Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[gusherb]

You don't need another carrier card for another B25 carrier as it's all just software to enable another PCS LTE carrier. 

 

If that's the case they should've had it done yesterday! Time to get my whip out *whachaaa!* 

[Vince]

If that's the case they should've had it done yesterday! Time to get my whip out *whachaaa!*

Or the day after the shutdown. I swear someone said that adding another PCS carrier required another card to make the equipment broadcast that spectrum

 

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[Vince]

I've had no data, zero, zilch, for the last 30 minutes. Just got it back. From around midway, up 55, down 94 to 47th st. Just got it back. I was sitting still for 10 minutes with my phone in its dash holder. Saw some wild dBm fluctuations. Wonder what's going on.

[tongboy]

This second carrier add should move through the area fairly quickly. There isn't a lot of work to be done. Carrier card at most. When I was using data in the area it was 20mbps or over. I don't like speedtest and find the Internet Speed Meter app, that monitors and reports bandwidth while I do other things like browsing or other data tasks, gives me a much better idea about what speeds I am experiencing.

[S4GRU]

One of the reports I get infrequently includes EVDO carrier adds to sites. Hopefully it will include B25 carrier adds too. I'll watch it closely to see if anything appears in Chicago next week.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[Vince]

One of the reports I get infrequently includes EVDO carrier adds to sites. Hopefully it will include B25 carrier adds too. I'll watch it closely to see if anything appears in Chicago next week.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

Robert, since the USCC spectrum addition isn't really part of network vision or s4gru, are we free to openly discuss it here, as well as exact locations that it is spotted (minus tower id's)?

[Joeynach]

I also latched onto the uscc spectrum, this was in northeast Naperville bordering lisle, forgot to run a speed test doh...

I have signal check pro too, but I don't see the UCF and DCF data on the LTE section on mine like you do.  What gives?

[tongboy]

I have signal check pro too, but I don't see the UCF and DCF data on the LTE section on mine like you do. What gives?

I believe mikejeep found a way to get that information on HTC phones only.

[Vince]

Well, uscc spectrum appears to have been just turned on in the south suburbs. I'm on it constantly. Speeds are incredible. First discovered at 127th and ridgeland in palos heights. So awesome. I'm at a bar 2 miles from where I discovered it. Still got it. Gci is 03. Is that normal?

 

 

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[Vince]

I'm here with 3 other sprint customers. IPhone 5s, note 3, s4 mini are all on old spectrum. Only my Nexus is parked on it. I wonder what that's all about? All sprint LTE phones should get it, right?

 

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[lilotimz]

I'm here with 3 other sprint customers. IPhone 5s, note 3, s4 mini are all on old spectrum. Only my Nexus is parked on it. I wonder what that's all about? All sprint LTE phones should get it, right?

 

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Remember the network decides what you're connected to. Consider yourself lucky!

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[tongboy]

Well, uscc spectrum appears to have been just turned on in the south suburbs. I'm on it constantly. Speeds are incredible. First discovered at 127th and ridgeland in palos heights. So awesome. I'm at a bar 2 miles from where I discovered it. Still got it. Gci is 03. Is that normal?

 

 

 

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I'm not sure we have seen it enough to know if the gci method works, but the times I have received LTE on old uscc spectrum the last two gci digits were 03 04 or 05. I imagine it could go even higher if other carriers on different bands were added.

[kyle_4thousand]

Well, uscc spectrum appears to have been just turned on in the south suburbs. I'm on it constantly. Speeds are incredible. First discovered at 127th and ridgeland in palos heights. So awesome. I'm at a bar 2 miles from where I discovered it. Still got it. Gci is 03. Is that normal?

 

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This is awesome. With the additional USCC carrier(s?) deployed in addition to the B26 & B41 rollout I think Sprint will be well on its way to building the reputation we know they are capable of here in Chicago. I'm looking forward to the next root metrics report for Sprint that takes into account all the improvements they have been making this spring. Keep it up Sprint!!

 

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[drock2750]

I was on USCC spectrum at clark and diversey yesterday according to LTE engineering, but for some reason Signalcheck does not display up and downlink freqs for the new spectrum, only for the old. Those numbers disappear whenever I am connected to USCC spectrum and reappear when I'm back on the old carrier. Outside Wrigley the new carrier appeared unavailable, as speeds were very low on the old carrier with the cubs game going on. I should think that we'll see a lot more of this new carrier when the workweek begins for the network engineers. I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of Sprint LTE devices are PCS only, so this new carrier will make a huge difference for most users. 

 

As an aside, does anybody have any info on the remaining 7% of towers without LTE? Are these likely to have very complicated problems at the site?

[Vince]

As of now, any tower without LTE in Chicago are problematic. Simple as that. Plan b could always be microwave, but band 26 will fill those holes. As far as uscc spectrum, just look for those up/download channels in my screen shot, or (as it appears as of now) gci will be 03/04/05 where g block 25 is 00/01/02 and 26 is 9/a/b (I believe)

 

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[tongboy]

As of now, any tower without LTE in Chicago are problematic. Simple as that. Plan b could always be microwave,

The majority of towers left likely need more than just backhaul. They likely have more fundamental issues like lease problems or tower engineering problems. Most of them are gmo only at this point.

 

Robert mentioned about half a year ago that sprint had started asking for bids to convert the gmo towers to full bid. If that happened and bids were excepted we should start to see those happen soon, possibly with NV 2.0 upgrades.

[Vince]

The majority of towers left likely need more than just backhaul. They likely have more fundamental issues like lease problems or tower engineering problems. Most of them are gmo only at this point.

 

Robert mentioned about half a year ago that sprint had started asking for bids to convert the gmo towers to full bid. If that happened and bids were excepted we should start to see those happen soon, possibly with NV 2.0 upgrades.

Sprint is 100% done with builds in this market. Everything left is only backhaul related.

 

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[tongboy]

Sprint is 100% done with builds in this market. Everything left is only backhaul related.

 

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100 percent done with sites that were supposed to be full builds. I think some gmo sites remain. I work next to one. It was a former synergy site. It is the site right by Algonquin and Roselle Rd.

[gusherb]

Well, uscc spectrum appears to have been just turned on in the south suburbs. I'm on it constantly. Speeds are incredible. First discovered at 127th and ridgeland in palos heights. So awesome. I'm at a bar 2 miles from where I discovered it. Still got it. Gci is 03. Is that normal?

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

This is really cool. My cousin was just telling me how a lot of people she knew on the southside and south suburbs had no service a lot of the day yesterday. I suspected something big was going on if there were outages, and since I was hearing about USCC spectrum being sighted I suspected that could've been it.

[Vince]

This is really cool. My cousin was just telling me how a lot of people she knew on the southside and south suburbs had no service a lot of the day yesterday. I suspected something big was going on if there were outages, and since I was hearing about USCC spectrum being sighted I suspected that could've been it.

I had no data for a half hour on Friday night. There's a mixture of band 26/uscc spectrum implementation happening now. Good things (finally) happening in Chicago.

 

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[gusherb]

I had no data for a half hour on Friday night. There's a mixture of band 26/uscc spectrum implementation happening now. Good things (finally) happening in Chicago.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Yeah and as I'm right about to leave town to an area that still has NO Sprint LTE anywhere near it for a month or so. This is why I've been thinking about switching to one of the Big Two but sprint EVDO in town and Verizon roaming everywhere else should suffice. Plus I have att and VZW SIM cards for my iPad Air.

 

I hope when I come back band 26 is nearly everywhere as well as the second PCS LTE carrier! If they can get these band 25 issues nipped I'll be able to hold off on a tri-band phone for awhile, which is what I want to do because I don't trust that the iphone 6, getting a redesign as big as it is will be without major teething issues for the first few months.

[mhammett]

You're coming to DeKalb? ;-)

 

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[S4GRU]

Robert, since the USCC spectrum addition isn't really part of network vision or s4gru, are we free to openly discuss it here, as well as exact locations that it is spotted (minus tower id's)?

Yes. We currently aren't releasing any 2nd carrier deployment info. You are free to discuss in any forum.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

[Joeynach]

Yeah and as I'm right about to leave town to an area that still has NO Sprint LTE anywhere near it for a month or so. This is why I've been thinking about switching to one of the Big Two but sprint EVDO in town and Verizon roaming everywhere else should suffice. Plus I have att and VZW SIM cards for my iPad Air.

 

I hope when I come back band 26 is nearly everywhere as well as the second PCS LTE carrier! If they can get these band 25 issues nipped I'll be able to hold off on a tri-band phone for awhile, which is what I want to do because I don't trust that the iphone 6, getting a redesign as big as it is will be without major teething issues for the first few months.

What part of NW Indiana is still w/o LTE?  Like LaPorte?

[gusherb]

What part of NW Indiana is still w/o LTE? Like LaPorte?

Nowhere I go that isn't lit up, only a handful of sites left for them. What my problem is around here is the PCS LTE doesn't reach far enough, each site is like an LTE island that only reaches for about a mile. I wish they'd get LTE 800 up and running around here sooner then later, I'm having too many thoughts about cheating! Haha.

 

Actually what I was really referring to was driving out west to Southwest Colorado. No LTE anywhere near that area.