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Network Vision/LTE - Cincinnati Market


ohioratrodder

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Been without EVDO and EHRPD for 24 hrs. I called Sprint and they said they are working to get the issue resolved and it's set for Tuesday and that I should have better service then. Is this typical of site "revamping"? I know its an inconclusive question, I'm just not sure if that means the site is being upgraded or just a normal "out of service" issue. Just curious if any of you have experienced this in the Cinci area and what was the outcome.

 

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For those obsessed (like me) with finding 4G signals and you have an Android device, this app LTE Discovery has helped me: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.simplyadvanced.ltediscovery

 

 

LTE_Discovery_Screenshot.png

 

If you buy the pay version for a few dollars, it will keep cycling the radio every 30 seconds until it gets a LTE signal, and you can even setup audio alerts.  It has screens that tell you which tower you are supposedly connected to, although I haven't had much success pinpointing which tower I'm on.  It says Sprint towers give out more information than other carriers, but I have driven to the GPS coordinates where it reports the tower it was connected to and have not been able to locate the tower or home in on a stronger signal.

 

I've been mapping signals in the Newport, Covington, and downtown Cincy area with Sensorly, although many times the LTE signal near the river isn't strong enough to hold for very long.


 

I would love to hear when and who got the mystery strong signals near the south end of the Bailey Bridge. I have not been able to replicate anything like that.  I marked up a Sensorly snapshot below with green circles of my contributions that weren't on the map before and circled the mystery Bailey Bridge LTE in yellow.

 

Sensorly_Sprint_LTE_Cincinnati_Marked_Up

 

 

Why is it taking so long for them to roll out strong LTE in the downtown area is really frustrating to say the least.  One would figure that you would want to hit that area first then spread outward.  If anyone can shed some light on why it's being rolled out there last, I would love the enlightenment.
Edited by GoBears
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For those obsessed (like me) with finding 4G signals and you have an Android device, this app LTE Discovery has helped me: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.simplyadvanced.ltediscovery

 

 

LTE_Discovery_Screenshot.png

 

If you buy the pay version for a few dollars, it will keep cycling the radio every 30 seconds until it gets a LTE signal, and you can even setup audio alerts. It has screens that tell you which tower you are supposedly connected to, although I haven't had much success pinpointing which tower I'm on. It says Sprint towers give out more information than other carriers, but I have driven to the GPS coordinates where it reports the tower it was connected to and have not been able to locate the tower or home in on a stronger signal.

 

I've been mapping signals in the Newport, Covington, and downtown Cincy area with Sensorly, although many times the LTE signal near the river isn't strong enough to hold for very long.

http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/Sprint/lte_310sprint#q=Newport%2C+KY%2C+USA|coverage

 

I would love to hear when and who got the mystery strong signals near the south end of the Bailey Bridge. I have not been able to replicate anything like that. I marked up a Sensorly snapshot below with green circles of my contributions that weren't on the map before and circled the mystery Bailey Bridge LTE in yellow.

 

Sensorly_Sprint_LTE_Cincinnati_Marked_Up

 

 

Why is it taking so long for them to roll out strong LTE in the downtown area is really frustrating to say the least. One would figure that you would want to hit that area first then spread outward. If anyone can shed some light on why it's being rolled out there last, I would love the enlightenment.

Join the clan of the obssesed, I use these apps on a constant basis to track lte. I've been wondering about the purples even off of 4th St in Covington which is three blocks away from where I live. I'm yet to pick up any lte there or in the other shaded areas. I'm wondering if the person who used the app had a non tri-band phone. The speeds that were measured in downtown were early in the year, so my only guess is that perhaps it was at a testing time when whomever it was, traced these lte signals. If this is the case I wonder if some of the sites in Cincinnati have been perhaps upgraded but not live. I will have to take my galaxy tab with me next time to see if I'm able to pick any lte in those areas. I will say, I cant wait for lte to be live in downtown, the connection speeds are horrid, almost impossible to access the web and much less post anything on social media.

 

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I would love to hear when and who got the mystery strong signals near the south end of the Bailey Bridge. I have not been able to replicate anything like that.

It wasn't me, but it's probably band 41. I picked up a weak B41 signal at the Reds game last night.

 

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Ok guys, I'm from the Columbus market and I'm the guilty party responsible for your purple on the bridges! I have an n5 and had pictures of me on the bridge and mapping but deleted and no one from the Columbus thread can find the pictures. I didn't check my bands but believe it to be b25 only but couldn't say 100% though. Mapped from Columbus to the border and back. (n5 is awesome for mapping)

 

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Did you also do the speed tests?

 

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I did random tests all the way, can't remember where all I did but I did Mucho... Didn't know it was a mystery until another user pointed it out to me and I had to let you guys know!

 

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I did random tests all the way, can't remember where all I did but I did Mucho... Didn't know it was a mystery until another user pointed it out to me and I had to let you guys know!

 

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Do you remember when it was that you did it?

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Seems, like a nice reading in Newport, at 2:00am this morning. attachicon.gifuploadfromtaptalk1400425435688.jpg

 

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I drove over to that point a bit ago.  Mapped really weak 4G on that street by forcing my phone to LTE.  Speedtest was crawling, it would barely even finish.

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I drove over to that point a bit ago. Mapped really weak 4G on that street by forcing my phone to LTE. Speedtest was crawling, it would barely even finish.

I tried to do the same but didn't get any Lte. Definitely testing, at least I think, it being that late at night. I would be curious to know what device was used for that test, and were it came from. I will say, if those are the speeds we will be getting in this area I'd be on cloud 9. Hoping to be able to catch a good enough signal to perform a speed test, around here.

 

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I tried to do the same but didn't get any Lte. Definitely testing, at least I think, it being that late at night. I would be curious to know what device was used for that test, and were it came from. I will say, if those are the speeds we will be getting in this area I'd be on cloud 9. Hoping to be able to catch a good enough signal to perform a speed test, around here.

 

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I mapped out 4th Street in Newport and Covington with weak 4G.  I'm still having a hard time understanding which direction to drive to get a stronger signal.  It doesn't seem to come from the Southgate/Fort Thomas area as I lose my signal when I drive that way.  Either that or it's coming from a tower in Cincinnati or a tower South in Latonia or something.  Do you know a way to pinpoint the direction of a 4G tower from an app?  I see how to do it with 3G.  GCI reported by SignalCheckPro is 08006200.  I guess I could drive over to those other areas and see if that matches.

Edited by GoBears
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I mapped out 4th Street in Newport and Covington with weak 4G. I'm still having a hard time understanding which direction to drive to get a stronger signal. It doesn't seem to come from the Southgate/Fort Thomas area as I lose my signal when I drive that way. Either that or it's coming from a tower in Cincinnati or a tower South in Latonia or something. Do you know a way to pinpoint a 4G tower location from an app? I see how to do it with 3G. GCI reported by SignalCheckPro is 08006200. I guess I could drive over to those other areas and see if that matches.

I use Lte Discovery App. It has a map, where it shows you where your signal is coming from. I haven't been able to use it here, since the lte signal I get once in a while doesn't last long enough for me to map it. I will have to use it on my drives through Newport and hope I catch a signal long enough to map it.

 

I'm somewhat puzzled with the strong signals traced here along 4th Street back in February. I know there is a sight right on 4th St. But so far on an eye inspection of the site, the antennas look like Legacy equipment.

 

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I use Lte Discovery App. It has a map, where it shows you where your signal is coming from. I haven't been able to use it here, since the lte signal I get once in a while doesn't last long enough for me to map it. I will have to use it on my drives through Newport and hope I catch a signal long enough to map it.

 

I'm somewhat puzzled with the strong signals traced here along 4th Street back in February. I know there is a sight right on 4th St. But so far on an eye inspection of the site, the antennas look like Legacy equipment.

 

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I tried LTE Discovery, but even when I have a 4G signal, it seems to be showing me the CDMA tower location.  If I understand it correctly, voice and SMS still go over that so it maintains a connection there.  It reported the tower direction and gave location of 39.07236111, -84.50784722 which is 1551 Madison Ave., Covington. When I drove over there, definitely no LTE going on.  Looks like there are indeed some cell antennas on top of the building there.

 

tower.jpg

 

I'll have to see if I can verify how that app is working when I'm in a different area with a strong known LTE signal.

Edited by GoBears
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I tried LTE Discovery, but even when I have a 4G signal, it seems to be showing me the CDMA tower location. If I understand it correctly, voice and SMS still go over that so it maintains a connection there. It reported the tower direction and gave location of 39.07236111, -84.50784722 which is 1551 Madison Ave., Covington. When I drove over there, definitely no LTE going on. Looks like there are indeed some cell antennas on top of the building there.

 

tower.jpg

 

I'll have to see if I can verify how that app is working when I'm in a different area with a strong known LTE signal.

Yes that is definitely a site, I still have not driven there to see if the equipment has changed. I did pick up enough to trace between 8th and Pike, yesterday. I will say the lte discovery app did point to the site where my lte signal was coming from, in Florence on Friday.

 

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It is my understanding that lte discovery does indeed only report the cdma site. It appears that it is not uncommon to be connected to separate towers for data vs. Voice.

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I must say that with living in Trenton and the city wide yard sale this weekend, my service was great. Last year you couldn't call text and forget about data. This year calls no prob, text no prob, data did slow down, but never below 1.5 megs. Night and day difference between this year and last. Looked like there was more people this year also.

 

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It is my understanding that lte discovery does indeed only report the cdma site. It appears that it is not uncommon to be connected to separate towers for data vs. Voice.

So in essence it is possible to receive data from a different tower other than the site where ones voice signal is coming from.

 

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So in essence it is possible to receive data from a different tower other than the site where ones voice signal is coming from.

 

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That is how I took the post I read on the matter. My personal experience would point me in that direction as well. When I first began to see lte here in Fairfield I was frequently seeing a connection from Hamilton on S. Erie blvd. Then when I bounced back to the factory dr. Tower still had faint lte. This was for some time prior to the factory dr. Tower going live a couple weeks ago.

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That is how I took the post I read on the matter. My personal experience would point me in that direction as well. When I first began to see lte here in Fairfield I was frequently seeing a connection from Hamilton on S. Erie blvd. Then when I bounced back to the factory dr. Tower still had faint lte. This was for some time prior to the factory dr. Tower going live a couple weeks ago.

Is this on a Tri-band phone?

 

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