Network Vision/LTE - San Antonio market

[greenbastard]

Houston is really thin with 1900mhz spectrum. Wish Sprint would have been able to grab some 1900mhz when AT&T bought out Cricket Wireless.

So is San Francisco, but they've managed to deploy a second B25 carrier with just 30 MHz of PCS+G bandwidth.

 

I think At&t held 60 MHz of PCS at one point in the greater Houston area. They've deployed one 20x20 LTE carrier, one 5x5 UMTS, and leased/sold (not sure which) the other 10 MHz to Verizon (Verizon only owned 10 MHz of PCS spectrum, but are now using one of At&t's blocks to deploy 10x10 LTE). I doubt they strike a deal with At&t since it looks like they're set for the long haul. T-Mobile owns the entire A block, so they're not going to accommodate Sprint either. Verizon is maxed out and moving would just acrew them over.

 

Sprint can't buy anymore spectrum down there. But they can thin out CDMA. Not sure why they haven't.

[cyclone]

Anyone having service issues this morning? I'm showing a signal, but not able to make/receive calls, texts, or data. I've put my iPhone on wifi and it won't even switch over to WiFi-Connect

[rackhivee]

No issues here, at least on the data part.

[cyclone]

I'm restarting my phone at the moment. As of now I can't call, text, or get data unless I'm on wifi. My phone doesn't show that it's on WiFi-Connect, but after making and receiving test calls I can confirm that it is working. Once I switch off wifi, it all disconnects. After doing a reset, I am back to normal operations. That was weird

[rackhivee]

So I guess they're still tinkering with the cell sites in the area. I'm sitting on the second floor of my house with a stable -110 dbm band 41 signal while yesterday it was all over the place and in previous months it was only blips of B41. Luckily it's a 8t8r site with 3 carriers and that just pushed a speedtest to near 40 mbps down and 1 up. Once I get the MB it's going to do wonders for the vicinity.

[tyroned3222]

Just wanted to see how sprint is doing in the San Antonio market .. looks like sprint has dropped the ball on upgrades in SA.. sprint started off really good and now fell off.. are the root reports equal to what any of you guys are experiencing ?

 

 

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[greenbastard]

Just wanted to see how sprint is doing in the San Antonio market .. looks like sprint has dropped the ball on upgrades in SA.. sprint started off really good and now fell off.. are the root reports equal to what any of you guys are experiencing ?

 

 

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The network isn't as bad as the report makes it seem. IMO, the Sprint network in San Antonio is better than the Houston network. A lot of work has been done to densify B41 and even more lies ahead through more small cells. Even areas without B41 hold up decently due to the second B25 carrier deployed a while back.

 

Sprint's biggest weakness is the South Side of town. It's not as populated as the north, so towers are oddly spaced. With data consumption growth in the past few years, the tower spacing caught up to Sprint very quickly. Terrible congestion and questionable indoor LTE reliability are common there. But like I said, the south side isn't very populated so it's not something most people will see.

 

Another questionable area is the hill country north of 1604. It's not unusual to drop to 1x from time to time. But to Sprint's credit, all carriers take some type of hit there as well. Not an easy part of town to cover, especially with the sprawl that keeps creeping into the hills.

 

I'm not going to apologise for Sprint, but the report could be very misleading. The San Antonio city limits go out very far into the country in each direction. Coming in from Corpus Christi, you still have a good 8-10 miles of rattle snake country after seeing the "SAN ANTONIO CITY LIMIT" sign. It is my understanding that root metrics drives around doing tests. So if they drove out into the city's "boonies", then it probably hurt Sprint more than the other carriers. Verizon and at&t have made these boonies a priority (O&G) and T-Mobile is expanding like crazy. For Sprint, the boonies just aren't a priority and it's actually understandable.

[rackhivee]

Definitely that upload speed is killing Sprint's score still. Overall the network has improved a bit since the last testing period. If you spend all your time downtown like most tourists it won't seem as bad as it appears. The rest of the scores most closely reflect the true experience, not that network speed test.

[tyroned3222]

The network isn't as bad as the report makes it seem. IMO, the Sprint network in San Antonio is better than the Houston network. A lot of work has been done to densify B41 and even more lies ahead through more small cells. Even areas without B41 hold up decently due to the second B25 carrier deployed a while back.

 

Sprint's biggest weakness is the South Side of town. It's not as populated as the north, so towers are oddly spaced. With data consumption growth in the past few years, the tower spacing caught up to Sprint very quickly. Terrible congestion and questionable indoor LTE reliability are common there. But like I said, the south side isn't very populated so it's not something most people will see.

 

Another questionable area is the hill country north of 1604. It's not unusual to drop to 1x from time to time. But to Sprint's credit, all carriers take some type of hit there as well. Not an easy part of town to cover, especially with the sprawl that keeps creeping into the hills.

 

I'm not going to apologise for Sprint, but the report could be very misleading. The San Antonio city limits go out very far into the country in each direction. Coming in from Corpus Christi, you still have a good 8-10 miles of rattle snake country after seeing the "SAN ANTONIO CITY LIMIT" sign. It is my understanding that root metrics drives around doing tests. So if they drove out into the city's "boonies", then it probably hurt Sprint more than the other carriers. Verizon and at&t have made these boonies a priority (O&G) and T-Mobile is expanding like crazy. For Sprint, the boonies just aren't a priority and it's actually understandable.

Great feedback . I was just wonder cause sprint used to be number 2 in network speeds with a score of 88

 

 

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[tyroned3222]

 

 

Definitely that upload speed is killing Sprint's score still. Overall the network has improved a bit since the last testing period. If you spend all your time downtown like most tourists it won't seem as bad as it appears. The rest of the scores most closely reflect the true experience, not that network speed test.

Ya makes sense ! Do you happen to have another site to check the permits In El Paso the one permit site has been down for 2 weeks now


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[rackhivee]

Ya makes sense ! Do you happen to have another site to check the permits In El Paso the one permit site has been down for 2 weeks now

 

 

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I do not. That's the only one I know about.

[rackhivee]

I found a Mobilitie light post in my neighborhood tonight.  I will post a picture when I get home from my walk with my dog.

[rackhivee]

Here is the tag on the pole.  No equipment on it yet. It just came up this evening, around 6 I'm told.

[tyroned3222]

Here is the tag on the pole.  No equipment on it yet. It just came up this evening, around 6 I'm told.

Nice find. Small cells are going up daily Spokane WA also getting lots of small cells... Looks like San Antonio is getting a big boost in speeds pretty soon

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[rackhivee]

This is the first sign I have seen of Sprint doing some physical work in San Antonio since a few permits that came through earlier in the year.  I tried looking for permits for this install, but I didn't find anything in the portal for either Sprint or Mobilitie.  This makes me wonder if Mobilitie has a subcontractor working this area.

[tyroned3222]

This is the first sign I have seen of Sprint doing some physical work in San Antonio since a few permits that came through earlier in the year.  I tried looking for permits for this install, but I didn't find anything in the portal for either Sprint or Mobilitie.  This makes me wonder if Mobilitie has a subcontractor working this area.

Same here ... Sprint just launched a new band 41 macro and I haven't been able to track a permit for it anywhere

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[rackhivee]

Looks like the small cell I found a couple weeks ago is close to coming live.  It Needs a power meter, don't know if this will be a relay or if it will have a different type of backhaul.  Don't know much about small cells.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yYsqb51_yI9kbGZccxXqy9ds4j1laxDz/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/121fw6XrIBB3FW8jngwdQ0qa9xHw3tUWh/view?usp=sharing

[rackhivee]

Unrelated to Sprint, anybody here from San Antonio that uses Spectrum for their internet service?  The past few days my internet speed has gone up, damn near pulled 200 Mbps DL just a couple minutes ago.  150 Mbps last night.  I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering if they are changing their 100 Mbps tier to higher speeds or if I'm just getting lucky with this.  I haven't made any changes to my account.

[BucketHead25]

6 hours ago, rackhivee said:

Unrelated to Sprint, anybody here from San Antonio that uses Spectrum for their internet service?  The past few days my internet speed has gone up, damn near pulled 200 Mbps DL just a couple minutes ago.  150 Mbps last night.  I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering if they are changing their 100 Mbps tier to higher speeds or if I'm just getting lucky with this.  I haven't made any changes to my account.

Charter has announced speed increases for several markets recently.  http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leak-Heres-the-New-Charter-Gigabit-Markets-Launching-Next-Week-140899

This forum has actual results from users in those markets http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31733904-HSI-Charter-speed-increases

[rackhivee]

3 hours ago, BucketHead25 said:

Charter has announced speed increases for several markets recently.  http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leak-Heres-the-New-Charter-Gigabit-Markets-Launching-Next-Week-140899

This forum has actual results from users in those markets http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31733904-HSI-Charter-speed-increases

Well that explains it.  I'm actually impressed they upgraded their current customers without having us call in for the upgrade.

[cyclone]

Sprint is beginning MMIMO (64T64R) Upgrades and Clearwire Conversions across town. Expect some minor disruptions across the area as conversion sites are basically NV rip and replace style with Clearwire equipment being removed, including microwave hops, and new equipment installed. Word is to push for an end of February deadline for conversion sites...my guess is likely for a March VoLTE launch goal

[rackhivee]

The small cell in my neighborhood is getting close to having backhaul deployed now that ATT is bringing FTTH to the neighborhood.  The pole is right by the primary flex point and its handole.  Also saw them pull the main backhaul fiber from a handhole a block north from the small cell.

[rackhivee]

Also, on a separate note, my magic box is providing upload speeds I had never seen before from it.  Upwards of 6 mbps.  Is this a result of the 64 qam on uploads?

[lilotimz]

1 hour ago, rackhivee said:

Also, on a separate note, my magic box is providing upload speeds I had never seen before from it.  Upwards of 6 mbps.  Is this a result of the 64 qam on uploads?

Potentially! They did advertise  "enhanced uplink connectivity" for their latest sw pdate.