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Network Vision/LTE - New York City Market


Ace41690

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There is one spot in Queens that seems to have stayed in 3G limbo hell. near the corner of Lefferts Blvd and Jamaica Ave. Specifically in the parking lot of Keyfood about half a block away. No matter the circumstances or time of day, LTE is fine all around (according to Sensorly) the area but the minute I go to that section/parking lot it drops back to 3G. :hmm:

You know, after using a spectrum analyzer for a month, you start noticing places that have really bad interference. Though this may not be the case in the area you reference, I have just been shocked at the dozens of locations around my city where there is bad interference into AT&T channels. Places where I've had unexplainable zero/poor signals or really slow data.

 

It always confounded me how I thought maybe there was a bad sector that I would have problematic speeds on one particular sector sometimes. But I found out in some cases, it wasn't the sector. It was the location. Move 1/2 mile away in the same sector on the same carrier and it works well. It was the interference drowning out my signal.

 

The worst spots are where AT&T and VZW are colocated. VZW power signals are noticeably higher and their filtering seems to be less existent. Near AT&T sites, the AT&T channels go straight up and down at the edge of their spectrum license, with very little bleed over to adjacent channels. VZW sites don't do that in my area. They taper off at 30° and bleed into adjacent channels. The farther you get away from the VZW site, the less the interference. But AT&T and VZW are right next to each other spectrally in almost every band in my area.

 

If you are within 500' of a VZW site, there will a noticeable drop in performance on adjacent AT&T Cellular, AWS and 700MHz channels. And if you're next to the VZW site, your AT&T data may even time out. If AT&T can filter the edge of their channels so well that they are almost straight vertical on the spectrum analyzer with little noise bleed over, VZW could do the same. Seems like AT&T should complain to the FCC.

 

That being said, there are many more pockets of interference beyond just other providers. I have found about two dozen around my city of varying sizes from a few thousand square feet to several blocks.

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

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Oh please. Someone tweet him.

Tweet what Rob just said? I could but how would you title it in 140 characters or less? I could take a screen shot of the post make it into an image and post that instead with a link to the post.

 

TS

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Tweet what Rob just said? I could but how would you title it in 140 characters or less? I could take a screen shot of the post make it into an image and post that instead with a link to the post.

 

TS

What did I say??? *looks around*

 

Robert via Samsung Note 8.0 using Tapatalk Pro

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There is one spot in Queens that seems to have stayed in 3G limbo hell. near the corner of Lefferts Blvd and Jamaica Ave. Specifically in the parking lot of Keyfood about half a block away. No matter the circumstances or time of day, LTE is fine all around (according to Sensorly) the area but the minute I go to that section/parking lot it drops back to 3G.  :hmm:

 

I need to look that up. 

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In the middle of the South Bronx there's still mostly 3G non-NV coverage.  It's frustrating.  I work near 3rd Ave and Tremont, and the 3G is abysmal.  There might be B41 but I have a single-band phone (which I love... not the biggest fan of Samsung but with my Note 3 I do voice and data simultaneously for work).

FYI just as an update im in the area and averaged about a -105dBm on B41 speeds were between 18-25mb/s.

 

UPDATE: I drove further east on Tremont and lost LTE for a few minutes. There is a small gap of 3G only sites that need upgrading on Grand Concourse and Webster. But B41 off of Webster ave fills in some of that gap, it definitely is wider on B25 only devices.

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FYI just as an update im in the area and averaged about a -105dBm on B41 speeds were between 18-25mb/s.

 

UPDATE: I drove further east on Tremont and lost LTE for a few minutes. There is a small gap of 3G only sites that need upgrading on Grand Concourse and Webster. But B41 off of Webster ave fills in some of that gap, it definitely is wider on B25 only devices.

 

Ah yes you've encountered exactly near where I work.  The 3G/800 site is on a giant yellow and green building up against the Cross Bronx, and as that area forms a nice little "valley" it's all we get service for.  There are nearby sites that aren't broadcasting 360 degrees so I'm stuck with this tower.  Except while at work on the 4th floor, I have a better connection to sites on the other side of the hill for Tremont Park.

 

The NV upgrades on that 3G/800 site though have done wonders for voice service in the school I work in.  We get PCS voice service everywhere in our building now including the elevators and basement level.  Prior to that site getting updated, forget about service on the basement or first levels.

 

I think since this is a public forum I can't list the tower IDs publicly, so I'll shoot you a direct message with it.

 

Regarding where I regularly travel in NYC (East Harlem, South Bronx, Fordham area, and the 4 line in the Bronx) speeds are getting much better on B25, which I'm guessing is due to more B26 and B41 offloading.

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Sprint finally turned on Band 26 for my home. My house eats up the signal just like nearly any brownstone would but speeds are great. PCS used to give me 1-2Mbps down and under 1Mbps up. SMR is giving me 6-7 down and 1-2 up.

 

Signal ranges anywhere from -106 to -111dbm on Band 26.

 

Band 25 is typically -110 to -117dbm. This may be adjusted but I'm not sure yet.

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Drove from Walmart in Valley Stream, back home to Crown Heights and didn't drop LTE once according to Sensorly. rFaosED.png?1

I really hope ios gets opened up enough for sensorly to utilize how many iPhones there are out there! I would gladly do mapping everywhere I went.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk

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Drove from Walmart in Valley Stream, back home to Crown Heights and didn't drop LTE once according to Sensorly.

Hows that Walmart out there, was considering heading to the one in white plains for a few things but its pretty limited.
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I usually compare the Walmart over in Lodi, NJ as the litmus test of Walmarts. Big, with a food center. The one in Valley Stream was recently updated and I can say its as close if not the same size as the one in Lodi. There used to be a Pet store and National Liquidators next to them. They closed and Walmart expanded into their space, basically doubling the size. 

 

TS

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Hows that Walmart out there, was considering heading to the one in white plains for a few things but its pretty limited.

DON'T GO! It's so bad, and not only because it's back to school/college season. It's also bad because of how ghetto it is. A lot of the employees have bad attitudes and are super unprofessional.

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Really, I went last 2 weeks ago and it was really nice and this past weekend also and it was busier than before because of the kids, but I didn't encounter any bad attitudes on both occasions. Then again, kid shopping will bring the worst in folks. lol

 

I guess it also depends on the time one goes. I usually go early.

 

TS

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Ok so I got the iPhone from tmoble to test drive today. I'll start with speed at my apartment. I live next to luna park in Brooklyn. Speeds inside are very similar between sprint and t mobile. Average is around 3-5 mb/s. I went outside for some time to see how it was around the neighborhood. Basically they are good in different areas, one place sprint would get 14mbs and tmoble would get 4mbs. Another place it would be reversed. Though I did notice that tmoble has better coverage on the boardwalk. So far not totally impressed with tmoble considering I'm not even using a triband phone. I'll see how speed is at work on Monday and will update.

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Ok so I got the iPhone from tmoble to test drive today. I'll start with speed at my apartment. I live next to luna park in Brooklyn. Speeds inside are very similar between sprint and t mobile. Average is around 3-5 mb/s. I went outside for some time to see how it was around the neighborhood. Basically they are good in different areas, one place sprint would get 14mbs and tmoble would get 4mbs. Another place it would be reversed. Though I did notice that tmoble has better coverage on the boardwalk. So far not totally impressed with tmoble considering I'm not even using a triband phone. I'll see how speed is at work on Monday and will update.

 

Keep us updated about speeds and signal strength!

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Ok so I got the iPhone from tmoble to test drive today. I'll start with speed at my apartment. I live next to luna park in Brooklyn. Speeds inside are very similar between sprint and t mobile. Average is around 3-5 mb/s. I went outside for some time to see how it was around the neighborhood. Basically they are good in different areas, one place sprint would get 14mbs and tmoble would get 4mbs. Another place it would be reversed. Though I did notice that tmoble has better coverage on the boardwalk. So far not totally impressed with tmoble considering I'm not even using a triband phone. I'll see how speed is at work on Monday and will update.

That's so weird... I just got my iPhone 5s test drive today also and I live 2 blocks away from luna Park... I consistently get 15 to 20mbps with my nexus 5 on band 41..tried the T-Mobile lte on the iPhone and got 8 to 18mbps but the upload on T-Mobile was a lot faster.. 10 to 15mbps vs sprints 5mbps..was gonna put the sim in my nexus 5 but needed a nano to micro sim adapter -_-
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