Network Vision/LTE - Milwaukee Market (including Madison)

[aackmann]

My phone switched to LTE today in downtown Greendale.

 

My parents live in Greendale and we went out to lunch today.  Sprint services are usually pretty rough in the downtown area of Greendale for whatever reason.

 

Hey, good to hear! I was at Greendale's Village Days last night and I swear I saw LTE on signal check pro, but when I actually unlocked my phone and started to open sensorly, it was gone. I did, of course, have a few (many) drinks while I was there, so I wasn't sure if I could trust my experience. 

[mmark27]

Still no LTE from Middleton, Tokay or State Street towers in Madison.  I really would like to know what's going on. Just when we thought we were soooo close to getting some coverage here.  Clearly the backhaul wasn't in place or something.  All the other hardware is all there.  At least the Rimrock tower is active, but doesn't really broadcast very far.

[Calvin200]

Could we possibly be late enough that we are going to have 2.5 spectrum put on our towers?  Could that be the delay?

[jreuschl]

Could we possibly be late enough that we are going to have 2.5 spectrum put on our towers?  Could that be the delay?

 

That's being handled by Clearwire and we don't have Wimax here so will we even get that?

[aarofloyd]

That's being handled by Clearwire and we don't have Wimax here so will we even get that?

Madison does, but i highly doubt it....

[Calvin200]

That's being handled by Clearwire and we don't have Wimax here so will we even get that?

As far as I understand, Sprint made an announcement that they are putting the 2.5 on every tower AND THEN SOME!  It should be night and day!  http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analyst-sprints-nationwide-25-ghz-lte-network-could-be-boon-tower-companies/2013-08-01

[jreuschl]

Now we just need our contracts to run out so we can get the latest tri band LTE phones

[Calvin200]

Now we just need our contracts to run out so we can get the latest tri band LTE phones

Bought a newer phone off of my brother because his company ditched Sprint/Nextel.  HA!  Wasn't going to get stuck with an outdated phone for two years.  Gave my old friend, who was going to lock into a contract, my phone to save him from these offers Sprint is having------BOGO Galaxy phones, 59 dollar HTC One's, no thanks.  Some people I warned didn't care.  I'll be sure to use my phone by them and show them what they are missing. 

[mmark27]

Bought a newer phone off of my brother because his company ditched Sprint/Nextel.  HA!  Wasn't going to get stuck with an outdated phone for two years.  Gave my old friend, who was going to lock into a contract, my phone to save him from these offers Sprint is having------BOGO Galaxy phones, 59 dollar HTC One's, no thanks.  Some people I warned didn't care.  I'll be sure to use my phone by them and show them what they are missing. 

 

I have 5 lines on my account, so I could get a new phone about every 6 months the way I have them spread out. I always use the upgrade, then bump the phones down the line to the rest of the family!  My next upgrade isn't until next March 2014....a lot with tri-band by then I'll bet.  My S4 should get me through until then, I highly doubt we'll see any 800 LTE prior to that anyways.

[mikepolinske]

The last couple weeks, reception at work (north of Good Hope in Menomonee Falls) has been terrible.  My Samsung Galaxy S4 gets zero or 1 bar and my cellular iPad (4th gen) many times goes to 1X.

 

At home, I get very good reception (but still no 4G), but I don't need it since I have high speed DSL.

[ernicoats]

Still no LTE from Middleton, Tokay or State Street towers in Madison.  I really would like to know what's going on. Just when we thought we were soooo close to getting some coverage here.  Clearly the backhaul wasn't in place or something.  All the other hardware is all there.  At least the Rimrock tower is active, but doesn't really broadcast very far.

 

No it doesn't, it is a very small area.

[jreuschl]

Anyone seeing the additional LTE in Oak Creek yet?

[kb122]

That's being handled by Clearwire and we don't have Wimax here so will we even get that?

 

Not that it really matters, but there were (maybe still are?) two Clearwire wimax towers in Milwaukee.  Wimax reception always sucked on my original EVO downtown, I imagine because of the tall buildings, but I could occasionally pick it up.  Not sure if they were colocated with Sprint or not.

[jreuschl]

Not that it really matters, but there were (maybe still are?) two Clearwire wimax towers in Milwaukee.  Wimax reception always sucked on my original EVO downtown, I imagine because of the tall buildings, but I could occasionally pick it up.  Not sure if they were colocated with Sprint or not.

 

There was one by the airport and another one a little NW of downtown Milwaukee.  I could pick up signal at Miller Park from the airport Wimax signal.  It was great getting some data while everyone else struggled!

[kb122]

Twin Cities and Los Angeles were the only places I got decent signal with Wimax... 6-10Mbps down, pretty nice for the first "4G" network in the US.  I could sometimes get it driving through Fond du Lac and Wausau on 41 and 51, but those were also just testing areas like Milwaukee I believe.  Sorry, I'm straying off topic  ... nothing new to talk about NV related in Sussex, just continuing to get more impatient.  I'll probably get to my 3rd Sprint 4G phone by the time we get 4G service officially launched in the area.

[S4GRU]

Twin Cities and Los Angeles were the only places I got decent signal with Wimax... 6-10Mbps down, pretty nice for the first "4G" network in the US. I could sometimes get it driving through Fond du Lac and Wausau on 41 and 51, but those were also just testing areas like Milwaukee I believe. Sorry, I'm straying off topic ... nothing new to talk about NV related in Sussex, just continuing to get more impatient. I'll probably get to my 3rd Sprint 4G phone by the time we get 4G service officially launched in the area.

The WiMax sites in Wisconsin are Protection Sites. Set up to provide the minimum substantial service requirements of the license and protect them from being confiscated by the FCC for non use.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

 

 

[dequardo]

Question about LTE signal strength. On my iPhone 5 I see -115dBm on LTE where I see around -95 on 3G. Is this 'normal'?

 

I don't miss calls when on LTE (and realize it's in voice mode only then) but the signal readout is disconcerting.

 

Is there an inherent difference in strength reported under LTE or is this an iOS device or readout issue?

 

Thanks!

[snowmobiler487]

Question about LTE signal strength. On my iPhone 5 I see -115dBm on LTE where I see around -95 on 3G. Is this 'normal'?

 

I don't miss calls when on LTE (and realize it's in voice mode only then) but the signal readout is disconcerting.

 

Is there an inherent difference in strength reported under LTE or is this an iOS device or readout issue?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, there is a difference, this thread will probably help answer your questions better than I can...

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/?hl=rssi

[dequardo]

Thanks for that and it says the iPhone 5 does display accurate numbers. I agree as when I go to a call my reading will go from -115 to -86. Then right back up to -115 or so.

 

My main question remains then.... Is Sprints LTE signal consistently weaker than its 3G?

[aackmann]

Thanks for that and it says the iPhone 5 does display accurate numbers. I agree as when I go to a call my reading will go from -115 to -86. Then right back up to -115 or so.

 

My main question remains then.... Is Sprints LTE signal consistently weaker than its 3G?

 

 

I would think that Sprint's LTE signal should be slightly stronger than their (non-network visioned) 3G since the LTE is coming from new panels with the RRU's mounted right next to them. Theoretically it's supposed to be up to 20% better signal strength. 

 

What's probably happening in your case is, you're connecting 1xRTT Voice from a tower that's closest to you, but maybe that tower doesn't have LTE yet, so the LTE signal you're getting is from another tower slightly farther away, but close enough to have a usable LTE connection. For obvious reasons, your phone will grab an LTE signal over a 3G data signal (EV-DO) as long as the LTE signal is strong enough to be reliable.

 

So to summarize, you're probably getting your 3g voice (1XRTT) and LTE signal from two different towers which is why you see different signal strength for each.    

[snowmobiler487]

Thanks for that and it says the iPhone 5 does display accurate numbers. I agree as when I go to a call my reading will go from -115 to -86. Then right back up to -115 or so.

 

My main question remains then.... Is Sprints LTE signal consistently weaker than its 3G?

 

No, it is not necessairally weaker, it is simply measured using a different standard.  I have read more in-depth details about it somewhere on this site but can't seem to find them right now...

[Calvin200]

The WiMax sites in Wisconsin are Protection Sites. Set up to provide the minimum substantial service requirements of the license and protect them from being confiscated by the FCC for non use.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 using Tapatalk

That comment was an offshoot of one my questions which was, whether or not we could be getting our upgrades so slowly because we are so late in the game that we might start going 2.5.

[dequardo]

Thanks much. Quite likely the case. My area is not officially live yet.

[dannyrotten]

I see another site complete in oak creek in by the lions club. Anyone getting LTE there? I don't see anything on sensorly yet. 

[aackmann]

It looks like the water tower next to UW Waukesha is done... That's where I saw the crew at a few weeks ago. As of last week, there were no new panels, and their enclosed trailer was sitting next to the water tower. I stopped by there today and saw new panels with RRU's next to them on the water tower, and the trailer was gone. That one's gotta be coming soon.

 

Then, on my way home, I stopped at the site at Brookfield Square mall and I saw that same kind of enclosed trailer parked there along with a Midwestern Contractors truck. It looked like they installed a new rack, because there was an old, disassembled rack leaning against the side of the little structure. I couldn't tell if it was Sprint's NV equipment up on the tower though. There is a cluster of like 5 different towers in that little area. If it's Sprint's, then I'd say it's gotta be about ready to go. I remember a week or two ago, people driving around the Brookfield Square area were having issues not being able to make calls or send texts. I had the same problem around that area too, so maybe they were replacing the rack and had to move the legacy panels down a little.