Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[LTEBrooklyn]

 

 

is that the whole thing with different frequency thing? 800mhz/1900mhz and 2500mhz will be used so that it will prevent putting too much overloading on one frequency? I am not sure but someone explained me as such.

 

So if sprint wasn't deploying newer frequencies, then what stops sprint from going back to super slow speeds when all the bandwidth is used up? Also what's makes nv vision faster with 3G? We're the legacy towers not having enough capacity or was the backhaul not built properly?

[NaNa_Ch!LL]

 

 

Currently, 48% of the towers have had some sort of NV upgraded, 3G, or 4G. This is not spread out evenly, nor are all of the upgrades active yet. In some cases, 3G upgrades are not activated until a whole cluster of sites is ready to be turned on. 4G upgrades lag behind 3G upgrades, so the percentage of sites with LTE active is much lower than the total number of upgraded sites. The driving force behind the slow LTE activating is most likely backhaul, which Sprint has no control over.

 

So we are more likely to experience 3G upgrades than LTE? Not bad.

 

Considering there are 1,100 towers and 48% have some type of upgrade, it's not bad at all. I haven't used LTE for a few days. In fact I turned off LTE seeing as my battery life is better with it off.

 

So ~500 towers that have seen work in a few months... Not bad....

[Dkoellerwx]

So if sprint wasn't deploying newer frequencies, then what stops sprint from going back to super slow speeds when all the bandwidth is used up? Also what's makes nv vision faster with 3G? We're the legacy towers not having enough capacity or was the backhaul not built properly?

 

A couple of things. As Sprint moves more and more people off of EVDO, if there is enough room they can reuse some of those channels for LTE if needed.

 

Also, Sprint requested their backhaul to be scale-able, so that as more backhaul is needed, it doesn't take a lot of work to open it up more.

 

The biggest thing holding 3G back right now is the backhaul, it is not adequate for the amount of demand. This was is limitation caused by the technology that was used to build the 3G network. The new backhaul should provide a much more consistent, usable 3G speed, generally between .5 and 1.5Mbps.

[Dkoellerwx]

So we are more likely to experience 3G upgrades than LTE? Not bad.

 

Considering there are 1,100 towers and 48% have some type of upgrade, it's not bad at all. I haven't used LTE for a few days. In fact I turned off LTE seeing as my battery life is better with it off.

 

So ~500 towers that have seen work in a few months... Not bad....

 

Keep in mind that every tower that has new equipment installed and had 3G upgrades approved is not active. We have been told that they are activating these towers in clusters, rather than individually like with LTE. So while there are more 3G upgrades than LTE, not all of them are active. Whereas the vast majority of LTE upgrades are active.

[LTEBrooklyn]

 

 

Keep in mind that every tower that has new equipment installed and had 3G upgrades approved is not active. We have been told that they are activating these towers in clusters, rather than individually like with LTE. So while there are more 3G upgrades than LTE, not all of them are active. Whereas the vast majority of LTE upgrades are active.

 

Will every cell site eventually LTE enabled or some will just be nv 3G upgraded?

[Keitarou]

Will every cell site eventually LTE enabled or some will just be nv 3G upgraded?

 

There's a map on the sponsor section that shows sites that won't get NV at all. All NV sites will get LTE.

[LTEBrooklyn]

 

 

There's a map on the sponsor section that shows sites that won't get NV at all. All NV sites will get LTE.

 

I have the map, as I am a sponsor! But you answered my question. Thanks

[Dkoellerwx]

Will every cell site eventually LTE enabled or some will just be nv 3G upgraded?

 

Every site will be LTE enabled. When backhaul is in place.

[LTEBrooklyn]

Just an idea here and I wouldn't mind working on this myself. But I myself and many others have asked a lot of questions and almost any you could probably think of. I think it would be great for newcomers if we made a sticky of all the best questions regarding LTE deployment. Obviously not questions regarding actual cities, but general and advanced questions. I really think if we do this, it will save a lot of actual off topic discussions as well as being extremely helpful to the community. I am volunteering my help, as I have been helped throughout the forum from all the other knowledgable people here!

[Dkoellerwx]

Just an idea here and I wouldn't mind working on this myself. But I myself and many others have asked a lot of questions and almost any you could probably think of. I think it would be great for newcomers if we made a sticky of all the best questions regarding LTE deployment. Obviously not questions regarding actual cities, but general and advanced questions. I really think if we do this, it will save a lot of actual off topic discussions as well as being extremely helpful to the community. I am volunteering my help, as I have been helped throughout the forum from all the other knowledgable people here!

 

Something like this? : http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1704-frequently-asked-questions/

[LTEBrooklyn]

 

 

Something like this? : http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1704-frequently-asked-questions/

 

Wow didn't even realize that was there! That's great! But their are specific questions that I asked before that you had answered, for example. " sprint was slow before network vision because of capacity issues. Since sprint is unlimited and bandwidth will still be used at the same level if not more, how will sprint keep speeds at a usable level?" This is probably a very big question that alot of people have and you have answered it" it might be more advanced, but its not on the FAQ" maybe we can make a Top user FAQ? Again it's just an idea and I'm trying to help out.

[Dkoellerwx]

Wow didn't even realize that was there! That's great! But their are specific questions that I asked before that you had answered, for example. " sprint was slow before network vision because of capacity issues. Since sprint is unlimited and bandwidth will still be used at the same level if not more, how will sprint keep speeds at a usable level?" This is probably a very big question that alot of people have and you have answered it" it might be more advanced, but its not on the FAQ" maybe we can make a Top user FAQ? Again it's just an idea and I'm trying to help out.

 

We can always add more information. If you want to compile of a list of more advanced questions, or whatever you want to call them, we can work up either an addition to the FAQ thread, or another thread with the answers.

[Keitarou]

Does low ping numbers always mean upgraded towers but no backhaul to support faster speeds?

[Dkoellerwx]

Does low ping numbers always mean upgraded towers but no backhaul to support faster speeds?

 

Low pings ( <100ms ) generally indicates upgraded backhaul is connected.

 

NV equipment will not affect pings without upgraded backhaul.

[Deval]

So if sprint wasn't deploying newer frequencies, then what stops sprint from going back to super slow speeds when all the bandwidth is used up? Also what's makes nv vision faster with 3G? We're the legacy towers not having enough capacity or was the backhaul not built properly?

 

There is a lot of efficiency built into the new network, and all Network Vision sites will have enhanced backhaul in place, shared between 3G and 4G LTE.

[LTEBrooklyn]

Reading up on the 800mhz spectrum. As soon as Nextel is shut down, it looks like 800 will be deployed! Looks like 800 is almost equivalent to 2.5 farther distance than 1900. That will definitely start matching up verizon and the fact that we will have 800 and 1900, things could go very well for sprint.

[Keitarou]

Low pings ( <100ms ) generally indicates upgraded backhaul is connected.

 

NV equipment will not affect pings without upgraded backhaul.

 

The reason I ask is because today I have seen low pings (low 100's) for lower Manhattan in the financial district. Yesterday, it was in the 400's. The speeds however are still in the 0.07-0.20 mbps dl. Now that you say Backhaul is in place, that means they must be waiting for the whole cluster to accept the sites for 3G.

[Morningside78]

Reading up on the 800mhz spectrum. As soon as Nextel is shut down, it looks like 800 will be deployed! Looks like 800 is almost equivalent to 2.5 farther distance than 1900. That will definitely start matching up verizon and the fact that we will have 800 and 1900, things could go very well for sprint.

 

so that means everyone has to buy new phones?

[Keitarou]

so that means everyone has to buy new phones?

 

No... but if you want to use 800 mhz and the phone you have doesn't support the frequency, then you won't be able to make use of it. but you will still have service.

[Morningside78]

 

No... but if you want to use 800 mhz and the phone you have doesn't support the frequency, then you won't be able to make use of it. but you will still have service.

 

so what it is the benefit to people who don't own 800Mhz phones

[Morningside78]

for what it's worth I've yet to see any really good LTE speeds during daytime hours in Manhattan - and by that I mean speeds that are considerably faster than Verizon and AT&T 3G speeds.

 

and my neighborhood is as horrid as ever for both 3G and LTE

[nexgencpu]

so that means everyone has to buy new phones?

Take a look @ the FAQ posted above, there are a ton of phones that support 800 SMR (for voice/1x, not LTE) Also, there is alot of talk around the forum mentioning sprints decision to wait for 2600Mhz spectrum to be at there disposal to deploy triband phones and not just dual..hopefully sooner than later

[Paynefanbro]

Take a look @ the FAQ posted above, there are a ton of phones that support 800 SMR (for voice, not data) Also, there is alot of talk around the forum mentioning sprints decision to wait for 2600Mhz spectrum to be at there disposal to deploy triband phones and not just dual..hopefully sooner than later

 

They support SMR data too. It's just not LTE. 1xrtt is the fallback after EVDO. On 1x on a NV tower I get about 120kbps which is good enough for web browsing but that's it.

[LTEBrooklyn]

 

 

so what it is the benefit to people who don't own 800Mhz phones

 

It's really a benefit if you own a 800mhz phone so u have more frequencies to connect too

[nexgencpu]

They support SMR data too. It's just not LTE. 1xrtt is the fallback after EVDO. On 1x on a NV tower I get about 120kbps which is good enough for web browsing but that's it.

Edited my post to reflect that, yes this is correct...but its soo hard to even think that 1x is even usable these days...