3G in Johnson City TN

[tsume]

Since Sprint started selling the iPhone, 3G is unusable in most areas of Johnson City (especially near ETSU). You can have full bars and won't be able to pull up Google.com. North of Johnson City in Gray, even with only 1-2 bars of signal I can get 200kbps and browse with 3G. The site that shows scheduled upgrades for our area has showed a capacity upgrade scheduled for pretty much every tower in Johnson City within the next 6 months. If I recall correctly, it's been about 6 months since I last looked at the site and the capacity upgrades were still showing as being scheduled for within 6 months. I read in the Charlotte thread that certain companies (CenturyLink being the one mentioned by name) are lagging in giving Sprint the backhaul they need. Unfortunately, I live in the one tiny part of Tennessee that is unlucky enough to be served by CenturyLink (1.5mbps DSL is the fastest many can get from them out here; no PRISM either, even in the city - can you say welcome to 1999?)

 

My question is this: Do you think this will change the timeframe for when LTE gets launched here by either moving it up, pushing it back, or not at all? It's a small market, but since Verizon and AT&T have LTE here, I assume Sprint will eventually put LTE in this area as well (especially since we were skipped over for WiMax). It seems like they might accelerate their plans to upgrade the area since the network quality is so poor, but at the same time if they are at the mercy for CenturyLink they might not be able to upgrade us for months or even years based on when CenturyLink gets around to providing the backhaul.

[danielholt]

Your thread confuses me, its hard to read if you're asking a question or making a statement.

 

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[Steven800]

It's possible I think if the tower is going to be using a microwave and the microwave connects to another microwave thingy at the Major backhual switch/thingy and then the tower gets its fast Internet from that. And the end result you will still get fast speeds but maybe pings in the 100ms range.

[chappo2000]

My Mom lives in Hawkins County so I know what you mean. Yes, from my limited understanding, backhaul needs to be complete before lte goes live. Is the lack of fast Century Link highspeed internet in your area indicative of a delay in getting lte to the tricities? I wouldn't think so. As stated before there are other options to provide that backhaul to rural areas ie microwave. If you read Robert's recent update about the Nashville market there is some good news in there for your area. Check it out. :-)

[pyroscott]

If Verizon and att have LTE there, sufficient backhaul is available. It might be expensive, and not available to any customers other than corporate, but it's there.

 

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[lordsutch]

Well, Johnson City is part of Sprint's Nashville market, and Robert recently posted an update suggesting the whole market is likely to launch in the November/December timeframe. Sprint is working with lots of different backhaul providers, not just the ILECs like CenturyLink, so one way or another you'll have Network Vision and much better speeds on 3G (as well as LTE) in the coming months.

[tsume]

My local tower has been down for 3+ days (I noticed I've been on Roaming for the past few days even when outside my house where I normally got 3-4 bars). I called in and the rep mentioned it is currently undergoing "upgrades". I can't help but to wonder if the tower is undergoing a Network Vision upgrade for the enhanced 3G speeds and LTE support. If so, that's pretty exciting stuff.

 

I never would have imagined our area would be part of the Nashville market being so far east from it, or that any of the towers here would be live before denser cities like Knoxville/Chattanooga (thanks for the info chappo2000 and lordsutch!) I might have to upgrade to an LTE phone early!

Edited July 19, 2012 by tsume

[Josh]

The way that Sprint defines a market is more like what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls a MSA (Metro Statistical Area) or CSA (Combined Statistical Area)... which includes all areas where people live if they work in the metro, and all outlying areas that are financially connected to the metro area. I always think of it as where the closest place to watch a sporting event is located.

In any event, sprint is covering the whole market by upgrading every tower, not just adding the LTE to the city as clearwire had to do with it's 2600Mhz spectrum.

 

Rest assured, if you have native sprint coverage now, you will have LTE by the end of next year... and after that, your service will only get better as they add the SMR 800Mhz spectrum and Clearwire for the cities.

[Vercetti]

Sprint was about a quarter behind. You have to consider all the bad weather and zoning issues and tower leases. Parts of johnson city have lte now parts of gray, blountville, and bristol have LTE. My 3g speed in gray has jumped to 600kps-1mb. I hbe ranged on LTE from 8mb all the way to 24mb down and pings in the 72-111ms range. Its not officially launched so the beta testing now, just rhought you would like to know