Network Vision/LTE - LA Metro Market

[bucdenny]

I think the CEO of Sprint will announce some very good deals this month to get more people with existing non Spark devices to get a Spark device (maybe a free upgrade).  Sprint really need it to change the perception of its network because it is day and night using a Spark device. 

[Thomas L.]

I am hoping that when I finally upgrade to a spark device, this will be better

 

These are my results on single band LTE, with my Note 3, Fairfax and Wilshire is the location.

 

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1048254991

 

Signal always jumps back and forth from 3g to 4g, but all the other providers get even better numbers on 3G. Good thing signal strength at home is still the best of all the providers.

 

Sent from G-Note 3

It all depends on where you are. I'm on the west side so Santa Monica, Westwood, Culver City, etc., and 4G is still hard to find and keep, especially on the bus or in restaurants/stores.

[bigmachine]

It all depends on where you are. I'm on the west side so Santa Monica, Westwood, Culver City, etc., and 4G is still hard to find and keep, especially on the bus or in restaurants/stores.

 

I agree about Santa Monica, especially north of Wilshire.  Parts of 3rd St. are spotty too in the Promenade.  I'm sure since you're a Premier Sponsor you've seen why B41 has been weak in Santa Monica.  Adding B41 to Sprint sites should really help.  And whenever B26 can be deployed, we should see significant in-building improvement.

[WallsOfJonathan]

I agree about Santa Monica, especially north of Wilshire. Parts of 3rd St. are spotty too in the Promenade. I'm sure since you're a Premier Sponsor you've seen why B41 has been weak in Santa Monica. Adding B41 to Sprint sites should really help. And whenever B26 can be deployed, we should see significant in-building improvement.

When is that 800 deployment going to happen.... Again? Refresh my memory, does it have any kind of timeline?

[bigmachine]

When is that 800 deployment going to happen.... Again? Refresh my memory, does it have any kind of timeline?

 

San Bernardino County (SBC) has been the holdup.  In late September an analyst from SBC posted on a P25 forum that the County was "Currently rebanding our 800MHZ fleet of 15000 subscribers and replacing our 15 SmartnetII+ systems with a 7.14 core."

 

So at least they're doing something.  I have been unable to get a hard date from anyone with SBC or Sprint.

[WallsOfJonathan]

San Bernardino County (SBC) has been the holdup. In late September an analyst from SBC posted on a P25 forum that the County was "Currently rebanding our 800MHZ fleet of 15000 subscribers and replacing our 15 SmartnetII+ systems with a 7.14 core."

 

So at least they're doing something. I have been unable to get a hard date from anyone with SBC or Sprint.

Good to know that there is at least some movement though, encouraging nonetheless.

[drexappeal]

As what bigmachine said, Spark is pretty widespread in LA. I also typically get the mid 20s to 30s, which is great in my opinion, and I've seen it go up to 74 in certain places like West Hall of the LA Convention Center.

Ok, that is good to know. Maybe I will consider the Edge. I will have to see if any deals come up

 

Sent from G-Note 8

[bigmachine]

Improvements keep on coming.  Last month in my office in Burbank I used to get about 14 Mbps down, now I consistently get in the 50s.

 

3G only zones are becoming more scarce.  When I do find myself in one, I always report it via Sprint Zone.

[drexappeal]

It all depends on where you are. I'm on the west side so Santa Monica, Westwood, Culver City, etc., and 4G is still hard to find and keep, especially on the bus or in restaurants/stores.

I am very close to Westwood. I so frequent samo and cc, as well aa venice, so I was aware of this.

 

Sent from G-Note 8

[metayoshi]

Went to Maggiano's at the Grove this past Saturday night for a cousin's birthday, and, wow, that place was congested. I had full bars of B25 LTE and my speeds were 0.23 Mbps down. Ouch. That's definitely a location that could use some B41 for the busy days like that.

[bigmachine]

Went to Maggiano's at the Grove this past Saturday night for a cousin's birthday, and, wow, that place was congested.  That's definitely a location that could use some B41 for the busy days like that.

 

Any day now... Since I can't use that trademarked phrase that starts with an "S" and ends with an "N".

[trojanman05]

Was at Staples Center for the Clippers game last night on the suite level and connected to B41 with excellent speeds. I first started out on B25 with a strong signal, but was pretty much unusable (.1 mbps DL and .1 mbps UL) so I connected to Verizon's free WiFi for data. But, in the second half I noticed my signal strength was down to 1 bar, so I checked and saw I was connected to B41. Since I was in a suite, I'm not sure if this B41 signal goes throughout Staples and down to the floor.

 

Interesting observation, Verizon is a sponsor of Staples, but Sprint is a sponsor of the NBA. The scoreboard above the court has the Verizon logo all around it, but at times, the video screen on the scoreboard showed the Sprint logo   ...shoulda got a picture of it!

 

 

[WiWavelength]

But, in the second half I noticed my signal strength was down to 1 bar, so I checked and saw I was connected to B41. Since I was in a suite, I'm not sure if this B41 signal goes throughout Staples and down to the floor.

 

A -105 dBm RSRP is not a low signal.  It still has about a 15-20 dB margin before the service will drop.

 

AJ

[trojanman05]

A -105 dBm RSRP is not a low signal.  It still has about a 15-20 dB margin before the service will drop.

 

AJ

 

I know, just going based on what my phone bars were telling me. That's what caught my attention, since I was at full bars for the first half of the game. And I only turned on Signal Check when I took a screenshot to double check it's readings, so it wasn't on when I first noticed the 1 bar to see what the actual dBm was.

 

I've held onto a B41 signal many times around -120 dBm...with my phone still showing 1 bar.

[buzzkillb]

Just upgraded 2x Samsung S4's to an S5 and iPhone 6+ today. Everything has been awful where we live near the base of the mountain in Altadena. Airrave has been finicky the last couple of months, and we barely get 1x. Wifi calling was good enough for me to upgrade and the iPhone doesn't use voice in the house.

 

As the phone was updating and turning this and that on/off, I started to see an LTE symbol and thought WTF? The little sun icon started spinning around and thought how are the apps updating with the wifi off?

 

We have little to no 1x, will drop the call within 30 seconds. No 3G. And LTE exists about 6 very long blocks away.

 

Sensorly says 30megs down and 7up and I am on band 41. 1 bar for voice and TD-LTE of -104-110 throughout the house. I came to the site looking for the magic that just happened. Also I might be a bit crazy but I want to do a speedtest house by house until I get to the point where the S4 would connect to LTE.

[WiWavelength]

As the phone was updating and turning this and that on/off, I started to see an LTE symbol and thought WTF? The little sun icon started spinning around and thought how are the apps updating with the wifi off?

 

We have little to no 1x, will drop the call within 30 seconds. No 3G. And LTE exists about 6 very long blocks away.

 

For the time being, Sprint Network Vision sites and Clearwire WiMAX/LTE sites are separate entities.  To receive band 41 LTE, you almost certainly have a Clearwire site much closer to your home.  If you are interested in becoming an S4GRU sponsor, we have maps of both Sprint sites and Clearwire sites in our sponsors section.

 

AJ

[tommym65]

For the time being, Sprint Network Vision sites and Clearwire WiMAX/LTE sites are separate entities.  To receive band 41 LTE, you almost certainly have a Clearwire site much closer to your home.  If you are interested in becoming an S4GRU sponsor, we have maps of both Sprint sites and Clearwire sites in our sponsors section.

 

AJ

 

Just an observation:  Last week driving around L A and up to Bakersfield, Signal Check Pro spotted 6 Clear B41 antennas, 80 Sprint B25 antennas, and 65 Sprint B41 antennas (although I think that it may have misidentified some of the Sprint 41's, as their GCI's look like Clear GCI's).  Apropos buzkillb, part of my drive was up the 210 right past Altadena, but I haven't had time to figure out which technologies I saw on that part of the trip.  My LTE coverage in the Altadena area (and, in fact pretty much everywhere I drove) was pretty good, and fairly uninterrupted, throughout the whole trip.

[WiWavelength]

Apropos buzkillb, part of my drive was up the 210 right past Altadena, but I haven't had time to figure out which technologies I saw on that part of the trip.  My LTE coverage in the Altadena area (and, in fact pretty much everywhere I drove) was pretty good, and fairly uninterrupted, throughout the whole trip.

 

Before I posted previously, I checked both our Sprint maps and our Clearwire maps.  Altadena has a significantly greater number of Clearwire sites than Sprint sites.  It is an interesting dichotomy -- especially as Clearwire got such a generally bad rap for WiMAX coverage.

 

AJ

[metayoshi]

Before I posted previously, I checked both our Sprint maps and our Clearwire maps.  Altadena has a significantly greater number of Clearwire sites than Sprint sites.  It is an interesting dichotomy -- especially as Clearwire got such a generally bad rap for WiMAX coverage.

 

AJ

At least in my experience, WiMAX coverage was pretty horrible. No matter how many sites the LA metro area had of Clear's WiMAX, I could barely connect to it with my EVO 4G and E4GT. On the other hand Clear's B41 has been much more accessible, and with Sprint's B41 sites popping up randomly, it's definitely a gargantuan improvement over WiMAX coverage.

[WiWavelength]

At least in my experience, WiMAX coverage was pretty horrible. No matter how many sites the LA metro area had of Clear's WiMAX, I could barely connect to it with my EVO 4G and E4GT. On the other hand Clear's B41 has been much more accessible, and with Sprint's B41 sites popping up randomly, it's definitely a gargantuan improvement over WiMAX coverage.

 

That is the difference in over four years of chipset and device development.

 

AJ

[bigmachine]

I think that it may have misidentified some of the Sprint 41's, as their GCI's look like Clear GCI's

 

This happens a lot with the current version of SCP in the LA market on my M8.  Sites that I know are Clear are still reported as being Sprint.

 

I think I read in the SCP thread that it is an issue that is being worked on.

[buzzkillb]

I started to do some speedtests as I drove to Old Town Pasadena. The closest place to my house that I got LTE on my S4 is on band 25 and is slow on the S5, on the border of Altadena and Pasadena. We ate dinner at Umami across from the Sprint store in Old Town, on B25 the speed was like fast 3G a few years ago.

 

As to freeway driving I never had any real problems in any area with losing signal. Some stretches may go out for a mile or 2, but nothing horrible. I assume this gets better with a tr-band phone.

 

My business takes me to lots of construction sites all over LA County, so I can't wait to go to job sites now. I will single handedly pop new speedtest icons around a lot of areas that don't show up on Sensorly.

[EvanA]

Hello fine LA residents. I'm going to be in LA for a week mainly to see my sister march in the Tournament of Roses parade. I'd like a first hand account of how LA's service is. How would you rate Sprint overall? Any particularly bad spots? If anyone knows how bad it is with a non-spark device (my sister has an iPhone 5s) that would be great to hear as well.

[bucdenny]

Hello fine LA residents. I'm going to be in LA for a week mainly to see my sister march in the Tournament of Roses parade. I'd like a first hand account of how LA's service is. How would you rate Sprint overall? Any particularly bad spots? If anyone knows how bad it is with a non-spark device (my sister has an iPhone 5s) that would be great to hear as well.

Probably have a bad experience if not a tri-band device. There are plenty of B41 and your iPhone 5s will be out of luck.

[EvanA]

Probably have a bad experience if not a tri-band device. There are plenty of B41 and your iPhone 5s will be out of luck.

Yeah, I kinda figured that. I just hope it's usable enough for basic social media stuff since that's what she usually uses it for.