LTE building penetration

[shockerengr]

That and they are supposed to have the fiber run all the way to the radios which are not in a cabinet and are up at the antennae, then a coax from radio to antennae....no?

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

I'm not sure how they are connecting the radios to the base cabinet (it may be fiber) but that would be different than the fiber backhaul. The backhaul / internet portion would just go to the cabinet equipment.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

 

I'm not sure how they are connecting the radios to the base cabinet (it may be fiber) but that would be different than the fiber backhaul. The backhaul / internet portion would just go to the cabinet equipment.

 

Yeah fiber/Ethernet to radios I'm fairly sure of as the move of the radio up top reduces the coax line run length previously there from the radio to the antennae when radios were down at base...wanna say this was on the alu videos somewhere too...

 

A cool vid u linked there earlier btw. Hadn't seen that one before.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

[Pcguru2000]

Should the 3g connection speed on a separate backhaul improve once LTE goes live on that tower due to some phones switching to use the 4g and relieving usage on the 3g backhaul for devices that don't have an LTE connection?

[S4GRU]

Should the 3g connection speed on a separate backhaul improve once LTE goes live on that tower due to some phones switching to use the 4g and relieving usage on the 3g backhaul for devices that don't have an LTE connection?

 

Yes, in many instances. However, in most Ericsson markets that have 4G LTE deployed, the 3G is yet to be upgraded and is not connected to new backhaul. In our NV Sites Complete map in our Sponsor section, it shows whether a site has 4G upgraded only or 3G/4G together.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[digiblur]

Even if the backhaul was the same for 3G and 4G, the bottleneck is going to be the air interface. But yes, taking phones off the 3G air interface will lower carrier congestion.

[mirlyn]

FWIW, Sprint must be using the same proxy for NV internet traffic. My IP doesn't change between 4G and 3G connections.

[digiblur]

FWIW, Sprint must be using the same proxy for NV internet traffic. My IP doesn't change between 4G and 3G connections.

 

That's exactly by design for eHRPD.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

[mirlyn]

That's exactly by design for eHRPD.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

I could be wrong, but I thought I observed this on a rural EVDO tower. I'll try to duplicate to be sure.

[Oscar091466]

So just a random question. The closest tower near me got an LTE upgrade only. That's great I can connect to it . But for some reason when I switch to LTE I always have a weaker signal then on 3G. I'm indoors. Even worse if I place my phone in my pocket it goes back to 3G, why is that? Shouldn't the new LTE Have the same coverage as 3G and even better penetration because of the new equipment compared to legacy ?

[S4GRU]

So just a random question. The closest tower near me got an LTE upgrade only. That's great I can connect to it . But for some reason when I switch to LTE I always have a weaker signal then on 3G. I'm indoors. Even worse if I place my phone in my pocket it goes back to 3G, why is that? Shouldn't the new LTE Have the same coverage as 3G and even better penetration because of the new equipment compared to legacy ?

 

The signal from 3G and LTE from the same exact site, will have similar signal strength, when measured in the same scale. However, 3G EVDO is more usable with a weak signal than LTE. LTE needs a robust signal to transfer data at the speeds it does. And this is true of all LTE carriers.

 

If you just have barely a sufficient LTE signal with the device in your hand, putting it into your pocket is likely enough to push it out of range. I have the same issue with my Verizon LTE device when I am near the edge of LTE coverage.

 

Also, do not assume that your 3G is coming from the same LTE site that you think is the nearest site to you. A site does not send out a signal in 360 degrees around it. It has two or three sectors pointed in different directions. You may actually be between two sectors from that site that is nearest to you, giving you a mediocre signal from it. However, another site that is farther may be pointed directly at you. And that may be where your 3G is coming from.

 

There are lots of different dynamics involved. It's never as easy to figure out as it seems.

 

Robert

[Oscar091466]

Very insightful information. Thanks Robert for such a quick response.

[pl0323]

'egonadrian', on 04 Sept 2012 - 5:54 PM, said:

Has anyone compared Wimax to LTE building penetration? Would really like to know how much better the signal penetration is since here in Puerto Rico all houses are made of concrete. Wimax signal here would just completely be lost as soon as you go in a house . :/

 

I have an iPhone 5 and get no signal in the building I work in, a guy who sits in the next office has a galaxy 2 (which has a WiMAX antenna) streams Netflix!!!!

[Boosted20V]

'egonadrian', on 04 Sept 2012 - 5:54 PM, said:

Has anyone compared Wimax to LTE building penetration? Would really like to know how much better the signal penetration is since here in Puerto Rico all houses are made of concrete. Wimax signal here would just completely be lost as soon as you go in a house . :/

 

I have an iPhone 5 and get no signal in the building I work in, a guy who sits in the next office has a galaxy 2 (which has a WiMAX antenna) streams Netflix!!!!

 

And you assume you are connected to two co-located sites?

[pl0323]

All I know is that the galaxy 2 gets the 4G inside buildings in Dallas area. I get nothing on iPhone 5, until I go outside. A tech at Sprint said it was due to the Galaxy antenna?

[S4GRU]

All I know is that the galaxy 2 gets the 4G inside buildings in Dallas area. I get nothing on iPhone 5, until I go outside. A tech at Sprint said it was due to the Galaxy antenna?

 

It is most likely that the WiMax site is closer to you than the LTE site.  Because if Sprint 4G WiMax and Sprint LTE are on the same site, the LTE would likely have a stronger signal.  Two reasons...

1. Frequency.  Sprint LTE is on 1900MHz.  WiMax is on 2600MHz.  Lower frequencies penetrates buildings better.  So Sprint LTE will penetrate a building better and travel farther than WiMax when all things are equal.
2. WiMax usability fades earlier than LTE.  WiMax fades around -82dBm RSSI, whereas LTE will fade out around -93dBm RSSI.  So even when WiMax and LTE are deployed on the same exact tower and same frequency, the LTE will travel farther and penetrate better.

LTE is not finished being built out in the Dallas area, so it may get better.  However, if you are closer to a Clearwire WiMax tower than any Sprint tower, then you may be in one of the unusual atypical places where the WiMax signal will be received, but LTE will not.  It is very uncommon for that occur.  Most customers will have a much better LTE signal than WiMax.  But anomalies will occur in some of the locations where Sprint and Clearwire are not colocated on the same site.

 

Robert

[pl0323]

Good info, thank you.

[Oscar091466]

Very insightful information. Thanks Robert for such a quick response.

 

Well I finally got the 2 closest towers near me LTE accepted, any other tower wouldn't reach all the way to my home. From my previous post and Roberts reply I was expecting the new tower to be the one that would give me the same 3G signal strength as as LTE at my home, due to maybe the panels not being pointed in my direction from the first tower.. To my Surprise I still get a weaker LTE signal then 3G same as before nothing changed. I don't understand it. Shouldn't it at least match the signal strength of 3G and if not surpass it ? could it be that the LTE panels are at a higher or lower tilt then 3G? i don't want to rant but I just feel a little disappointed 

[Mobilesolutions]

Well I finally got the 2 closest towers near me LTE accepted, any other tower wouldn't reach all the way to my home. From my previous post and Roberts reply I was expecting the new tower to be the one that would give me the same 3G signal strength as as LTE at my home, due to maybe the panels not being pointed in my direction from the first tower.. To my Surprise I still get a weaker LTE signal then 3G same as before nothing changed. I don't understand it. Shouldn't it at least match the signal strength of 3G and if not surpass it ? could it be that the LTE panels are at a higher or lower tilt then 3G? i don't want to rant but I just feel a little disappointed 

No that's not possible, all the antennas are housed in a single panel.  It is entirely possible that your Lte signal is lagging behind your EVDO signal though as the airlink discrepancies between two are notable. 

[Oscar091466]

No that's not possible, all the antennas are housed in a single panel.  It is entirely possible that your Lte signal is lagging behind your EVDO signal though as the airlink discrepancies between two are notable. 

I half understood that but I guess it makes sense . just still a little disappointed tho. Thanks for the quick reply 

[ballman]

To my Surprise I still get a weaker LTE signal then 3G same as before nothing changed. I don't understand it. Shouldn't it at least match the signal strength of 3G and if not surpass it ? could it be that the LTE panels are at a higher or lower tilt then 3G? i don't want to rant but I just feel a little disappointed 

 

When you say weaker signal, are you meaning the dBm reported?  Keep in mind that the CDMA/EVDO signal strengths are reported as RSSI and LTE is reported as RSRP (both measured in dBm).  In my experience, the RSSI signal is usually about 15 dBm better than the RSRP signal, but so is the usable range.  For example, if you are getting an RSSI of -85 dBm on EVDO, you would expect to get about -100 dBm on LTE if connected to the same tower.  The usable range for CDMA/EVDO RSSI runs to about -100 dBm, while the usable range for LTE RSRP runs to about -115 dBm.

 

There's a lot of folks who know a lot more about this than I do on here and if you want to get into more specifics you could probably search the forums for past discussions about this and get a much more complete (and knowledgeable) explanation.