Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Joeynach]

It's the best theory that we have to date. Now, it just needs to be proven and fixed. Even though it has been an ongoing issue for approximately 6-8 weeks, we have to just assume Sprint knows about this (if it's truly the problem). Now we just play the waiting game.

Even if we can prove it then what, what do we gain.  Piece of mind?  I am not in this for piece of mind I'm in this for a high performance LTE network with lightening fast data speeds wherever I go.  What are we supposed to do, we are just a small group of power consumers.

[gnoj]

Would the interference from neighboring USCC sites theory also cause the eHRPD network to experience poor SNR and thus reduced data speeds?  Or would it just be isolated to LTE connections?

 

I would think it would, since the PCS spectrum Sprint uses for Ev-DO/eHRPD is closer to USCC's band B then the Band G LTE is on. So if anything, the added noise would be just as strong if not stronger. Since your 3G speeds appear to be as degraded as your LTE speeds, USCC interference still seems like a plausible theory.

[Vince]

What if it's both USCC and tmo interference? Is that possible?

[Joeynach]

What if it's both USCC and tmo interference? Is that possible?

I received a response from an email I wrote to Dan@Sprint about our ongoing issue saying they would like to speak with me.  So now the question is what exactly do I say and how do I sum up and digest everything we have discussed and discovered here over the past few weeks?

 

Thank you for contacting Dan@Sprint.com. I sincerely apologize for any

inconvenience you experienced with your account, as your business is

greatly appreciated.

 

I would like to speak with you regarding your account concerns; however

your email did not contain your contact information. If you would reply

to this email with your preferred contact number, and the best day/time

to reach you, I will do my best to accommodate your request. You may

also contact me directly at (757) xxx-xxxx. My hours are Monday –Friday,

9:00am-5:30pm EST. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Thank you for using Dan@Sprint.com, your business is appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

 

Patricia V.

[Vince]

I, too, emailed dan@Sprint.com and told him our issues in this area about an hour ago. I only mentioned possible interference and zero to negative snr dBm values. I also said that something needs to be brought to the attention of their engineers ASAP. I had to keep using the word "possible" because nobody has proof that that's the issue. I would just tell him what I said, and maybe been point them to this thread to get them up to speed.

[mhammett]

A few days ago I submitted a screen shot showing 20 kilobit downloads and solid signals. Sprint Care acknowledges the problem, but haven't fixed it... In months. Let's see what they do.

 

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[Joeynach]

A few days ago I submitted a screen shot showing 20 kilobit downloads and solid signals. Sprint Care acknowledges the problem, but haven't fixed it... In months. Let's see what they do.

 

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What can they do.  If we have PCS band interference this is matter for the lawyers and the courts.

[mhammett]

What can they do. If we have PCS band interference this is matter for the lawyers and the courts.

 

Well, we have two different problems around me. One is just a complete lack of capacity. The LTE gear has been in place for over a year, but isn't on. They did add another site to town, but I can't tell from Sensorly maps if it is live.

 

The other is in the rural areas. There are times when there's a tremendous difference in signal levels between 1x 1900 and eHRPD. There are also areas where there should be sufficient eHRPD signal, but nothing happens. Rural areas, so there's not likely to be a ton of GS3s interfering. I'm suspecting incorrect downtilt on those particular panels is what's causing that issue.

 

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[JosefTor]

Hmm... Maybe we should blame canada

 

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[Joeynach]

Well, we have two different problems around me. One is just a complete lack of capacity. The LTE gear has been in place for over a year, but isn't on. They did add another site to town, but I can't tell from Sensorly maps if it is live.

 

The other is in the rural areas. There are times when there's a tremendous difference in signal levels between 1x 1900 and eHRPD. There are also areas where there should be sufficient eHRPD signal, but nothing happens. Rural areas, so there's not likely to be a ton of GS3s interfering. I'm suspecting incorrect downtilt on those particular panels is what's causing that issue.

 

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Dude you live in rather remote area and small town, its very unlikely Sprint or any other carrier is going to pay strict attention to the needs and technical issues surrounding Dekalb in a timely manner.  To me this is an easy case that warrants switching carriers, to someone who you know as good coverage and capacity in your region.  And thats OK, not every carrier is gonna be crushing it in the Dekalb area.

[tongboy]

I'm not sure I would call Dekalb small. It has the same issues Crystal Lake has (another not so small town) where the microwave backhaul install seems to have dragged on forever.

 

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[mhammett]

Dude you live in rather remote area and small town, its very unlikely Sprint or any other carrier is going to pay strict attention to the needs and technical issues surrounding Dekalb in a timely manner.  To me this is an easy case that warrants switching carriers, to someone who you know as good coverage and capacity in your region.  And thats OK, not every carrier is gonna be crushing it in the Dekalb area.

 

An hour to ORD, an hour 10 to downtown, the same to MDW. Not exactly sure that's remote.

 

Other towns within 10% of DeKalb's population: Downers Grove, Glenview, Elmhurst, Lombard, Buffalo Grove, Bartlett. Not sure it's exactly a small town. There's a semi-major university here with about 25k students too.

 

Actually, looking at northern Illinois, there are a ton of small towns covered and larger towns not. Heck there's sites with LTE where the LTE would surely die out before even getting to any town or major road. DeKalb is actually the third most populous town in the state to not have LTE. We're completely surrounded by LTE. The gear (including microwave backhaul) is on the tower.

Verizon has a DAS here. Those don't normally go into "nowhere" places.

 

"Dan" AKA Veronica called me this morning. I didn't recognize the number, so I didn't answer. She'll call back on Tuesday, so we'll see what they will do.

[Vince]

"Dan" aka Laquita called me today, too. I also missed the call. Apparently, Laquita-Dan is only open Tuesday-Friday. We'll see where that call takes us next week.

[Vince]

 

Exhibit A. This is why I praise people who have the patience to deal with these drones.

[tommym65]

For the Big City folks: I am currently inside baggage claim (lower level) at O'Hare, and am consistently getting:

 

 

 

Note the SNR. (In fact, this one is low, I am now getting 11-18 in the same spot, but I'm too lazy to do another screen shot) I don't remember anyone complaining about LTE in this part of the city, but could someone say if SNRs are better today in other areas?

 

[The fact that Dekalb has 3 Sprint sites, btw, suggests that Sprint does not think it is a "small market".]

[Joeynach]

For the Big City folks: I am currently inside baggage claim (lower level) at O'Hare, and am consistently getting:

 

Screenshot_2013-11-09-17-06-38.png

 

Note the SNR. (In fact, this one is low, I am now getting 11-18 in the same spot, but I'm too lazy to do another screen shot) I don't remember anyone complaining about LTE in this part of the city, but could someone say if SNRs are better today in other areas?

 

[The fact that Dekalb has 3 Sprint sites, btw, suggests that Sprint does not think it is a "small market".]

Id kill for 7.6 SNR anywhere in the city.

[tommym65]

"Dan" AKA Veronica called me this morning. I didn't recognize the number, so I didn't answer. She'll call back on Tuesday, so we'll see what they will do.

"Dan" aka Laquita called me today, too. I also missed the call. Apparently, Laquita-Dan is only open Tuesday-Friday. We'll see where that call takes us next week.

Dagnabbit, people, answer your phones!!! This is far more important than whatever else you were doing!!!!

[Joeynach]

An hour to ORD, an hour 10 to downtown, the same to MDW. Not exactly sure that's remote.

 

Other towns within 10% of DeKalb's population: Downers Grove, Glenview, Elmhurst, Lombard, Buffalo Grove, Bartlett. Not sure it's exactly a small town. There's a semi-major university here with about 25k students too.

 

Actually, looking at northern Illinois, there are a ton of small towns covered and larger towns not. Heck there's sites with LTE where the LTE would surely die out before even getting to any town or major road. DeKalb is actually the third most populous town in the state to not have LTE. We're completely surrounded by LTE. The gear (including microwave backhaul) is on the tower.

Verizon has a DAS here. Those don't normally go into "nowhere" places.

 

"Dan" AKA Veronica called me this morning. I didn't recognize the number, so I didn't answer. She'll call back on Tuesday, so we'll see what they will do.

The fact the Dekalb is not a Chicago suburb nor really part of the Chicago metro area is what I am getting at.  Dekalb has more people than my hometown in the south burbs, but a suburb of Chicago with 10K people 20 miles outside of the city is a whole lot different than a town, even of 50K that is 60 miles outside.  Is Dekalb even part of the 950+ "Chicago Metro towers" list from Sprint?  It might not get the same attention based on these arbitrary boundaries, no matter what the size.  I can easily see some sort of Sprint classification of priority based on tower issues, and if so no way Dekalb would get some sort of high prioritization unless it was classified as part of the Chicago metro area. 

 

Thats why I was saying maybe another carrier that has already established itself with high quality service in Dekalb may be your best bet.  It's obvious Sprint has paid very little attention to or offered a high priority to the services at your location.  Why would that change anytime soon?

[Joeynach]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1384038884.164247.jpg

 

Exhibit A. This is why I praise people who have the patience to deal with these drones.

This is exactly what I get when I contact them as well.  It's like they are programmed to assume all complaints are the result of NV tower upgrades, obviously this is not true.

[SashilKapur]

I also have been getting quite poor LTE performance around the city for the last month or two. Are we saying this is only a city thing? It appears as though there are some suburban issues too such as Oakbrook. FWIW I was out at my parents' in Hoffman Estates and the LTE was flowing like the nectar it is:

 

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[Vince]

Also, I took a nice drive to visit my mom today. All the way from Willowbrook to Tinley park. Including, homer glen, Orland park, worth, Palos hills. Speeds were overall great when I had lte. Lots of drops to 3G in between tower gaps. A quick airplane mode flick instantly brought me back to LTE. 800 LTE should fill those gaps. Didn't see a speed all day less than 3mbps which was great. DBm was also always high. When Sprint LTE is performing well, it's a nice thing, and I'm very optimistic for the future with smr LTE and expanded capacity. We just need to get this Chicago situation looked at.

[Vince]

I also have been getting quite poor LTE performance around the city for the last month or two. Are we saying this is only a city thing? It appears as though there are some suburban issues too such as Oakbrook. FWIW I was out at my parents' in Hoffman Estates and the LTE was flowing like the nectar it is:

 

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Oakbrook is crushed. Data is so bad in places that sometimes it doesn't even ping. My girlfriend has already racked up 100mb in roaming charges in one week! I tried to explain 800 LTE and how that will help in her office building. She misses her verizon 3G iPhone 4S. That's bad.

[SashilKapur]

Are we absolutely sure this is a SNR issue? I haven't been looking at it before but when I look now, I'm getting a healthy 30dB in Humboldt Park. However my speed tests are still pretty bad. Not unusable though. Also, I haven't been having issues with dropped calls or call quality.

 

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[lilotimz]

Are we absolutely sure this is a SNR issue? I haven't been looking at it before but when I look now, I'm getting a healthy 30dB in Humboldt Park. However my speed tests are still pretty bad. Not unusable though. Also, I haven't been having issues with dropped calls or call quality.

 

 

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What you are seeing is just a capacity issue. 

[JosefTor]

What you are seeing is just a capacity issue.

I agree... Probably just a capacity issue and not an alien spaceship or the most common and popular phone playing tricks on Sprint in Chicago. Here is what I was receiving in a portion of LA today in a very over populated area with an event going on:

 

 

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