Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[Makkari]

What I meant is that the Nexus 5 is the only phone that Sprint carries that is unlocked and can access LTE Bands 1,2,4,5,17,19,25,26,41 making it usable on T-Mobile and AT&T LTE networks by switching Sim cards.

Is the one that you buy from Sprint unlocked or the one that you buy from Google Play? 

Edited August 2, 2014 by Makkari

[kojitsari]

Is the one that you buy from Sprint unlocked or the one that you buy from Google Play?

They're the same exact phone.

[prodeq12]

Is the one that you buy from Sprint unlocked or the one that you buy from Google Play?

They are both unlocked. Sprint is selling you the same phone you can buy from the GP store. Unlocked and free of Sprint bloatware. [emoji6]

[Makkari]

They're the same exact phone.

 

That I was aware of, I just wasn't sure that they were both sold unlock. It's not a common practice for Sprint to sell phones unlocked.  That's why I asked.  It is $50 more on Sprint, but I guess they have to make money somehow.    Thanks. 

They are both unlocked. Sprint is selling you the same phone you can buy from the GP store. Unlocked and free of Sprint bloatware. [emoji6]

Thanks. 

 

Edit: I might have to borrow my friends's N5, which he's currently not using.  It has a broken screen, but works well enough for me to test out Spark in my area.  Would like to see what I'm in for when I get a new phone. 

Edited August 2, 2014 by Makkari

[Sonic13]

Finally got to experience Band 26 for the first time this morning. I'm located about a mile from a site, but it was always a struggle to maintain an LTE (Band 25) connection. Now with Band 26 my connection is around -100 (about the same as my 3G connection), and my phone hasn't been dropping back down to 3G as often as it used to.

 

Idk if it's even coming from the nearest site, but I'm glad I finally get to experience it. Now I want Band 41, but I'll probably have to wait until next Fall.

[Paynefanbro]

Finally got to experience Band 26 for the first time this morning. I'm located about a mile from a site, but it was always a struggle to maintain an LTE (Band 25) connection. Now with Band 26 my connection is around -100 (about the same as my 3G connection), and my phone hasn't been dropping back down to 3G as often as it used to.

Idk if it's even coming from the nearest site, but I'm glad I finally get to experience it. Now I want Band 41, but I'll probably have to wait until next Fall.

Or the end of the year.

[nexgencpu]

Finally got to experience Band 26 for the first time this morning. I'm located about a mile from a site, but it was always a struggle to maintain an LTE (Band 25) connection. Now with Band 26 my connection is around -100 (about the same as my 3G connection), and my phone hasn't been dropping back down to 3G as often as it used to.

Idk if it's even coming from the nearest site, but I'm glad I finally get to experience it. Now I want Band 41, but I'll probably have to wait until next Fall.

Did you pick up B26 in LI?

[Sonic13]

Or the end of the year.

I wish lol. I have an iPhone 5S.

 

Did you pick up B26 in LI?

Yes, in Suffolk County. I would've posted about it in the Long Island forum, but it's pretty dead.

 

Edited August 3, 2014 by Sonic13

[nexgencpu]

I wish lol. I have an iPhone 5S.

 

Yes, in Suffolk County. I would've posted about it in the Long Island forum, but it's pretty dead.

Id post it there as to avoid any confusion, and also for other users.

[nexgencpu]

A ton more B26 on Bronx river drive by Yonkers...

[Paynefanbro]

This weekend, I went to a friends house in Queens right on the border of Long Island. Driving there (on the Belt Pkwy), I stayed on LTE nearly the whole time with the exception of a few seconds by JFK. Speeds while driving stayed at around 8Mbps the whole time. The only thing is because the coverage was PCS only, my signal often went down to -107dbm before it went back up again. I know that that's a good signal, but my phone shows 1 bar which could be a turn off for many people thinking about Sprint.

[transitwatch889]

This weekend, I went to a friends house in Queens right on the border of Long Island. Driving there (on the Belt Pkwy), I stayed on LTE nearly the whole time with the exception of a few seconds by JFK. Speeds while driving stayed at around 8Mbps the whole time. The only thing is because the coverage was PCS only, my signal often went down to -107dbm before it went back up again. I know that that's a good signal, but my phone shows 1 bar which could be a turn off for many people thinking about Sprint.

don't all phones report lte signal over hspa or gsm signal at this point. wouldn't the experience be the same?

[JustinRP37]

don't all phones report lte signal over hspa or gsm signal at this point. wouldn't the experience be the same?

I'm confused because Sprint does not operate a HSPA or GSM network.

[nexgencpu]

This weekend, I went to a friends house in Queens right on the border of Long Island. Driving there (on the Belt Pkwy), I stayed on LTE nearly the whole time with the exception of a few seconds by JFK. Speeds while driving stayed at around 8Mbps the whole time. The only thing is because the coverage was PCS only, my signal often went down to -107dbm before it went back up again. I know that that's a good signal, but my phone shows 1 bar which could be a turn off for many people thinking about Sprint.

While we are on the subject of PCS signal, seems my B25 performance has been seeing a slight bump in performance (2-3mb/s higher) Im guessing this is due to B26 and B41 being more prevalent. 

 

Its not quite the same that I saw at the beginning of the LTE rollout (12-15mb/s around my way) but 6-8mb/s down vs the 2-4mb/s that became more the norm early this year.

[transitwatch889]

I'm confused because Sprint does not operate a HSPA or GSM network.

was speaking in relation to lte capable being gsm and hspa airlinks that also connect to lte.

[Paynefanbro]

While we are on the subject of PCS signal, seems my B25 performance has been seeing a slight bump in performance (2-3mb/s higher) Im guessing this is due to B26 and B41 being more prevalent. 

 

Its not quite the same that I saw at the beginning of the LTE rollout (12-15mb/s around my way) but 6-8mb/s down vs the 2-4mb/s that became more the norm early this year.

 

I have exactly the same experience as you in that regard. I remember when LTE first hit my neighborhood and I'd get 16Mbps. It went down considerably but now it's at 6-8Mbps down and 4-7 up in my neighborhood which is as advertised.

[Dkoellerwx]

was speaking in relation to lte capable being gsm and hspa airlinks that also connect to lte.

 

iPhones do, I'm not sure about Android or Windows phones on other networks. 

[Paynefanbro]

iPhones do, I'm not sure about Android or Windows phones on other networks. 

 

As of Android 4.2 I believe, all Android phones show the LTE signal strength in the notification bar rather than the CDMA signal.

 

don't all phones report lte signal over hspa or gsm signal at this point. wouldn't the experience be the same?

 

My point was simply that once my phone goes below -100dbm, it shows 1 bar of LTE which is not a good look. For those of us more technically inclined, -100dbm is still a pretty strong signal but phones can skew the perception of the network for the average user.

[Morningside78]

Or the end of the year.

 

just curious, assuming that equipment that will be fully deployed by the end of the year should be on for testing soon, no?  surely they would have to begin staggering these antennae on pretty quickly to meet the dates discussed here

 

also, is there any data on the ground infrastructure, i.e. the strength of the connections to the (NYC) towers themselves rather than the wireless connections emanating from the towers?  that seems to me a much bigger issue in a place like New York where crappy connections to the towers themselves will severely compromise any wireless connections.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Morningside78

[nexgencpu]

just curious, assuming that equipment that will be fully deployed by the end of the year should be on for testing soon, no? surely they would have to begin staggering these antennae on pretty quickly to meet the dates discussed here

 

also, is there any data on the ground infrastructure, i.e. the strength of the connections to the (NYC) towers themselves rather than the wireless connections emanating from the towers? that seems to me a much bigger issue in a place like New York where crappy connections to the towers themselves will severely compromise any wireless connections.

Currently they are in test mode around the country. Typically they turn them on for a very short period of time during the testing phase.

 

The second question im not 100% sure what you mean, but if your asking what tech is being used on the ground before transmitting it over wireless, its all scalable fiber. So if sprint needs 1gb\s or 10gb\s its already capable of that thanks to NV 1.0 requirement, which scalable fiber being one of them.

 

Of course since every site currently transmitting LTE already has Fiber, theyre wont be any waiting around for it to be installed, which caused a huge percentage of the delays.

[Paynefanbro]

just curious, assuming that equipment that will be fully deployed by the end of the year should be on for testing soon, no?  surely they would have to begin staggering these antennae on pretty quickly to meet the dates discussed here

 

also, is there any data on the ground infrastructure, i.e. the strength of the connections to the (NYC) towers themselves rather than the wireless connections emanating from the towers?  that seems to me a much bigger issue in a place like New York where crappy connections to the towers themselves will severely compromise any wireless connections.

 

All Sprint sites in NYC are currently served by fiber. Previously, Sprint was using T1's which were appropriate when the network was first being built out here but as data demand increased T1's didn't suffice anymore and Sprint refused to upgrade them. Since Sprint  is currently running fiber to all sites, backhaul won't be a problem for a long time. but even then, I expect Sprint to be more proactive with their network. They won't let their network become like it was before Network Vision.

[AcctDeleted_GirlFriday]

Well my last post was ignored, but I'll jump in again. Is anyone having texting issues? I'm having trouble getting texts to go through on my new LG G3. There's no error, it just sits on "sending" forever and then tells me to retry. Just started today.

[AcctDeleted_GirlFriday]

Never mind, it was my stupid Airave. I turned it off and was surprised to find a nice strong signal (3-4 bars, when previously we either got 1 bar or were kicked to roaming!). Texts went right though! Maybe I can get rid of the Airave now? Dare I hope? :-)

[lilotimz]

Never mind, it was my stupid Airave. I turned it off and was surprised to find a nice strong signal (3-4 bars, when previously we either got 1 bar or were kicked to roaming!). Texts went right though! Maybe I can get rid of the Airave now? Dare I hope? :-)

If you get such a strong signal then yes you don't need an airaves anymore.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Paynefanbro]

Same, I stopped using my Airave a while ago. My dad insists that I set it up because he gets "no signal" when in reality he does get a signal. He just loves the gratification of seeing all bars in the notification area. In reality, it'd probably screw with the signal coming from my tower in here.