Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[kyle_4thousand]

Yeah on B25 too, where is our additional LTE carrier from US Cellular?

Yeah! What is taking them so long? Considering this is probably the best short term fix for Chicago's capacity issues, I would have expected the second LTE carrier for B25 do be deployed market wide by now. Hopefully they are doing it on the same schedule as B26, but you never know...

[lilotimz]

Say hello to Ericsson network management!

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

[Vince]

Say hello to Ericsson network management!

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

We're samsung.

[Vince]

Yeah! What is taking them so long? Considering this is probably the best short term fix for Chicago's capacity issues, I would have expected the second LTE carrier for B25 do be deployed market wide by now. Hopefully they are doing it on the same schedule as B26, but you never know...

This is what I've been thinking all along. The timing is right. USCC shutdown here January 31st. If they planned on b26 being added to sites around spring, then it would be financially responsible of Sprint to only send a crew back to the towers once and install both simultaneously. Something has to be happening behind the scenes. We're a completely built out market, and the third largest city in the country (and way more built out than NYC or LA) with almost no traces of band 26 anywhere. I feel it coming soon, especially with someone catching 26 in the loop the other day.

[lilotimz]

We're samsung.

Ericsson manages the network after acceptance.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

[Vince]

Ericsson manages the network after acceptance.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

Oh, lord.

[mozamcrew]

We're samsung.

 

Samsung is the OEM, but Ericsson is the manager of Sprint's entire network, they aren't just an equipment vendor. Here's hoping Sprint will bring network management in house once the contract is up.

[Vince]

Annnnd with that conversation, look what I just picked up in my office 10 minutes ago. It was coming and going. Idling on 25, data use kicked it to 26. Now I can't get 26. It seems random, could be testing. Signal was almost identical dBm on 25 as it was 26 at this location. In my office, I've never once crossed 100kbps, and it took absolutely forever to check trailer locations on a mobile site. Tonight it was flying, so I checked. Voila! I think it's finally happening, friends! This was on the south side around 47th and Pulaski. I'm starting my shift now and will be driving around all night looking at field test (and the road). I'll report

back with any additional sightings.

[Joeynach]

Yeah! What is taking them so long? Considering this is probably the best short term fix for Chicago's capacity issues, I would have expected the second LTE carrier for B25 do be deployed market wide by now. Hopefully they are doing it on the same schedule as B26, but you never know...

Precisely, and I have been saying without significant number of Sprint users migrating to Tri-Band devices there is no capacity offloading, or demand spread out coming anytime soon.  In one of the premier forums there was a discussion on exactly this, and Robert even guesstimated Tri-Band adoption, "I saw the number of Triband device adoption rate in February was in 3% range. Even adding the number of iPhone 5s/5c's to that, it is likely around 5%.......It will likely not hit 20% until Q1 2015."

 

Chicago needs more LTE capacity, and we need it in the form of additional LTE carrier on B25.

[lilotimz]

Would totally not be surprised if the second PCS LTE carrier is not planned till "end of Summer" like several other markets who need it today. 

[kyle_4thousand]

Precisely, and I have been saying without significant number of Sprint users migrating to Tri-Band devices there is no capacity offloading, or demand spread out coming anytime soon.  In one of the premier forums there was a discussion on exactly this, and Robert even guesstimated Tri-Band adoption, "I saw the number of Triband device adoption rate in February was in 3% range. Even adding the number of iPhone 5s/5c's to that, it is likely around 5%.......It will likely not hit 20% until Q1 2015."

 

Chicago needs more LTE capacity, and we need it in the form of additional LTE carrier on B25.

 

Would totally not be surprised if the second PCS LTE carrier is not planned till "end of Summer" like several other markets who need it today. 

 

I really hope Masa knows this. They have the capability to deploy the second carrier and have for a few months now. In my humble opinion this should have priority over B26 & B41 integration due to the vast majority of sprint subscribers with B25 only devices. You can't have sub 1mbps speeds on a "brand new 4G LTE network" in completely built out markets. And even in partially completed markets a second carrier would do wonders to alleviate the uneven load on towers AS WELL AS overall capacity issues across the board. 

 

Looking forward to the next few years, mobile data consumption will increase at an exponential rate while adoption of tri-band capable devices will only increase at a slow, steady rate. Unless of course Sprint decides to give everyone free, no strings attached tri-band capable phones which is about as likely as big red and the death star offering unlimited data again.

 

Edit: If you ask me, Sprint should just slap on 2 additional B25 carriers where they have the spectrum. In 3 years, two 5x5 carriers will likely be just as constrained as the single carrier is in some markets today.

Edited April 8, 2014 by kyle_4thousand

[Vince]

Didn't find a single blip of band 26 elsewhere on the south side tonight. Only at my office. Went back there after my shift to see if earlier had been a fluke, and it was still partially on, or testing, or whatever you want to call it. I went inside where signal falls off and usually switches to 3G. Earlier, it was bouncing me back and forth between 25/26. This morning, the signal didn't matter. It just fell to 3G. Went outside and sat in my truck, and did airplane toggles, LTE/3G toggles for about 15 minutes and only latched on to 26 once. Pulled one 10mbps speed test in an area that has been <200kbps every day for 2 years. Also, band 25 is now consistently around 3mbps. Even inside the building b25 was great. Think there could be some down tilt/power adjustments/load balancing creating better all around speeds on this particular tower? Let's hope some big things get rolling in Chicago this week.

[tongboy]

I think we are starting to see lots of optimization happening. Hopefully this will help some of the areas that were experiencing extremely low SNR readings.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

In my humble opinion this should have priority over B26 & B41 integration due to the vast majority of sprint subscribers with B25 only devices.

You guys need to stop this either/or, or priority thinking. The two deployments are unrelated and handled by different contractors. They don't have to stop one to do another, or focus less on one to do more of another. They can do both at the same time. They are pretty much unrelated.

 

If Sprint is not proceeding with deploying a second carrier in Chicago, it may be because they can't yet. We just speculate that they can use the USCC spectrum. Like we are finding out with 800 in a lot of places, there are delays in using the spectrum that occur that are out of Sprint's control. None of us know the issues in Chicago preventing a second B25 LTE carrier being deployed on USCC spectrum.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

[mhammett]

Well, there is a ceiling that is imposed by back-end operations at Sprint or Ericsson that determine a maximum of simultaneous activities. Accounts payable, provisioning, management, etc.

 

I have no idea if that's the reason, but it does exist.

 

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[Joeynach]

Would totally not be surprised if the second PCS LTE carrier is not planned till "end of Summer" like several other markets who need it today. 

Nothing schedule wise surprises me at this point, but the dead silence and lack of rumors on the subject does.  When topics get trendy Robert or someone with their pulse on things usually get some sort of inside track info, but so far nothing on this subject.  Thats the strange part to me.

[Joeynach]

You guys need to stop this either/or, or priority thinking. The two deployments are unrelated and handled by different contractors. They don't have to stop one to do another, or focus less on one to do more of another. They can do both at the same time. They are pretty much unrelated.

 

If Sprint is not proceeding with deploying a second carrier in Chicago, it may be because they can't yet. We just speculate that they can use the USCC spectrum. Like we are finding out with 800 in a lot of places, there are delays in using the spectrum that occur that are out of Sprint's control. None of us know the issues in Chicago preventing a second B25 LTE carrier being deployed on USCC spectrum.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

This is Chicago, if Sprint wants to get the ball rolling they need to grease the right hands.

[ChiWestLoop]

No B26 trace in the Loop since last Friday....

[Vince]

No B26 trace in the Loop since last Friday....

I'm on day 3 of being able to grab b26 near 47th and Pulaski. It's hit or miss, but I can get it. It's strange because the speeds don't always change. It must be some kind of testing phase.

[Vince]

Big news: part of the south side just got band 26 cluster launched! At 9pm, my phone started going crazy. Fluctuating between no service, 1x, and LTE. Then it settled on b26 with absolutely fantastic speeds. It stayed on 26 for at least 30 minutes. Network management has me clamped on to it like a hungry pitbull on steak. I was connected from 40th and kedzie, north on kedzie to 55, and all the way down 55 north to the 94 east exit. I think it's happening, so if you're in the city, start checking engineering screens!

[saywhatman]

Big news: part of the south side just got band 26 cluster launched! At 9pm, my phone started going crazy. Fluctuating between no service, 1x, and LTE. Then it settled on b26 with absolutely fantastic speeds. It stayed on 26 for at least 30 minutes. Network management has me clamped on to it like a hungry pitbull on steak. I was connected from 40th and kedzie, north on kedzie to 55, and all the way down 55 north to the 94 east exit. I think it's happening, so if you're in the city, start checking engineering screens!

 

You got me excited about your South Side talk, but nothing here on the east side of 94. Looking forward to connecting to that cluster if I ever get out there!

[Vince]

You got me excited about your South Side talk, but nothing here on the east side of 94. Looking forward to connecting to that cluster if I ever get out there!

I drive the same areas every night at work, and it's all I check for. Testing appeared to have started Monday, and now several towers appear to be blasting band 26 now. I think it's going to start ramping up rather quickly. This is so awesome. I'm actually getting LTE speeds on LTE on my iPhone in Chicago. First time ever.

[always_learner]

I drive the same areas every night at work, and it's all I check for. Testing appeared to have started Monday, and now several towers appear to be blasting band 26 now. I think it's going to start ramping up rather quickly. This is so awesome. I'm actually getting LTE speeds on LTE on my iPhone in Chicago. First time ever.

Any estimates as far as how far each tower broadcasts the signal while still being usable? Also, can you give some numbers as far as speed tests?

 

Thanks

Edited April 10, 2014 by always_learner

[Dkoellerwx]

Any estimates as far as how far each tower broadcasts the signal while still being usable? Also, can you give some numbers as far as speed tests?

 

Thanks

Every site is different. Every time this is asked, the answer is the same. One block to 15 miles. Depends on geography, population density, and tower density.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

[Vince]

Any estimates as far as how far each tower broadcasts the signal while still being usable? Also, can you give some numbers as far as speed tests?

 

Thanks

It's hard to say as I was driving, and didn't really go anywhere where my signal was so bad that it kicked me over to 26. I was out in the open and the network just had me stuck there to give a better data experience. I crossed the paths of approximately 5 towers and was never more than a half mile from a tower, and saw an LTE signal of -64dbm which is the lowest I've ever seen (really strong signal). I only ran one speedtest, and it was roughly 11mbps/8-9mbps.