Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[Morningside78]

I've been away for a long time but this band-forcing thing you guys speak of, is it possible for those of us with iPhones to do it?

 

and, is Band 26 actually active yet?

[Paynefanbro]

I've been away for a long time but this band-forcing thing you guys speak of, is it possible for those of us with iPhones to do it? and, is Band 26 actually active yet?

In NYC no. But it's due to lack of Alcatel-Lucent carrier cards. We should start seeing 800LTE sites before summer though.

[S4GRU]

Long time lurker. I luckily live in a fantastic LTE (even Wimax) area in East Harlem. Have perfect band 41 and can pull 50+Mbps.

 

Problem started once they flipped band 25 on a few weeks ago and I can't seem to hang onto the band 41 connection. At best I can stay connect for a few minutes before it falls back to band 25. I've tried every different priority mode in LTE engineering settings but to no avail. Is this likely a phone software problem or a tower issue? Any thoughts?

I assume you're on the G2. Have you received the Spark update, yet?

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

 

[IHeartLTE]

I assume you're on the G2. Have you received the Spark update, yet?

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

Yes, on G2 but haven't taken the Spark update yet.

[Deval]

Yes, on G2 but haven't taken the Spark update yet.

 

Once you have the update, your phone should stay nice and clean on B41.

[nexgencpu]

Connected to B41 on 42nd and 8th ave, seemed to be older backhaul. Still beat the pants out of B25, got 1mb down on B25 and 10mb down 15 up on B41.

[Sonic13]

Connected to B41 on 42nd and 8th ave, seemed to be older backhaul. Still beat the pants out of B25, got 1mb down on B25 and 10mb down 15 up on B41.

I've noticed that pings on B41 are generally slower than the pings on B25. Have you noticed a difference?

 

Wifi always feels a little more responsive than LTE (B25) to me, even with slower DL speeds, although it's only a slight difference. And both are noticeably faster than EVDO at similar DL speeds.

[S4GRU]

Connected to B41 on 42nd and 8th ave, seemed to be older backhaul. Still beat the pants out of B25, got 1mb down on B25 and 10mb down 15 up on B41.

 

Yeah, in Denver, only about 1/3 pf the Band 41 sites had upgraded backhaul.  I think it's why they have not announced that market.  Well, I say that, but CSFB is probably the biggest reason why they have not announced Spark in Denver.

 

Robert

[nexgencpu]

I've noticed that pings on B41 are generally slower than the pings on B25. Have you noticed a difference?

 

Wifi always feels a little more responsive than LTE (B25) to me, even with slower DL speeds, although it's only a slight difference. And both are noticeably faster than EVDO at similar DL speeds.

I would say its generally on par with B25, but it is hard to say since I cannot connect to B41 automatically. What i can say is that even with a worse than -100dBm signal, it blows B25 out of the water.

[nexgencpu]

Yeah, in Denver, only about 1/3 pf the Band 41 sites had upgraded backhaul.  I think it's why they have not announced that market.  Well, I say that, but CSFB is probably the biggest reason why they have not announced Spark in Denver.

 

Robert

I do find it odd that when the backhaul isnt upgraded, that the upload performance is almost always well past the download performance.

[IHeartLTE]

Once you have the update, your phone should stay nice and clean on B41.

 

My fingers are crossed. It hurts going from over 50Mbps on band 41 to 3Mbps on band 25. Just hope it's not designed to only fallback on 41.

Edited February 6, 2014 by IHeartLTE

[jamisonshaw125]

My fingers are crossed. It hurts going from over 50Mbps on band 41 to 3Mbps on band 25. Just hope it's not designed to only fallback on 41.

If you have a decent ping, you shouldn't really see a difference between 41 and 3 mb down if you're just doing normal phone activities. Unless your downloading files or something. But b41 is definitely tasty

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jesmartzdls]

Just got my ZVA update on my LG LS980 (LG G2). Around 9:30 PM EDT and couldn't be happier the speeds are blazing fast! file:///storage/emulated/0/Android/data/.cliptray/1391669071869.jpg

[nexgencpu]

Just got my ZVA update on my LG LS980 (LG G2). Around 9:30 PM EDT and couldn't be happier the speeds are blazing fast! file:///storage/emulated/0/Android/data/.cliptray/1391669071869.jpg

Good to hear and welcome....just cant see the pic, Its pointing to a local folder on your android device.

[jesmartzdls]

It usually stays on 41 but if you are inside a building because band 41 doesnt perform well "in building prenetation". Then for now it will search back for band 25 1900 Mhz but as NV progress band 26 should be the band that we all fall back when 41 is out of reach and not band 25.

[jesmartzdls]

I apologized for the inconvenience...

[nexgencpu]

It usually stays on 41 but if you are inside a building because band 41 doesnt perform well "in building prenetation". Then for now it will search back for band 25 1900 Mhz but as NV progress band 26 should be the band that we all fall back when 41 is out of reach and not band 25.

For now it looks like sprint is going with 41-25-26, it does make sense, since 26 should be the last stop when signal is not strong enough on 25. But I could see where having 26 first before 25 would make sense in overpopulated areas.

[jesmartzdls]

There, I had to crop the picture...

[nexgencpu]

There, I had to crop the picture...

Where was this speedtest taken?

[jesmartzdls]

The band priority for now is 25 (1900MHZ), band 26 (800MHZ), and band 41 (2500GHZ). But that will soon change as they deploy more small cell and increment the capacity using carrier aggregation. Givin the fact that Sprint currently has deployed more cell sites on the 1900MHZ spectrum I can understand why the band priority is with band 25 for now. But they will soon push future updates changing those specs yet again. Because band 25 is only built for now on a 5mhz pipe of spectrum. And that is tge main reason why Sprint lags behind competitors on not only coverage but speed. Capacity wise is not there yet, most carriers use 10mhz of dedicated spectrum for their LTE deployment but Sprint chose to go with 5mhz.

[jesmartzdls]

Queens, NY

[bucdenny]

There, I had to crop the picture...

 

Damn these new Spark speeds are coming alive.  T-Mobile's CEO speed test bash been so quiet lately..

[Deval]

Connected to B41 on 42nd and 8th ave, seemed to be older backhaul. Still beat the pants out of B25, got 1mb down on B25 and 10mb down 15 up on B41.

 

Interesting, I wasn't able to see B41 at Port Authority this morning.

[Deval]

My fingers are crossed. It hurts going from over 50Mbps on band 41 to 3Mbps on band 25. Just hope it's not designed to only fallback on 41.

 

The network hands up and down.

 

So when you're walking down the block, and your device idles, the network will push to B41 if available. Once you keep walking out of range, your device will push down to B25.

[nexgencpu]

Interesting, I wasn't able to see B41 at Port Authority this morning.

I walked up and down between 9th ave and 7th ave on 42nd street and held a decent connection ranging from -77dBm to -99dBm even indoors at a restaurant. But the second I turned the corner on 7th ave heading north, it was gone.