Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Joeynach]

This is the worrisome part. "Done", by the accounts I'm reading, is worse than "Under Construction".

 

Something wrong with that picture.

Believe me its 100x better than it was a year ago this time, but 100x times better than crap still isn't on par with reliability and speeds to two big boys Verizon and ATT can offer in this city.  Their coverage is greater and more reliable, especially indoors, their speeds are significantly faster (see the Rootmetrics report for October), they don't have these LTE holes as a result of stop and go build out of Network Vision (see this board's complaints of Soldier Field and the Loop in the past), and I can only assume ATT and VZW users don't see these random post NV drops in LTE due to continued tweaking and activity upgrades on Towers.

 

It's still a painful process even though the network is as many say here "nearing completion".  I would be prepared for another 12+ months of growing pains if I was you.  This board has talked about continued improvements under NV to Chicago such as the spectrum of Nextel and US Cellular, the activation of 800Mhz and 2600 Mhz LTE, the whole downtilt adjustment concept, etc etc.  Im sure as time goes by the network will continue to get better, heck maybe even eclipse ATT and VZW, but for now, and what I am assuming is all of 2014 I wouldn't count on a clean crisp pain free network with so many upgrades still slated and the ensuing corporate one step forward two steps back syndrome in place already.

[drock2750]

I'm guessing the rootmetrics data was collected even before the LTE speeds fell apart in the city. Could you imagine if the data was collected today?! There is absolutely no excuse for whatever is causing SNR problems to go on for weeks. Sprint should change their slogan from "The Now Network" to "Bear with us".

[tongboy]

I'm guessing the rootmetrics data was collected even before the LTE speeds fell apart in the city. Could you imagine if the data was collected today?! There is absolutely no excuse for whatever is causing SNR problems to go on for weeks. Sprint should change their slogan from "The Now Network" to "Bear with us".

If it is noise that is outside sprints control (likely) they really can't do anything about it other than get the FCC to investigate. That is impossible to do now with the government shutdown.

 

I don't think the administration on s4gru will tolerate the unproductive ranting going on right now in this thread.

 

The only option anyone here has is switch to evdo and call sprint and get a credit. Once the feds open up again this will be resolved.

 

If it is a Sprint issue (not outside interference) than our options are still the same, call, complain, and get a credit.

 

Sent from my HTCONE now Free

 

 

[Fraydog]

I don't think anyone is out of line for now. 

 

Given that Chicago is the market closest to completion, and the one I've been holding up as an example of what good Sprint can do, I must admit that any failings there are definite cause for concern. 

 

I will still enforce forum rules for excessive complaining, but I can see why people are concerned. 

[drock2750]

BTW, I'm getting 5 dB or less SNR on Evdo now. It doesn't seem to be affecting throughput, but pings are worse than they were when the network was functioning well.

[Joeynach]

BTW, I'm getting 5 dB or less SNR on Evdo now. It doesn't seem to be affecting throughput, but pings are worse than they were when the network was functioning well.

Im seeing the same thing.  I get poor SNR on Evdo with strong signal strength, and almost identical download speeds as I see with LTE. 50k-200k.

[drock2750]

I'm feeling like if I call customer service and complain about SNR, nothing will be done about it and the person won't even know what im talking about...how do you report an issue straight to engineering?

[tongboy]

I wouldn't call about the SNR. Call about the slow data speeds. As long as your phone is unmodified stock they should be able to tell what site you are hitting for lte and should be able to fire off a network ticket. Are all you folks stating you have low SNR on the north side?

 

Sent from my HTCONE

 

 

[tongboy]

Im seeing the same thing. I get poor SNR on Evdo with strong signal strength, and almost identical download speeds as I see with LTE. 50k-200k.

SNR readings will be different values for evdo when compared to LTE. A 6 or a 7 SNR reading on Evdo is ok

 

Sent from my HTCONE

 

 

[Joeynach]

I wouldn't call about the SNR. Call about the slow data speeds. As long as your phone is unmodified stock they should be able to tell what site you are hitting for lte and should be able to fire off a network ticket. Are all you folks stating you have low SNR on the north side?

 

Sent from my HTCONE

I received a $15 credit.  Better than nothing, I guess they don't have to offer anything, but have been a customer for over a decade so its a nice gesture.  Did it all online with live chat.  Still Id rather pay full price and have killer LTE speeds all over this fine city.  Kid can dream.

[tongboy]

I received a $15 credit. Better than nothing, I guess they don't have to offer anything, but have been a customer for over a decade so its a nice gesture. Did it all online with live chat. Still Id rather pay full price and have killer LTE speeds all over this fine city. Kid can dream.

Did they put a network ticket in?

 

Sent from my HTCONE

 

 

[Joeynach]

Did they put a network ticket in?

 

Sent from my HTCONE

 Not with the Live Chat I just did, I think this was done via my communications with @SprintCares over Twitter the last week or so.

[tongboy]

One other thing you can do is send an email explaining the problems you have to dan@sprint.com. Although it's likely the people answering work in the same group as the people answering phones, they seem to have a lot more leeway to respond to concerns and dispatch field techs. I have sent a couple people to that address and all of them came back happy with the response.

 

Sent from my HTCONE

 

 

[Rawvega]

There's been confirmation of a certain device affecting multiple CDMA carriers and shitcanning towers which is prompting legal action by said CDMA carriers right now against this oem. 

 

You haven't elaborated on this subject, but I'm wondering if what you're describing could be related to this: http://teamuscellular.com/Forum/blog/2/entry-434-certain-device-blamed-for-network-issues/

[tongboy]

You haven't elaborated on this subject, but I'm wondering if what you're describing could be related to this: http://teamuscellular.com/Forum/blog/2/entry-434-certain-device-blamed-for-network-issues/

After reading that blog I still have no idea why the s3 would be causing these issues. Am I not reading something right? If it is, that is crazy.

 

Sent from my HTCONE

 

 

[Joeynach]

You haven't elaborated on this subject, but I'm wondering if what you're describing could be related to this: http://teamuscellular.com/Forum/blog/2/entry-434-certain-device-blamed-for-network-issues/

I don't see how all of a sudden in Sept/Oct 2013 the GS3 can be the culprit of network troubles in Chicago proper and only Chicago proper.  That phone came out 18 months ago and has since been replaced by its next generation GS4.  I haven't noticed any of these poor SNR or awful LTE speed issues until now so I don't see a logical connection to a phone thats been on the market for 18+ months already in all markets and areas of Chicago.

[Vince]

I don't see how all of a sudden in Sept/Oct 2013 the GS3 can be the culprit of network troubles in Chicago proper and only Chicago proper. That phone came out 18 months ago and has since been replaced by its next generation GS4. I haven't noticed any of these poor SNR or awful LTE speed issues until now so I don't see a logical connection to a phone thats been on the market for 18+ months already in all markets and areas of Chicago.

Although, there are probably tens of thousands of gs3's in Chicago. I still don't get how that could suddenly be the culprit. Also, if such a device was that kind of culprit, and the cell provider was hit with a multi-million dollar lawsuit, that device should be removed immediately, either by ein blacklist, or immediate return/exchange.

[drock2750]

It's not GS3s...just the timeline of events suggests that isn't a possibility.

[Joeynach]

Did they put a network ticket in?

 

Sent from my HTCONE

I can confirm they put a network ticket in, I spoke with an Admin further.  In the meantime, nothing has since change.  I am still seeing very strong LTE signal strength along with very low SNR values everywhere I go in this city.  The result is still the same, Dial up like download speeds in the 50-120K range on average, no matter what time of day.

[tongboy]

I can confirm they put a network ticket in, I spoke with an Admin further. In the meantime, nothing has since change. I am still seeing very strong LTE signal strength along with very low SNR values everywhere I go in this city. The result is still the same, Dial up like download speeds in the 50-120K range on average, no matter what time of day.

Did they give you the number? If they did you can call and get a status on when the tech is going to be dispatched and if they close or cancel the ticket and the problem still exists.

[Joeynach]

Did they give you the number? If they did you can call and get a status on when the tech is going to be dispatched and if they close or cancel the ticket and the problem still exists.

I did not, I just received a response from a Sprint Admin that they have created a ticket according to what I discussed with them on Twitter and a post I made similarly on the message board.

[gusherb]

I don't have a GS3 and experience LTE speed/signal issues. In fact I came on here to find a thread to post my findings from my run to the drug store in.

I was gonna say: you know LTE is overloaded when you have to switch it off and use EVDO to get a decent Internet connection.

 

I'm dying for the nexus 5 to come out so I can get some tri band awesomeness, which is starting to look like more of a necessity as time goes on due to PCS LTE overcrowding.

[Joeynach]

I don't have a GS3 and experience LTE speed/signal issues. In fact I came on here to find a thread to post my findings from my run to the drug store in.

I was gonna say: you know LTE is overloaded when you have to switch it off and use EVDO to get a decent Internet connection.

 

I'm dying for the nexus 5 to come out so I can get some tri band awesomeness, which is starting to look like more of a necessity as time goes on due to PCS LTE overcrowding.

I would say at this point the idea that LTE goodness is just over now in Chicago b/c of overcrowding, lack of capacity, or whatever you want to call it is really just a theory.  Its very hard to fathom that from early 2013 when LTE started lighting up in places like River North, Loop, Lincoln Park to now, just a half a year later, that the network is already bogged down and at capacity.  If that's true that makes this entire network rebuild and investment by Sprint and marketing dollars spent almost worthless.  I'm still of the mind that one of the experts on this board at some point will find the culprit of the LTE speed issues in Chicago that have surfaced in the past weeks.  It really doesn't make much sense that speeds are great great great then all of a sudden on Oct 1st a switch was flipped and they went to terrible.  That seems to follow the idea that there is something technical at play here.  And like I have pointed out previously there is something to be said to the constant weak SNR I am seeing all over this city now which is what others have speculated is why we see low LTE speeds with strong LTE signal.

 

And if it actually is overcrowding/lack of capacity already on their LTE network then we have a serious problem.  Because myself and many others are not going to want to hear that now we have to upgrade our devices, to ones that support 2500Mhz and 800Mhz LTE, (in the middle of our contracts) to actually get what Sprint has promised with NV and the new LTE network.  I will and I assume others will too, sooner move to a higher performing LTE network as a new customer than buy a new device (again) for several hundred dollars on another Sprint promise of better service.

[Vince]

I'll tell you right now, if T-Mobile functioned well deep in buildings, and outside if city limits, that's where the real deal is. Their speeds are incredible in Chicago. But I must say: after spending most of my evening in Christ hospital in oak lawn, the signal was incredible. There's a tower 3 blocks from the hospital and I has solid voice and 5mbps DEEP inside that emergency room. When the signal is strong, sprint performs well. Just has serious capacity issues in Chicago. Hopefully the spectrum purchase of USCC will alleviate that, as well as iPhone 5s and other multi-band devices unloading pcs lte. Overall, I'm semi-satisfied. No provider works everywhere. But yes, sub-3G speeds on LTE is a problem.

[gusherb]

 

I would say at this point the idea that LTE goodness is just over now in Chicago b/c of overcrowding, lack of capacity, or whatever you want to call it is really just a theory.  Its very hard to fathom that from early 2013 when LTE started lighting up in places like River North, Loop, Lincoln Park to now, just a half a year later, that the network is already bogged down and at capacity.  If that's true that makes this entire network rebuild and investment by Sprint and marketing dollars spent almost worthless.  I'm still of the mind that one of the experts on this board at some point will find the culprit of the LTE speed issues in Chicago that have surfaced in the past weeks.  It really doesn't make much sense that speeds are great great great then all of a sudden on Oct 1st a switch was flipped and they went to terrible.  That seems to follow the idea that there is something technical at play here.  And like I have pointed out previously there is something to be said to the constant weak SNR I am seeing all over this city now which is what others have speculated is why we see low LTE speeds with strong LTE signal.

 

And if it actually is overcrowding/lack of capacity already on their LTE network then we have a serious problem.  Because myself and many others are not going to want to hear that now we have to upgrade our devices, to ones that support 2500Mhz and 800Mhz LTE, (in the middle of our contracts) to actually get what Sprint has promised with NV and the new LTE network.  I will and I assume others will too, sooner move to a higher performing LTE network as a new customer than buy a new device (again) for several hundred dollars on another Sprint promise of better service.

 

 

It's low SNR, like you suggest. I can be a couple miles from an LTE site (in the suburbs) or a few city blocks (in Chicago) and get poor LTE speeds (phone displaying 2-3 bars on LTE), go within within sight of an LTE site and all the sudden LTE speeds skyrocket. IMO it's clearly not backhaul for sure, and whether it's overcrowding or not IDK, but low SNR seems to possibly point to that. 

 

It's also been going on a bit longer then just a few weeks. Perhaps people are just now starting to complain. I've noticed stuff going on since June/July at least, at first in Chicago itself. Now I'm starting to notice strange "flukes" where I live, in Northwest, IN. Almost like clockwork now, if I'm more then 1.5-2 miles from an LTE site (while still getting a good signal) I easily get poor speeds, and slow response/timeouts. It's reminiscent of the AT&T HSPA network I escaped last year in September (which I hear is worlds better now) 

 

All in all, it's still not terrible but it's not as consistent as when it first started. Whatever's going on Sprint definitely needs to keep moving like they already are, and perhaps figure out why the network is losing consistency and fix it. I know it can't be much more then a few tweaks here and there. 

Although one thing to keep in mind is that Sprint is pretty popular in Chicagoland, last I heard the number two carrier right behind AT&T.