Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[jamisonshaw125]

One day in the near future when apple adds wifi calling to my iPhone, my airave will be retired and sent back to sprint to be placed in a box for eternity. It'll be nice

[Palan]

Well looks like sprint is abandoning the tmobile purchase according to the Wall Street journal.

[Paynefanbro]

Well looks like sprint is abandoning the tmobile purchase according to the Wall Street journal.

 

Good!!!

[nexgencpu]

Looks like they might have optimized my local B41 tower, it sticks onto B41 longer and I got a slightly stronger signal. Now, I keep it all around my Apt. 

 

Oh, and my speeds increased some more...

 

[Paynefanbro]

Looks like they might have optimized my local B41 tower, it sticks onto B41 longer and I got a slightly stronger signal. Now, I keep it all around my Apt.

 

Oh, and my speeds increased some more...

 

 

You're so lucky. Band 25 barely gets into my home. I can only get Band 41 if I'm by a window. Spring's site spacing isn't the best in my neck of the woods. Even while outdoors I have 2-3 bars at most, until I reach the corner of my block and suddenly it shoots up to all bars. My only hope is that Sprint puts NV equipment on one of the non-collocated Clear towers in my neighborhood.

[nexgencpu]

You're so lucky. Band 25 barely gets into my home. I can only get Band 41 if I'm by a window. Spring's site spacing isn't the best in my neck of the woods. Even while outdoors I have 2-3 bars at most, until I reach the corner of my block and suddenly it shoots up to all bars. My only hope is that Sprint puts NV equipment on one of the non-collocated Clear towers in my neighborhood.

Any sign of B26 around your way? I get B26 when I'm roaming around my building. Its pretty decent, from 5-10mb sec..

[transitwatch889]

Looks like they might have optimized my local B41 tower, it sticks onto B41 longer and I got a slightly stronger signal. Now, I keep it all around my Apt. 

 

Oh, and my speeds increased some more...

 

I dislike that you get ubiquitous band 41. I pine for such condistency!

[Morningside78]

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.

 

thank you for the response.  so in essence, if I am understanding you, the problem before was that the connection to the towers was was garbage.  Sprint supplied T1 connections to its towers in New York City, and given the enormous bandwidth demand of the NYC market, the tech on the ground simply couldn't handle all of the simultaneous connections.  in recent months, based on what you and others are saying, Sprint now has adequate connections to its towers in the form of fiber, but the wireless infrastructure isn't adequate to handle the demand.  to remedy this, Sprint is intalling 8T8R units that it hopes will be able to solve the current wireless shortcomings of the towers and adequately deliver high speed connections to a much larger customer base here in NYC.  am I right about this?

[nexgencpu]

thank you for the response.  so in essence, if I am understanding you, the problem before was that the connection to the towers was was garbage.  Sprint supplied T1 connections to its towers in New York City, and given the enormous bandwidth demand of the NYC market, the tech on the ground simply couldn't handle all of the simultaneous connections.  in recent months, based on what you and others are saying, Sprint now has adequate connections to its towers in the form of fiber, but the wireless infrastructure isn't adequate to handle the demand.  to remedy this, Sprint is intalling 8T8R units that it hopes will be able to solve the current wireless shortcomings of the towers and adequately deliver high speed connections to a much larger customer base here in NYC.  am I right about this?

Basically the reason that Band 25 (1900Mhz frequency) is overburdened is that sprint only has a 5x5Mhz channel limited to 37.5mb/s maximum over wireless, so no matter what the backhaul (in this case Fiber) that is being fed into it, it is limited by that small lane of 5x5Mhz, Sprint only owns that much spectrum, so there is little it can do to change that fact. But they also have another 5x5 slice on Band 26 (800Mhz frequency) to not only balance the load, but also improve coverage, but despite that , it's still only a 5x5 allotment, and still limited to that 37.5mb/s. 

 

Now Band 41 (2500/2600Mhz frequency) Sprint has a massive amount of spectrum, so much so, that they can deploy tech that can do over 1gb/s over wireless, (not mb/s GB/S!) Currently they are doing one chunk of 20Mhz, and adding another 20Mhz in the next few months. (looking at around a 180mb/s max)

 This is also where those 8T8R antennas come in handy, they can spread the love of Band 41 at almost the same coverage level of Band 25. Meaning, where you see Band 25, you will probably see Band 41 (probably slightly less coverage), and instead of limiting it to only Clear towers, its going on every sprint tower. 

 

Hope this makes sense...

[Dkoellerwx]

As more and more people transition to LTE, and make fewer phone calls, Sprint is emptying out some of their other (CDMA) PCS spectrum, opening up new 5x5 blocks for LTE. That will likely take until next year before they are able to do that in New York, but just know that is in the works as well. They've already done it in Chicago, and are working on it in St. Louis and other markets.

[Paynefanbro]

Any sign of B26 around your way? I get B26 when I'm roaming around my building. Its pretty decent, from 5-10mb sec..

 

Yeah, but it hasn't been adjusted/optimized yet.

[Paynefanbro]

Sprint is now faster than AT&T in the Bronx according to NetIndex.

[nexgencpu]

Sprint is now faster than AT&T in the Bronx according to NetIndex.

Yup! I can attest to that, and pretty much faster in Manhattan as well...

 

BK is next!

[Paynefanbro]

I think it's also worth mentioning that Verizon is past T-Mobile on NetIndex in the United States so it is no longer accurate for T-Mobile to claim the fastest network in the U.S. 

 

And for us New Yorkers, Optimum is the second fastest ISP on average after Verizon FiOS in the U.S. I guess that doesn't count things like Google Fiber and such.

[nexgencpu]

I think it's also worth mentioning that Verizon is past T-Mobile on NetIndex in the United States so it is no longer accurate for T-Mobile to claim the fastest network in the U.S. 

 

And for us New Yorkers, Optimum is the second fastest ISP on average after Verizon FiOS in the U.S. I guess that doesn't count things like Google Fiber and such.

The problem with FiOS is Verizon's total disregard of net neutrality laws.  I have friends that cannot run Netflix at full HD during peak hours, which is insane considering one of them pay for a 300mb/s connection!!.

 

I'll stick with Cablevision and there "slower" 101mb/s, thank you very much!

[IamMrFamous07]

Sprint is now faster than AT&T in the Bronx according to NetIndex.

I would like to see the netindex results towards end of next year. Sprint should be #1 in some areas

[nexgencpu]

I would like to see the netindex results towards end of next year. Sprint should be #1 in some areas

I expect them to be #1 in all official Spark markets by then!

[Paynefanbro]

I'll be heading to Riis Beach tomorrow. The last time I was there, my phone heated up because it was struggling to maintain 1 bar of 3G. Even my mom's iPhone was witching between 1 bar of LTE and 1-2 bars of 3G at the time on Verizon. Perhaps the upgrades have made it so I might be able to get 1 bar of LTE out there or greater than 1 bar of 3G.

[jwang]

The problem with FiOS is Verizon's total disregard of net neutrality laws.  I have friends that cannot run Netflix at full HD during peak hours, which is insane considering one of them pay for a 300mb/s connection!!.

 

I'll stick with Cablevision and there "slower" 101mb/s, thank you very much!

 

 

Compared to the customer service of verizon communications (their wireline business), their wireless unit customer service is much better and friendlier. One time I got a verizon broadband service rep told me on the phone "I gave you a deal and you don't want to take it?" They made mistake to overcharge me but they just want to give me $15 off for charging me $35 more than their rates. It happend from 1st month I used their package. Well finally I cancelled that.

 

Verizon communications (not their wireless unit) is too proud to serve their customers.

[Paynefanbro]

Well there's LTE on the beach now. It's Band 26 -109 to -112dbm and speeds are 4-5Mbps. Peaks of just over 6Mbps.

[Morningside78]

And for us New Yorkers, Optimum is the second fastest ISP on average after Verizon FiOS in the U.S. I guess that doesn't count things like Google Fiber and such.

 

for New Yorkers who aren't in the vice grip of Time Warner Cable

 

for those of us who live in areas where are our high speed options are Time Warner and Verizon DSL (lol) we can only dream about other ISPs.

[Paynefanbro]

for New Yorkers who aren't in the vice grip of Time Warner Cable

 

for those of us who live in areas where are our high speed options are Time Warner and Verizon DSL (lol) we can only dream about other ISPs.

 

The options in my neighborhood are Verizon DSL and Optimum and the easy choice for me was Optimum. My old neighborhood (Mill Basin) has FiOS available. Oddly enough, Verizon's website says my neighborhood has access to FiOS but no one on my block can get it.

[JustinRP37]

The options in my neighborhood are Verizon DSL and Optimum and the easy choice for me was Optimum. My old neighborhood (Mill Basin) has FiOS available. Oddly enough, Verizon's website says my neighborhood has access to FiOS but no one on my block can get it.

Sounds like a landlord or COOP board didn't want them to install the wiring in the buildings there. A lot of landlords and COOP boards refuse Verizon because they worry about the issues that may come up when they wire the building. Landlords especially hate having the optical network terminal installed because it must be fastened on a wall.

[Paynefanbro]

Sounds like a landlord or COOP board didn't want them to install the wiring in the buildings there. A lot of landlords and COOP boards refuse Verizon because they worry about the issues that may come up when they wire the building. Landlords especially hate having the optical network terminal installed because it must be fastened on a wall.

 

All  of the buildings are on the other side of the street though. I live in a brownstone and there's a Verizon line that runs right through my backyard. They actually had to come replace the wooden pole in my backyard last week because it was right on the brink of breaking and doing some serious damage. I should've asked the workers about FiOS availability while I was here.

[Paynefanbro]

In continuation with my previous comment on having LTE at the beach. It appears that this site is blasting a signal way further than it used to. I remember not having a weak signal in the parking lot and once I would reach the beach, my signal would drop or be at one bar and simply switch between one bar of 1x and roaming.

 

Today, I actually held Band 41 while going across the Marine Parkway Bridge. The signal wasn't the strongest though as Clear never built sites back there. I connected to the Clear site in Rockaway Park with a -119dbm signal and kept it until I went into the parking lot. My phone finally dropped that signal at around -124dbm but I saw my phone say -103dbm. When I checked SCP it said it was PCS LTE. Already, the network was beating my expectations. While I was walking on the beach I watched my phone go to -119dbm and then go to -108 out of nowhere. It turned out my phone switched to Band 26 from there. 

 

The network worked nearly seamlessly switching me between bands. This is my second time experiencing the Sprint network like this. The first time was in SoHo in front of my high school where all 3 band are active.

 

To think, I would have LTE where I previously roamed and struggled to hold a 3G signal on Sprint.

 

P.S. On 3G the signal was a more than usable -84dbm.