Network Vision/LTE - LA Metro Market

[chunkyrice]

8T8R is present in Silverlake. I went there yesterday at Los Globos Club at Sunset Blvd. to hang out with friends and Sprint service was really strong. B41 was present (52 Mbps down / 24 Mbps up)and 3G was ridiculous as well (2 Mbps down / 1.5 Mbps up).

Sprint's service at Downtown Los Angeles and its surroundings has really changed. I can't wait for B26 LTE to fire up.

[chunkyrice]

There are a lot of 8T8R sites in LA. I never have a telephoto lens with me when I see them though.

 

I was at Knott's Berry Farm today and got decent speeds on B41 in most of the park.

I'd love them to finish up Band 41 with Disneyland and California Adventure. I've been there several times this year and it still crawls at times. 

[dw3bb10]

I'm a Sprint customer again as of the last two weeks, after switching to T-Mobile the 2nd week of October last year. Currently using a 6 Plus. Purchased an S5 around May of last year, and returned it for a Note 3 (Preferred the device, and I picked up no B41 across LA, at all.) Needless to say, B25 leaves alot to be desired Haha. Fast forward 2 1/2 months, and Sprint has vastly improved across Beverly Hills/Culver City/South LA/Inglewood/Torrance and more. Pick up TONS of B41 all over the place. Speeds arent too crazy, but not seeing my phone drop down to 3G and being able to stream/download as I would want to has left me impressed with Sprints progress so far, especially after waiting 2 years for Network Vision improvements. I cant wait to get that B26 love and penetration! 

[Wfmets45]

I'm a Sprint customer again as of the last two weeks, after switching to T-Mobile the 2nd week of October last year. Currently using a 6 Plus. Purchased an S5 around May of last year, and returned it for a Note 3 (Preferred the device, and I picked up no B41 across LA, at all.) Needless to say, B25 leaves alot to be desired Haha. Fast forward 2 1/2 months, and Sprint has vastly improved across Beverly Hills/Culver City/South LA/Inglewood/Torrance and more. Pick up TONS of B41 all over the place. Speeds arent too crazy, but not seeing my phone drop down to 3G and being able to stream/download as I would want to has left me impressed with Sprints progress so far, especially after waiting 2 years for Network Vision improvements. I cant wait to get that B26 love and penetration!

Why did you switch back to Sprint?

[bucdenny]

I'm a Sprint customer again as of the last two weeks, after switching to T-Mobile the 2nd week of October last year. Currently using a 6 Plus. Purchased an S5 around May of last year, and returned it for a Note 3 (Preferred the device, and I picked up no B41 across LA, at all.) Needless to say, B25 leaves alot to be desired Haha. Fast forward 2 1/2 months, and Sprint has vastly improved across Beverly Hills/Culver City/South LA/Inglewood/Torrance and more. Pick up TONS of B41 all over the place. Speeds arent too crazy, but not seeing my phone drop down to 3G and being able to stream/download as I would want to has left me impressed with Sprints progress so far, especially after waiting 2 years for Network Vision improvements. I cant wait to get that B26 love and penetration! 

 

Speed not too crazy because most B41 in LA does not have the faster backhaul in place.  I am in LA every weekend, most B41 speeds are around 15-40Mbps on 8T8R sites.   Some places i get 50-60Mbps.  

[Thomas L.]

Speed not too crazy because most B41 in LA does not have the faster backhaul in place.  I am in LA every weekend, most B41 speeds are around 15-40Mbps on 8T8R sites.   Some places i get 50-60Mbps.  

 

Is that why? It's so annoying to get band 41 and to get just 6-7mpbs down. I mean I expect that on band 25 but on band 41...

[bucdenny]

Is that why? It's so annoying to get band 41 and to get just 6-7mpbs down. I mean I expect that on band 25 but on band 41...

 

Give it time, back haul providers do take up to 3 months to simply do a speed upgrade.  One of them i know of takes that long is AT&T.   Especially in San Diego, AT&T is the main back haul provider for Sprint aside from Cox.   Cox usually take a few weeks for simple speed upgrade.

[Thomas L.]

Give it time, back haul providers do take up to 3 months to simply do a speed upgrade. One of them i know of takes that long is AT&T. Especially in San Diego, AT&T is the main back haul provider for Sprint aside from Cox. Cox usually take a few weeks for simple speed upgrade.

I think a lot of what I'm seeing is also band 41 starting to get saturated. In the spots where I used to get 40+ down 8 months ago, I now get 8-15 down. Sprint desperately needs to out that big swath spectrum to use to keep speeds competitive. I know it's an epeen contest but honestly it hurt that in rootmetrics last report Sprint was the only carrier not to average 20+mpbs in any metro in the country.

[nexgencpu]

I think a lot of what I'm seeing is also band 41 starting to get saturated. In the spots where I used to get 40+ down 8 months ago, I now get 8-15 down. Sprint desperately needs to out that big swath spectrum to use to keep speeds competitive. I know it's an epeen contest but honestly it hurt that in rootmetrics last report Sprint was the only carrier not to average 20+mpbs in any metro in the country.

In reality, you should be extremely happy that B41 is getting used as much as it is. It is very simple for Sprint to upgrade either backhaul or add another carrier if necessary. 

 

Whereas the other carriers, are stuck with very few options, once their speeds hit the fan, (which they surely will) they will struggle to upgrade, whereas Sprint is FINALLY future proof! 

 

 

Also, as mentioned by quite a few people before, its most likely related to backhaul, not the 20Mhz being saturated.

[Thomas L.]

In reality, you should be extremely happy that B41 is getting used as much as it is. It is very simple for Sprint to upgrade either backhaul or add another carrier if necessary.

 

Whereas the other carriers, are stuck with very few options, once their speeds hit the fan, (which they surely will) they will struggle to upgrade, whereas Sprint is FINALLY future proof!

 

 

Also, as mentioned by quite a few people before, its most likely related to backhaul, not the 20Mhz being saturated.

I mean I don't mind it, in reality the 10-15 is more than enough for everything, including Netflix and other video streaming. It's more curiosity and observation on my part.

[WiWavelength]

Also, as mentioned by quite a few people before, its most likely related to backhaul, not the 20Mhz being saturated.

 

It has been so long since I last used WiMAX -- almost three years ago -- that my memories of it are starting to get fuzzy.  But as I recall, the network was designed for approximately 10 Mbps per sector.  At the time, circa 2010, that was pretty fast.  But that would require only 30 Mbps backhaul for the whole site -- inadequate by today's standards.

 

Just for reference, what was the fastest speed test that anyone ever saw from a WiMAX sector?

 

AJ

[Thomas L.]

It has been so long since I last used WiMAX -- almost three years ago -- that my memories of it are starting to get fuzzy. But as I recall, the network was designed for approximately 10 Mbps per sector. At the time, circa 2010, that was pretty fast. But that would require only 30 Mbps backhaul for the whole site -- inadequate by today's standards.

 

Just for reference, what was the fastest speed test that anyone ever saw from a WiMAX sector?

 

AJ

Something like 8-9 I feel like. My memories are fuzzy too, but the highest I think I ever say was maybe 12? If that was even possible.

[nexgencpu]

It has been so long since I last used WiMAX -- almost three years ago -- that my memories of it are starting to get fuzzy.  But as I recall, the network was designed for approximately 10 Mbps per sector.  At the time, circa 2010, that was pretty fast.  But that would require only 30 Mbps backhaul for the whole site -- inadequate by today's standards.

 

Just for reference, what was the fastest speed test that anyone ever saw from a WiMAX sector?

 

AJ

The highest speed's I ever achieved on WIMAX were just south of 20mbs.  

 

I still remember popping my "4G" cherry a few months into owning an evo, I didn't leave that blocks for hours! 

[bigmachine]

Fast forward 2 1/2 months, and Sprint has vastly improved across Beverly Hills/Culver City/South LA/Inglewood/Torrance and more. Pick up TONS of B41 all over the place.

 

Last weekend I drove a circuit from Encino to Downtown and back through Exposition Park and Culver City.  I stayed mostly connected to B41.

 

There's even B41 through most of the Sepulveda Pass on the 405!

 

The only point where I noticed 3G was inside the California Science Center... and it was completely useable.

[twospirits]

Just for reference, what was the fastest speed test that anyone ever saw from a WiMAX sector?

 

AJ

 

 

Something like 8-9 I feel like. My memories are fuzzy too, but the highest I think I ever say was maybe 12? If that was even possible.

If memory serves me right, I believe I got somewhere between 6-8.  I don't recall every going above that.

[jasonsteele]

I got up to 12 Mbps regularly on my Evo a few years ago on my home tower before Clear converted to dual mode WiMAX/LTE. Now my Clear Hub Express never pulls more than 6 Mbps on WiMAX but iPhone 6 has pulled 73 Mbps on LTE. Not sure if dual mode uses the same backhaul or not, there are small microwave dishes on each sector.

[trojanman05]

Further agree that B41 (8T8R and Clearwire) is pretty widespread throughout the LA area. I commute downtown a few days a week via Metrolink between Tustin and Union Station. These days, I rarely drop to 3G, if at all, while on the train. And downtown, 98% of the time I'm on B41, even in my office on the 37th floor. I don't do speed tests regularly, but they've been in the 20-30 mbps range.

 

There used to be areas on the train (namely along the route between Union Station, Commerce, Norwalk and Buena Park) where I would drop to 3G. Now, I'm on B41 (either on 8T8R or Clearwire, but more Clearwire) pretty much the entire way.

 

I do connect to 1x800 in the restroom of my highrise, curious if LTE B26 will reach in there once it's turned on.

[dw3bb10]

Why did you switch back to Sprint?

 

ONLY because I could continue paying $80 for my unlimited plan with them, or take advantage of an opportunity to have a Sprint line for completely free. So, I chose that. Its funny to me though when people on this forum talk about other carriers, in particular T-Mobile. In LA, seeing 30-40mbps was norm, I was more surprised seeing 70+ speeds, which I saw often too. As far up as Santa Clarita, and as far down as Garden Grove, T-mo's coverage is AMAZING. Never even dropped down from LTE in the 2+ months I used it. Itll be nice once Sprint gets their backhaul updated and b26 rolling. The waiting continues Lol...

[WiWavelength]

I got up to 12 Mbps regularly on my Evo a few years ago on my home tower before Clear converted to dual mode WiMAX/LTE. Now my Clear Hub Express never pulls more than 6 Mbps on WiMAX...

 

As part of paring down the WiMAX network, your carrier bandwidth may have been cut from 10 MHz TDD to 5 MHz TDD.

 

AJ

[GRR78]

It has been so long since I last used WiMAX -- almost three years ago -- that my memories of it are starting to get fuzzy.  But as I recall, the network was designed for approximately 10 Mbps per sector.  At the time, circa 2010, that was pretty fast.  But that would require only 30 Mbps backhaul for the whole site -- inadequate by today's standards.

 

Just for reference, what was the fastest speed test that anyone ever saw from a WiMAX sector?

 

AJ

 

The highest I ever saw was when I was still in school at CCSU in New Britain, CT. I picked up exactly 20 mbps down. When I saw that I nearly shat myself I was soo surprised. 

[bbspot]

Something like 8-9 I feel like. My memories are fuzzy too, but the highest I think I ever say was maybe 12? If that was even possible.

I got a rocking 4.29 ... and I thought that was fast lol.

[mrjeff]

I mean I don't mind it, in reality the 10-15 is more than enough for everything, including Netflix and other video streaming. It's more curiosity and observation on my part.

 

Yep.  I don't really pay much attention to speed tests that much anymore because Sprint's service pretty much has been working as I need it to.  I rarely have a problem streaming music, video or browsing the web.  I have also noticed I'm no longer dropping calls like I used too.

 

I do still run speed tests but its usually because i'm stuck somewhere and bored, and I've seen everywhere from 3Mbps to 71 Mbps while connected to LTE.  Unless I'm downloading a large App or something, it all works the same for me tho.

[Toffer]

Is there any reason I shouldn't be getting B41 in Santa Monica? I'm just trying out Sprint for the last week and my phone has never connected to B41 here in Santa Monica (it didn't work in Palm Springs either but did a couple of times in LA on the drvie back). Sprint's coverage map says that my home and most surrounding areas should have "Best" Spark recdeption yet even outdoors next to an open field it is only getting B25 with ~1Mbps speeds and ~200ms pings, pretty unnacceptable. Along with learning that Sprint can't even get B26 in all of Socal has made this pretty disaapointing. While I can thankfully get 1x800 (the main reason I retried Sprint was to get better voice receptioin at home) the prevalence of poor 3G and B25 conncetions almost everywhere I've tried in Sprint makes me think I'll go back to T-Mobile.

 

Is there any reason that I shouldn't be experiencing this or is there any hope that it will improve?

[S4GRU]

Is there any reason I shouldn't be getting B41 in Santa Monica? I'm just trying out Sprint for the last week and my phone has never connected to B41 here in Santa Monica (it didn't work in Palm Springs either but did a couple of times in LA on the drvie back). Sprint's coverage map says that my home and most surrounding areas should have "Best" Spark recdeption yet even outdoors next to an open field it is only getting B25 with ~1Mbps speeds and ~200ms pings, pretty unnacceptable. Along with learning that Sprint can't even get B26 in all of Socal has made this pretty disaapointing. While I can thankfully get 1x800 (the main reason I retried Sprint was to get better voice receptioin at home) the prevalence of poor 3G and B25 conncetions almost everywhere I've tried in Sprint makes me think I'll go back to T-Mobile.

 

Is there any reason that I shouldn't be experiencing this or is there any hope that it will improve?

 

I am guessing by your profile you are trying out Sprint with the Nexus 5.  Some people have issues with B41 using the N5.  The N5 did not work on B41 when initially sold and had to receive and update more than 6 months later to work with B41.  Some people reported issues after the update getting B41.  Others could not stay connected.  Others had no problem.  I'm not sure if this is your issue, but it's what first came to mind.

 

However, B26 will be coming online this year in LA County.  The IBEZ 800 rebanding will be complete some time in 2015.  Sprint has already released crews to start getting sites ready for 800MHz LTE for quick fire up after the FCC allows them to use the spectrum.  We don;t have any specific information about dates in LA, but it should be some time before the end of the year.  I would guess LA will go first.

 

Other than trying another device for B41, you may need to stay with Tmo until B26 becomes prevalent in your area.  About that time Sprint with have 2x or maybe even 3x carrier aggregation on B41 in the LA area.  So it may be a good time then to get a new Sprint device that support B41 CA and make the jump then.

[EvanA]

 

 

I am guessing by your profile you are trying out Sprint with the Nexus 5. Some people have issues with B41 using the N5. The N5 did not work on B41 when initially sold and had to receive and update more than 6 months later to work with B41. Some people reported issues after the update getting B41. Others could not stay connected. Others had no problem. I'm not sure if this is your issue, but it's what first came to mind.

No issues with B41 here. I was also in the LA area around New Years and had lots of band 41 coverage. There is also B41 active in the Santa Monica Pier area.