Network Vision/LTE - Las Vegas Market

[scubajwd]

This is a healthy and intellectually invigorating discussion about our market and I'm

enjoying the back & forth a lot in here; I'll stick to by basic premise that Softbank-Sprint

will tear down Wimax here sooner than later for the simple reason that its existence will

impede rollout of B41 here & subsequent subscriber growth based on perceived quality

of LTE service by thousands of disenchanted tmo & Verizon subs..Sprint subs are paying the

bills right now, Mr Hog, not Clearwire customers to a large extent...Sprint doesn't want anymore

of us to leave..

[bandwithhog]

This is a healthy and intellectually invigorating discussion about our market and I'm

enjoying the back & forth a lot in here; I'll stick to by basic premise that Softbank-Sprint

will tear down Wimax here sooner than later for the simple reason that its existence will

impede rollout of B41 here & subsequent subscriber growth based on perceived quality

of LTE service by thousands of disenchanted tmo & Verizon subs..Sprint subs are paying the

bills right now, Mr Hog, not Clearwire customers to a large extent...Sprint doesn't want anymore

of us to leave..

 

I guess time will tell and I think Clearwire will stay until end of 2015

[S4GRU]

Remember, Sprint recently modified its contracts to say if WiMax is removed from your market early and you still have a WiMax device on contract, that Sprint will provide the customer a LTE device free of charge. Why would they change that term if they weren't planning to remove WiMax from some markets early?

 

It is because some markets have to have their equipment replaced with new LTE only equipment. The oldest WiMax markets have to be fully replaced. And NSN and ALU markets will not have equipment that even runs WiMax.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[lilotimz]

Remember, Sprint recently modified its contracts to say if WiMax is removed from your market early and you still have a WiMax device on contract, that Sprint will provide the customer a LTE device free of charge. Why would they change that term if they weren't planning to remove WiMax from some markets early?

 

It is because some markets have to have their equipment replaced with new LTE only equipment. The oldest WiMax markets have to be fully replaced. And NSN and ALU markets will not have equipment that even runs WiMax.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

The Samsung 8T8R equipment is pure TDD-LTE as well. Only the older model used by Clearwire is dual mode. 

[orangeblue]

I am visiting my sister in Las Vegas for a couple of days and I was playing today a little with her LG G2 and she gets B41 LTE with 30MB down and about 8MB up on three bars at around 100db.

 

Not sure when Sprint is going to launch Las Vegas officially but seeing B41 is nice. If I had the money, I would upgrade but tight budget makes that not possible.

[JosefTor]

I just can't wait for them to upgrade the interstate 15. I had to pull out my wife's phone on 2g (TMO) in order to listen to my podcasts. Needless to say, that is not a fun back-up plan.

[Vince]

Is there band 41 on the strip?

[scubajwd]

I have not seen Band 41 anywhere in the Metro Vegas/Henderson area but just coincidentally ran

by one of my home towers in Southeast Metro (Anthem area) and they had a rig up on the tower

and was supposedly adding Band 41 equipment; if this is so, then Band 41 is on its way in

Vegas land..don't know about the strip..last I looked there (Jan 2014) there was no LTE at all but

very GOOD 3G..a lot has changed here since last Jan

[Vince]

Excellent. I'll be there in September. Hopefully, coverage on the strip improves. I was there 9/2012 and had excellent WiMAX on my virgin mobile hotspot in my room at Paris.

[Marv1]

I had a 3 day weekend in Vegas with friends last week. Great overall Sprint 3G/LTE everywhere we went, including the strip. I agree with the interstate 15 comment. 

[orangeblue]

I had a 3 day weekend in Vegas with friends last week. Great overall Sprint 3G/LTE everywhere we went, including the strip. I agree with the interstate 15 comment. 

 

I used Pandora in my car on Sprint and it worked just fine. There is a lot of LTE already working on the Strip and downtown seems to be even better covered already.

Not sure how many towers are on air already with B41 but they must have turned on some last night because all I got yesterday was B25.

What is missing so far is LTE on B26.

[orangeblue]

I just can't wait for them to upgrade the interstate 15. I had to pull out my wife's phone on 2g (TMO) in order to listen to my podcasts. Needless to say, that is not a fun back-up plan.

 

My brother gave up on Tmo because I-15 is not working and he is using Sprint now and it works just fine.

[Marv1]

Heading out of the city on 15, data isn't all that great, but making calls is pretty decent, with average to good signals. I was amazed to see many stealth towers all over Vegas.

[MacinJosh]

I am visiting my sister in Las Vegas for a couple of days and I was playing today a little with her LG G2 and she gets B41 LTE with 30MB down and about 8MB up on three bars at around 100db.

 

Not sure when Sprint is going to launch Las Vegas officially but seeing B41 is nice. If I had the money, I would upgrade but tight budget makes that not possible.

 

Where in Vegas are you getting Band 41?

[orangeblue]

Where in Vegas are you getting Band 41?

 

Not too familiar but this is on North Las Vegas Blvd. but I will see if I can locate the sites with B41 today. Like to know if this is a Sprint or Clearwire deployment

[orangeblue]

So I took my sister to CSN today and later went on the hunt for the B41 site and I found it. Seems like it's a Sprint direct site and not build from Clearwire (the tower is pretty close by but the signal was not as strong). The tower used to be a Nextel site and MetroPCS and Cricket are Co-Lo too. I guess the tower will see soon the decommissioning of MetroPCS and Cricket at a later point and turn into a pure Sprint site. 

 

I took plenty of pictures but I can't upload them here and need somebody to host them

[MacinJosh]

So I took my sister to CSN today and later went on the hunt for the B41 site and I found it. Seems like it's a Sprint direct site and not build from Clearwire (the tower is pretty close by but the signal was not as strong). The tower used to be a Nextel site and MetroPCS and Cricket are Co-Lo too. I guess the tower will see soon the decommissioning of MetroPCS and Cricket at a later point and turn into a pure Sprint site.

 

I took plenty of pictures but I can't upload them here and need somebody to host them

I messaged you email address.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5S using Tapatalk 2

[orangeblue]

I messaged you email address.

 

 

Sent from Josh's iPhone 5S using Tapatalk 2

 

Great and I hope you can put them up

[MacinJosh]

First, a big thanks to orangeblue for the find.

 

Second, here are some pictures of the 1st confirmed Band 41 LTE ALU 8T8R equipment in the Las Vegas Market!

 

 

All the links below are the other pictures in this set, except for the site ID due to proprietary information.

 

https://db.tt/hFEgdKyx

https://db.tt/YC8H8hIM

https://db.tt/0LgjR2zx

https://db.tt/WAr7rduL

https://db.tt/Y1HKfcF7

https://db.tt/j1PKYWJF

https://db.tt/cq81i1nw

https://db.tt/z5KO3MQ1

https://db.tt/KY6hRehf

https://db.tt/wd4iQ6EF

https://db.tt/Pdwe7R2M

https://db.tt/1HgdUZRX

[MacinJosh]

And here are orangeblue's screenshots.

 

 

 

 

[bucdenny]

Is that norm for new Spark speeds on 8T8R sites?

[Dkoellerwx]

Is that norm for new Spark speeds on 8T8R sites?

 

The norm? There is no norm. A good signal on Band 41 can get up to 70Mbps. 

 

I don't think we know for sure of any 8T8R sites that are currently live. I can't tell if these tests are a NV 2.0 site or a converted Clear site.

[Vince]

Is that norm for new Spark speeds on 8T8R sites?

It's low. The site was either being hammered by other triband users, or the site hasn't had it's backhaul upgraded.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Dkoellerwx]

It's low. The site was either being hammered by other triband users, or the site hasn't had it's backhaul upgraded.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

It was actually pretty good for the signal level.

[orangeblue]

Is that norm for new Spark speeds on 8T8R sites?

 

I don't think they currently run the site at full power. I have seen Spark sites doing 60MB + but Vegas has not been launched and who knows what they're doing. Still 30MB+ is not bad for Sprint and for most people it will not make a difference if you update your facebook at 30 or 60 down