Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[jman02]

You could also go to sensorly.com and load and check out the LTE coverage and speed tests map views for Chicago and compare the carriers that way. 

 

I've done this with rootmetrics data, but it doesn't exactly tell you a user's experience. I really want to know about handoff experience on the upgraded network. Is streaming seamless when handing off between bands and towers?

[jman02]

Yup, do full G voice integration and use hangouts dialer to dial out and you will still have access to your data connection. 

 

Also, since Sprint is the only carrier that supports full integration you can use your carrier number to make and receive calls from Hangouts.

 

Has this worked well for you? Do calls drop while moving? Does it work for both inbound and outbound?

[nexgencpu]

Has this worked well for you? Do calls drop while moving? Does it work for both inbound and outbound?

I use it as a fallback to the regular dialer when I want to use both simultaneously about once or twice a month, and as long as you hold a decent net connection you should be fine..

 

Yes it supports inbound and outbound calls...

 

 

Also handoffs between bands is perfect, only 3G to LTE and vice versa is a hard hand off. 

[tommym65]

Hi everyone,

 

I was hoping to get some insight from some Chicagoland Sprint users. I left Sprint for Tmobile February of last year and the Tmobile speeds have been great. However, now that so many have jumped ship, my speeds at work are now dismal. I now experience .2-.5 mbps during the workday, where they used to be 7-12 mbps.

 

My questions for you guys are...

 

1. Has Sprint rolled out VoLTE in Chicago?

2. Can I expect to travel throughout Chicagoland (Elgin, Naperville, Lakeview) without dropping down to 3G?

3. What are the consistent average speeds seen on Sprint these days? This can be broken down by band if need be.

 

Thank you!

 

1. (Answered above)

2. Anecdotal evidence:  My daughter and I drove from Crystal Lake past Elgin, and into the city this past Saturday.  I was on LTE the entire trip, mostly on Band 41.  I never dropped to 3G.  I spent several hours deep in the basement of the Apollo Theater on north Lincoln Avenue, and had various flavors of LTE the whole time (all 3 bands).  My daughter commutes from Crystal Lake to Naperville, has LTE all the way every day.

3. I can't give specific speeds everywhere, but I see anywhere from 2+ to 30 Mbps wherever I go. 

 

I would like to see wider implementation of B41, especially in the far Northwest, but from Gilberts all the way into the City, you should get good connections and speeds.  At this time, I would expect TMo to be faster than Sprint in many areas of Chicagoland (although I don't have TMo, and am basing that opinion primarily on postings in this forum and in T4GRU), but Sprint has far more spectrum here, and will likely overtake TMo even in those areas in the near future.

[S4GRU]

I don't believe VoLTE will go live for Sprint this year anywhere.  At best, it will be limited to FIT's.  Sprint does have HD Voice, though.  Don't need VoLTE for that, of course.

[Joeynach]

I've done this with rootmetrics data, but it doesn't exactly tell you a user's experience. I really want to know about handoff experience on the upgraded network. Is streaming seamless when handing off between bands and towers?

Our friend Vince would be a good source to ask.  He drives around the city constantly for work and surely knows where the 3G spots are, if any at this point, and can provide a good view into the handoff between LTE and 3G drops.

[Vince]

I can help give a little review of Chicago if needed.

 

Over the last month, I have tested Cricket, and T-Mobile.

 

I'll start with T-Mobile: their network is dense, and LTE is everywhere, even indoors in most places, more so than Sprint who has band 26, which I found odd. Volte and wifi calling worked so well, that I couldn't complain one bit. Their weak spot, as mentioned, is only being 10x10. It works fine in less crowded areas, but in crowded areas, it could be a mess. Maybe it was because I was prepaid, and there were priorities in place, but speeds in the city were not good at all.

T-Mobile would be worth a second look here with 15x15 or better.

 

Cricket: I was pleasantly surprised about how well AT&T's network worked. I've never been on their network before, and had to try it because everyone I know with them, never, ever loses LTE. Band 17 is an absolute monster. It's so strong, and I was thoroughly impressed. They're running 10x10 b17 and 5x5 b4 here in Chicago. I saw b2 when I was in Minooka, so I don't know where their pcs licenses really are. Speeds were consistent, even in Chicago.

 

My problem with them was the throttle, the pings, and the 20gb limit. I use 25gb a month without even trying, so it was tight with them. I've been a Sprint customer since the Nextel days, and that's where I'll stay for the foreseeable future.

 

Sprint still has 3G drop issues for me in some places, or anywhere indoors that's not near a tower. Leaving my phone on the table rectifies that problem after a re-scan. The speeds here are fantastic, and anywhere that has band 41 (almost everywhere I go) has very, very usable data.

 

My 3G drop problem might be related to the iPhone, and not the network, as people with android around here don't complain as much as I do. Sprint gets my money. We're a priority market for them, we have more spectrum than most Sprint markets, with the addition of the pcs-b from uscc, and an additional spark carrier popping up. I see Sprint taking 1st place in Chicago by the second half of 2015 on rootmetrics.

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[Vince]

Thanks to the admin who broke my large post into paragraphs; I was late for work, and tried to get as much information out before I had to punch in, and didn't have time to edit.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[kyle_4thousand]

I'm observing super low ping times lately. Best so far is 29ms on LTE and 69ms on 3G. Any one else been seeing a huge improvement in this area too??

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nexgencpu]

I'm observing super low ping times lately. Best so far is 29ms on LTE and 69ms on 3G. Any one else been seeing a huge improvement in this area too??

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same here in NYC....best ive seen is 16ms!

 

Average has been between 30-50ms

[Vince]

I'm observing super low ping times lately. Best so far is 29ms on LTE and 69ms on 3G. Any one else been seeing a huge improvement in this area too??

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep. When I came back to Sprint a week or so ago, that's the first thing I noticed. I wonder if they changed the way traffic is routed? Www.iplocation.net shows me connected to "sprint Chicago pop in Chicago, Illinois." T-Mobile was always Minneapolis or KC. Cricket was anywhere but close, usually California or Texas (which is why their latency sucks in Chicago).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[bill875]

I noticed great (sub-45ms) ping times while in the Western Burbs to visit family last week.  In North Carolina (outside of Charlotte), I usually see 55 to 80ms ping times.  I hope it improves here soon because LTE seemed much faster in IL, even on B26.

[gusherb]

Does anyone know the status of optimization in the Chicago area?

 

I drove down to one of my known dead spots for Sprint this evening (which happens to be the same place that an att/T-Mo tower site is located) and experienced loss of LTE the same as 6 months ago, and experience LTE drop in the same other places too.

 

The serving site for this area has had B41 live since at least August... I can tell the down tilt must still be all the way down and power hasn't been increased either.

 

Vince: I've been observing the same things as you in regards to T-Mo, everywhere I go with people it seems they're slogging along anywhere between 1-8 Mbps and in those same places sprint is humming along at 20-30 Mbps on B41 (and 15-20 on B25). I have a "Test Drive" iPhone 5S arriving tomorrow as I'm more interested in testing out their VoLTE, WiFi calling, and overall seeing how I like their network through an iPhone.

 

As far as AT&T LTE goes, I might suggest trying them again after the leaves appear on the trees. Back in the summer I couldn't hold a B17 signal at or near my home to save my life but as soon as they fell off all the sudden I was on LTE all the time and holding onto it everywhere.

[eduschean]

Comparing networks can be a very complex thing to do since a lot depends on the device you want to use. Does the device carry all of the bands each carrier has? For instance the IPhone 6 and 6 plus carry all of Sprints bands. For t-mobile, the IPhones do not have their 700a band. This may be irrelevant in the Chicago area, but if you leave the metro area, you need a phone with 700a if you have tmobile. As for the Samsung devices, more of them have the 700a band radio. Being both a former sprint and current TMobile customer, I can say that when I first got TMobile around a year ago, it was far ahead of Sprint, but now and going into the future, low spectrum problems will cost TMobile customers in the Chicagoland area

 

 

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[Vince]

Comparing networks can be a very complex thing to do since a lot depends on the device you want to use. Does the device carry all of the bands each carrier has? For instance the IPhone 6 and 6 plus carry all of Sprints bands. For t-mobile, the IPhones do not have their 700a band. This may be irrelevant in the Chicago area, but if you leave the metro area, you need a phone with 700a if you have tmobile. As for the Samsung devices, more of them have the 700a band radio. Being both a former sprint and current TMobile customer, I can say that when I first got TMobile around a year ago, it was far ahead of Sprint, but now and going into the future, low spectrum problems will cost TMobile customers in the Chicagoland area

 

 

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Chicagoans will still need B12 on their device if they travel; Michigan and Indiana both have it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[gusherb]

So I have the T-Mo test drive iPhone 5S, and have been comparing to my Sprint iP6 in NWI near where I live and am now in the middle of testing in the city. 

 

NWI was as I thought it would be, no coverage gaps and very good service, the slowest speed I saw was 1mbps in a more crowded area where signal was weaker. At least 5 places that the iP6 dropped to 3G T-Mo LTE was still hanging on strong. 

 

Today driving up the Tollroad/Skyway was something else... T-Mo was consistent in the 5-20 mbps range, while Sprint must be doing something in the area... While on the Skyway I had LTE drop and then come back 3 times, and on the Dan Ryan I switched over to Extended twice while on LTE. Speed wise they were fairly close to each other, but Sprint was not as consistent, with speeds ranging from 1 mbps to 35 (thank you B41).

 

Now I'm inside around 33rd and Halsted and T-Mo is hanging onto signal better then I expected, it dropped to Edge initially but then came back up to -115 db of LTE and Sprint sitting next to it is parked on -104 db's of B25. 

 

The last time I did any real network observations with Sprint was back in October or so and Sprint still behaves inconsistently and erratically, IDK if that's how it is from here on out or if they're taking their sweet old time optimizing sites. IMO T-Mobile has done great with what little they have and seems to be keeping on par with even Sprint's B41. It's gonna be a tough one deciding on whether I wanna switch or not. 

[ChiWestLoop]

I will report my experience living on the Chicago West Loop (Greektown) and working in the Loop (right by the Sears Tower).

 

Chicago West Loop - Generally good and strong LTE signal with decent/good speeds if I am outdoors. If I get in my apartment signal goes down the crapper, speeds are sluggish and sometimes I drop to 3g. It's frustrating to say the least.

 

Loop - My office is located at the corner of Jackson and Franklin and LTE in my office is basically unusable. My phone is constantly changing bands and antennas. It usually locks to a band 41 antenna which seems to be malfunctioning as I can't download anything at all or sometimes I get less than 1mb download speeds. It cycles to other antennas which are slightly better but my frustration is: why can the phone lock to the best antenna option? And why hasn't Sprint addressed this issue?

 

I have to admit that things have improved overall but the situation in the Loop and some areas of the West Loop are still a work-in-progress.

Edited April 16, 2015 by ChiWestLoop

[Vince]

So I have the T-Mo test drive iPhone 5S

I want to know if that test drive program gives you higher network traffic priority than any other customer--maybe to give a better impression of their offerings. Also, I would like to see a comparison between two identical devices; one prepaid, one postpaid.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[nexgencpu]

I want to know if that test drive program gives you higher network traffic priority than any other customer--maybe to give a better impression of their offerings. Also, I would like to see a comparison between two identical devices; one prepaid, one postpaid.

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Here in NYC there is no difference in performance. I don't know if that's different in different markets.

 

My brother has pre paid T-Mobile and my cousin has Post paid saw exactly the same performance.

 

Of course non scientific and only 2 days worth of testing.

[Vince]

Here in NYC there is no difference in performance. I don't know if that's different in different markets.

 

My brother has pre paid T-Mobile and my cousin has Post paid saw exactly the same performance.

New York is wideband, and you're lucky. They need to figure something out in Chicago to get it better than 10x10. Having that be your only LTE offering is trouble in 2015. Every other provider has multiple bands for traffic, yet they still do decent on rootmetrics reports here. Like o said, I was impressed at the density of their network, volte, and wifi calling. They really seem to have that stuff figured out. With faster LTE, they'd be a viable second option here since I need unlimited data, and really only have two choices.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[gusherb]

I want to know if that test drive program gives you higher network traffic priority than any other customer--maybe to give a better impression of their offerings. Also, I would like to see a comparison between two identical devices; one prepaid, one postpaid.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

 

My guess is no, at least not on LTE. My Nexus 5 was achieving higher speeds then the iPhone 5S at one point at home yesterday, but I think that's an iOS vs Android on the network type of thing. Now what I am seeing is unthrottled HSPA for the first time ever, every other device I've used including my iPad Air was always throttled to 15 Mbps on HSPA. Now I'm seeing upwards of 27 sometimes. IDK if that's a fluke or another iPhone thing, or bias toward the Test Drive phone. When I made my first call on it yesterday it said "welcome to T-Mobile Prepaid".

 

But overall considering I'm still seeing 1-3 mbps in places on LTE I don't think there's any higher priority. One other thing I'm seeing, in high signal areas is one speed test getting 20-40 mbps then the next one only getting .5 mbps. IDK if that's a network/iPhone fluke or a problem with speedtest but closing the app and opening again fixes that. 

 

It was almost a year ago to the day that I drove through KC and experienced the best network ever, they pulled some kinda magic there with only two carriers - B25 and B26 and speeds were great throughout the area and coverage was the most consistent I've ever seen in my life (much like T-Mo is here). The only time I had that kinda experience around here was on B41 on the northside. B25 and B26 both behave like garbage every time I'm on either of those bands. 

[Paynefanbro]

New York is wideband, and you're lucky.

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

 

It's only a 15x15 in AWS. Sprint has more spectrum deployed for LTE here than T-Mobile, I'm pretty sure. Speeds are pretty similar all around town on both. Especially since they picked up a lot of customers really quickly.

[nexgencpu]

New York is wideband, and you're lucky. They need to figure something out in Chicago to get it better than 10x10. Having that be your only LTE offering is trouble in 2015. Every other provider has multiple bands for traffic, yet they still do decent on rootmetrics reports here. Like o said, I was impressed at the density of their network, volte, and wifi calling. They really seem to have that stuff figured out. With faster LTE, they'd be a viable second option here since I need unlimited data, and really only have two choices.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Tmobile speeds outdoors are generally about the same as Sprint here in NYC, and worse indoors. (would jump from HSPA to LTE and vice versa) 

 

But i did see a few more higher peaks on Tmobile, (Sprint rarely goes over 40mbs here, where Tmobile still hit the 50's) and better upload.

 

But overall id rather have more reliable indoor performance than 5mbs higher upload speeds outdoors.

[lou99/maximus1987]

So I have the T-Mo test drive iPhone 5S, and have been comparing to my Sprint iP6 in NWI near where I live and am now in the middle of testing in the city.

 

NWI was as I thought it would be, no coverage gaps and very good service, the slowest speed I saw was 1mbps in a more crowded area where signal was weaker. At least 5 places that the iP6 dropped to 3G T-Mo LTE was still hanging on strong.

 

Today driving up the Tollroad/Skyway was something else... T-Mo was consistent in the 5-20 mbps range, while Sprint must be doing something in the area... While on the Skyway I had LTE drop and then come back 3 times, and on the Dan Ryan I switched over to Extended twice while on LTE. Speed wise they were fairly close to each other, but Sprint was not as consistent, with speeds ranging from 1 mbps to 35 (thank you B41).

 

Now I'm inside around 33rd and Halsted and T-Mo is hanging onto signal better then I expected, it dropped to Edge initially but then came back up to -115 db of LTE and Sprint sitting next to it is parked on -104 db's of B25.

 

The last time I did any real network observations with Sprint was back in October or so and Sprint still behaves inconsistently and erratically, IDK if that's how it is from here on out or if they're taking their sweet old time optimizing sites. IMO T-Mobile has done great with what little they have and seems to be keeping on par with even Sprint's B41. It's gonna be a tough one deciding on whether I wanna switch or not.

I wouldn't switch to TMO if I were you. If you're in Chicago you'll be the first to see widespread 2nd b41 carrier.

Plus att still owns 700a and there's a ch51 smack in the middle. Meanwhile lte 800 is deployed far and wide. I don't see why you'd switch.

And I'm on TMO! [emoji12]

 

 

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[gusherb]

I wouldn't switch to TMO if I were you. If you're in Chicago you'll be the first to see widespread 2nd b41 carrier.

Plus att still owns 700a and there's a ch51 smack in the middle. Meanwhile lte 800 is deployed far and wide. I don't see why you'd switch.

And I'm on TMO! [emoji12]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

B26 may be deployed but T-Mobile's AWS LTE still blankets better then B26. I still drop off LTE a lot, and when I am on B26 it performs rather poorly. The numbers may look great but user experience is where it really counts.