Network Vision/LTE - Atlanta/Athens Market

[VW Maverick]

Got some very nice readings in Athens today.

 

Mav.

 

Sent on my Galaxy Nexus using the Continuum Transfunctioner.

[dpullen]

I now have LTE at home! Pretty good signal, too. I've been out a week, so this was done at some point during last week.

 

Looks like Sprint finally turned on one of the towers that is relatively close to my home!

 

Sent from my EVOlte using tapatalk

 

 

[Trice]

I'm a happy camper also, went to vegas last weekend came back to atl had a strong signal at the airport, got home and finally got my 4g icon. I now get consistent 20/6ish speedtest results. I guess the tower by my home finally went live. My GS3 is finally running on all cylinders lol. Well almost until the official jellybean update

 

 

I now have LTE at home! Pretty good signal, too. I've been out a week, so this was done at some point during last week.

 

Looks like Sprint finally turned on one of the towers that is relatively close to my home!

 

Sent from my EVOlte using tapatalk

[dpullen]

Sadly, still no LTE at work. Hopefully soon...

 

Sent from my EVOlte using tapatalk

 

 

[Feech]

Hey ATL EVO LTE users. Now that coverage seems to be pretty good are you having issues with the EVO making the connection on its own? is it handing off properly?

[themuffinman]

Hey ATL EVO LTE users. Now that coverage seems to be pretty good are you having issues with the EVO making the connection on its own? is it handing off properly?

 

I guess I can chime in on this one. First off, when it comes to my gnex it seems like I have lte service just about where ever I go in atlanta(I am mainly on the south side), unfortunately I can't say the same for my evo. Now don't get me wrong, with the increasing lte coverage the issues with the evo seem to be less of an issue as before. Where ever there is a relatively decent signal(which seems to be a lot more places now) the evo will hold on and/or reconnect just fine, its just that when the signal drops to a certain point then it would drop off while my gnex is still connected. Anyway, my patience is running out with the evo but I still love the phone quite a bit.

[chong67]

My EVO LTE is working great after the OTA. Before that, it was bad and frustrating.

 

Is it true that the 3S has better tolerence than EVO LTE?

[S4GRU]

My EVO LTE is working great after the OTA. Before that' date=' it was bad and frustrating.

 

Is it true that the 3S has better tolerence than EVO LTE?[/quote']

 

In my experience, yes. And it is quite noticeable.

 

Robert via Moto Photon Q using Forum Runner

[Feech]

Thanks guys don't know what to think about this EVO and what to expect during and after deployment

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Feech]

Are guys still seeing speeds in the 20 range?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[troyd96]

Yes 20-30 when with a good sigal

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[andycapps]

Got some very nice readings in Athens today.

 

Mav.

 

Sent on my Galaxy Nexus using the Continuum Transfunctioner.

 

I'll be in Watkinsville for Christmas in a couple months. I assume I should have great LTE coverage all around Athens by that point. Good to hear.

[A454nova]

 

I'll be in Watkinsville for Christmas in a couple months. I assume I should have great LTE coverage all around Athens by that point. Good to hear.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

Nope, leave it off. Don't do it. Life will not be the same at home. It changes a person and you don't get that innocence back.

[JonnygATL]

To be honest, other than in a few buildings where 4g doesn't penetrate I get LTE everywhere I go with no exceptions in the metro area.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Ok I have to share this with everybody. .I bartend at a restaurant in Atlantic Station and, just yesterday, there was a Sprint van parked outside the restaurant and a Sprint tent as well. They were marketing the Galaxy S3 and 4G LTE. Both brands were painted all over the van and signs outside the tent. I had a bit of downtime behind the bar and stepped outside to talk to the two reps, keeping in mind that two of my coworkers have GS3s which they are still unable to get LTE on (even in our location in West Midtown).

 

I approached they guys, they smiled, waved, were friendly. I stopped right in front of them and said that I was seeking to upgrade from my Wimax equipped E4GT to the LTE equipped GS3 but didn't want to upgrade until LTE was active where I live, work and play and until the 3G had improved to at least marginally useful levels. They both sort of blinked, coughed and looked mildly annoyed and greatly confused. One guy says, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, you're advertising an LTE equipped phone in an area that can't even get that service. Do you see the irony in that?" I then asked him to attempt to get 4G LTE on one of the GS3's they had on display under then tent. He tried. He failed. He tried again. He failed again.

 

I then ran a speedtest for the 3G on my GS2. Keep in mind that we were standing outside with nothing over our heads to block the signal (except the other buildings in Atlantic Station). I pulled 0.11 down and essentially 0 up. A complete joke. That's why I use Wimax when at work because I get 10-12 down with Wimax on. 3G is entirely unusable.

 

They guys apologized profusely, gave me some half-assed "answers" and generally seemed woefully uninformed about the whole NV process. I then asked them if they seemed to be having more issues with Ericsson vs. Al-Lucent or Samsung. They had NO idea what I was even talking about. So I informed them. They simply scratched their heads and said, "well things are improving every single day." I said that I knew that but that I was seeking more direct and fully developed answers to my questions.

 

I then said, "You guys aren't from around here, are you?" They said "no." I asked if they were based in Overland Park. They said, no, that they were just hired by Sprint to market the S3 and 4G LTE in general and that they were based in Norwalk, CT. I said, "Oh. That figures."

 

Ultimately, one of them gave me a card valid for up to $50 toward an Otter case for any phone of my choice, including the S3. But I really don't want a phone case. I want the LTE coverage I was promised in this city months ago. I don't get why this market is moving so slowly compared to other markets. I suppose it's partly the contractors...partly the rolling hilly nature of the Eastern part of the city. IDK...but I thought I'd share the story.

 

Any ideas on why the holdup?

[troyd96]

To be honest I don't frequent the middle of Atlanta much, but I will say this. I tailgate at Georgia Tech games and I get 4g while tailgating. My brother lives in the big Condo 1280 west in one of the penthouses that overlooks Atlantic Station and I got 4g there also. Most of my 4g experience is outside of Atlanta proper.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[JonnygATL]

To be honest I don't frequent the middle of Atlanta much, but I will say this. I tailgate at Georgia Tech games and I get 4g while tailgating. My brother lives in the big Condo 1280 west in one of the penthouses that overlooks Atlantic Station and I got 4g there also. Most of my 4g experience is outside of Atlanta proper.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

I was thinking..the rep never toggled airplane mode...the most common and simple way to force a search for an LTE signal..nor did he power cycle. These guys were a big joke. They had zero technical expertise. SO frustrating. And, to be clear, my frustration is more for the uninformed employees (or, in this case, third party contractors) and lack of communication of the reality of the situation from Sprint to its customers than it is for the coverage woes. If we were just informed of the truth directly from Sprint then a lot of the animosity would not exist. It's like having a stubborn partner. LOL. You love them, but BOY are they frustrating!!

[themuffinman]

I was thinking..the rep never toggled airplane mode...the most common and simple way to force a search for an LTE signal..nor did he power cycle. These guys were a big joke. They had zero technical expertise. SO frustrating. And, to be clear, my frustration is more for the uninformed employees (or, in this case, third party contractors) and lack of communication of the reality of the situation from Sprint to its customers than it is for the coverage woes. If we were just informed of the truth directly from Sprint then a lot of the animosity would not exist. It's like having a stubborn partner. LOL. You love them, but BOY are they frustrating!!

 

I don't know what the deal is with that area but I have noticed that there is a big whole in lte coverage in that north west quadrant inside the perimeter. Things are improving though, I was at ikea the other week ago and got an lte signal in the parking lot which hasn't happened before(my girl got a thing for ikea, so we go there all the time). As far the your experience with the two reps, you know damn well that your average reps won't know anything about any sort of specifics when it comes NV. All they will tell you(and probably trained to say) is that Sprint is in the middle of upgrades and things will get better soon, which is still true regardless if they have details or not. Yes, Sprint needs to do a better job communicating to their customers but as far as you, just be glad that you can come here and get all the information you need. As a matter of fact, instead of giving them a relatively hard time you could have helped them out a little bit by telling them about s4gru, that way they could get a little bit more information so they can do their job a little more efficiently and in the event another "techie" tries to give them a hard time they will be in a better position to address those concerns.. I will say this though, the one's that are the most frustrated seems to be the ones that already have all the information yet will turn around and call sprint and when they can't get the information they already know, they get frustrated.

[JonnygATL]

I don't know what the deal is with that area but I have noticed that there is a big whole in lte coverage in that north west quadrant inside the perimeter. Things are improving though, I was at ikea the other week ago and got an lte signal in the parking lot which hasn't happened before(my girl got a thing for ikea, so we go there all the time). As far the your experience with the two reps, you know damn well that your average reps won't know anything about any sort of specifics when it comes NV. All they will tell you(and probably trained to say) is that Sprint is in the middle of upgrades and things will get better soon, which is still true regardless if they have details or not. Yes, Sprint needs to do a better job communicating to their customers but as far as you, just be glad that you can come here and get all the information you need. As a matter of fact, instead of giving them a relatively hard time you could have helped them out a little bit by telling them about s4gru, that way they could get a little bit more information so they can do their job a little more efficiently and in the event another "techie" tries to give them a hard time they will be in a better position to address those concerns.. I will say this though, the one's that are the most frustrated seems to be the ones that already have all the information yet will turn around and call sprint and when they can't get the information they already know, they get frustrated.

 

Ha ha...true. However if you're going to pay someone to market a phone, paired with a particular service (live at a huge outdoor complex like Atlantic Station), then you'd damn well better have that service active on said device at that time for demonstration purposes! I was HOPING that something had changed, that LTE was now strongly available in that spot and that's what they were there to trumpet. But, alas, I was wrong. LTE is still seemingly not working there.

 

Sprint has more information than anyone (the higher ups, not those silly reps). That being the case, don't you think it was silly of them to send out a marketing team, peddling a service that is actually unavailable, at least in that particular location? They may as well have been peddling snake oil as far as I'm concerned and, in doing so, deserved to be given a bit of a hard time.

 

Maybe next time they will think before they act and avoid giving their customers - and potential customers - false expectations.

 

But, yes, I know it's improving. It's just the very slow rate of improvement that most irks me. I will not upgrade to the GS3 until I can actually use it. And, in my universe, that just makes sense.

[themuffinman]

Ha ha...true. However if you're going to pay someone to market a phone, paired with a particular service (live at a huge outdoor complex like Atlantic Station), then you'd damn well better have that service active on said device at that time for demonstration purposes! I was HOPING that something had changed, that LTE was now strongly available in that spot and that's what they were there to trumpet. But, alas, I was wrong. LTE is still seemingly not working there.

 

Sprint has more information than anyone (the higher ups, not those silly reps). That being the case, don't you think it was silly of them to send out a marketing team, peddling a service that is actually unavailable, at least in that particular location? They may as well have been peddling snake oil as far as I'm concerned and, in doing so, deserved to be given a bit of a hard time.

 

Maybe next time they will think before they act and avoid giving their customers - and potential customers - false expectations.

 

But, yes, I know it's improving. It's just the very slow rate of improvement that most irks me. I will not upgrade to the GS3 until I can actually use it. And, in my universe, that just makes sense.

 

 

I fully agree with you but let’s be realistic here, the average customer isn't going to know anywhere near as much as the average techie of which we are in the extreme minority compared to overall customers, so basically sprint has no reason to spend extra resources on training when the bottom line is still the same which is Sprint is currently upgrading their network and things will get better soon. I know that it’s Sprint’s responsibility to train their employees but they will only do so as they see fit, so if an opportunity comes around to help then why wouldn’t you? What is giving someone a hard time in this specific situation going to do for you? Now if they were straight up lying right to your face thinking you didn’t know any better, then I could understand.

[JonnygATL]

I fully agree with you but let’s be realistic here, the average customer isn't going to know anywhere near as much as the average techie of which we are in the extreme minority compared to overall customers, so basically sprint has no reason to spend extra resources on training when the bottom line is still the same which is Sprint is currently upgrading their network and things will get better soon. I know that it’s Sprint’s responsibility to train their employees but they will only do so as they see fit, so if an opportunity comes around to help then why wouldn’t you? What is giving someone a hard time in this specific situation going to do for you? Now if they were straight up lying right to your face thinking you didn’t know any better, then I could understand.

Honestly it's irrelevant because it already happened. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I am not here to argue.

 

The good news is that we live in America and so my opinions neither seek nor require your approval. Nor do yours mine.

 

Now, back to the issue. I hope they get the LTE rollout complete in this market, lickety split (sp?)!!

[themuffinman]

Honestly it's irrelevant because it already happened. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I am not here to argue.

 

The good news is that we live in America and so my opinions neither seek nor require your approval. Nor do yours mine.

 

Now, back to the issue. I hope they get the LTE rollout complete in this market, lickety split (sp?)!!

 

Who's arguing? But like you said, back to the issue which is you don't have lte coverage and my response to that is Sprint is actively upgrading to network vision and things will get better soon, there are lots of towers that come online every single week. All in all progressive is moving along quickly unfortunately those specific areas that you frequent haven't been upgraded yet.

[Boosted20V]

Who's arguing? But like you said, back to the issue which is you don't have lte coverage and my response to that is Sprint is actively upgrading to network vision and things will get better soon, there are lots of towers that come online every single week. All in all progressive is moving along quickly unfortunately those specific areas that you frequent haven't been upgraded yet.

 

That and the issues are more pronounced in your market since Ericsson has had issues getting 3G up and running. Once 3G is live on NV things will improve greatly even in absence of LTE. The new sites that have gone live where I live give me a solid 2.5mb/s on 3G. Plenty for anything I currently need.

[S4GRU]

LTE may not be live in every corner of Atlanta, but it is the most deployed Ericsson market of all. More sites go live in Atlanta on average every week than any other Ericsson market. Although we all want deployment to be as fast as physically possible, Atlanta's deployment has been way above average.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner

[JonnygATL]

LTE may not be live in every corner of Atlanta, but it is the most deployed Ericsson market of all. More sites go live in Atlanta on average every week than any other Ericsson market. Although we all want deployment to be as fast as physically possible, Atlanta's deployment has been way above average.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner

 

That's interesting. Hopefully Ericsson can improve their "average" as Samsung's seems to be much faster as does A-L's. I've been rooting for Sprint for 12 years and, clearly, that hasn't changed. But my right to be frustrated is my right to be frustrated. That said, any progress is good and I'm glad to see it taking place - even if it is at a glacial pace.

[S4GRU]

 

That's interesting. Hopefully Ericsson can improve their "average" as Samsung's seems to be much faster as does A-L's. I've been rooting for Sprint for 12 years and' date=' clearly, that hasn't changed. But my right to be frustrated is my right to be frustrated. That said, any progress is good and I'm glad to see it taking place - even if it is at a glacial pace.[/quote']

 

And my right to explain the facts, is my right too. I never said you are not allowed to be frustrated. But since your market is farther along than any other market except for possibly Chicago, most of us don't have much sympathy for your frustrations. Even though you are certiainly allowed to have them.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II using Forum Runner