Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[AMD64]

That map looks widespread. I haven't had a single issue. Weird.

searching for service or 3G since Friday

[Vince]

searching for service or 3G since Friday

Actually, I take my comment back. I've had several "no service" or "searching..." On my phone on Friday. It wasn't for long, but it was strange, especially being on the Dan Ryan next to Sox park.

[gnoj]

Service is great recently with all this band 41 firing up. It's nice getting 30+Mbps during the day in many places. Even in the city. We're getting there. My biggest gripe is still the lack of band 26 optimization and the the failure to switch bands properly. I still tend to fall to 3G when losing signal every single time which is annoying because there's band 26 in these areas. Airplane toggling will put me on a strong 26 signal. Why can't I fall to that instead of 3G?

Do you or anyone else happen to know whether they've finished optimizing B26 around Barrington? A friend there is getting the Note 4 tomorrow (replacing the Note 3), and I'd like to know if the signal he'll have is the best it's going to get. His property is in a fringe area near the center of three sites where currently nothing but 1x800 works reliably inside.

[Vince]

Do you or anyone else happen to know whether they've finished optimizing B26 around Barrington? A friend there is getting the Note 4 tomorrow (replacing the Note 3), and I'd like to know if the signal he'll have is the best it's going to get. His property is in a fringe area near the center of three sites where currently nothing but 1x800 works reliably inside.

I don't think we'll officially ever know. It just has to be from your own observances. I know that in the areas I frequent, signal levels on band 26 are about the same as when they first came online. Band 26 appeared in this area around March-ish so it's been 6 months. And being such a large market, we should be due for optimization crews if it hasn't already started.

[kyle_4thousand]

Do you or anyone else happen to know whether they've finished optimizing B26 around Barrington? A friend there is getting the Note 4 tomorrow (replacing the Note 3), and I'd like to know if the signal he'll have is the best it's going to get. His property is in a fringe area near the center of three sites where currently nothing but 1x800 works reliably inside.

I'm pretty certain it has been optimized. It's been live for about 4 months give or take and lately my signal has never been better. I live 10 minutes from Barrington and frequent the area just about daily.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 on the Now Network

[Cubbiefan82]

I wouldn't say the whole market has been optimized, yet I know some areas have. There was areas that I use to drive in, that I use to see 3g all the time and it is now band 26. I do believe that they have a lot of sites at the same power as when they turned them on, I know some areas could use stronger signal and band 26 could provide better coverage with stronger power levels. Give it time, it will only get better with time

[bucdenny]

You guys are lucky to get B26.  In San Diego, many outdoor areas drop to 3G.  Keyword "outdoor".  These areas are surrounded by live 4G sites.  I am sporting iPhone 6 and HTC M8 which are not the phones having issues.  Our B25 are not optimized and its been over 1 year since these 3G area's had already gotten 4G surrounding sites.

[gnoj]

I don't think we'll officially ever know. It just has to be from your own observances. I know that in the areas I frequent, signal levels on band 26 are about the same as when they first came online. Band 26 appeared in this area around March-ish so it's been 6 months. And being such a large market, we should be due for optimization crews if it hasn't already started.

Yea, I know we'll unfortunately probably never see anything resembling an "acceptance report" for B26 optimization, but I'm always eager to hear how people's B26 coverage has changed over time, if at all.

 

I'm pretty certain it has been optimized. It's been live for about 4 months give or take and lately my signal has never been better. I live 10 minutes from Barrington and frequent the area just about daily.

Excellent, this is what I was hoping to hear! Thanks for your report. I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll finally have usable data throughout the house, with no missed calls/eCSFB issues due to the potentially weak signal. Even 1-2 Mb/s would be great.

 

Also, hopefully the network will do its job and steer the phone directly to 1x800 rather than repeatedly trying to use the -105 dBm 1x1900 signal for calls. Many things could go wrong, but hopefully none do.

[Dkoellerwx]

Yea, I know we'll unfortunately probably never see anything resembling an "acceptance report" for B26 optimization, but I'm always eager to hear how people's B26 coverage has changed over time, if at all.

 

 

Excellent, this is what I was hoping to hear! Thanks for your report. I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll finally have usable data throughout the house, with no missed calls/eCSFB issues due to the potentially weak signal. Even 1-2 Mb/s would be great.

 

Also, hopefully the network will do its job and steer the phone directly to 1x800 rather than repeatedly trying to use the -105 dBm 1x1900 signal for calls. Many things could go wrong, but hopefully none do.

Is WiFi calling a possibility? Works great, especially if you do not have Google Voice integration (though most of those kinks have been worked out I think). With GV integration, there's the additional option of WiFi calling via the Hangouts Dialer.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[gnoj]

Is WiFi calling a possibility? Works great, especially if you do not have Google Voice integration (though most of those kinks have been worked out I think). With GV integration, there's the additional option of WiFi calling via the Hangouts Dialer.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

I don't think he uses GV. I forgot about WiFi calling- I'll be sure to check that he's enabled that, especially if the B26 signal falls below -116 or so, at which point I heard it gets unreliable (or used to) for receiving calls. Does HD voice work with WiFi calling?

[Vince]

Yea, I know we'll unfortunately probably never see anything resembling an "acceptance report" for B26 optimization, but I'm always eager to hear how people's B26 coverage has changed over time, if at all.

 

Well, my thoughts about band 26 are, "well, it's there, and I'll connect as soon as it rescans out of 3G." It helps, and it's definitely better than nothing. Last night, I had to explain to my brother and his fiancé (Sprint iPhone 5c customers) that they're only on 3G in this bar because their phones were in their pocket. I told them to leave it on the table for a few minutes, or airplane toggle (band 26 was strong at this location, and providing an excellent 6/3mbps connection inside). They were upset because they never had to "airplane toggle" with AT&T. It's the whole "pocket 3G" issue that plagues Sprint and their image. AT&T or t-mobile will fall back to "4G" giving a false perception that they're still on a fast connection.

[gnoj]

Well, my thoughts about band 26 are, "well, it's there, and I'll connect as soon as it rescans out of 3G." It helps, and it's definitely better than nothing. Last night, I had to explain to my brother and his fiancé (Sprint iPhone 5c customers) that they're only on 3G in this bar because their phones were in their pocket.

Yea, that definitely sounds annoying. That "pocket 3G" issue is why I usually leave my phone in the cup holder in the car.

 

Whether you meant 1x(1900) or Ev-DO when you say 3G, Band 26 should definitely work beyond both. Hopefully that will be addressed by optimization.

[Vince]

Yea, that definitely sounds annoying. That "pocket 3G" issue is why I usually leave my phone in the cup holder in the car.

 

Whether you meant 1x(1900) or Ev-DO when you say 3G, Band 26 should definitely work beyond both. Hopefully that will be addressed by optimization.

I would hope cellular signals would be able to penetrate denim.

[Dkoellerwx]

I would hope cellular signals would be able to penetrate denim.

But your body? Not so much.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Dkoellerwx]

I don't think he uses GV. I forgot about WiFi calling- I'll be sure to check that he's enabled that, especially if the B26 signal falls below -116 or so, at which point I heard it gets unreliable (or used to) for receiving calls. Does HD voice work with WiFi calling?

I don't think it's HD voice, but it's clearer than any regular call I make. (No HD voice here due to GV integration. The one setback that hasn't been fixed yet).

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[gnoj]

I don't think it's HD voice, but it's clearer than any regular call I make. (No HD voice here due to GV integration. The one setback that hasn't been fixed yet).

Cool. The only caveat then would be the lack of in-call handover between WiFi and the macro network, like T-Mobile is able to do. Baby steps

[ChiWestLoop]

I have a question for people in the Naperville area. How's the triband working in Naperville? I have a friend with an iPhone 5 who lives in Naperville and she's not happy about the Sprint LTE service in her area. I explained her that her phone only catches band 25 and that with the iphone 6 she will be able to connect to band 26 and 41 as well and she may have a much better experience.

[Vince]

13/9mbps at Dearborn and Jackson in front of the federal building. Clearwire band 41. Prime hours down here.

 

Edit: and 3/3mbps on band 26 absolutely buried in this building on the 11th floor. Good job, Sprint. I haven't been in the loop in months.

[bitslizer]

I have a question for people in the Naperville area. How's the triband working in Naperville? I have a friend with an iPhone 5 who lives in Naperville and she's not happy about the Sprint LTE service in her area. I explained her that her phone only catches band 25 and that with the iphone 6 she will be able to connect to band 26 and 41 as well and she may have a much better experience.

 

Naperville is hit and miss, B26 is widespread, I've also seen USCC b25 around Naperville but B41 is not available in most area, Rt 59 area has it, but the area bracket by Modaff to the west 55th/Maple to the north, Naper Blvd to the East and where Weber/Washington meet to the south area doesn't have B41 coverage.  You can see the B41 coverage using Sprint's coverage tool, if you zoom in enough (4th cloesest zoom with street level detail) you will see the "Turbo" shaded area that's B41.

 

Why is she not happy with the service? I know the speed on B25/B26 arent great, but they usually work pretty well

Edited October 20, 2014 by bitslizer

[Dkoellerwx]

Naperville is hit and miss, B26 is widespread, I've also seen USCC b25 around Naperville but B41 is not available in most area, Rt 59 area has it, but the area bracket by Modaff to the west 55th/Maple to the north, Naper Blvd to the East and where Weber/Washington meet to the south area doesn't have B41 coverage. You can see the B41 coverage using Sprint's coverage tool, if you zoom in enough (4th cloesest zoom with street level detail) you will see the "Turbo" shaded area that's B41.

 

Why is she not happy with the service? I know the speed on B25/B26 arent great, but they usually work pretty well

B41 will be more widespread in Naperville soon.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[AMD64]

Actually, I take my comment back. I've had several "no service" or "searching..." On my phone on Friday. It wasn't for long, but it was strange, especially being on the Dan Ryan next to Sox park.

I drove by 2 towers and the single was strong (full bars) came home and back to the same issue. I'm not even 3 miles away from it.

[S4GRU]

Naperville is hit and miss, B26 is widespread, I've also seen USCC b25 around Naperville but B41 is not available in most area, Rt 59 area has it, but the area bracket by Modaff to the west 55th/Maple to the north, Naper Blvd to the East and where Weber/Washington meet to the south area doesn't have B41 coverage.  You can see the B41 coverage using Sprint's coverage tool, if you zoom in enough (4th cloesest zoom with street level detail) you will see the "Turbo" shaded area that's B41.

 

Why is she not happy with the service? I know the speed on B25/B26 arent great, but they usually work pretty well

 

The iPhone 5 is Band 25 only.  So just having access to Band 26 alone would make Naperville a pretty good experience.  And even though Band 41 is not everywhere, where it is accessible, it would be great.

 

Based on our information, Naperville should be fully covered with Band 25 and Band 26 and half covered with Band 41, with more Band 41 coming online every few weeks.  That should make Naperville better than 50% of the Sprint network, in general.

[bitslizer]

B41 will be more widespread in Naperville soon.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

Is that tasty morsel from premier?  Alas I don't have enough $ to make that leap

[gnoj]

I'm pretty certain it has been optimized...

Do you still experience the aforementioned "pocket 3G" issue? If not, under what circumstances, if any, do you lose B26?

 

In your experience, what would you say is the typical dB difference in the same location between B25 & B26?

 

Can you affirm that B26 from what appears to be a fully optimized site exceeds the coverage of all but 1x800, including Ev-DO?

 

Do you tend to park on B25 in that area and only switch to B26 during an active data session when both of those bands are available (assuming B41 is not also available)?

 

Too many questions?

[kyle_4thousand]

Do you still experience the aforementioned "pocket 3G" issue? If not, under what circumstances, if any, do you lose B26?

 

In your experience, what would you say is the typical dB difference in the same location between B25 & B26?

 

Can you affirm that B26 from what appears to be a fully optimized site exceeds the coverage of all but 1x800, including Ev-DO?

 

Do you tend to park on B25 in that area and only switch to B26 during an active data session when both of those bands are available (assuming B41 is not also available)?

 

Too many questions?

 

Do you still experience the aforementioned "pocket 3G" issue? If not, under what circumstances, if any, do you lose B26?

 

Not nearly as many as I did before B26 was rolled out here. I currently am using the iPhone 6 which has very good RF performance and LTE scan times. If I hit a pocket of 3G it is never for longer than a minute. My Nexus 5 would tend to run into more 3G pockets than the iPhone.

 

In your experience, what would you say is the typical dB difference in the same location between B25 & B26?

 

It really depends. If you are right next to the tower there isn't much of a difference. But inside a building or a mile or so away from the tower I would say the difference is around 7-12 dBm.

 

Can you affirm that B26 from what appears to be a fully optimized site exceeds the coverage of all but 1x800, including Ev-DO?

 

From my experiences I can affirm that the coverage of B26 is the same if not a tad bit better than that of 3G EV-DO / eHRPD. On the otherhand, usability of a weak B26 signal is much more stable than a weak 3G EV-DO / eHRPD signal. 3G doesn't work very well around here at all, I have a hard time streaming music when I get below 3 bars.

 

Do you tend to park on B25 in that area and only switch to B26 during an active data session when both of those bands are available (assuming B41 is not also available)?

 

I actually have experienced the opposite. Inside my home the signals for B41 and B26 are stronger than those of a B25 signal (keep in mind I have a Clearwire B41 tower closer to me than a NV tower). So I typically park on B26 on the bottom floor and basement, while upstairs I park on B41. In areas outside my home I find myself on B25 more often than not. Both B25 carriers are live in the area so data performance has been very good on this band.

 

Too many questions? 

 

Not at all. Best of luck!