Network Vision/LTE - Milwaukee Market (including Madison)

[norsairius]

Sprint has updated there coverage map for lower Wisconsin.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

The purple bubble surrounded by orange around Milwaukee doesn't make me feel to good (it's actually kinda funny to see on the map). What appears to be fewer acceptance updates for Milwaukee according to the reports don't make me feel that good either (though those updates can only tell so much about progress). :/ The wait continues!

[jreuschl]

Solid 800 all along I-94 in Kenosha Co. Even locked on to a tower in Sturtevant in Racine Co

 

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ernicoats]

any news for Madison LTE?

[donjohnson]

I finally decided to go ahead and pay for the signalcheck pro...

Am I correct that the "BSL" is the cell tower location that it is pulling from?

If so..wow..had no idea there so many towers around. Actually, then one would expect far better service.

[mitch10102000]

any news for Madison LTE?

Some of the Middleton areas are up and running.  Some of the East Madison towers are upgraded, but the backhaul is not.  Until the backhaul is complete, the towers will not be "turned on" (it is NOT worth turning on LTE for a backhaul that is already horribly oversubscribed at this point).  

 

I've heard differing "rumors" on when the backhaul will be complete...anywhere from back in August through the beginning of next year.  It's hard to predict the actual dates when it comes from multiple layers of contractors to do the work (backhaul owned by AT&T or Charter who contracts Bob, who contracts Jimmy, etc., etc.)  LTE requires a solid backhaul to work, which is really where Sprint is struggling in certain areas...unfortunately, Madison is one of many of those areas.  It's easier to trench holes and pull cables in smaller communities than it is in a developed city.

[Malinois71]

So I found a number to the corporate office in Fort Worth, Texas. I called and asked to speak to Dan Hesse. There was a pause and they said he was busy, etc. They transferred me to one of his tech assistants and I went off for 10 mins straight. 45 mins later I hang up after we are done. Bad news people. The LTE build out is scheduled to be completed in 3 months. He apologized about all the Sprint stores in the area telling me this summer as that's why I resigned back in April. I was a fool. So the earliest is 3 more months from now. Maybe longer he said. Sprint clearly has zero game plan about this. The only good thing that came out of this is the techs are going to call me back in about a week. If I'm still having the same trouble Sprint will give me a new HTC One. He thinks it could be my actual phone. Yeah, ok is not but I'll take a new one. So anyways he confirmed my speed test on 3G around Madison. Speeds like .3,.5 mbps He said he was shocked. I laughed and told him this is normal Sprint service. In the end this post is to tell you not to hold your breath on 4G anytime soon. I can post the phone number if anyone wants it.

[tommym65]

So I found a number to the corporate office in Fort Worth, Texas. I called and asked to speak to Dan Hesse. There was a pause and they said he was busy, etc. They transferred me to one of his tech assistants and I went off for 10 mins straight. 45 mins later I hang up after we are done. Bad news people. The LTE build out is scheduled to be completed in 3 months. He apologized about all the Sprint stores in the area telling me this summer as that's why I resigned back in April. I was a fool. So the earliest is 3 more months from now. Maybe longer he said. Sprint clearly has zero game plan about this. The only good thing that came out of this is the techs are going to call me back in about a week. If I'm still having the same trouble Sprint will give me a new HTC One. He thinks it could be my actual phone. Yeah, ok is not but I'll take a new one. So anyways he confirmed my speed test on 3G around Madison. Speeds like .3,.5 mbps He said he was shocked. I laughed and told him this is normal Sprint service. In the end this post is to tell you not to hold your breath on 4G anytime soon. I can post the phone numbe if anyone wants it.

I am reluctant to get into this, as I think you and I may have had words before.

 

However, many of your facts are simply wrong. 1. Sprint's corporate office is in Overland Park, KS. 2. It is very unlikely that you talked to one of Hesse's "tech assistants" - even if they said you did, they almost certainly passed you off to another customer service rep. 3. Sprint never said that Madison/Milwaukee would be completed this summer. If store reps did, they were giving you incorrect information. 4. Over 35% of Sprint sites in SE Wisconsin have received some form of NV upgrade. 5. Approximately 20% of Sprint sites in SE Wisconsin have received LTE upgrades. That includes dozens and dozens of sites. 6. The current rate of progress suggests that Sprint NV will be substantially complete in SE Wisconsin by early 2014. 7. Sprint has a very detailed "game plan" for upgrading over 50,000 sites in the US, including upgrades to 800 MHz voice and data, 1900 MHz voice and data, and 2500/2600 MHz data: Almost every Sprint and Clear site currently in existence and many new ones. There have been many delays, due to parts and labor shortages, failure of backhaul vendors to meet contractual commitments, NIMBYs, building permit delays and refusals, etc., etc. But there has been, and is, a clear cut plan.

 

There is a huge amount of data in the Sponsor and Premier sections of this site backing up what I just stated.

 

I expect flames in response to this post, but I could not let the misinformation stand.

[jreuschl]

While I also wonder about the post two above, someone in the forum did talk to Sprint retention a number of months ago and they stated that the current LTE completion was at the end of July.  Even site admin says based on docs they've seen that seemed right.  So we are way behind schedule, at least what Sprint had hoped at one time.

 

I think it is frustrating for some users because while some LTE towers in rural areas have come up (and even some cities listed as completed), Madison and Milwaukee are at a total standstill.  Nothing new in almost two months.

[mmark27]

I think it is frustrating for some users because while some LTE towers in rural areas have come up (and even some cities listed as completed), Madison and Milwaukee are at a total standstill.  Nothing new in almost two months.

 

Even more frustrating is that there is NV equipment in sight on several locations but no LTE (no backhaul or something lagging, presumably).  The site tech that I spoke to did allude to the "cluster" theory of towers going online, at least for the Madison area.  Or they're just focusing on backhaul as the ground is about to get real frozen around here shortly......

 

Eitherway, its coming and we've never been closer than we are now, tomorrow will be even closer, and so on and so forth.  Near Camp Randall in Madison, I've been getting better signal and better 3G lately (1.2mbps down/ 300k up) after a period of zero signal and very unusable data....so maybe this is a sign.  The tower here has NV equipment, so its possible its going to get flipped. 

[donjohnson]

I finally decided to go ahead and pay for the signalcheck pro...

Am I correct that the "BSL" is the cell tower location that it is pulling from?

If so..wow..had no idea there so many towers around. Actually, then one would expect far better service.

nope...guess not...or the address for the tower is wrong

I get 4424 S 114 ST, Milwaukee for the BSL around my home..there is no tower there,..that is a residential neighborhood. In fact, a buddy from high school lived 2 houses down...mmmmm

[tommym65]

nope...guess not...or the address for the tower is wrong

I get 4424 S 114 ST, Milwaukee for the BSL around my home..there is no tower there,..that is a residential neighborhood. In fact, a buddy from high school lived 2 houses down...mmmmm

 

Milwaukee/Madison Sprint sites do not report their actual locations.  Rather, each site reports a different location for each sector (usually 3 sectors per site).  These locations are offset in the direction that the sector's antenna points, and viewed together, form a triangle with the actual location somewhere in the middle.  So, with Signal Check, if you look at all the base station IDs (BIDs) for any given site, you will find 3 sequential BIDs per antenna site, sequentially numbered, each with a different location.

 

This is true in Milwaukee/Madison and most other Sprint markets, but in northern Illinois and northern Indiana, BSLs are dead on. Other threads have reported that after NV upgrades, the BSLs are correct, but no one has reported that for Wisconsin.

 

Other threads have speculated that this offset is somehow related to the old (pre-GPS) 911 emergency location system, but that is speculation.

 

BTW, the sponsor maps report the exact latitude and longitude of each mapped site.

[donjohnson]

Milwaukee/Madison Sprint sites do not report their actual locations.  Rather, each site reports a different location for each sector (usually 3 sectors per site).  These locations are offset in the direction that the sector's antenna points, and viewed together, form a triangle with the actual location somewhere in the middle.  So, with Signal Check, if you look at all the base station IDs (BIDs) for any given site, you will find 3 sequential BIDs per antenna site, sequentially numbered, each with a different location.

 

 

OK..then I suspect i am pulling my signal from the tower near 124th and Beloit road...just as I originally suspected

Basically, the app is useless to me then..owe well..$1.99 wont kill me

[aackmann]

OK..then I suspect i am pulling my signal from the tower near 124th and Beloit road...just as I originally suspected

Basically, the app is useless to me then..owe well..$1.99 wont kill me

 

 

Well, it does show you the LTE signal strength in an easy to see fashion, since the "bars" on the top of your phone only show 1XRTT voice signal, not LTE. And it also alerts you when you pick up LTE... Otherwise you might not notice you're getting LTE if you're just driving along somewhere.

[dequardo]

Agree it's well worth it for true signal strength on all bands.

[aackmann]

quoted comments removed

 

 

Dude, it's as simple as what you just said... If you don't like it, leave. If people like us want to stick it out and watch the LTE deployment on here, let us do it. We all know how our phones perform, and this site isn't for complaining, it's for watching the network upgrades. If you want to complain, do just what you said, go on their facebook page or whatever or switch to another carrier. I don't care how pissed off you are, and I don't particularly want to read your complaints. This isn't the place for it, simple as that.

[jreuschl]

Dude, it's as simple as what you just said... If you don't like it, leave. If people like us want to stick it out and watch the LTE deployment on here, let us do it. We all know how our phones perform, and this site isn't for complaining, it's for watching the network upgrades. If you want to complain, do just what you said, go on their facebook page or whatever or switch to another carrier. I don't care how pissed off you are, and I don't particularly want to read your complaints. This isn't the place for it, simple as that.

 

Agreed.  We can share in a little frustration, but going on a rant isn't productive.

[aarofloyd]

Quoted comments removed.

 

We would love it too if you didn't post about it again!  

 

You're clearly missing the point of what this site is all about. People that come to this site come here to keep tabs on how the rollout is going unofficially a take a deeper look into the technology that is being used and how Sprint is going about the rollout.  

 

I come to this site to keep tabs on Madison, see how things are progressing, and take a deeper look at the technology being used.  There are more sites now than there were 3 months ago and there will be more in 3 months than there are today.

 

I personally am very happy with my Sprint service in Madison and in the outlying communities. Since Sprint has started their upgrade, speeds have improved, there have been fewer dropped calls and *gasp* we have a number of sites with LTE!  

 

I have learned a lot from this site, and look forward to the service Sprint will provide when the rollout is done.  If you want to learn about sprints rollout and the technology, then by all means, please keep following, otherwise, do us all a favor, visit https://support.sprint.com/support/, and voice your concerns to them, and stay off the forums here.

[Boosted20V]

quoted comments removed

 

I don't believe you fit in here.

[jreuschl]

Oconomowoc is exploding with LTE!  2nd site accepted!

[waoonetwork]

Is that lastest site broadcasting? It wasnt this morning when I checked. I live near by it.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[waoonetwork]

Is that lastest site broadcasting? It wasnt this morning when I checked. I live near by it.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

In oconomowoc that is..

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

[Silenze]

Very happy that the towers in grafton have been updated. I guess that's why last week the towers were down from 1130 to 1am each night.

[twospirits]

Members,

 

pardon my editing of your posts, but if the offending members' post was removed/hidden, then the quote of that members post should also be hidden. Therefore i edited them out of your quotes.

 

Hope you understand.

 

TS out

[waoonetwork]

The 4G LTE is not active yet this evening on the new tower in Oconomowoc, but there is 800MHZ being broadcast :-)

[jreuschl]

The 4G LTE is not active yet this evening on the new tower in Oconomowoc, but there is 800MHZ being broadcast :-)

 

Wow, isn't that the first one in the general Milwaukee area?  Racine/Kenosha have some (not indicated on our sponsor map but I posted screenshot before)