Network Vision/LTE - Philadelphia Metro Market (including Lehigh Valley/Reading)

[SteveInPhilly]

From what I've seen, 3G can be accepted as complete without backhaul upgrades. Also, Nolan said backhaul still wasn't hooked up.

 

Yeah, the way it's unwritten is just a little unclear...it makes it sound as thought he sites that have between 150 and 500 MBit connections are "ready" and that CC, UC, and other high traffic areas already have 1GBit.

 

Steve

[Nolan L. Harper]

The fiber backhaul connections I am assisting in installing, we are not connecting to the MMBTS itself; that is another contractor's job (me and my friend was talking about how there was still several other contractors doing things that him and his team can do quite easily and in one shot). As it sits now, just about all of the Philadelphia Metro Area is done on the Physical side with only a handful of sites not done because of either permits or locations, the fiber backhaul is in full steam although behind schedule since all of the Alcatel-Lucent contractors and techs was sent to Long Island to rebuild after Sandy. After the fiber is hooked up, all that is left is someone to come by with a laptop and do final programming before the tower is lit up.

[dantheman]

The fiber backhaul connections I am assisting in installing, we are not connecting to the MMBTS itself; that is another contractor's job (me and my friend was talking about how there was still several other contractors doing things that him and his team can do quite easily and in one shot). As it sits now, just about all of the Philadelphia Metro Area is done on the Physical side with only a handful of sites not done because of either permits or locations, the fiber backhaul is in full steam although behind schedule since all of the Alcatel-Lucent contractors and techs was sent to Long Island to rebuild after Sandy. After the fiber is hooked up, all that is left is someone to come by with a laptop and do final programming before the tower is lit up.

Do they got to use the laptop to flip on LTE or just the 3G+backhaul?

[dantheman]

I talked to Sprint and they told me the tower by the Giant at Flowers Mills in Langhorne, PA has been down since end of November and that they were working on it.

[HappyHappy]

I talked to Sprint and they told me the tower by the Giant at Flowers Mills in Langhorne, PA has been down since end of November and that they were working on it.

 

I would say they are pretty bad at fixing things. It has been 3 months since November there must be some progress on a single tower.

[SteveInPhilly]

I would say they are pretty bad at fixing things. It has been 3 months since November there must be some progress on a single tower.

 

I called in August about a tower by my house in the Art Museum Area and they said there was an existing ticket from July with an estimated resolution of October 19.

[HappyHappy]

I called in August about a tower by my house in the Art Museum Area and they said there was an existing ticket from July with an estimated resolution of October 19.

 

It is typically true. Sprint do not address issues fast enough. There are tickets all over Philly and they do their least to satisfy customers in one of the biggest metropolitan city in the country.

 

You know, I guess people do what is best for them. Cheap Sprint unlimited data or go for costly AT&T and Verizon.

 

I bet it will take them another 4 months to get LTE ready.

Edited February 27, 2013 by HappyHappy

[Boosted20V]

It is typically true. Sprint do not address issues fast enough. There are tickets all over Philly and they do their least to satisfy customers in one of the biggest metropolitan city in the country.

 

You know, I guess people do what is best for them. Cheap Sprint unlimited data or go for costly AT&T and Verizon.

 

I bet it will take them another 4 months to get LTE ready.

 

Is it possible for you to say anything that isn't negative? Pretty sure it's not.

[hiwhatsup]

With NV rollout in Philly active it's possible they're scrapped fixing existing tickets since all newcequipment is just going to be rolled out anyway.

[SteveInPhilly]

Is it possible for you to say anything that isn't negative? Pretty sure it's not.

 

To be fair, Boosted, you're sitting in Harrisburg BATHED in LTE while we're struggling to get 0.1Mbit speeds here in Philly. It is seriously not fun.

[Boosted20V]

I understand that, I'm in Philly and the LV very often for work and family. The thing is, complaining won't help here.

[HappyHappy]

With NV rollout in Philly active it's possible they're scrapped fixing existing tickets since all newcequipment is just going to be rolled out anyway.

 

It is not true. They are still fixing things but I think they are trying to do the LTE upgrades to the towers as well. That's why there are so many tickets.

[S4GRU]

Whoa! Whoa! There is no need to escalate to this point. Get it back in line, please.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[HappyHappy]

To be fair, Boosted, you're sitting in Harrisburg BATHED in LTE while we're struggling to get 0.1Mbit speeds here in Philly. It is seriously not fun.

 

Hey Steve and everyone else,

 

If you are experiencing terrible speeds please address these issues to Sprint's Customer Care as well. A lot of people twit or post on blogs saying how terrible the speed is but the customer care would not know until everyone starts complaining to them through the phone.

 

The most effective way is to call Sprint and say your concerns to them.

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. I mean nothing negative. I simply am stating truth on every post. Honestly, we cannot bath in obvious lies so either accept it or move on.

[vitodonuts]

Pretty much everyone in the philly metro area has extremely slow speeds...heck more than not i cant download only upload and get network error on my screen. I have learned to deal with it i understand it takes time to fix issues and if doing without for a few months then thats what i have to do. Sprint i understand knows people are frustrated.....one things for sure unlimted 4g (when it goes live) is a much better deal than verizon, at&t, and tmobile throttle plans!!! I can hold off!!

[HappyHappy]

Pretty much everyone in the philly metro area has extremely slow speeds...heck more than not i cant download only upload and get network error on my screen. I have learned to deal with it i understand it takes time to fix issues and if doing without for a few months then thats what i have to do. Sprint i understand knows people are frustrated.....one things for sure unlimted 4g (when it goes live) is a much better deal than verizon, at&t, and tmobile throttle plans!!! I can hold off!!

 

So many people in Philly so the network cannot handle the usages. Sprint is actually adding more sites in Philly so it can handle the need of mobile data.

Edited February 27, 2013 by HappyHappy

[SteveInPhilly]

So many people in Philly so the network cannot handle the usages. Sprint is actually adding more sites in Philly so it can handle the need of mobile data.

 

I've always been curious if this is tied to the heavy adoption of the MVNOs (MetroPCS, Virgin, Boost, Cricket) in the area. They piggyback on Sprint's network so it seems like that's potentially where the unanticipated volume comes from. I'm actually hoping that with SoftBank's big investment in Sprint (assuming it's approved) they won't have to over-leverage their network to bolster cash-flow. And I'm really hoping they don't lease out their LTE network the way they did 3G.

[HappyHappy]

I've always been curious if this is tied to the heavy adoption of the MVNOs (MetroPCS, Virgin, Boost, Cricket) in the area. They piggyback on Sprint's network so it seems like that's potentially where the unanticipated volume comes from. I'm actually hoping that with SoftBank's big investment in Sprint (assuming it's approved) they won't have to over-leverage their network to bolster cash-flow. And I'm really hoping they don't lease out their LTE network the way they did 3G.

 

Boost and Virgin belongs to Sprint if I remember correctly. Virgin and Boost pretty much use Sprint's 3G network like all of us.

 

Sprint may have leased their network to MetroPCS and Cricket.

 

This definitely is one problem and could have caused extra volumes.

 

I also think that there are too few towers within a neighborhood, so tower cannot take extra traffics due to the fact that there is a huge population growth in Philly within the past few years (immigrants and others). I think there is usually 2-4 per neighborhood, with the exception in Center City and certain districts within the city (they get like 15 or more.

 

I think they are aware of this now and hopefully they get more towers within a neighborhood to better handle the extra network traffic.

Edited February 27, 2013 by HappyHappy

[WiWavelength]

Sprint may have leased their network to MetroPCS and Cricket.

 

No, both MetroPCS and Cricket operate their own CDMA2000/LTE hybrid networks in Philadelphia.

 

AJ

[HappyHappy]

No, both MetroPCS and Cricket operate their own CDMA2000/LTE hybrid networks in Philadelphia.

 

AJ

 

I see. So the extra traffic is simply from Boost and Virgin Mobile USA.

Edited February 27, 2013 by HappyHappy

[S4GRU]

It's easy to want to blame MVNO's. However, they do not constitute a huge burden to the network overall, and most do not offer unlimited.

 

Sprint wants to grow their brand and subscribership even further from here. Whether that is from organic postpaid growth, their prepaid brands or MVNO's, it doesn't much matter. Sprint needs to be prepared for additional traffic and be prepared for an aggressive and proactive capex budget and planning to handle it.

 

MVNO's are not going anywhere and will be a part of Sprint's future survival and successes. The network failures of the past were more about capex spend and the failure to have WiMax off load data traffic the way they planned. These are not related to MVNO's. It's just easy to blame the MVNO because they were the last thing to jump on the pile. The truth is that the legacy network was damned long before the popularity of MVNO takeoff.

 

Robert

[HappyHappy]

I agree Sprint needs to be strong and rid of any obstacles ahead of them.

[Captain_Throwback]

I talked to Sprint and they told me the tower by the Giant at Flowers Mills in Langhorne, PA has been down since end of November and that they were working on it.

This would explain why my signal always drops out when I'm driving past there on Rt. 1. My phone has even started roaming a few times in that area. At least I know why now.

[sdiamond85]

I have to agree with Happyhappy. Philadelphia is one of the most challenged markets. I am in Wildwood. We never got Wimax, and our hopes of getting LTE any time soon is a toss up.

 

Having said that. I have used LTE in New York. The value of unlimited data with sprint makes it an easy choice for me. I think we have to look more at Softbank. They are the Japanese firm that is buying Sprint. They are a CDMA LTE carrier. They grabbed market share by doing an aggressive lte buildout, and the best pricing in the market.

 

Robert the moderator of S4gru also lives out in the sticks in New Mexico by the way, and he shares some of the same experiences that I have, in living in an under served area.

 

I know we heard this song before. But, I strongly believe if we give Sprint another nine months it will be well worth it. You guys might want to make a donaton to S4gru like I did. Robert has to do an amazing amount of data work on this site. The sponsor maps are great.

[S4GRU]

All hail our new Japanese overlords of unlimited data!

 

Robert via Nexus 7 with Tapatalk HD