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

[BlueAngel]

Camping on 1x800 now at home (LTE disabled) wanted to see if there were any other improvements, pretty nice. Really exciting to see a network grow; almost daily.


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[BlueAngel]

Anyone having issues tonight staying on 3G/1x? I keep dropping and connecting to Verizon at home, LTE is fine however but I usually turn off LTE due to issues with texts not coming through but that seems to come and go. It's just something weird I noticed in the last few hours.

[mrknowitall526]

None up here north of Allentown. Currently connected to 1x800 at -94 dbm

[Boosted20V]

LTE800 is alive and well throughout the southern LV. Filled in gaps nicely near Lehigh St. on I78.

[Galaxyguy]

LTE800 is alive and well throughout the southern LV. Filled in gaps nicely near Lehigh St. on I78.

I was surprised to see it on my recent visit but it was a nice surprise. B41 is also starting to pop up. Parts of the area are still lacking but will hopefully fill it. My brother lives a few miles north of the Lehigh Valley mall and it's mostly 3G around there. One tower must have been upgraded nearby though because I would pull in a weak B25 signal in one room of his house and had a fairly solid (-100 or so) signal outside. Previously, I never had any LTE there, even outside.

 

South Allentown (where my parents live) has good B25 coverage but it's getting bogged down pretty bad during the day. I'm sure extra capacity will be added soon, but it's nice to have decent service there.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[mrknowitall526]

I was surprised to see it on my recent visit but it was a nice surprise. B41 is also starting to pop up. Parts of the area are still lacking but will hopefully fill it. My brother lives a few miles north of the Lehigh Valley mall and it's mostly 3G around there. One tower must have been upgraded nearby though because I would pull in a weak B25 signal in one room of his house and had a fairly solid (-100 or so) signal outside. Previously, I never had any LTE there, even outside.

 

South Allentown (where my parents live) has good B25 coverage but it's getting bogged down pretty bad during the day. I'm sure extra capacity will be added soon, but it's nice to have decent service there.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

Most of the northern parts of the Valley, like Kempton, New Tripoli, Germansville, Schnecksville, Slatington, Walnutport, and Danielsville have no LTE whatsoever. I think it's obviously a problem with backhaul. Up here it's only Verizon and Blue Ridge Cable/PenTeleData so there is a distinct lack of fiber running around. Where you do find fiber, it's linking the Verizon central offices to each other or to their respective remote terminals for DSL and POTS. There are tons of people in this area stuck on 3 Mbps Verizon DSL probably for the foreseeable future, unless they somehow add backhaul capacity to the CO's. Verizon is in the midst of trying to comply with a state law requiring universal DSL coverage and only has until 12/31 of this year to finish. They have been busy building remote terminals & DSLAMs that are being fed with fiber, but still only offer 3M/768k. The one that serves me just got turned on the beginning of November.

 

There is pretty awesome B41 coverage from about Trexlertown and Fogelsville west to Kutztown, mostly along the 222 corridor. And then south. These must be new equipment too because we never even came close to having WiMax around here.

 

Most places that have B25 have B26 now also, it is really helping fill in all the valleys & hills that have spotty coverage.

[burnout8488]

LTE800 is alive and well throughout the southern LV. Filled in gaps nicely near Lehigh St. on I78.

 

Wish my GF still lived off of Lehigh St.! She's in North Philly now where the coverage is almost perfect, but I must fear for her life on a day-to-day basis. 

[Otaku]

800 Mhz LTE going in Quakertown, manage to get it in my store despite how it kills all other emplyoee's phones, pull between 1-5 mbs at times. EV-DO getting 1.2-1.8

[Boosted20V]

I've gotten B41 as well throughout Quakertown. Sprint's network there is strong.

[mrknowitall526]

My area in northwestern Lehigh County is pretty much the only area left in the market without ubiquitous LTE! I blame Verizon as the ILEC...

[Boosted20V]

Was back in the LV this past weekend. B41 is available throughout Quakertown, Coopersburg, Hellertown, and most of Southern Bethlehem. 800mhz is also widespread in all of these areas. The only sore spots I see remaining are the LVH and LV Mall, two locations with LARGE amounts of people in them.

[mrknowitall526]

Was back in the LV this past weekend. B41 is available throughout Quakertown, Coopersburg, Hellertown, and most of Southern Bethlehem. 800mhz is also widespread in all of these areas. The only sore spots I see remaining are the LVH and LV Mall, two locations with LARGE amounts of people in them.

Yeah, the LV Mall and Whitehall in general is kind of lacking ... You can pick up LTE but I think it's from a more distant site. Which I don't really understand given the population and all the shopping!

[Galaxyguy]

Yeah, the LV Mall and Whitehall in general is kind of lacking ... You can pick up LTE but I think it's from a more distant site. Which I don't really understand given the population and all the shopping!

What I don't understand is the tower closest to the Sprint store on MacArthur Rd (Whitehall) is still 3G, at least as of about 6 weeks ago when I was there last. You would think Sprint would at least want good service near one of their only stores in the area.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

[mrknowitall526]

What I don't understand is the tower closest to the Sprint store on MacArthur Rd (Whitehall) is still 3G, at least as of about 6 weeks ago when I was there last. You would think Sprint would at least want good service near one of their only stores in the area.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

I know! LTE service isn't too great there inside the store.

[JDD]

I am not sure if this is true. According to one of the techs at the Sprint store on MacArthur Road, there was a car accident which has prevented the upgrades in that area. He did not really go into much details but did say there is a temporary site that much of the mall area is running off of. Again I don't know of it is true or that I totally believe it, just thought I would share.

[mrknowitall526]

On my way home today just noticed the tower in Germansville (Lehigh county) lit up with LTE!

[Galaxyguy]

On my way home today just noticed the tower in Germansville (Lehigh county) lit up with LTE!

Is that near 100 and 309? I had friends that lived up that way when I was in high school.

 

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[mrknowitall526]

Is that near 100 and 309? I had friends that lived up that way when I was in high school.

 

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Yup!

[Galaxyguy]

Yup!

That tower you spotted just made the latest update.

 

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[mrknowitall526]

That tower you spotted just made the latest update.

 

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I knew it!  Still waiting for the other site off 309 in New Tripoli ... also on 863 near Red Rd., and 737 & 143 in Kempton.

[shannonbrian]

Band 41 at -89 signal cant break 10mbps at philly airport , tower to load down with people.

[Galaxyguy]

Additional capacity will be added over time which will help increase speeds. 10mbps is plenty for 99.9% of the population though.

 

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[burnout8488]

Additional capacity will be added over time which will help increase speeds. 10mbps is plenty for 99.9% of the population though.

 

Sent from my Note 4.

Agreed, that is a totally reasonable speed for an airport on B41. That means it's keeping B25 and B26 afloat for the non-triband users.

[tommym65]

Hello, Philadelphia!!

 

I am visiting relatives in Downington, and yesterday added my mother-in-law & sister-in-law to my Sprint plan with shiny new iPhone 6's, and we are having trouble calling out with them. (Data & text seem ok.)  My GS5 and my wife's iPhone 5c seem to be working fine, but our phones are from the Midwest, so may be provisioned differently.  Sprint Care has a recorded message mumbling something about known issues.  Does anyone here have any insight??  Is there really a problem going on?

 

Thanks.

[Galaxyguy]

Hello, Philadelphia!!

 

I am visiting relatives in Downington, and yesterday added my mother-in-law & sister-in-law to my Sprint plan with shiny new iPhone 6's, and we are having trouble calling out with them. (Data & text seem ok.) My GS5 and my wife's iPhone 5c seem to be working fine, but our phones are from the Midwest, so may be provisioned differently. Sprint Care has a recorded message mumbling something about known issues. Does anyone here have any insight?? Is there really a problem going on?

 

Thanks.

Did you update the prl?

 

Sent from my Note 4.