the carriers, they still haven't got the design and installation together yet. But still it is good news for people who do ride the blue and red line a lot

 

"The CTA currently leases its subway cellular network to six major wireless providers." I'm assuming these six are the Big Four + USCC and Cricket? The latter two are going away so I suppose it will just support the bands of the remaining four. This will be pretty nice when it rolls out, but I hope people stay aware of their surroundings and don't walk on to the tracks or get mugged.

 

The Chicago market (which Robert had predicted would be 3G complete by the end of September) is tantalizingly close to being finished with NV 1.0 equipment upgrades. After the bunch of 9 3G acceptances from 9/25, I believe there are just two remaining legacy sites. I wonder how we can celebrate Chicago becoming the very first market to reach 3G completion?

[Cubbiefan82]

"The CTA currently leases its subway cellular network to six major wireless providers." I'm assuming these six are the Big Four + USCC and Cricket? The latter two are going away so I suppose it will just support the bands of the remaining four. This will be pretty nice when it rolls out, but I hope people stay aware of their surroundings and don't walk on to the tracks or get mugged.

 

The Chicago market (which Robert had predicted would be 3G complete by the end of September) is tantalizingly close to being finished with NV 1.0 equipment upgrades. After the bunch of 9 3G acceptances from 9/25, I believe there are just two remaining legacy sites. I wonder how we can celebrate Chicago becoming the very first market to reach 3G completion?

That is the six providers, I think sprint should cover chicago with 800 lte. We already got 2600 covering most chicago market and not many cell sites with 1900 lte to get backhaul. Then we would could the first market to be on are way to nv 2.0 :-)

[mhammett]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/22943303-418/cta-moving-ahead-with-subway-wireless-upgrade-to-4g.html

 

CTA moves ahead on upgrading subway wireless to 4G

 

 

 

Blue and Red Line subway riders would be able to receive emails, text friends and browse the Internet under a plan announced Thursday to upgrade the agency’s underground wireless network.

 

The Chicago Transit Authority Thursday plans to boost the subway wireless network from the first-generation 1G technology, which supports mostly basic phone functions, to more current and versatile 4G.

 

“I think that’s great,’’ Red Line rider Ronny Polk, 39, said Thursday. “I’d be able to use my Internet and all the data on my phone.’’

 

Now, after the Red Line goes into a tunnel somewhere after 35th Street, his smartphone is almost useless.

 

“It’s dead. There’s no signal,’’ Polk said.

 

Emails pop up late, some incoming calls wind up in voicemail, and he can’t access the CTA bus tracker to find out what time a connecting bus will be available when he gets off the Red Line.

 

The CTA wireless system dates back to 2005 and cost $12 million to install. The CTA leases its underground wireless service to six vendors — Verizon, Sprint, ATT, T-Mobile, Cricket and U.S. Cellular — for $1.8 million annually.

 

“The infrastructure was pioneering for the transit industry when it was installed and through this upgrade initiative, CTA looks to lead in the industry once more by offering a fully-operational, 4G network across all major wireless service providers,” CTA President Forrest Claypool said in a statement.

 

Requests for qualifications of possible bidders were posted Thursday, with responses due by Nov. 14, CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said. At the earliest, work would start in mid-2014, with the current wireless network remaining operational until upgrades are completed.

 

The project will be funded through CTA’s annual capital program.

 

The CTA’s tunnels speed travelers underground on the Blue and Red Lines, where subways cover 12 miles underground but separate into 24 miles of individual tunnels.

 

Blue Line rider Lupe Martinez, 24, said a 4G connection would definitely be helpful as subway trains barrel underground.

 

“Once I hit those tunnels, I really don’t have service,’’ Martinez said Thursday. “I’m on my phone, looking things up, and I realize I don’t have an Internet connection. I’m looking at email and it kind of stops until I get to another area. So I think it would be great.’’

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Vince]

Cool. Now when I get my iPhone stolen on the red line, at least I'll have LTE.

[tommym65]

Cool. Now when I get my iPhone stolen on the red line, at least I'll have LTE.

 

No, the thief will have LTE.

[Vince]

No, the thief will have LTE.

Touché. But, my fingerprint security basically renders the device useless for anyone but me.

[runagun]

Hahaha,  Whatcha talkin bout Willis?

 

No, the thief will have LTE.

[mhammett]

Unless they bypass the lock screen. ;-)

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[gnoj]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/22943303-418/cta-moving-ahead-with-subway-wireless-upgrade-to-4g.html

 

The Chicago Transit Authority Thursday plans to boost the subway wireless network from the first-generation 1G technology, which supports mostly basic phone functions, to more current and versatile 4G.

 

If they actually installed a 1G network (in 2005, just three years before the AMPS shutdown) then that would explain why no one has any service. However, since those six carriers are paying a good sum for access, I'm going to assume that was either a typo, or someone equated CDMA 1x with 1G.

[Vince]

Just got done driving from the Chicagoland area to Rockford. Data was basically unusable all the way from Hoffman estates to basically Rockford. I even dropped a few calls. Not good. Anyone else experience this horribly long stretch of I-90?

[runagun]

4G Shuts off after you pass Randall exit . It should kick on over in Belvidere and Rockford should be pretty well covered.  My Sprint phone is the Optimus G. Being on 1x800 I dont remember the last time I dropped a call. Maybe a few months back in LITH Costco. 

[Vince]

4G Shuts off after you pass Randall exit . It should kick on over in Belvidere and Rockford should be pretty well covered. My Sprint phone is the Optimus G. Being on 1x800 I dont remember the last time I dropped a call. Maybe a few months back in LITH Costco.

I was actually visiting friends in belvedere. We drove all around that town. 3G everywhere except the center of town, that had a little LTE showing up. And very slow 3G. Pages wouldn't load, speed tests timed out. I know Rockford is pretty well covered. Belvedere, not so much.

[Joeynach]

If they actually installed a 1G network (in 2005, just three years before the AMPS shutdown) then that would explain why no one has any service. However, since those six carriers are paying a good sum for access, I'm going to assume that was either a typo, or someone equated CDMA 1x with 1G.

I ride the red line everyday, as soon as we hit the underground Subway portion my phone goes into 3G roam with a strong signal, but there is never any connectivity.  I never really understood why it would show 3G roam but you couldn't use your phone since it behaves like there is no service.  I guess I understand now, if its 1G its voice only?  So no data and texts then?

[runagun]

Should have been more specific. On I90 the tower on Anthony rd in Garden Prairie is 4g. And that covers 90 for a good stretch. Belvidere coverage sucks for 4g. A few days ago saw them running lines. First thought was fiber not sure though. If it was the tower by route 20 in bv should provide a major boost around town.

 

 

I was actually visiting friends in belvedere. We drove all around that town. 3G everywhere except the center of town, that had a little LTE showing up. And very slow 3G. Pages wouldn't load, speed tests timed out. I know Rockford is pretty well covered. Belvedere, not so much.

[mellimel2212]

I ride the red line everyday, as soon as we hit the underground Subway portion my phone goes into 3G roam with a strong signal, but there is never any connectivity. I never really understood why it would show 3G roam but you couldn't use your phone since it behaves like there is no service. I guess I understand now, if its 1G its voice only? So no data and texts then?

I really really can't wait till they complete this. I have LTE all downtown till I hit the subway.

 

Sent from my T-Mobile LG Escape running 4.1.2 using Tapatalk 2 now Free

 

 

[ChiWestLoop]

I do have a question. I have an iPhone 4S and I still have terrible cell phone reception in my building located on the West Loop. I was wondering if the iPhone 4S handled 800MHz voice calls or it's just 1900MHz for this model. 

 

Thanks!