Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Joeynach]

Thank you, Joeynach for your efforts. Someone needs to let them know, and they need network engineers on this 24/7 until resolved. I would love to help, but I have no patience for customer care and their canned responses.

Yeah I know, they don't really know any better, so its hard to pin anger on frustration on Sprint's hourly workforce.  Its pretty obvious any Sprint (or any telecom) techie will know more than any hourly CS agent.  Is what it is.

[Vince]

I wonder if Sprint has tried unplugging/plugging in their towers. That usually fixes it ????

[tongboy]

I wonder if Sprint has tried unplugging/plugging in their towers. That usually fixes it ????

I thought they had to hold the power button in for 10 seconds.

 

[runagun]

You try calling corporate and being it to their attention?

[nexgencpu]

[ChiWestLoop]

Still having issues?

[Vince]

Still having issues?

Yeah. It doesn't improve at all. The same horrible data zones are still sub-dialup.

[Vince]

 

Friday night on the south side. A snapshot of data speeds here. A problem? Definitely. This was a 15-minute drive on part of my work route starting at 51st and the Dan Ryan, ending at 43rd and Kedzie, crossing at least 5 towers on the way. The fastest speed pictured was 100 yards away, clear line of sight on 47th and California.

[drock2750]

I don't know what to do anymore, and it just seems to be getting worse. It's almost as though they aren't even aware of the problem...how else could it persist this long?

[Vince]

Just spent the day shopping in Oak Brook with my girlfriend. Not a drop of data in most of the town. I've never seen that before. 2 iPhones, and nothing. Full lte signal (-79dbm). This is bad. She also works in oak brook and can't use the phone.

[Joeynach]

Just spent the day shopping in Oak Brook with my girlfriend. Not a drop of data in most of the town. I've never seen that before. 2 iPhones, and nothing. Full lte signal (-79dbm). This is bad. She also works in oak brook and can't use the phone.

Same exact thing for me.  Its not getting better, its getting worse.  It's all over the city.  I speed tested everywhere I went from Friday to today, I got speed tests results worse than dialup as well, 12K to 125K down.  I spent time in Wicker Park, Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, UpTown, and River North.  Nothing changed.  Same story, strong LTE dismal SNR.

 

So it's gotta be the SNR right, mine is always 0.6, or 1.6, or 2.8 when I look at my signal check.  My LTE is always strong, -80 to -105 dbM.  When I mention this to @SprintCares and show a pic of my SignalCheck Lite with near 0 SNR they go silent.  Their only suggestion was to update PRL and data profile.  I did that, nothing changed of course, assumably b/c the SNR is perpetually near zero.

 

[Joeynach]

I don't know what to do anymore, and it just seems to be getting worse. It's almost as though they aren't even aware of the problem...how else could it persist this long?

I have the same question, do we assume that Sprint knows this is happening and if so can they correct the issue?  How long should we wait for some sort of rectification, announcement, or acknowledgement before we are left to consider other carriers? 

 

Also, how can no one else has noticed, I see nothing on Twitter or Facebook or other message boards, my Sprint friends who are still tech savy guys don't notice the poor Speeds unless I ask them to do a speed test.  Sure enough they see the same thing when I bring it up.  Where is the public outcry (aside from a few on this board) and the viral like information sharing (via social channels) to alert Sprint and the public what is going on with this brand new LTE in Chicago.  Im afraid without this systematic outcry it will be tough to get any multi billion dollar large corporations attention, let alone Sprint's. 

 

Does anyone know a blogger or publication we should contact?  Rootmetrics people?  Can we get one of our S4GRU geniuses to help us out and write up a blog entry on this site?

[Vince]

At least you got 12kbps. I had a straight up dead data connection, and so did my girlfriend. I took her over from a bogged down, 3G verizon connection and she's complaining about sprint lte. She knows nothing about technology. This is bad.

[Joeynach]

At least you got 12kbps. I had a straight up dead data connection, and so did my girlfriend. I took her over from a bogged down, 3G verizon connection and she's complaining about sprint lte. She knows nothing about technology. This is bad.

We need help, we need a louder voice than just the five of us city rat S4GRU posters.

[Fraydog]

Is this causing any dropped calls or calls straight to voicemail? That's where you start to see really fast action my frents.

[Joeynach]

Is this causing any dropped calls or calls straight to voicemail? That's where you start to see really fast action my frents.

I can't comment in full I make/receive so few calls, but the fews calls I do make have had some drops, wouldn't say its anywhere near as bad as what I am experiencing on the data speed side though.

[Joeynach]

Is this causing any dropped calls or calls straight to voicemail? That's where you start to see really fast action my frents.

Can we bring Robert in on this, he is the biggest and loudest Sprint voice we know.  I think we need him on this one.

[Vince]

Is this causing any dropped calls or calls straight to voicemail? That's where you start to see really fast action my frents.

To me, this is where sprint excels in Chicago. My calls are crystal clear, and don't drop, indoors or out. Just data problems.

[Dkoellerwx]

Which devices are seeing the low SNR problem? All of them or is it specific? I would think if it was all we would see more people complaining.... ? 

[mhammett]

Which devices are seeing the low SNR problem? All of them or is it specific? I would think if it was all we would see more people complaining.... ?

I have observed signal better than -100 with SNR worse than 5 dB on my EVO LTE. I haven't observed it enough to complain.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

 

[Joeynach]

I have observed signal better than -100 with SNR worse than 5 dB on my EVO LTE. I haven't observed it enough to complain.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

The three of us with the loudest voices all have different devices; I have Samsung GS3, Vtrossi has iPhone 5, drock2750 has Evo LTE.

[dParis]

Not saying that this isn't a real problem and cause for concern, but it doesn't appear to be a universal issue. Anecdotally, I was in the United Center, which is notorious for poor signal and interference, and my friend was able to connect to Vine and stream video, via LTE on her i5, without a hiccup.

[Joeynach]

I just received the first acknowledgement from Sprint that there are LTE speed issues across Chicago.  Not much, but the first time after 6 weeks of back and forth with them that they have actually responded with something other than looking into it, Network Vision is ongoing, or update your data profile/PRL.

 

Me: @sprintcare I update my PRL at least once a week. Others on http://S4GRU.com  see same issues I don't think its just me.

 

@Joeynach We are seeing some varying speeds, that are being addressed, and with Sprint Spark launching there speeds will increase!*NRA

 

 

[kyle_4thousand]

Dont know if its related to the Chicago issues, but I've also been noticing some pretty low data speeds and SNR levels in Orlando (0.3-5.0)

[Joeynach]

Dont know if its related to the Chicago issues, but I've also been noticing some pretty low data speeds and SNR levels in Orlando (0.3-5.0)

Doesn't surprise me, if the theory is correct, that Samsung GS3's are shit canning the network by way of interference and thus poor SNR readings, like they did at US Cellular, than its only a matter of time before other markets and other carriers noticed the same.