Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[S4GRU]

I messed around with some settings (*#*#4636#*#*)

 

I toggled it to LTE, CDMA and I was able to connect to the tower right away. The speeds aren't anywhere close to what you guys are posting though. Damn @ 20 to 40+ down, that's crazy. I would cancel my internet if I was getting that. I'm getting just 2.5 down on average. I was getting closer to 20 back when I was on the testing towers. I'm in Matteson, has anybody been able to get speeds comparable to that? (in the 15 to 20mb range) If so which phone do you have?

 

I'm on the EVOLTE.

 

LTE performance is very signal strength dependent. If you are getting slow LTE speeds, you have a very weak signal. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

 

Also, you cannot use LTE for home usage. Sprint is planning to start cracking down on unauthorized tethering on their new network. Also, authorized tethering is subject to data caps (I believe maxing out at 12GB/mo.). Not exactly ideal for home usage.

 

Robert

[gnatsstang]

hey Robert.says that the tower on western and Wilson in Chicago is blue.Yet didn't connect to

electronic Herpes D for me.Only EVDO .any reason why.? not active? not released yet for LTE?TIA.

 

[cocodrilo45]

i finally got lte service in the south side of chicago !!! thats a great sign for us in chicago i got lte service from pershing and ashland to i94 thank u sprint

[Rawvega]

Yet didn't connect to

electronic Herpes D for me.

 

I'm not sure that I'd want to connect to that...

[gnatsstang]

 

 

I'm not sure that I'd want to connect to that...

My theory is once you get it, you can't get rid of it.;]

[jls203]

Got LTE at 4300 S. Marshfield next to Ashland...the speeds were ping 58 ms, 2.58 Mbps down and 0.64 Mbps up, not the greatest but helps that area cuz I was laughing at the speeds just a minute earlier. Guess the sprint gods heard me n tried 2 shut me up but glad LTE is about 10-15 mins from downtown

[gof]

Just picked up a 4G connection Dempster and Waukegan Rd. 20 meg up, 8 down. Net monitor ids the location as Morton Grove, School St.

 

4G continues up Waukegan going north. Tower location Morton Grove, N Waukegan Rd.

[boomerbubba]

Just picked up a 4G connection Dempster and Waukegan Rd. 20 meg up, 8 down. Net monitor ids the location as Morton Grove, School St.

 

4G continues up Waukegan going north. Tower location Morton Grove, N Waukegan Rd.

 

Welcome to S4GRU. This is a recorded reply, as similar information has been posted here countless times.

 

Netmonitor does not show you where your LTE connection is coming from. It only shows CDMA sites, and even those might not be the actual locations. If you want to see where the actual Sprint towers are on a map, become an S4GRU sponsor. Even then, it is tricky to identify where your actual LTE signal is coming from in the field, but it helps with the analysis.

[gof]

What tools are people using to monitor your connections? Speedtest and netmonitor are two obvious ones but are there *good* other ones?

[boomerbubba]

What tools are people using to monitor your connections? Speedtest and netmonitor are two obvious ones but are there *good* other ones?

 

It depends on what you mean. Speed Test is commonly used for testing data speeds, but it does not tell you where the handset is connecting to. There are several apps that will show and record CDMA connections, and even coordinates with complex limitations. In conjunction with the S4GRU sponsor maps of where almost all the towers actually are, such apps can be useful. I have used Netmonitor, but stopped because I don't like its privacy risks. I prefer CDMA Field Test for that purpose. But there is no known app that will map an LTE connection directly. Many here use Sensorly to track LTE signals, but it maps where the user is, not where the towers are.

[CriticalityEvent]

What tools are people using to monitor your connections? Speedtest and netmonitor are two obvious ones but are there *good* other ones?

 

What I do is go to the ##DATA# (##3282#) menu from the dial pad, then select View Mode->LTE record->LTE available file. You can get the BSID of the LTE-enabled towers that you have connected to. Once you have those numbers, you can correlate them to the towers that you see on NetMonitor.

 

Note that the BSID number for a tower can be 1 or 2 values off, since there are 3 sectors to a tower. For example, you might see a BSID of 22753 in your LTE available file, but the tower on NetMonitor might be shown as 22752 or 22751.

[boomerbubba]

What I do is go to the ##DATA# (##3282#) menu from the dial pad, then select View Mode->LTE record->LTE available file. You can get the BSID of the LTE-enabled towers that you have connected to. Once you have those numbers, you can correlate them to the towers that you see on NetMonitor.

 

That functionality apparently is available on the EVO 4G LTE, but it does not exist on my Galaxy GS3 -- or, I believe, on other devices..

 

BSIDs are IDs for CDMA, not LTE. I don't think we know what the undocumented EVO screen means. I think it might just mean the CDMA sector IDs that were detected while the phone was concurrently connected to an LTE radio. But that does not necessarily mean that the CDMA tower and the LTE tower were the same place. We just don't know for sure.

[kr77]

i finally got lte service in the south side of chicago !!! thats a great sign for us in chicago i got lte service from pershing and ashland to i94 thank u sprint

 

What are your 3g speeds on speedtest with the same tower?

[wtsguy]

LTE active and 28 mbps down this morning in Glen Ellyn (Roosevelt and 355). I'll be happy to eat crow on my earlier words about the western suburbs if Sprint can serve this up across the burbs.

 

I was just there today driving on Roosevelt and I didn't see a lick of LTE anywhere I went. I also was in the Bartlett area where Sensorly showed LTE coverage near 59/64 but got nothing there either. I was cycling airplane mode and also switching back and forth from LTE only mode in the *#4636#* menu. I did briefly get LTE in Lisle yesterday but it was gone within 5 minutes. I also picked up LTE in Batavia on Kirk road briefly. The speeds are nothing like what you guys are seeing though.

 

Looks like they're testing heavily in the area since the LTE connections don't last long.

 

Here was my speedtest from Lisle.

 

[CriticalityEvent]

That functionality apparently is available on the EVO 4G LTE, but it does not exist on my Galaxy GS3 -- or, I believe, on other devices..

 

BSIDs are IDs for CDMA, not LTE. I don't think we know what the undocumented EVO screen means. I think it might just mean the CDMA sector IDs that were detected while the phone was concurrently connected to an LTE radio. But that does not necessarily mean that the CDMA tower and the LTE tower were the same place. We just don't know for sure.

 

Oh shoot, really? My bad! I thought that since the BSID of the tower was recorded in the “LTE available file” list that it would correspond to source of the LTE signal.

[boomerbubba]

Oh shoot, really? My bad! I thought that since the BSID of the tower was recorded in the “LTE available file” list that it would correspond to source of the LTE signal.

 

Some people assume that, but I am not persuaded. For this to be true there would have to be some mechanism for all LTE radios to transmit the BSIDs of the CDMA radios with which they are colocated. But no one has even shown where that might be happening as part of the LTE standard. So I think we don't know for sure what this screen means on the EVO. My own theory -- and it is only that -- is that these are the BSIDs that the phone detects from CDMA radios while there happens to be an LTE connection.

 

Another fishy thing is that this screen is implemented only on this particular device, which leads me to think it is an invention of the handset OEM.

[S4GRU]

Found the first LTE blip near The Loop. Just south of The Loop in Lake Meadows, just east of U.S. Cellular Field: http://sensorly.com/fullscreen/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=chicago, illinois

 

Robert

[ndeno]

Niles to Morton grove along dempster 26 down

[jls203]

Found the first LTE blip near The Loop. Just south of The Loop in Lake Meadows, just east of U.S. Cellular Field: http://sensorly.com/fullscreen/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=chicago, illinois

 

Robert

 

Thanx Robert, might be what I was picking up 2night while at the Sox game. Again not great speeds under 0.1-0.6 Mbps but glad my phone is showing the 4g icon!!!

[S4GRU]

Thanx Robert, might be what I was picking up 2night while at the Sox game. Again not great speeds under 0.1-0.6 Mbps but glad my phone is showing the 4g icon!!!

 

Yeah, LTE performance is very signal strength dependent. With those kinds of speeds, you likely had a really weak signal. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

 

Robert

[ffstosh]

 

Filled in a bunch of 355 and 55.

 

Nothing at home yet, but progress is progress...

[ffstosh]

 

The list has 35 more sites on it.

 

[monchi]

Found the first LTE blip near The Loop. Just south of The Loop in Lake Meadows, just east of U.S. Cellular Field: http://sensorly.com/fullscreen/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=chicago, illinois

 

Robert

 

Sweet! I'm just 2 miles north of that blip!

 

I'll be heading to the far west suburbs today and I'll be running Sensorly all day in hopes of reporting some new spots.

[S4GRU]

 

The list has 35 more sites on it.

 

35 sectors. Each site has up to three sectors. And many of us believe these do not actually track LTE sectors, but rather CDMA sectors while you are connected to LTE. But it is exciting all the same.

 

Robert

[Patguy1964]

Im getting a strong signal this morning in Chicago's near west side at Racine and Lexington. I live two blocks from the tower and Im getting an OK signal from my front stoop. About 4Mbs. As I walk across the park towards the tower the download rates rocket to 20Mbs. Wow!

 

The issue is Im getting next to nothing in my house and my phone is still fairly unusable on the issue. I hope that changes. I still need to play around with this new development.