Network Vision/LTE - Chicago Market

[Y2Dre]

 

This could be because of two reason. It seems that the LTE Signal threshold, certain dBm where LTE would connect and disconnect, was set very very high, and the new android update on Sprint phones is supposed to address that. Also, they might just have the tower in some sort of "test mode" where the tower won't broadcast a full strength signal...therefore you wouldn't be albe to get a signal probably more than 1000 yards away.

 

(nothing I just said has been verified, its just my educated guess)

 

You're probably right. On the way home earlier, I had NetMonitor open and actually saw my connection stay locked on the 4G tower. But by the time I got to my driveway, the 4G icon switched to 3G with the dismal speeds to match.

 

For now at least, it looks like you have to be nearby to access the full speeds.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

[pyroscott]

yeah i put my son's phone on seasonal standby when he got deployed to afghanistan (safely returned) but Sprint does limit the duration but I dont know how long. I also put another line on standby because I thought that I lost it but now that I found the phone, I'm just letting it roll until LTE is lit up in NYC so that I can justify buying a new handset. it's a decent policy for keeping your number "warm"

 

Do they not do the military suspend anymore? All I had to do was fax them my orders and they suspended it for free. After 12 months I lost my phone number though. Just as well though, it is good to lose the crazies every so often.

[boomerbubba]

You're probably right. On the way home earlier, I had NetMonitor open and actually saw my connection stay locked on the 4G tower. But by the time I got to my driveway, the 4G icon switched to 3G with the dismal speeds to match.

 

Netmonitor does not show what "4G tower" you are connected to. It only maps CDMA sectors (which may or may not be tower locations, and if so may or may not be the same tower where your 4G signal was coming from.

[Y2Dre]

 

Netmonitor does not show what "4G tower" you are connected to. It only maps CDMA sectors (which may or may not be tower locations, and if so may or may not be the same tower where your 4G signal was coming from.

 

In my case, it's actually the tower. I verified the location from the August maps that Robert posted earlier.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

[boomerbubba]

In my case, it's actually the tower. I verified the location from the August maps that Robert posted earlier.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

That is probably a more reliable guess.

[cdiao]

Do they not do the military suspend anymore? All I had to do was fax them my orders and they suspended it for free. After 12 months I lost my phone number though. Just as well though, it is good to lose the crazies every so often.

 

Sprint does still have "military suspend" but as you mentioned, I had to get copies of my son's orders, and he was a bit difficult to reach in Helmand Province, and frankly I wasn't exactly sure that he would have access to fax machine at camp, nor would they probably allow him to fax his orders due to operational security. So I paid the $9 bucks per month for "Seasonal suspend" instead. While it was good to know that Sprint did offer such programs for military families even though I couldn't avail myself, it wasn't lost on me that the monies that they collect from me in essence to reserve a DID number on Sprint's switch was a very high margin revenue stream for Sprint (for not using its network during that period). So I think Sprint probably owes me one. :-)

[S4GRU]

It is possible for NetMonitor to show the correct LTE site. But if it does, it's just coincidental. Kind of like how a broken clock is coincidentally correct twice per day.

 

I will also add this little nugget. NetMonitor is more likely to be correct with a really strong LTE signal. Because if you have a really strong LTE signal, you are likely really close to the live site. And if you are really close to a live site with LTE, the chances of your device being on the same site for 1x are much, much higher. Not 100%, but more likely.

 

Robert

[pyroscott]

Sprint does still have "military suspend" but as you mentioned, I had to get copies of my son's orders, and he was a bit difficult to reach in Helmand Province, and frankly I wasn't exactly sure that he would have access to fax machine at camp, nor would they probably allow him to fax his orders due to operational security. So I paid the $9 bucks per month for "Seasonal suspend" instead. While it was good to know that Sprint did offer such programs for military families even though I couldn't avail myself, it wasn't lost on me that the monies that they collect from me in essence to reserve a DID number on Sprint's switch was a very high margin revenue stream for Sprint (for not using its network during that period). So I think Sprint probably owes me one. :-)

 

Yeah, orders are not super easy to come by unless you know who to talk to. It kinda sucks that businesses have to ask for proof of something like that, but I can only imagine the amount of people claiming to be deploying when they just want to shut their phone off for a while. The nice thing for me, was that my upgrade eligibility months kept ticking off when I was overseas, so I came back and was upgrade eligible right off the bat. That alone is worth about $15 per month.

[cdiao]

Yeah, orders are not super easy to come by unless you know who to talk to. It kinda sucks that businesses have to ask for proof of something like that, but I can only imagine the amount of people claiming to be deploying when they just want to shut their phone off for a while. The nice thing for me, was that my upgrade eligibility months kept ticking off when I was overseas, so I came back and was upgrade eligible right off the bat. That alone is worth about $15 per month.

 

that i did not know. on seasonal suspend, I believe that the upgrade elligibility stops tolling. Since he was already upgrade elligible before he deployed. we had bought a stop-gap device on eBay while awaiting for Sprint to announce iPhone. It worked out well when he returned in january, it was perfect for belated XMas present.

 

Thank you for serving.

[pyroscott]

that i did not know. on seasonal suspend, I believe that the upgrade elligibility stops tolling. Since he was already upgrade elligible before he deployed. we had bought a stop-gap device on eBay while awaiting for Sprint to announce iPhone. It worked out well when he returned in january, it was perfect for belated XMas present.

 

Thank you for serving.

 

And I thank your son for his service and your family for the intense burden that goes with having a loved one deployed.

[MacinJosh]

 

that i did not know. on seasonal suspend' date=' I believe that the upgrade elligibility stops tolling. Since he was already upgrade elligible before he deployed. we had bought a stop-gap device on eBay while awaiting for Sprint to announce iPhone. It worked out well when he returned in january, it was perfect for belated XMas present.

 

Thank you for serving.[/quote']

 

My upgrade eligibility is ticking down on my Evo Shift as each day goes by. I may just hold out until I'm eligible for my upgrade and then cancel the Shift, and hippie they transfer the upgrade to my Viper, and then I can get the iPhone LTE in December. And yes I still plan on getting a Galaxy S 3 next month using my friends upgrade, lol.

 

Sent from my LG Viper 4G LTE using Forum Runner

[nomad64]

I can't even pick up a 4G signal anymore when I'm on Lincoln HWY and Cicero. I tried today coming back from church and nothing came up. Are these towers being turned off periodically?

I believe most (if not all) of them are being turned on for testing, then turned off. There was a tower near my house that was broadcasting 4g for about a few days, then it suddenly stopped.

 

Most likely, all of these towers will start broadcasting 4g all at once on Sprint's Chicago go-live date (which they haven't announced yet).

[ralphkaz]

My upgrade eligibility is ticking down on my Evo Shift as each day goes by. I may just hold out until I'm eligible for my upgrade and then cancel the Shift, and hippie they transfer the upgrade to my Viper, and then I can get the iPhone LTE in December. And yes I still plan on getting a Galaxy S 3 next month using my friends upgrade, lol.

 

 

FYI - latest info is that iPhone5 will be announced 9/12 and released later in September. I suspect this is the main reason why sprint just lowered the current iphone prices by $50 - trying to get rid of inventory before new model is announced.

[Madfelon]

Considering that in one of your past posts you said you could live with that and trying to convince the wife to stick it out so you can use all the data you want, what has changed now?

Chicago is pretty big urban area and it will take some time to get everything up and running.

 

TS

 

What has changed is that we have a newborn child and I need reliable cell service. I would love to stick it out for unlimited data but the wife and I are tired of all the nonsense with Sprint. Im not waiting it out another 3-6 months for Sprint to figure it out in the meantime Verizon is blazing here in Chicago. That's a very hard sell to my wife, since she just wants a service that works. The geek in me is truly hoping Sprint gets it together as the new iPhone arrives but the husband that's dealing with a not so tech savey wife thinks not and need to have a back up plan in place.

[RobertNemitz]

Its been hell down here in Bourbonnais. I have had dropped call after dropped call the past 3 weeks. I was able to call sprint and get a credit as well as they sent me one of those personal cell sites that hooks up to your internet. They are saying that our network vision upgrade wont be complete till minimally mid september. While I am happy that we are getting LTE and am willing to put up with the inconvience now to have great service later, I really wish they would speed this up. Still getting pings well into the 500 ms. Hopefully a little heartake will be worth it in the end.

[twospirits]

What has changed is that we have a newborn child and I need reliable cell service. I would love to stick it out for unlimited data but the wife and I are tired of all the nonsense with Sprint. Im not waiting it out another 3-6 months for Sprint to figure it out in the meantime Verizon is blazing here in Chicago. That's a very hard sell to my wife, since she just wants a service that works. The geek in me is truly hoping Sprint gets it together as the new iPhone arrives but the husband that's dealing with a not so tech savey wife thinks not and need to have a back up plan in place.

Quite understandable. and usually the spouse wins lol Good luck and congrats on the mini MadFelon.

 

TS

[S4GRU]

 

What has changed is that we have a newborn child and I need reliable cell service. I would love to stick it out for unlimited data but the wife and I are tired of all the nonsense with Sprint. Im not waiting it out another 3-6 months for Sprint to figure it out in the meantime Verizon is blazing here in Chicago. That's a very hard sell to my wife' date=' since she just wants a service that works. The geek in me is truly hoping Sprint gets it together as the new iPhone arrives but the husband that's dealing with a not so tech savey wife thinks not and need to have a back up plan in place.[/quote']

 

It's not nonsense. Its a complete and total network rebuild. But if Sprint cannot meet your needs now, that is understandable. You have to do what you have to do.

 

You could get a tracphone as a temporary backup when you cannot make a call. That's another option over leaving.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[pyroscott]

What has changed is that we have a newborn child and I need reliable cell service. I would love to stick it out for unlimited data but the wife and I are tired of all the nonsense with Sprint. Im not waiting it out another 3-6 months for Sprint to figure it out in the meantime Verizon is blazing here in Chicago. That's a very hard sell to my wife, since she just wants a service that works. The geek in me is truly hoping Sprint gets it together as the new iPhone arrives but the husband that's dealing with a not so tech savey wife thinks not and need to have a back up plan in place.

 

I've said it multiple times in this thread, if you are not happy with the service in Chicago, put your Sprint lines on seasonal hold for $8.99/month/line. Sprint might even waive that fee since they are well aware of the problems in Chicago. Get yourself a prepaid phone, ie tracphone that "works so well" and use that until the network upgrades are done. Then reactivate your Sprint lines and dump the prepaid.

[dannible]

Work has started at the one and only tower in Glencoe

 

 

 

 

[ATTACH]285[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ATTACH]285[/ATTACH]

[CriticalityEvent]

Work has started at the one and only tower in Glencoe

 

What is it with that area? I've been to the Botanic Gardens twice this summer (once just this past weekend) and the reception is pretty damn bad for being in a wide-open area. While there, I was either connected to the tower at Green Bay and Lake Cook or the one at Skokie and the Edens Spur. Is this the one at Hazel and Vernon?

[dannible]

 

 

What is it with that area? I've been to the Botanic Gardens twice this summer (once just this past weekend) and the reception is pretty damn bad for being in a wide-open area. While there, I was either connected to the tower at Green Bay and Lake Cook or the one at Skokie and the Edens Spur. Is this the one at Hazel and Vernon?

ya its bad there. If there ever was a tower that needed 800mhz this is it. Near the beach where it goes down the hill there is no service at all. Building penetration is a major problem for me as well. I work in Glencoe and the idea of having 4g gets makes me happy. i had WiMAX phone and it was never installed here.

[dannible]

is there a way to confirm or check if one is connected to 800mhz?

[djmiro83]

is there a way to confirm or check if one is connected to 800mhz?

 

I know on the iPhone you can put the phone into field test mode and it will show the band your phone is operating in. Currently at home, I've been roaming for a whole now and I'll watch field test to see what's going on. Usually it sits in the PCS band, but I've seen it jump into the 800MHz band (I'm sure it's actually VZW 850) occasionally.

 

Sent from my JB iPhone 4S using Forum Runner

[S4GRU]

is there a way to confirm or check if one is connected to 800mhz?

 

Go to your Debug Engineering screen. Open up your phone dialer, enter ##DEBUG#. Then go to your 1x Engineering menu.

 

In there you will see Band. If it says CDMA PCS, then you are 1900MHz. If it says Cellular, then you are on 850MHz. I've never seen my EVO LTE on 800 SMR, but I imagine it will say SMR or 800 SMR on band if it is on 800MHz Channel 476.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[ydoucare]

Go to your Debug Engineering screen. Open up your phone dialer, enter ##DEBUG#. Then go to your 1x Engineering menu.

 

In there you will see Band. If it says CDMA PCS, then you are 1900MHz. If it says Cellular, then you are on 850MHz. I've never seen my EVO LTE on 800 SMR, but I imagine it will say SMR or 800 SMR on band if it is on 800MHz Channel 476.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

 

hmmm, according to that i'm on 800 mhz. It doesn't say anything about Cellular or PCS, but says Band Class: 10 Channel: 476. A quick google says band class 10 is SMR 800 Mhz?

I'm connected to a site that's marked 3G complete on the map.