Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[lilotimz]

I'm reporting it here because I'm sure it will get more attention than contacting Sprint directly. For more than 2 months I have noticed a problematic tower in the Chicago Loop area. It is a Band 41 tower  and its Physical Cell ID is 259. Sometimes I get a string signal from this tower but the internet connection is dead. Any way to report this to the real experts?

 

Thank you,

 

Spam the living hell out of Sprint zone. 

 

They do read the reports from it and plan accordingly. 

 

Another thing you can do is trying contacting @Marci  who can direct you to the pertinent personnel. 

[WestLoopResident]

Spam the living hell out of Sprint zone. 

 

They do read the reports from it and plan accordingly. 

 

Another thing you can do is trying contacting @Marci  who can direct you to the pertinent personnel. 

Thanks!

[bucdenny]

Spam the living hell out of Sprint zone. 

 

They do read the reports from it and plan accordingly. 

 

Another thing you can do is trying contacting @Marci  who can direct you to the pertinent personnel. 

 

Spam the living hell will simply take too long.  Contacting @Marci will get it resolved quickly.  If not, send me a PM, I can reach out to my contact.

[gusherb]

I finally got a chance to do some drive testing with Sprint the other day, put an inactive sim in the new Moto G5 Plus and gotta say that thing has some very good RF capabilities because nothing has changed with their network optimization wise in my area but the device was really clinging tight to B41, hanging on well into places I used to drop straight to 3G. It did end up dropping to B26 and then to 3G after about 5 minutes though, only about 1.5 miles from the nearest site. B26 was about -118 dbm, while B13 on my iPhone was -108 dbm, both serving cells in the same place. 

I noticed that the device was on B26 ALOT of the time, with B41 a close second to that, and I hardly saw B25. Other than that nothings changed in 2 years with Sprint's network here (other than a few USCC/Nextel conversions).

Impressed with B41 range but B25 and 26 are the same garbage range/signal I left two years ago. 

 

 

P.S. My suburban home serving site has 3xB41 which I was pleasantly surprised to see. 

[Arysyn]

I finally got a chance to do some drive testing with Sprint the other day, put an inactive sim in the new Moto G5 Plus and gotta say that thing has some very good RF capabilities because nothing has changed with their network optimization wise in my area but the device was really clinging tight to B41, hanging on well into places I used to drop straight to 3G. It did end up dropping to B26 and then to 3G after about 5 minutes though, only about 1.5 miles from the nearest site. B26 was about -118 dbm, while B13 on my iPhone was -108 dbm, both serving cells in the same place.

I noticed that the device was on B26 ALOT of the time, with B41 a close second to that, and I hardly saw B25. Other than that nothings changed in 2 years with Sprint's network here (other than a few USCC/Nextel conversions).

Impressed with B41 range but B25 and 26 are the same garbage range/signal I left two years ago.

 

 

P.S. My suburban home serving site has 3xB41 which I was pleasantly surprised to see.

Thanks for the update regarding the state of the Sprint network here, gusherb.

 

I suppose its a good thing I haven't retried Sprint again, sine the issues I had with them here a few years ago. While I loved the network experience while connected on band 41, it wasn't using that spectrum often enough. It mostly lingered on the awful 5x5 PCS, which usually was under 3mbps. Now that Sprint has 10x10 PCS, I expected it would be better by now, but apparently not. The problem obviously is that Sprint hasn't deployed/densified band 41 enough, so it results in too many of its users connected onto PCS.

 

Now, those who think I'm being negative and trolling on Sprint by saying that, hear me. How is it "negative", when I've given so much praise to Sprint for its band 41 spectrum being great as it is? I've written here dozens of times about how great the band 41 network experience is in the town of Schaumburg, where Sprint actually does have quite a good network setup of there, which if Sprint matched that in their other markets, Sprint would be an amazing wireless carrier. Nothing negative nor trollish of me saying that.

 

The thing that bothers some, I think, is when they confuse my words with "bashing" Sprint, when it is Softbank I'm being critical of. It isn't a secret that I resent what Softbank has done with Sprint, as I believe that Sprint would be in a much better condition now if Dan Hesse was still in charge, with his focus on getting deployment and densification of the network, ahead of the financials. For instance, the Chicago area PCS issues wouldn't exist with Dan Hesse's plans in place. Two years later and the same network issues here is not good at all.

[Dkoellerwx]

The thing that bothers some, I think, is when they confuse my words with "bashing" Sprint, when it is Softbank I'm being critical of. It isn't a secret that I resent what Softbank has done with Sprint, as I believe that Sprint would be in a much better condition now if Dan Hesse was still in charge, with his focus on getting deployment and densification of the network, ahead of the financials. For instance, the Chicago area PCS issues wouldn't exist with Dan Hesse's plans in place. Two years later and the same network issues here is not good at all.

 

Everyone is entitled to opinions, and you have to expect push back from someone who does not agree. It is highly unlikely that things would have gone as nicely as you think under Hesse. He did well when he came in, but that plan that was initialized right before he left likely would have resulted in Sprint not existing any longer. 

[Arysyn]

Everyone is entitled to opinions, and you have to expect push back from someone who does not agree. It is highly unlikely that things would have gone as nicely as you think under Hesse. He did well when he came in, but that plan that was initialized right before he left likely would have resulted in Sprint not existing any longer.

I agree with you here about this regarding others.

 

I know there are a few differing viewpoints regarding the Dan Hesse situation, some of which resemble the political issues of spending vs austerity. The current Sprint, under Softbank, with all of its financial restructuring and cautious spending, in contrast to Dan Hesse's focus on spending big. Some think one way is better, and those that think the other is. All a matter of perspective. The important thing is that everyone realizes that, and respects each others perspectives, without labeling the person as something bad for discussing those perspectives, so long as they aren't insultive, harassing, threatening, and the like.

 

Of course, I view the situation with Sprint as such where I think it is important to spend on the network, then get people over once they see how Sprint's network is superior, which I believe it can be with deployment and densification. Still, this doesn't mean that I can't understand in some ways why this isn't happening. Softbank probably is hoping for a merger with T-Mobile, which if successful, gives them the added network Sprint needs, without having to go through the hassles of building anew. Plus, it gives them instant customer additions, without having to "win" them over. In a sense, it is a better use of their money spending it for a merger.

 

I think there is a compromise here though, which is why I think Sprint ought to deploy their spectrum on all the sites they have of which they can deploy onto, giving the network a much needed improvement, while delaying the densification projects until there is some definitive direction on their future prospects.

[DandreNorman]

Unless sprint is using different panels now, then this is not Sprint. They are very large mainly in height. I was thrown off because the base station is in a metal cabinet on a raised platform instead of a hut.

 

https://i.imgur.com/6dutUjZ.jpg

Did you work in Minnesota when you were a sub for Sprint?

 

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[DandreNorman]

Did you work in Minnesota when you were a sub for Sprint?

 

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I want to know what are the densification plans for Minneapolis?

 

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[gusherb]

Got my dad on the free sprint promo with his Moto G5 Plus. Not sure what the deal is but the network seems a lot slower than it was 2 years ago. I realize the G5 Plus doesn't do CA (last I heard anyway), but we have 3xB41 and I've sat in the same spot testing as the phone jumps across each of the 3 channels and they're all equally slow. I mean like 1-6 Mbps slow, so even with CA working it wouldn't amount to anything impressive. At home on my unloaded tower I can only get up to about 28 Mbps which is exactly what I got 2 years ago when only 1 B41 carrier existed. I even tested back in April on an iP7 that had CA and could only do about 45 Mbps, though it did spike up to 80 very briefly.

 

So that leads to my question, is there really that many sprint subs around? (I doubt it), have they let backhaul go, or are they just doing a really poor job at optimization? Cuz it makes no sense to me how they could be so slow with 100 MHz of deployed spectrum on LTE.

[Tengen31]

Got my dad on the free sprint promo with his Moto G5 Plus. Not sure what the deal is but the network seems a lot slower than it was 2 years ago. I realize the G5 Plus doesn't do CA (last I heard anyway), but we have 3xB41 and I've sat in the same spot testing as the phone jumps across each of the 3 channels and they're all equally slow. I mean like 1-6 Mbps slow, so even with CA working it wouldn't amount to anything impressive. At home on my unloaded tower I can only get up to about 28 Mbps which is exactly what I got 2 years ago when only 1 B41 carrier existed. I even tested back in April on an iP7 that had CA and could only do about 45 Mbps, though it did spike up to 80 very briefly.

 

So that leads to my question, is there really that many sprint subs around? (I doubt it), have they let backhaul go, or are they just doing a really poor job at optimization? Cuz it makes no sense to me how they could be so slow with 100 MHz of deployed spectrum on LTE.

The G 5 plus should do at least 2xca

 

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[nexgencpu]

Got my dad on the free sprint promo with his Moto G5 Plus. Not sure what the deal is but the network seems a lot slower than it was 2 years ago. I realize the G5 Plus doesn't do CA (last I heard anyway), but we have 3xB41 and I've sat in the same spot testing as the phone jumps across each of the 3 channels and they're all equally slow. I mean like 1-6 Mbps slow, so even with CA working it wouldn't amount to anything impressive. At home on my unloaded tower I can only get up to about 28 Mbps which is exactly what I got 2 years ago when only 1 B41 carrier existed. I even tested back in April on an iP7 that had CA and could only do about 45 Mbps, though it did spike up to 80 very briefly.

 

So that leads to my question, is there really that many sprint subs around? (I doubt it), have they let backhaul go, or are they just doing a really poor job at optimization? Cuz it makes no sense to me how they could be so slow with 100 MHz of deployed spectrum on LTE.

Combination of way more Sprint subs in major markets and user usage patterns. As more users use their phones to do more, puts more strain on the network. Also gotta have a CA device or bust.

 

The funny thing is I've been noticing better optimization between bands as densification ramps, but that isn't enough for an older device to keep up, (MASSIVE MIMO will definitely help for older devices) 

[lilotimz]

Got my dad on the free sprint promo with his Moto G5 Plus. Not sure what the deal is but the network seems a lot slower than it was 2 years ago. I realize the G5 Plus doesn't do CA (last I heard anyway), but we have 3xB41 and I've sat in the same spot testing as the phone jumps across each of the 3 channels and they're all equally slow. I mean like 1-6 Mbps slow, so even with CA working it wouldn't amount to anything impressive. At home on my unloaded tower I can only get up to about 28 Mbps which is exactly what I got 2 years ago when only 1 B41 carrier existed. I even tested back in April on an iP7 that had CA and could only do about 45 Mbps, though it did spike up to 80 very briefly.

 

So that leads to my question, is there really that many sprint subs around? (I doubt it), have they let backhaul go, or are they just doing a really poor job at optimization? Cuz it makes no sense to me how they could be so slow with 100 MHz of deployed spectrum on LTE.

Chicago is one of sprints top markets that they've always used every single ounce of spectrum. So yes, contrary to your belief, there is a huge amount of sprint users which with the ever increasing data usage means more congestion even if there was 0 subscriber adds especially since the 4th 5th 6th B41 carriers are not in operation.

 

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[gusherb]

Chicago is one of sprints top markets that they've always used every single ounce of spectrum. So yes, contrary to your belief, there is a huge amount of sprint users which with the ever increasing data usage means more congestion even if there was 0 subscriber adds especially since the 4th 5th 6th B41 carriers are not in operation.

 

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I just have a hard time believing they're so congested with 100 MHz of deployed spectrum while in my county specifically, Verizon does fine at 60, AT&T runs anywhere from 50-80, and T-Mobile running 40-70 MHz.

[lilotimz]

I just have a hard time believing they're so congested with 100 MHz of deployed spectrum while in my county specifically, Verizon does fine at 60, AT&T runs anywhere from 50-80, and T-Mobile running 40-70 MHz.

Again sprint has the the highest if not one of the highest subscriber counts in the market.

 

Add high subscriber counts, ultd data, increased high data usage apps and streaming, lack of network investment in terms of additional site density unlike the others means all else equal the network will be less speedy compared to less loaded and high density networks.

 

It's not an apples to apples comparison especially when you get into 4x4 and 256QAM, that is live on ATT AND tmobile and the innumerable small cells Verizon have deployed.

 

Tldr: standing still for a year means others catch up.

 

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[gusherb]

Again sprint has the the highest if not one of the highest subscriber counts in the market.

 

Add high subscriber counts, ultd data, increased high data usage apps and streaming, lack of network investment in terms of additional site density unlike the others means all else equal the network will be less speedy compared to less loaded and high density networks.

 

It's not an apples to apples comparison especially when you get into 4x4 and 256QAM, that is live on ATT AND tmobile and the innumerable small cells Verizon have deployed.

 

Tldr: standing still for a year means others catch up.

 

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Do you know for a fact the subscriber counts are very high or are you basing that statement off the person who revealed that info for several markets some years ago? Cuz if I had to guess, I'd still say AT&T was number 1 here followed by T-Mobile and sprint and then VZ fourth.

[Tengen31]

Chicago is one of sprints top markets that they've always used every single ounce of spectrum. So yes, contrary to your belief, there is a huge amount of sprint users which with the ever increasing data usage means more congestion even if there was 0 subscriber adds especially since the 4th 5th 6th B41 carriers are not in operation.

 

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To bad Sprint can't do wideband LTE there. If they have 2carriers I'm sure B25 CA is there or on the way.

 

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[RAvirani]

To bad Sprint can't do wideband LTE there. If they have 2carriers I'm sure B25 CA is there or on the way.

 

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Sprint has no shortage of spectrum in Chicago since US Cellular exited the market.

[Tengen31]

Sprint has no shortage of spectrum in Chicago since US Cellular exited the market.

I know but can they do 15x15?

 

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[gusherb]

I know but can they do 15x15?

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They can and still have 5x5 worth of CDMA. They hold 50 MHz of PCS here and 30 of it is contiguous.

 

As it stands now they have a 10 MHz channel and a 5 MHz channel. If they enabled intra band that could be 15 MHz DL today.

[Tengen31]

They can and still have 5x5 worth of CDMA. They hold 50 MHz of PCS here and 30 of it is contiguous.

 

As it's stands now they have a 10 MHz channel and a 5 MHz channel. If they enabled intra band that could be 15 MHz DL today.

Equipment must not be certified or approved yet.

 

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[WestLoopResident]

This beyond frustrating! For the last couple of months LTE service drops for a few minutes at random time in the Chicago Loop area (right by the Willis Tower). When I check in the iphone engineering screen, the phone is latched to band 41 and antenna id 83. Any recent issues in the area? Thank you.

[conquereddroiduser]

This beyond frustrating! For the last couple of months LTE service drops for a few minutes at random time in the Chicago Loop area (right by the Willis Tower). When I check in the iphone engineering screen, the phone is latched to band 41 and antenna id 83. Any recent issues in the area? Thank you.

Just had a similar experience in Wheaton/Naperville for the first time yesterday. I noticed my phone was showing no service while at work, which normally has good coverage. It lasted about 30 seconds before going back to normal. No airplane mode toggling helped during the 30 second window. At dinner my dad and I left our scp up to see if it was just me or not. sure enough, every 10 minutes or so both our phones would totally drop all connections simultaneously.

 

Don't know what's up, I've never seen this particular behavior before.

 

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[Hmight]

Midwest network is acting up...it's all normal now.

[Tengen31]

Midwest network is acting up...it's all normal now.

Did you happen to post this on Friday? There was a outage on Friday.

 

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