Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[nexgencpu]

I know this doesn't quite solve the issues you guys are having, but looks like a triband device would do wonders in Chicago! 

 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47521590&postcount=11

[Vince]

I know this doesn't quite solve the issues you guys are having, but looks like a triband device would do wonders in Chicago!

 

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47521590&postcount=11

Yeah there's a good amount of live 41 sites here.

[drock2750]

I called customer care to complain today, and the rep stated that there weren't any know issues in the Chicago area. I was expecting a canned response along the lines of "we're working on the issue", but it seems odd that such a big problem isn't even in the system as a known issue for the reps to calm people down. It's almost like SNR related complaints are being routed straight into the recycle bin. I've switched off LTE on my Evo, and am enjoying superior performance on Evdo. Sprint could not be more opaque in their response to this SNR fiasco. As a tech nerd, I'm totally willing to put up with issues...I just like to know what's going on. Has it been confirmed by any other members that this issue is confined to the Chicago market? 

[Rocket87]

I called customer care to complain today, and the rep stated that there weren't any know issues in the Chicago area. I was expecting a canned response along the lines of "we're working on the issue", but it seems odd that such a big problem isn't even in the system as a known issue for the reps to calm people down. It's almost like SNR related complaints are being routed straight into the recycle bin. I've switched off LTE on my Evo, and am enjoying superior performance on Evdo. Sprint could not be more opaque in their response to this SNR fiasco. As a tech nerd, I'm totally willing to put up with issues...I just like to know what's going on. Has it been confirmed by any other members that this issue is confined to the Chicago market?

I promise you no care rep or store rep knows what snr is. We don't get trained on that and while it sucks that sprint does not want reps to focus on. Care reps are taught to fix bill issues and answer basic questions. In store reps are taught a sales process and basic details on devices. I've learned a lot more from here and other tech sites then i've learned from sprint.

 

And trouble tickets are never very descriptive of the issue,or at least not the ones reps see. The usual ones i see are 1x or evdo down, or cell site is completely out. That's about as in depth as they get in the system reps use to pull up tower info.

 

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk

[Joeynach]

Was at the Bears game today, more Sprint fail.  Don't let that new 3G/800/4G pin ontop of solider field on the NV sites complete map fool you.  The service remained inoperable, data was non existent, signal disappears indoors (inside of the concourses and bathrooms).  I guess there was some new DAS system installed but it does nothing for Sprint cellular services.  All I saw different was a VZW WiFi network (that I couldn't access) and the same old Boingo network for $7.95, which couldn't even load the buy page correctly......no thanks.

 

Same issues as before, about 80% of the time you don't even get a 3G/4G icon, essentially no connection - no service.  When it did connect for a few minutes here or a few minutes there speeds were painfully slow, were talking 3-5 minutes to refresh FB or NFL Mobile scores.  Soldier Field and Museum Campus are an absolute dead zone for Sprint, pre and post NV.  How they don't park a van in the area with extra cell receptors just to provide any sort of working service in such a key part of a key city at this point is beyond me. 

[Joeynach]

I called customer care to complain today, and the rep stated that there weren't any know issues in the Chicago area. I was expecting a canned response along the lines of "we're working on the issue", but it seems odd that such a big problem isn't even in the system as a known issue for the reps to calm people down. It's almost like SNR related complaints are being routed straight into the recycle bin. I've switched off LTE on my Evo, and am enjoying superior performance on Evdo. Sprint could not be more opaque in their response to this SNR fiasco. As a tech nerd, I'm totally willing to put up with issues...I just like to know what's going on. Has it been confirmed by any other members that this issue is confined to the Chicago market? 

This is about as far as I have gotten in terms of an acknowledgement from anyone at Sprint that there are performance issues with LTE in Chicago.

 

@sprintcare Still no resolution or new info to now 6 weeks of degraded LTE speeds in & around #Chicago? Plz no tower checks, its city wide.

@Joeynach We are seeing some varying speeds, that are being addressed, and with Sprint Spark launching there speeds will increase!*NRA

[Fraydog]

Lent me echo those who have said this isn't a complaint forum. We are thoroughly unequipped to handle any of those.

 

If you need faster LTE and you aren't willing to wait you can look at the other three LTE providers in Chicago and see what speeds you get, I guess.

[Joeynach]

Lent me echo those who have said this isn't a complaint forum. We are thoroughly unequipped to handle any of those.

 

If you need faster LTE and you aren't willing to wait you can look at the other three LTE providers in Chicago and see what speeds you get, I guess.

This is S4GRU, I agree it shouldn't be a complaint forum, we have so many smart people, Sprint insiders, and tech geniuses that the amount of insight we take away here should prevent this.  However, the fact remains the LTE network, the brand new one we all waited for, paid for, upgraded our devices for......has 100% crashed and burned now over the last two months, and without a real explanation.  This should be the place for that explanation.  I think we need some more attention here, from Mods, from our S4GRU article writers.  We need some real research and real attention......a write up from Robert, a real investigation by our smartest folks with the greatest resources.  We need to get to the bottom of this!

[rmorrisonva]

It's informative to see the various issues everyone is encountering, however, keep in mind there are markets far less complete than yours with plenty of other subs waiting for the LTE network to even go live, many of these folks have LTE devices too.

 

For all the "we paid for" "we were promised" etc re: LTE service and NV it still stands to reason a network upgrade as expansive and complex as NV is going to have hiccups. Some will be worse than others, for all the problems here I suggest folks take a look at what G2 and Nexus 5 (and any triband device) users are experiencing. It's not helpful to come on here and vent over and over about the same thing, observations are helpful to a point, but hammering over and over again on the same problem is not going to get it fixed faster. That said, there are plenty of other issues out there, this is not the only one.

 

Like fraydog says, if you aren't OK with the issues a major network upgrade like NV can bring to the table (both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE) then maybe Sprint's network is not for you at this particular moment in time.

[mark]

...some news here: http://gigaom.com/2013/11/19/testing-sprints-new-spark-network-in-nyc/

 

 

Interesting links and Spark in CHI

[WiWavelength]

I'll have to see if OET has published the rated antenna gain.

Hah, no, I'm eyeing the GS5 for my next phone. Both HTC and Samsung have things that annoy me, but thus far my GS3 annoys me less than my EVOLTE.

 

I'm curious as to why the N5 is better. My phone actually has a negative antenna gain. NEGATIVE?!

 

The FCC OET authorization filings sometimes do include antenna gain, but they are not required to do so.  The proof is in the pudding, which comes from ERP, EIRP, or conducted power.

 

That said, if you want the best antennas in a smartphone -- forget HTC, Samsung, and even LG.  You want the *mhammett* smartphone.  It may not look pretty, but it has positive antenna gain out the wazoo.

 

 

In all seriousness, though, that is just the way it is.  Antenna gain is diminishing with aesthetics.  Airlink robustness is diminishing with data efficiency.  

 

AJ

[mhammett]

The FCC OET authorization filings sometimes do include antenna gain, but they are not required to do so.  The proof is in the pudding, which comes from ERP, EIRP, or conducted power.

 

That said, if you want the best antennas in a smartphone -- forget HTC, Samsung, and even LG.  You want the *mhammett* smartphone.  It may not look pretty, but it has positive antenna gain out the wazoo.

 

 

In all seriousness, though, that is just the way it is.  Antenna gain is diminishing with aesthetics.  Airlink robustness is diminishing with data efficiency.  

 

AJ

 

I have no problem using a phone with an external antenna.

 

Yeah, not all filings have them, but maybe I'll get lucky.

 

Antenna gain is better than an equal increase in transmitter power in most situations. Gain is two-directional whereas transmitter power is only one (and uses more battery). I'm not sure as to what a practical limit would be on a mobile device, due to ever changing polarizations. In my fixed world: more, more more! The antenna should never be pointed 45* or 90* off of the sector.

 

We don't have a choice in diminishing robustness for increasing efficiency, but we do have a choice in antenna gain at the expense of aesthetics.

[Joeynach]

It's informative to see the various issues everyone is encountering, however, keep in mind there are markets far less complete than yours with plenty of other subs waiting for the LTE network to even go live, many of these folks have LTE devices too.

If LTE performance degradation is an issue after just 6-10 months of full deployment in Chicago, it will be an issue in other markets as well in the future as their deployment ramps up.  Getting to the root of the issue be it, capacity, spectrum, interference, whatever is important to the Sprint community, not just Chicago users.  If it happens here, it will happen somewhere else.

[ChiWestLoop]

Just wanted to inform that I was driving back from the Loop this morning at around 8:00am and I ran a speedtest on the corner of Randolph and Monroe. The results were around 6MB download and 4MB upload. I wish I had an app that would pinpoint what antenna I was connecting to at the time.

[nexgencpu]

If LTE performance degradation is an issue after just 6-10 months of full deployment in Chicago, it will be an issue in other markets as well in the future as their deployment ramps up.  Getting to the root of the issue be it, capacity, spectrum, interference, whatever is important to the Sprint community, not just Chicago users.  If it happens here, it will happen somewhere else.

I don't believe this will hold true, just for the simple fact that once other markets become more mature and all devices are triband heavy traffic on 1900 will be alleviated, as I've noticed on 3G here in NYC. I have also seen the speeds level off closer to 5-8mb/sec instead of the usual 20mb/sec+ as well. 

[Joeynach]

I don't believe this will hold true, just for the simple fact that once other markets become more mature and all devices are triband heavy traffic on 1900 will be alleviated, as I've noticed on 3G here in NYC

So you are implying Chicago's LTE speed troubles are a result of over-crowding/under capacity/lack of spectrum?

[nexgencpu]

So you are implying Chicago's LTE speed troubles are a result of over-crowding/under capacity/lack of spectrum?

If Verizon ran into this issue in the heart of NYC, with 10x10 spectrum (people barely hit 1mb/sec) I dont see how sprint could avoid the inevitable with 5x5. Maybe the iphone 5s/c selling really well did not help the situation at all, and could explain the sudden drop in speed.

[nexgencpu]

Here are some examples of what I speak off..

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1020213

 

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1003169

[Joeynach]

If Verizon ran into this issue in the heart of NYC, with 10x10 spectrum (people barely hit 1mb/sec) I dont see how sprint could avoid the inevitable with 5x5. Maybe the iphone 5s/c selling really well did not help the situation at all, and could explain the sudden drop in speed.

Could be, but don't forget the timing coincidence that these performance and speed issues correlated exactly to when TMobile rolled out and ballz to wall with their LTE deployment (Sept 2013).....on the neighboring 1900 PCS spectrum block to Sprint's.

[lilotimz]

Could be, but don't forget the timing coincidence that these performance and speed issues correlated exactly to when TMobile rolled out and ballz to wall with their LTE deployment (Sept 2013).....on the neighboring 1900 PCS spectrum block to Sprint's.

 

As I said before, Tmobile is rolling on LTE on AWS 1700/2100 and not LTE on PCS 1900 B2. What they are rolling out on PCS are HSPA+ and DC-HSPA+. 

 

Such widespread and high SNR points at external interference issues from adjacent frequencies so they might still be at fault. 

[nexgencpu]

Could be, but don't forget the timing coincidence that these performance and speed issues correlated exactly to when TMobile rolled out and ballz to wall with their LTE deployment (Sept 2013).....on the neighboring 1900 PCS spectrum block to Sprint's.

So maybe the perfect storm, that coinciding with the release of the new iphone. My advice is sell your GS3, and grab a tri band device, Chicago has extensive B41 deployed plus B26 should be around the corner.

[Joeynach]

Here are some examples of what I speak off..

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1020213

 

https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1003169

Yep, thats basically what we are seeing here, although in my experience Sprint's problems aren't limited to just downtown or the Loop.  I have the same degraded LTE speed throughout most of the city, though its defiantly worse downtown, were talking like what the VZW users see, like 10-50K downtown during the business day, in other neighborhoods maybe like 100-300K is pretty consistent all day everyday.  I still would love if the VZW folks would check their SNR with SignalCheck App to confirm if spectrum/capacity issues are related to weak SNR (high interference) like we have all noticed in this forum.

[nexgencpu]

Yep, thats basically what we are seeing here, although in my experience Sprint's problems aren't limited to just downtown or the Loop.  I have the same degraded LTE speed throughout most of the city, though its defiantly worse downtown, were talking like what the VZW users see, like 10-50K downtown during the business day, in other neighborhoods maybe like 100-300K is pretty consistent all day everyday.  I still would love if the VZW folks would check their SNR with SignalCheck App to confirm if spectrum/capacity issues are related to weak SNR (high interference) like we have all noticed in this forum.

The one thing I can tell you about SNR here in NYC, that speeds correlated almost 1 to 1 with SNR, and it fluctuated wildly on my HTC One. After I got my Nexus 5, that number was solidly sitting at 30, and never changed, probably due to either the way the new Triband radios work or signal check pro not properly reporting the numbers. But unfortunately after the latest update of Signal check that reading is no longer being displayed on my N5. 

[Joeynach]

So maybe the perfect storm, that coinciding with the release of the new iphone. My advice is sell your GS3, and grab a tri band device, Chicago has extensive B41 deployed plus B26 should be around the corner.

$549 is required to access this un-congested LTE network with a LG G2, $449 for a Nexus 5.  I don't know about you but thats not even a remotely possible situation for me.  Sure if you happen to have the stars align and have a contract renewal coming, you can grab a G2 or Nexus 5 for less than $100 on a re-up.  But how many folks have no problem spending $500 at will for a phone just to access the better LTE than they have now, or have an expiring contract right now to get the tri band phones at an affordable price based on a re-up?

[Joeynach]

The one thing I can tell you about SNR here in NYC, that speeds correlated almost 1 to 1 with SNR, and it fluctuated wildly on my HTC One. After I got my Nexus 5, that number was solidly sitting at 30, and never changed, probably due to either the way the new Triband radios work or signal check pro not properly reporting the numbers. But unfortunately after the latest update of Signal check that reading is no longer being displayed on my N5. 

I have seen that in other forums as well, there is a problem with Signal Check and the SNR it displays with the N5.  The 30 it shows is a constant error.  Im sure they will update the App sometime soon.