Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market

[S4GRU]

He does mention "Galaxy S4 displaying one bar of Spark LTE." As misinformed as his quote is, not knowing whether its a spark connection or not, is not entirely his fault. Sprint should have made it a point to differentiate between B41 and B25.

 

I couldn't agree more.  I'm not even disparaging him.  But I do wonder if he did not even have a Spark enabled device.  Just based on the circumstantial evidence, he very well may not have been.

 

Robert

[nexgencpu]

Here was my result near one of his locations just a few days ago.

 

[Rawvega]

The article says he used a Samsung Galaxy S4 for testing on Sprint.  I'm wondering if he used a non Band 41 (non Spark) Galaxy S4 for his Sprint testing.  None of his testing seemed to show any Spark speeds.  The highest was more than capable of being achieved on B25.  And some of the places he reported being had Band 41 nearby.  

 

So, this leaves me wondering.  Did he really test the Spark network?  He claims to.  But he very well may not have.

 

Robert

 

I thought the exact same thing before even reading your reply. Here's the picture of (presumably) the four Galaxy S4 devices that he used for testing. 

 

 

I'll be the first to admit that my eyesight isn't the greatest and the pics aren't high-res, but for the life of me I can't see the Spark icon on any of those handsets...

[nexgencpu]

Here are some more of my results from Flat Iron..

 

[Dkoellerwx]

I thought the exact same thing before even reading your reply. Here's the picture of (presumably) the four Galaxy S4 devices that he used for testing. 

 

 

I'll be the first to admit that my eyesight isn't the greatest and the pics aren't high-res, but for the life of me I can't see the Spark icon on any of those handsets...

 

I did the same thing. I couldn't find a Spark icon either.

[Paynefanbro]

Ibthink the one on the far left has a Spark icon.

[twospirits]

I thought the exact same thing before even reading your reply. Here's the picture of (presumably) the four Galaxy S4 devices that he used for testing. 

 

 

I'll be the first to admit that my eyesight isn't the greatest and the pics aren't high-res, but for the life of me I can't see the Spark icon on any of those handsets...

I will have to agree with what most of you have said.

if you take that image of the 4 handsets in front of the Flatiron building and blow up the image, it shows the following...

 

1 handset shows 1.11 download 1.28 upload

2 handset shows 7.52 download 18.09 upload 

3 handset shows 3.49 download 1.15 upload

4 handset shows 22.59 up and 20.24 down

 

Considering that he states that the average download speeds are

3.5 for AT&T

2.1 for Sprint

8.6 for T-Mobile and

26.9 for Verizon,

 

I would assume that the 1st device in that pic is Sprint, second device is T-Mobile, 3rd device is AT&T and last device to the right is Verizon.

 

Regardless, none of these show a Spark icon so I concur that he did not have a Sparks enabled S4.

 

TS

[Rawvega]

The thing is, even if he did have a Spark capable S4 (which I doubt), that just shows the silliness of Sprint using the Spark icon to represent any and all LTE. People connect to 'regular' LTE and assume it's Spark because of that blasted icon. Then the Spark service gets a bad rap before people even actually experience it. Pure insanity. Whoever made that decision about the icon didn't think that one all the way through.

[transitwatch889]

Didn't tmobile make a point of using a + symbol to differentiate between regular hspa and DC Hspa plus, that was smart on there part as users then knew when they had service speed on a higher tier area. I had the original galaxy s right before I switched to Sprint on rumors of at&t making a play for them. The original s is still the best phone to date in my opinion. But phone software should be able to differentiate between tdd lte band 41 with the spark icon and just lte for band 25,26.... All it does right now is says that phone is capable of all three bands not that bands are available. General population doesn't care as long as we can vine and watch YouTube without hassle. Writer's don't care enough to research and fact check before creating sensationalist articles. Marketing speak not engineering is what is used a a barometer of truth.

[prodeq12]

Nevertheless sprint has some work to do. Quoted from the article.

 

"As for Sprint, the carrier was obviously disappointed in its results. Kelly Schlageter, manager of corporate communications at Sprint, provided the following statement: “Sprint Spark is in the early stages of deployment in New York City, and so it’s not available everywhere. As the footprint fills in, we expect speeds to increase significantly. Sprint Spark is capable of delivering peak wireless peak data speeds of up to 60 Mbps today and potential speeds three times that fast by late 2015.”

 

This tells me that maybe they happen to use a Spark capable S4 and Sprint knew about the article being done. So hopefully Sprint can prove themselves soon.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

Nevertheless sprint has some work to do. Quoted from the article.

 

"As for Sprint, the carrier was obviously disappointed in its results. Kelly Schlageter, manager of corporate communications at Sprint, provided the following statement: “Sprint Spark is in the early stages of deployment in New York City, and so it’s not available everywhere. As the footprint fills in, we expect speeds to increase significantly. Sprint Spark is capable of delivering peak wireless peak data speeds of up to 60 Mbps today and potential speeds three times that fast by late 2015.”

 

This tells me that maybe they happen to use a Spark capable S4 and Sprint knew about the article being done. So hopefully Sprint can prove themselves soon.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

The quote doesn't mean anything. I bet if I call and say that I ran tests of their Spark in Denver and quote them some slow speeds, I figure she would say the same thing. I doubt she would ask me to prove to her I was using Spark. She is just repeating the canned response...we are under construction, not everywhere yet, and it will get better.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

 

[prodeq12]

The quote doesn't mean anything. I bet if I call and say that I ran tests of their Spark in Denver and quote them some slow speeds, I figure she would say the same thing. I doubt she would ask me to prove to her I was using Spark. She is just repeating the canned response...we are under construction, not everywhere yet, and it will get better.Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

True. That was just a speculation I have, I could be wrong. I still agree with u and doubt the sprint S4 was B41 capable.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[prodeq12]

However I like to point out that the result's from the Guggenheim museum of 27.9 Mbps might indicate it was B41. I still hope I'm wrong though. But "IF" it was a spark S4, Sprint definitely have some calibration to do. For some reason that S4 stayed parked on B25 all day. I never got good speeds from the UES anyway even on B25, so I find it weird they got any thing above 10 Mbps.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[S4GRU]

However I like to point out that the result's from the Guggenheim museum of 27.9 Mbps might indicate it was B41. I still hope I'm wrong though. But "IF" it was a spark S4, Sprint definitely have some calibration to do. For some reason that S4 stayed parked on B25 all day. I never got good speeds from the UES anyway even on B25, so I find it weird they got any thing above 10 Mbps.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

In order to positively confirm B41 though it would have to be above 37.5Mbps.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[lilotimz]

In order to positively confirm B41 though it would have to be above 37.5Mbps.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Or upload that exceeds 13 mbps. 

[latoso]

this my speed test my service is down from almost 60 mbps

 

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

 

[Deval]

this my speed test my service is down from almost 60 mbps

 

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

That's almost an unusable signal though.

[latoso]

i did speed test before same location and the speed was great the tower is only a block down

 

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Dkoellerwx]

this my speed test my service is down from almost 60 mbps

 

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

You're practically on zero bars. With a signal that weak, erratic and slow speeds are to be expected. 

[S4GRU]

I wish we could get those type of speeds with 1 bar LTE everywhere.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

 

[lilotimz]

I wish we could get those type of speeds with 1 bar LTE everywhere.

 

Robert via Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

8r8r..

 

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

 

[nexgencpu]

this my speed test my service is down from almost 60 mbps

 

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

Have you tried restarting your phone, a lot of times your phone software might inhibit speeds. Also, could be a non upgraded backhaul site.. I have a buddy of mine that wakes up at 6am and gets nearly 80/mb sec. Then ends up around 10mb/sec during the day. But if you  average 5mb second indoors I think that's pretty good! and some other markets (cough* cough*  Robert) would die for those speeds in any instance, let alone indoors.

[latoso]

Have you tried restarting your phone, a lot of times your phone software might inhibit speeds. Also, could be a non upgraded backhaul site.. I have a buddy of mine that wakes up at 6am and gets nearly 80/mb sec. Then ends up around 10mb/sec during the day. But if you average 5mb second indoors I think that's pretty good! and some other markets (cough* cough* Robert) would die for those speeds in any instance, let alone indoors.

ok i think is my phone you see the difference the first pic is my wife's phone

 

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk

 

[IsaiahL]

Sprints In building penetration still needs work. I was going into the supermarket. I had LTE outside & as I walked it my bars decreased until it switched back to 3G. ????

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dkoellerwx]

Sprints In building penetration still needs work. I was going into the supermarket. I had LTE outside & as I walked it my bars decreased until it switched back to 3G.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

That's what 800 is for. And they still don't have all the towers completed. Both of those things will help.