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


drlovety

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For the most part, you should get LTE everywhere you get EV-DO, down to about 1 bar, when it will kick back to 3G--provided the 3G is coming from the same tower... if you watch your engineering screen, it's amazing just how many towers your phone flips through as it is moving around--a LOT more than you think!

 

Since the LTE is only on selected towers, that explains why you can kick back to 3G and not get back onto 4G right away until you are really close to the 4G tower again -- chances are your phone is already scanning around other 3G only towers that do not have the 4G yet, and the 3G/4G are coming from different sites.

 

That is weird about Silverdale/Bremerton though... looking at Sensorly, it looks like even though there is a good bit of mapping, noone has yet "found" the LTE tower -- there are no "full strength" areas yet, which pop up right close to the towers... something tells me they have LTE up on just a couple towers that are way up on the highest hills--which would explain why the overall 4G signals are weak in the area, and also why you probably don't kick back to 4G as fast as you should--since the stronger site is 3G only and your phone locks onto that once you lose LTE.

 

I won't be able to get up that way for a while--but it would be interesting if someone in the area could do a drive and "find" and map which sites are actually putting the LTE into the area... from the maps it doesn't look like any of the sites downtown proper are doing it -- even the "tower farm" in Silverdale by the freeway doesn't appear to be in a "strongest" LTE area (I've always thought that was funny -- apparently the carriers didn't want to co-locate and the city actually allowed them to each build rather large monopoles when they could have all been crammed on 1 or 2... there's 4 or 5 lol)

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Hi all, new to the forum, just got the GS4 on Sprint and was surprised there wasn't LTE available in Seattle (I know, I'm a moron for not doing research, ordered online, just assumed I was good...)

 

I've been mapping Sensorly and noticed a few more areas popping up downtown. I live in SLU and lose the 4G the minute I cross north past John Street, just north of Denny Way. I've been able to secure a 4G signal with about 7 mbps down 4 mbps up speeds in vicinity of the Denny/Fairview intersection, as well as for about a four block radius on Capitol Hill along Bellevue, just north of Denny.

 

I drive for Sidecar and will be driving this weekend. I will run Sensorly the entire time (generally cover about 200 miles of road on a weekend, so should get lots of good data) and that should show up in the next week on Sensorly.

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For the most part, you should get LTE everywhere you get EV-DO, down to about 1 bar, when it will kick back to 3G--provided the 3G is coming from the same tower... if you watch your engineering screen, it's amazing just how many towers your phone flips through as it is moving around--a LOT more than you think!

 

Since the LTE is only on selected towers, that explains why you can kick back to 3G and not get back onto 4G right away until you are really close to the 4G tower again -- chances are your phone is already scanning around other 3G only towers that do not have the 4G yet, and the 3G/4G are coming from different sites.

 

That is weird about Silverdale/Bremerton though... looking at Sensorly, it looks like even though there is a good bit of mapping, noone has yet "found" the LTE tower -- there are no "full strength" areas yet, which pop up right close to the towers... something tells me they have LTE up on just a couple towers that are way up on the highest hills--which would explain why the overall 4G signals are weak in the area, and also why you probably don't kick back to 4G as fast as you should--since the stronger site is 3G only and your phone locks onto that once you lose LTE.

 

I won't be able to get up that way for a while--but it would be interesting if someone in the area could do a drive and "find" and map which sites are actually putting the LTE into the area... from the maps it doesn't look like any of the sites downtown proper are doing it -- even the "tower farm" in Silverdale by the freeway doesn't appear to be in a "strongest" LTE area (I've always thought that was funny -- apparently the carriers didn't want to co-locate and the city actually allowed them to each build rather large monopoles when they could have all been crammed on 1 or 2... there's 4 or 5 lol)

 

No need to drive around and "find" LTE towers as they come live. If you donate, the member's section has maps that are updated weekly with new live LTE sites as well as maps of all of the sites to be updated under Network Vision.

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I was in the Bremerton/Silverdale area on Sunday to visit my brother and my dad and I (he has an iphone5) picked up a REALLY weak 4g signal that was barely usable and I tried to map it but I'm not sure if it picked it up. He lives not far off of HWY 303

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No need to drive around and "find" LTE towers as they come live. If you donate, the member's section has maps that are updated weekly with new live LTE sites as well as maps of all of the sites to be updated under Network Vision.

 

We now have upped the frequency to every day or two. Even better for site spotters. :tu:

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

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Nowhere in the West Washington market is near launching. Currently there are only a few dozen sites operating with LTE. More come online every day or two. It will be months until there is ubiquitous coverage in Kitsap, or even over in Seattle. But every week it will get better and better.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD

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No need to drive around and "find" LTE towers as they come live. If you donate, the member's section has maps that are updated weekly with new live LTE sites as well as maps of all of the sites to be updated under Network Vision.

 

I am a premier sponsor and have checked it out -- unfortuneately there are at least 8 sites in the area that I've found that show 4G live on the map that are in fact not live -- in fact I found 4 of them marked as complete that don't even have new panels, nor seem to be GMO -- The only thing I can guess is the backhaul may be ready, the 4G isn't there yet.

 

Nat

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I was driving through part of Edmonds, on Edmonds Way actually and I saw a tower being worked on. When I went past the first time all I had was a strong 3G signal. Came back and I had 4G. I turned Sensorly on and recorded what I could. I tested out speeds near the tower and was getting around 15 down. That made my day

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LTE is available in a fairly large section of downtown Seattle and expanding rapidly. There is also some work being done north of the University of Washington as well as on MLK way in south Seattle.Screenshot_2013-05-02-19-07-11.png

Screenshot_2013-05-02-19-27-26.png

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Was very surprised to run into a tiny isolated bit of 4G yesterday at 6th Ave and Jackson Ave, and for about a half mile east on 6th in Tacoma, WA.

 

I see the find did show up on Sensorly today. Hopefully this means 4G is slowly closing in on my neck of the woods in University Place. :)

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I got LTE off of 94th going towards the south hill mall, didnt have time to have sensorly tracking before it cut, was weird cause drove back same way but on other side of road and it tried to get LTE but couldn't get a signal, ran a speed test and got 3 up and 2 down but probably cause I was on the edge of a tower signal, just curious why do we have to donate to find out what towers are getting LTE , shouldn't it be free? I just want to know if towers in puyallup are being worked on

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I got LTE off of 94th going towards the south hill mall, didnt have time to have sensorly tracking before it cut, was weird cause drove back same way but on other side of road and it tried to get LTE but couldn't get a signal, ran a speed test and got 3 up and 2 down but probably cause I was on the edge of a tower signal, just curious why do we have to donate to find out what towers are getting LTE , shouldn't it be free? I just want to know if towers in puyallup are being worked on
Donating covers the operating costs of the site. It costs money to host the forum and the maps the site provides. Robert, the site admin, can probably chime in with more details.

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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I got LTE off of 94th going towards the south hill mall, didnt have time to have sensorly tracking before it cut, was weird cause drove back same way but on other side of road and it tried to get LTE but couldn't get a signal, ran a speed test and got 3 up and 2 down but probably cause I was on the edge of a tower signal, just curious why do we have to donate to find out what towers are getting LTE , shouldn't it be free? I just want to know if towers in puyallup are being worked on

 

This site is a non-profit group supplied by internal sprint, samsung, etc sources and are not affiliated with Sprint Nextel. We have massive databases of information up to and including all ~39,000 sites and their exact locations grouped into their little maps alongside the massive Network Vision completed/in progress maps which document any acceptances of NV sites. In addition, we have individuals that dedicate many man hours to organize and present the ideas / data / analyses in a manner that we non-industry people can understand.

 

The data contained within the sponsor areas are immense and very informative. This site is the envy of all others that follow other carriers LTE or modernization programs and rightfully so for a reason. The information we have here both in terms of knowledgeable members and hard data is second to none and all are supported by members donations in case you didn't notice the lack of ad's around these parts.

 

http://s4gru.com/ind...come-a-sponsor/

 

S4GRU Membership Groups

 

S4GRU Sponsor. For members who donate money through PayPal to S4GRU to help fund the costs of Sprint 4G Rollout Updates, you get the S4GRU Sponsor title for six months from your last donation. Once you donate $100 or more in total, you get the title indefinitely and upgraded to Premier Sponsor (see below). S4GRU Sponsors get:

  • Access to the S4GRU Sponsors Forum (contents subject to change, but includes some interactive maps)
  • Allow profile customizations
  • Larger profile photos (up to 250x250)
  • Can edit forum posts up to six hours after posting (incognito)
  • No limitations on auto signatures
  • Not subject to flood control timeouts
  • Store up to 250 Private Messages
  • No daily limit on Private Messages
  • Up to 10 People allowed in a Personal Message
  • Can view who gave you reputation points
  • Unlimited inline notifications

S4GRU Premier Sponsor. S4GRU Sponsors who donate $100 or more in total, get to keep the title indefinitely and you also get in addition to the benefits of the S4GRU Sponsor above:

  • Access to the S4GRU Premier Sponsor Forum (contents subject to change, but includes the original baseline NV schedule maps for many markets)
  • Bypass word filters
  • Can post HTML in posts
  • No limit to number of people allowed in a Personal Message
  • Unlimited PM storage
  • Allow attachments in PM's
  • Allow unlimited amounts of reputation points to be given
  • Larger profile photos (up to 250x400)
  • Can edit forum posts at any time (incognito)
  • Can soft delete own posts
  • Avoids any moderation queues

S4GRU Contributing Author. For members who write news articles for S4GRU, you get an even better membership group. S4GRU Contributing Authors get all the S4GRU Premier Sponsor benefits plus they get the acclaim of being in the S4GRU inner circle and access to Staff forums. After you become a trusted regular contributor, you will be given the ability to post your own articles directly up in The Wall. You can create drafts of articles and keep them stored until ready for publishing. This status will stay active for six months after you publish your most recent S4GRU article.

 

 

NOTE: The PayPal donation button is located in The Forumsmain page, at the upper right hand corner.

 

ANOTHER NOTE: For a speedier upgrade, please put your S4GRU screen name in the comments section of your PayPal donation.

 

After donation: Most donations result in an automatic upgrade within minutes. If you click on your profile and see that your Group now says S4GRU Sponsor or Premier Sponsor, then your account upgrade has taken effect. 90% of accounts are upgraded very quickly. Sometimes I am out of cell range and cannot sign in to upgrade your account, this may result in a delay for a few hours. Once your account is upgraded, you no longer need a password to access Sponsor forums, but you may have to sign out and back in, depending on your browser and its settings.

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What makes a grey trace instead of purple? I assume it means no signal.

 

You would be correct... it just depends on the phone.

 

Most Sprint phones are good about kicking the data correctly back and fourth between 3G and 4G for the maps they are getting depending on the signal they receive on any given trip. Even if put in LTE only mode they don't tend to report "no signal" and just leaves the map blank in the areas where it isn't getting LTE. I think the LG Optimus G is the one that is displaying the grey when it's not finding LTE.

 

There are a number of GSM phones (I've heard the Nexus 4 is the biggest offender--also an LG) that will report "no signal" and show up grey on the map -- you can particularly see this on the T-Mobile LTE maps, and on AT&T.

 

Honestly I think the grey clutters up the map so I like the fact that the Sprint phones are fairly good about this -- if there's no colors there, I'd say it's safe to assume there's either no signal, or it hasn't been mapped yet.

 

Also on the non-Sprint LTE front around here, I'm sitting in Shelton, WA right now on my AT&T LTE hotspot unexpectedly getting ~30 megs on their LTE... this just confirms my suspicion that a lot of the tower work being done around here is for AT&T bringing their LTE network south.

 

Speaking of this, there's a site in particular that I need to take a picture of in Lacey, WA (behind the Goodwill at Yelm Hwy. and Rainier Rd.) -- it's always been an AT&T site (in fact the power meter says "GTE Wireless" so it's an ollld AT&T site) but last week I noticed an new set of panels below the AT&T ones that have been there for years, which also have RRUs (looks like Samsung ones), and looks EXACTLY like a number of the LTE Sprint sites I've seen. Around the base of the tower it looks like they put the new equipment for these new panels underground in a vault with a single tube carrying fiber and power up the tower, and right at the base of the tower (which is outside the fence) is a small square cabinet that is labeled "LTE Fiber Collection Point"... I'd have gotten all excited that not only had Sprint brought another site online with LTE, but that it is in a Sprint dead zone that REALLY has needed to be filled in forever... only problem is try as I might, I couldn't find any new power meter... just the old "GTE Wireless" one. It REALLY looks like a new carrier other than that one thing -- is AT&T known for 1. putting an entirely new set of panels under their existing ones just for LTE and 2. Burying the new equipment underground (it is a fairly small area around the site, so I could see why a new carrier might need to bury) when they already have 3 perfectly good large cabinets above ground?

 

Nat

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Anyone having drop call problems? I live near a 4G tower and EVERY time I leave the tower's footprint I drop a call. I recall someone mentioning that this is a reported problem with the 4G rollout. Is this true? Seems to be happening to me. I remember first hearing about it and not caring, but it's becoming a pain.

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Happening down here in Olympia the past few days... I also spent most of the day without LTE data... they seem to be up to something. Looks like the data is fixed as of an hour ago, but the dropped calls have been much worse than usual, and my phone has really been flakey.

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Seems like a tower in Tukwila is being worked on. My service is going in and out of roaming and my data keeps dropping. I lost eHRPD and now I'm using EV-DO. Should have a flood of happy Sprint customers at work any moment now lol

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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