Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[lilotimz]

I think that's a good theory, but the Zing stuck on that setting sometimes for a couple of minutes, and I was able to do web browse and do speed tests. My B41 DL/UL channel is consistently 40978, while the B25 reading was 40056. My guess is tower tweaking.

Or they have two 20 MHz TDD LTE carriers up and running.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

[Vince]

My prayers have been answered! Sprint finally turned on the tower along the Stevenson between Harlem and Lagrange! Everyday, for the last 2 years on my way to and from work, I would look at my signal. Today, instead of the signal fading away to 3G, it went up to full LTE. 20mbps speedtest. Better than the usual 200kbps while sitting in a traffic jam. Thanks, Sprint! Now get that 26 rolling around here.

[Joeynach]

My prayers have been answered! Sprint finally turned on the tower along the Stevenson between Harlem and Lagrange! Everyday, for the last 2 years on my way to and from work, I would look at my signal. Today, instead of the signal fading away to 3G, it went up to full LTE. 20mbps speedtest. Better than the usual 200kbps while sitting in a traffic jam. Thanks, Sprint! Now get that 26 rolling around here.

Cool, I know the tower you speak since its the only teal pin on the Stevenson Corridor (i-55).  Should show up on Robert's next NV Complete update?

 

Im waiting patiently for a few LTE holes in the city too. Was glad to see McCormick Place was filled last week.  Ya know the spot in the West Loop where Google bought that big warehouse and is gutting in and re-developing it into their Chicago offices.  Talking like Morgan and Fulton Market St in the West Loop.  That whole area is blowing up like crazy with offices, condos, restaurants, etc, and Google is about to expand to 1500 employees at the site, all data hungry.  The adjacent tower is still 3G/800, hope its next to be upgraded.

[Vince]

And I hope google wants to make Chicago one of it's next fiber city's

[runagun]

Don't see that happening. Chicago is just too corrupted. Gotta grease a million hands before something gets done.

 

And I hope google wants to make Chicago one of it's next fiber city's

[Joeynach]

I'm guessing they're finally doing something about that bad SNR. I'm still using a single band phone FYI so all reports are about band 25 only.

I'm still using a signal band LTE phone too.  I haven't really noticed any improvements in the typical issues such as poor SNR and un-useable data speeds downtown and in crowded areas.  I still see plenty of sub 100K speeds on B25 around town (city only not burbs).  The only improvements I have seen are tower by tower that get their LTE switched on, like the one on Michigan & Grand, and Ogden & Randolph, those areas improved dramatically in recent weeks after their LTE was finally lite up.

[Joeynach]

My prayers have been answered! Sprint finally turned on the tower along the Stevenson between Harlem and Lagrange! Everyday, for the last 2 years on my way to and from work, I would look at my signal. Today, instead of the signal fading away to 3G, it went up to full LTE. 20mbps speedtest. Better than the usual 200kbps while sitting in a traffic jam. Thanks, Sprint! Now get that 26 rolling around here.

Your site has been reflected on the latest NV Sites complete.  Also so has the site right smack in the middle of the Argon Laboratory complex, quite interesting since its such a secured area.  And now a 3rd site has popped up in the O'hare terminal area, says its a new site, shows 3G only though.

[gusherb]

I'm still using a signal band LTE phone too. I haven't really noticed any improvements in the typical issues such as poor SNR and un-useable data speeds downtown and in crowded areas. I still see plenty of sub 100K speeds on B25 around town (city only not burbs). The only improvements I have seen are tower by tower that get their LTE switched on, like the one on Michigan & Grand, and Ogden & Randolph, those areas improved dramatically in recent weeks after their LTE was finally lite up.

Ever since winter began to slowly let up my service in Northwest Indiana started to return to where it was at this time last year. There's still two spots that are awful but at one point it was completely unusable and now it at least is.

 

I think things hit rock bottom for me in December, when I had to switch to EVDO a lot. (Fortunately that has taken a massive upswing since November ish)

 

I haven't had any issues in the city lately, downtown along lakeshore drive and up north around Rogers Park, but I'm also never there during peak hours.

 

I was at McCormick place at the auto show in February and the southern half had no LTE but the north side of the building had blazing speeds. I hear they switched on something over there recently (a DAS or a new site?)

 

I have a red Nexus 5 on order, I hear those aren't "spark optimized" yet, but I'm still curious to see if it performs any better then my iPhone.

Though even if I do fall in love with it I'll most likely keep my iPhone as well, and just become the person that Android and iOS fanboys both hate LOL.

 

I am curious as to how the "Spark optimized" Triband phones are doing.

[Vince]

Your site has been reflected on the latest NV Sites complete. Also so has the site right smack in the middle of the Argon Laboratory complex, quite interesting since its such a secured area. And now a 3rd site has popped up in the O'hare terminal area, says its a new site, shows 3G only though.

The site at Argonne is 3 blocks from where I live. When I'm using android, signal check always tells me that's where my voice calls go to on 1xRTT even though I have a tower even closer than that right along rte 83 which is where my LTE comes from. Strange.

[Joeynach]

The site at Argonne is 3 blocks from where I live. When I'm using android, signal check always tells me that's where my voice calls go to on 1xRTT even though I have a tower even closer than that right along rte 83 which is where my LTE comes from. Strange.

Did you trying updating your PRL sir??  Hahaha!!!

[Joeynach]

Ever since winter began to slowly let up my service in Northwest Indiana started to return to where it was at this time last year. There's still two spots that are awful but at one point it was completely unusable and now it at least is.

 

I think things hit rock bottom for me in December, when I had to switch to EVDO a lot. (Fortunately that has taken a massive upswing since November ish)

 

I haven't had any issues in the city lately, downtown along lakeshore drive and up north around Rogers Park, but I'm also never there during peak hours.

 

I was at McCormick place at the auto show in February and the southern half had no LTE but the north side of the building had blazing speeds. I hear they switched on something over there recently (a DAS or a new site?)

 

I have a red Nexus 5 on order, I hear those aren't "spark optimized" yet, but I'm still curious to see if it performs any better then my iPhone.

Though even if I do fall in love with it I'll most likely keep my iPhone as well, and just become the person that Android and iOS fanboys both hate LOL.

 

I am curious as to how the "Spark optimized" Triband phones are doing.

I am also curious why the N5's haven't received their Spark update from Sprint.  I have a friend with an N5.  Since its only operating on B25 he gets what I get in terms of LTE speeds downtown and its not pretty.

[cdk]

I am also curious why the N5's haven't received their Spark update from Sprint.  I have a friend with an N5.  Since its only operating on B25 he gets what I get in terms of LTE speeds downtown and its not pretty.

 

Its not Sprint, its Google who pushes out the updates for the N5. I suspect they are going to push it out along with a couple of other fixes...

[Joeynach]

Its not Sprint, its Google who pushes out the updates for the N5. I suspect they are going to push it out along with a couple of other fixes...

So its Google who is going to push the update the Sprint users to re-config their phones to prioritize B41 and B26.  That doesn't make sense to me.

[kojitsari]

So its Google who is going to push the update the Sprint users to re-config their phones to prioritize B41 and B26. That doesn't make sense to me.

Google isn't pushing an update just for Sprint users. They're going to put the spark update into a normal bug fixing update and push it out to everyone. Most likely in the update to fix this stupid camera bug...

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[lilotimz]

So its Google who is going to push the update the Sprint users to re-config their phones to prioritize B41 and B26.  That doesn't make sense to me.

 

[S4GRU]

So its Google who is going to push the update the Sprint users to re-config their phones to prioritize B41 and B26.  That doesn't make sense to me.

 

This update is not going to Sprint customers.  It is going to all Nexus 5 owners.  Because all Nexus 5's need to support Band 41.  Because the N5 is designed to be portable to other providers.  AT&T and Tmo customers will all get the update too.  The Nexus 5 was built to support Band 41.  It's not as if Sprint doesn't want it to.  It's just waiting for Google/LG to do what they said they would and get the N5 fully compatible.

 

This is a Google update, not a Sprint update.  Scratch that from your mind.  If the device needs to be modified to better support an AT&T band in the future, it will also go to all N5 customers in a Nexus update.

 

Robert

[Joeynach]

This update is not going to Sprint customers.  It is going to all Nexus 5 owners.  Because all Nexus 5's need to support Band 41.  Because the N5 is designed to be portable to other providers.  AT&T and Tmo customers will all get the update too.  The Nexus 5 was built to support Band 41.  It's not as if Sprint doesn't want it to.  It's just waiting for Google/LG to do what they said they would and get the N5 fully compatible.

 

This is a Google update, not a Sprint update.  Scratch that from your mind.  If the device needs to be modified to better support an AT&T band in the future, it will also go to all N5 customers in a Nexus update.

 

Robert

Good stuff, this is the first phone that I can remember that is carrier agnostic like this and linked back to the manufacturer before the carrier.  I like it.  Though after searching around no one really seems to know whats taking Google so long.  Lots of people have been waiting for the camera fix for 3-4 months already after purchase.

[S4GRU]

Good stuff, this is the first phone that I can remember that is carrier agnostic like this and linked back to the manufacturer before the carrier.  I like it.  Though after searching around no one really seems to know whats taking Google so long.  Lots of people have been waiting for the camera fix for 3-4 months already after purchase.

 

It's quite possible that Google is holding the Band 41 update to go out with another planned update.  They may not want to pepper people with an update that is mostly targeted for Sprint customers and wants to do an update capturing all the changes that need to be made.  Like the camera.  So the camera may be holding up the B41 update.

 

Robert

[kyle_4thousand]

Has there been any indication of Sprint taking over leases on former US Cellular sites?

[Cubbiefan82]

Has there been any indication of Sprint taking over leases on former US Cellular sites?

Sprint isn't taking over any leases, they just got the spectrum.  They didn't even want the customers, but uscc throw those in

[Joeynach]

Has there been any indication of Sprint taking over leases on former US Cellular sites?

We haven't had any substantial indications for what Sprint has done with the Spectrum from USCC after the shutdown.

[kyle_4thousand]

Sprint isn't taking over any leases, they just got the spectrum.  They didn't even want the customers, but uscc throw those in

 

 

We haven't had any substantial indications for what Sprint has done with the Spectrum from USCC after the shutdown.

 

I know about the spectrum deal, I'm just curious if Sprint may want to utilize some of the sites that USCC had and are now vacant. Reason being is that there's a USCC site near my parents' house I would love to see Sprint put equipment on, being that service is sometimes marginal in that area. Just wishful thinking is all

[Cubbiefan82]

I know about the spectrum deal, I'm just curious if Sprint may want to utilize some of the sites that USCC had and are now vacant. Reason being is that there's a USCC site near my parents' house I would love to see Sprint put equipment on, being that service is sometimes marginal in that area. Just wishful thinking is all

I doubt they will lease that tower, they will use 800 lte and voice on it to fill that in. I doubt they will lease that site, but you never know. Softbank wants to have the best network in the us, that will mean adding cell sites to have better coverage for what 800 doesn't fill in. I honestly see them adding 800/1900 to clear sites that are not co-located to help fill in even more.

[Vince]

Just to reaffirm, calling Sprint and telling those prl pusher csr's that a tower has a problem, actually works. There was a tower in Beverly that had a dead LTE connection. This tower happens to be my brother's new home tower. I called on his behalf Friday, and his phone lit up with LTE a few hours ago. Excellent response, Sprint.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

[Joeynach]

Just to reaffirm, calling Sprint and telling those prl pusher csr's that a tower has a problem, actually works. There was a tower in Beverly that had a dead LTE connection. This tower happens to be my brother's new home tower. I called on his behalf Friday, and his phone lit up with LTE a few hours ago. Excellent response, Sprint.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

Good and bad to me.  Good that Sprint actually responds to customers complaint/input and acts, but bad because it implies Sprint needs to the customer to tell them where and when they have service disruptions, outages, or trouble with equipment.  I really figured by now that would be something they would have an expert eye on internally with like a master network operations center that monitors and alerts for these types of things automatically.