Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[nexgencpu]

That's actually a great guess. It is a pretty heavily trafficked area of Brooklyn so I wouldn't be surprised if that's the reason why.

 

Could this also be a temporary site until Sprint can secure a lease on a new site in the area since there are tons of new development in the area (mostly high rise apartments and hotels) and the current site density likely won't be enough anymore.

Definitely, I have been a bit concerned myself about how service quality will be affected in midtown west with a new skyscraper going up like every 6 months.

[Deval]

Sprint has recently started deploying microwave-backhauled COWs for larger public events. Just last weekend there was a COW supporting the FarmBorough Country Music Festival brought online broadcasting 3G and LTE.

[Paynefanbro]

Sprint has recently started deploying microwave-backhauled COWs for larger public events. Just last weekend there was a COW supporting the FarmBorough Country Music Festival brought online broadcasting 3G and LTE.

 

That's the thing though. AFAIK, there aren't events going on down by the Brooklyn Bridge or in DUMBO anytime soon.

[smooth25]

Maybe for the 4th of July fireworks this weekend.

 

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[Paynefanbro]

Maybe for the 4th of July fireworks this weekend.

 

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I forgot all about that, you may be right.

[nahum365]

Maybe for the 4th of July fireworks this weekend.

 

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Good call by Sprint. Last year there was essentially no service in and around Brooklyn bridge Park during the fireworks. Even afterwards when I was trying to pull up a subway map to find another station & avoid the crowds, still couldn't do anything. Does anyone know if this COW has B41? Because I'm sure b25 & b26 won't cut it.

 

 

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[Paynefanbro]

Good call by Sprint. Last year there was essentially no service in and around Brooklyn bridge Park during the fireworks. Even afterwards when I was trying to pull up a subway map to find another station & avoid the crowds, still couldn't do anything. Does anyone know if this COW has B41? Because I'm sure b25 & b26 won't cut it.

 

 

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By the looks of it, nope. Additionally, it'll be highly backhaul dependent anyway.

[Palan]

I noticed a new tower is going up around my neighborhood. Brooklyn, West 8th between Surf and neptune ave.

 

Any idea if this is sprint?

[EvanA]

I noticed a new tower is going up around my neighborhood. Brooklyn, West 8th between Surf and neptune ave.

 

Any idea if this is sprint?

Absolutely not. With the amount of antennas, I'd say it's AT&T.

 

These are the network equipment spotting threads for the equipment used in NYC.

 

http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5183-How-to-Spot-Sprint-8T8R-TD-LTE-RRHs-(Alcatel-Lucent)

http://www.s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3915-How-to-Spot-Sprint-Antennas-and-RRUs-(Alcatel-Lucent)

[Wfmets45]

How is band 25 & 26 in NYC?

 

I have an unlocked iPhone 6 that I purchased in full from at&t and I may bring my own device over to Sprint which will only allow me to connect to those 2 LTE bands.

 

I can now say that I have been with all 4 big carriers and the carrier that has been the best for me has been at&t thus far. I was with Verizon for about 10 days and I was not impressed to say the least. No service in my apartment and in and out of service at work.

 

With at&t I get full LTE bars at home and service at work though speeds are slow but it works.

 

With T mobile I also had good service at home but none at work.

 

With Sprint which I left June 2013 I always had service at home and at work. The only problem was obviously the super slow data speeds and back then I had the 4s which only connected to 3G which left me with a bad taste in my mouth and overall I had a horrible experience with them but now I know they have come a long way. Though many may question why I would want to leave at&t if I'm happy, well it is because I can get unlimited data before it goes away and my monthly cost would come out to $60 plus taxes whereas with at&t I'm paying $65 plus taxes for 3GB of data, unlimited wverything else and hotspot.

 

So someone please tell me how their band 25 & 26 is in NYC and northern NJ since these are the places I visit most? I know I can lease a new iPhone 6 from Sprint and get their tri-band version of the phone but being that I spent $850 last December to pay for my phone in full, it's really hard to suddenly let that money go to waste so I will be keeping this phone for a while.

 

Please also let me know how their 3G network is in NYC. I'm sure from time to time I'll see 3G on my phone and I would like to know how it performs now compared to 2011-2013. This one place in the bronx where my friends and I hang out at times I tend to see 3G on my friends Sprint iPhone 5s while my at&t iPhone stays on LTE and Verizon goes to 1x.

 

I seriously don't understand how Verizon got number 1 on the rootmetrics testing.

 

I will never again be locked in into a 2 year contract or lease. I rather pay for my phone in full and take my business to which ever carrier I want.

[Paynefanbro]

How is band 25 & 26 in NYC?

 

I have an unlocked iPhone 6 that I purchased in full from at&t and I may bring my own device over to Sprint which will only allow me to connect to those 2 LTE bands.

 

So someone please tell me how their band 25 & 26 is in NYC and northern NJ since these are the places I visit most? I know I can lease a new iPhone 6 from Sprint and get their tri-band version of the phone but being that I spent $850 last December to pay for my phone in full, it's really hard to suddenly let that money go to waste so I will be keeping this phone for a while.

 

Please also let me know how their 3G network is in NYC. I'm sure from time to time I'll see 3G on my phone and I would like to know how it performs now compared to 2011-2013. This one place in the bronx where my friends and I hang out at times I tend to see 3G on my friends Sprint iPhone 5s while my at&t iPhone stays on LTE and Verizon goes to 1x.

 

You'll definitely have great outdoor signal on strictly Band 25 and Band 26. I will admit that you'll be missing out by not having Band 41. Those fast speeds come in handy and it's available in nearly all of the places I frequent (outdoors). Because so much of the people on Sprint are being offloaded to Band 41, I would say expect speeds in the 6-12Mbps range on Band 25 and Band 26 and in some cases it'll peak at 25Mbps+. 

 

3G shouldn't be a problem at all for you. Sprint's 3G network is nothing like 2013. In 2013 my EVO pulled a blazing 10kbps with a 1000ms+ ping. Today my 3G speeds are on average 1.5Mbps with pings ranging from 50-60ms. In some cases 3G performs better than LTE. I'm pretty sure you'll hardly drop to 3G in NYC. 

 

New Jersey is sketchy. In some areas, it's great. In others, it's better than 2013 but still not good. It depends on where in NJ you'll be.

[transitwatch889]

How is band 25 & 26 in NYC?

I have an unlocked iPhone 6 that I purchased in full from at&t and I may bring my own device over to Sprint which will only allow me to connect to those 2 LTE bands.

I will say that clear towers provide a lot of blanket coverage and capacity that you will miss just being on band 25,26. I've notice being in Manhattan where I've had clear converted band 41 that is not in service currently. It does drop down to 3g or very week band 26. This could be due to towers being upgraded to full builds. So there are holes and band 25,26 or only 5x5 wide and no current second carrier for band 25 here in NYC. If at&t is good for you now, consider cricket if its a price consideration. Try sprint and test for self where you work and travel most. As a dual band device on sprint, is not gonna cut it in NYC majority of the time. Not to sway from the positive work that has been done, but there is more.

I think same time next year sprint users will realize, a vast improvement compared to sprint as a network is now. I know from two family members experiences also who I had switch from vzw, thanks to cybh promos, they are still turning towers off and on and are not happy with me. But I did get good news a tower was turned on and tuned and is providing band 26 signal at there work site, which was barely 3g passable due to structure and building depth. YMMV.

I stay cuz I see and I like being part of the improvement, but don't want to have a user sour on the experience due to lack of understanding where this market is now.

[Paynefanbro]

One ting that I just remembered is that Sprint will have a second Band 25 carrier online in NYC likely before year end. That should improve performance quite a bit.

[oli.almeida]

One ting that I just remembered is that Sprint will have a second Band 25 carrier online in NYC likely before year end. That should improve performance quite a bit.

Is that a fact? Or speculation?

 

 

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[nexgencpu]

Is that a fact? Or speculation?

 

 

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Fact...

 

and to that point, I would definitely wait until that second carrier is in place before moving in with a phone limited to B25/26. 

 

I find that B26 than B25 is a bit more saturated, but it is getting better as B41 takes hold.

[Wfmets45]

I appreciate everyone's input. Very interesting to know everyone's experience and input.

 

Perhaps I will wait for the new iPhone and sell my current one on eBay then use that money to pay for the new iPhone in full from Sprint and unlock it after.

 

Sprint's iPhone always comes with more LTE bands than the other carriers so I'll have that advantage from everyone.

 

Though at&t has been great for me, I have noticed my LTE speeds slow down. A lot of areas in NYC it is congested. Back in 2013, my speeds were blazing fast and now they have slowed and in some cases, HSPA+ is faster than LTE but I can still browse the web and watch HD videos with bo problem. I have yet to see CA from at&t in NYC. I wonder how that will help and I would love to see their VoLTE deployment speedup quicker.

 

I'll stick with at&t for the meantime and perhaps join Sprint in September with the launch of the new iPhone.

 

I will add that Verizon's XLTE (AWS) is very fast. In northern NJ I was able to get 40mbps down and 40mbps up. What surprised me most was the upload. I had never seen uploads that high but in the end I switched back to at&t after 10 days. I was not impressed with Verizon at all. One thing I will miss is Verizon's VoLTE. It was amazing. Huge difference in voice calls and super clear. I loved it.

[nexgencpu]

I appreciate everyone's input. Very interesting to know everyone's experience and input.

Perhaps I will wait for the new iPhone and sell my current one on eBay then use that money to pay for the new iPhone in full from Sprint and unlock it after.

Sprint's iPhone always comes with more LTE bands than the other carriers so I'll have that advantage from everyone.

Though at&t has been great for me, I have noticed my LTE speeds slow down. A lot of areas in NYC it is congested. Back in 2013, my speeds were blazing fast and now they have slowed and in some cases, HSPA+ is faster than LTE but I can still browse the web and watch HD videos with bo problem. I have yet to see CA from at&t in NYC. I wonder how that will help and I would love to see their VoLTE deployment speedup quicker.

I'll stick with at&t for the meantime and perhaps join Sprint in September with the launch of the new iPhone.

I will add that Verizon's XLTE (AWS) is very fast. In northern NJ I was able to get 40mbps down and 40mbps up. What surprised me most was the upload. I had never seen uploads that high but in the end I switched back to at&t after 10 days. I was not impressed with Verizon at all. One thing I will miss is Verizon's VoLTE. It was amazing. Huge difference in voice calls and super clear. I loved it.

By September, ALU (northeast vendor for NV) should have CA enabled for incredible speeds (some are reporting over 120mbs)that other users are starting to see on Sprint.

 

Also, rumours are already floating around that the next IPhone 6S will support CA.

[transitwatch889]

By September, ALU (northeast vendor for NV) should have CA enabled for incredible speeds (some are reporting over 120mbs)that other users are starting to see on Sprint.

Also, rumours are already floating around that the next IPhone 6S will support CA.

Where have you read that ALU would be ready for CA deployment I've wondered as they've been behind Samsung and Nokia in that regards. Have you seen second band 41 carriers from Sprint live in your day to day, as I've been looking! I've been reluctant to ask till you mentioned it.

[Paynefanbro]

By September, ALU (northeast vendor for NV) should have CA enabled for incredible speeds (some are reporting over 120mbs)that other users are starting to see on Sprint.

 

Also, rumours are already floating around that the next IPhone 6S will support CA.

 

I don't know if it's September but it'll definitely be sometime in Q4.

[nexgencpu]

From chimes I've heard from around the forum members that have some inside info from the vendors, it's looking like before September.

 

But I wouldn't hold my breath...

[lilotimz]

From chimes I've heard from around the forum members that have some inside info from the vendors, it's looking like before September.

 

But I wouldn't hold my breath...

No its not.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

[Wfmets45]

By September, ALU (northeast vendor for NV) should have CA enabled for incredible speeds (some are reporting over 120mbs)that other users are starting to see on Sprint.

 

Also, rumours are already floating around that the next IPhone 6S will support CA.

I thought the iPhone 6 already supports CA. I believed it was announced when Apple introduced it last September.

[transitwatch889]

I thought the iPhone 6 already supports CA. I believed it was announced when Apple introduced it last September.

it does but not greater than 20mhz channels so it can only bond 5+5, 5+10, 10+10 and such, no greater than 20 in total. 6s is rumored for 20+20 due to cat 6 modem on board. 6s is best bet for next iPhone so patience is a virtue here.

[nexgencpu]

No its not.

Sent from my Nexus 5

Any word on why the delay?

[Paynefanbro]

Any word on why the delay?

 

Incompetence.