Network Vision/LTE - West Washington Market (Seattle/Puget Sound Region)

[teeitup]

Any idea when the Nexus5's LTE will start working in this area?

 

This is a Samsung market, so the CSFB issue is everywhere here that I have seen, haven't seen LTE since switching from the s3 to the n5.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5001-breaking-band-tri-band-lte-ecsfb-issues-thread/page-12&do=findComment&comment=237461

Across the Sound here in Kitsap County I am able to get LTE on my LG G2 everywhere I was able to get it with my Note 2.  But most the LTE towers have also completed their 3G upgrades over here.  Hopefully the rest of Western Washington isn't too far behind.  There are a lot of purple towers on the map.  It is a bummer we won't be seeing 800mhz anytime soon, but just the NV upgrades have helped quite a bit in my area.

[Bob Newhart]

Thanks teeitup, good to hear.

I shall drive a little south to a yellow pin and see what happens.

 

They have 800 Mhz over in Richland, jealous!

[Bob Newhart]

A lot of recent updates for this service area over the last few days by Robert's reports.

[Bumbershoot]

I noticed I had 4G at home the first time this morning (south end of Maury/Vashon Island in Puget Sound), and sure enough, I see this evening that on the NV Sites Complete map in the sponsors section, Vashon/Maury now has three 3G/4G towers. 

 

I thought we'd be dead last in the Puget Sound area...

[oversight]

It's interesting that north and south of the Seattle area is all red and yellow, but the area right around Seattle is all purple. Hopefully, we see more of those in changing to yellow in the near future.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Bumbershoot]

It appears that Samsung has gotten very busy in north Tacoma.  They really bringing these things up in clusters. 

[fuunkychicken]

Looks like exciting times are upon us here at West Washington! LTE must be coming...

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[oversight]

Looks like exciting times are upon us here at West Washington! LTE must be coming...Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Or the people doing the approvals take another month long vacation.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Bob Newhart]

It's interesting that north and south of the Seattle area is all red and yellow, but the area right around Seattle is all purple. Hopefully, we see more of those in changing to yellow in the near future.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

yeah, a funny pattern there.

[drlovety]

It's interesting that north and south of the Seattle area is all red and yellow, but the area right around Seattle is all purple. Hopefully, we see more of those in changing to yellow in the near future.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, I've noticed that too.  There has to be a reason.  One thing that jumps out is it appears most of the purple sites are King Co.  I wonder if this is a permit issue.  Anyone been watching the purple sites?  I wonder if legacy panels are still located on the site.  It may also be a Samsung vendor issue. It is interesting.

[oversight]

Yeah, I've noticed that too.  There has to be a reason.  One thing that jumps out is it appears most of the purple sites are King Co.  I wonder if this is a permit issue.  Anyone been watching the purple sites?  I wonder if legacy panels are still located on the site.  It may also be a Samsung vendor issue. It is interesting

 

Maybe they'll flip the switch day and date with the announcement that WW is an LTE market. 

[Bumbershoot]

Yeah, I've noticed that too.  There has to be a reason.  One thing that jumps out is it appears most of the purple sites are King Co.  I wonder if this is a permit issue.  Anyone been watching the purple sites?  I wonder if legacy panels are still located on the site.  It may also be a Samsung vendor issue. It is interesting.

There speculation elsewhere on this site that the purple sites are problematic with tri-band devices, and that going forward, Samsung will be bringing up 3G and 3g/4g sites, not 4G only sites.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-357-nexus-5-and-lg-g2-experience-temporary-sprint-lte-connectivity-issues-due-to-circuit-switched-fallback-technology/

 

There's also speculation that the Samsung areas were delayed do to this issue.  It looks like new deployments will be 3G/4G.

[Bob Newhart]

I was near a yellow 3G/4G site in Orting, WA yesterday with a Nexus5. It picked up LTE for the first time for me.

 

Pretty weak signal out on the West side of town in McDonalds, but still got about 4Mbps down on LTE with a strength of between -105 and -115. A person with an s3 had the same signal strengths on their phone, but their download speed was less than 3 Mbps. 

We ran this test several times independently. Driving East of town, speeds went upwards of 25 Mbps.

[teeitup]

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-poised-for-2014-breakthrough-following-year-of-network-advances.htm

 

Sprint officially announced the Bremerton, WA and Pullman, WA markets today!  The sprint.com/coverage map also reflects this.

 

However, there are a few legacy towers that are still red on the "sites complete" map surrounded by yellow towers.  Does that mean they will not be updated since the market has been officially accepted?

[Bob Newhart]

http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/sprint-poised-for-2014-breakthrough-following-year-of-network-advances.htm

 

Sprint officially announced the Bremerton, WA and Pullman, WA markets today!  The sprint.com/coverage map also reflects this.

 

However, there are a few legacy towers that are still red on the "sites complete" map surrounded by yellow towers.  Does that mean they will not be updated since the market has been officially accepted?

 

They will be updated, but maybe Sprint think that number of completed sites is "good enough" for them officially say its ready.

[Bumbershoot]

They will be updated, but must Sprint think that number of completed sites is "good enough" for them officially say its ready.

I read somewhere that they'll announce when the area is 40% complete.

[teeitup]

That makes sense.  One of the red towers is right on Hwy 3, so it would seem odd to leave it out.  The sprint.com/coverage map also shows LTE in that area and I know for a fact you can't get it there.  The map seems a little exaggerated but probably accurate once the remaining towers are complete.

[teeitup]

 

In Port Orchard today.

[Bumbershoot]

Wow.  I just did a quick count in my head - something in the vicinity of 140 updates have happened in W. Washington in December!  Things are really cooking now!

[oversight]

Yeah. There have been lots of updates the last few days. Let's hope it keeps up AND that the King county sites start turning yellow.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Bob Newhart]

One of Black Diamond,WA 's towers is now 3G/4G, worked fine with a nexus5 too. Nice.

 

LTE works on the n5 in Felony Way now too.

[WiWavelength]

LTE works on the n5 in Felony Way now too.

I know you mean Federal Way. Is this some local joke?

 

AJ

[Bob Newhart]

I know you mean Federal Way. Is this some local joke?

 

AJ

 

Local and far, well known in WA. It keeps earning its name too.

Some areas aren't so bad though.

 

They just got two brand new MetroPCS stores, its on the up!

[tommy24]

For some odd reason I can't send texts and my calls can't connect anymore without roaming. Is there anything going on with the towers in Burien?

[teeitup]

For some odd reason I can't send texts and my calls can't connect anymore without roaming. Is there anything going on with the towers in Burien?

Probably doing work on the towers in your area. Same thing happened in my area during the upgrades.